Massively Multiplayer Mashup

EVE Online Television goes live; CCP hires economist to track in-game market

Anchors SpiralJunkie and StevieSG cover in-game news over the 30 minute broadcast, with the topics ranging from sucide ganking, to CCP misconduct allegations, to major corporate power-plays. Interviews vary from sit-down chats with EVE developers such as CCP president Hilmar Petursson, to Skype calls and instant-message discussions with every-day players of the game, leading to an uneven, semi-professional presentation. It all comes off like a low-budget, futuristic CNN, with spaceships battling in the background as the anchors display comments from politically-charged figures named M'buku rather than Clinton.

Online content provider Jalipo runs the video hosting for the venture. Viewers must purchase credits in order to access the show, which come in packs of 500 for the price of $5. The first 30-minute broadcast costs a total of 126 credits at the 4.25 credits/minute rate for the lowest video quality level (250k).

While the service may be worth paying for in the case of hardcore EVE fans, it's hard not to feel that CCP is missing an opportunity to win over gamers with this new form of propaganda. People love hearing stories from the multi-faceted world of EVE, but an involved, tactically-minded spaceship game can be a tough sell on paper. The lack of a free, smaller-sized broadcast to attract the attention of potential consumers seems a curious decision.

In other EVE news, CCP has hired a professional economist to keep track of the game's economy. Dr. Eyjolfur Guomundsson of the University of Akureyri, Iceland will provide quarterly analysis on the economic state of the game, with factors such as inflation, market trends, and overall economic growth highlighted. CCP expects Dr. Guomundsson's research to not only inform players of economic indicators, but also provide valuable feedback for the game's development.

"Economic information is the lifeblood of the game and I believe that, by ensuring everyone has access to the same data, we will enhance the player experience and facilitate economic stability in EVE," said Dr. Guomundsson. The doctor's first blog entry is now online at the EVE website.

LEGO Universe concept trailer unveiled

Most notable of the revelations is that LEGO Universe will be developed as a full-fledged game, rather than merely focusing on providing an open-world building platform. The video depicts a LEGO character walking through a massive block-laden city, with monsters and vehicles motoring past. At the end of the trailer, the character does battle with some sort of flying bat, which proceeds to crush the LEGO-man with a giant mallet.

LEGO Universe is being billed as child-safe. How then to keep the teeming inhabitants of LEGO cities from defiling the innocent, brightly-colored blockscape with obscenities? The answer may be that building within the world could turn out to be more constrictive than the online sandbox Blockland, which allows players to cooperatively lay brick in any style they please.

Whatever the case, LEGO Universe is one to watch, if only for the nostalgic appeal of a world based on our favorite childhood building blocks (sorry Mega Bloks). The developers have plenty of time to get things right, with NetDevil hoping for a release in late 2008.

Funcom to sell Anarchy Online items for real-world cash

"Selling virtual items and smaller content upgrades is now a prevalent MMO business model in Asia," said CEO of Funcom Trond Arne Aas. "This has yet to be fully explored in the west, but we believe that the time is now right to test a limited version of such a model. At the same time we remain committed to the overall evolution of the game, making sure that Anarchy Online will be a success for many years to come."

Virtual item sales in MMOs such as Anarchy Online are becoming a hot topic in the gaming industry. Earlier this month, an online marketplace dubbed Gamer2Gamer was launched by Sparter, with the goal of facilitating the trade of virtual property earned in MMO titles for real world money.

While both developers and players have gone so far as to file lawsuits against virtual property vendors, many companies have instead chosen to embrace the practice, seeing it as simply another stream of revenue. Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley, whose company runs the virtual item hub Sony Station Exchange, summed up the situation in an interview with Gamasutra: "If [the exchange of in-game items] is non-game impacting and just plain cool, I suspect people won't mind it... and if they get a tangible benefit out of it (not paying a sub-price for example) I think people will actually like it. The key is to design games in such a way that 'farming' just isn't possible or beneficial."

Afterworld MMO on the horizon?

Afterworld is a series of slick animated episodes written by Friedman and three staff writers. Slow camera pans across mostly-still shots set the scene as a narrator drives the story forward. The series is slightly reminiscent of a Max Payne cutscene, albeit with 3D characters and high-resolution backdrops.

"One thing we're looking at right now, and we've talked to Sony extensively about this is taking the universe we're creating, the map we're building, and the social network to build that into an MMO," said Friedman, according to Gamasutra. "There are going to be all sorts of cultures and tribes that are built out in the first season, and we'll have all sorts of different societies.

"We're interested in turning it into a light MMO, where it's more like Second Life--less like fighting, more about discovery. And the idea is that each country has its own different map, which could add to this as well."

Sword of the New World opens beta

Created by Ragnarok Online developer Hakkyu Kim, Sword of the New World features a multiple character management system that resembles traditional console RPG combat. Players can control up to three characters simultaneously, or assign various AI modes to two of the characters. Parties consist of five basic character archetypes: the fighter, musketeer, wizard, scout, and elementalist. Quests provide the majority of gameplay, and missions must be completed in order to visit new towns and unlock waypoints.

Already released in Korea as simply Granado Espada, Sword of the New World will be officially released in North America and Europe later this summer. Check out some screenshots of the Korean version for a look at the game's style.

NCsoft welcomes you to the MMO house at Dev Corner

Lead North American product developer Chris Mayer kicked things off with a brief review of NCsoft's progress in the increasingly cramped MMO market.

EverQuest II updated for 36th time

The new dressing room feature will function similiar to World of Warcraft's preview window, with a control-click displaying the item addition to your avatar's appearance. Items can be previewed via links, merchants, brokers, and recipe books, as well as during trades, the inspection of others, and in the commission window. Other changes to the game such as the ability to restart tradeskill professions and the removal of coin weight were also added.