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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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NCsoft has announced that patch 1.6.5 for Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa is almost ready to make its debut on public servers. There are still a few bug fixes to clean up before patch 1.6.5 goes live. For a preview of changes included in patch 1.6.5 check out the Test Server Patch Notes.

Also take a look at the latest Tabula Rasa video “Patches to Ashes.” Mission designer, Jason Ford gives players a visual tour around this new area, introduces a few new MOBs and gives players a few tips on stopping this dangerously self-aware AI, Patch.

via Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa

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.
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NCsoft has released a Tabula Rasa video featuring glimpses of the creature AI enhancements in the upcoming 1.5 patch release. The Thrax Pistol Soldier picks up a new trick around level 25; learning how to summoning a little mechanical daemon that explodes corpses. The Juggernaut has been revamped as well. Players will find it a more impressive and difficult opponent. Lightbenders and the AFS Mechs will also receive some upgrades.

Be warned of potential spoilers. Not only does the video show players the changes made to creatures, it outlines strategies to circumvent these enhancements.

Despite what a report in The Korea Times claims, NCsoft doesn’t view last year’s MMO Tabula Rasa as a “financial disaster,” said the company’s communications director, David Swofford. He claims that the writer who penned the story is “notorious for writing sloppy and sensational articles about NCsoft,” and he also referred to the story as “inflammatory.”

The TR development did not cost $100 million. I don’t know where that came from. The price tag for the product was much less…a fraction of that cost. Tabula Rasa was not restarted more than twice. It had one overhaul and that came after 2-3 years of development.

The article made it sound like the TR launch led to some sort of falling out with Robert Garriott. That is so far from the truth. In fact Robert has been promoted to work more with CEO TJ Kim on business development. Yes Robert is out of the day-to-day operations, but he’s still in the office and now travels much more for the company than he did before.

Yes there’s a possibility that there could be downsizing with the TR team. Some of that is due to the cyclical nature of game development (product is out and the team downsizes). Some is due to the fact that the product could have done a little better. But there is a lot going on with the TR team. They are working on more updates. We are planning a Japan launch later in the year. And the company is planning on investing millions into the product, so it’s not going away and in fact we have plans to grow it.

Be that as it may, it doesn’t change the fact that the overall sentiment regarding Tabula Rasa was that it ended up being just another MMO with a futuristic setting. At least we know it won’t be the downfall of NCsoft as we know it, as the Korea Times story seemingly wants us to believe.

via Next Gen

The last update of Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa has added the ability for experienced players to splice their genes with alien DNA to become hybrids. Forean, Brann, and Thrax hybrids can now take the fight to the Bane. The update also made changes to characters and weapons as well as bring new missions online. Players can view video footage of the new hybrid system at MMORPG.

NCsoft is also offering a FREE Month Credit to anyone referring a friend to Tabula Rasa. It’s a decent way to make sure you have at least one reliable player on your team. Finally make sure to check out the Soul of a Soldier Community blog. You can read about other players’ exploits and recount your own Tabula Rasa Fan Fiction.

via Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa 

There’s a new video that complements the Tabula Rasa Q&A with Paul Sage we featured yesterday. MMORPG has exclusive footage from NCsoft of the hybrids resulting from splicing your character’s DNA with alien stock. Although Tabula Rasa got off to a shaky start, it’s new content like this that will decide whether the MMO regroups or if the AFS will go down fighting.

Players can view the video footage at MMORPG.

Game|Life has an interview up with Tabula Rasa’s lead designer Paul Sage discussing the upcoming changes and the feedback integrated into the upcoming 1.4 game patch. One of the more interesting aspects of the interview was the admission that players wanted to play something other than stock humans and that the developer was taking steps to make that happen.

“We took some of that feedback and we ran with it,” says Paul Sage, the game’s lead designer. The result is that as of version 1.4, which should be available some time this week, you can finally play as a Brann, Forean, or Thrax. Sort of.

The characters are actually human/alien hybrids. “You use the DNA from the aliens to augment yourself,” explains Sage. Adding aliens to the playable roster was always part of the plan for Tabula Rasa, but the community feedback inspired the team to include it “a little earlier than we thought we would.”

The introduction of the hybrid option is explained further by Sage as he says that players looking to exercise these options will have to be around 15th level and must complete a quest chain.

Sage also talks about some of the changes coming to the game dealing with the cloning options and their effect on gameplay.

“Our attribute system wasn’t exactly what we originally envisioned,” says Sage, who explains that how players assigned attribute points didn’t have as much impact on their game world as the team had hoped. “The way it was supposed to work was you were supposed to become more of an individual based on how you leveled up, but that didn’t really happen.”

The team spent a lot of time tweaking the attributes for version 1.4, and now “they have a lot more impact on the game.”

You can read the full details at Wired.

source:Game|Life

NCsoft has released a new Tabula Rasa Dev Diary featuring Fault Lever. World builder David Vargo explains the design process he went through in developing this new underground instance for NCsoft’s MMORPG.

You can find more terrific screenshots like the one above and download the Fault Lever developer diary on FileFront.

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

Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa is sponsoring three auctions for Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play, a Seattle based charity. All proceeds go to buy sick children of Children’s Hospitals toys and games. Gamers can do their bit for sick kids while bidding for three different prizes.

Auction 1 and Auction 2:

• 1 Copy of Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa - Standard Edition signed by Richard “General British” Garriott
• 1 Set of Tabula Rasa Dog Tags. These are the E3 ‘06 version of the Dog Tags. They are NOT the Collectors Edition version of the Dog Tags.
• 1 Tabula Rasa Challenge Coin. This is the Developer version of the Challenge Coin. Only Tabula Rasa Developers have this edition of the Coin. It is larger and heavier than the Collectors Edition version.
• 1 AFS Clearance Card. This card was produced during the beta for European Press and is a collectors item.
• 1 picture of Richard Garriott in his ‘Lord British’ outfit.

Auction 3:

The winner of this auction will have an in-game NPC (non-player character) named after her/him in the recently released MMORPG, Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa. The winner will then be contacted by Destination Games and advised of the NPC’s location in-game. If the winner has an active Tabula Rasa game account and so chooses, he/she will then be escorted in-game to the location of the NPC named after him/her by Richard Garriott’s in-game character, ‘General British’.

All three auctions are hosted on Ebay and bids can be made by PayPal.

via Tabula Rasa 

Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa now has some specific information on upcoming events for this years Seasonal Holiday Observance (S.H.O.). NCsoft is offering gamers a free trial and a special incentive to players gaming on the public test servers. There are also appearances planned by Sarah Morrison and General British. Check out the complete details after the break.

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Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa is gearing up for its first annual Seasonal Holiday Observance. Soldiers across the galaxy are planning to celebrate the holidays past of their home world Earth. Their getting out the Festive Seasonal Holiday Observance Flora and Sergent Santa is passing out Secular Head Dressings. Sounds like a Target ad to me.

Fresh from the Test server, we bring you an early look at the current Seasonal Holiday Observance (S.H.O.) offerings coming soon to a Live server near you! Even in time of war, and on foreign lands, we humans will find a way to celebrate S.H.O. AFS command has encouraged the merriment, and have installed Festive Seasonal Holiday Observance Flora (they may sound like Christmas trees, but they aren’t) in the following locations:

• Wilderness – Twin Pillars Outpost
• Divide – Foreas Base
• Palisades – Cumbria Research
• Plateau – Fort Defiance
• Pools – Snake Pit
• Marshes – Paludos
• Plains – Irendas Penal Colony
• Incline – Plains Post
• Mires – Baylor Base
• Crucible – Fort Intrepid
• Thunderhead – Thunderhead Base
• Ashen Desert – Shadow’s Edge Post
• Howling Maw – Gangus Outpost
• Abyss – Tantalus Base
• Descent – Fort Virgil

Sergeant Santa has even provided Secular Head Dressings (again, not a Christmas hat) for everyone. Walk up to your nearest Holiday Flora, “use” the tree, and find a pretty red cap to replace the helmet on your head. These fake fur, no-stat creations are not recommended for regular combat operations. Combine with a little Bane Blood Red armor dye, and you’ve got yourself a party.

Happy S.H.O. everyone!

Go check out the ten second S.H.O. video (set to traditional S.H.O. rave music) as well as screenshots of the event on TenTonHammer.

It’s time once again for the File-N-Forget Podcast. This week, Shawn and Ron discuss several of the games that have come out recently, and offer up a few thoughts on each of them. Listen in as they discuss Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty 4, Rock Band, Mass Effect, The Witcher, Tabula Rasa, Kane & Lynch and Uncharted in our holiday game roundup.

As usual, there’s a Rant & Rave section, and a mention of this week’s FileFront Frag Night.

You can download the podcast here.

You can also check out some of our older episodes on our podcast page.

If you have any comments on the show, suggestions for topics, or if you’d like to submit questions or comments to be read during the podcast, email us at podcast@filefront.com.

Thanks to Evil Avatar for spotting these deals at Amazon – you can save up to 50% on games for almost any system; PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, 360, PC, Mac, DS, GBA, and GC. Sure, the 50% sales don’t apply to the really good stuff (for the most part), but there are some really sweet deals on there.

Some of the highlights include World in Conflict for $30, the PS3 Collector’s Edition of Stranglehold for $50, Tabula Rasa for $25, and plenty of others.

Shop now and save. (That phrase isn’t trademarked, is it?)

Richard Garriott talked about the successes and failures of the marketing strategies used for his Tabula Rasa MMORPG at the 2007 Independent Game Conference.

“Marketing is a black art. We regularly go back and forth between it being all important, and irrelevant. At some basic level, I do believe that all great games will sell eventually, through word of mouth.”

He continued, “Marketing can definitely get you on the shelf, and in the first few weeks, get you off the shelf. In the long run, even with the best marketing, if it’s a bad game, word gets out, and your sales will come to halt.”

Specifically, “I think the formal marketing did fine,” he replied. “They let people know the game existed, and was coming out. I actually think the biggest mistake was made not by the marketing department, but by the development team. We invited too many people into the beta when the game was still too broken.”

“We burned out some quantity of our beta-testers when the game wasn’t yet fun,” he said, adding, “As we’ve begun to sell the game, the people who hadn’t participated in the beta became our fast early-adopters.”

He continued, “And the people who did participate in the beta, we’ve had to go back to and say ‘look, look, we promise: we know it wasn’t fun two months ago, but we fixed all that. Really, come try it again.’ We’ve had to go out and develop free programs to invite those people back for free before they go buy it. So the beta process, which we used to think of as a QA process, is really a marketing process.”

He said the Guild Wars team did the best job, with their friends-and-family beta test remaining very small throughout development. “Only about two or three weeks before launch did they do the ‘open it up for pretty much anybody to play,’ when the game was basically done,” concluded Garriott.

Unfortunately in my opinion Tabula Rasa is just not a great game. It’s got a few features that are truly innovative like the cloning system. Still, even on high settings I just can’t get the game to look like it does in the screenshots. The combat feels repetitive, and it just doesn’t break enough new ground.

via Gamasutra

Tabula Rasa players that have been exploiting the bug in the Rage system until now are about to be disappointed. In order to correct its unbalancing effects, Rage is getting nerfed.

However, according to Lead Designer Paul Sage, things aren’t as black as they might seem. Rage is now a fast cast ability and features resistances at higher pumps.

The details look like this:

• Rage 1: 30% damage self buff
• Rage 2: 30% damage buff w/squad members
• Rage 3: 40% damage self buff – 10% resist bonuses
• Rage 4: 40% damage buff w/squad members
• Rage 5: 50% damage buff w/squad members – 10% resist bonuses

Other changes coming in the next update are an increase in Chaingun damage output slightly and Launchers slightly for Soldiers. Rarity will now correctly effect the damage bonuses on items as well.

For those of you enraged over the change in Rage, you’ll be offered the chance to do a full respec to change the build of your character. The offer is a true respec, not a clone credit.

via Tabula Rasa

Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa is offering subscribers a chance to score a free month of play. All you have to do is convince your friends to sign up for an account.

The AFS is looking for new recruits, and now YOU can aid in the war effort, and get a FREE Month Credit* to Tabula Rasa! If you refer a friend and they purchase a standard account and pay for one month of subscription to Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa®, you will be automatically credited with one month of free game time!

Players can have up to four friend invites, which include codes to participate in a three day trial of Tabula Rasa, active at any time. If they choose to buy the game, then you will get credited for one free month.

Check out the full step by step details on Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa.

Richard Garriott has announced a last minute surprise in-game event for Tabula Rasa players, the AFS Sci-Fi Trivia Challenge.

Garriott who has become known for his impromptu appearances in the game as General British wants to celebrate the success of Tabula Rasa’s launch with this event.

“I wanted to quickly do something fun in-game as a thank you to the players who have made this such a smooth launch. We have continued NCsoft’s track record for incredibly successful launches and player interest and excitement is higher than we expected in both North America and Europe. The battlefields are full of players taking down Bane invaders & we’re having a blast kicking alien butt.”

Join General British for a special in-game event to win credits by demonstrating your sci-fi knowledge. See Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa for times and details.

via Press Release

Richard Garriott is truly a veteran of the video game industry. As his Ultima series changed what gamers expected of video games for the PC, his brainchild Ultima Online opened the gates to industry powerhouse that is Massively Multiplayer Online gaming today.

The New York Times has a feature on this brilliant if somewhat eccentric man who’s name is being introduced to a whole new generation of gamers. This time, Garriott is exploring the realm of sci-fi in his new innovative MMORPG Tabula Rasa.

“I’ve been doing medieval fantasy for 25 years in a row, and it was just time to do something new,” Mr. Garriott, in his customary uniform of denim shirt, jeans, white tube socks and sneakers, said here at the offices of NCsoft, the South Korean company publishing the game. “The first element we wanted to focus on was fast-paced tactical combat. No. 2 was creating a dynamic battlefield where the player feels there is action going on around them all the time. And third was creating a story line that includes ethical parables and problems.”

With Tabula Rasa, Garriott aims to put story and role playing back into MMORPGs.  He’s not pulling punches in his criticism of the directions many of the most popular competition have taken, including World of Warcraft.

“As many kudos as I would like to give World of Warcraft, it’s basically a remake of EverQuest, just incredibly polished and refined,” he said. “There are harbingers of failure in that model. Everyone in these games is obsessed with the concept of how much damage-per-second they are inflicting and maximizing their D.P.S. When you do that, you are no longer playing a role; you are playing an inventory-management game.”

He added, “With Tabula Rasa we wanted the player to spend as much time as possible actually looking at the environment and what they’re shooting at.”

You can read more about Richard Garriott and Tabula Rasa in the The New York Times.