Massively Overpowered

A while back, WAPO put up a piece called Why do we enjoy games that make us work? Proficiency, control, fairness, escape. This is a topic I have come back to over and over through the years, a search through our database shows me. But I can't help it: There was the one about workification vs. gamification, the one about sandboxes...

There is not a great deal of new content in the next patch for Aion in North America. There is some, of course; for example, players will have access to two new ultimate transformations (Tiamat and Ereshkigal) with associated collections. But most of what next Wednesday will bring involves changes to balance, like how every class will receive balance...

Way back during GDC 2018, I covered several panels relating to gaming for good. Things like citizen science projects, games as medicine or for health education, charities, and more. Considering how much COVID has impacted our societies, it should be no surprise that some of this year's GDC Summer 2020 panels addressed that and other global concerns, such as...

Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney recently gave one whooper of an interview to GamesIndustry.biz arguing that the games industry is reaching a "major transition point" for a "new generation of major entertainment companies." To prove his point, he invokes no less than the Mouse House and the impact of COVID. "Think about it: On January 1, who was the king of...

I'm sure those few people out there still bearing a grudge over the Rune-keeper would disagree with me, but one of the things that attracts me to LOTRO is my sense that it's never jumped the shark and done something truly out of whack for the game. It's fantasy, but it's pretty low for fantasy, at least from the...

One of Fallout 76's more significant design flaws has a big fix in the works -- and you can test it out right now. On the PTS, Fallout 76 is putting its One Wasteland revamp through the paces. This update will make the whole game accessible to all players. "Creature levels throughout Appalachia will now adjust up or down on...

MOP's Carlo has been obsessively playing one game for the last few weeks: Nexon's brand-new crossplatform MMO V4. The game rolled out toward the end of July with its flashy Unreal Engine graphics and PvPvE and nobile-friendly automated gameplay. And now, Nexon has announced the game's next content launch is on the way for August 25th. "V4 is delivering a...

Yesterday, we covered the emerging legal drama between Epic Games and... well, everyone with a platform trying to take a cut from transactions inside apps. Epic implemented discounted direct payments inside its mobile apps, inciting Apple and Google to ban Fortnite from their marketplaces, which in turn allowed Epic to drop its prepared "Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite" video on a loop...

When I heard that Valiance Online was going to be running an open beta this week to coincide with the PlayNYC convention, I knew I had to get in and check out what this superhero MMO had going on so far. Valiance Online's always seemed like it's been trailing the other two serious City of Heroes spiritual successors -- City...

Ever since mission tables were introduced in Warlords of Draenor, Blizzard has struggled to figure out what to do with World of Warcraft's offline systems. When Shadowlands comes to town, it's going to try something a little different than before as it introduces adventures. Adventures is basically an offline autobattler that lets the player set up fights between allies and...