EverQuest
Earlier today Gamasutra conducted an interview with SOE president John Smedley in which they discussed EverQuest, the upcoming free-to-play FreeRealms, and an MMO on the PS3. Smedley mentions that Everquest is the pillar of their company and is still very profitable for them.
The original Everquest was my first venture into the world of an MMO and I might boot it back up if I am feeling nostalgic. Maybe I will talk to my bosses and see if I can write something up about my experiences with a 10 year old online game.
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Lord of the Rings Online
I’m starting to really enjoy Turbine. Every week something is going on with their game which allows me to consistently rely on them for my article. This week Turbine and Xfire announced that they are offering great prizes for playing LOTRO (full game or free trial) and joining the "Official Xfire LOTRO Clan" while signed into Xfire from January 28th to February 11th. The prizes range from a free mount to a 30-Day game subscription.
30 winners will be chosen to receive great prizes based on the following categories:
Gold Level Prizes (10): More than 50 hours:
6-Month Subscription to The Lord of the Rings Online
Moria T-shirt
In-Game Mount (Bree Horse)Silver Level Prize (10): 16 to 50 Hours:
3-Month Subscription to The Lord of the Rings Online
LOTRO T-shirtBronze Prize (10): 1 to 15 Hours:
30-Day The Lord of the Rings Online Subscription
Final Fantasy XI
Everyone gets spam in their e-mail. Mostly about growing certain body parts or someone wanting to talk to you for $9.95 a minute. A dude in Japan recently got a ton of e-mail spam from Square Enix even though he has never played the game (supposedly.) This guy, who we will now refer to as Mr. X, received a ton of FFXI re-registration emails and he got pissed and filed a lawsuit against Square Enix.
Kotaku wrote that it was believed his e-mail address was being used to create new accounts that item dealers would use to transfer in-game money knowing that it would get banned quickly and then re-register right away. Long story short, Mr. X takes the company to court and loses the case in public court. Appealed to a district court and won. Square Enix appealed to Japan’s High Court, but the appeal was denied on January 26th. Now Square Enix owes Mr. X ¥50,000 (U.S.$599.)
Warhammer Online
This is a big week for Mythic and Warhammer Online. Thursday they announced the first free live expansion to Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning called "a Call to Arms." This expansion’s content will be rolled out over a few months starting in March and the final content upgrade sees the light of day in June. On Mythic’s website they go into detail about the first event happening in March called the Bitter Rivals live event.
Once the Bitter Rivals live event begins on February 24th, players who log into WAR will see a new tab in the Tome of Knowledge. Clicking on this tab will open the Live Events page, where each day we’ll place a special new daily task. Completing these daily tasks earns influence, just like you’d earn in a public quest. There are rewards for Basic, Advanced and Elite influence, culminating in the ultimate prize: the chance to play WAR’s new classes a full week before they’re released to the public! This last reward won’t be easy to earn, and players who want to get to the Elite level will need to log in each day and complete on the daily event.
The developers also mention a new RvR scenario–the Twisting Tower– which will only be available during the Bitter Rivals event.
This scenario takes players to a ruined Chaos temple hovering above a mighty vortex in the Tier 4 zone: The Chaos Wastes, where they battle for control of different levels of the temple-with a very special surprise to those players who succeed in capturing all three. This new scenario will be available for players of all levels, on all tiers, but will not contribute to the campaign. Participation in this scenario will give players an extra 10% bonus to their Renown point gain.
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