"Tabula Rasa offers players a different kind of MMO experience, enhancing our portfolio of game titles. The game play mechanics are very different to that of a typical MMO - those who have experienced the game have recognised these innovative features and applauded them. A recent European trial promotion was met with great demand; we will be doing a similar promotion later in the year."

NCsoft also went on to assure the gaming public that MMOGChart.com's data showing the game hovering at around 75,000 subscribers was not official, though they weren't forthcoming with official numbers.

As I've said before, Tabula Rasa is a solid little niche MMO title that does many things differently than your average game in the genre. It just wasn't my particular cup of space-tea. Good enough to survive, though I doubt it'll ever truly thrive. Yes, that rhymed.

Tabula Rasa is not in trouble, says NCsoft [Eurogamer]
Image courtesy of the excellent Steven Stahlberg

We also launched in an insanely competitive time frame, with several well-known intellectual properties launching follow up products at the same time... We also launched in an insanely competitive time frame, with several well-known intellectual properties launching follow up products at the same time... This is standard in our industry - you ramp up to launch a game and then ramp down once it's live. This is what we are doing over the next several weeks, and it only affects the Tabula Rasa team. Once all is said and done, we will still have a substantial live team for industry standards... NCsoft has committed a lot of money and resources into continuing post-launch development of Tabula Rasa.

Because of this disappointing result, some downsizing in Austin is inevitable. We are going to revamp our Austin development organization... I should admit that the actual result of Tabula Rasa has been disappointing... If you talk about our development cost we spent in the past several years, probably we are not making any money from this Tabula Rasa project. That should be the reality.

NCSoft hasn't decided how many Austin Studio staffers it will let go, but plans to keep enough for Tabula Rasa maintence. Of course, rattailed Richard Garriott won't get the axe. However, NCSoft games will no longer be developed at the Austin Studio as individual projects.

According to website Massively, contacts at NCSoft say The Korea Times article blows things out of proportion and omitted key details about the conference call. For example, NCSoft CFO Jae-ho Lee stated that "some" downsizing was going to happen, but that he hoped Tabula Rasa would eventually improve its revenue. What's more, NCSoft is putting several more million dollars into the game, which is launching in Japan later this year. (Garriott's games typically have done well in Japan.) Only the Tabula Rasa team will be effected by the downsizing. It is not uncommon for MMO teams to ramp up during production and then reduce after launch. Glaring omissions, damage control and rattails. This post has it all!
NCSoft Downsizing Austin Studio [The Korea Times via Massively]
Tabula Rasa Not In Dumps [Massively] [Pic]

The folks over at NCSoft have amassed quite an interesting collection of eBay auctions for Child's Play this year. The auctions, which will donate 100 percent of the proceeds to Child's Play, includes signed copies of games and posters, rare finds and, the best one, having a Tabula Rasa NPC named after you.

City of Heroes Poster Signed by Dev Team Signed City of Villains Collectors Edition City of Villains Lord Recluse Statue Tabula Rasa Signed Game & Bonuses Tabula Rasa Signed Game & Bonuses Tabula Rasa NPC Named After You!

So far the auctions are up to more than $2500, but NCSoft is hopping to hit twice that figure, so get to the link below to find the auction of your choice and get to bidding/donating.

Help Child's Play [NCSoft]

If someone were to post naked pictures of me on the Internet, I'm not sure if the word "tribute" would be the first to come to mind. But if that someone were Playboy, and that Internet were Playboy magazine, maybe I would feel differently (don't worry, I'm joking and would never do anything to hurt pornography). See the KSFW but probably NSFW promo pics after the jump (you pervs).

Just Kidding.

Playboy's Annual Girls of Video Games [via n4g]

"Now the fun begins! I can't wait to join thousands of other players in this exciting galactic war," said Richard Garriott, the game's executive producer. "It is time for us to release Tabula Rasa to the players. I am eager to see player reaction to the game, and am ready to build on what we've started here. We've got plans for new features and expansions for the foreseeable future and I'm hoping the players will enjoy the game and get excited about what's in store for them next!"

NCsoft releases Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa Defenders of Earth band together to fight alien invaders in gaming legend's military-style online role playing game

Friday 2nd November/...NCsoft® Europe, the world's leading developer and publisher of online computer games, announced today that Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa™, a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game for the PC where players are thrust into an exciting intergalactic struggle, has launched its commercial service in Europe and North America.

"Now the fun begins! I can't wait to join thousands of other players in this exciting galactic war," said Richard Garriott, the game's executive producer. "It is time for us to release Tabula Rasa to the players. I am eager to see player reaction to the game, and am ready to build on what we've started here. We've got plans for new features and expansions for the foreseeable future and I'm hoping the players will enjoy the game and get excited about what's in store for them next!"

Tabula Rasa, one of the most anticipated PC titles of the year, is the vision of gaming legend Richard Garriott. The game combines a rich game world and deep storyline with military combat and fast paced action. Set in a near-future science fiction backdrop, players must fight to save humanity against hostile alien enemies trying to gain control of the universe.

The game introduces several innovative elements to massively multiplayer online games, including a Character Cloning System™ that allows players to explore different character classes without having to create a new character, and dynamic battlefields where players feel the frenetic action of combat in an ongoing war.

"We are all very excited about the addition of Tabula Rasa to our catalog of games," stated Geoff Heath, CEO of NCsoft's European operation. "One of NCsoft's goals is to provide different types of online gaming products - both within the 'proven' fantasy genre and outside the genre, as well. This game is truly unique; we hope that Tabula Rasa's science fiction background and military combat action proves to be enjoyable to many types of gamers."

NCSoft Halloween Contest [Tabula Rasa]

when asked about his recent operation to remove a mole-like spot on his liver — the better to travel in space a year from now — he gamely raised his shirt to give everyone a gander.

Manhunt 2 (WII, PS2, PSP)
At long last it finally arrives, castrated but no worse for the wear.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (X360, WII, PS3, PS2)
Barracuda, here I come!

The Simpsons Game (X360, PS2, DS, WII, PS3)
One Simpsons game to rule them all.

The Witcher (PC)
It's witchcraft, wicked witchcraft...

Hellgate: London (PC)
Welcome to the 'ell 'ole.

Culpa Innata (PC)
What life will be like 40 years from now. I can't wait to see if it's accurate.

Dementium: The Ward (DS)
GameCock rolls out the monsters.

TimeShift (PC, X360)
The clothes make the man.

Battalion Wars 2 (WII)
Who knew war could be so cute.

Tabula Rasa (PC)
Richard Garriot's futuristic MMO finally arrives.

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
YOU are the Overlord. Or at least you will be if you win.

Virtua Fighter 5 (X360)
Beat down in HD.

Tabula Rasa is having a bit of an online Halloween bash at the end of the month. Since the game's three day head-start happens to include Halloween, NCSoft will pack the game with Halloween-themed missions and reward gamers with nine special masks on the holiday.

To grab the masks, including the one shown here, you just need to hop into the game on Halloween. I like the idea of holiday-themed events, but I'm not sure if a Halloween theme fits the whole Tabula Rasa aesthetic.

Other than the financial overload, the "Tabula Rasa'' project was one of the big reasons many employees of NCsoft lost their confidence in CEO Kim. He hired Richard Garriott and his brother Robert Garriott in 2001 by allegedly paying 16 billion won ($17 million) in cash and 1.5 million shares in stock options, worth 50 billion won. But the brothers failed to deliver the product as promised, and the project has been protracted for six years.

"One of our annual events is to listen to Kim saying: `This year, we will finally release Tabula Rasa in the market,' in his New Year speech. I heard it four times since 2004,'' said a company insider last week. "The only person in the company who have trust in the Garriotts is the CEO,'' another said in 2006.

While the CEO was spending a great amount of the company's budget and resources on the project, many other talented Korean employees deserted him. In fact, the average service length of NCsoft employees is only two years, according to its annual financial report.

Pissed off employees are never a good thing to have in a company. An analyst also points out that NCSoft is targeting mostly the hardcore gaming population, which has a limited depth of market. Will expanding efforts in other parts of the world pull NCSoft out of the apparent slump, or just make problems more apparent?

NCsoft CEO Stands at Crossroads [The Korea Times]

Hit the jump for the full "Sarah Begins" backstory that, despite not actually reading it through, has put that Counting Crows song in my head for the rest of the day.

Sarah Begins...

The warmth coming from the embers felt good against her skin. Sarah Morrison was careful not to let the hot coals burst into flames, for anything but a slight glow might give away her position. She had searched for nearly an hour before finding this spot and she would be damned before she was going to go hunting for another one before she was ready. It's not like eating roasted calla root was any better than eating it raw, it was almost as bitter. The fire was more for warmth. Foreas could get pretty cold at night, and the glowing embers gave off just enough heat to chase the chill away.

It was cold the night the Bane attacked, too. A strange frown crept across Sarah's battle hardened face as she thought back to a life that almost seemed like someone else's. She remembered regretting not grabbing a leather jacket before sneaking out of the house that night. She was 19 then, and like most 19 year olds, Sarah was more interested in having fun than arbitrary rules regarding curfews. Just because she was still living under her dad's roof while failing her way through college, just because her three younger brothers had a curfew did not mean her father had a right to limit her freedom. But he tried. He just didn't like her friends, she thought to herself as she slipped through the window, silently creeping along the far wall of the house into the backyard. She had become very skilled at getting out unnoticed, something she had been very proud of at the time.

Sarah and her father had just finished their weekly argument about her "poor choices in friends." Movie night had been a tradition in the family since before her mother had died... one her father was very careful to continue every week. It's not that it wasn't enjoyable. She loved spending time with her younger brothers. But she was young and the night was full of adventures. Plus, her friends would think she was a loser if she stayed home to hang out with her family when she could be off getting into trouble with them. So she stormed off to her room, as had become her weekly ritual. Once she heard the opening credits of the movie from the other room, she was out. Free to do whatever she pleased. Once clear of her house, Sarah slowed her pace and smiled as she approached the street corner where Alicia would pick her up. There was a cool band playing downtown in a club they could always manage to sneak into without being carded, just by flirting with the doorman. She looked up into the clear night sky, and thought she saw a meteor streak by. At the time, she remembered something about that being a good omen. Apparently, it wasn't.

The low hum of a Bane drop ship snapped Sarah out of her trip down memory lane. She closed her blue eyes and just listened. From the sound of it, it was still pretty far out, and that was a good thing because it meant a few more minutes off her feet. Not that she wasn't used to sleepless nights and endless hikes. Her training in the AFS taught her how to get places unnoticed, and she excelled at it. But it's kind of hard not to be noticed when you arrive on a transport ship with the rest of the squad. So on most missions she traveled alone, under any cover she could find. And honestly, she preferred it that way. She liked the people she was fighting alongside, and they liked her. But she never really let herself get close to anyone. Not since that fateful night. Sarah traveled light when she was on a mission, taking only what she needed, and found everything else she needed along the way. Like dinner. She grimaced as she finished off the rest of the calla root and washed it down with the last of her water. She would need to find more of that soon. She marveled sometimes at how resilient she had become since all this began. To think she was once afraid of spiders. That kind of thing loses its meaning once you have to snack on them to survive. The war changed everything. Who she was now was nothing like the person she left behind on a scorched Earth after the invasion.

She grew up in middle class suburbia, her dad worked as an engineer and her mother had stayed at home with the kids... well, at least before she died. Rebecca Morrison had been the perfect picture of a homemaker, but was taken from her family by a brain tumor when Sarah was twelve. She had tried to fill her mother's shoes for a while, taking care of her younger brothers and the household. But Sarah was a tomboy at heart, much more comfortable climbing trees and hanging out with her brothers, so the apron strings never felt right. By the time she was in high school, she spent more and more time away from home. To her, home became a place to crash after the party was over, and though she remained close to her brothers, increasing arguments over plummeting grades, her choice of friends, and delinquent behavior put a strain on her relationship with her father.

Sarah and her father never had the chance to reconcile. During the first wave of attacks the night of the Invasion, she was hiding in the lower level of a parking garage with strangers while her childhood home was incinerated; her father and brothers trapped inside. By the time she managed to get home, nothing was left but ash and charred bodies.

Sarah inhaled sharply and pushed the thoughts of that night out of her mind. Over the subsequent weeks, many more people died as Thrax patrols scoured the area for survivors. Alicia didn't make it. No one she knew did. As far as she could tell, that life and the people who were in it were gone forever. Today, not even two years later, Sarah Morrison was a Sergeant in the AFS, on her way to infiltrate a Bane outpost. Her goal was to push the bastards back a few steps. Every inch of ground she covered was another inch closer to home. Every Bane base she helped overtake and every Bane she killed was a step closer to freedom. She tossed dirt on the glowing embers, snuffing out their warmth, and checked her rifle before slinging it, and her blade, over her shoulder. "No rest for the wicked," she thought as a smirk spread across her face. Indeed, there would be no rest for any of them for quite a while.

On the way to the event in our two busses, we suddenly got a pretty good idea as of what to expect as both of our busses were pulled over to the side of the road by the police. As the cops questioned our drivers, a guy dressed in a Men In Black outfit entered our bus and slowly walked the aisle. In his hand was a photo of the man who handed me the note at the hotel. I caught a shot of him as he was leaving, empty-handed. Ah, so it was going to be *that* sort of event. I think we were LARPing!

After a bit of a scare as one of the busses couldn't make it up a steep hill near the Garriott Estate (in the other bus we were cheering them on) we arrived at stately Britainnia Manor, where Lord British himself was waiting to greet us.

The group was led to a large tent set up behind the house, where drinks and some pretty amazing barbeque were waiting for us. The barbeque was so great in fact that no less than three spiders skittered across the table for a bite at mine, causing me to bravely jump like a little girl, knocking my chair over and nearly upending a table. This all happened with Richard Garriott sitting with us, who found the whole ordeal highly amusing. So I hate spiders. They are tiny, and I have a lot of surface area.

Soon a presentation started, and Garriott took the stage to get the event started. He explained that Tabula Rasa wasn't entirely based on fiction. While excavating the site of his new house he uncovered certain artifacts covered with strange, alien symbols that would be familiar to anyone who has been following the progress of the game. He introduced a UFO-obsessed professor to the audience, who further added to the story, introducing three key characters we would meet later. After the presentation we were divided into three groups and sent off on a tour of Britainnia Manor. Make sure you look through all the galleries, as four camera batteries gave their life to take those pictures.

Our first stop was Garriott's two-level study, filled with artifacts of days gone by. Weapons, old books, astronomy and medical equipment filled the walls. Garriott's collections include pre-published versions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a piece of the Great Wall of China, and a nasty looking Victoria bleeding device, with spring loaded blades and a suction pump for removing bad spirits from the blood. Ouch. To get to the first floor we had to use a magnetic device to unlock a secret door, which led to a spiral staircase leading to the first floor of the study and beyond.

On the other side of the staircase we encountered Garriott's famed dungeon, which our tour guide called "Richard's Room of Dead Things". At the center of the room was a casket with a human skeleton affectionately named Pedro. The walls were lined with bones, skulls, shrunken heads, and even a preserved human fetus. It was a very unnerving feeling, being that close to so much death. I needed a moment to calm down. Luckily that was just around the corner.

After dancing with death, we were led into a small tent where a man dressed as a swami taught us the magic of bodily control. The core of his act involved stopping his own pulse. The whole affair had a campy vibe, but it did introduce the theme of the evening: Unlocking human potential. Tabula Rasa is the story of extraordinary humans finding power within themselves to go on after the Earth is invaded and nearly destroyed, so we were being tested to see if we were worthy.

After a short break and a demo of the game, which I had seen before, our group was led up a spiral staircase to Garriott's Automaton room. This was by far my favorite room in the house, filled with old wooden, wire and mechanical toys that our guide told us were the original video games. Even more impressive than the collection was the fact that we were encouraged to play with them. For a good ten minutes the entire group was transformed into a bunch of giggling children, but there was more testing to be done.

The next performer was testing the powers of divination, using diving rods to answer questions, culminating in an elaborate card trick that involved one person from the audience using the rods to guess a card that another audience member had chosen.

Our next stop was the actual grounds, which were lush and green thanks to the unnaturally large amount of rain Austin has gotten this summer. There was a dog obstacle course that were sadly not able to run through, a butterfly garden in the middle of a pond complete with a statue that shot water at you when you stood on the dock, but by far the most impressive fixture was the carousel. Carousel horses are scary, and standing in the dark of night on the Garriott Estate somehow made them creepier. Soon we were ushered inside the house once again, but not before I caught a snap of the pirate flag flying high atop the manor. Damn pirates.

I feel bad for any criminal caught breaking into Richard Garriott's house. As we were led upstairs to the second floor I counted no less than 20 readily available medieval weapons ready to defend the house from intruders, along with several full suits of armor. If a knight were somehow magically transported from the olden days to this house he'd positively pee himself with happiness. As it stands I myself felt a little trickle coming on. We stopped by the kitchen for a glass of wine and some peanuts, where I snapped the picture of the evening. Browse the gallery for an exclusive close-up of Lord British's sink. Breathtaking. Also on the second floor was a dining room complete with a giant mechanical pepper mill and a small, magic-themed den, where our last performer was waiting for us.

I've seen spoon bending on countless television shows over the years, but it was pretty nifty to finally see it done in person. Completely fake, of course, and during the act I noticed a woman in the audience who hadn't been with our group for the two previous acts. A plant? At one point in the act the spoon bender had her check his hands extensively, so I would definitely say it was a plant. An impressive display nonetheless!

Finally our tour was over, and we all piled back into the busses for our final stop of the evening, ground zero. We were heading for the construction site of Richard Garriott's Britannia Manor MK III, where the alien artifacts had been excavated. We were all issued hard hats and waited patiently while our bus went back to fetch the other group, whose bus had broken down. As you can see in the gallery, I doubt we've ever looked quite as dorky as we did that night.

We were escorted through the construction site by Garriott himself, as confused construction workers (actors probably) wondered what was going on. We passed the deep pit that had been drilled to create a tunnel to the nearby river, wound through an unfinished building with dinosaur bones and a model of what the manor would look like when finished. The smell of spent explosives was heavy in the air. We were in for something large, and loud. We past a mysterious alien tower before arriving at a covered alcove facing the main building, which housed a floating metallic sphere, apparently a relic of an alien culture.

The professor from earlier in the evening took the stage next to the strange object and announced that five of the people attending the event were singled out as having high power potentials. Those five were challenged to climb on stage and touch the floating sphere. One tried, only to be knocked back by a large spark. The remaining four banded together and with some struggle, and finally touched the object. The alien tower lit up, and then all hell broke loose.

Electronics around the alien tower exploded into showers of sparks as the tower - a control point straight from the Tabula Rasa game - went live, and the lights dimmed. The face of an alien creature appeared projected on a black curtain in front of us. We had drawn their attention by activating the orb, and now we would be destroyed. The strange girl from the bending spoons presentation was called to the stage by the alien, reporting that the Logos instructors had been taken care of, holding aloft the severed head of the swami as proof. Suddenly the roof was ripped off of our tent and a circular lighting structure meant to simulate an alien walker loomed over us. In the distance another similar light blinked on. Then came sirens and explosions as the aliens began their attack. Luckily for us, it was then that the cavalry arrived.

What happened next was a pitched battle between unseen alien forces and a human strike force. Gunfire rang in our ears and heat from large explosions washed over us as we looked on in awe. A helicopter did a fly by, and we learned later that it was piloted by none other than Richard's brother and President of NCsoft, Robert Garriott. It was a fantastic spectacle filled with smoke and lights that seemed to go on forever. Finally one of the soldiers shouted an all clear and the crowd burst out into cheers.

As the smoke cleared, Lord British thanked us all for coming, urging us to either buy or sell Tabula Rasa once the game hit stores, announcing a release date of October 19th, which I mentioned previously. While the Logos Academy event might not have changed my opinion about the game, it certainly got me thinking about it in a different way.

As I piled into the first bus to leave, fireworks exploded, filling the night sky with color and light, and I realized I had just spent the night LARPing. Dammit.

Zero G is a company that charters private parabolic flights using a modified Boeing 727. The parabolic maneuver used to simulate a zero gravity environment is similar to that used by NASA to train astronauts. Basically the aircraft follows an arcing flight path, one moment subjecting the passengers to tremendous g-forces and the next creating a false weightless state.

Peter Diamandis is the CEO and a co-founder of the Zero G Corporation, though he is better known as the man who offered a $10 million prize for private sector manned spaceflight. As our group arrived at the air strip, Diamandis was on hand to greet us and prepare us for the adventure to come, but first...food.

A nice little breakfast spread was laid out for us when we arrived around 9am this morning, but not many participants partook of the food. We were about to ride on something nicknamed The Vomit Comet, so the group was understandable wary about filling their bellies with munchies that might be floating serenely past us in a few short hours. I, on the other hand, ate a few danish pastries and then some strawberries and pineapple, trying to create a pleasing color palette should partially digested food be forcibly ejected from my tummy.

We were quickly split up into groups denoted by our sock colors: blue, silver, and gold. Along with the colorful socks I received as a member of the gold team I was also issued a flight suit, which thanks to my abnormally long torso gave me a very uncomfortable albeit slightly cool front and back wedgies. Once we were situated we were given some very pleasant motion sickness drugs and presented with a 30 minute orientation video, much of which I slept through. Obviously I didn't miss anything too critical as I am still alive right now. Phew.

After the training video and a run to the restroom (the plane doesn't have one) we were checked for hidden weapons and then sent out onto the tarmac to rendezvous with destiny. As our group of twenty or so adventurous souls walked slowly towards the waiting aircraft, I couldn't help but think how much cooler the whole thing would have been had we been walking in slow motion as the Top Gun theme music played. It was that sort of moment.

Garriott? You can be my wingman anytime. Especially with those lovely rat tails.
Tabula Rasa logo lest we forget who our benefactors were. We strapped in, made listen to the standard airplane safety speech, and stripped off our shoes, donning in their place the colorful socks we were given earlier. The plane soon took off, and in 30 minutes we would start our journey into the mysteries of gravity. I was so excited I fell asleep until it was time to unbuckle. Did I mention the really good motion sickness drugs?

4...3...2...1

Before too long I awoke to the orders to get up and get in position. The floor of the jet was separated into three areas by color, coinciding with the teams. I settled in the very front of the cabin with my group mates, who included Peter Diamandis and Richard Garriott himself. After a short briefing we were told to take up positions, laying flat on the floor as the maneuver started.

Holy crap. Within seconds we were pinned to the floor by tremendous g-forces, barely able to move at all. I tried to lift my head to fight the sensation, and my neck still hurts from the attempt. You don't screw around with gravity, unless...

As soon as the pressure had started, it stopped, and we began to float. Just a little bit for this first run. Initially the parabola simulates Mars gravity, meaning we suddenly weighed only 1/3 of Earth normal. More than enough weightlessness for passengers to easily do one-arm pushups on the floor. The next crushing and releasing cycle simulated moon gravity. We weren't quite completely weightless, but we were definitely rising off of the floor and into the air, often with hilarious results. Then came the third run.

Earth Below Us

The third crush groove faded and I was in the air. I am a pretty big man, so to suddenly find myself floating gracelessly towards the ceiling was completely ridiculous with simultaneously absolutely wonderful. The cabin filled with gasps and giggles as everyone found themselves twisting in mid-air. Some tried to maneuver themselves but succeeded more often than not in simple bringing their companions crashing into walls with them. I quickly learned why the instructors kept telling us not to jump, as my head slammed into the roof of the cabin from the tiniest of kicks off of the ground.

I might have been a giant goofy man in an ill-fitting blue jumpsuit, but that first journey into weightlessness was one of the most glorious moments in my life. The weightlessness only lasts 30 seconds, but they're an amazing 30 seconds. Luckily we went on to do it 11 more times before we were finally guided back to our seats. Over the course of those weightless moments we attempted to drink water that was floating in clear globes through the cabin, released peanut M&Ms into the air for some odd reason, and played a game of catch with a human ball. All the goofy things you see people in zero-g do on the Discovery Channel, all of them amazingly entertaining in context. I had planned on trying to play my PSP n a weightless environment, but someone pointed out that by the time a game loaded the 30 seconds would be over and the system would crash to the ground.

Coming Home


During the 30 minute flight back to the ground, most of the plane slept. The alternating juggle of extreme g and weightlessness took its toll on our group and we dozed off, most of us with content little smiles on our faces. On the ground we were greeted by champagne, sandwiches, and a framed picture of our group taken as we embarked on our mission. I'm going to treasure the photo forever, and the duffel bag and complimentary flight suit are sure nice, but as I stated earlier...they are nothing compared to the once-in-a-lifetime experience I just went through. I cannot thank Garriott and crew enough for making this childhood dream come true.

Festivities kick off at 9 PM Central Time, ending at midnight, and are scheduled to include "all sorts of nutty things." Have fun, guys. Rest in peace, Auto Assault.

Auto Assault News [Official Site]

NCsoft Reveals Contents of Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa Limited Collector's Edition Game Pack

Austin, Texas, August 20, 2007-NCsoft(r), the world's leading developer
and publisher of online computer games, announced their plans for the
Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa(r) Limited Collector's Edition, which
will be released to stores in North America and Europe when the game
launches this fall.

This special retail box offers customers exclusive in-game items,
including a special character emote, exclusive dye recipes players can
use to create unique armor colors, and a unique pet. Players who
purchase the Limited Collector's Edition box also receive a briefing
from Richard Garriott's alter-ego in the game, General British,
classified maps, an Allied Free Sentients (AFS) field guide, Tabula Rasa
dog tags, an AFS challenge coin and a special edition poster.

The Limited Collector's Edition also includes one month of free game
play and a "Making of Tabula Rasa" DVD.

One of the most anticipated PC games of the year, Tabula Rasa is the
latest title by gaming legend Richard Garriott and offers a strikingly
new approach to the design of multiplayer online games by combining a
vast, persistent game world and rich storyline with fast-paced action.
The game introduces several innovative elements to massively multiplayer
online (MMO) games, including a Character Cloning System(tm) that allows
players to explore different character classes without having to create
a new character. Dynamic battlefields and ethical parables make this
MMO game incredibly immersive, where players really feel a part of the
ongoing war effort.

"The Limited Collector's Edition we have put together for Tabula Rasa is
loaded with cool things for players who really get into the role-playing
aspect of the game," said Executive Producer Richard Garriott. "Regular
players will find the maps and field guide useful as they move
full-force into the game's fast-paced action. Other items, like the dog
tags and challenge coins, bring home the 'brothers in arms' feeling of
this game even when you aren't playing."

When the game launches later this fall, players will find the Richard
Garriott's Tabula Rasa Limited Collector's Edition at most local and
online retailers and at the PlayNC store
(https://secure.plaync.com/cgi-bin/Store.pl).

Ethical Parables in Tabula Rasa

Players of most massively multiplayer online role-playing games today usually aren't faced with any great variety of missions that really impact your character or how you play. The most you're faced with is what kind of reward you'll get or, at most, which of the two factions you'll support against the other. It doesn't really have any effect on you in the grand scheme of things and you'll probably forget about the whole thing in a month or so. Instead of that static, boring type of storytelling, we wanted to create a more immersive story with Tabula Rasa, one that the players could interact with, where their actions could have long reaching consequences. We call this form of story-telling interaction the ethical parable and it is one of the hallmarks of a Richard Garriott game.

Ethical and moral dilemmas are something we definitely wanted to incorporate into the design of Tabula Rasa from the very start. The entire goal is to give you pause and allow you to think about the choices that they make in order to accomplish a mission. This way, at times, you will not be limited to one single path but may have multiple paths. We want you to think about the larger story and how your actions can affect this story down the road. Now you have the ability to play the game the way you want to play it. This in essence is the parable—a type of story that allows you to explore moral lessons or decisions.

We won't be throwing these ethical parables at the players in every mission, but we definitely want players to get a taste for them early on in the game. We've placed a few on, the first major landmass that players will encounter in Tabula Rasa. One of these early missions involves the delivery of pharmaceuticals to soldiers on the front lines. While the supply commander, a rather straight-laced and stand-up kind of individual, would rather these pharmaceuticals be distributed to the soldiers in a formal, organized system, there's a man who stole a whole bunch and has been selling them to the soldiers for a nice profit. Your decision to either turn in the thief, or help him distribute the stolen goods, not only affects the mission outcome but determines how the NPC soldiers will interact with you from then on.

Another mission of note is for players with levels in the mid-teens. As you progress though the game and are redeployed to Foreas Base, you're told that the AFS has a Bane prisoner who is currently undergoing interrogation. This will start a chain of missions as the Bane prisoner reveals more and more information, allowing you to attack the local Bane base, kill a key Bane soldier, deal with some traitors, and possibly even defend the prison from attack.

At the end of this mission chain, you're now left with the choice of what to do with the prisoner. On one hand, he's one of the evil Bane, who wiped out most of humanity and forced people like yourself to fight for survival on a few scattered alien worlds. It doesn't deserve to live... or does it? As a mere soldier, the Bane was just doing what it was supposed to do, no more and no less, and cannot really be held responsible for what the leadership of the Bane did to Earth. What would be the harm in letting him live, and more importantly, what more could you learn from him? If you were a prisoner, wouldn't you want to be treated humanely, instead of being executed for telling you what you wanted to know?

These are a couple of examples of the parables we will present in Tabula Rasa. Some of them will have little or no long-term impact, and others may influence the way you experience the game. We want to give you the choice to play the game the way you want to, without hemming you into one specific path. This way, we've created a better, richer, more immersive game experience for you to enjoy.

Instead of creatures just reappearing out of thin air, they're beamed down from dropships, they're hitting the ground and bounding out of dense woodlands, they're pulling themselves up from underground. Yes, they're still "spawning," per se, but at least an effort's being made to make them do more than just "blink" into existence.

"I think it (AI) has a lot more to offer the MMO genre than a lot people has given it credit for. The richness it offers in helping create the world and making sure that players are not the only moving part in that world is really important for the MMO category."

He certainly has a point there. I'd love to see NPC interaction move past scripted events and the old 'if faction = X then' formula into something much more dynamic. Even now, ten years after the first MMO games began popping up they aren't much more complicated than graphical MUDs.

Of course he then went on to explain how his new game, Tabula Rasa, would be addressing all of these issues, giving the whole proceeding an air of, 'look at me, I am innovating, just like I did ten years ago,' but when you get right down to it the man has every right to come off like that. The genre has been swinging from his rat tails for years now and the time for innovation is upon us. To arms!

'MMO design has not changed in a decade' - Garriott [Developmag.com]

AUSTIN, Texas, July 3, 2007— NCsoft® today revealed its line up for the E3 Media & Business Summit July 11-13 in Santa Monica where the company will provide a preview of several of the most anticipated online games coming out in 2007 and 2008, including Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa™, Aion™, Guild Wars: Eye of the North™ and Dungeon Runners™.
NCsoft North America CEO Robert Garriott said, "NCsoft strives to deliver the highest quality online entertainment possible, and these products represent the next generation of online games. This E3 meeting will provide a window for the public to see the breadth of the variety of game genres and business models NCsoft provides, as well as show off how advanced and exciting our products are."
NCsoft products to be featured at E3 are:

RICHARD GARRIOTT'S TABULA RASA
Tabula Rasa has been in closed beta testing since May and is set for launch this fall. Tabula Rasa is poised to evolve the massively multiplayer online genre with a host of fresh features such as a character cloning system, dynamic battlefields with contested control points, deep storylines with ethical parables and fully integrated voice chat. Tabula Rasa also offers players an original alien language named Logos that unlocks special powers, and fast paced combat that combines real time action with role-playing game style character development. These kinds of features are the types of touches that players have come to expect over the years from a Richard Garriott game.

AION
From NCsoft's Seoul studios, Aion, is one of the most visually stunning MMOGs in development. Cutting-edge graphics redefine players' expectations of online role-playing and reveal a true fantasy world where divine beings wage a war that will determine the future of the world. This highly anticipated title is set for release in 2008.

GUILD WARS: EYE OF THE NORTH
Guild Wars: Eye of the North is the first true expansion to the Guild Wars® franchise, one of the most popular online role-playing game franchises on the market today. Guild Wars: Eye of the North delves into the dungeons and caverns of the lands of Tyria that players first explored in the original Guild Wars game. Guild Wars: Eye of the North continues Guild Wars' no subscription fee model and will provide new content accessible to players who own both the expansion and any one of the three previously released Guild Wars campaigns. Guild Wars: Eye of the North is set for release on August 31 at an anticipated price of $39.99.

DUNGEON RUNNERS
Dungeon Runners is a free to download and play online multiplayer role playing game set in a sword-and-shield world where players get piles of loot and treasure by defeating hordes of evil monsters enemies. It's a different game model that fits right in to NCsoft's diversified online game lineup. Dungeon Runners has recently opened up play to the general public and will have large chunks of new content implemented through the summer.

Dell recently took over when of NCsoft's unused cubicle rooms and helped to transform it into a Tabula Rasa Playroom. The room features a slew of hefty Dell computers and some nice Tabula Rasa textures and lighting. NCsoft was kind enough to send along these pictures for us, showing off the room and Richard Garriott giving a tour of the blue-lit gaming room to Dell's Global gaming chief Abizar Vakharia.

The room will be used for regular gaming sessions for business partners, employees and the press. Brian Crecente

Tabula Rasa is an action-oriented game that sees the human race launched into the stars and struggling along with other races in a struggle against the evil Bane. The mission we were show involved the characters going infiltrating an alien factory that the Banes had been using to turn the local populace's corpses into weapons of war.
Garriott explained that he wanted to make sure that players could play together without worrying too much about maintaining a level grind, so any particular mission contains content suitable for a wide range of levels. If you are a high level character you can just blast your way through, but if you are low level there are side quests you can do to lessen the strength of the enemy, opens new paths, etc. Monsters within 10 levels of your character either way still provide rewards for killing, so you don't have to stay neck and neck all the time with your friends.

The interface is extremely simple compared to other MMO offerings on the market. Just your name, health, power, and experience, as well as the weapon and powers you have mapped to your right and left mouse buttons. Combat is an interesting mix of action and RPG, with cover coming into play heavily in determining how much and how often you are hit, again allowing lower level players a bit of strategy to take on higher level creatures.

Some of the creatures themselves require a level of strategy often reserved for boss mobs in other games. Some packs of creatures spawn with a shield generator, forcing one player to jump in, taking damage from the mobs inside while he disables the shield, allowing other players or NPCs to attack. Other monsters defy the tank character role, meaning no one can stand toe to toe with them and live, causing tactics to shift quickly on the fly.

The world itself is made up of instance zones in which missions of earth-shattering import take place. Garriott assures us that these won't be simple kill the boss, get the item missions, but quests with epic storylines and ramifications. There are world zones as well, though these are split up into control points which contain quest givers, spawn points, etc. Basically if you wish to do the quests, you have to make sure the enemy doesn't take over the land. NPCs fight a constant battle, and you can join in and possibly turn the tide. This system allows for a very dynamic world that changes from login to login.

The game also takes tier based advancement to a whole new level. Instead of having to start a character over from scratch in order to experience a different fork in the advancement ladder, at key points you actually create a clone, allowing you to go back and make a different choice without having to struggle with starting over again. Anyone who has played Dark Age of Camelot knows what a pain in the ass that can be.

While I can't say I love the graphical style of the game more than the original concept, the game is very pleasing to look at. Plenty of special effects, laser blasts, and explosions combined with exotic locales and unique creatures to make the world of Tabula Rasa quite unique.

I've been looking for a new futuristic MMO since I left Anarchy Online behind a few years back, and Tabula Rasa is looking to fit the bill quite nicely. Check back in a bit for the GDC trailer and a new gallery of screens for the game. Michael Fahey

What you see before you is a sketch Playboy put together for November's issue (on stands next week) which features the annual Playboy's Women of Videogames 2006 spread. The magazine will also feature a look at the state of the video game industry. The six-pages of gaming content include a 2-page foldout, final version of what you see above.

This particular sketch, given to us by Pboy editor Scott Alexander, was used to block the shot before the final renders were done. The image shows eight women from seven games. The cool thing is that all of the art you are looking out, be it pencil or final 3D render, was done by the various game studios. Playboy then melded all of the art into one two-page shot.

This image, showing the different stages of the creative process, is exclusive to Kotaku. No one else has it and no one else is getting it.

And now the run down. From left to right: Sarah Morrison of Tabula Rasa, two of the Femmes Fatale from Scarface (the third from left didn't make the final cut, her name is Jessica McRae), two women from God of War 2, a very preliminary version of Alicia Claus from Bulletwitch, Dr. Jasmine Lin from Timeshift, and Enrica from Splinter Cell Double Agent.

As a special treat, I got Fleshbot to agree to post the unedited version of the photo on their site a little later on tonight. I'll update once it's up. Brian Crecente

Sneak Peek Playboy's Women of Video Games [NSFW, Fleshbot]

The game features real world and instanced-based interaction. The coop instances support up to six players and there is an integrated voice chat system. One of the perks is the character clas