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NCSoft’s COO, Sebastien Vidal talked with GamesIndustry.biz about the MMO business in the site’s first of several interviews kicking off its MMO week. Vidal started by revealing the secret of NCSoft’s success in the MMO market.

Our publishing and development strategy has always been to provide a wide range of titles from subscription based to free to play, from fantasy to science fiction. And there is even more diversity to come in the next few years, both on the business model and genre sides.

Unlike some publishers who focus on one or two MMO titles, typically within the fantasy setting, our strategy is to provide players with a portfolio of online gaming options, catering for all tastes and payment options, for both hardcore gamers and the casual audience.

The interview takes a look at current plans for NCSoft’s line up and also gives readers an idea of what the future holds for several of it’s MMOs. You’ll find information on Lineage and Lineage II, Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 and a bit on Aion as well. Vidal also touches on City of Heroes and City of Villains.

Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa has been a big project for NCSoft. Vidal talks a lot about the complexity of the game, which has had a very rocky start. NCSoft has been concentrating on balancing and polishing existing content rather than rushing to add more “end game” elements. The company plans to initiate a series of online trials in the middle of May to get more people to try the game, and hopefully stay.

Vidal is confident MMOs have a future on consoles. In fact he feels the change is inevitable. He stated NCSoft’s deal with Sony is just the beginning.

Well, in the end it’s just a platform - the important thing is the game itself, and whether you’re playing with a keyboard and mouse, or a control pad…a game designer can come up with something good for either interface.

So I can’t see any reason why they won’t do well on consoles - it’s a huge market, although the biggest market right now is the Nintendo Wii and DS, which aren’t the best platforms for MMOs.

But all the consoles, including the DS, can go on the web and browse, so really the platform is the web, and the console is simply the interface for the web. So I think in the future, for me, you can design a game for the web and it will be playable on any platform - the DS, Wii, PS3 or anything.

via GamesIndustry.biz

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Guild Wars is celebrating three years online. In addition to player in-game perks, NCSoft and Arena.net are offering North Americans, with the exception of Quebec, a chance to win some very nice stuff.

The Grand prize, which I’m claiming now, is an Alienware Area-51 laptop. Five ATI Radeon HD  3870 512MB video cards are up for grabs for first prize winners. Three second prize winners walk away with Logitech G51 5.1 Speaker Systems. Third prize winners will snag a Logitech G9 gaming Mouse, Creative Labs X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound Card or a Logitech G15 keyboard. The article doesn’t mention how many of each of those thrird prizes are up for grabs.

No Purchase Necessary to enter or win. Sweepstakes begins April 28, 2008 and ends May 31, 2008. This sweepstakes is open only to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada, 13 years of age or older at the time of entry. Void in Province of Quebec and where prohibited by law. For complete rules click here.

If you’re interested, and who’s not interested in free loot, get over to the Guild Wars website, take a short survey and sign up for your chance to win something.

There’s an interview with Daniel Dociu whose distinctive art style is featured as concept art for Guild Wars. He’s found he enjoys working on video games because of the flexibility an artist have within the medium.

Dociu particular forte is architecture. As any player can see from the settings of Guild Wars and its expansions, Dociu is particularly influenced by many styles of architecture, and his work is quite eclectic.

I look back all the way to the dawn of mankind: to ruins, and Greek architecture, and Mycenean architecture, all the way up to the architecture of the Crusades, and castles in North Africa, and the Romanesque and Gothic and Baroque and Rococo – even to neo-Classical and art deco and Bauhaus and Modernist. I mean, there are bits and pieces here and there that make a strong impression on me, and I blend them – but that’s the beauty of games. You don’t have to be stylistically pure, or even coherent.

Incidentally, Daniel Dociu’s concept art and Simon Fowler’s photography were beautifully combined for use with Sarah Brightman’s latest release, “Symphony.” Dociu’s art is also used in the trailer for the CD. For more information, check out the Gaming Today article on the collaboration.

via BldgBlog

The latest Guild Wars State of the Game update from the folks over at ArenaNet updates everyone on the state of the 2008 RAWR Cup. With the spring season in full swing and the article details this real world tourney and mentions the cash prizes associated with the competitive Guild Wars G v. G gameplay.

Billiard, moderator of Guild Wars fansite - GuildWarsGuru, describes the process of the tournament and announces the winners as well as explaining how the RAWR third-party competition came to be.

The juicy details can be found at the Guild Wars website.

NCSoft is looking to expand its studio staff in several North American offices. Austin (TX), Aliso Viejo (CA) and Mountain View (CA) all have positions open.

The company is hiring for its Aion and Lineage II teams as well as their dedicated City of Heroes studio. There are also four senior-level positions open at NCSoft’s Orange County studio for its “top, top secret project.”

If you love the sun and game design you might want to check out PlayNC for a full list of details and positions.

The art of Guild Wars is featured as part of Sarah Brightman’s new album and website. Her latest endeavor “Symphony” features both concept art as well as Guild Wars compositions done specifically for the CD and promotional video. You can view the pictures and video on the Sarah Brightman website.

Think you’ve never heard of Sarah Brightman or any of her music . You have if you’re a Zero Punctuation fan. “Yahtzee” used her disco hit, Starship Trooper, to end his diatribe review of Halo 3.

I have a problem. It’s not a serious addiction, in fact its much the opposite of an addiction. I can’t commit.

If the subject of my problem were a woman I’d be the very picture of a man who wouldn’t commit – frequent hot dates with a possibility of long term relationships are tossed to the side in search of the next shiny object or attractive game setting. I dawdle between games like a child with free run of a candy store and no oversight. I just can’t seem to find that special game to break me of my wanderlust.

Now you might not think this a serious problem, I mean after all, who doesn’t play multiple games? But my issue goes beyond rotating pastimes to keep from losing interest. I have a staple game I play – Guild Wars – mostly because its free and doesn’t require a huge commitment of time or energy to hop into any of its settings and grind out a few missions or quests. Guild Wars is like the partner who dislikes your wandering habits but lets you come home whenever you feel like it because it knows it’ll always get what it can while you’re around.
Read the full article

The second entry of a Mythos beta journal by an anonymous source is up on TenTonHammer. This free to play MMO is described as a mixture of World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Guild Wars.

The first journal entry focused on installation, character creation, graphics and UI. The second part goes into the multi-player aspects including partying and zone instances.

Flagship Studios’ Mythos MMO is currently in closed beta testing. The latest update, Zone 3 The Umbral Peaks, was released earlier this week. Mythos looks like it’s shaping up to be a good game for Diablo fans to follow closely.

via TenTonHammer

When I think of MMOs with Real Money Trading problems, Guild Wars isn’t the first one that springs to mind. However, popularity draws real money traders like blood in the water.

ArenaNet has issued a statement with its policy on RMT and why players should avoid the practice of trading their hard earned cash for virtual gold and items. Most of you should have heard this all before. In case you haven’t; here’s how these companies ruin the game for everyone.

Some of the damage is mere annoyance such as bots that spam general and trade channels. Farm bots devalue gold and items that legit players work hard to earn. The gamers that are most likely to be harmed by these companies are the players using their services. Potential users of a RMT service should be aware that the same companies you purchase your ill gotten gains from will likely turn around and steal your account and strip it of all your valuables, then use it to farm more gold and items for some other sucker.

Here’s what measures are being taken to protect the Guild Wars community:

• We identify and ban accounts—typically more than 5,000 per week—being used by real-money trading companies.
• We attempt to identify stolen accounts and return them to their rightful owners.
• Our GMs monitor the game around the clock so they can remove botters and spammers from the game, often within hours of account creation.
• When we detect a large amount of abuse from a single Internet address (IP address), we block that address from accessing the game.
• We block open proxies (open Internet servers which can relay traffic from anywhere in the world) from accessing the game.
• We identify players who purchase gold from real-money trading companies, and we suspend their accounts and remove the purchased gold. We also encourage these players to seek restitution from their credit card company. Real-money trading companies are not legally authorized to sell Guild Wars gold. They don’t own the gold — ArenaNet does. Credit card companies know this, so buyers of gold can generally call their credit card companies and get the charges removed.

The dangers to your account security and other personal information should be apparent, yet there are still enough gamers out there dealing with these traders to keep them in business. Some people never learn, or just don’t care.

via Guild Wars

The second part of the Guild Wars State of the Game series detailing the Midline Shutdown in competative GvG is now available. While part one concentrated on the role of the Mesmer, part two takes a look at the Ranger in this strategy.

Rangers serve three purposes in the midline:

Disruption: using the skills on your bar to interrupt key opposing skills at appropriate times.

Pressure: applied through spamming conditions, as well as controlling position and movement.

Skirmish: providing solid split capabilities, both offensively and defensively.

The build featured in this article is the “Cripshot” Ranger, currently the most popular choice for GvG.  The article coaches players on how to most effectively use this particular skill build to fulfill each of the three basic objectives. Get the full run down on the official ArenaNet Guild Wars website.

Guild Wars State of the Game has begun a series of articles on the midline shutdown in PvP. Part one of the series focuses on the role of Mesmers in the enabling the offense and defense to be more effective. The article covers the objectives and skill choices that will help with the removal or disruption of the opposing team’s offense or defense. Mesmer are key midline players a can effectively execute energy denial, disruption or skill shutdowns. They also excel at spike assistance and enchantment removal.

Catch the full details on Guild Wars.

NCsoft and ArenaNet are pleased to announced that the Guild Wars franchise has sold over 5 million units in North America, Europe, and Asia. Reaching this benchmark after just three years is something celebrate.

“Reaching five million mark is extremely gratifying for us at ArenaNet because it shows the hard work and dedication we put into our games has resonated with the fans,” said Mike O’Brien, co-founder of ArenaNet. “We are totally committed to supporting all of our Guild Wars players, and at the same time, we’re extremely excited to work on the game’s evolution. Certainly the future of Guild Wars is as bright as its past and present.”

The series consists of the original Guild Wars followed by expansions Factions and Nightfall and the sequel to the original Eye of the North. The companies are currently working on Guild Wars 2, which will be a more traditional MMO.

Personally, I like Guild Wars because of the current format. You purchase the game and play all you want. You can solo with an NPC party or adventure with a party of online friends. Our group plays LAN style bringing three or more computers into the same room. It’s no surprise to me that this series has done so well in such a short period of time.

via Press Release

In the latest Pirates of the Burning Sea devlog, Joe Ludwig boards the ship as the game’s new Producer. PotBS also has a new client and tools programmer, ArenaNet Guild Wars veteran John Zipperer. Ludwig also mentions that former producer John Scott Tynes is moving on but reassures that the game is in good hands moving into a number of new content updates.

After brief introductions, Ludwig kicks off the first reveal of several in a series of devlogs on the 1.2 patch. One of the biggest new content changes is the new French Capitol, Pointe-a-Pitre. There are also some significant open sea upgrades coming including a much needed change in reinforcement spawns.

Besides changes and additions to NPCs, tutorials and chat and social window UI; the next biggest new content is the epic Bey’s Retreat mission. Get the full Intel on PotBS.

Arena.net is offering a Guild Wars Bonus Mission Pack as the latest pay to play addon content. The pack allows players to play through four missions taking place in Cantha’s history. Experience the Tengu wars, fight off the legions of the undead in the Battle of Jahai, play through the White Mantle’s rise to power in Kryta and discover what happened to Gwen after the Searing destroyed her world. Of course there’s some exclusive gear to be had as well.

Gamers can view a trailer featuring the new content here. If you haven’t played a lot of Guild Wars, the content won’t mean as much to you but it’s still fun. You can also check out screenshots, wallpapers and artwork on Arena.net Guild Wars.

Blue Orb has announced that players will have three new ways to use SwitchBlade. Due to the overwhelming response to World of Warcraft, SwitchBlade will be offered for Guild Wars, Hellgate: London and Half-Life 2 starting January 29. SwitchBlade is now available for free download from SwitchBladeGaming and FileFront.com.

For more information, please visit www.switchbladegaming.com.

via Press Release

ArenaNet’s Heron Prior, Scott Mayhew, Christian Venturini, and Rebecca Coffman took time to talk about the art and animation of Guild Wars. The group chats about the six man animation team and the madness behind creating virtual worlds.

The creative process is different for each individual,but generally starts with art and observation of movements. Animation is all based on skeletons which are taken from different people and animals or created through experimentation. Read about the methods behind the animation and how difficult it is to get a skeleton to sit in the ArenaNet interview on INC Gamers.

The latest Guild Wars State of the Game Article focuses on frontline tactics for GvG play.

Frontline Synergy explores what makes for a good 8 team build in GvG. Teams often rely on pairing off for maximum effect and this piece homes in on tactics for a pair of Warriors working together. The writer explain the importance of play style, experience, communication and coordination in a superior two-Warrior frontline to maximize their potential killing power.

I really don’t get into PvP or GvG combat in MMOs. I prefer to play MMORPGs cooperatively with family and friends over a LAN. For those into hardcore competitive GvG play, this series of articles is one you shouldn’t miss. The State of the Game keeps players up on the changing dynamics of GvG builds as skills and other factors shift.

via ArenaNet

PlayNC.com has announced a change affecting all NCsoft supported accounts. Support and billing may be shifting slightly in the new year as the time zone used for accounts will be changing from EST to Coordinated Universal Time which is the same as GMT. Players with Tabula Rasa, Dungeon Runners and Guild Wars accounts as well as other NCsoft titles should check your account details after January 1st.

On New Year’s Day, January 1, 2008, we’ll be changing the time zone used for all customer account work from Eastern time (EST) to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, basically the same as GMT). This shouldn’t make much of a difference to most customers, though some may notice (depending on what time during the day their billing takes place) that the listed billing date may move up by a day (however, technically speaking, you’re actually not gaining any extra time).

via PlayNC.com

Now gamers can give the gift of an extra edge in combat to their favorite Guild Wars fan. ArenaNet and NCsoft are now offering the new special skill and item unlock packs at half off.

Whether you’re a PvE or a PvP gamer, you’ll find the new Skill and Item Unlock Packs hard to resist. The new Skill Unlock Packs provide access to basic and elite skills from all Guild Wars® games (the original campaign, Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North) for your use in PvP combat, and give your Heroes an advantage over your foes in PvE. The new PvP Item Unlock Pack provides hundreds of item upgrades to ensure that you go into combat with exactly the gear you want.

Players can cash in on the offer from Noon Pacific time (-8 GMT) November 15, 2007 to Noon Pacific time (-8 GMT) January 31, 2008.  For full details on available packs visit Guild Wars. There’s also a FAQ available.

ArenaNet has announced that excerpts from the Guild Wars score will be included in the “Play! A Video Game” concert series. The tour debuts in Fort Worth, Texas, at the Bass Performance Hall on January 19, 2008, and will include engagements at prestigious locations including the Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington.

Selections were chosen from the rich soundtracks created by renowned video-game music composer Jeremy Soule and co-composer Julian Soule.

“We always felt the work Jeremy and Julian did on the Guild Wars soundtracks was one of the best features of the game,”“We’re incredibly happy their music has been included in the PLAY! Tour, so that even more people can enjoy the music that millions of said Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet. Guild Wars players have grown to love.”

“Guild Wars brings a worldwide audience to our world tour, which is an exciting prospect for us,” added Jason Michael Paul, producer and creator of the PLAY! tour. “Guild Wars certainly has one of the most compelling and exciting music scores, which will be a great addition to our concert program.”

For more information on the “PLAY! A Video Game Symphony” concert series including tickets and details on the entire tour, go to www.play-symphony.com.via Business Wire