Massively Overpowered

World of Warcraft's upcoming publish, we learned this week, will boast Twitter integration. Welcome, WoW, to the year 2011 when we were already complaining about the rise of embedded social media in MMOs from Champions Online to RIFT. Hooray! I kinda like social media. I particularly like following interesting people and gaming personalities on Twitter. I use it for work and play. And yet I still don't think I'd...

Whether or not you have plans for this Valentine's Day weekend, HEX would like you to consider its arena test server as the most romantic locale between two lovers and a whole lot of enemies. The beta title announced yesterday that it's bringing back the arena starting today and continuing through Saturday evening. As a bonus, the team is throwing...

The last set of patch notes for Defiance noted that an event was right around the corner, but the details on that event were not specified. Obviously it would be related to Valentine's Day, but what would it involve? It turns out that's a silly question: It involves love. Hellbug love. The love of horrible, enormous, devouring arthropods that...

Elder Scrolls Online game director Matt Firor has posted a lengthy Road Ahead update on the game's website. He touches on loyalty rewards (including a special mount for players who have been around since the beginning), console release questions and transfer issues, and -- oh goodie -- the upcoming cash shop. Yes, virtual currency is coming to Tamriel when the...

There's a lot of debate and discussion these days as to the virtues and usefulness of early access and transparent development, but at least for Richard Garriott and his team, it's been a "joy" to experience. Garriott spoke with the Escapist about how both crowd sourcing and open development has benefited Shroud of the Avatar greatly thus far: "Now we...

While Nexon and NCsoft may be competing developers in the MMO space, business has made strange and hostile bedfellows of both. After purchasing enough shares to become NCsoft's largest shareholder last year at 15.1%, Nexon is attempting to put pressure on its rival to conform to certain demands. However, tensions are running high as NCsoft is pushing back against those...

Although we don't have the full idea of what Crowfall is, today we know more about how we'll be paying for it in the future. ArtCraft released a pricing FAQ for the upcoming fantasy title in which it revealed that the game will be buy-to-play with an estimated retail price of $50. There will also be an optional VIP membership...

After yesterday's news it's understandable that fans of Daybreak Games' software lineup might be somewhere between nervous and upset. Former PlanetSide 2 producer David Carey took to Reddit yesterday to caution against some of those feelings, stating that neither Daybreak nor Columbus Nova (the investment group backing the former Sony Online Entertainment) deserves the ire or animosity of players....

Right now I believe that we are on a threshold of change in the MMO industry, and it feels a little uncertain and a lot scary. While there are MMOs being made and developed as you read this, it seems as though there are less of the traditional big-budget titles with highly recognizable IPs and more indie projects that are...

If you're looking for a blast to the past of science fiction MMOs, then clear your schedule for an hour of enlightening talk by industry vets Raph Koster and Chris Klug. Koster and Klug compare their experiences and approaches with working on Star Wars Galaxies and Earth & Beyond, respectively, in an older panel from 2004 called SciFi MMPs: Lessons...