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Star Wars Galaxies to shut down December 15

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, MMORPG, PC, Sony,

Star Wars Galaxies discontinuedLucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment announced last week that they will shut down Star Wars Galaxies, effective December 15.

"The shutdown of SWG is a very difficult decision, but SOE and LucasArts have mutually agreed that the end of 2011 is the appropriate time to end the game," the companies said in a note on the game's support forum.

The closure affects the MMO and the Trading Card Game. To soften the blow, Sony and LucasArts said the current SWG community will be able to take advantage of a "galaxy-ending in-game event" in December.

"During the last week that SWG is available ... we're going to end with a bang and we want the final chapter of the galaxy to be written in part by the dedicated and passionate SWG community. Details will be announced at a later date," the companies said.

Active SWG subscribers in good standing, meanwhile, will be able to play several SOE massively multiplayer online PC games at the subscriber level at no extra charge. Between October 15 and December 15, those users will have access to Free Realms, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, EverQuest, EverQuest II, and DC Universe Online via the Star Wars Galaxies Web site.

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Sony temporarily shuts down Final Fantasy MMO after earthquake

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: MMORPG, Sony,

Sony Online Entertainment is officially flipping off the servers for its Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy XI, and PlayOnline games and services. Don't worry, they'll be back online in short order. The move comes as a result of Japan's Friday earthquake—and the temporary loss of massively multiplayer online gaming is just one of the fallouts.

"Due to the continuous earthquakes occurring in the eastern regions of Japan since Mar. 11, 2011, the power companies in Japan have encouraged everyone to cooperate by conserving as much energy as possible as it is feared there will not be enough power supply," reads a Sony blog post, published today.

Accordingly, Sony is suspending service for its two Final Fantasy MMOs and PlayOnline starting at 3 p.m. PST today. There's been no indication as to how long the servers will remain offline, though Sony promises that it will update players with additional information as soon as it comes in. Sony plans to leave the servers offline for at least a week, possibly more—the company indicates that it will not be billing players for any time the servers are offline.

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Funcom and EA to co-publish ‘The Secret World’ MMO

Posted by Drea Avellan Categories: Electronic Arts, MMORPG, PC,

the secret world mmo

You may remember getting invites to one of three secret societies -- the Illuminati, the Dragon or the Templar. Perhaps you took the quiz  "Which secret societies do you belong to?" on Dark Days are Coming. This ingenious way to get people interested was set in motion by Funcom to promote their game The Secret World a few years back. Seriously, who doesn't love secret societies and exclusive clubs?

Recently announced, Funcom and EA Partners will co-publish this long awaited MMO.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Funcom, one of the world-leaders in the development of massively multiplayer online games,” says David DeMartini, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA Partners. “We are very excited to be able to take part in the growing online gaming category with such a highly anticipated title as ‘The Secret World’.”

The Secret World is a MMO for PC where players are given total freedom to create their characters, without the restriction of classes or levels. In the game, you will join one of three world-famous secret societies and journey the world to locations such as Egypt, New England, London, New York, and Seoul.

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TweetCraft: Twitter within World of Warcraft

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Culture, MMORPG, PC,

TweetCraft brings two obsessive habits together, allowing you to do both at once. That’s right, my addicted friends, you can now follow your Twitter friends (like us!) while you play World of Warcraft, thanks to a handy little tool called Tweetcraft. Tweetcraft is an in-game Twitter client that lets you tweet while playing. You can also upload screenshots, and have it send out tweets when you log in to the game, enter an instance, or get an achievement. Yeah, so, it’s pretty much a must-have if you are a World of Warcraft-addicted Twitter fanatic. Hit the video above for more on how it all looks and works.

Read More | Tweetcraft

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SteelSeries WoW MMO Gaming Mouse

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Accessories, Internet, MMORPG,

WoW Mouse

Blizzard and SteelSeries have created a gaming mouse specifically for WoW. With features like 15 programmable buttons, 130 pre-defined commands for drag and drop macro creation, 16 million illumination choices and 3 intensity and pulsation levels, it will be more difficult than ever to stop the addiction. Not to mention that it looks pretty hot. The MMO Gaming Mouse can handle up to 160 macros and comes with a price of $99.99.

 

Read More | SteelSeries

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Age of Conan Delayed Until ‘08

age of conan

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, Funcom’s highly anticipated PC/ online RPG, is bowing out of the crowded Fall ‘07 release window.  Based on the press release, it sounds like given the scale of the game, the development team just needed more time to polish and perfect the experience.

“We naturally regret that we have to push back ‘Age of Conan’. However, after careful consideration, and analysis of recent Beta feedback, we believe that the new release date is in the best interest of the gamers, our company and our owners,” said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom.

You have to respect a developer that delays a game to make it better, and doesn’t just shove it out the door for the sake of the company’s shareholders.  At any rate, MMO players can now look forward to slashing their way through the world and characters of Robert E. Howard on March 25th, 2008.

Read More | Kotaku

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LotRO’s First Content Update Gets Dated

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: MMORPG, PC, Release Dates,

LOTRO action

The Lord of the Rings Online has been a major success since its release in April, and as if there wasn’t enough content in the game already, MMO subscribers will be in for a whole lot more when the Shores of Evendim update hits on June 13. The best part about it? It’s going to be free – as will many of the subsequent updates to the game. Finally, I really feel like my $15 a month is really paying off.

A whole new region will be included, in addition to over 100 new quests, the battle for Helegrod raid, nine entirely new monsters and major enhancements to monster play, the music system, and Champion class. Awesome. Now, if only there were a way to transfer characters from one server to another…

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Hellgate: London Subscription Multiplayer Details Revealed

Hellgate London fight scene

The latest issue of Games for Windows Magazine has revealed all the details pertaining to the subscription service Hellgate: London will be sporting. Luckily, previous statements proved to be true as online multiplayer will be free for all players. Beyond that, there are some perks that may warrant paying the monthly fee of $9.95 to become an ‘Elite’ player, but casual players should find the free game to suffice. If Hellgate turns out to be anything like Diablo, it’s going to suck in a lot of unsuspecting people and get them to fork over that subscription fee.

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