Star Trek Online MMORPG Game Ties into New Movie 24th Century Storyline

The upcoming Star Trek Online MMORPG game updated its timeline. The storyline continues to introduce the post-Nemesis elements from the Star Trek Countdown comic book mini series and the new movie. Here is the update :

Fallout from the destruction of the Romulan system dominates interstellar events in 2388.

The Romulan colony worlds reel from the loss of their homeworld and a vacuum in leadership. With the death of Praetor Chulan and the disappearance of Donatra, there is no one who has the authority to call the worlds to order or organize a new government. The leadership council of Rator III declares itself to be the new Romulan Senate and Rator III as the new capital of the Romulan Star Empire, but it is quickly challenged by the leaders of Achenar Prime and Abraxas V, who make similar claims.

One person many look toward to pull the Romulan people back together is Admiral Taris. She concentrates on evaluating what military forces remain, and issues a call for all remaining ships, even deep exploration vessels, to return to Romulan space.

Internal squabbling and politics hinder the Federation's relief efforts in Romulan space.

The Federation Council dispatches a fleet of ships to provide food and aid to refugees and to help the displaced survivors of the disaster find new homes, but Starfleet finds it must negotiate with each of the colony worlds. What one world welcomes, another sees as false friendship, or even an act of war. The fight between the three "capital" worlds further complicates issues, because any assistance given to one of them must be granted to all to avoid accusations of favoring one faction or attempting to interfere with the Romulans' internal affairs.

Most of the Federation's allies agree to send ships and supplies to supplement the Romulan relief effort. Even the Cardassians, who are still struggling to rebuild their homeworld, agree to a token contribution. But the Federation's appeal to the Klingon Empire to join the relief convoys is harshly rejected.

"The Klingons will offer no treaty, no aid, and no hand that is not holding a blade," Chancellor Martok responds.

Hardliners on the Klingon High Council, led by Councilor J'mpok, demand that both the Romulans and the Federation be made to pay for the destruction of the fleet led into Romulan space by Worf. Some argue that because Martok handed command of the fleet to his friend Worf, a Federation ambassador, rather than a general of the Klingon Defense Force, that the entire affair may have been a trick to weaken the empire. And that even if it was not a plot, the fact remains that hundreds of warriors died under the command of a Federation official. In some Klingon minds, that makes the Federation responsible for their deaths.

Martok rejects insinuations that Worf was part of a "cowardly Federation trick" and issues a standing challenge to anyone who dares to insult the honor of a member of the House of Martok. And, despite heavy pressure from hardliners on the Council, the chancellor ultimately refuses calls to retaliate against the Federation.

Although a diplomatic crisis is averted, this is yet another strain on an alliance that has already been tested by the retaking of Khitomer and the Klingons conflict with the Gorn. Analysts report that Federation-Klingon relations are at their weakest point since the Klingons briefly withdrew from the Khitomer Accords in 2372.

Also occupying Martok's time this year is a possible treaty with the Orions. Realizing that their homeworld in the Rigel system is beset with pollution and is almost completely depleted of natural resources and that Starfleet crackdowns on criminal activity are becoming a serious problem for Syndicate operations, a delegation of Orions led by Melani D'ian opens talks with both the Klingons and the Breen for possible assistance. Melani dangles the promise of Orion support and stockpiles of ancient knowledge and treasures, but refuses to commit to either side until they detail what they could offer the Orions in return.

For his part, Worf remains on Qo'noS, recuperating from his injuries and fulfilling his duties as Federation ambassador to the Klingon Empire. On Stardate 65548.43, he is present for the birth of his second son, K'Dhan.

On Stardate 65776.64, the Federation News Network breaks a story that reports that the Vulcan Science Academy knew of the threat to Romulus but refused to take action to assist the Romulans before the destruction of their homeworld.

The outcry is immediate. The Vulcans decision is condemned by dozens of politicians and analysts. Seventeen independent planets recall the ambassadors to Vulcan in protest, as do Federation members Pacifica and Zaran II. Two days later, the Federation Council votes to open an investigation into the Vulcans refusal to help the Romulans, as well as the implications of the academy's work in red matter manipulation.

The Federation president makes a public appeal in an address to the Federation Council for the member worlds to remain calm and not ostracize Vulcan or anyone involved. "In this time of strife we need to remain united," President Nanietta Bacco says. "Assigning blame does not heal the injured, soothe the stricken or comfort the grieving."

By GustavoLeao
Source: http://trekweb.com/

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Blizzards next MMORPG: What is it?

Many people are waiting to see what Blizzard’s next MMORPG will be and it appears it wont be Starcraft, Diablo, Warcraft or Blackthorne, Rock n’ Roll Racing...

via - Massively - While we’ve had reason to believe that Blizzard’s next MMO would be a new IP, but this marks the first occasion that we’ve had some kind of official confirmation of our speculation.

In a post on the official World of Warcraft forums, Blizzard community manager Zarhym came out and said the new MMO was in fact an original IP, saying, "We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it’s a shell of a game thus far. We’ve already stated it’ll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch. It’s an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this." While it’s no press release or big event reveal, this is certainly the closest we’ve come to someone officially with Blizzard saying that, yes, it’s not a previously created franchise.

So now that speculation on whether or not it’s a new IP is over, we can begin to speculate on what genre this new IP will be! Science fiction, steampunk, cyberpunk or another fantasy setting? It’s hard to say, although our hopes go for something decidedly not fantasy since Blizzard has already spent plenty of energy in those genres up to this point.

Brian Edey (Falelorn)

Source : http://www.gamefocus.ca/

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Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn

Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn is also a full-featured expansion pack with a wide array of new content and features that will be announced later this year.

The new expansion will include a playable race, and add to or enhance many of the key features of Ultima Online: epic battles versus powerful monsters, deep dangerous dungeons, player-versus-player combat, creative housing design, crafting, and much more.

Play Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn Now

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GodsWar Online Dev Journal #1: Pet System

We have here the first in a series of Dev Journal entries from IGG for their Greek Mythology-based MMORPG, GodsWar Online. For this first iteration, Ethan Pan, the game designer of GodsWar Online, is sharing his thoughts on the development of the new pet system for GodsWar. He also brings us cute screenshots to ogle out, so go check it out after the break.



Let me say first that a ton of effort has gone into preparing this system for release. The RPG standard for pets is that they join their masters in a fight and can wield various melee attacks or spells while leveling up and becoming more powerful. This is common, and ultimately boring. We wanted to shake things up a bit and eliminate another source of tedious grinding, which I think we’ve managed to do.

With this in mind, we began designing the pets. Right off the bat we saw that providing interaction between pets and their masters without resorting to combat was going to be immensely difficult. Fighting seemed to be the only way to get them to talk!

To resolve this problem we introduced the pets more into the storyline and made them part of random events. We went with the most basic of pet duties, Fetch. These events were loaded with items and treasure that pets would be able to pick up and add to their masters Exp and Talent points. All of the sudden, taking pets for a walk didn’t seem like such a chore!

As nice as bunches of treasure and Exp is, it wasn’t going to be enough to satisfy our players, so it was back to the drawing board to expand the pet’s role in the game even further. We saw that we needed to make a distinction between pets as combat sidekicks and pets as helpful assistants. We wanted them to be there for players to help them, but not just as another source of damage.

We settled on (nursing) helping players recover HP, (gofors) to submit quests, and possibly even to earn money. These looked good on paper, but they still lacked the necessary pizzazz to make them really unique.

It was at this time, when were at a creative dead end and staring at blank computer screens, that the project director burst in and broke us out of our coffee deprived stupor. “Combine!” he kept shouting, “Put them together to make something even better!” At first we were at a loss, but as he explained it we could see he was on to something. Combine the pet’s skills with the skills of their masters to make a sort of super skill.


“Imagine the power that could be generated!” he said. We couldn’t agree more, and suddenly Starbucks didn’t seem so important. Brilliant, dazzling effects, upgraded appearances - the ideas came spilling out faster than we could jot them down. It seemed to be the real, unique breakthrough that we had been waiting for.

The last problem we had to overcome was how to raise these new kinds of pets, but it seemed the ghost of combat sidekicks wasn’t going down without a fight. How could your pet obtain exp without actually doing something? We finally kicked exp to the curb and settled on a compound system that lets players combine weaker pets to make stronger ones. Although a little morbid, we feel that the pet’s won’t have much to say about it. We even have plans to incorporate a pet rebirth system so that their development can continue to match their masters.

By Mabie A.

Source: http://mmorpg.qj.net/

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Atlantica Online to Be Published in Thailand

NDOORS’ Popular MMORPG Continues Worldwide Expansion. NDOORS today announced that a deal has been signed to publish their popular MMORPG title Atlantica Online in Thailand through a partnership with Southeast Asia’s number one online game provider, AsiaSoft.

In less than a year Atlantica Online has successfully expanded from Korea into North America, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, and now Thailand. The game is in open beta in mainland China as well.

“When we developed Atlantica Online, we knew we would be bringing the game to the global market and we took that into consideration in many of our design choices,” said Peter Kang, CEO, NDOORS Interactive.“That strategy is paying off for us as we see more and more new players from different countries embracing the game and enjoying the online experience.”

AsiaSoft is the largest provider of MMORPG games and services in Southeast Asia and was the first company to bring an MMORPG to Thailand. Their expertise in the space will ensure a smooth launch for Atlantica Online in the new territory.

Recognized as one of the best free-to-play MMORPGs, Atlantica Online has received critical acclaim for its quality, accessibility, and entertainment value. Atlantica features a unique turn-based fighting system and takes players on a journey around the world through mystical and historical lore. The recently announced addition of the Titan Server enables interaction among players from all Atlantica servers, creating the first true test to determine the best of the best.

By El Segundo
From: http://www.mcvuk.com/press-releases/

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