Author: Jeffrey Davis

Video game events at this year’s C2E2, that other Springtime expo

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While most of us in the games industry look to PAX East for our springtime gaming expo fix, there exists a relatively new pop culture event halfway across the continental United States that you wouldn’t ordinarily think of. That doesn’t mean that it’s entirely useless for gamers, of course, as there’s a fair share of gaming goodies to be had this year. I’m talking about the upcoming C2E2 event, as in the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, which is coming up in just over a week’s time. And man, is there stuff to do.

On Friday, there’s a panel on the recently-released transmedia property Defiance, which is perhaps a major industry first in that it combines a television series with a persistent online gaming environment. That’s because it combines the game experience with a televised cable series, which you can watch on the SyFy Channel. Also on the list for Friday is a panel that basically explains the ins and outs of being the good guy in a MMO game, but unfortunately you have to pick one or the other. “The Making of Defiance, A Living Transmedia World” runs from 2:45 PM through 3:45 PM and “Playing a Hero in MMOs” runs from 3:15 to 4:15.

From there, you can make further plans based on your initial choice of the transmedia/MMO panels described above. There’s “Building Your First Video Game” from 3:15–4:15, which is followed by “How do I get my Comic Book Character into a Video Game?” from 5:45–6:45. Regardless of your initial choices, you can end with a panel on the “Future of Gaming from Consoles to Online” from 7:00–8:00.  Or you could skip the comic book character and online play sessions and go for something entirely different, since there’s a Q&A session with Felicia Day of the gaming-inspired webseries The Guild that runs from 6:30 to 7:30. And that’s just the first day.

Saturday brings a few more panels, including sessions on Injustice: Gods Among Us and Marvel Heroes from 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM and 5:45 PM – 6:45 PM, respectively. Or you can skip the Injustice panel and go for “Behind the Graphics: A Video Game Industry Round Table” from 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM. You can close out your weekend by taking in a behind-the-scenes panel on “Writing for Video Games” from 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM on Sunday. And while you’re on site, be sure to check out some of the exhibitors, including High Voltage Software (which is showcasing the failed WiiWare delivery turned mobile game known as Zoombies: Animales de la Murte) and a big, fat Capcom display run side-by-side with an IGN interaction, which is sponsoring the stage where a sold-out Kevin Smith event is taking place among others.

If you’re interested in any of the above, be sure to head down Lake Shore Drive in the Windy City from April 26-28 in the McCormick Place complex’s West Building. General admission tickets are $25-$55, or take your kids on the last day only and they get in free. Just make sure you act fast if you want in: the price goes up an additional ten bucks at midnight on the day before the event starts.

Posted in News |

North American services ending for Dungeon Fighter Online

dungeonfighteronline-logoSad news today for the warriors of Arad, as Nexon has announced that North American services will be coming to an end for Dungeon Fighter Online. Seriously, it really is coming to an end – and that’s despite some of Nexon’s related announcements having April 1 timestamps.

In a statement posted to the game’s North American regional website, Nexon America CEO Min Kim said that the company simply “has not attracted enough player interest to properly service” Dungeon Fighter Online for the region. He continued, “Internally, we struggled deeply with the popularity of DFO in North America as the title is immensely popular overseas. For more than three years, we went through many milestones and several pushes before we came to this very difficult decision.”

Kim noted that the Nexon team has “worked hard in hopes of building a strong community through new content updates, service fixes, and events. We tirelessly battled hackers and farmers. We even had the honor of presenting the game to you at E3 and PAX. However, Dungeon Fighter Online was not able to grow beyond its very special and proud core following [in the North American marketplace].”

Nexon America will begin drawing its services for the game to an end over the next seven weeks, with the game’s item mall closing up shop on April 11. All remaining services will be terminated on June 13. Players who are in good standing with Nexon America’s services for the game will receive compensation for all permanent and duration-based items, along with that for any purchased consumables, based on dollar amount purchases for the previous six months from today’s announcement. Furthermore, special deals will be available to all recently active Dungeon Fighter Online players in other Nexon-serviced games, also based on similar criteria for both DFO and their new game of choice within the Nexon catalog.

A complete FAQ sheet has been posted to give players some additional information regarding the announcement.

Posted in News, PC |