vanguard

SOE, Valve Group To Bring MMOs To Steam

5:40AM Michael McWhertor | Sony Online Entertainment is bringing its massively multiplayer online catalogue to Steam as of today. Now you can MMO without ever having to leave the house to pick up one of those antiquated “boxes.” More »

Vanguard Still Wants You Back, Won’t Stop Calling

12:40AM Mike Fahey | Sony Online Entertainment’s Vanguard: The Saga of Heroes has gone through some pretty big changes over the past several months, including the introduction of new character models and an all-new starting area to take players through to level 10 called the Isle of Dawn, and they’d like you to come try it out again, if that wouldn’t be too much of an imposition. Players with deactivated accounts (like me!) will be able to log into the game from now until October 18th for free, continuing their aborted adventures or starting up a new character to try out the Isle. Returning players who progress through the Isle of Dawn into the mainland and then reactivate a paying subscription will receive a free pair of Gnomish Rocket Boots (no relation) to help speed you on your way. As I’ve said before, Vanguard has some very good things going for it, and my time in the game was certainly enjoyable to a point. I’d check in again if I had the time, but with the end-of-the-year gaming spectacular in full swing I won’t have the time. Anyone still playing out there that can give us the down-low? Worth the reinstall, or no? More »

The Worst PC Game Launches Ever

1:29PM Mike Fahey | A PC game having a bad launch isn’t as rare an occurrence as it should be, especially in these days of readily available internet patches, so it takes something special to be called a truly botched PC game launch. 1UP takes a look at five of the worst first days ever in their feature, “Top 5 Botched PC Game Launches”. For the most part they’ve chosen the ones you’d expect. Hellgate: London, with its greedy payment system and near character wipe in Asia; Vanguard, which just plain wasn’t finished when they launched it, and of course Half-Life 2, which completely ate the newly launched Steam service’s servers. I can think of a few they missed – Anarchy Online, which lost most of its subscriber base thanks to a buggy launch, only to evolve into a damn fine game once half their audience had stopped caring, or Dungeon Lords, which was the only PC game I have EVER returned. Hit the link to see their full list, and be sure to add your own in the handy dandy comment section. Top 5 Botched PC Game Launches [1UP] More »