RPGs: Stop Making Bad First Impressions 
Is Hitman's Next Target Assassin's Creed? 
Why Kotaku Australia Should Never Work With Children... Or Robots 
Three Words I Said To The Man I Defeated In Gears Of War That I'll Never Say Again 
New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land Upon their death, great men are afforded a sending off befitting of their stature. Pity Tabular Rasa, then, as EB Games in Canada seems more content to roll its lifeless corpse into the nearest ditch.
Previously scheduled to become free to play starting on January 10th, NCsoft’s has set sinking MMO Tabula Rasa free a month early, because really…what was the point of waiting?
I suppose you could call this the silver lining for Tabula Rasa players.
Man, a guy fulfils his lifelong dream of going into space and suddenly has more important things to do than work on his video game? Richard “Lord British” Garriott announced today that he will be leaving NCsoft, the company behind his recent MMORPG Tabula Rasa, to pursue other interests. I am very grateful to you loyal players for sticking around through what I think we can all honestly say was a rough launch. I thank the development team for pushing hard to get polish, updates and new content out every month since launch…a feat that I think is unusual in MMO development. They have a lot to be proud of.
Many of you probably wonder what my plans are, now that I have achieved the lifelong dream of going to space. Well, that unforgettable experience has sparked some new interests that I would like to devote my time and resources to. As such, I am leaving NCsoft to pursue those interests.
We knows that McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and other popular fast food restaurants are offering amazing deals on crappy food these days, but how much gaming can you get for a dollar? How about an entire MMO, filled with aliens, and guns, and lasers, complete with a free month of gameplay? Despite NCsoft’s plans to tighten up the graphics on level three, Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa hasn’t done all that well at retail. GameStop.com has stopped selling it, but if you act now you can snag it from Amazon.com for a mere $US.96. Note the decimal point there. That’s 96 cents. That’s extremely sad.
One of my main complaints with Tabula Rasa was that it felt like a shooter trying to be a 3rd person MMO. How does NCsoft address such complaints? By introducing a first-person shooter mode, of course! Revealed in the latest edition of Feedback Friday last week, Graphic Programmer John Styes introduces the new camera system that effectively turns the game into a pseudo FPS. More than just a new way to look at the game, the system now allows for cockpit views while in vehicles, as well as sniper scopes, which is amazing news for anyone who chose the Ranger path at level 15, like me.
The best thing about MMOs is that they are constantly updated, making way for fun, holiday themed events. The best thing about Halloween is the fact that I get to use the word spooktacular, and so I present NCsoft’s multi-MMO Halloween Spooktacular of Values! Okay, no actual values, but events are running across all NCsoft massively-multiplayer titles, whether people play them or not. Guild Wars’ event kicks off on October 24th with the return of Mad King Thorn, with mini-games, jokes, riddles, and prizes, in what many people have told me is the best MMO-Halloween celebration available. City of Heroes players will be fighting off zombies and collecting classic costumes for badges and trick or treating fun. Tabula Rasa has some quests. Poor Tabula Rasa.
Hit the jump for more details, including what’s in store for Lineage II, and Exteel players. Did someone say free giant mech paint jobs?
You know, they say sometimes people go CRAZY on these long trips. They get the, eh… SPACE MADNESS.
Not plucky Lord British, though. No, the good lord is safe in his heaven and has found the time to transmit a coded message of hope to us earth-bound types.
The multisquillionaire held up a card containing the message shortly after reaching orbit – the message is encoded in Logos Elements – the fictional runic system used in Garriott’s game Tabula Rasa.
Fans of the game have now decoded the runes and found it to be a quote – hit the jump to see what Lord British thinks we ought to know.
GamesIndustry.biz has posted a rumour this morning regarding big changes in store for MMO publisher NCSoft. According to “sources close to the company”, the developer / publisher is planning on cutting 50 positions from their European office in Brighton, England following a decision to stop working on an unnamed MMO being developed there.
Along with job cuts comes the resurfacing of the rumour that Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa, the ambitious MMO that failed to capture a significant portion of the MMO market, will be closing it’s doors in the coming months as well, which would lead to more job cuts as NCSoft further streamlines their business.
An announcement addressing these issues is expected within the next day. We’re currently looking into the rumours and will keep you updated as more information becomes available.
NCsoft to trim European office? [GI.biz]
According to “a number of sources close to the company”, the British offices of developer NCSoft are to be closed following the cancellation of an unannounced MMO currently in development at the studio. Bad news, yes, particularly in the wake of recent layoffs at the company’s Austin studio, but it gets worse: the same sources say that troubled MMO Tabula Rasa is on its last legs, and will be killed off in the next few months. A shame, that, since Lord Briitsh deserved better, but then with the game having failed to grab the attention of, well, anyone, it’s hardly a surprise.
NCsoft to trim European office? [GI.biz]
