ALT+F4 is jam packed with MMO news today, as well as clarification from Bethesda on Todd Howard indicating that the next Elder Scrolls game isn’t happening any time soon, which caused alarm for quite a few gamers out there. Guild Wars 2 has started the slow build up to Hypetown with a new teaser site. The Champions Online beta has opened up, and I’ve taken it for a bit of a spin. To ice the MMO cake, Realtime Worlds has announced that APB is not going to carry any subscription fees with it, gamers wallets rejoice!

Check it all out, after the jump.

Guild Wars 2 Starts Teasing

We’ve always known that Guild Wars 2 was going to come out eventually, but details have been more than sparse for quite a long time. Now, however, Guild Wars 2 is firing up the hype machine with the number two taking the form of a dragon, that you can check out for yourself right here. It looks all fiery, and there’s smoke coming off of it, so it’s safe to assume that this has something to do with a dragon, fire, or smoke, or any combination of the three. However, I feel confident that Wars and Guilds will be definite features.

Take a look at the teaser site right here.

http://www.guildwars2.com/

Bethesda Wants You to Chillax

Todd Howard indicating that The Elder Scrolls series might be on ice, for the time being, was remedied yesterday on the Bethesda Blog. They also go ahead and kill off any speculation as to what he meant when he said, “I guess there’s a chance.” in regards to a TES MMO. They don’t want anyone to go drawing conclusions from anything that was said, positive or negative.

Todd and Bethesda Game Studios are hard at work on their next big game, and we’re not ready to discuss it. As always, we prefer to have something amazing to show when we talk about it. We aren’t going to confirm or deny or comment on speculation, nor are we going to give hints about anything. If you know us by now, you know we don’t really do that.

In regards to the MMO comment, he was asked if there was “any chance of an Elder Scrolls MMO” and he replied — in a joking fashion — by saying “I guess there’s a chance.” To be clear, Todd and his team do not make MMOs, for any franchise, at all. We have another division – ZeniMax Online Studios – which is lead by Matt Firor, and they are working on an MMO. They have not said anything about what game they are making. When ZeniMax Online is ready to show what they are up to, we’ll let everyone know. Until then we aren’t going to provide hints or speculate on what they’re doing either.

I think it’s safe to say that everyone can put away their pitchfork, and stick the torch back in the torch… box, at least until more information has been divulged. Regardless of what Bethesda is working on, I’ll be looking forward to it, always being one to enjoy their brand of world building.

Take a look at the Bethesda Blog post, right here.

Champions Online Beta: Open and Awesome

Yesterday brought with it the opening of the Champions Online MMO from Cryptic. I have to say that, so far, I’m having an absolute blast running through the game with a friend of mine, we make quite the ridiculous super-team. The character customization is unparalleled, allowing anyone to do just about anything they can imagine. It feels more like a brawler/fighting game than an MMO, which is about the highest praise an MMO can have, I’d say. Look for a more in-depth look at my time with it to come soon.

Does that sound like fun? If it does, just check the site tomorrow afternoon for your chance to win one of five keys. Hope to see you in the world of tight spandex and laser eyes.

APB, No Fee?

Due to some news breaking on vg247, if you’re a fan of Realtime Worlds, you just got something to be excited about. The developers behind Crackdown are now revealing that there won’t be a monthly fee tacked onto their new MMO, APB. You’re still going to have to pony up for the game itself, just like with any other game, but it seems like a pretty deal so far. They go onto mention that they haven’t yet decided how they’re going to support the game, but it’s a safe bet micro transactions of some sort are going to find their way in.

[Source: vg247]

       

Tags: apb, Bethesda, Champions Online, Guild Wars 2, The Elder Scrolls, Todd Howard

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 10:15 pm and is filed under News, PC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.