Previews

Recently, our own Jordan Deam had a chance to explore Book 13 with some people from Turbine. He filed this extensive preview based on his talks with them and hands-on time in Middle-earth.

We traveled along the coastline until we reached a small fishing outpost controlled by a group of Gauredain. These lanky fellows weren't particularly keen on sharing their real estate with us, but after a few minutes of steel persuasion (aided by our crazy admin powers) we triumphantly reclaimed the hastily constructed hide canopies and bonfires for ourselves. But it was no use: before we could set up our hammocks and crack open a few brews, a group of nomadic Lossoth moved in and put us to work. The Lossoth are a hardy tribe of humans scattered across Forochel that aren't particularly friendly toward you when you first enter the zone. As you liberate their camps from hostile forces and complete quests for them, they gradually begin to realize that you're not there to kill them and entrust you with rare crafting recipes. My character, a Dwarf Guardian, was decked out in crafted Lossoth gear, a stylish Inuit-chic ensemble that grants some extra resistance to the cold.

Read more after the leap.

Based on a big group interview with Creative Director Chris Klug, Studio Head Dan Elggren, Art Director Howard Lyon and Technology Director Demetrius Comes we offer this preview of Stargate Worlds.

Each class can be placed along the spectrum of how combat oriented they are. For example, a Soldier is going to do the vast majority of their missions with a gun in hand, as one would expect. An Archeologist may do only a very few in that way. In between fall the other classes.

What does someone do in an MMO if not kill things, one might ask? Play mini-games related to the scenario is Cheyenne's answer. For those who seek and crave explosions, life can be happy as a Soldier, but this is only a small part of each scenario. A good group will have each person approach a given scenario from their strength, so while the Soldier lobs frags at the enemy, the archeologist might have to disarm a bomb or pick a lock.

Read more after the leap.

JR Sutich has one final report from his recent trip, we affectionately call "angry man goes to Washington". This time, it is a more general preview of Warhammer Online, largely based on what they showed and his own hands on experiences with the game. Topics include Capital Cities, crafting Realm vs. Realm and more.

Realm vs. realm conflict is an integral parts of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. During my visit, I was able to experience the ultimate goal of RvR and capture an opposing capital city. Defeating journalists from other websites in PvP combat was just a bonus.

The battle for the Order capital of Altdorf started in a military district of the city with players from both sides fighting over six control points. I played as a geared-up, leveled-up Chaos Chosen with a two-hand sword to maximize damage. When the battle started, I noticed an enemy player with a name that had been used the day before during our play session, so I knew someone in the room was playing. My suspicions were confirmed when I hit them for about a third of their health in one shot and the person to my immediate left exclaimed, "Oh my god!" Good times. While the rest of my team captured the control points, I managed to kill my hapless victim four more times.

Read it all after the leap.

JR Sutich offers us his impressions of keep and city siege in EA Mythic's Warhammer Online, which were demonstrated for him during a recent trip to their Fairfax, VA offices.

Today we will also have his preview of high level RvR, two exclusive screenshots (and a pile more) and an interview with Mark Jacobs on the company's decision to delay Warhammer Online until fall. Stay tuned!

In our demo, a ballista was built and when the character took control of the weapon the view changed into a first-person mode with large arrows representing a targeting reticule bordering the edges of the screen. Once a target was selected, the arrows began to slowly move towards the center with the intent that the closer the arrows got to each other, the more accurate the shot would be. Individuals can be targeted by a ballista but whenever you move your aim, the arrows reset to the outer edge and you will have a hard time hitting your target. Still, for the NPC that stood still long enough the ballista did a great deal of damage.

Read more after the leap.

During a trip up to DC, JR Sutich got hands on with the Warhammer Online Collector's Edition. As our resident and offers his impressions of what is in the box, in what is always an important announcement for the hardcore.

The Collector's Edition contents were decided upon by asking the question, "What are the quintessential elements of Warhammer?" One of the answers is of course, miniatures. But there are also great stories and great art.

Using White Box Technology™, EA Mythic showed that the box itself will be about 13"x10"x3" and will tip the scales at around 7 lbs. Much like everything about Warhammer, it could be used to crush a skull. The box art itself looked amazing and even if the box wasn't gigantic will be sure to make the CE stand out on store shelves.

For JR's preview, images of the CE and a fact sheet, click on.

JR "Razor" Sutich recently attended Codemasters Connect 08 in England and on site he got the first chance to play Jumpgate Evolution. A veteran of the original game, Sutich offers a unique perspective on how the remake has come.

He also sat down with Producer Hermann Peterscheck for some old fashion Q&A.;

The controls felt good and I had heard that there were some concerns that joysticks might not be able to take full benefit of the lateral thruster mechanics, but using the left hat switch on the X52's throttle seemed to work great. For those that want to have a flight model similar to the original, you can turn off the "dampeners" that determine the amount of effect the flight physics have on your movement. Just for the record, real pilots don't need any stinking dampeners.

Read more after the jump.

WarCry had the chance to meet with Technical Director George Petrov and Art Director Nikolay Stoyanov of Masthead Studios during our trip to the Game Developers Conference. We discussed Earthrise, their upcoming skill-based sci-fi MMO. Here is what we learned:

"[Earthrise is] a game that is about freedom," said Technical Director George Petrov. "[It is] not the usual fantasy MMO."

Their vision is most definitely a throwback to an era when there were many schools of thought in the MMO genre. Since World of Warcraft, companies have gravitated towards level based games that closely direct the player's experiences and they're almost universally fantasy. Earthrise rewinds the clock and is clearly inspired by Ultima Online, which rose to prominence a decade ago with a completely open skill-based system where players improve through using individual skills, rather than experience earned by killing monsters and completing quests.

Read it all after the click.

Pirates of the Burning Sea introduces Patch 1.2 to the live servers tomorrow morning and our own Jordan Deam got Flying Lab Software Producer Joe Ludwig into a headlock to find out what's in store for seafarers. Here is what we learned:

The refined UI is one big way they've made it easier for new players in 1.2, but the developers have gone a step further in the refinement of the tutorial system. Realistic naval combat has a skill-set that is unique to Pirates, and Flying Lab found that these skills weren't necessarily impressed on players strongly enough when they were introduced to the game. To remedy this, 1.2 features unique tutorials for each nation that should help players get a feel for the game's core, unique mechanics.

Read it all after the jump.

Jumpgate Evolution is the planned remake of NetDevil's 2001 debut dogfighting space MMOG. We spoke to Herman Peterscheck at the 2008 Game Developers Conference about the game and their plans for it.

"My rule is to try and keep the rules simple and let the complexity come from the interplay of the rules," explained Hermann Peterscheck, the producer of Jumpgate Evolution.

Jumpgate Evolution is about dogfights and real-time, player-skill-driven combat, while EVE is a higher level, tactical experience. Or to use the ultimate space-geek example, Jumpgate is to Star Wars as EVE is to Star Trek. The guns are aim and shoot, the world completely three dimensional (people can fly "upside down") and advancement unlocks new toys, but it is still up to the player to use them.

Read more after the jump.

At GDC 08, we sat down with LucasArts Producer Jake Neri and others from Star Wars Galaxies to discuss the game's direction in 2008. They spoke of a new development plan to bring more updates to their fans and incorporate more of their feedback.

In Update #2 they plan to focus on the Entertainer and Medic, not with a full overhaul, but with an assortment of changes and additions that have been highly requested from those segments of the community. This Update is due out in the next couple weeks.

Chapter 9 follows later this month and is headlined by a new heroic instance and epic villain from Star Wars lore: Exar Kun. Heroic instances are top-end dungeons, and this is their first new one since Chapter 7. In tune with their desire to be more reactive to the community, Exar Kun was chosen from a list of epic villains that the development team polled the community on during the planning phase of this Chapter.

Read more after the jump.