MMO News Week - 1/19/2013

Well I'm starting to get back into the swing of things in terms of news recaps for OnRPG. Hopefully I'll be able to continue recapping on a bi-weekly schedule just to keep up with what's happening in the industry.

This week: I re-cap OnRPG/MMOHut's 2012 awards and 2013 predictions, TERA (NA) transition into F2P, a review for Age of Wushu and more.

Warframe - CBT Impressions

A unique F2P title is coming at us this year, and its being brought by some long running pros in the industry. Digital Extremes, developers by behind the original “Unreal” series is now working on a new third person shooter called ‘Warframe’. In this game, you play as ancient galaxy warriors called Tenno, which have been re-awaked to take down several different factions that have been wreaking havoc all over solar system. With katanas and alien firearms, you’ll invade several enemy ships and complete several different objectives as quickly and/or as silently as possible.

In simpler terms: You’re a freaking space ninja and will do whatever a space ninja can to save the day.

Arctic Combat - Review

With FPS titles running very rampant in the F2P market, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to find a unique one that stands out for the rest. Many of these titles claim to be unique in one form or fashion, but ultimately end up feeling like nothing more than a rehash of titles that inspired them.

Take Artic Combat (AC) by Webzen for example: On the outside: It looks a lot like a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare clone with some slight tweaks, but on the inside:

  

…It’s a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare clone with some slight tweaks. AC feels and plays like CoD: MW and it certainly does not try to hide it.

Previously: I got to try AC out during some early closed beta impressions, and I was surprised by how much the game kept a pacing similar to CoD: Modern Warfare games while keeping the tactical tension of Counter-Strike, but with my extended time playing in the Open Beta, the tactical tension started to wear thin, and AC revealed itself to be nothing more than an another imitator, rather than an innovator.

Just an update - 12/26/2012

Happy Holidays, people! I made another blog post!~

Well there been too much going on with me, but I finally got back to doing MMO news recaps for OnRPG! This week, I got to talk about The Secret World going B2P, Tera's 2013 letter, the new smite god reveal Xbalanque, Jade Dynasty's expansion launch, and Defiance accepting beta invites. 

Also near the end of the video, I host a little get together for TERA players on CH to come along and have a little holiday fun.

Just an update - 12/12/2012

It's been way too long since my last post on this here blog. My Fall semester is just about other, so I'll have some free time to do what I want this winter break, which is mindlessly playing and writing about video games, of course.

I've been having some trouble trying to get some requested reviews during the semester, so I feel like I may be a bit rusty on writing my usual articles. This month, though: I decided to snag a review for Webzen's Arctic Combat, with looks like a pretty shameless CoD: Modern Warfare clone, but has some nice touches here and there. I previously got to try the game out a few months ago during a special VIP test and it wasn't half bad, I'd say. Expect a full review this month.

I'm (surprisngly) STILL playing TERA, despite En Masse dropping the ball on several occasions, like just recently: En Masse decided to release the heavily desired bunny suit outfits in the vanity shop, only except they weren't actual bunny suits: They were 'leotards', instead. They removed the cuffs, bowtie and the fake bunny tail, making the entire outfit look incredibly plain and boring. Not only that, but they've put the black version of the suit inside another RNG chance box to boot. As if the whole Gym Bag chance box fiasco wasn't bad it enough, it seems like they didn't learn their lesson from it at all.

Sure, it seems like a really small thing to gripe about, but it's all the little small things that add up over time and really makes En Masse look like a very amateur game publisher.

...and yet, I'm still playing it and keeping my subscription going through Chronoscrolls, all because I enjoy my character and roleplaying too damn much. Still: I'm expecting En Masse to pull off something very crazy that will make me drop the game cold turkey, and soon. Like I keep telling myself and others: If it wasn't for my friends, the RP server and the CH community, I would have quit playing TERA after the first month.

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I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things for video news updates for OnRPG this week. I was hoping to get back into last week, but it seems like DizzyPW got distracted in giving me a script to work with, or whatever... I'm sure I'll be able to get back on Saturday, though. It really is a good way for me to keep taps on whatever is going on in the western MMO industry.

That's all for now.