Summer is in full swing and nowhere is exempt from the summer vibes, even Kilima. Palia is getting ano????ther free update on July 30 and it will introduce new free items, premium store items, and interface updates.

Although we have little information to go ?on, the teaser trailer does show a lot of new features and items to look forward to, such as customizable name plates complete with game releva?nt emojis. It’s unclear whether players will be able to choose their own name plate, or if they’ll be able to choose a design for friends. 

Also included in the Summer Se??renad??e update is a whole new set of beach-fit furniture items, such as a tiki hut, loungers, and parasols to shade you from the relentless sun on the coast of Bahari Bay. 

Perhaps most excitingly, there appears to be a new standalone building that can be added to the plot. This greenhouse-type building does n?ot appear to be att?ached to anything else in the teaser trailer, so hopefully, it can act as a self-contained building on plots when it goes live. 

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Palia update without copious amounts of items added to the premium store. In the trailer, we’re shown a small steampunk style pet, which?? I’m assuming is supposed to be a dog, and a? new outfit which appears to be very much inspired by a Sailor Moon aesthetic. 

To back this up, there’s also a hint of a new tool skin which will? presumably be available to purcha??se from the premium store once the Summer Serenade patch goes live on July 30. 

According to social media posts, the following things are also coming to Palia but were not shown in the trailer:

• Home Tour Visiting
• Lofi Jukeboxes
• Style on the Go

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As spotted by VGC, Daybreak Games has released a press statement saying that it has acquired Palia studio, Singularity 6.

Palia launched in August 2023 followed by a Switch port in December. It still exists in a pre-release state. It’s billed as a cozy MMO with farming and house decorating. While the press release boasts that Palia has seen 4 million players log in to try it out (note: it is free-to-play) and sees 100,000 daily players, the developer laid off a significant number of its emp??loyees following the re??lease of its beta.

For Daybreak Games�part, they currently keep the lights on in MMOs like Everquest, Planetside 2, Lord of the Rings Online, and DC Universe Online. Daybreak Games also confirmed layoffs this year with �a href="//www.gamesindu??stry.biz/daybreak-confirms-less-than-15-layoffs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer n?oopener">less than 15�roles affected.

Layoffs have sort of become the central theme in the ind??ustry these past couple of years, but beyond that, Daybreak Games seems like a relatively decent fit for Singluarity 6. Many of the MMOs it maintains are well past their prime but still receive steady updates.

The acquisition is being framed as a way to get Palia onto more platforms. CEO Ji Ham is quoted on the release as saying, “We eagerly anticipate collaborating with the S6 team to make Palia the best online experience possible across all major gaming platforms and to help continue to expand their community of players for years to come.�/p>

Palia is currently available for PC and Switch. It sounds like it will soon be available on “all the major p?latforms,�but nothing has been officially announced.

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Let's (Day)break it down

There's a good chance that headline is an emotional rollercoaster for a lot of you. Most probably don't remember that there's a new Aliens game in ??development, and fewer yet will have any idea what kind of game i?t is.

Those of you with steel-trap memories will recall that Cold Iron Studios announced in early 2018 that it's working on an Aliens title for PC and consoles. It's a shooter, it's Aliens, and that's all we know about it.

Today, Daybreak Games revealed that it has acquired Cold Iron Studios, essentially saving this Aliens project from the brink of death. As GamesBeat outlines Cold Iron has had a tumultuous few yea??rs. It was owner by Kabam, and then sold to FoxNext Games in 2018. Disney's acquisition of Fox in 2019 led to FoxNext being sold to Scopely. However, Scopely publishes mobile games and didn't want Cold Iron in its portfolio. So, Daybreak finally bought the studio.

This Aliens game might not have been a good fit for a mobile publisher's portfolio, but is it a perfect fit for Daybreak's? Cold Iron has City of Heroes, Star Trek Online, and Neverwinter to its name, all MMOs. Daybreak has developed and published the likes of PlanetSide 2, DC Universe Online, H1Z1, Lord of the Rings Online, and EverQuest -- all of ?which are MMOs or strictly-online games.

Those stars all align in a way that really makes it seem like we're getting an Aliens MMO on PC and consoles. It should also be noted that while the original reveal was framed as "a shooter in the cinematic universe of the Alien franchise," Cold Iron has since called it an Aliens game. That extra S fits into the offensive-heavy shooter theme, as Aliens is more action while Alien is more suspense/horror.

There's still a lot to clear up about this one. Hopefully a new publisher means Cold Iron gets the stability it needs, and we aren't left waiting three years before the next ?update. I just want to torch a nest right in front of the Queen. Is that so much to ask?

Daybreak Games Acquires Cold Iron Studios [Business Wire]

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Dimensional Ink Games, Darkpaw Games and Rogue Planet Games

Daybreak Games has had a lot of ups and downs. Back when they were part of Sony Online Entertainment can easily be considered an up. But over time, the allure of EverQuest as an IP faded, and the company had ??to make their own way in the worl??d.

In 2015 it became its own entity, operating as a publishing arm for a number of different MMOs like Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online and DC Universe Online. After some restructuring,? they're finally ready to unveil the next step in their plan. Announced today to Destruc??toid, Daybreak is forming three new studios, spearheaded by an initiative they are calling "franchise first."

The idea is to build "genre-defining games" with new studios, and they're doing so with Dimensional Ink Games, Darkpaw Games and Rogue Planet Games. The former will "continue to operate DC Universe Online" while it prepares to develop a new "high-profile action MMO" this year. Darkpaw is known as the EverQuest studio, and will evidently expand upon the universe in a vague fashion. Rogue Planet is basically the Planetside arm, and will "work to cra??ft even mo??re new and unique experiences."

It's al??l under wraps right now, but if you're a fan of any one of those IPs, more is on the way.

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Battle royale on a massive scale

The oft-delayed PlanetSide Arena is finally coming to fruition next month. On September 19, 2019, Daybreak's battle royale spin-off of the MMOFPS game will launch on Steam early-access with a few different game modes in tow. Along with the 300-player battle royale game type, a Squads mode (1??2 soldiers per squad??) and Team mode (three soldiers per team) will be available to mix up the action. Players will select from one of three different classes -Assault, Engineer, or Medic- and get to killing.

During its early-access period, Daybreak will be adding new modes, vehicles, weapons, maps, and class types before an eventual launch in Q2 2020. The goal is to reach the claimed 1000-player count by? slowly progressing towards it. With a map size of 64 square kilometers, Daybreak has its work cut out for it.

PlanetSide Arena will be available on PC and PS4 when it does hit versi??on 1.0.

Early Access F.A.Q. [PlanetSide Arena]

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Batman anywhere you go

Daybreak Games is happy to announce that DC Universe Online is currently available on Switch. One of the few MMOs available on Nintendo's console, DCUO ?comes packed with over 30 episodes of content to give players hundreds of hours of content. It'?s quite the substantial game, especially for fans of DC's particular brand of comics.

The Switch port of this MMO includes a revamped tutorial, faster access to event content, a new augment and artifact system, and updated character models. Sadly, the servers will no?t be cross-platform, and cross-progression will also not be available. This was done to ensure that new players weren't being raced through the game by veterans with years of experi??ence.

DC Universe Online is available for free on the eShop. A membership option is available for $14.99 a month that grants early access to new episodes when they ??become available.

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Feel like Batman on the go

As popular as the Switch is, there isn't a single traditional MMO experience available for the console on these shores. While it makes some kind of sense in that portable mode conflicts with the always online requirement MMO's have, not everyone plays their Switch exclusively on the go. The hybrid nature of the device was chosen specifically to have full console experiences on there, so why? not adapt a free-to-play MMO for the system?

The wait for such a game will soon be coming to an end. Last month, Daybreak Games announced ?that DC Universe Online will be heading to the Switch wi?th nearly 10 years worth of content in tow. A massive undertaking, the biggest question about this new port is how it runs. Third-party ports don't always end up that great on Nintendo's little device and playing an MMO at 15 FPS doesn't sound like something anyone would want to endure.

You can put your fears to bed: DC Universe Online runs perfectly fine on Sw?itch. It won't blow your mind with blistering fast framerates, but this is a more than adequate port of a re?source heavy MMO, on a system that arguably shouldn't be able to run it.

For my demo session, I got to sit down with DCUO's creative director SJ Mueller and executive producer Leah Bowers to tinker around in the city of Metropolis. My session was shared with a fellow report?er, and while they were asking questions and get??ting some capture, I battled thugs with SJ and got a crash course in how everything worked. Having not touched DCUO at all in the past, I was quit??e surprised at how well? the UI was laid out for gamepads.

As with most MMOs, you'll be attacking things in a pseudo-action manner with special abilities mapped to hotkeys. Since modern gamepads don't have the same number of buttons as a computer keyboard, this tends to be a big problem in console MMOs. DC Universe Online tackles this by having you hold ZL or ZR to access two different shortcut menus. It work??s very?? elegantly and was easy for me to pick up without any explanation.

As I was discovering all of this, I got some background on what has changed with the title throughout the years. DCUO is currently on its 34th episode pack. Episode packs are small, paid expansions that bring new content to the game in an ever growing manner. If you opt for the free-to-play version of the title (of which each platform hosts), you're given access ??to the latest pack while older ones appear in rotation. Considering the size of some of these environments, that really isn't a bad deal. You could explore the slums of Gotham for hours on end and ??still not see everything, for instance.

The biggest challenge for the team was getting Aquaman's homestead of Atlantis running on Switch. While the game isn't sporting what I'd consider "next-gen" visuals, it looks decent enough for how large the scale of everything is. Environments have a lot of m??inute details in them, so I can only imagine how obscenely detailed Atlantis may be.

Even without seeing that specific area, we did end up in the middle of Metropolis in what could be considered a recreation of Times Square. There were billboards, massive buildings, tons of vehicles, destructible objects on the road, and a crap ton of enemies flying about. The Switch didn't buckle under all of that. SJ took the reins on a docked unit while I was checking ou??t the portable version and I couldn't spot many FPS dips.

There was nary a hint of lag, which is impressive for how quaint the WiFi situation was. We were connected using the hotel's wireless solution, which could best be described as lacking. Somehow, DCUO ran without a hitch. I didn't suffer a single disconnect and Daybreak's QA guy was even able to shift us around in real time with only a few seconds wait. Whatever kind of magic is going on, Nintendo's typically lousy internet solution isn't holding DCUO back.

A lot of quality-of-life changes were also present in this demo build. The HUD's mini-map now features quest markers with indicators for height in the environment. You can also lay down your own blips to guide you, though your companions won't see those. Chat can be managed with quick, pre-determined responses or the Switch's keyboard (which does function with touchscreen in portable play). A radial menu for accessing all of the various sub-menus is neat, as well, making it a breeze to swap to the map in only two button presses. About the only thing missing is cross-play, though SJ explained it was more to do with balancing this new version and preventing veter?ans from steamrolling the game at launch.

Honestly, this felt like the perfect way to experience DC Universe Online. I'm surprised at how well an MMO experience? can translate to Nintendo's console. While the performance can always go higher on another platform, it didn't feel like I was being shortchanged here. The game doesn't render at native 1080p (it display 800p docked and 612p in handheld), but that's honestly not too important. Everything from the big console versions is here and it plays well.

There isn't a final confirmation of how large the game will be (it has constant updates and a ton of content), but Daybreak recommends that Switch players get an SD card. No physical version will be produced, though that is also true of the other console versions (PS3 was the only one to receive a disc). DC Universe Online should be hitting the eShop this summer.

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Release now slated for Summer 2019

PlanetSide Arena, Daybreak Games' battle royale version of its popular MMO-shooter, has been hit with another delay. Originally scheduled for the end of January, the game has now been pushed into Summer 2019 to accommodate a simultaneous launch with a PS4 version. The studio broke the news on the official PlanetSide Arena webs?ite with a short blog post explaining the reas??on for the delay.

"After much consideration, we've decided to postpone the current PC-only release date and launch simultaneously across PC and PlayStation 4 this summer," reads the post. "We've always envisioned PlanetSide Arena as a way for players to experience the epic gameplay of the PlanetSide universe, through fast-paced, combined arms combat and massive-scale multiplayer modes. We believe that delivering the most polished version of PlanetSide Arena that meets these expectations, on both platforms, outweighs any other considera??tion."

To make up for this second delay, Daybreak Games will be refunding all pre-orders made for Arena on Steam. You'll have to deal with Steam support to receive your money (which is an ordeal unto itself), but the gesture is appreciated. The blog post signs off by saying, "Thank you all again for your amazing support. We're very excited about the future and can't wait to see everyone back in the Arena!"

Development Letter: PlanetSide Arena Heads to PlayStation 4 [PlanetSide Arena]

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50-player, instant respawns

H1Z1 is set to r?eceive a massive update next week. Along with bringing a training grounds map for practice, a 50-player free-for-all deathmatch mode will be launchi?ng with the game's "Season 3" update on February 21. This mode will be a 15-minute excursion with instant respawns where players will battle it out to reach 25 kills before everyone else.

Speaking with Eurogamer, H1Z1 producer Paul Matthys said, "Broadly speaking, we see FFA as our first opportunity this season to experiment with fun, fast-paced game modes that offer our players new gameplay types outside the traditional core battle royale modes H1Z1 is known for." This new mode is all part of Daybreak's push to take H1Z1 beyond battle royale.

??Y??ou can check out a full match of FFA in the video below.

"Season 3" will also introduce a battle pass for H1Z1. Similar to o?ther battle royale titles, the battle pass will include 100 tiers for players to work through with various unlocks being granted along the way. Daybreak Games is teasing over 200 items including weapons and vehicle skins, new emotes, and nine additional outfits.

H1Z1's?? upcoming free ??expansion adds a new 50 player FFA Deathmatch mode [Eurogamer]

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Closed beta set for next week

PlanetSide Arena was revealed last month for a release at the end of January 201??9. Whi?le everything seemed to be moving along nicely, developer Daybreak Games has now announced that its massive scale battle royale title will be delayed until March 2019. According to a blog post on the official website, Daybreak "agonized about this decision down to the deadline."

"What we've discovered during playtesting is that while we've made significant strides towards that goal [expanding player count]," reads the blog, "there are crucial feature enhancements and core systems improvements we can make that will lift PlanetSide Arena to the level it deserves...we ultimately decided taking extra time to supplement our feature set, fully optimize engine performance, and improve server infrastructure was absolutely necessary to deliver the quality, polished game the PlanetSide community deserves."

Arena will now be launching on March 26, 2019. To compensate for the delay, Daybreak will be holding a closed beta on January 30 and will let anyone who pre-ordere?d the title get access to a special "Founders Season." The founders season will launch on February 20, ??2019, and will have an exclusive "Battle Pass" with items you can unlock for the regular launch.

Through the closed beta, Daybreak hopes to stress test its servers to make sure Arena launches in the best possible state it can. "Our systems and servers are built to accommodate a massi?ve number of players," writes the development team, "and putting them through their paces is necessary so we can get the information we need to deliver a quality game that performs smoothly at launch."

Information on how to access the closed beta will be revealed tomorrow. Make sure to check out Daybreak's site for that information.

Development Letter: Launch, Clo?sed Beta, and Founders Season [Daybreak Games]

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250 vs 250 matches

Battle Royale is still a massive craze, so it only makes sense that the largest shooter around would jump in. Daybreak Games has announced that PlanetSide Arena will take the popular MMOFPS into the battle royale sub-genre next month. While there will be the standard 100 man game mode we've all come to exp??ect, a large scale 250 vs 250 mode will also be present.

CEO of Daybreak, Ji Ham, said, "We are very excited to introduce PlanetSide Arena as the next step in the growth of the franchise, as we continue to invest and build towards our vision for the future of the entire PlanetSide universe." Executive producer Andy Sites added, "PlanetSide Arena will expand and evolve the franchise with new modes, new technology, and new content, delivered on a scale that only PlanetSide can offer."

Not limiting itself to battle royale, Arena will also feature typical shooter game modes like Capture the Flag, Team Dea?thmatch and Search and ??Destroy. There will continually be new game modes added each season, so this could evolve into the next big arena shooter if everything works out right.

Arena will be heading to Steam on January 29, 2019 (and is currently up for pre-order). The game will retail for $19.99 for the standard edition and $39.99 for the "Legendary Edition." That pricer version comes with the "Season 1 Battle Pass", three class armor sets and the "M-20 Tempest" pack. All pre-orders for Arena will grant beta access, while current active PlanetSide 2 players/Daybreak All Access Members will get closed beta access and PlanetSide Arena.

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The neverending journey

Despite having a sequel with a plethora of expansions, the original EverQuest is set to receive its 25th expansion in December. Titled The Burning Lands, the latest expansion to one of the oldest running MMO's around is set to return players to the Planes of Power. Anyone familiar with the series will know that area was introduced in the fourth expansion to EverQuest, so it really has been a long time coming.

In a blog post on the official website, developer Daybreak Games states, "We've traveled far and wide across Kunark, but for now we'll be leaving Kunark behind as we go a bit more… elemental. It's been a little while, but?? it's finally time to head back to the Planes! The expansion name might give you some clues, but let's just say that air and fire will play a big role in your upcoming adventures. I don't want to give away too much yet, but only the most daring will be able to successfully navig??ate the upcoming conflict!"

The post also shares details about a new snail enemy, but the rest of The Burning Lands is being kept under wraps. The only information we get is that this expansion will contain new zones, items, raids and "?more". I'm pretty sure that was a given, though.

If you're interested in returning to EverQuest to see wha?t an MMO with 25 expansions looks like, the game has since shifted to a free-to-play model in the last few years. Yo?u can jump in without worry of paying monthly, which is great to tickle that nostalgic itch for simpler MMO days.

September 2018 Pr?oducer’s Letter: Expansion News! [EverQuest]

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Z1 Quest

NantWorks LLC has made an investment in Daybreak Game Company to create a new joint venture company (NantG Mobile LLC) focused on mobile game development. The first two titles to come out of this will be mobile conversions of H1Z1 and EverQuest. Along with that, NantG Mobile will assume control of the current PC version if H1Z1 for future development, which is set to be renamed Z1 Battle Royale.

Jason Epstein, Chairman of the Board for DayBreak, told Business Wire, "Daybreak Games is pleased to have NantWorks as our investment partner to support and accelerate the growth of our company. Working with NantWorks, NantStudio and Dr. Soon-Shiong will allow us to maintain our cutting-edge development in the video game industry and to be?nefit from Nant’s technological expertise and reach as a resource."

NantWorks is also planning to build a new event hub near the LA Tim??es Center. Situated in El Segundo, Los Angeles, this center will contain an event space, a production studio and multiple e-sports arenas to ??host tournaments. As Business Wire states, it will be a "convening hub" for the community and a place for NantG Mobile to launch multiple new e-sports leagues.

NantWorks Makes Strategic Investment in Daybreak Game Company and Establishes Video Game Publ?ishing Joint Venture, NantG Mobile [Business Wire]

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Countryside view

Coming round to nearly the sixth anniversary of its launch, PlanetSide 2 is set to receive some brand new content in the form of an entire continent (that's right: not just some islands). Announced via Twitter today, PlanetSide 2's next continent will be called "Oshur". Longtime fans will know that this has actually been a part of Planetside's lore since launch, bu?t is only now getting realized as a traversable land mass.

You can check out the quick teaser below which shows a work-in-progress build of the map. It's so beta that the water hasn't even been placed yet. A few threads over on the PlanetSide subreddit have been digging through the info and it seems "Oshur" ??will not only be putting emphasis on water but air travel. Sounds like qu?ite the game changer.

There is no confirmed date yet, bu?t the map will likely be released before the end of the year.

PlanetSide 2 [Twitter]

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It became a zombie

Just Survive, the game originally known as H1Z1, will be shutting down its servers on October 24, 2018. In a statement made on the official website, developer Daybreak Games says, "After careful consideration, we’ve made the difficult decision to sunset Just Survive on Wednesday, October 24 at 11 a.m?. PT...Unfortun?ately, we are no longer in a position to fulfill its greatness and the current population of the game makes it untenable to maintain."

Just Survive was stealthily removed from Steam before this announcement, so you won't be able to grab a copy for its final months of life. The in-game store has also been shuttered, so players won't be able to acquire in-game items with real money anymore. While you're unlikely to get a Steam refund for the g??ame at this point, Daybreak does provide a link on the FAQ if you'd wish to try.

Signing-off, Daybreak writes,?? "Thank you for taking the time to play the game, to help test it when we opened the Test servers to the public, and for all of the suggestions and feedback throughout Early Access. We truly appreciate everyone&??rsquo;s commitment and your contributions throughout the development process. Our promise is to do better and learn from every experience along the way."

A Message from the Just Survive Team [Just Survive]

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Undisclosed amount out of work

Daybreak Studios, developer behind the previously popular H1Z1, has confirmed that an undisclosed amount of staff have been let go from the company. The dev told PC Gamer in an e-mail, "We are realigning our workforce to better position our compa?ny for the future. Because of this, we have had to make an extremely difficult decision to part ways with some of our employees across various disciplines at the studio. We are doing everything we can to take care of each affected individual by providing them appropriate transition assistance."

This was followed up by an assurance that Daybreak will continue to support its currently available games and won't stop developing new IPs. While it isn't uncommon to see layoffs following the release of major triple A titles, H1Z1 had been a paid early-access title for years before eventually launching as a premium title. The shift to free-to-play came within a week of release, which certainly ticked off people who had been supp?orting the game for years.

While sad to see, I can't say I'm surprised. H1Z1 started a craze, but then failed to capitalize on the popularity it had. Players can only take so much before they move on, which probably hi??t Daybreak harder than most rea??lize. Hopefully the people affected move on to something better.

H1Z1 publisher Daybreak Game Company cuts staff [PC Gamer]

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Try not to confuse it with that other game

“Battle royale” is a ubiquitous term in the gaming media right now, constantly finding its way into headlines as more developers and publishers jump on the bandwagon, hoping to find the same success afforded to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite. We’ve heard whispers of EA and Activision getting into the genre with Battlefield and Call of Duty respectively, potentially joining projects by Boss Key Productions and however many mods of existing games there are out there. They’ll also join H1Z1, the game Brendan &ldq??uo;PlayerUnknown” Greene consulted on before moving onto his own project.

If you haven’t heard of H1Z1, or you completely forgot about it, it’s hard to blame you. Since September, two games have dominated the conversation, turning the Daybreak Game Company title into something of a distant third-place competitor. But it predates both PUBG and current king Fortnite. It had a rocky Early Access launch in 2015. A year later it was announced the game would be split into two separate projects: Just Survive and the battle royale King of the Kill. That moniker was later dropped and now the mode is simply known as H1Z1.

After three years of Early Access, it officially launched on PC in February and went free-to-play -- an arguably necessary move that pissed off some of its Steam buyers if reviews are to be believed. Next month, the game will make the jump to cons??ole with an open beta on the PlayStation 4.

Over this past weekend in Las Vegas, I got a look at the game as part of the H1Z1 Pro League kick-off. Tony Morton an??d Eric Correll from Daybreak were on hands to explain how the console version of the game will differ from its PC origins.

“We’re really excited. It’s a pure version of B-R [battle royale] on console,” Morton, Lead Systems Designer at Daybreak, explained to me. “It’s focused on movement and combat, getting in, getting down, ??getting around the map, picking up weapons and just focuses on conflict. With our heritage and history, we’re just big fans of PlayStation and Sony. It’s an awesome console with a great community and we thought it was the best way to make our entrance into the console scene.”

The PlayStation 4 port does away with many of the aspects of the PC version. Crafting has been removed complete??ly. There is simpler loot and inventory management, a weapons wheel, and a revamped UI that is easier to read. How matches play out is also getting a work-over. The green gas that slowly encomp?asses the map and pushes players towards one another will spread at a faster rate as the developers push for a target round length of 15 minutes.

At launch, the game will also feature six new weapons and locked 60 frames per second on the PS4 Pro with minimum 45 fps on a standard PS4. Microtransactions will be limited to skins and other vanity purchases. Starting today, players can pre-order a $30 H1Z1 bundle tha??t will net them unique cosmetic times and a dynamic theme. Future updates are planned for the game and Morton says community feedback can help shape its ongoing development.

“Daybreak has a history of supporting games for a long time. Look at EverQuest or PlanetSide 2. We are a games-as-a-service company, which means you ride that thing out for as long as you can. For H1Z1, on PC we’re still doing regular updates and on console, there will be regular updates. A lot of the update structures will come from the community. What do they want to see? We have Z1 [a new map] coming to PC in the near future and I’m sure that&rsqu??o;s a piece of content we’re going to want to bring over to console as well.”

Auto Royale, an all-vehicles mode for the game that is currently in beta on PC, could also make its way to the system if there is demand. H1Z1 on PS4 will launch with so?los, duos and teams of five as well as ?the lone Z2 map. It’s not much in terms of quantity, but Daybreak Games is hoping quality is enough to win people over. I cannot attest to the quality of the console version as it wasn’t available for demo during or after the presentation. What I can say is, based on the video we were shown of it captured on a PS4 Pro, it looks smooth, fast, and deadly. It also looks exactly like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

I’m not a big PC gamer and I cannot name a single mod I’ve installed in my life, so when PUBG was announced almost two years ago, I didn’t give a flying fuck. I thought it was another shooter with what has to be the American version of a crazy Japanese video game title. So I ignored it until doing so became impossible. For several months it was arguably the biggest thing in gaming, neck-and-neck with the Switch in terms of media coverage. I’ve played dozens of hours of PUBG, have watched many hours more of the D-Team, and, gun pointed at my head, I don’t think I could look at video of that game running side-by-side with H1Z1 and tell you which is which.

I get it. H1Z1 technically came first, easily beating PUBG to Early Access. But just because it’s the first doesn’t mean people are going to recognize that. If you’ve never heard of the game and see a video of it, you’ll probably think it’s Battlegrounds or at least a straight rip-off of it.

It reminds me a lot of John Carter. The original novel series, A Princess of Mars in particular, has had a great deal of influence in modern sci-fi. James Cameron’s Avatar sought influence from it as did the original Flash Gordon serials that would later become the backbone of the Star Wars universe. So many well-known properties ripped their material from Edgar Rice Burroughs that by the time A Princess of Mars received its own feature film adaptation, 2012’s John Carter, there was nothing left for it to dazzle audiences with because we’d already se??en everything it had.

That’s the boat H1Z1 is in right now. Though it’s not the original battle royale, it’s certainly played its part in setting up the genre only to have its place overtaken by more popular titles. There wasn’t a single piece of footage shown to me over the weekend that sets it apart. Fortnite, PUBG, even the soulless monstrosity that is Radical Heights, are all more easily recognizable than it. And it’s only going to get more difficult as more titles with more name recognition enter the fray. H1Z1 is blazing a trail on PC as the first to have its own p??ro league, but on console, it’s betting on the "purity of play," a term I heard often over the weekend, to wrangle players in.

“If you just want to worry about getting around, getting guns and shooting people, and not anything else, H1Z1 is it, especially on the conso??le,” Morton explained. “It literally is as pure as it can be. Grab a gun, shoot some people. It eliminates the barri??er to entry and a lot of the confusion because of all the BR games it’s the most pure and, in a good way, simplistic. The pure adrenaline rush of me versus you, gun versus gun, and who wins at the end.”

I don’t know what the future holds for H1Z1, but if you’d like to get your hands on it early you can sign up now for the Closed Beta taking place later this month. As for any celebrities who want to break in on the ground floor of H1Z1 Twitch streaming a la Drake, Morton has an ide??a on who he’d like to see play the game.

“Elon Mus??k. He’s got to be one of the most relevant people out there and his thirst and hunger for not only knowledge but to do things better and his abilit?y for awareness, I think if anything he would be insightful as hell if he came and gave us his thoughts on things. So yeah… him or Robert Downey Jr.”

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Despite just launching

H1Z1 is now going free-to-play, which you may find odd considering just last week, H1Z1 finally had a full release. The history of this game is a very turbulent one, but the short version is that it once ruled the Steam charts in 2015 before failing to deliver on a lot of promises made by developer Daybreak Games. With PUBG being a massive hit and players jumping ship to it and Fortnite, there was only one logical outcome for the game that st??art??ed the "battle royale" craze.

I suppose the long coveted 1.0 version wasn't enough to entice people back, so Daybreak Studios is opening the flood gates for everyone. If you happened to have purchased the game at any point during t?he last three years, you'll receive an "Appreciation Pack" that contains a bunch of goodies (including victory crates and premium currency). Whether that is enough to get once loyal fans to install the game again is yet to be seen.

H1Z1 Is Now Free To Play [H1Z1]

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It has been a bumpy road at times, but it's finally here

H1Z1 is officially a full-fledged real game. It left Steam Early Access today and got an honest-to-god 1.0 release. It's a finished product that can be pu??rchased for $20.

It has been a weird nearly four years in the making, and it feels pertinent to quickly run down H1Z1's history. It was announced in April 2014 with the developer giving frequent updates as to how it was coming along. Then, it went on sale in January 2015, and quickly became Steam's top seller.

In February 2016, the game was split into two separate games -- H1Z1: King of the Kill (battle royale) and H1Z1: Just Survive (survival MMO). The latter eventually shifted further away as it was renamed simply Just Survive; as the battle royale genre started to really get popular, the King of the Kill part was dropped and it became just H1Z1.

Accompanying the full game's proper launch, H1Z1 is getting a new gameplay type. It's called "Auto Royale" which is exactly what it sounds like -- a battle royale that t??akes place only inside vehicles. Up to ??30 teams of four players hunt each other and play what's ostensibly an open-world demolition derby. Auto Royale launches in beta today.

• Two New Vehicles: Players can choose from two vehicles in Auto Royale, Sedan or ARV, both new to the game and only available in Auto Royale. Sedan: Nimble car with faster acceleration and higher jump clearance, allowing skilled drivers to quickly evade enemies. Armored Recon Vehicle (ARV): Offers more stability, making it easier to drive for new players, but has less turbo fuel efficiency.
• New Weapons: The Light Machine Gun (LMG), available only in Auto Royale, deals the most sustained damage of any gun in the game.
• New Power Ups: Players pick up evasive, defensive and combat drops to throw opponents off their trail, heal themselves, or deal damage to enemy vehicles. Defensive drops include vehicle repair kits, environmental buffs, fire extinguishers, and vehicle armor. Evasive power ups include smoke screens, high-octane fuel, turbo boosts, and oil slicks.

Daybreak also sent along some updates that are a part of H1Z1's 1.0 launch. They are:

• Tactical Deployment: Players can choose which area to parachute into at the start of a match using a heat map that shows locations of where other players spawn.
• Airdrop Revamp: The airdrop system has been refined to add more points of contention, increasing the drop frequency and item value.
• Season 1: The official first in-game Season for H1Z1 starts with an all-new scoring algorithm designed to reward consistency and aggression, not just a player's 10 best placements.
• Mini Map: Players now have the option to turn on a mini map to help the navigate the world.
• Founder's Item: All players who bought H1Z1 during Early Access will receive a special in-game shirt.

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Originally released in 2007, it just hosted its sixth expansion a few months ago

I first got into Lord of the Rings Online by way of a giveaway (which I won at Destructoid when I was a reader!) that granted me a copy of it. I loved it, but didn't stick with it. Turbine, a??nd now Standing Stone Games, did.

Staggeringly the MMO went through five different publishers on its journey to the Mordor expansion late last year, a whole 11 years after it initially launched. After multiple requests from my colleagues and fell?ow Tolkien fans to jump back into t??he realm of Middle-earth, I decided to catch up with all of the fellowships that were still enjoying it.

The entire idea of a Tolkien property MMO goes back to the '90s, when Sierra attempted, and failed to actually get it off the ground. It wasn't until Turbine Studios got involved that the gears started to actually turn, and instead of working with Vivendi as originally planned, they straight-up bought the rights to it and went headfirst into the fray. They couldn't keep the dream alive forever though, and at the end of 2016, they stepped away from the project and left Standing Stone Games (which has much of the same staff) to maintain it, with Daybreak as the new publisher. Astoundingly, LOTRO has had five different publishers since its inception. The amount of work involved with keeping this project live and current cannot be unders??tated.

The Lord of the Rings Online was originally a traditional, premium subscription-based MMO until it wasn't. Back in an era where the move was relatively controversial, the? game transitioned into a free-to-play model three years after its launch in 2010 -- at which point then-developer Turbine noted that it had increased their earnings threefold. At this point you'd be hard-pressed to find a new MMO that wasn't free-to-play in some capacity.

Even back then LOTRO was heralded as one of the best free-to-play MMOs on the market (and one of the first to covert from premium to F2P). Having created a brand new fresh character (which was granted a few mostly cosmetic veteran rewards from my old account), I'd agree with that sentiment, to a point. The early-going experience is excellent. Nothing feels hamstrung, and creating multiple characters just to see their lo??re-heavy intros was a really fun endeavor. You might not have as much bank or bag space as premium players, or as many character slots, but you can still play the standard experience up to the expansions (which you can buy piecemeal, or full access to via the VIP subscription).

Naturally, there's a limit. As time goes on you're likely going to want to subscribe or get rid of things like the gold cap. You can placate some of this void with premium currency that can be earned in-game, but you'll need that currency in bulk to pay for the expansions and truly continue the journey. By then you'll have a pretty good idea of whether or not this game is for you, and you can make the decision to buy each one. At this point the expansions (of which there are six) range from $10 to $40. Fans have provided plenty of ways to game the system to truly play for free, but casual players aren't going to want to go through all of?? that trouble.

As long as you have an open spot in your heart for old school MMOs, LOTRO is still pretty fun. Even trumped up to the max settings it isn't a wonder to look at, but it nails the wanderlust that is inherently tied to frolicking around a rendition of Middle-earth. One day I??'d love to see the map expand to say, Harad or other locations that aren't explored that often, but there are definitely zones that are going to feel fresh if all yo?u're used to is the Peter Jackson films.

The community is keeping the spirit alive as well. A spirit perhaps best exemplified through "Weatherstock," a community driven event on the Landroval (named after an eagle) server. Players meet up at the iconic Weathertop area (where Frodo was stabbed by a Morgul-blade in Fellowship of the Rings) to jam it out with in-game instruments, with 30-minute "sets" like a real c??oncert. People from all walks of life, from young pl?ayers who are just getting into Tolkien to decades-long fans attend and share their love for Middle-earth.

I don't think I'm going to consistently be embarking on raids in The Lord of the Rings Online (the bulk of my MMO time is spent with WoW and FFXIV), but it's the perfect thing to dive into if I get the itch to level up my Elf Guardian and create my own stories. Like most Tolkien works it's a kind of vacuum, influencing me to re-experience various other works that leave me in a sort of all-encompassing fugue state (the Misty Mountains theme is playing as I write this). Middle-earth is such a rich world fueled by the meticulous notes of Tolkien, and all of the teams involved with LOTRO have done a fine job ??upholding that? legacy for 11 years and running.

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It had a longer run than I expected

After Daybreak finally ceased development on the MMORPG EverQuest Next last year, it seemed inevitable that Landmark, which was thought of as a precursor, would be the next to go. The online sandbox title ha?d longer legs than expected, but it is indeed coming to a close soon.

As of yesterday, Landmark is no longer ava??ilable for purchase. The cost of all Daybreak Cash items has been slashed to 1 DBC, and the servers are scheduled to close on February 21, 2017 at 4:00pm Pacific.

Preemptively answering questions about archiving the game for posterity, the studio has said that it "will retain all of the code and data from Landmark. Daybreak Game Company will not license or authorize the operation of a Landmark emulator or a fan-operated Landmark server."

So, this is it. It's often fascinating to see how players choose to spend their final days as a world-ending deadline looms, and while I didn't play Landmark, I hope fans capture that sendoff next month.

Important News About Landmark [Landmark]

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'It wasn't fun'

The MMORPG EverQuest Next isn't happening.

"When we decided to create the next chapter in the EverQuest journey, we didn't aim low," said Dayb?reak Games president?? Russell Shanks in an announcement today. "We set out to make something revolutionary ... Unfortunately, as we put together the pieces, we found that it wasn't fun."

The game wasn't meeting expectations internally and was unlikely to please fans either, according to Shanks, who notes "EverQuest and EverQuest II are going strong. Rest assured that our passion to grow the world of EverQuest remains undiminished."

As for Landmark, the sort of lead-in game to EverQuest Next, that's surprisingly still moving forward. It's launching this spring for $9.99 (specifics here for folks who put money into this thing).

Writing on the Daybreak forums, executive producer Holly Longdale said "Our vision for Landmark is to provide a place where you can create ANYTHING, tell your own stories, and share your creativity with other players. We are wrapping up a HUGE game update for Landmark with LOTS of new additions and improvements??, some of which you’ve alrea?dy seen in sneak preview posts..."

I had to double check the last time we touched on EverQuest Next, and it looks like it was almost two years ago. Sounds about right. I completely forgot this existed! While it's ?disappointing to hear the developers couldn't find a way to make it work, it's good to have closure at last.

EQN News: A Letter from Daybreak's President [Daybreak Games]

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PS3, PS4, and PC

As of this week, DC Universe Online now supports cross-platform play between PC, PlayStation 3, ??and PlayStation 4. That means you'll be able to play alongside folks who own the game on a different platform, "including in groups, in leagues, in On Duty content, and in the open world." I may not be into this game, but that's a feature worth commending all the same.

Now, to be clear, your in?dividual account will remain associated with the platform it originated on. Everyone can play together, but characters or purchases made on PC, for instance, can't be transferred over to conso??les "for business and technical reasons."

Daybreak also has an Xbox One version of DC Universe Online in production for a spring release.

[Image by Mister Venture]

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'King of the Kill' and 'Just Survive'

Daybreak plans to split up its multiplayer zombie survival game H1Z1 on February 17, 2016.

It's becoming two titles: H1Z1: Just Survive, an apocalyptic open-world experience with the usual scavenging and crafting, and H1Z1: King of the Kill, a "large-scale" multiplayer shooter. The former will be on Steam Early Access "through the end of the year," while the latter hopes to come out of Early Access this summer with a full PC, PlayStation 4, ?and Xbox One release.

The idea here is to appeal to "two distinct communities," according to Daybreak CEO Laura Naviaux. The split-apart games are even being made by separate internal development teams.

Current H1Z1 owners and anyone else who nabs it before February 17 will get King of the Kill and Just Survive at no additional cost. Otherwise, they're going to be $19.99 a ?pi?ece.

With all that out of the way, I think some King of the Hill Photoshops are in order.

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