MMO Roundup: RIFT, lawsuits, Gabe Newell, and more
by Alex Ziebart 
Jan 11th 2011 at 9:00AM
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Them's fightin' words: RIFT commercial takes on WoW "We're not in Azeroth anymore," Trion Worlds' new TV commercial proclaims before a rift gobbles up the words. This 30-second spot for RIFT features a hero opening a rift with a jewel, a dragon roaring, an ogre on the warpath, and adventurers gearing up for the fight. Want to see it? Head over to Massively. |
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Blizzard, Zynga sued over gaming patent What's an upstart company to do in a world dominated by deep-pocketed publishers and corporate titans? Sue them, of course! Walker Digital, the brainchild of Priceline.com founder Jay Walker, made headlines by suing Facebook late last year and has now completed a legal double play by filing a patent infringement suit against Zynga and Activision-Blizzard. |
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RIFT beta events: Impressions from the Massively staff Trion Worlds' RIFT has become the talk of the town in MMO-land lately. Since the NDA dropped a few weeks ago, every MMO blogger, journalist, and fan is spewing his impressions of the game. Head over to Massively to find out what the staff really thinks about the game. |
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Valve's Gabe Newell recognizes the innovation of MMOs Think the PC is losing its grip as the dominant platform when it comes to gaming innovation? Not so fast, says Valve's Gabe Newell. In fact, he even cites MMOs as a leading cause of the PC platform's continued innovation. And when Newell speaks, gamers and game makers listen. |
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World of Tanks hits 74,536 peak concurrent users on one server Wargaming.net's upcoming title World of Tanks is continuing to surprise us. Last week, Wargaming.net confirmed that over 1 million accounts had been registered for the closed beta. Now, World of Tanks hit its peak concurrent number of users on one server -- 74,536, nearing the unofficial record set by Second Life in 2008. |
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Week in Review: Weighed and counted Don't let WoW Insider do all of the talking when it comes to Massively's best content of the week. The Massively staff themselves have picked out what they think is the best content their site has to offer in their own weekly roundup. |
Filed under: MMO Roundup
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Rainkeltoia Jan 11th 2011 9:07AM
In regards to suing Activision/Blizzard... are they stupid? Battlenet was launched in January 1997 with the release of Blizzard's action-RPG Diablo (from wikipedia). Apparently someone didn't do their homework.
Drakkenfyre Jan 11th 2011 7:04PM
While I agree the lawsuit is stupid, and has no standing, Diablo does not qualify for what the patent was supposed to cover.
Diablo was not an MMORPG. The data for the characters were stored on the player's computer, not on Battle.net servers. There was no "tournament" with the original Diablo.
The patent covers an MMORPG, that stored character data on the server, for later use for benefit to the character, in a tournament.
There are other games which this applies to before the patent was filed, but Diablo is not one.
Also, Diablo came out in December of 1996, but whoever put the date in the Wikipedia article was wrong.
icepyro Jan 11th 2011 8:03PM
My complaint is the patent covers a database driven game wherein participants pay an entry fee to connect and play. The results and awards are then stored in the database for future reward.
WoW is not a tournament, though it contains them.
Subscription fees are not tournament entry fees, as the fees are universal and can be used for nontournament activites.
Games like the CoD series may remember records, but do not give awards that players carry between games. There is no entry fee to play the games except where tournaments are held, which are driven by separate software (or none at all). Xbox/Windows Live is a subscription based service which, again, deals with more than tournament related activites.
Yeah, essentially any grounds that can be construed to apply are also means that prove that the technology before the game was in use long before the game in question OR EVEN the patent's existence.
Seriously, look at the patent and explain to me how this applies to WoW in any form other than the fact players connect to a central control server (which battle.net has used since 1997 as previously pointed out).
razion Jan 11th 2011 9:58AM
So... basically a conspiracy-minded company thought it would be a good idea to sue Blizzard-Activision so they could drain their money in the discovery process of the case.
"You made a tournament--ONLINE! That's OUR idea, you can't take it!"
... I'm sorry, but that's just ridiculous and greedy, I don't care where you come from. :/
bob Jan 11th 2011 10:18AM
"a hero opening a rift with a jewel, a dragon roaring, an ogre on the warpath, and adventurers gearing up for the fight."
Sounds a lot like Azeroth to me.
Baba Jan 11th 2011 12:32PM
No no bob, they specifically told us that we WEREN'T in azeroth anymore... :S
Elmouth Jan 11th 2011 1:05PM
He's right, just wait til server launch, you'll definitly feel like you're not ina zeroth anymore when the servers fuck up and the company fails to deliver.
Oh silly RIFT, causing their own downfall :)
roseclown Jan 11th 2011 1:15PM
Yeah, I was looking at it going...
So, in order to prove it's NOT WoW, you have a two-headed ogre in the first couple seconds? That looks a LOT like the ones in WoW?
/facepalm
Not to mention the tentacles being very similar to the ones in cataclsym.
DrunkenPandaren Jan 11th 2011 3:41PM
Sounds a lot like any other Fantasy MMO to me.
Siorra Jan 11th 2011 10:37AM
Kinda wish player models looked that detailed, though. Still stand by the fact that the rest of the world looks great now. :)
El DLo Jan 11th 2011 10:40AM
I love how they say this game isn't Azeroth (RIFT) but their premise summary is the literal description of Cataclysm.
"RIFT is a new fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) from Trion Worlds, where thousands of players adventure together to save a world being torn apart by magical rifts that unleash deadly planar invasions."
Mofasa Jan 11th 2011 12:26PM
Cataclysm HAS happened. These rifts change the world all the time, you might log out in a war against the elemental plane of fire. The next day you might logg into a world nearly consumed by the plane of fire where it rains brimstone. A peaceful world... or at war against a different plane
Artificial Jan 11th 2011 3:42PM
There's pretty much nothing in common between the two with regards to magical rifts, what they are, how they're being caused, their scale, how often they're occurring, or the place they take in the ongoing story and gameplay. So, no.
Ruth Jan 11th 2011 8:20PM
But players still get to fight C'thun/Yogg-Saron/Cthulhu/whatever people decide to name this particular tentacled beast?
Ruth Jan 11th 2011 8:24PM
Not to mention, where's the persistance? The sense of accomplishment if the land you've taken over today could be ash and dust tomorrow?
I know WoW doesn't always deal the best with that, but when you complete a phased area, it's completed. It can't just revert back or even change into something else after you've logged.
Tirrimas Jan 11th 2011 10:45AM
That gal looks like the love child of a Belf and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas.
Hih Jan 11th 2011 11:09AM
Rift looks promising, and I really do hope it does well. I would love to see another MMO out there that's as successful as WoW is.
The "cheap shot" commercial was completely stupid and unnecessary though. I hope that doesn't backfire too badly for them.
Poxus Jan 11th 2011 11:16AM
I just got done playing Beta 4...and if it wasn't for WOW being the fantasy themed MMO I play and Swotor being the change of pace MMO I am most looking forward too, I'd probably play Rift as it takes me back to feeling like EQ was at first.
It is a very polished game so if you are tired of WoW but love the fantasy themed MMO's, you should definitely try it out.
Vogie Jan 11th 2011 11:31AM
It looks like... WoW. But not full WoW. It's like Warhammer meets Aion in Vanilla WoW, pretending to be cataclysm.
I'm not impressed.
I do like their multiclass system. Being able to Respec from a Death Knight to a Warrior or Protadin would be cool, as would switching between a rogue and hunter... but that's about it. The 24/4/3 system is going to be significantly harder to balance than WoW's 31/10/3 system, without making everything really bland.
Snowfeather Jan 11th 2011 11:33AM
I'd love to try RIFT out, it does look fantastic, however, I play on a mac, without the funds to get a retail copy of Windows 7 to duel boot in bootcamp. So until these nice looking MMOs start becoming mac compatible I'll stick with wow. I already have 6 years and 4 collector's editions invested in it, why leave a good thing? :D