The Lazy MMO Review – Aion

The next exciting episode of The Lazy MMO Review. This time, myself and Blue take a crack at Aion and I manage to keep quiet about GameGuard. I actually had a whole bit about my hatred for the program, but it had too much swearing. Anyway! Regardless if you think Aion is just an Asian WoW clone (it’s really not), if you enjoy big open worlds and being able to fly (but NOT perform a 360 horizontal roll), or just need something fresh to play and have fun with, you might want to check out Aion.

Near-End Week Notes, I’m Sorta But Not Really Busy

Okay, so a quick little update about some stuff, so I can say I don’t doddle on my blog.

First, I’m back into Guild Wars for God-only-knows what reason, but whatever, I’m back and playing on a usual basis, or rather, would be playing on a regular basis if not for the Aion open beta, in which I am partaking, FINALLY!

Second, something NOT about gaming, I got a new mid-tower case for my mid-range PC, so I can not wait to move all the crap from one crappy case to a slighty bigger crappy case. Actually that’s not true, my current case only has one 80mm fan for cooling. That’s the kind of stuff that makes me cry at night in between wondering if it’ll blow up and/or start a fire. Hopefully this new case will provide more room (it does) and better cooling (does that too) so I’m happy, until I start to take everything out and put it back in.

Finally, and so we’re clear on this, I, Connor, The Lazy Geek (maybe the laziest) F***ING. HATE. GAMEGUARD. Here, let me bold that so we can all be on the same page. Ahhhh, much better. i’m glad I got that off my chest! Well, time to go play some more Aion, until the next post.

Jeff Strain Strains My Relationship With ArenaNet, Leaves NCSoft West

So, aside from my day without the internet (that day being yesterday), and a doctor’s appointment that took an hour longer than it should have, I had a somewhat a-okay day. Upon my return to the virtual world, however, I find that all is not well in the land of MMOs. According to an article at MMORPG.com, Jeff Strain and David Reid are done with NCSoft.

NCsoft West Public Relations Director Ryan James had the following to say about the departure of Strain:

“With a successful history creating MMORPG games, NCsoft has made an indelible mark on the games industry. Last year, the South Korea-based NCsoft created a division to follow a vision of bringing AAA MMOs to the West called NCsoft West. This organization was formed as part of NCsoft’s ongoing vision to be the premier global MMO publisher in the world. With that vision, change in a growth industry is inevitable. NCsoft West announces the departure of Jeff Strain, President of Product Development, who has chosen to leave NCsoft under amicable terms and NCsoft wishes him the best in his new endeavor. This does not change our plans or negatively impact our upcoming launch of Aion, and NCsoft remains very excited about the game’s launch on September 22nd in the U.S. and September 25th in Europe. These changes do not influence any other teams, development schedules or other launches.”

Bullshit! This is yelling to me that ArenaNet is slowly dying out, and Guild Wars 2 will soon fall into a “Duke Nukem coma”, while the original Guild Wars withers away in a painful death that has been shared by Tabula Rasa and Auto Assault. With Aion soon to be released in a little over a month, NCSoft had better get its proverbial shit together before it hits the proverbial fan if they want to become a global MMO juggernaut, but, as for me, NCSoft is dying, Aion will not do as well as they need it to over here in North America, and with all the player-hype it has, it only has room to plummet to its death…only to has its heart replaced by a battery and kept alive by shocking itself with jolts of fanboys.

Jeff Strain and David Reid Out At NCsoft @ MMORPG.com [via Massively]

Find NCsoft Titles On Steam (FINALLY!)

Well it seems that today, of all days, is the day NCsoft finally joined the big leagues and is now offering their titles on Valve’s digital distribution service, Steam. Good for them! Now players may purchase the latest NCsoft franchises including Guild Wars, City of Heroes, and Linage and Tabula Rasa. This also includes some special editions of the games, such as the Guild Wars Trilogy and City of Heroes Architect Edition, which is the first and only MMO to allow players to build their own unique missions and story arcs. Also, Aion will make an appearance on Steam once it is released this fall in North America and Europe.

While this is awesome, what about players who already have these games installed? Oh well, at least I don’t have to use that piece of s*** Play NC launcher. I’m also still waiting to see NC announce a Tabula Rasa Resurrection Edition. *sigh* I can dream, can’t I? And yes, I am still sore over Tabula Rasa being closed down, but at least I have Global Agenda to look forward to!

[NCsoft Offers Award-Winning Product Lineup on Steam] on NCsoft.com

Happy News Year’s Eve, NCSoft Accused of Violating MMO Patent

Happy New Year’s Eve, NCSoft! Guess what? You’ve been sued for infringing on a patent of a system and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space filed Aug 3, 2000 by Worlds.Com Inc. If you actually read the patent (as partially as I did) then you’ll realize this could be almost any 3D MMO. Now, that means, a lot of beloved games like Guild Wars, World of Warcraft, the dying Tabula Rasa, and a lot of others, are in danger, IF the patent is valid and enforceable.

So, why is NCSoft first in their attack? Well, they have a couple of MMOs that didn’t do so hot (Auto Assualt, Tabula Rasa) and their other MMOs are not as popular as say, Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. But, again, if the patent is viable, I can only assume what will happen to other MMOs, especialy the 15 korean MMOs released yearly.

All that we can do is pray. Pray and somehow end the tirade through online petitions and flaming forum posts!

[Worlds.com Files Suit Against NCsoft... on Virtual Worlds News]