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In today's Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Kain's Legacy asks a poignant question: Why do we invest so much time in massively multiplayer online games that will one day cease to be? More »
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After a run of more than 10 years, Lineage is "no longer financially viable in the West," says publisher NCsoft, and its North American servers will be shut down permanently on June 29. Beginning now, the game is free-to-play until that date provided one has or had created a Lineage account before today. More »
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Gold farming is the practice of harvesting crap in online worlds with the aim of selling it for real-world money. Most developers frown on the practice, but that's not stopping an estimated 100,000 people from doing it. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5790683&view=rss&microfeed=true NCsoft reported a 43 percent year-over year drop in profits to $7.7 million, a decrease was due to a write-off expense for costs associated with The Blackstar Chronicles. The futuristic MMO, in development by Spacetime Studios, was ultimately dropped from NCsoft's lineup, and Spacetime will be pursuing the project on its own. More »
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Lineage, City of Heroes and Guild Wars publisher is staying hush hush about its upcoming project. Rumors started circulating last week when it was noticed that NCsoft Europe was hiring and had put a buncha concept art on its website. As MMO site Massively points out, the concept art has a mystical-meet-militaristic vibe to it. NCsoft Europe is looking for a bunch of new recruits, so this could be part of the company's Sony deal to bring online games to the PS3 and the PSP. When asked what it was up to, NCsoft Europe replied, "No comment." Figures. More »
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Gaming lighters are exactly promoting good health. Neither do MMOs, really. And when you're sitting in those crowded internet cafes for hours on end, slurping shit coffee and eating salty snacks, health is the last thing you are thinking about. Good thing there's a Lineage II Zippo to fire up your cigarettes. This US $88 "Pink Gold" colored lighter is limited to a hundred pieces — each engraved and numbered. It's the sequel of sorts to the every popular silver Lineage II lighter. Pre-orders start this Friday! So smoke if you've got 'em. If not, burn shit or something. More »
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Lineage on its way to the PlayStation Network? NCsoft struck an exclusive arrangement with Sony, but there are no details regarding the names or types of games in developement. Both existing and new IP are under consideration. Full release after the jump. More »
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According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police, seven former employees of Lineage developer NCsoft are suspected of selling source code for online game Lineage III to a major Japanese game company. This past February, the seven game programmers resigned from the Korean game maker and interviewed with a Japanese game company. It's believed the source code was copied during this interview. What's more, it's also suspected that Lineage III's program design was leaked last September by either email or disk. Word on the street is that NCsoft has been in turmoil since a senior developer was axed for poor leadership skills. The majority of the senior dev's 90-member team cut after the firing. According to NCsoft, the potential damage caused by this source code comprise is over a billion dollars. Not exactly pocket change. Brian Ashcraft More »
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If you are playing an MMO, chances are it's World of Warcraft, Lineage (I or 2), RuneScape or World of Warcraft. Alice at Wonderland points to this fascinating chart that shows the obvious: WoW is doing amazingly well (no duh), most other games ain't. Kinda surprising to see that EverQuest is posting Star Wars Galaxies subscription numbers. Then again, maybe not. Brian Ashcraft More »
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Holy crap: over two hundred and eighty thousand cases of identity theft have been reported in South Korea in connection with NCSoft's Lineage. More »
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I have no idea what the source of this chart is, but glancing at the most current numbers it seems pretty accurate to me. (If you know the source, email me and I'll gladly update this post.) More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=179231&view=rss&microfeed=true Chris Chung, NCsoft's Chief Publishing Officer, is apparently leaving the MMO company (Lineage, City of Heroes) to helm the games business at Real Networks says our insider. This is an obvious blow for NCsoft and a big win for Real Networks. (Chung is an ex-Microsoft guy and his family is in Seattle.) Our insider says this will be announced internally this week, unless there are last minute changes of heart. It looks like there are more high-level NCsoft departures in the cards, including the Garriott Brothers, who are apparently likely to move on after Tabula Rasa launches. The cause? Word is that NCsoft's tyrant of a CEO is driving people away. More »
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An article over at WhatPC? points at a giant lawsuit being filed against NCSoft for identity theft in Lineage and Lineage 2. The suit is being filed by South Korean lawyers. Despite the fact that over 230,000 people have had their identities stolen in Lineage and Lineage 2, as of Tuesday, the article reports that only 1,000 people had joined in the class action suit. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=158208&view=rss&microfeed=true Popular MMORPG Lineage is at the center of the biggest cyber crime in Korea. The Korea Times reports that the number of stoles names and national ID numbers is climbing over 13,500. Between Monday and Wednesday evening, emails and phone calls flooded Lineage's operator NCSoft's offices. Korean police suspect a Chinese hacking group is responsible for masterminding the theft. More »
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