MMOG Fortunes Rise And Fall

ringbarer writes "The disappointingly mismanaged MMO Star Wars Galaxies has hit another low. The Japanese translation of the game has barely managed to reach its first Birthday, and now it's been canceled. A Rough translation is available, but the original untranslated news can be found here." I'm not entirely sure, but it seems as though players who've paid beyond the end of December will have their accounts transferred to a US/EU server if they're so inclined. Otherwise they'll have their money refunded. Apparently money isn't something SOE is smarting for, at the AGC this past week President John Smedley announced that they'll be releasing what is essentially a free MMOG, with no monthly fee. Speaking of free, the always excellent Puzzle Pirates is essentially doing the same thing. They're also doing some crackerjack Halloween Events tonight, if you're interested in some swashing and some buckling. Dark Age of Camelot's events for today's holiday sound pretty neat too.

Comments

puzzle pirates is free?

[mixtape5]

I went to the Puzzle Pirates website and it said "free trial", so I dont think it is really free.

Re:puzzle pirates is free?

[i0streamd0th]

The free trial lasts forever, but with limited abilities. You only pay if you want to engage in higher level play. Additionally, there are both servers with subscription (flat fee gives you full access) and micropayment (pay only for the features you want) models. Surprisingly, the micropayment model doesn't unbalance gameplay that much since all games are skill-based rather than level-based and there are no items that give anyone an unsurmountable advantage in a competition/PVP.

Halloween events

[theantipop]

The events decribed for DAoC sound exactly like what WoW has been doing for the past couple weeks. I've really enjoyed their holiday celebrations in-game. For "Hallow's End", there is a quest to go trick-or-treating for a sick orphan that takes you around the world; you can go bobbing for apples at nearly every inn; you can "trick-or-treat" innkeepers for candy, wands to turn party members into monster, or be tricked and turned into something funny like a toad or a black cat. There are no shortage of jack-o-latterns and ghosts around the cities. And lastly, there is a wickerman festival that both Horde and Alliance celebrate where a major faction leader shows up in front of a giant wickerman, says a short speach about why they celebrate, then lights the thing on fire which dispenses buffs for everyone in attendance.

Overall it's nothing huge that disrupts the way the game is played, but it does enough to give you something to do and remind you that it's Halloween.