Vogster has just revealed the new trailer for its free-to-play MMO Crimecraft and is called Bleedout. This video showcases the style of this action game, where you shoot first and ask after, you know what I mean, easy bullets.

Continued…

After the April update, the CrimeCraft team is now working on another major game update – a singleplayer campaign. According to a report from Examiner, the purpose of the CrimeCraft Singleplayer update is to provide more content and make the gameplay richer and more enjoyable. Since the project has just started, developer Vogster Entertainment didn’t give any detail about it.

CrimeCraft was originally pay-to-play, but financial problems forced the team to go free-to-play, with monthly subscriptions still being available. Vogster’s other projects Robocalypse(Nintendo DS, iPhone, Wii) and Unbound Saga(Xbox 360).

Not too long ago I speculated that CrimeCraft might be in trouble when they announced back in Oct 09 they would start to offer an free subscription option. Today, I was browsing around CrimeCraft’s website and noticed they had a leaderboard setup for individual players and gangs.   So I decided to add up the numbers to see if I could guesstimate how many active players CrimeCraft currently has.

From an initial look, it seems that the individual leaderboard maxes out at 2,500 players, so it didn’t really help.  But when looking at the Gang Leaderboard, it only went up to 15 pages, less than the 125 pages for individual characters.  On top of that, the 15th page shows gangs mostly made up of 2-5 members, so from what I can tell it appears to be the bottom of the barrel.

Adding up the Members column, it came to 4704 players that are in gangs.  As with any MMO, there are always players that like to solo, so I decided to double the player number bringing my guesstimate to 9,408 active players.

Again, I’d like to stress this is only a guess, but I’d be very surprised to learn if I was off by more than a few thousand.

It was announced yesterday that the upcoming MMORPG Alganon, which is set for release on Oct 31st, will be available only through IGN’s gaming service Direct2Drive.

Players will be able to pre-order Alganon before the October 31, 2009 launch through Direct2Drive, and also through the Alganon website, giving access to the exclusive beta and bonus features which will not be available after launch.

Personally I don’t get why any game, yet alone a MMO, would ever want to restrict their release by only allowing one source to sell their game.  The most recent MMO to do this was CrimeCraft who had an exclusive agreement with BestBuy for their release.   I recently commented on the troubles Crimecraft was having because of this when they announce they were switching to a free2play model.

Now Alganon is following suit and I have no doubt will face the same troubles because of it.  While great for IGN I’m sure, it’s not so great for Alganon.  MMO’s live and die on subscription numbers and if there’s only one place your selling your game at, you’re going to be in trouble.

Today Vogster Entertainment, the developers behind the recently released MMORPG CrimeCraft, have announced a new subscription structure.  The changes will take effect towards the end of October and will include 2 subscription options and a unlimited free trial.

·        Unlimited Free Trial –New CrimeCraft players will be able to experience the major features of the game for free for as long as they want.

·        Varied Subscription Options – CrimeCraft will introduce a new Standard Subscription for $4.99/month in addition to the current $9.99/month Premium Subscription option. The major differences between the subscription levels is the extent of customization, skill slots, speed of experience gain and inventory capacity. Standard and Premium subscription features will also be showcased behind “velvet rope” areas to allow players to make a fully-informed subscription decision.

·       Seamless Transition – Players can seamlessly convert from a free trial to a paying account and switch between subscription levels. Features will be placed “on hold” or unlocked based on the current subscription level.

·        Original Gangsters – In appreciation of our current CrimeCraft customers, everyone that purchases the game between launch and the introduction of the free trial later this month will receive a third month of Premium Subscription at no cost, and a host of in-game rewards including an “Original Gangster” tag and icon for their characters as well as priority access to future content

The boxed version of CrimeCraft that is sold exclusively at Best Buy and FutureShop retail stores will remain the ideal way to jump into the world of Sunrise City. It now includes three free months of premium membership, an initial stake of 100 gold bars and access to exclusive in-game items – virtual apparel from Marc Ecko and Atticus Clothing, a discount card for in-game purchases and a combat backpack to expand carrying capacity.

Obviously sales and subscription numbers are not meeting expectations.   CrimeCraft was only released a little over a month ago on Aug 25th, so to see this kind of promotion this early on you know the game is in trouble.  If there are any CrimeCraft gamers reading this, we’d love to know the state of the game, so please write to us.

Aside from the new subscription options, Vogster is also planning the first major update also scheduled towards the end of Oct.

· Sunrise City Times – In-game newspaper that will feed information to the players concerning the latest news and happening in the game, including dynamic exploits by players and gangs.

· Your Name in Lights – In addition to making stars of players inside the newspaper feature, top ranked gangs and players will see their alter egos promoted on billboards.

· Titles Through Achievements – By completing certain difficult achievements, players will gain access to in-game icons and titles to make their character stand out and further communicate street credit and reputation.

· Kill the Boss Mode – A new PvE mode that allows players to cooperatively fight AI controlled enemies across every in-game map and take out bosses to get the best loot. This dramatically enhances the variety of environments for the highly praised PvE instances currently in the game.

· Storytellers – New Municipal Agent NPCs will provide a more in depth look at the back story that makes the universe of CrimeCraft a place of guns, gangs and intrigue.

· New NPC Gang and Mission Chains – A new NPC gang will offer additional missions and jobs.

· Player Loot Drops – Now players will be able to gain loot from participating in Riot Mode PvP, with the highest ranked players dropping more valuable loot if killed.

Aside from Tabula Rasa, the last 5 or 6 MMO’s I’ve played have all been fantasy based and after Darkfall I’m now officially burnt out on fantasy games.   I’m now moving on to Sci-Fi or any other genre that doesn’t have swords, horses, medieval armor or bows.   Luckily for me Jumpgate: Evolution and Champions Online are right around the corner.  Jumpgate is set to release next month June 16th and Champions Online later in July.

I’ve made my opinion on Champions Online quite clear, I don’t really like it, but Jumpgate looks awesome and is definitely the game I’ll be picking up first.  On the off chance that Jumpgate is horrible, I might try out Champions depending on what other people are saying about it.  Then there’s also CrimeCraft and Global Agenda, two other non fantasy based MMORPGs set to release later this year.   So I guess I timed it just right cause there’s a slew of non fantasy games coming out.  Hopefully I’ll find a home somewhere, I crossing my fingers for Jumpgate.

On a side note, I’m just realized I’m awesome at graphics, I mean just look at how professional that image is.

Today I got my latest issue of PCGamer where they played over 60 different free MMOs and selected 9 as worth playing. I figured you guys could get some good use out of this list so here it is.

Crime Craft

Sort of like GTA except with more crime and less driving around. CrimeCraft uses the Unreal Engine 3 and isn’t set to be released until Spring of 2009, so its about a year away but it’ll be free to play.
http://www.crimecraft.com

Mythos

No suprise to see Mythos making the list. We’ve covered Mythos before, but if you’re not familiar with it it’s a Diablo2 clone, but a MMORPG instead of a regular RPG.
http://www.mythos.com

Requiem: Bloodymare

An extremely gory and bloody horror MMORPG, Requiem: Bloodymare that lives up to its name. Originally created in South Korea the game has made its way to western audiences. Currently the game is in Beta, but will be released shortly.
http://www.playrequiem.com

Dungeon Runner

A comical MMORPG that is a lot of fun to play and is free as long as you allow them to run an ad banner while you’re playing. However for only $4.99/month you have the option to remove that.

http://www.dungeonrunners.com

Sword of the New World: Granado Espada

An MMORPG with an anime look that at one point had a monthly fee but is now free to play. Sword of the New World allows you to control up to 3 characters which separates it from all the other MMOs out there.

http://swordofthenewworld.com

Holic

Currently in open beta, Holic is a MMO with a very cutsie look. What seperates this game from others is that users are able to create there own dungeouns and quests once they get far enough into the game.
http://holic.netgame.com

Shaiya: Light and Darkness

We covered Shaiya before so its no suprise to us that PC Gamer selected it as one of the best free games out there. Shaiya concentrates on long term development of your character and heavy PvP action. If you ever played Lineage, this game is right up your alley.
http://shaiya.aeriagames.com

Fiesta

Another anime inspired MMORPG from Korea, however this one suffers from horribly translated dialog. Aside from the bad translations, Fiesta Online is a good looking game with solid game play.
http://fiesta.outspark.com

Cabal Online

A solid fantasy MMORPG that doesn’t really make any breakthroughs, but features good gameplay, story and PvP via duels. Considering its free to play, if you’re looking for a casual free fantasy MMO, Cabal Online could be the one for you.
http://www.cabalonline.com

With the somewhat recent mega-popularity of games like Grand Theft Auto, and Saint’s Row it seems like it was only an inevitability that somebody who begin to make an MMO based on these types of games. So it really came as no surprise when I found out that Crackdown developer, Realtime Worlds, was making their own GTA styled MMO called: All Point’s Bulletin. In addition to APB, however, Vogster Entertainment has come out and announced their own crime MMO called CrimeCraft. Both are promising to have fun, interactive GTA styled gameplay with thousands of friends, but there are inherent problems within that equation.

What are your top five favorite things about games like GTA or Saint’s Row? Well, if you are anything like me it pretty much goes in this order:

1. Blow stuff up
2. Cause some havoc
3. Drive around to find some neat stunts to pull off
4. Complete some heavily story driven gangster missions
5. Explore the city

Fun stuff right? Well, unfortunately, most of these things will either be near-impossible in an MMO form, or completely dumbed down to the brink of impossibility.

As of today there is no MMO out there that will allow you to destroy things with explosives, and certainly they won’t allow you to clutter up world with useless junk. In any GTA/Crackdown type of game when you go on a rampage you get to see your destruction litter the streets. It’s almost a monument to your greatness. In an MMO this type of gameplay would be near impossible for two reasons: first, everything has to run through the server so the server will want to automatically delete these things as soon as they are destroyed to free up the cache. Just like how corpses don’t stick around for too long in WoW, a smoldering car won’t stick around for too long in either of these games. Second, the developers won’t want players blocking off large sections of the city for their own personal needs. Because of this they will have measures stopping people from this type of gameplay. You can’t have one player blocking off an entire street for his/her own enjoyment. Other players will get angry and the game will lose it’s popularity.

Today’s MMOs aren’t heavily story driven, for good reason too. An MMO can’t really have a heavy story because players don’t particularly care for that style of gameplay within a world. Enemies respawn, and generally no matter how many times you kill X monster, or Y gang leader they will always come back, unlike in a single player game where if you kill something it stays dead. No matter how you look at it, GTA and Saint’s Row were both heavily story driven games. As you rise from anonymity to becoming the gang leader you have to take on a number of heavily story driven missions. Because MMOs can’t really do this, it doesn’t look like any crime MMO will feature the same type of story driven mechanics.

Finally, let me ask you this: how fast is your current MMO of choice? If you play WoW, PotBS, or even EVE Online you’ll probably note that the game is actually fairly slow. In generaly, most MMOs are very slow games. Auto Assault may have been the difference but look where it is at now. A crime MMO like GTA will have to be a very fast paced game, and I just can’t see an MMO living up to that expectation from it’s players. If the game turns out to be too slow gamers will drop it in favor of returning to their old single player GTA sandbox games.

None of these problems are impossible to take on, but they represent huge problems in the face of an emerging MMO genre. Can Realtime Worlds, or Vogster Entertainment take them on? After seeing some videos of APB in action, I can rest a little easier that they are at least on the right direction. However, those same videos also showed just how much farther they have to go. Making a crime MMORPG could just be the hardest idea to manifest into an actual game today…

Thanks for reading.