GadgetDon

The theory I've been going with is that, when NCSoft posted that big quarterly loss, someone with klout contacted management and said "This is unacceptable, you will take decisive action immediately or we'll see about getting management who will". And yes, if you own 15% of the stock and are the largest shareholder, you wield a lot of power and a threat like that is going to be taken seriously.

If it's a given that NCSoft had to close a studio, Paragon was the obvious choice, as much as I hate to admit it. They were the small dog in terms of income, and there wasn't any sign of significant growth in the future (unlike ArenaNet, say, who was about to bring in piles of cash - plus you'd look really stupid canning a company about to launch a game that early reviews are positive about).

That doesn't explain the refusal to sell, and there it may just be NCSoft reverting to standard behavior, we don't sell our IP.

Which actually would be a positive (not as positive as them seriously negotiating to sell, but more positive than "we hate CoH, those lousy superheroes are too western" or "mua ha ha, we have cashed the check from (you pick the competitor) to kill them"). Because just like Nexon would have the clout to say "close a studio", they also have the clout to say "sell the game".

Yes, all that is speculation, I have absolutely zero inside knowledge to back it up. But it explains the sudden shutdown without forewarning. Which wasn't true for any of their prior closures - all four games had serious problems and only "we hope we can fix it if you give us more time and money" to get around them. I've heard that some of those seeking to buy are pitching Nexon to help make it happen, and that's smart.

Finally got another pair of refund notices from Paypal today, which brings the refunds up to what I think they should be. So if you were like me, didn't do recurring payments and hadn't gotten as much as you thought you should, more may be on the way.

If the goal was just to get us to shut up - they could easily have held out false hope. Something like:

We have heard your message, you want the game to continue. It's what we'd like to have happen. That's not possible within NCSoft, business reasons required we close the studio. But we continue to negotiate with others on the possibility of leasing or purchasing the IP. We cannot comment upon the state of these negotiations other than to state that there are no guarantees, but your desires have been heard and now it comes down to negotiations."

My guess is that it's not about getting the players to shut up, but rather close off attempts of those who are trying to open negotiations and to stop those within the company trying to encourage/support negotiations.

And yes, this message is an announcement that negotiations are closed and there will be no sale of the content.

You don't make a statement like this if there's any serious negotiations going on or being considered. Conceivably someone could wave a very large check in front of them for reconsideration, but this is the sort of statement one makes when negotiations are over and you don't want to be blamed for the lack of a deal.

Whether there were real negotiations done in good faith that just hit an impasse that neither side was willing to budge from or posturing to look like they were willing to negotiate when they knew going in they'd never agree is in this sense irrelevant, this is the statement that says "it's over".

And **** them for that.

NCSoft has killed and shelved a number of games. Can't think of any I'd described as viable - conceivably some of them could have eventually been made viable with enough time and money, but none I'd describe as viable when closed, except CoH (unless there are some I am not remembering/didn't know about).

Just to let you know, I didn't get an email from NCSoft saying "Yay! You've got money coming!" I got emails from Paypal saying "there's a refund applied to your account". I think the amounts are wrong, so I've been talking to support about them and been referred to someone in billing.

So if you paid by credit card, there may be a delay in notification from your bank (or may be no notification until you next check your balance).

BTW, I figured out why I got the refunds I did. Did two non-recurring subscription extensions, one on August 2, one on August 20th. If they had been made to an account with no VIP time on it, the first payment would take me to September 2nd (so a 97 cent refund would be in line) and the second to September 20th (making a 10 refund correct). Hopefully Larry in billing will understand my explanation and get it all handled. But nice to understand the numbers, they'd seemed to be completely inexplicable.

The full refund - credit card or paypal?

The problem isn't "oh no, we can't use anything electronic", it's "what's the impact on living things if some sort of field is operating that stops anything from a one-cell flashlight to a hydro-electric plant".

I think that's a bit more paranoid. I think it's more likely that someone hit a checklist item "Mac support for GW2 because WoW runs on Macs" and some management guy said "Hey, theres these guys who did the port for that other game, call them".

In many ways, Transgaming is the perfect solution. Little work needed from the developer, it's all on them. If it worked, it would be even more perfect!

If the game is saved, I'll do the Celebratory Dance of Ger - and record it and upload it.

There's a construction area in the NE corner of Steel. In the paper map released with one of the box sets, it talked about a rocket base.

You will definitely receive a partial refund for the months where the service is not there. Reading Z's announcement, it's not completely clear if the refund will be calculated based on September 1st or December 1st.

Blocked in the U.S, presumably because of the song used for the soundtrack. Some artists, and some labels, aren't willing to let people use their songs in user videos (even though they get ad revenue when the song is identified like the other two older ones).