On March 16, 2024, EverQuest will turn 25 years old. The folks at Daybreak not only revealed what special events and gifts await all heroes of Norrath to celebrate this milestone, but there were also insights into exciting statistics and records.
What numerical games have the developers published? The statistics gathered by Daybreak reference the time from the release (March 16, 1999) to the 25th anniversary day. Here are the most exciting info nuggets:
Kiith is the character with the highest playtime, having been online for more than 8,331 days (over 22 of the total 25 years).
Over the course of 25 years, more than 9.32 million characters have been created.
84 characters created on launch day are still active today.
In EverQuest, you can explore 880 zones and meet over 439,000 NPCs.
The WoW developers openly admit that they were inspired by EverQuest. Here is the iconic cinematic trailer for World of Warcraft:
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World of Warcraft Cinematic Trailer
What does the community think of the numbers? On Reddit, the anniversary statistics were received with curiosity and amazement.
OrDuck 31 finds it “impressive” that 84 characters created on March 16, 1999, are still active.
IonHDG wonders how it is possible to be online in EverQuest for more than 22 years over 25 years. The user ahzzyborn has a clear opinion: “Some players just stay logged in, even when they are not playing, to increase their play days.”
Agares_Fraefolg stumbled upon the low number of total characters created. The community provides the explanation: When EverQuest was released, MMORPGs were cuddled into a rather small hardcore niche. Moreover, a direct successor was already released five years later.
What’s in it for me during the event? If you play EverQuest, you can look forward to the following bonuses and gifts:
50 percent bonus experience until April 1, 2024
A royal silver crown for each character – available until April 20, 2024
A “Darkpaw Torch” ornament for all All-Access member characters – available until April 20, 2024
A heroic level 100 character per account for All-Access members – available until April 20, 2024
A “Goblet of Adventure II” per account for All-Access members – available until April 20, 2024
Additionally, the developers point out that this year some new content has landed on EverQuest’s live servers, including new quests and a raid challenge. More information can be found in the EverQuest and EverQuest 2 roadmap for 2024.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
On March 12, 2024, the MMORPG Night Crows celebrated an extremely successful global release. In addition to Unreal Engine 5 graphics and the promise of massive battles, unfortunately, there are also various “buts.”
How successful was Night Crows at launch? The MMORPG from Wemade has been released in 170 markets since March 12, 2024, for PC and mobile devices. The influx of players was so high that the number of servers had to be increased from 24 to 54.
Supporting the hype were more than 600 streamers. Within the first three days, Night Crows was able to generate over ten million US dollars in revenue. This makes Night Crows the most successful game launch in Wemade’s history.
The free-to-play MMORPG MIR4 only achieved a fraction of the revenue in 2021.
Night Crows showcases the muscles of Unreal Engine 5 in the trailers:
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Night Crows shows short in-game trailer
MMORPG promises large PVP battles and fights against PvE bosses
How does Night Crows justify the hype? At first glance, Night Crows appears, thanks to Unreal Engine 5, to be a technically elaborate MMORPG that promises ambitious features like fortress battles with up to 1,000 players.
Moreover, you can expect PvE fights against bosses, an action-packed combat system, climbing and gliding, as well as a selection of eight different subclasses such as Warrior with a two-handed sword, Warrior with a one-handed sword and shield, Hunter with a bow, Hunter with daggers, and so on.
What are the mentioned “buts”? One sticking point has already been mentioned: Night Crows is not only available for powerful PCs but also for Android and iOS devices. This automatically affects the technology, UI, and playability.
Even more challenging is the payment model of the MMORPG. You can expect not only an in-game store with microtransactions but also a blockchain economy where you can purchase characters as NFTs or items in token form, for example.
There are also various other issues. Players criticize the faulty state of the game, the tedious XP grind, the boring quest design, pay-to-win elements, and the lackluster combat feel in the app stores.
Even Wemade’s last MMORPG, Mir4, was extremely successful on Steam but also implemented a controversial “pay-to-earn” mechanic, through which players could earn a cryptocurrency by grinding. However, such cryptocurrencies are often subject to extreme value fluctuations. Mir4 is also an MMORPG that subsequently suffered chronically from bots.
One can only hope that the enormous success of Night Crows does not trigger a new wave of generic multiplatform blockchain MMORPGs. The author of these lines can easily do without such genre representatives. What do you think?
In Apex Legends there was a hacking incident over the weekend that is unprecedented in esports. Professionals received cheats during the game from a hacker, leading Electronic Arts to cancel the tournament. Additionally, there are security concerns.
What is happening at Apex? On March 17, 2024, a hacker attack occurred during the finals of the NA Pro League Splits in Apex Legends, unlike anything the esports world has ever seen. A hacker distributed hacks to participating professionals in the middle of the fourth game of the day.
The tournament was originally supposed to determine the 12 North American teams that will represent their region in the ALGS Split 1 Playoffs in May. Now, EA has suspended the tournament indefinitely. It remains unclear whether the first three games of the day will also be declared invalid.
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Apex Legends: Ignites Launch Trailer
Professionals cheat against their will
What kind of hack was it? Apex professional Noyan “Genburten” Ozkose was the hacker’s first target. He received a wallhack in the middle of the round, allowing him to see his opponents. The player repeatedly shouted that he was being hacked and raised his hands to show that he was not responsible for the cheats before leaving the lobby.
You can see the moment here:
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After the match was reset, Phillip “ImperialHal” Dosen was also affected, seemingly equipped with an aimbot against his will. He tried to stay in the game despite the cheats, but the match was shortly thereafter ended by the admins.
ImperialHal and his teammate Verhulst tried to start a normal ranked match after the tournament was canceled, but both received bans – apparently due to the cheats used earlier.
On the official X account Apex Legends E-Sports, a message appeared on Monday night our time stating that the finals would be postponed indefinitely due to “compromised competitive integrity” and that more information would be released soon.
Despite the lack of official information, it is currently believed that the infamous hacker “Destroyer2009” is behind the attack in Apex circles. In the chat of affected professional Genburten, the message “Apex hacking global series by Destroyer2009 & R4ndom” appeared multiple times.
Little is known about the possible second hacker R4ndom at this time.
Community discusses security in Apex Legends
How is it being discussed? On platforms like Reddit and X, the topic is currently huge. There are several threads with hundreds of comments. Aside from potential security concerns, users are mainly discussing how unprecedented the incident is in esports:
Juicenewton248: “I’ve been watching esports for over 15 years and this is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in a live broadcast. […] I hope the PR from this incident will finally force Respawn to fix the damn game” (via Reddit)
mynameisrockhard: “As an ALGS fan, this is a real disappointment, but as a ‘drama queen’, it’s amazing to follow this development.” (via Reddit)
liveFromAC: “I wonder how you can’t just restart the [tournament] completely? I actually don’t care who wins […] but how do you continue like this?” (via Reddit)
Others also point out that this is exactly the reason why such events usually take place in the form of a LAN.
What does this mean for Apex players? After the hacking attack, there are security concerns surrounding the battle royale. The X account Anti-Cheat Police Department states in a post that they spoke with the hacker. He reportedly used a so-called RCE exploit to gain access to the servers.
Such a vulnerability can allow hackers to install and execute malware remotely. Aside from cheats, ransomware could also be installed to completely lock a PC.
However, it is still unclear whether the problem relates to Apex Legends or the Easy Anti-Cheat itself. EAC is also used in Fortnite. So far, it is not known whether other games are affected.
Players, especially the affected professionals and streamers, are advised not to start Apex Legends or even uninstall it, as well as to change their passwords. Some users report finding viruses on their PCs, but in the general uproar it is not yet clear whether they are related to the RCE vulnerability.
Update 16:15 – There is now a statement on the official X accountof Easy Anti-Cheat. It reports that they have conducted investigations. However, they are currently confident that no RCE vulnerability is being exploited in EAC. Therefore, the cause of the problem lies not with Epic’s anti-cheat software but with Apex Legends itself. It should therefore be safe to play other games with EAC. However, some gamers do not want to rely on that and announce that they will avoid all games with EAC until the issue is resolved.
In North America, there was a controversy in the e-sport scene of Call of Duty: The 22-year-old Daunten “Sib” Gray accused a colleague of smoking weed and playing high on cannabis. His boss, Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag, (31) said: If he plays that well on weed, he’d gladly smoke one with him. After all, nobody likes drug testers.
This was the controversy:
As reported by the US site Dexerto , Sib from the New York Subliners accused the best player of the LA Thieves, Daniel “Ghosty” Rothe (21), of smoking weed.
A Twitter user confronted the boss of the LA Thieves, Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag, with this accusation: Ghosty was “high on weed” during official Call of Duty matches – he should take care of the problem before the league gets wind of it.
Nadeshot (profile picture) is not a suit-wearer. The club boss and founder of 100 Thieves is 31, a Twitch streamer, and was previously a shooter pro himself. Therefore, his reaction was different than expected.
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Trailer for Call of Duty MW 3 shows a lobby in real life
Nobody likes drug testers
This was Nadeshot’s reaction: The club boss wrote on Twitter that he had no idea if it was really true and if his player played on cannabis. But Ghosty had played so well all year that he felt like smoking with him. Moreover, it stands: Nobody likes drug testers. The Twitter user should “kick rocks, pal.”
Later, Nadeshot published another tweet where he said that they would smoke a little weed on Twitch in solidarity with Ghosty.
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How is this being discussed? Nadeshot received a lot of applause and agreement on Twitter for his casual handling of the accusation. People generally find it amusing how the 31-year-old former e-sports athlete and influencer deals with the allegations against his player.
The site Dexerto notes, however, that there are also some negative opinions about Nadeshot’s statements:
Twitch streamers would set a terrible example for children.
Such statements would lead to no one taking e-sport seriously.
What’s behind this: Even though this all sounds funny and invites a chuckle: There has indeed been a rampant drug problem in e-sports for years, particularly in shooters and MOBAs like LoL, which should be taken seriously. However, it is not about cannabis, but about attention drugs like Adderall or Ritalin.
Even if Nadeshot’s reaction seems cool here and cannabis is legal in many states of the USA (and soon also in Germany), one should not make the mistake of treating all drugs or substance abuses the same. Especially since the e-sport of Call of Duty had a significantly more serious case of substance abuse just a month ago that made headlines:
The developers of Nightingale have released their new roadmap. We will tell you when the features will come and how the highly anticipated offline mode is progressing.
What will be available in the game soon? The developers of Nightingale recently presented their new roadmap. It clearly shows which features are expected to come to the game soon. At the top of the roadmap, they are addressing the connection issues. This has started in the last patch and is expected to improve further.
Additionally, the developers aim to focus on some “Quality of Life” features, which are features that make the game more enjoyable for players. This includes, for example, a button to skip the tutorial, a way to sort items quickly in the storage, the ability to craft from the storage, queues for crafting, and the option to buy items from the “Guide” book once you have unlocked the “Essence” merchant.
When will the new content be released? The aforementioned “Short Term” contents are expected to find their way into the game in the coming weeks. In contrast, the “Medium-Term” contents will only be introduced into the game in the coming months. This includes the offline mode that players are eagerly waiting for.
Here you can watch a trailer for Nightingale.
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Nightingale Realmwalker – Trailer
The offline mode will likely take months
Why is it taking so long for the offline mode to arrive? The developers of Nightingale mentioned in their YouTube video regarding the roadmap that they still need to develop the offline mode.
Currently, the game processes one half of the data on the PC and the other half on the server. Therefore, it is not easy to simply process all data on the PC. However, the feature is expected to be completed in a few months.
What else is to come? Other “Medium-Term” contents include additional questlines, new interesting locations, improved AI, and more features for the AI, new building components, and additional ranged weapons.
All these features, as well as the offline mode, will take time. The developers mention several months but do not want to commit to fixed dates in their entire roadmap.
The developers also have big goals in mind, but these will only be addressed later in development. This includes new biomes, weapons, and opponents, which we probably should not expect to see until next year. The current focus is on making the game better with simple means.
After 26 years, fans can look forward to a new installment in the fighting game series Fatal Fury. Now, there have been two trailers released announcing the release and introducing five characters.
What kind of game is this? Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is the latest title in a fighting game series from the 90s. Some may also know this series by the name Garou.
With the new title, this series is getting its first sequel after 26 years, as the last title in the series was released in 1999. Now, the trailers not only announced a release window but also showed the first gameplay of five characters:
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Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves shows first gameplay after 26 years
When is Fatal Fury: CotW supposed to be released? In addition to the trailer showcasing the first gameplay and introducing five characters, the announcement trailer was released almost simultaneously on the official YouTube channel SNK (via YouTube).
This also revealed the planned release window. Therefore, we can currently assume that Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is set to be released in early 2025. However, the platforms on which you can play it are still unknown.
What does the gameplay trailer show? The gameplay trailer introduces five characters and showcases their gameplay. Not only do they present the characters and their play styles, but also their English voice actors. At the same time, the trailer was uploaded with Japanese voice actors as well.
Rock Howard (voiced by Griffin Puatu in English, Yuma Uchida in Japanese)
Terry Bogard (voiced by Micheal Schneider in English, Takashi Kondo in Japanese)
Hotaru Futaba (voiced by Suzie Yeung in English, Manaka Iwami in Japanese)
Tizoc (voiced by Jalen K. Cassell, Hikaru Hanada in Japanese)
Preecha (voiced by Mia Paige in English, Chika Anzai in Japanese)
The trailer showcases the different fighting styles of the characters. Here you see them engage in action-packed battles against each other. The trailer also highlights some of the larger attacks, which are initiated with short sequences.
For instance, Tizoc uses his size to attack his opponents and slam them into the ground in a good wrestler fashion. Rock Howard rocks his opponents with massive punches, and Preecha skillfully uses her fist and footwork.
The battles are accompanied by fitting comic-style effects. Both acoustically and visually, the action of the game is emphasized, as you probably expect from most good fighting games in this style.
A gamer explains that he has been struggling with high temperatures in his gaming PC for months. For this reason, he wanted to replace his cooling system now. But he is surprised when he sees his processor, which is completely caked and dirty. Some say they have never seen something like this in 20 years.
A gamer has reportedly been battling significant heat issues in his computer for months. He wanted to resolve the issue by replacing his old cooler with a new system (via reddit.com). However, after dismantling the old water cooling system, he sees that his CPU has taken on a very strange color. He himself writes in another post:
I will probably replace the m22 cooler, as it [the cooling] runs hot, damn hot. I haven’t seen any leaks; it’s as dry as a bone.
The pump has stopped working; I think it’s a result of the excessive heat. And yes – thermal paste can withstand much higher temperatures, but that might be why it has such a strange color.
Community speculates on improperly mounted cooling
What is the problem? A user explains that he probably did not mount his cooling system correctly. As a result, dirt may have gotten into the thermal paste, contaminating it and ultimately lowering the cooling performance.
He himself writes that the thermal paste is about three or four years old. Only in the past month did the temperatures rise so sharply that his computer kept shutting down. He suspects it could have been “a slow leak of coolant that caused the browning, but the cooler was bone dry when I removed it, so I’m not sure.” He had removed a plastic part from the CPU and the cooler beforehand.
Is there something positive as well? Yes, the player explains that the manufacturer NZXT refunded him the money for the cooling system, even though he had used it for four years:
NZXT was actually kind enough to accept a return/replacement, even though I bought it four years ago. I’m pretty satisfied with them.
Why should high temperatures be avoided? Hardware tends to run significantly slower under high temperatures. This is because the processor and graphics card throttle their performance to cope with the heat or shut down in emergencies to protect components.
Moreover, some components wear out faster under high temperature fluctuations or at very high temperatures. Therefore, many gamers try to keep the temperatures and possible fluctuations within limits, often utilizing extensive air cooling or opting for an AIO water cooling system.
If you are struggling with high temperatures in your PC, check out the following guide here on MeinMMO. Here you will find tips and tricks on how to keep your gaming PC cool:
Solo Leveling is one of the most popular animes this season. The anime reaches an almost perfect rating of 4.9/5 stars on Crunchyroll. However, one episode is so unpopular among fans that it has already received 74,600 dislikes compared to 35,100 likes.
Why is the episode so unpopular? So far, 10 episodes of the anime Solo Leveling have been released. In most episodes, there are only a few dislikes compared to thousands of likes. However, there is one episode where the ratio is reversed.
Episode 7.5 has only 35,100 likes against 74,600 dislikes on Crunchyroll. Even the numbering suggests that this is not a full episode. The episode is a so-called recap episode. It summarizes the events of previous episodes in one installment.
However, most animes introduce such a recap episode when significantly more episodes have already been released than is the case with Solo Leveling. Because after a recap episode, viewers still know what happened in the anime even after several months or years. In Solo Leveling, only 7 weeks have passed before this repetition occurred.
You can watch the trailer for Solo Leveling here:
Start video
Solo Leveling Trailer
Fans of Solo Leveling would have preferred a break
What does the community say? In the comments, fans go so far as to say they would have rather had no episode than this recap episode. MeinMMO has selected some comments for you to get a picture of how the 74,600 dislikes came about:
DsymC: “a summary after seven episodes… I find it a bit unnecessary, actually sad.”
Chabobabo: “I was so excited – then comes a filler episode”
Shinoa-chan: “Good that the recap episode exists, I have completely forgotten what happened… not”
In the comments, fans speculate why this recap episode came about. One user believes that one of the voice actors was very ill and that the new episode had thus been postponed by a week. According to other sources, Taito Ban, the voice of Jinwoo, had contracted Covid and even coughed up blood during the recordings for episode 4 (via Jeux Video).
Another user thinks it might be because a new episode has to be aired every week.
However, some speak out against the hate towards the episode: It had been announced beforehand that the episode would be a recap of previous events. MeinMMO also reported on this. Therefore, the people who gave a dislike are “simply ungrateful”.
What is Solo Leveling about?The anime could be something for every MMORPG fan. Protagonist Jinwoo is a Hunter: He enters the so-called “Gates” that connect the real world with other dimensions. Hunters make a living by conquering the “Gates”.
However, Jinwoo is not a particularly good hunter. He is even considered “the weakest hunter in all of humanity”. After he is nearly killed in an accident, he receives a quest to fight his way to the top of the Hunters. Thus, he gets a second chance.
In Pokémon GO, the Pokémon for the next Community Day Classic has been hinted at. The community has a strong suspicion of which Pokémon it is.
What kind of event is this? The Community Day Classic is similar to the regular Community Day. There is a Pokémon that is in the spotlight and appears almost exclusively during the event. In addition to the number of spawns, the likelihood of encountering a Shiny variant is significantly increased.
The difference from a normal Community Day is that in a Community Day Classic, a Pokémon is featured that has already been featured in a regular Community Day.
When is the next Community Day Classic? The next Community Day Classic will take place on Sunday, April 7, 2024. An overview of the upcoming Community Days can be found here on MeinMMO.
Start video
Pokémon GO: This is what the new season ‘World full of Wonders’ looks like in the trailer
Community identifies hint in the trailer
What is this trailer about? On Facebook, the official Pokémon GO account released a trailer to provide a hint about the Pokémon for the next Community Day Classic. Along with the video, the hashtag #PokemonGOCommunityDayClassic is present.
The Pokémon itself is not visible in the trailer. A rock is shown breaking, and in the background, a Pokémon’s cry can be heard. And this cry has been analyzed by the community and attributed to a Pokémon.
What kind of Pokémon is this? Commenters on Facebook under the video are convinced that the Pokémon is Kindwurm. This Pokémon has already had a regular Community Day, which is also a requirement to be featured in a Community Day Classic.
Kindwurm is a Dragon-type Pokémon. Its final evolution, Brutalanda, is among the best Dragon-type attackers in Pokémon GO.
What does the community say about this? The community is sure that there are 2 concrete hints in the short trailer. Some of the comments under the Facebook video include:
I just listened to it, it is definitely the sound of Kindwurm, and in the description of Kindwurm, it says: ‘Its steel-hard head can smash boulders,’ which also happens in the clip., writes user Dan Hobbs
To me, it sounds exactly like Kindwurm, just compare these sounds to those from Pokémon GO., comments Chris Piggin
It’s Kindwurm, click on Kindwurm in the game, it has the same sound., says Jonathan Gonzalez
What do you think about it? Do you also believe that this must be Kindwurm? Are you looking forward to this Community Day Classic? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments. If you want to know which events await you in March 2024 in Pokémon GO, you will find that information with us.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Some users have looked at the builds of the best players in Last Epoch and are now wondering: How is that even possible? What is supposedly being played can’t possibly work. Now fans explain: The top players are allegedly cheating so that no one can copy them.
Through the leaderboard, you can view the builds of the top players – but fans say this doesn’t help.
That’s why you shouldn’t trust the builds: A user pointed out on Reddit that the currently best build in Last Epoch actually can’t work at all. The basic idea seems to be a ballista falconer, but neither the skills nor the equipment fit somehow.
In the comments, other users point out the reason: the top players allegedly change their builds retroactively. They would reallocate their skill points and wear different equipment just so that no one can copy their builds.
One solution would be to take a “snapshot” of the build at the time of victory on the leaderboard and, additionally, to ban equipment changes during arena runs, as in Diablo 3. This way, a build cannot simply be changed retroactively.
One of the currently strongest classes is the runemaster:
Start video
Last Epoch: The 40 Spells of the Rune Master in the Trailer
“Ignore the leaderboards. No build there is not exploiting bugs”
From other fans, there are darker forecasts: hardly any of the best players would be so high on the leaderboards without exploiting bugs or exploits. If you change the builds retroactively, you would get further with that.
This refers primarily to faulty synergies between items and skills that unintentionally multiply significantly. Eleventh Hour Games has already improved here in the past to at least fix performance issues.
Recently, the action thriller “Fear the Night” featuring Maggie Q premiered on Amazon Prime. Is it enough for a fun evening with popcorn and suspense? This is what MeinMMO author Schuhmann says.
This is the premise of Fear the Night: A group of childhood friends reunites for a lively gathering in a house in the countryside, far away from their normal lives.
The friends were once close but have since drifted apart. At the center of the group is a trio of sisters:
Rose wants to get married
Beth wants to ensure her sister has a great party and takes everything a bit too seriously
Tess is an alcoholic and a traumatized Iraq War veteran who appears perpetually annoyed at everyone and clashes with the other women.
Conflict is inevitable when Tess is asked what she’s up to today and introduces herself as “Mister Miyagi with tits”: She teaches self-defense at a school.
Start video
Fear the Night German trailer
As the blood alcohol level rises, the arrows come flying
How does the movie get going? After Tess annoys everyone with constant warnings that something is off, the party slowly gets underway and inhibitions lower as alcohol flows and the chef serves snacks while tearing off his clothes.
But soon, a group of masked men appears, starting to brutally kill the partygoers.
“Die Hard – at a Bachelorette Party”
This is the special aspect of the film: The most thrilling situation is the panic of the women as they realize the hopelessness of their predicament. Tess can only hammer into them, amid much resistance, that they have slipped from their normal and secure everyday lives into a life-and-death situation. Their typical response to Tess, to snap at her and isolate themselves, no longer works.
The scenes of the women immediately after the attack and the changed group dynamics are the best part of the film. Thankfully, the killers remain utterly inactive for minutes, giving their victims room for their group dynamics.
Is the film worth watching? For 90 minutes of action cinema, it’s sufficient if you’re into genre films. The action thriller is solidly crafted and has strong moments. It’s good comfort food, although at times you feel sympathy for the outmatched killers who act as if they’re trying to get stabbed.
How can you see it? Fear the Night is available on Amazon Prime. It is available in German.
V Rising has been a huge success since its release in Early Access 2022. The 1.0 version is scheduled to be released in May, shortly after the release for PS5 – exclusively on consoles. Even now, 2 years after its release, the game has over 6,000 players on Steam.
V Rising: The trailer for the 1.0 release of the vampire game
When is V Rising coming out? The 1.0 release of V Rising is scheduled for May 8, 2024. The PS5 version is expected to arrive later this year, but there is still no specific date for it.
With the 1.0 release, additional features will be introduced to the game, including:
a new zone, the ruins of Mortium
the final chapter of the story
endgame events
new enemies and bosses
new weapons
improvements for building, magic, and more
native controller support
A strong mix of combat and survival
On Steam, V Rising has already received a “very positive” rating with 88% positive reviews. What excites most players are the freedoms that V Rising offers. Especially the ability to build and shape real vampire castles and the different ways to engage in combat appeal to the players.
V Rising employs an isometric action combat system, somewhat similar to Diablo. Stunlock Studios, the creators, have previously worked on Bloodline Champions, which was acclaimed for that very combat system.
It is also well received that you get to play the “other” side of survival games. As a vampire, you are the threat and hunt humans. The night is not more dangerous but the only opportunity for you to go outside at all, as the sun burns you. In most games, it is the other way around.
The biggest criticism is that the game requires a lot of grind. Mainly later in the game, you need a lot of materials to sustain yourself or expand further. Here, you need to tweak your server settings to save time – which is not possible in public games.
The mobile game Monopoly GO was released on April 11, 2023, for Android and iOS. Since then, it has been nothing but a success story. In just 3 months, it generated revenue of 1 billion US dollars, as the developers proudly announce.
What makes the game so successful?
As the developer team Scopely stated in an interview (via gamefile), Monopoly GO is the casual mobile game that has reached the barrier of 1 billion US dollars in revenue the fastest. The brand achieved this in 7 months – Pokémon GO did it in 2016 as well, but that doesn’t count as a “casual” game. Thus, Monopoly GO is the most successful new mobile game of 2023.
Just 10 months after the launch and only 3 months after breaking the 1 billion US dollar mark, the game reached the milestone of 2 billion US dollars in revenue.
Perhaps even more astonishing: Monopoly GO cost the company 500 million US dollars in marketing and user acquisition, as much as PlayStation blockbusters like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 typically cost.
Mobile games often draw inspiration from board games: Even “The Game of Life” has been adapted into a mobile game:
Start video
The Game of Life 2 is now available for PS4 and PS5 – Crossplay with PC, Mobile, and Switch
What the developers say: The CEO of Scopely is enthusiastic about the success of the game. They worked on Monopoly GO for 7 years. Now the success curve is “nothing short of extraordinary.” This is owed to their talented team and passionate players.
8 million players log in to Monopoly GO every day. The “deep engagement” shows how talented the gaming developers are and how they manage to inspire players every day.
The key to the success of Monopoly GO is seen in the fact that they previously developed another game in Monopoly style that required more skill. But then Scopely decided that this “midcore” experience excluded too many players, and thus Monopoly GO was developed.
Criticism: “Model Example of Predatory Capitalism”
What do the critics say? Upon the release of Monopoly GO, on May 1, a rather harsh review of the game appeared on “Destructoid“. It states:
Everything you know about Monopoly is present here, but the rules have changed enough that Monopoly GO is an even more ruthless version of the game in which you buy properties.
Monopoly has always been about capitalism and driving others to ruin. In Monopoly GO, players are encouraged to invite friends as soon as they log in.
The author from Destructoid then states that there are always opportunities in the game to rob friends. Many of those he robbed have since stopped playing Monopoly GO.
An article at Androidcentral also calls Monopoly GO a perfect example of “Cutthroat Capitalism” in mobile gaming, especially regarding monetization:
The game offers little gameplay, but has a “heavily monetized daily energy system,” plus players are bombarded with pop-up ads.
However, Monopoly GO is also well-designed and features a “fast, satisfying gameplay loop.”
On Google Play, Monopoly GO has a rating of 4.7/5 stars with over 1.8 million reviews.
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The background: Games like Monopoly GO illustrate why “gaming” statistics often seem so strange:
According to statistics, 46% of gamers worldwide are now female (via playtoday)
but only 6% identify themselves as gamers
The idea that gaming is primarily a male hobby is partly due to the fact that women statistically play more casual games like “Match-3” (Candy Crush) or farming simulators – games that are often looked down upon by “core gamers”.
Mobile gaming doesn’t have to be necessarily “casual”; there are now also several games for core gamers on iOS and Android, which are often criticized for their aggressive monetization.
Anyone who has played Final Fantasy 7 Remake should be able to follow the story in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth quite well. However, MeinMMO editor Jasmin Beverungen quickly realized that she has numerous gaps in her knowledge – as she has overlooked the many spin-offs.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth follows Final Fantasy 7 Remake. The story seamlessly picks up from the finale of the first part and sends Cloud and his team into an open game world. To understand the story, the title provides a summary of the events from Part 1. So far, so good.
Since I had played the Remake just a few months ago and also checked out the INTERmission DLC shortly before the release, I felt well prepared. Thus, the experiences from Part 1 remained fresh in my memory, and I already knew who Yuffie was. I also watched a summary of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion. Therefore, I was well-informed about Zack’s past as well.
Who is speaking here? Jasmin Beverungen has played several parts of the Final Fantasy series. She has spent a lot of time in FF14, but also enjoys solo games like FF16, FF12, or FF3. After FF7 Rebirth, she can’t wait to continue with the third part.
But I had to find out that I was greatly mistaken.
During my playthrough, there were several characters seen that were not introduced in detail. There were flashbacks that left me with a big question mark on my face, and I had to research afterwards to find out who they actually were. In doing so, I came across a game that no longer exists today but provides the background for an important character.
The most important characters are visible in the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth trailer:
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Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth – Trailer
Failed Mobile Game is the Background of an Important Character
Throughout the game, Glenn Lodbrok appears repeatedly. He is a mysterious blond character who seems to be immortal. A flashback from the current Shinra president makes it clear: Glenn is already dead and has become a follower of Sephiroth, a grand villain. However, the scene conveys that the two know each other from somewhere – but where from?
After the game left me with numerous questions, I stumbled upon the mobile title Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-. The game was developed for the Japanese market in 2004 and was discontinued in 2018. There we learn that Glenn Lodbrok was regarded as the first SOLDIER and was shot by Rufus.
Glenn also had a bigger appearance in Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier. However, this game has also been discontinued – the servers were shut down on January 11, 2023.
There is still a way to at least partially catch up on the story: The mobile gacha game Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis combines the stories from Before Crisis, Crisis Core, and Dirge of Cerberus – about which I haven’t mentioned a word yet. However, not every player is into the gacha genre, and the events from The First Soldier are not relevant here.
But it doesn’t stop with Glenn Lodbrok: There are still some other characters like Nero and Weiss, of whom I have no idea who they actually are. This lack of knowledge didn’t take away my enjoyment of the game, but it did mean that I couldn’t follow certain cutscenes at all.
Who is Glenn Lodbrok anyway? This is not really clarified in Rebirth.
A Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
The fragmented story seems to be intentional by Square Enix. In 2003, the company announced the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. This includes smaller projects that are part of the main story of Final Fantasy VII.
These include:
Advent Children (Film)
Last Order (Film)
Before Crisis
Crisis Core
Dirge of Cerberus
the Remake and Rebirth
The First Soldier
Ever Crisis
As you can see, it takes a considerable amount of gameplay time to really understand everything in Final Fantasy VII. If you want to know completely what is going on in the current trilogy, you need to invest about 67 hours (via HowLongToBeat). That’s how long it typically takes to play through or watch everything – not counting the trilogy itself.
This fragmented structure reminded me of Kingdom Hearts. Even here, there are now so many spin-offs that I eventually decided to throw in the towel and stop following the series. I no longer enjoyed it because I couldn’t follow the story anymore due to missing important information from another game.
Fortunately, it hasn’t come to that with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth yet. I really enjoyed the story, and Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Co. have wormed their way into my heart. But I hope that the third part will take it easy regarding the knowledge from spin-offs.
When I put a video game in, I want to enjoy it without having to gather all the information from other titles as a hobby agent. I was expecting to need to know about the experiences from FF7 Remake and INTERmission.
That’s why I hope to enjoy the third part of Final Fantasy VII without any further background information. I am already looking forward to experiencing more adventures with Cloud and his friends.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the current shooter hit Helldivers 2 (Steam, PS5), there are increasing hints that a faction from part 1, the Illuminati, will also appear in part 2. In clips on YouTube and reddit, players share their experiences. However, the game’s director explains this as propaganda: Blue laser beams are not real and cannot harm players.
This is the situation:
A few days ago, data miners found hints that an enemy faction from part 1, the “Illuminated,” will also appear in part 2. We reported on this on MeinMMO on March 12.
These Illuminated are a highly developed alien civilization that already appeared in Helldivers 1 as an enemy of the Over-Earth. Data miners found hints about enemy types such as Adept, Ghoul, Outcast, Pathfinder, or Summoner. In part 1, they could teleport and showed the gruesome visage of their tentacle faces.
Now, there are increasing hints that the Illuminated are already appearing in the game.
Start video
Helldivers 2 Sign up for Duty trailer shows new mechs in the game
Players Show Blue Laser Beams
This is what players say: On reddit about Helldivers 2, clips are now being posted from player experiences that show unexplainable blue laser beams apparently shooting from the sky and harming players, as well as bugs.
Players write: “Blue laser beams discovered.”
A veteran from part 1 writes: “No joke, these blue laser beams trigger post-traumatic stress for me.”
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Thus, they orient themselves towards the developers of the game. The CEO of the studio and creative director of Helldivers 2 declared: “Blue laser beams are not real. They cannot harm you.”
Well, that’s good then.
Even with flying bugs, there was a clear denial that such a thing existed.
Since the launch of Palworld, players have been wishing for a feature that has long existed in colony simulation games like RimWorld: A “management system” that assigns workers to specific tasks or prohibits them from other tasks. The community manager of Palworld has now hinted at such a system. A “Pal Management” system is set to be released with a future update.
What kind of feature is this? In games where you direct workers like RimWorld, Dwarf Fortress, or Going Medieval, such features already exist:
It is a management system through which you can instruct your workers precisely which tasks they should fulfill and which they should not.
This allows you to specialize individual workers and have them work according to their strengths.
One servant can then exclusively take care of food preparation, while another is expressly prohibited from even coming near the cooking pot.
Start video
The developers of Palworld showcase the 1st raid
Image in Discord promises new management system
This image now showed Palworld: The community manager Bucky recently showed an image in Discord.
The image shows 10 different Pals with their levels and a total of 13 different tasks. You can assign the Pals which tasks they should fulfill and which they should not.
In games like RimWorld, it is also possible in an expanded menu to assign clear priorities to tasks from 1 to 4. Also, tasks that are further left take precedence over tasks that are further right.
As Gamesradar reports, the management system is apparently linked to the “Monitoring Stand.” During installation, it should be possible to activate or deactivate the management system in the future.
When is it supposed to come? It is currently not entirely clear. However, the community manager hints that the management system could come together with the new raid boss to PalWorld.
He writes: “If you don’t confront Bellanor, enjoy some relaxing base management.”
We already reported on the 1st raid boss in Palworld on MeinMMO last Friday:
The Twitch streamer Asmongold is set to become a companion character in the new role-playing game “Dragon‘s Dogma 2“. However, this has sparked some negative comments. Asmongold talks about being “canceled” again and feeling “more hated” than ever before. But at least Elon Musk supports him.
What is triggering the conflict right now?
The new role-playing game Dragon’s Dogma 2 published a tweet on March 15. Asmongold is set to become an “official pawn” in their game alongside many other people: these are the AI-controlled companion characters in the role-playing game.
Who had a problem with that? The discussion around the tweet mainly focuses on Asmongold. People wrote things like:
No one should use Asmongold’s pawn.
I will delete Asmongold from my damn game.
Asmongold is the guy who doesn’t even know how to play the game? I need to make sure to avoid his pawn.
Asmongold himself refers to a tweet in a video that asks:
“Is Asmongold not this racist, openly misogynistic, transphobic hypocrite who doesn’t even like the game? I will laugh so hard if he responds to his cameo by criticizing the character editor of Dragon’s Dogma for being so trans-inclusive.”
Start video
Career and life of Asmongold in 3 minutes – What makes him special?
Asmongold says: He is being canceled for being successful without showering
This is what Asmongold says: In a YouTube clip from one of his Twitch streams, Asmongold says he is being “canceled” and feels he has never been as hated as he is now:
I want to be honest, guys. The amount of attention I’ve been getting lately – EVERYONE is talking about me, EVERYONE is thinking about me. It’s more than ever before. […] I feel like what I’m saying isn’t that crazy.
Asmongold believes people hate him because he “does everything wrong yet is still successful.” He doesn’t shower, doesn’t want a job, is a jerk, and lives in his deceased mother’s house, yet is still extremely successful.
Asmongold as part of a hate campaign – Elon Musk supports him
What happened next? The next level of escalation reached the dispute over Dragon’s Dogma 2 when an employee of the consulting firm “Sweet Baby Inc”, Chris Kindred, commented on the subject of “Asmongold in Dragon’s Dogma 2” and said that Asmongold was an “active participant in a hate campaign.”
This is what Asmongold could look like in Dragon’s Dogma 2.
This led to even Elon Musk intervening in the discussion. He wrote:
Sweet Baby Inc is the evil plague of the gaming industry. Everything they do makes games worse and they try to cancel people. They cannot go bankrupt fast enough.
In response to the comment: Elon Musk surely watches Asmongold’s videos, he replied: “Funny and accurate.”
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Asmongold’s opinions become more radical and intense
The background: Asmongold polarizes much more than before, although he has previously “not showered” and was “very successful”. But his content has changed significantly over the last few years: Previously, he mainly streamed WoW and criticized Blizzard.
Especially since the trial Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard, he has become a reaction streamer and opinion blogger. Recently he also realized that he becomes increasingly successful and gets more attention the more radical and intense his opinions are.
It is no longer about looking at things from two sides, but rather there is a clear pattern recognition of “good/evil” and a lot of strong criticism is directed:
Gamers are good, intelligent, and normal – this also applies to game developers who are currently successful, such as Palworld or Helldivers 2.
Gaming journalists, game developers, and activists are corrupt, out of touch, and ideologically blinded.
From WoW streamer to “Johnny Depp reaction channel.”
While he indeed speaks to the hearts of many gamers and his original target audience, he oversimplifies and misrepresents some connections and intensifies them significantly. For this, he is often criticized:
He titled a video reaction to a WoW streamer “The War Within is already dead,” for which he was so heavily criticized that he had to change the title.
The discussion about the developer who doesn’t want to hire white employees, he misrepresented and called the developer “a senior employee of EA,” which she is not.
He is therefore accused by his critics of engaging in “ragebait”, meaning addressing topics he knows will outrage his viewers and further agitating this outrage through exaggerated representation.
The explanation: “People don’t like me because I’m successful but unshowered” is therefore surely incorrect.
In the past, Asmongold has repeatedly gone through phases where he was so controversial and had to deal with so much drama that he lost interest in Twitch and withdrew. Since June 2023, he has not been streaming on his main channel “Asmongold” but on Zackrawr, because the attention as Asmongold became too much for him. Currently, he seems to be quite comfortable in his role as “the center of the gaming world that everyone is talking about.”
In a new video, Marco from Nerdkultur talks about the film classic that probably everyone thinks of first when they hear the name Hannibal Lecter. You can find out the good reasons for this here.
Who is Marco Risch? Since 2015, Marco Risch has been uploading videos with news, reviews, analyses, and interviews about current movies, series, and video games on his YouTube channel Nerdkultur .
In his Podcast Nerd & Kultur, he chats every Sunday with his colleague Yves Arievich about topics such as Star Wars, Marvel, and DC. Together, they are part of the Webedia network, of which MeinMMO is also a part.
In a new video, Marco now discusses the classic “The Silence of the Lambs” and explains why hardly any other film could portray Hannibal Lecter as well:
Start video
After that, you will see The Silence of the Lambs in a different light…
What makes The Silence of the Lambs so special? Many probably associate this film with the brilliant portrayal of Hannibal Lecter by the actor Anthony Hopkins. However, Marco explains in his video why he is not solely responsible for the inaccessibility of The Silence of the Lambs, or why we specifically remember him.
In this film, you look directly into the eyes of Hannibal Lecter, and that through the eyes of Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling. For example, her counterparts always look directly into the camera, breaking the fourth wall. However, she herself often looks slightly away. As Marco explains, this is a deliberate effect to allow you to see the story through her eyes.
The book adaptation already tells the story from her perspective, with short snippets of thoughts and internal monologues. However, it is all somehow from the narrator’s perspective and thus quite conventional. Unlike director Jonathan Demme, who, according to Marco, used a very unconventional method.
The film never really leaves the perspective of the young FBI agent. The camera follows her step by step and shows you how she perceives this male-dominated world, in which she has also been isolated from the very beginning.
What makes Hannibal Lecter so special here? In his video, Marco primarily emphasizes that you don’t get to see Hannibal Lecter at first. Instead, you only hear stories about him, see through Sterling’s eyes, and have to leave the rest to your imagination.
Just that alone probably built up enough tension, but when the man actually steps into the frame, he is portrayed in a special way by Anthony Hopkins. For example, he improvised the remark about Sterling’s Southern accent, eliciting an authentic reaction from Jodie Foster.
The power dynamics between the two characters are especially supported by the set design. There is a glass wall between them instead of prison bars, and Hannibal almost towers over Sterling when she is seated.
In his video, Marco notes that Hopkins only has 16 minutes of screentime in the almost 2 hours. While that isn’t much, it was enough to leave a lasting impression. Marco points out that he actually never blinks in his scenes as a particular reason for this.
Because with his piercing eyes, this Hannibal Lecter always makes you a bit nervous and definitely ensures he remains memorable.
The developer Andrew Gower has made so much money with his work on the MMORPG RuneScape that his new own MMORPG, “Brighter Shores”, is now supposed to focus entirely on the happiness of the players, he says in an interview. The new MMORPG Brighter Shores is set to be released on Steam in the third quarter of 2024.
In 2010, he left the board of Jagex and founded his own company “Fen Research Ltd.”.
In 2007, he was already considered a multimillionaire and one of the 700 richest entrepreneurs in the UK, with his fortune estimated at around £196 million at that time.
RuneScape and its retro variant “Old School RuneScape” are popular MMORPGs on Steam:
Start video
Old School RuneScape – Trailer for the Steam Release
MMORPG Developer Wants Many Players, Not Much Money
He says today: In an interview with GamesRadar , Andrew Gower introduces his new MMORPG “Brighter Shores”. He says:
We are in the fortunate position that we do not need external investors because I am able to finance the whole project myself due to previous successes. There are no external investors, no publisher, no one breathing down my neck, saying we need to meet certain targets.
According to Gower, he wants players – as many as possible. They should like his game. He misses leading an MMORPG and having many players enjoy his MMORPG.
Gower says he is focused on developing a game that as many people as possible will like – and not on making a lot of money. He hopes that this will lead to one thing or another.
How many are working on the MMORPG Brighter Shores? Currently, he has a team of 8 people, he could have paid more, but he wants to focus on a team that he can finance without external investors.
When the game is released and grows larger, the team should grow as well.
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What ideas does he have? As an idea for Brighter Shores, Gower has that players could automate some tedious content.
Players already do this in MMORPGs now and work with rubber bands on the controller or weights on the keyboard. Normally, MMORPGs would fight against such methods, but he wants to make this automation part of his game.
Those who want to can automate tasks like “forging 1,000 swords or chopping down trees” and then receive worse results than if they do it manually, but have something to look forward to when they log in.
Brighter Shores should encourage players to try out as many things as possible and will frequently change what the “most effective way” is to achieve a goal.
Gower sees Brighter Shores as a “more relaxed, fun” variant of MMORPGs, especially compared to RuneScape. It is supposed to be a game that one can play after a hard day to unwind and enjoy:
Among young Gen Z people, a trend seems to be particularly popular: job ghosting. Survey data from a platform that interviewed applicants and companies shows that: 78% of all applicants intentionally ignored the employer.
What is job ghosting? In a job offer, both the employer and the applicant must be interested. If either party loses interest during the application process, ghosting occurs: the applicant promises to call back but never does.
According to survey data from a job application platform, ghosting in jobs is becoming more and more common. According to our colleagues from Xataka.com, this is a trend that is particularly popular among young people: among Gen Z.
Generation Z includes individuals born between 1997 and 2012.
Ghosting among applicants is increasingly widespread
What data is that? The employment platform Indeed surveyed 4,500 companies and 4,500 applicants for its “Hiring Ghosting Report 2023”: 1,507 in the USA, 1,506 in the UK, and another 1,503 in Canada (via cloudfront.net). The results from the survey are surprising. Because the data shows what applicants and employers think of each other.
The Indeed platform has been conducting surveys since 2019 and sees clear trends toward “job ghosting.”
What do the data say?
78% of applicants report that they intentionally ignored employers in the past year.
Of those, 59% regret this step. However, 62% of applicants believe they would ignore an employer again in the future.
14% of applicants get a job, sign the contract, only to quit without notice on the first working day after receiving information about poor experiences from former employees.
70% of surveyed applicants believe that it is right not to follow up with an employer.
50% of employers also believe that the behavior of “ghosting” is justified.
However, 54% of recruiters also think that they bear some responsibility for the negative behavior of applicants, as they provide inadequate communication and transparency or put them through unnecessarily long selection processes.
“The job is too boring” is the main reason for job ghosting
Why do people suddenly quit? Many people in the survey cite the main reason for not showing up: the job is too boring or does not align with their interests. Insufficient salary or another job offer come as reasons only afterward.
Interestingly, the same questions were also posed to the companies. And the companies indicated that they assumed that people had received a better offer and then did not show up for the position they applied for.
But there is another danger on the horizon for many jobs: chatbots like ChatGPT that are increasingly replacing jobs. A former employee of a company recently explained how she lost her job to an AI and what that means for her future:
