This afternoon, I had the opportunity to sit in on a roundtable interview with DC Universe Online Creative Director Jens Andersen, SOE Executive Director of Development Lorin Jameson, and the most recent addition to the DCUO team, Executive Producer Lawrence Liberty. The topic? DCUO's biggest downloadable content (DLC) update yet: The Battle for Earth (DLC 3). With the update launching on Tuesday, March 13th, have an advanced peek at what's to come!
It's no secret that I've been a huge proponent of competitive PvP in MMORPGs from the very beginning, and even though many attempts have been made to generate a robust tournament-friendly MMO (Fury, World of Warcraft 3v3 arena, the original Guild Wars), the results have been less than stellar. That being said, Guild Wars 2 probably has the highest chance of any MMORPG to break into the mainstream competitive light and I, for one, could not be more excited. Throughout my experiences in the press beta two weeks ago, I spent much of it testing out all sorts of PvP builds. Near the end of the testing window, I also got the opportunity to grill ArenaNet Game Designer Jon Peters about the various design choices made to help GW2 succeed as a competitive MMORPG.
Of course, I didn't record any of it.
Regardless, I did manage to catch up with Jon once again to get his thoughts in a more formal manner, so without further ado, check out our interview with Game Designer Jon Peters on Guild Wars 2's combat, PvP, and eSports aspirations!
Come Monday the 27th, Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) will release its newest content update. Titled “Web of Chaos,” the free update will set the stage for the expansion pack that is to be released later this year. We had the chance to chat with Fernando Paiz, the Executive Producer of DDO, who gave us the inside scoop not only of what to expect this week… but also what will be unveiled in the expansion pack! That information is under embargo until later this week so, for now, we’ll focus on update 13.
Be sure to check out ZAM's hands-on preview with The Secret World from last week!
Two weeks ago, I went up to Montreal for a second exclusive hands-on preview of Funcom's The Secret World. In comparison to my first visit, this event was more about getting more in-depth with the game to see its inner mechanics at work. Of course, this also meant that I needed to step up the depth of my interview questions, so when I sat down with Lead Designer Martin Bruusgaard, I knew this was my opportunity to get as many discussions going as humanly possible. What follows is an extensive in-depth interview on some of The Secret World's inner mechanics, including a run-down on crafting, TSW's international server architecture, persistent warzone PvP, and PvP rewards. It's a bit of a lengthy read, but trust me when I say it's packed full of information! Onward!
In this five-part miniseries, we sat down with the developers behind the highly anticipated MechWarrior Online to talk about everything you want to know about this upcoming action title. Be sure to check out our previous interviews in the series:
If there's one thing that's consistently impressed me about MechWarrior Online so far, it's just how much information Piranha Games has been throwing out in their developer blogs and community Q&As. That said, there's just nothing quite like getting one key member of the Piranha Games team to sit down for an interview, and we've done just that, but with five different members of the Piranha Games crew! This marks the second interview of our MechWarrior Online Interview miniseries, and up today is... the President of Piranha Games himself, Russ Bullock!
In this five-part miniseries, we sat down with the developers behind the highly anticipated MechWarrior Online to talk about everything you want to know about this upcoming action title. Be sure to check out our previous interviews in the series:
If, like me, you're ancient enough to remember the BattleTech cartoon, the recent news of the Centurion's inclusion in the forthcoming MechWarrior Online (MWO) will have your old man suspenders in a knot. Valten Ryder fans can rejoice because everyone's favorite medium-class Mech is getting some love. Responsible for "some of the most reckless displays of Mech-jockeying ever seen," Valten Ryder and his father's beat up Centurion made the series what it was; so this piece of news has the twelve-year-old boy inside me jumping for joy (and I just realized how bad that sounded).
Anyway, to add to the excitement, we recently had the opportunity to speak with Bryan Ekman, Creative Director at Piranha Games, to talk about all things MechWarrior. Ekman clued us in on what to expect from MWO when it is finally released in 2012, and we also got to talking about the state of the series, inspirations, in-game currency and how the game will play. So buckle up, prepare your mind grapes and get ready to see the same three MWO pictures you've been looking at for the last few months (we'll work ong getting you some new art assets) because, without further ado, here is part one of ZAM's exclusive five part interview with the team behind MechWarrior Online.
Change has been rumbling through the online gaming industry for some time now, and no company better represents this shift than Sony Online Entertainment. In the past year alone, two flagship SOE titles have made the transition from the traditional subscription-based revenue model to the more flexible microtransaction-based free-to-play model: DC Universe Online and EverQuest II. Of course, these two weren't the first to make the big shift for SOE, as their popular children's MMORPG, Free Realms, has already been pushing its popular microtransaction goodies for close to three years now.
Regardless, it seems like change is here to stay, and with SOE experiencing some phenomenal success with their free-to-play transitions, I decided to sit down with SOE's Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, Laura Naviaux, to talk about the future of online gaming microtransaction models, SOE's vision for 2012, and much more. If you're at all interested in what's going on with the online gaming industry and the revenue models that govern it, take a read!
2011 is over, and we’re going to party like it’s the end of the world in 2012. Which it might be, if the Mayans are right! But whatever happens, Turbine has made sure that 2012 will be a huge year for Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO). I had the chance to chat with Executive Producer Fernando Paiz, who gave us a brief overview of the state of the game in 2011, and what to expect in this new year. Big news is on the horizon, including a new class, an increase in the level cap, and the first premium expansion, which will bring players out of Eberron and into the Forgotten Realms for the first time. ZAM has the scoop: read on for more!
The Riot Games staff is always a whirlwind of activity, with constantly shifting goals and projects that inevitably pick up more momentum as they go along. It's hard to believe that it was only two and a half (well, a little bit less) years ago when League of Legends and Riot Games were the new kids on the block, eager to carve a place for themselves in the industry. Now League of Legends is pretty much the face of the microtransaction & MOBA industry, and they've been making incredible gains within the eSports community. To bring in another year of League of Legends and last month's launch of Season Two, I decided to catch up with Riot Games to talk a little about the past of League of Legends and what might be on the horizon for future projects. Read on!
SWTOR fans are all on edge these days as we get closer and closer to the beginning of Early Game Access (tomorrow!). Of course, given BioWare's plans to stagger Early Game Access until the 20th, there are hundreds of thousands of players puttering around Torhead, starving for any new information to tide them over until next week. Luckily, ZAM's got you covered, and Editor-in-Chief Chris "Pwyff" Tom got the chance to speak to SWTOR Game Director James Ohlen about SWTOR's ambitious post-launch development plans, legacy system, official game canon, and much, much more. There's a lot to read here, so let's get started!
