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Latest HellGate: London News Updates and Reviews Updated daily
HellGate: London : SwitchBlade PRO goes live next week, gets SIXAXIS supportBy: Karl B.
Sep 24, 2008 08:42:21 PM News Item: 5448
Blue Orb has announced that SwitchBlade, an application that lets PC gamers use a console controller to play, will be getting a lot of new features with the advent of SwitchBlade PRO. Foremost is the addition of support for the Sony PlayStation 3's SIXAXIS controller.
SwitchBlade PRO will also come with pre-configured game Blades for more than 20 popular games and the new BladeBuilder tool that allows gamers to build and share their own customized game support Blades. Additionally, SwitchBlade PRO introduces the new Texter system that lets gamers send text messages right from their game controllers.
The catch here is that SwitchBlade PRO is not free. It'll be available on a subscription basis for US 1.99 a month starting October 1. You can also get a year-long subscription for US 19.99.
Related articles:
- Three new Switchblade solutions for Call of Duty 4 and more
- SwitchBlade support coming for Guild Wars, Hellgate: London and Half-Life 2
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HellGate: London : EA's Jacobs on Success After AoC and Hellgate:LondonBy: Medeor
Sep 02, 2008 01:58:57 PM News Item: 4904
Would you like a side of lighter fluid with that match?
Apparently RvR is really ramping up the juices as Warhammer Online as Mark Jacobs discusses competition and names some names like Age of Conan and Hellgate: London. In an unusually (unusual for the industry anyway) candid discussion with MTV, Mr. Jacobs discusses the perceived shortfalls of both games. Did he go too far?
In realistic terms Jacobs knows that all of the chips are on the table. EA, Games Workshop and Mythic have gone "all in" for this hand. Pointing out the public reaction to Age of Conan and it's issues post launch, Jacobs knows they will be held to the same if not tougher standard, and they have to be nimble:
"...no matter how great you think your game is, developers must listen to the community. It doesn’t mean you have to follow what they say, but you always have to listen,” he said. “The test of greatness is to know how to look at it and either incorporate it or learn from it. We might listen to the wrong advice, but we always listen. That’s how I think all developers have to be because nobody is that smart and nobody is right all the time.”
Coupling the above with the statement from the Leipzig MMO panel discussing Mythic's commitment to build 70% of the game with community in mind, makes me think these guys "get it." Or do they? Do you think that the mix of talent, time and titles can overcome the WoW phenomena? I think it can. I'll be lined up and playing the day WAR comes out. As importantly though, do you think that developers calling out other developers is good for the industry? Does it create a friendly atmosphere of co-opetition (cooperation/competition) or does it just bring bad blood? I believe Mr. Jacobs handled this well, do you?
If you still don't think these guys are one of us, check out their commitment to the community:
Who else would blog just to beat his buddies? Check in with Jeff Hickman as he Blogs from Pax.
And don't forget to check out the exclusive interviews with Jeff Hickman and Josh Drescher.
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HellGate: London : Mythic's Mark Jacobs Talks Age of ConanBy: Martuk
Sep 02, 2008 01:03:42 PM News Item: 4903
Let the Flames Begin...
Mythic Vice president and "Warhammer Online" Lead; Mark Jacobs recently spoke to Tracey John about games such as Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures and Hellgate London which was posted at Mtv.com. Jacobs discusses Hellgate London and why he wants to see Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures succeed, but stating he feels the game should have been delayed.
With Jacobs having played the game and having read fan postings on both the “Warhammer” and “Age of Conan” forums, he thought that Funcom should have delayed the game. “I think that the greatest mistake that they made was not listening and not learning from what had gone before,” Jacobs said, referring to the launch issues of Funcom’s “Anarchy Online” in 2001. “When they looked at ['Age of Conan'] when they were ready to launch, I can’t imagine how they didn’t see the issues that other people saw. According to their annual reports, they had plenty of money. They should’ve looked at it and said, ‘We need to delay this game.’ There are probably reasons I’m not aware of… but I think that’s their biggest sin.”
- You can read the full story here.
- Discuss it on our forums.
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HellGate: London : Mythic's Mark Jacobs really wanted to see Age of Conan succeedBy: Michael Zenke
Sep 02, 2008 12:00:00 PM News Item: 4845
Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Culture, Interviews, MMO industry, Opinion, Hellgate: London  MTV Multiplayer's Tracey John, speaking with head of Mythic Entertainment Mark Jacobs, has been exploring a line of questioning about the MMO industry in general. They noted the high failure rate for the genre, and the equally high expectations that are now placed on new games by fans and industry commentators. Jacobs offered up, as part of this discussion, some analysis on why Hellgate: London didn't make it, and why Funcom's Age of Conan has been having so many problems over their long first summer of launch. Of Hellgate, Jacobs noted that it's not sufficient simply to have really talented people on the team. That's a straightforward process. In addition to that, "sometimes just having talent is not enough. You need leadership and you need patience. And what's most important - something that so many developers forget - is you also need to deflate the ego a little bit."
About Conan, which the site categorizes as 'failing to deliver on promises to players, Jacobs states that he actually really wanted the game to succeed. Now, with a summer of frustrations and player unrest behind them, he thinks they're in a tight spot. Ultimately, he just wants someone to show the world that MMOs don't have to be World of Warcraft to succeed. As for Mythic, "If we don't succeed with EA behind us, the 'Warhammer' IP behind us, with one of the most experienced teams in the industry, that's not going to be good for the industry. We need to show the world that it's not just Blizzard who can make a great game, and that the audience is absolutely willing to try new things and to play a game other than 'WoW." Comments
HellGate: London : Flagship Studios' founder finally speaksBy: Kyle Horner
Aug 18, 2008 05:00:00 PM News Item: 4476
Filed under: Interviews, News items, Hellgate: London, Mythos
If you've been wondering just exactly what happened with Flagship Studios over the past year or so, then you should really give a listen to the thoughts of Bill Roper, founder of Flagship. The poor guy pretty much spills his guts to 1up.com's Jeff Green about everything that happened and is happening with the people and projects from Flagship. It's a surprisingly lengthy interview, clocking in at eight pages. It's totally worth the read if you want a gritty insight into just how much went into not only Hellgate: London and Mythos, but the team that put those titles together.
It's not often that we get such a wide and deep look into a developer. We're counting ourselves lucky that Bill seems to be such a open and forthcoming guy, otherwise we might have never known anything beyond rumors and speculation. If everyone previously involved with Flagship lands on their feet, it will be in no small part due to Bill Roper's efforts. Comments
HellGate: London : Mythos lives!By: James Egan
Aug 03, 2008 12:30:00 PM News Item: 4558
Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, MMO industry, News items, Mythos, Rumors 
These have been some turbulent times for both Mythos and Hellgate: London. Following the closing of Flagship Studios, recent news revealed Namco-Bandai Games as Hellgate: London's saviors, while the fate of Mythos remained uncertain, but grim. However just over a week later, the Hellgate: London page at Namco-Bandai has already disappeared.
In another turn of events, Gamasutra reports that Korea's T3 Entertainment, perhaps best-known for their online music game Audition, is seeking programmers for its new development studio in San Francisco: "T3 Entertainment is searching for creative minds to passionately continue development of Hellgate: London and Mythos, along with other new games, which are being published by HanbitSoft Inc." This may put to rest the dispute over IP which HanbitSoft was engaged in with Flagship Studios, as T3 Entertainment is HanbitSoft's largest stockholder. With any luck, the opening of a North American studio signifies a healthier future for both Mythos and Hellgate: London. We'll keep you posted, once more details become available. Comments
HellGate: London : Hellgate: London saved by Namco-BandaiBy: Michael Zenke
Jul 23, 2008 08:45:00 AM News Item: 4475
Filed under: Sci-fi, Hellgate: London, MMOFPS  Didn't really think we'd be talking about this game ever again, but it's nice to be wrong. Tipster Matt let us know that a Senior Director for Business development has posted to the official Hellgate:London forums letting everyone know that 'word' is coming soon. On Monday Ping0 employee Tiggs posted to the same thread, telling folks not to worry. Now it appears that, via this post by Namco's Zack "Ozuri" Karlsson, there really is nothing to worry about.
Says Karlsson, "The game is up, the servers are not going away in the short term and any major changes to status will be communicated in advance. I'd like to ask for your patience as we try to figure it all out and chart a new course. We value your community, your commitment, and your passion for Hellgate and we will make sure that any solution that we architect will support all of you as best as we are able. Thanks again. We hope to have a real announcement shortly." Vague, yes, but one thing isn't vague at all: Hellgate: London now has an official game page on the Namco-Bandai site. Looks like the legacy of Flagship will live on!
Thanks for the tip, Matt! Comments
HellGate: London : Max Schaefer thanks Mythos communityBy: Matt Warner
Jul 19, 2008 09:00:00 PM News Item: 4555
Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Events, in-game, Forums, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Mythos, Free-to-play
It wasn't long ago that Max Schaefer, a Flagship Studios cofounder and operations chief, admitted to mistakes that the company encountered with Hellgate: London. Now, in a strange twist of irony the players are learning firsthand the lessons of Flagship's failures. The Mythos beta ended as it was placed on hiatus last night, possibly being the last time players will grace the world of Uld. Not long after that the Mythos beta forums went dark but before they did Max Schaefer left a wonderful message to the community.
"They say it's not so much the destination as it is the journey that's important. We're really hoping that's the case around here these days. I can't really believe I'm writing a post like this, but here we are faced with the unpleasant task of taking a hiatus from this crazy project. Unlike most games, Mythos has been running with our testing community for almost its whole life. I really feel like we've all done this together. And despite this bump in the road, I think we've succeeded wildly. This is undoubtedly the best game community I've ever seen. This is the best game development team in the world, in both Seattle and San Francisco. The things we've learned here, and with you all, will be with us forever.
Continue reading Max Schaefer thanks Mythos community Comments
HellGate: London : Hellgate: London subscriptions suspendedBy: Matt Warner
Jul 18, 2008 07:30:00 PM News Item: 4474
Filed under: Horror, Sci-fi, Business models, MMO industry, News items, Hellgate: London  Exploring and fighting in post-apocalyptic London used to require a subscription but not anymore. Flagship Studios has announced that active Hellgate: London subscribers will not be billed nor will any new subscriptions be accepted. Normally, this would be welcoming news to players, but it's not because there is a chance that Hellgate: London could shutdown operations. Staff went first, and the forums are going next, tonight both the official Mythos and Hellgate: London forums will be pulled offline at 12AM.
Due to financial circumstances Flagship Studios has come under hardships and had to layoff almost its entire staff. Ping0, an online services subsidiary was also affected. The fallout is a huge confusing mess, and Flagship used the rights to its intellectual property as collateral on loans for operating expenses. Now that Flagship is more or less collapsing HanbitSoft is stepping in trying to reign in both intellectual properties, Hellgate: London and Mythos, due to Flagship Studios defaulting on their original agreement. Comments
More HellGate: London News
(Click to read)
Jul 18, 2008 05:00:00 PMHellGate: London : HanbitSoft barbs Flagship Studios
Jul 18, 2008 11:00:00 AMHellGate: London : Mythos, Hellgate forums scheduled to die tonight
Jul 16, 2008 08:30:00 AMHellGate: London : Future of Mythos beta uncertain
Jul 14, 2008 09:30:00 PMHellGate: London : HanbitSoft CEO claims ownership rights to Hellgate:London and Mythos
Jul 13, 2008 02:00:00 PMHellGate: London : One Shots: A Mythos memory
Jul 12, 2008 09:30:00 PMHellGate: London : Flagship Studios: It's worse than that; he's dead, Jim
Jul 11, 2008 03:45:00 PMHellGate: London : Flagship Studios confirms staff layoffs
Jul 10, 2008 09:00:00 PMHellGate: London : Hellgate:London patch update 1.3d now live
Jul 07, 2008 01:00:00 PMHellGate: London : Flagship holds forth on lessons learned
Jun 19, 2008 12:30:00 PMHellGate: London : Cinemassively: For the Living
Jun 11, 2008 06:30:00 PMHellGate: London : Why exactly is Hellgate:London so bad?
Jun 11, 2008 11:30:00 AMHellGate: London : Hellgate staff abandoning sinking ship
Jun 09, 2008 03:30:00 PMHellGate: London : Chinese MMO distributor gains new Chief Financial Officer
Jun 02, 2008 11:30:00 AMHellGate: London : Sweeping changes to Hellgate: London in Abyss Chronicles
May 30, 2008 08:00:00 AMHellGate: London : The Daily Grind: Why can't Earth have a fantasy MMO?
May 24, 2008 08:30:00 PMHellGate: London : Hellgate: London giveths and takeths away
May 11, 2008 09:00:00 AMHellGate: London : Open forums and a patched patch for Hellgate: London
Apr 16, 2008 09:00:00 AMHellGate: London : TV shows that could be MMOs: Battlestar Galactica
Apr 11, 2008 07:00:00 PMHellGate: London : Hellgate: London goes to Korea, makes it big
Apr 10, 2008 09:00:00 AMHellGate: London : Hellgate: London would like a second chance
Apr 08, 2008 04:00:00 PMHellGate: London : Bling Gnome coming with Dungeon Runners retail box
Jan 24, 2008 05:30:00 PMHellGate: London : Behind the Curtain: What's in a name?
Jan 11, 2008 07:30:00 AMHellGate: London : WeGame records their way into my heart
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