Weekly MMO news round-up: WoW lands on App Store, Champions Online will have microtransactions
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Ensign's Log, Stardate 63048.5: This week was the Develop Conference in Brighton and quite a bit of interesting news was announced for MMOs across the galaxy, but that was already covered on the main page.
Therefore, to make things more compact, the rest of the news has been complied into one entry.
Read on past the fold for more regarding Star Trek Online and ship customization, WoW getting its very own App, Champions Online getting the microtransaction treatment, and loads more.
Time to sign off. Spock, Kirk and McCoy have asked me to beam down to this strange planet with them, and they hate to be kept waiting.
- "Champions Online will support micro-transactions, but contrary to the concerns of some people, the game is not 'based' on them," says Cryptic. Aesthetic changes and and things like renaming your character)are tow such things, but according to the post, "Any micro-transaction that has a game effect can also be earned in the game through play." Good to know. Thanks Massively.
- Speaking of Champions Online, check out the PvP trailer for it over on GiantBomb.
- Petroglyph has given the world a peak at its upcoming MMORTS Mytheon based on real world myths - think Egypt and Greece - an placing it in a fantasy setting. When released, it will be a free-to-play title.
- PvP in Jumpgate Evolution will have many different sizes to ship battles, according to an interview with Hermann Peterscheck over on MMORPG. Also, each nation's personality will be represented and will effect how PvP battles are fought."In the large scale battlespace, for example, each group has their own distinct capital ship which they need to protect, while attempting to destroy the other group's ship. The look and feel of these ships is very distinctive and helps players identify with their nation," he told the site. Interesting. Space battles. Lovely.
- World of Warcraft has gone mobile with the release of its Mobile Armory on iPhone. Now you can search for and view any character, item, guild, or Arena team in the game; access your in-game calendar of events; view achievement-point leaderboards; plan out talent specs using the fully functional talent calculator - while sitting on the train to work. Its also available for iPod Touch. Click here for more.
- League of Legends, based on the Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients, is now free-to-play and microtransaction based. Due for release this September, the game will be free or you can purchase a Collector's Edition at BestBuy and GameStop with some extra goodies.
- Earthrise developers, Masthead Studios, chatted about player-controlled resources on the official website this week. Apparently, rare resources in the games can be used in crafting gear and vehicles to building and enhancing structures. Neato.
- The team from NeoSteam sent MMORPG some exclusive screenshots from the fantasy steampunk MMO. Go have a look.
- WoW isn't the only MMO that has gone mobile, well, in a sense because it can't be played. But MapleStory really has gone mobile, and it's now available on the AT&T Media Mall for $6.99. Players who purchase Maple Story: Warriro will receive a special bonus item for the PC version of the game.
- Cyrptic has explained ship customization a bit over on the game's official website. The game will allocate certain ship classes and configurations but customization will also be made available, but to a point. It has to stick with the lore of Star Trek. Each will have to stick with a defined purpose and at launch players will be able to choose between the Cruiser, Escort or Science vessel, and various 'classes' are available within a ship configuration. Hit here for the full chat.