It’s that time of year when Turbine fans can take knives to pumpkins in search of Turbine points, special titles and a special in game pet if you’re playing Asheron’s Call! From October 18th until November 5th, you can send in photos of game-themed pumpkins to celebrate spooky Halloween. Photos must be original works, no larger than 6mb in size, have a resolution of at least 1024 x 768 and be emailed as an attachment to  community@turbine.com with the subject line Pumpkin Carving Contest. For a complete list of all rules, terms, and conditions, go to Turbine’s official announcement.

For the Best Asheron’s Call Pumpkin:

• 60 Days of Free Game Time
• A Pet Pumpkin Golem (I’d love to see a screenie of this, it sounds adorable!)
• An in-game title: “Jack-o’-all Trades (2011)”
• Custom Forum Title: “Jack-o’-all Trades”

For the Best Dungeons & Dragons Online Pumpkin:

• 3000 Turbine Points
• Custom Forum Title: “Dragonmark of Spooky (2011)”

For the Best Lord of the Rings Online Pumpkin:

• 3000 Turbine Points
• Custom Forum Title: “Master Carver (2011)”

Each game will also have one runner up, who will receive the corresponding custom forum title.

Asheron’s Call has released Plans Within Plans,  a new event, last September 21. This time the upcoming of a new playable race is the main feature, as the Undead are now counted among the peoples of Dereth that players can choose to create characters.

The playable Undead are refugees from House Mhoire from the Dericost, fleeing from a nasty curse set upon them. To scape the curse, they use rituals and potions allowing them to go and find their own fate, away from the strict cast system that rules the Dericost undead. This new race is starting to adopt the cultures and practices of the living races,  joining  an alliance with them, hoping for an equal living in freedom.

Looks like we have the typical “Hey, i’m dead but i live!” issue here, but i think it’s always good to have new choices for playable races. Asheron’s Call players have now the chance to start a new race character and have fun from, maybe, a different point of view.

The release notes include other features, check it out after the jump.

Continued…

Turbine’s long-running MMO Asheron’s Call has released some update notes and details for its August event, named Quiet Before the Storm.

The August changes include many tweaks and bugfixes that are sure to please players, including animation and texture updates to smooth out character movements. Additionally, changes were made to the Gear Knight hunting area, the Mace Paradox Olthoi Weapons, and Asheron’s Lesser Benediction.

This month will also feature the Quiet Before the Storm event, which includes new quest NPCs, evil plant foes, and a number of unique items.

Screenshots of Quiet Before the Storm and some new short stories about the event are available on the Asheron’s Call website.

This month, Turbine’s Asheron’s Call is keeping the pace with modern MMOs by putting out several skill, item, and quest updates. Notable additions include a revamped Monthly “Kill Task”, a shiny new armor set, and a veritable laundry list of updated quest rewards.

July has proven to be a busy month for Turbine. In addition to the aforementioned content patches, Asheron’s Call played host to in-game event, simply titled, “July Event”. A handful of vibrant screenshots were posted, though I am still unsure as to what people were doing… Regardless, the event was more than just an in-game forest romp; game lore was also written to accompany the celebration. Not many games do this as much as they should, and creating additional storylines to go along with existing fiction is a great way to flesh out a game universe.

From “Filling in the Blanks”:

Asheron had spent weeks in his sanctuary, working on ways to both stabilize Portalspace and to isolate the threat that had attacked his earlier efforts at freeing the small pocket of his people Claude had directed him to.  A small army of Emissaries and Golems swarmed through the sanctuary, rushing the construction of the three devices he’d need to make more permanent corrections to the destabilized area in Portalspace.

Information on the July Event, including screenshots and fiction, can be found here.

The Asheron’s Call (AC) design team thanked Matt “Scenario” Elliott for his concept art as they unveiled a new armor set via screenshot. The new set (very The Rocketeer, no?) Is being made available to players to acquire during AC’s July event.

Continued…

Today, Warner Bros. Entertainment announced that they have acquired Turbine, the developer behind Lord of the Rings Online, Asherons Call and Dungeons & Dragons Online.

Read below for more information:

“Turbine is a leader in online entertainment and a strong strategic fit for Warner Bros. as we continue to broaden our games portfolio and development capabilities,” said Kevin Tsujihara, president, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. “Turbine’s renowned online game development and publishing expertise will help us develop additional online product offerings, while also providing us with new and innovative ways to market and communicate with our consumers.”

Founded in 1994 and operating primarily in Boston, Turbine has created some of the most popular and exciting gaming worlds on the Internet, including Dungeons & Dragons Online®: Eberron Unlimited™, the world’s best free-to-play massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) and The Lord of the Rings Online™, the first and only MMORPG based on the books of J.R.R. Tolkien. Previously, Warner Bros. held all The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) games rights, with the exception of the literary MMO (massively multiplayer online game) rights. Now all games rights for the LOTR franchise will be unified under the Warner Bros. shield.

“We have been looking to expand access to our online worlds to more players and more markets,” said Jim Crowley, president and CEO, Turbine, Inc. “This acquisition is very exciting because it allows us to expand globally while continuing to focus on creating spectacular online games that our loyal fans and players have come to expect.”

Additionally, the acquisition of Turbine provides Warner Bros. with access to a proprietary digital publishing platform that enables dynamic direct-to-consumer relationships, robust online merchandising opportunities and vibrant e-commerce functionality for online games. Turbine has also developed a social networking platform that can integrate their self-developed online communities with popular third-party social networks. Outside of the games arena, these platforms present unique opportunities for Warner’s other home entertainment businesses.

“Turbine is recognized globally for its industry-leading technology, groundbreaking graphics and its unique ability to create and operate massive and persistent online worlds which greatly enhance players’ social gaming experiences,” said Martin Tremblay, president, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “The Lord of the Rings Online and  Dungeons & Dragons Online have both been an enormous success for Turbine and we look forward to working with their talented development team to continue creating award-winning online games.”

Click here, to see the press release in its entirety.

Last December I posted an article about the top 5 most memorable events in MMORPG history which received a huge response from the MMO community.  Today I decided it revisit this post and list a few more of the top events in MMORPG history.  These are in no particular order:

Serenity Now Bombs a Funeral – World of Warcraft – March 2006

While not the first funeral massacre, it is the most famous that I know of.  An in-game funeral was being held for a girl guildmate that died in real life when it was attacked by a rival guild Serenity Now.  The guild posted on message boards about the funeral and asked players not to break it up as it was in a PvP zone.  Obviously one guild had other plans.  Click the link above to see the video.

Lord Kazzak Terrorizes Stormwind – World of Warcraft – 2006

Before the release of The Burning Crusade, it was possible to lure Lord Kazzak, an outdoor raid boss to Stormwind.  Once there he basically became invincible since he gains massive health every time he kills someone.  With the release of TBC, Lord Kazzak has since been chained to the Blasted Lands.

Shard of the Herald – Asheron’s Call – Nov 2000

The Shard of the Herald was the final shard in Asheron’s Call which was hidden until the first 6 shards had been destroyed.  With the destruction of the final shard, the legendary demon Bael’Zharon would be released as well as new more powerful weapons and items for player .  However players were given a choice to either attack or protect the final shard.  The playerbase on all the servers became divided into those wanting to destroy the shard and those who swore to protect it.  As the battle raged across AC’s servers, the defenders held their ground and were able to protect the shard, this was until the developers stepped in to help the attackers.  NPC controlled by developers contacted the most powerful players and those that passed the test were given  powerful items for their service and dubbed Bael’Zharon’s “Dark Masters”.  Shortly after the Shard of the Herald was destroyed on all servers except for one, Thistledown.  Defenders on Thistledown got organized and started to monitor the status of the shard and setup shifts where players would come to protect it.  The defenders were able to successfully defend the shard until once again the developers step in and stacked the side of the attackers by adding several mythological followers of Bael’Zharon to aid in the attack.  The Shard of Herald was thus destroyed, but the defenders of the shard on the Thristledown server were rewarded with a statue bearing the names of the leaders to commemorate those who stood against Bael’Zharon’s dark followers.

Fansy The Famous Bard – Everquest – July 2001

When Everquest created the no rules server Sullon Zek , they didn’t anticipate a Bard by the name of Fansy.  The no rules server was just that with one exception, players below lev 6 could not be player killed.  The new server was split into good and evil with most players choosing to become evil.  Eventually Fansy decided to join the server on the side that no one wanted to play on and became a bard.  Fansy leveled to level 5 when he realized he could train a sand giant, a high level monster that normally a bard couldn’t train until a much high level.  But this was a no-rule server so Fansy proceeded to create an small army of sand giants.  Still being level 5, Fansy then traveled through out the realm slaying anyone in his path.   Eventually the highest level player on the server came up against Fansy, but being invulnerable stood no chance.  Eventually GMs were notified of this loophole, but for 3 days Fansy was allowed to wreak havoc on the Sullon Zek server until finally the no-rule server got some rules.

Shadowbane Server Hacked – Shadowbane – May 2003

What started out as items and money disappearing from players characters, soon turned into the most chaotic event in MMORPG history.  Hackers were able to take control of one of Shadowbanes servers for a few hours and basically do whatever they wanted.  It seemed like the hackers has a sweet tooth for newbie blood as noobs were the main targets of the attacks.

“The population of an entire Shadowbane town was forcibly moved to the bottom of the sea, where they drowned. City guards turned feral and attacked town residents. Mobs of never-before-seen superpowerful creatures, seemingly spontaneously spawned from the ether, began to prowl the streets unchecked, killing characters in the most painful way possible.”

One safe zone in particular, “Newbie Island” became one of the main targets.

“Experienced players looked on in horror as new players were slowly and gleefully dismembered by ax-wielding ogres.  Others just laughed and looted the characters’ bodies after the ogres were done.”

Eventually this hacked server was rolled back and all players were able to regain their items.

Massive Protests – Starwars Galaxies – 2005

When Starwars Galaxies did the “Combat Upgrade” players of the community rose up in protest stating that the new combat system was too simple and was dumbed down. Cancellation rose, but eventually leveled off and SWG started to grow back until the release of the “New Game Enhancements” update.  This was the last straw for players as the new upgrade further dumbed the game down.  Protest erupted on the SOE message boards asking for an explanation.  SOE decided to delete any negative posts and then started to mass ban users, which eventually lead to the forums being closed down.  However players were not done yet and decided to take their protest in-game.  Meeting up in star ports players cranked up their graphics settings and started to open multiple windows using their data pads, coupled with channel spam and the fact everyone was in the same location caused server loads to sky rocket.  Players were being threatened with account suspension and bannings, but the players got their point across, although it was too late to save SWG.

Fallador Massacre (666 Massacre) – Runescape – June 6, 2006

On this day 6/6/06 a player by the name of Cursed_you was about to reach lev 99 in construction, the highest level ever reached for that skill and decided to celebrate by having a house party.  As players showed up, many went into the dungeon where they could participate in PvP.  After some time Cursed_you had enough and decided to expel everyone out of his house.  What happened next no one could have predicted.   With so many players being expelled at once, the game just couldn’t handle it.  So when players were out of Cursed_you’s house they realized they retained the ability to PvP, anywhere!  Many quickly saw the benefit and started killing anyone they could, taking their gold and looting their corpses.  GMs quickly became aware of the situation and tried to warn other players to log off or bank their items, but it was already too late.

A few months ago, last Dec 2007,  Eve Online underwent a huge update with their Trinity expansion. This free expansion not only added new features, ships and items, but was also a complete graphical update to keep up with the next generation of MMOs. Eve Online as far as I know is the first MMO to completely revamp their current game instead of creating a sequel which not only keeps all your current members, but creates enough of a buzz much like a sequel to boost membership numbers.

Taking a look at some past sequels, Asheron’s Call 2, Everquest 2 and Lineage 2, none of these sequels were able to match their predecessor’s in terms of members. Not only that, but if you combined the numbers from both games after a year, they were less than the original game at its peak.

So why can’t MMORPG sequels succeed?

Starting over – After playing an MMORPG for 2 years, do you really want to start over in what basically is the same game with updated graphics? Regaining your levels and items, finding a new guild and friends to quest with? From the numbers it doesn’t look like many do and they end up sticking with the original.

It’s basically the same game - Making a sequal for a MMO is not like making a sequel to Halo. Many, many things must remain the same. Races, maps, towns, ect. Sure there will be new areas, new features, possibly a new race or two a maybe a new skill system, but for the most part your playing the same game with updated graphics.

Dying game - When a sequel to a game comes out, it basically feels like the original game is on its way out. For those members that stay with the original, it feels like your the old man at the bar and eventually you’ll stop going there.

New games – Once a sequel comes out many gamers do not want to make the switch for reasons stated above. They also know that eventually there going to have to move on as the original game begins to die. So if they’re going to have to start over, why not start over with a brand new game with brand new stories and atmosphere.

Not only do subscription numbers plummet after a sequel, but you have to put in the cost of creating the sequel. It will be interesting to see if GuildWars 2 follows in suit with the games mentioned above.

Going back to Eve Online, I think the studio was fully aware of the track records for MMOs sequels when it decided to do a complete update to the current game instead of making a sequel. I’m sure all Eve Online players also prefer this method especially since the expansion was free. Way to go Eve!

Many of you may not know it, but Microsoft has actually had their hands in quite a few MMORPG projects within the past few years. No stranger to the videogame marketplace in general, it only seemed to make sense that one of the largest providers of consoles and games would also begin to dabble in the increasingly profitable (for some!) MMO business. However, after attempting to take on three separate projects over the last five years one was sold off, and the other two were killed off and left what could only be described as a very shallow grave. I am, of course, speaking of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Mythica, and Marvel Universe Online.

Announced back in 2002 Mythica was Microsoft’s first attempt at making an MMORPG. It was actually quite a neat sounding game at that. Based on the legends and lore of Norse mythology your character would actually be a “demi god” that was able to wipe out multiple enemies at once. Something that still hasn’t been done today. Unfortunately, just over a year in development, Microsoft was sued by Mythic Entertainment due to the name, Mythica, being to close to Mythics own name. Worries that the consumer would get confused were the primary reasons for the lawsuit. Then on May 25th of 2004, Microsoft officially canceled the title citing a competitive MMORPG environment as the main cause, although rumours still swirl today that the lawsuit was what actually cause Microsoft to call the game quits.

Microsoft’s other fantasy MMO, Vanguard, was not to be killed off but rather sold off. Beginning development in 2002, Sigil Entertainment and Microsoft entered into a partnership that had Sigil developing the game with Microsoft publishing/owning the rights to the game. However, due to Brad McQuaid’s inability to show Microsoft what they wanted on the original timeline provided they eventually began bickering about the project. Then in May 2006, Sigil acquired the name back from Microsoft, much to Microsoft’s joy, and proceeded to work on the game in their own manner  securing a publishing agreement with SOE instead of Microsoft. In the end, however, not even SOE would continue funding the game and as such it was released in a “beta” stage that has forever cursed the game to oblivion.

Finally, we have Marvel Universe Online. Perhaps Microsoft’s most ambitious MMO project to date and yet still it could not be escape it’s inevitable cancellation date. Announced back in 2005, Marvel and Microsoft, in association with Cryptic Studios (devs behind the famous City of Heroes MMO),  began work on the “next gen” super hero Marvel MMORPG. Stating that the game would cover over 60 years worth of marvel comics it really comes as little surprise that the game was canceled in less than 3 years. At this point Microsoft was already creating quite a reputation for its MMO business and after a year with no new information people already began development of this project. Like Mythica, in 2008, Microsoft canceled the project due to “an inability to compete with the current MMO marketplace.” Today most of the same work done on the Marvel MMO can be found in Champions Online, Cryptics newest super hero MMORPG.

So that pretty much wraps up Microsoft’s MMO history. They also helped in operating the Asheron’s Call games, of which one was canceled, but beyond that there really isn’t anything more to add. It’s actually quite odd that Microsoft has given up on every MMO they have personally pursued. Especially considering that every MMO seems to have been given up on as a result of Microsoft not having enough faith in the franchise for it to be successful. Sounds like somebody might need to start talking to a counselor…