That explains the "on-the-spot firings" reported earlier. Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) has acquired Vanguard developer and co-publisher Sigil Games. There are going to be job losses in this kind of full acquisition: in an interview with Next-Generation, Sony PR confirms the job cuts and notes that they are in the "redundant" positions such as customer service and marketing, as well as a consequence of the post-release slowdown at the developer.

So, what will happen is that Sigil becomes one of SOE's studios, retaining its Carlsbad offices, and continue to be in charge of Vanguard. Brad McQuaid, Sigil CEO and the game's executive producer, will continue his duties to Vanguard as Creative Director and serve as a consultant with SOE.

A small group of Sigil employees will move to SOE-San Diego to work on "a prototype for a new MMO." And finally, the Sigil brand itself will be dissolved, with SOE having absorbed practically everything else.

 

Is learning the Logos language necessary? CuppaJo tells WarCry that "it won't be necessary" to learn the distinct iconographic language of the game world - unless you're trying to translate that darned stone tablet - yet Logos should also be "easy to pick up" as players course through the game. She even says that even without the complete Logos vocabulary, players should be able to understand paragraphs through context.

One word that theoretically shouldn't be in Tabula Rasa's vocabulary is "grind." At least that's how the game's built. Experience points should be earned from quests and kills, CuppaJo reveals: but there's also a kill streak bonus to take advantage of. So yeah, you should still be ripping heads off for XP. But at least it'll be faster.

Evolve PR thought that, from the perspective of small developers/publishers and games press, the new, invite-only E3 sucked hind wind. Well, a small developer begged to disagree: none other than Alex Seropian, Bungie Studios founder, former CEO, and after seeing his baby safe within Microsoft's environs, now in charge of his new baby Wideload Games.

In an interview with The Armchair Empire's Omni, he mentions the thought that the old E3, for all the excitement it brought to the industry, was a "huge drain" that did not, from a developer's perspective, "serve any purpose whatsoever." While he didn't mention Evolve PR's contention that the old E3 was better for networking and publicity, Alex argued that the old E3 simply evolved (or devolved) into "one big strokefest for the publishers to see who could make the most noise."

It generated a lot of buzz in the industry but as far as translating into how good a game is, it seemed to have zero effect – if anything a negative effect. And in terms of translating into sales, I don’t how you could possibly justify the expense. I think that’s why it’s gone away.

It's rather... interesting to compare E3 into, er, male urinal envy... or a pissing contest. We will be... un-graphic about this and interpret Alex's statements to be a commentary on the hype-and-noise factor of old-E3, the very factor ESA cited as the reason for "downsizing" the event.

Time will tell whether the new E3 will fulfill its purpose and be worth the ride for the developer. On the other hand, the invite-only restriction still means that covering the new "fest" will still be a pain for the small press.

At the Evolve PR blog, an opinion piece has appeared proposing that downsizing E3 will have some sad consequences for the small guys: small publishers/developers and the "second-tier" gaming sites.

The smaller E3 was meant to refocus the event to what it was supposed to be at the start: business. The smaller, more intimate - and exclusive - event may now mean that everyone can get down to business, but as the article proposed, the small guys will have a hard time dealing. On the small-publisher side, the "large" E3 was a chance for them to be able to reach out to a broad audience and thus garner much-needed publicity for their titles.

On the second-tier sites side, the "large" E3 also provided the same benefits. As alluded to in responses from anonymous sources in the gaming journalism scene, the "large E3" was the place to report on everything gaming, and at the same time make some needed contacts with the gaming industry. The smaller E3, with its more restricted invite list, doesn't provide the same benefit. And with usually only one staff member getting the invite, that guy's now left with the burden of taking notes and making networks.

Either way, the old E3 is dead, and while the new E3 (or E4), as well as everyone else, steps into to fill the void, somehow it might not be the same. The argument is that mixing business with pleasure the old E3 way had its advantages for the small guys.

And now mad scientist-types can rejoice. NCSoft tells Eurogamer that the new crafting Invention System update is "imminent" for City of Heroes/Villains, which Eurogamer interprets as "days away."

Invention is crafting: kill monsters, collect items, mix together to make even more powerful items, and if you're a villain, hold the world hostage for the sum of one millio... er, billio... er, a lot of money. Anyone planning on naming their villain "Dr. Evil"?

Besides Invention, the update will also include 10 new sets of wings: Angel, Demon, Burned, Bone, Bat, Cherub, Insect, Tech, and Fairy. Which one goes with the evil genius persona, we dunno, although Tech seems like a good candidate. Like, c'mon, who's heard of a mad scientist bent on world domination... with fairy wings?

With its projected launch date of June 15, 2007 (according to 1UP, anyway) ominously approaching, 1UP must have felt it to be a great time to talk to Flagship Studios' Chief Visionary Officer, Dave Brevik, about Hellgate: London. And it has been a long time since we've seen hell or high water - oops, wrong idiom.

One click of Play, listen to the guy describe both the fun of making this game, and the hope that people will have fun playing with the game, too. After all, if their primary test for game accessibility is called the "Mom Test"... (For a game that takes place in Hell-on-Earth, though, it ought to be the "Mom-in-Law Test")

NCSoft announces a new contest for the Tabula Rasa community - one which will allow the player to literally contribute something to the game: an emote. "Do you want to contribute to Tabula Rasa by suggesting a compelling emote that everyone will want to use?"

Ooh, happy face! Sad face! Angry face! WTF, where the hell did you learn your *&^%* battle skills?! face (that emote might be needed a lot...).

For those who wish to be preserved as the physical reaction available to all the players of Tabula Rasa, NCSoft invites them to submit a short video clip depicting their desired emote. Of course, there are certain rules to be followed, like no using copyrighted images or sounds (does the YMCA dance count?), no living in places where these kinds of contests are prohibited, and no not reading the official rules which can be accessed via the Read link.

I wonder what the proper emote is to react to the phrase "Many Eastern women."

Some people complain, some people bellyache. Few, very few try to offer analyses and insights in the hope that a satisfactory answer may be found.

This is what World of Warcraft forum member Tulkaz did in response to complaints about Shamans. No invective, no vitriol: his "The Plight of the Shaman Class V2.0" offers an insightful perspective into what it feels like to play as the Shaman as he is now: "underpar and generally unwanted."

As a very longish post and quite detailed in its analysis, it would be far better to refer you to the Read link to take it all in full. As such, we can only offer a short overview of the arguments. Tulkaz goes as far as to detail specs and points in the Enhancement, Restoration, and Elemental specializations of the Shaman. As he observes,

However as the game developed the shaman were torn in three different directions as the devs saw it necessary to make them focus on being just one thing at a time, healer, damage caster, or meleer. But by doing this they have made a broken class, sure, at each particular role the shaman class is more effective than it was before, but at the same time they have to almost give up the other two roles.

And by being constructive and insightful, rather than choose the path of the troll or the griefer, he did get Tseric's attention, who will pass these comments along to Blizzard. Whether it will make a dent is another matter entirely, but at least the case has been made, right?

 

Don't say no one warned you. Eyonix dropped by the World of Warcraft forums to inform everyone that there will be rolling restarts for all realms on April 24, 5:00am PDR - except for a select number of realms which will require a two-hour maintenance break. These realms are as follows:

• Area 52
• Auchindoun
• Azuremyst
• Blade's Edge
• Blood Furnace
• Coilfang
• Exodar
• Shattered Halls
• Terokkar
• The Scryers
• The Underbog
• Velen
• Zangarmarsh

Like we said: don't say no one warned you.

If you're going to run into Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings Online, then most likely you will run into Aragorn (Strider) and Arwen as well. Turbine's LOTRO homepage has their respective character profiles, but anyone who has followed Frodo's journey through Middle-Earth, print or celluloid, should know their respective histories.

It boils down to something along the lines of (and this is the six-line abridgement of the Aragorn-Arwen arc of LOTRO):

Aragorn and Arwen sitting in a tree (okay, it could be an Ent)

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

First comes love,

Then comes marriage Then comes kicking Sauron's arse,

Then comes marriage,

Then comes the end of the Third Age of Middle-Earth, and the beginning of the Age of Man.

(and a baby in a baby carriage)

Now you know why it is so important to fight for the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth. There's a wedding reception at the end of it, dang it!