Long-time players of the complex, yet creepily fun MMORPG, Anarchy Online, will be receiving a booster pack for additional end-game content. There's plenty of new missions to take on and new areas to explore for veteran players.
Anarchy Online's version 17.1 update went live adding a complete raid interface to the game, allowing players to combine up to six teams into a raid group with its own chat channel and loot rules. The interface will allow raid leaders to move players between teams, and every player in the raid group will be able to monitor the vitals of other raid group members. Additionally, a handful of AO's existing playfields - Sectors 13, 28 and 35 to start with - have become raid instances. That means that raid groups can take these encounters on at their own pace and without competition. Funcom plans to do this to more playfields in the future.
Funcom is proud to announce that Anarchy Online celebrates seven years in operation. The original sci-fi MMO has been a groundbreaking game ever since it launched, and it still stand as a massive pillar of the MMO genre. As the game moves into its eight year it shows no signs of slowing down, with development continuing at full pace with an ever evolving virtual world. The history of Anarchy Online is one of hope and innovation, and development started as early as 1995. The internet was reserved for a small population of elite users back then, and early design documents were even questioning whether the internet had a future. At first Anarchy Online was therefore a small research project, but as history shows it soon turned into a massive and extremely ambitious MMO.
Anarchy Online content designer Nina Aythem Sund has been writing developer journal entries over at Ten Ton Hammer for several months, sharing game design wisdom and insider anecdotes with players. Her latest entry had a different tone, though, as she used the medium to bid farewell to AO players as she moves on to work on Funcom's next MMO, The Secret World.
IGN reports: Funcom announces the introduction of a tiered subscription system in Anarchy Online, and players can now choose between three subscriptions plans going from free-to-play to 5 to 14,95 USD / EUR a month. The newest subscription level means that gamers can access the areas and content in the Shadowlands expansion pack for only 5 USD / EUR a month, thereby offering one of the most profound, engaging and deep online experiences around for a low monthly cost.
Most MMO players know the story of IGE and Affinity Media by now, (the owners of WoWhead, Allakhazam, Thottbot and WoWinterface), and their relationship. A really interesting article popped up on Radar Online today which highlights some of the dodgy characters that are involved in the Affinity Media business which had claimed to have no involvement with IGE. Brock Pierce who is an advisor and a board member of Affinity Media, is highlighted in the above article and I have to say there's some pretty unsavoury stuff here pointing at child abuse. This has been brought up before regarding Brock Pierce who has apparently denied charges but there are filed legal cases which he has tried to settle. In related news, there has been paperwork filed this week where IGE admits that it is Affinity Media (see additional link). Not that anyone doubted it. Next time you hit up an Affinity Media site, just think about who you are supporting and who's pockets your traffic is lining with cash.
Funcom is proud to reveal the world's first MMO concert delivered via in-game video feed delivery. The popular US band All American Rejects will have a unique virtual concert for the citizens of Rubi-Ka this Sunday, perfectly merging technology and music from the 21 st century with a game set 25,000 years into the future.
Eidos and developer Funcom's anticipated MMO, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, has again been delayed, this time to October 30, 2007. The PC version of the game was originally slated for a Q1 2007 release, which was then pushed back to a March to May 2007 time frame last year. Funcom, which is responsible for Anarchy Online and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, insists this latest delay will provide extra time to hone the game. Age of Conan director and Funcom founder Gaute Godager adds, ¿By Crom, I feel certain that we will deliver a game that will appeal to a broad range of players as we introduce new features to the genre. The game, co-published by Eidos, is also currently in development for Xbox 360 and will release for Microsoft's console sometime after the launch of the PC version, which is currently in closed beta.
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