Event Reports

JR "razor" Sutich traveled down to Atlanta to attend the ribbon-cutting for CCP North America. This is the former Whitewolf office where the company now has customer support, the early creative elements of World of Darkness and of course all the RPG stuff.

World of Darkness Online is indeed being worked on, and I got to see some early concept art and it looks great. It's dark enough with just the right amount of grit and neon and it captures exactly what I think of when I picture running around a city at night. The werewolf looked awesome. Mike explained that the bulk of the content for WoD Online was being created at the new office, while the majority of the technical infrastructure was being worked on in Iceland.

For more, check out the full item on Razorwire (link below).

Having visited Obsidian Entertainment a mere two months prior to last year's release of Neverwinter Nights 2, I found myself looking forward to this year's visit literally weeks before the release of NWN 2: Mask of the Betrayer, or NWX1 as the developers call it. To my great delight, the Obsidian folks did not disappoint.

The day started at ten o'clock with a Rogue Dao Studios tour of the Purgatorio module currently nearing its beta testing stage. Conducted by studio lead Montgomery Markland, press members were treated to a very recent version of Purgatorio. Press members were well-represented but the room was also packed with Obsidian developers anxious for a look at the module. Markland took the assembled crowd on a tour of The Hive, arguably the "star" of Purgatorio.

There is no question that Rogue Dao has raised the bar considerably for other community created modules and custom content creators with Purgatorio. Already sporting twenty custom creature models, the module, if fully explored, will treat players to twenty hours or so in the gorgeous Sigil environs. There is the main quest and over fifty side quests that players can use as an excuse to completely discover Purgatorio in its entirety.

Click below for the fully story.

Attendees of BlizzCon were able to enjoy the treat of demoing the new expansion first hand. Blizzard had set up about 200 Computers that allowed you to go to Northrend. For 30 minutes, we could explore the entry zone called the Howling Fjord. Howling Fjord is the southeastern most area of Northrend. While it is Northrend, the zone is not a snow zone like Alterac Mountain or Winterspring, but that doesn't mean you don't get a sense that it is supposed to be cold. High cliffs and large trees dominate the zone. The trees are definitely new in design and have a height double or triple the trees in the zones of WoW Classic.

Nearly everything you ever wanted to know about the many discussions at Fan Faire 2007 can be found in Cebot's "Consolidated Fan Faire 2007 Report":

Pretty much everyone agrees that the game is in good shape now and is definitely heading in the right direction. Chapter 7 looks great, an update to the space game will be quite welcome, and Droid Commander should be a welcome addition as well.

A special thanks to Loche, Pex and GreyPawn for the amount of time they spent listening to us outside the panels (as well as during them) - they deserve a lot of credit for how much commitment they're showing to the game at this and no doubt the other similar events of this summer.

Click below to check it out.

At Blizzcon 2007, two class discussion panels were held to discuss the current state of each class, what to expect in the future and to take questions and answers from people like us, the players.

Death Knight
The Death Knight will have three talent trees and new spells and abilities will be added for the death knight. The death knight will be looked at being primarily a tank or a dps character. The Death Knight will wear plate and will tank with a two handed weapon or dual wield. Death Knights will not likely use shields.

And More...

Here at Blizzcon 2007, Blizzard held an excellent panel on raid and dungeons, lets the information spill. I attended the panel and jotted down some information of interest.

• Possibly one new 5 man before next expansion.
• KTM and Deadly Boss Mods built into game.
• Ideas for an Item Rack functionality that has extra storage space for alternate sets of gear.
• And more...

Click below to read more,

Follow the adventures of Sabrehawk and BlackRhino as they take on Sin City during SOE's Fan Faire 2007 at the Rio in Las Vegas. Can they survive the neon lights? Will BlackRhino ever play anything but penny slots? Will Sabrehaw run amok?

Click below to find out, and keep checking back for updates!

Chances are, if you enjoy even a passing interest in MMOGs, you know Richard Garriott. You know Lord British, his online alter-ego from Ultima Online, is a name he takes seriously. So when he walked into the presentation room in which I was sitting in sci-fi military regalia - with a beret and black cowboy boots and spurs - and introduced himself as General British, I had to stand up and salute.

Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising is on the way from Perpetual Entertainment and SOE's Platform Publishing. At SOE Gamer Day in New York last week, we caught up with Perpetual President Chris McKibbin to discuss and demo this squad-drive title that seeks to fuse the best parts of single player RPGs and MMOs.

"Far more people know the fiction of mythology than any license," McKibbin pointed out during our demo. It's something most people don't think of when they see a game like Gods and Heroes, but it's a valid point.

At a basic level, anyone with a high school history education likely knows enough about Rome to get by. That familiarity makes the more obscure points easier to grasp. The core of the game's overarching story pits an ancient race of gods called the Telchine in a war against the Olympians for control of the heavens. The players, as the half-children of deities, adventure on Earth on behalf of their parents (the Olympians) to thwart the Telchine schemes. The average player likely has no earthly clue what a Telchine is, but most everyone has a vague idea that Jupiter is more than just the name of a really big planet. This familiarity breeds curiosity, and is more likely to capture the average person than Elves and Dwarves.

Read more after the click.

SOE looked to the future at an event this week in New York and WarCry was there. Dana Massey reports on where the business is going and gives an overview of where its at in the first of several articles from that event.

COO Russell Shanks summed up the focus of SOE in three words: "diversifying, globalizing, hiring." These echoed Simmons' statements and also hinted at the larger theme. SOE is a company that wants to bring MMOs to the mainstream in a way no one has yet to accomplish.

Read more after the click.