Sims Online; Goes Offline

After a 6 year running period of constant online support, EA-Land's The Sims Online will be shutting down. Not right away, subscribers have till August 1st to continue playing, but now for free.

EA is canceling the billing of all subscribers and allowing them free play until the ultimate demise of The Sims Online.

If you are a paying subscriber as of April 29th 2008, EA would like to offer you one of the following two gifts as a token of our appreciation:

* $15 off any game at the EA Store at www.eastore.ea.com, or

* Three months of Club POGO(tm) Subscription Time

Read the whole announcement after the jump.

It is with mixed emotions that today we are announcing the EA-Land experiment will soon draw to a close. Since 2002, EA-Land / TSO has attracted a very special group of players (of which you are one) and we certainly appreciate your participation in the EA-Land community. The lifetime of the game has drawn to an end, and now we will be focusing on new ideas and other innovative concepts in the games arena. We’d like to thank everyone who has taken part in this online community as a unique experience in the virtual world.

Below are some facts about how the site and service will be closed. Please see also a special message from the team that maintained EA-Land, to the community that played it.

Key Facts:

* On August 1, 2008, the game EA-Land / TSO will no longer be in service and EA will focus these resources on future games

* Your subscription billing will end now, so that at least 60 days of your EA-Land experience will be at no cost to you

* You may cancel your account and subscription at any time by contacting customer service or by managing your EA account online. To do this, you must log on to EA-Land / TSO to cancel within the game

* Starting immediately PayPal cash-in will not be available anymore

* EA Customer Support at support.ea.com is available to help answer any questions you might have regarding your account

If you are a paying subscriber as of April 29th 2008, EA would like to offer you one of the following two gifts as a token of our appreciation:

* $15 off any game at the EA Store at www.eastore.ea.com, or

* Three months of Club POGO(tm) Subscription Time

Paying subscribers please insure your email contact information is up to date as details of this offer will be sent out to you within 30 days.

Again, thanks you to all of you.

Electronic Arts

-Undrallio

Read more...

Hey, Did You See the Latest Issue of Games For Windows?

If you said yes, then you're a liar. While the most recent one would be the last issue printed, the actual current issue will NOT be coming to print. In fact, Games For Windows will never be coming to print again (Ok...maybe in a few years, but right now, no). GFW has become yet another internet-only based gaming information site.

The reason? The money lies in the internet, a business strategy. Remember however, not all is lost. You can still find the original, great editors online at their site, 1Up.

After running in print for 27 years, which is a long freaking time mind you, they've finally moved on with the digital era. Sadly, I really enjoyed reading their magazine every month, especially editor-in-chief Jeff Green's articles.

You can read GameDaily's interview with Ziff Davis after the break, hit up 1Up's post, or go straight to Jeff Green's blog and read about it.

Following the announcement that GFW would be moving from print to online-exclusive, Next-Gen had a chance to chat with Cox over the phone.

He revealed that news of the closure of the magazine came as much of a surprise to the GFW staff as it did to the gaming public. Cox explained that because of GFW's partnership with Microsoft, Ziff Davis had to keep news of the magazine's canning quiet; the staff didn't know it had already released its last print edition until this morning.

He said that the fact that the editorial staff (Ziff Davis had to let go of two GFW artists) was staying at 1Up in an online capacity lessened the blow, but when a magazine that's been around for 27 years is discontinued, it cuts deep for staff and for fans of the magazine.

"There's a lot of sadness for the demise of a 27-year-old storied publication," Cox said. "On the other hand, people are excited about what these guys can do when we let them loose online."

Cox elaborated upon the factors that contributed Ziff Davis' decision to stop printing GFW.

"The newsstand was a very challenging space for us. It was a tough place to be," he said. "And then you have the marketers who want to advertise in print, but they don't put the budgets behind it that they used to, and they tend to be moving towards online. Wrap those things up, and it's not a pretty picture from a business perspective."

GFW's situation is not unique. Print publications are looking for ways to flourish in a market where the Internet is becoming the prime destination for readers.

"It's a challenge for all of us moving forward, how to keep print relevant," Cox said. With GFW, Ziff Davis saw ad dollars "fly" to online at a rapid pace. With console-centric publications, the move of ad dollars to online is slower, but still occurring.

So what does this mean for Ziff Davis' Electronic Gaming Monthly, another "storied" games publication?

"The prognosis for [Electronic Gaming Monthly] is good, but ultimately, of course, that could change. We're all realists here. We all know that ultimately, online is probably going to be where most people are going to get their information. We're not at that point yet, and there is still a place for EGM until we get there."

Cox said that GFW's editorial staff, which is part of the 1Up Network, has already been thinking in terms of being online and print content creators, which should help the transition.

"I don't think it was as big of a shock as it could have been. I think that everyone had noticed that the ads weren't as great in GFW as they had been, and I think most of the staff knew that the newsstand was a challenge to the magazine."

-Undrallio

Read more...

Sony's NOT Closing Servers

After a post I made a few days ago about Sony closing off some servers it turns out that it was all false information. The original site that stated that SCEA was axing the servers never got SCEA's word on it apperently.

"SCEA has made no announcements about shutting down the servers, so I'm not sure where this website got that info," an SCEA representative told Shacknews today. "Based on some of the game names it sounds like it is from another territory."

"It does stand to reason that eventually servers for older titles may be shut down due to lack of participation in those titles as more and more gamers are switching to PS3 and newer content," the representative concluded.

So quick everyone, go play Amplitude online while you still can!





-Undrallio

Read more...

Another Company Bites the Dust

Pseudo Interactive, the developing studio for the Full Auto games, has come to a halt and closed shop.

Due to a budgeting issue caused by Eidos and SCi canceling a few of Pseudo's projects, the developers tried to push on, but inevitably couldn't continue any longer.

I think that the devs from Pseudo will do just fine with the two Full Auto titles on their records, best of luck to em.





-Undrallio

Read more...

Sony's Closing Servers

Playstation 2 didn't have the greatest online play, but there was some good titles out there if you looked hard enough, but after June 30th the servers that are listed after the break are going to be kaput.

Of course it really isn't that big of a surprise, we're in the next-gen now, the past will be erased and forgotten. Wow, that's kind of depressing.

Full list after the jump.

PlayStation 2

* Amplitude
* Destruction Derby Arenas
* Everybody’s Golf
* EyeToy Chat
* F1 ‘04
* Jak X
* Lemmings PS2
* My Street
* Syphon Filter Omega Strain
* This is Football 2004
* This is Football 2005
* Twisted Metal: Black Online

PSP

* Lemmings
* World Tour Soccer 2




-Undrallio

Read more...

D&D's Ultimite Dungeon Master Has Passed Away

The father of D&D, Gary Gygax, aged 69, passed away this morning at age his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin after being in poor health for a length of time, suffering from multiple strokes and a near fatal heart attack.

This is very sad news for the D&D community, and all of us nerds as well. I know I'm pretty bummed about it.

There's not much to say really, except for....I guess Gary rolled a 1 on his saving roll...





-Undrallio

source

Read more...

In Soviet Russia, game kill you!

Tragedy strikes as the line between virtual reality and real life blur. A Lineage II clan named the Platinums has sustained a casualty in real life.

In Lineage II, the game emphasizes on clan warfare, so its easy to get caught up in the hype. However, when players Decide to go Aggro In real life, nothing good can come of it, as 33-year-old Albert found out. Albert is Survived by his Sister, Albina, A fellow member of the platinums, who is also recieving death threats from members of the Accused's guild.

Things like this happen When people start taking the events that occur on a virtual world seriously. I think that players of Lineage need to step back, relax and realize...Its just a game.No need to kill over it guys....kay?
source

Read more...

File Corrupted....

R.I.P Mark Haigh-Hutchinson.

Picture of Mark from 1996. Credit to mobygames.com for the picture.

Mark had a 23 year career where he worked at both LucasArts and Retro Studios working primarily on camera views and controls for the games. That is until he recently passed away due to pancreatic cancer.



I wanted to do something special for Mark's passing, so I've taken a list of a few of the games he's worked on and put a video next to them as a memoir to the greatness which he helped create.

Star Wars : Rogue Squadron

Sam 'N' Max Hit the Road








Zombies Ate My Neighbors







Metroid Prime, Series

May peace be with you Mark, thanks for all the games and all the fun times.

-Undrallio

Source

Read more...