With Electronic Arts cutting back in a major way, fans of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot are justifiably concerned about rumoured layoffs at Mythic Entertainment, development home to those online multiplayer games. More »
Ultima Online turns 12-years-old next month, making it the perfect time for Mythic to release the game’s eighth expansion pack, Ultima Online: The Stygian Abyss. More »
GigaMedia and Mythic Entertainment are bringing Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau next week via GigaMedia’s FunTown game platform according to an EA press release. More »
Mythic Entertainment has announced details on their beer-soaked year-ending holiday event, inviting players to take part in the Dwarven New Year’s festival of Keg End.
The Warhammer Online “open” is in full swing (sorry about the mess, Europe), though while getting an early look at the game is certainly nice and all, the retail head start is where the real action is at. Mythic Entertainment today reveals that folks who pre-ordered Warhammer Online will get a chance to start building their characters come September 14th, four days before the retail launch. Oh wait, did I say folks who pre-ordered? I meant folks who pre-ordered the Collector’s Edition. Those who opted to reserve the standard edition will get access on Tuesday, September 16th, which is only a two-day head start. It’s Mythic’s way of showing their scalable appreciation for your interest in their product.
Some of you might say this is paying extra for an advantage over other players, which is not true. This is paying extra for a box of cool stuff *and* an advantage over other players. Silly.
It’s a press release twofer! Mythic Entertainment has announced that Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has gone gold, with the game shipping to stores in time for servers to go live on September 18th, and the gold farmers are ready for it! “Internet gaming service” SwagVault has announced that they’ll be giving away 50 beta keys for the game via randomly selected email entries received between now and September 5th, giving players a chance to experience the game for themselves before deciding to buy. They’ll also be giving out beta access to folks whose order numbers contain the number sequence 8907, which coincides with the open beta date of September 7th, 2008.
So how exactly does a gold seller wind up with 50 beta keys for an MMO from Mythic Entertainment, a company that has gone after such enterprises legally in the past and won? I’m going to go ahead an assume they used bots.
The good news? Warhammer Online just launched its Guild Beta. The bad news? There’s a bit less game for the Guilds to beta. In an interview with MMORPG.com, Mythic Entertainment VP and General Manager Mark Jacobs explains that in order for the game to be ready for launch, certain sacrifices had to be made, including nixing four of the six staring racial capital cities in favour of one for each faction, and getting rid of four of the classes that they just couldn’t make work. On the cutting board are the Choppa (Greenskin), the Hammerer (Dwarf), the Blackguard (Dark Elf), and the Knight of the Blazing Sun (Empire)…two DPS classes and two tank classes.
“Of all of the news in this interview, this is the worst. Having to cut these guys out, even though it’s the right decision, I am really sorry that we have to do it. I truly am. I don’t like going to the guys and telling them ‘hey sorry, we’ve got to cut these guys out. They’re just not good enough but that was what we had to do.”
