It appears the Faxion Online is pretty much dead at this point if rumors turn out to be true. Over at the Faxion Online forums, a member posted a quote stating the source was “a UTV employee (Faxion team) who just got layed off“.  The UTV employee has this to say,

It(Faxion Online) is now officially dead. They laid off the rest of the Faxion team so there is no one left to do anything.

Last month is when the UTV layoffs began and if this forum post is correct, it looks like it’s the end of the line for Faxion. No official statement has been given yet.

Veteran video game consultant, Mark Cerny, who has worked with Sony on such titles as Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, Spyro and Ratchet & Clank, recently stated during a Sony panel discussion that he believes single-player games will be all but dead in three years.

I believe the traditional single-player game experience will be gone in three years…In a world with Facebook I just don’t think that’s going to last.

Cerney stated single-player games are becoming more and more intertwined with social networks and that sooner rather than later single-player games will die out.

He also pointed out that currently there’s no name for such type of a games, they aren’t single-player and they’re certainly not multiplayer, but somewhere in-between. Maybe Nintendo got it right with their recent trademark of the phrase “massively single player“.

When I first saw the title I thought, no chance, some people just aren’t into the whole multiplayer aspect of gaming, but now that I’ve had some time to mull it over, I completely agree. With gaming services like Steam, Xbox Live and PS Network, where players are already connected to a gaming network with their friends, why not introduce additional social connectivity for those game?

Think of it like Farmville on Facebook where you’re playing a single-player game, but can visit other people farms and interact with them. Now translate that to a game like GTA where a friend of yours decides he’s going to jump in and take the role of a random pedestrian while your continuing your single-player game, that seems pretty cool.

“A game without the presence of other players in it – you go out three or five years, I believe that is unthinkable given how connected we’re becoming,” Cerny concluded.

Nexon America released the official launch trailer to their upcoming MMORPG, Dragon Nest, which is still currently in open beta…and yes we do think it’s weird to be releasing a launch trailer when the game hasn’t launched yet. But hopefully that means launch is just around the corner.

Although still in open beta, Nexon has announced that it will roll directly into launch with no reset, so players will be able to retain their characters, items and anything they already purchased from the item store. Currently the Dragon Nest open beta is available to United States, Canada and Oceania gamers.

Dragon Nest follows the story of a band of adventurers as they battle the corrupt dragons and their followers in order to save Verathea, the once pure and beautiful world created by the goddess Althea.

Check out the Dragon Nest launch trailer after the jump.

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A ton of new information was revealed today at Gamescom about Guild Wars 2 PvP system. In fact two complete articles were posted up today, one from Jonathan Sharp, systems designer, and one from game designer, Jon Peters. Both articles cover a lot of the same points, so instead of regurgitating both, we’ve outlined some of the bigger points from each for your reading pleasure.  You can click either of the above links to read the full rundown if you don’t wan to miss anything.

Hot Join PvP

Guild Wars 2 will incorporating a server play list, called Hot Join, which you’ll be familiar with if you played any online FPS ever.  Players will receive a list of games, what map their on, the number of players currently in the game, then can join in.  Once a round is complete, a new map loads and the next match begins.  Player can join or leave a match at any time they wish.

Hot Join is split between pickup games and competitive.  Pickup games are casual and have no effect on your character as they are meant to get accustomed to maps, try out different builds or just for practice.

Competitive Hot Join tournaments are more structured and offer rewards.

Conquest PvP

Conquest PvP pits teams against each other as they compete over a certain amount of capture points on a map, which gives a team points. The team at the end with the most points wins.  GW2 is spicing up their conquest PvP system by adding secondary objectives to these maps.  These objectives can range from repair or destruction objectives, to fighting off a giant dragon that’s flying overhead. The goal being to add more strategy and to spice up the usual capture and hold system found in many other games.

Jonathan Sharps’ PvP articles goes into the Conquest PvP mode much more indepth if you want to find out more.

No PvP Leveling

When a player goes into the PvP system, they will have access to all the classes at the max level, all skills, items, etc. Players will then be able to pick whatever class they want and either use pre-made builds or come up with their own.  Once a player leaves PvP they go back to their normal PvE character.

NCSoft and Carbine Studios revealed today at Gamescom their brand new MMO game, WildStar. In WildStars players take on the role of an Explorer, Soldier, Scientist or Settler as they go on an epic adventure to a mysterious planet on the edge of known space.

Depending on a combination of faction, race, class, and path, WildStar will present gamers with unending surprises, mini-quests and challenges, ensuring that their experiences are fun and fresh.

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me NCSoft is targeting a much younger demographic with this one. The cartoonish look, its humor and lack of classes, with only four, seems like they are definitely aiming for a younger audience.

Below you can check out the WildStar trailer that was shown at Gamescom.

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Early this morning AreanNet posted up a new Guild Wars 2 trailer, which is over 5 mins long, showing off a ton of PvE combat and areas.

The video starts of a little slow showing off certain areas of the game, but then kicks it into high gear with some boss fights and plenty of PvE combat. The video looks absolutely amazing and for the first time I leaning towards GW2 over SWTOR as my most anticipated MMORPG of this year.

Anyway, check out the new Gamescom 2011 Guild Wars 2 trailer by continuing below.

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Instead of having a booth at the PAX Prime convention site, En Masse Entertainment will be hosting an open house for TERA fans in their downtown Seattle offices on Saturday, August 27th, from 3-7pm. This will be the first time En Masse has opened its doors to the public, and they’re throwing them open in style! Attendees will be able to play the current build of TERA, as well as talk to the game writers and the production team.  There will also be loot bags with TERA swag, and anyone over the age of 21 will be able to converse with the team over drinks after the event is over.

Attending the event is as simple as sending an email to community@enmasse.com with your full name, your TERA online username and birth date.  Read the official announcement here.

If tanks and aerial combat isn’t your thing, well maybe battleships are.

Today Wargaming.net announced their third World War 2 era MMO game World of Battleships. Like World of Warplanes and World of Tanks, WoB will be free-to-play and will allows players to select from various battleships of the era as players battle it out on the high seas.

Wagaming.net also plans to allow players from all three titles to “distribute resources” amongst themselves, meaning all three titles will be tied together in-game some how.  Whether it be by economy only or by some master world match only time will tell.

No, it’s not the next expansion to Warhammer Online, it looks like Games Workshop is expanding into the MOBA genre with their newest title Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes.

From the EA presentation today at Gamecom, it’s very similar to Warhammer Online’s scenario matches, except with more features. Wrath of Heroes will be Free2Play, allow for 6v6v6 matches and only feature pre-made heroes, which players can switch between mid-match.

Basically think of the WAR scenarios combines with a game like League of Leagends, and you get Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes.

Beta signups are already open and if you’re interested just head over the the WAR: WoH site. You can also see the official release trailer by continuing below which shows some gameplay.

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The release date for Funcom’s next MMORPG, The Secret World,has been officially announced as April 2012 during EA press conference at Gamescom. The release date is only for the PC version of the game, no Xbox 360 release date has been announced yet.

Fans that want to sign up to the closed beta can begin to on the official site, with closed beta testing beginning on August 26th.