alganon posts

The lawsuit battle centering the fantasy MMO Alganon is reportedly over. Derek Smart, the current president of the game's developer and owner Quest Online, has announced on his personal web site that the company has settled the lawsuit brought against it by its former head man David Allen "with the purchase of Allen's equity" in the company. Specific financial details were not revealed but Smart writes that a formal press release will be out later this week.

Allen and Quest Online launched Alganon in December 2009 but the game suffered from a number of technical issues. In March it was announced that Smart, the head of 3000AD and best known as the creator of space sims like the Battlecruiser series, was taking over the game's development. Allen was removed from Quest Online and later sued the company, stating that Smart had engaged in a " smear campaign" against him. More recently, Allen wrote an extensive post on his own blog site attacking Smart which was later pulled. Smart posted up his own version of the whole Alganon saga just a few days ago.

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• The fantasy MMO game Alganon is moving to a free-to-play model starting on Friday.
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The Alganon saga has reached a new chapter this week as the fantasy MMO game's developer Quest Online has announced that it has filed a lawsuit against its former head man David Allen. Allen was fired from Quest Online earlier this year after Alganon suffered through a rocky launch last December. Derek Smart of 3000AD took over as head of Quest Online, turned Alganon into a free-to-play MMO and the game was relaunched late in April. Allen then filed a lawsuit against Quest Online and Smart, stating that Smart "began a smear campaign attacking my credibility, first privately among the investors, and then publicly."

In their own lawsuit Quest Online claims Alganon was released "in an incomplete and exceptionally faulty state in December 2009 under Allen's leadership. That action resulted in the game and company generating a lot of bad press for the company as well as the game." Smart also comments on Allen's alleged actions in a lengthy blog post, stating, "It has been my opinion all along that David was up to no good."

[Via Blue's News]

The PR rep who wrote a press release for the fantasy MMO Alganon has admitted to committing "a terrible blunder" when that press note greatly resembled one that was sent out in 2008 to officially reveal Star Wars: The Old Republic. In a statement posted on the game's official message boards, Marti of PR Sirens stated, "While drafting the quote, I looked for inspiration from other press releases, about MMOs." However Marti also says, "I made a mistake of sending Derek an earlier draft of the press release where I added temporary a quote that best resonated the thoughts I wanted to express. And I fracked up in the process. it was never my intention to use the quote I did find." The statement end with Marti saying, "I'm probably going to get fired for this blunder. And if that's the course of action Derek takes, I'm ok with that. I stand up for my mistakes. And this one is mine."

Derek Smart, the head of Alganon developer Quest Online, also posted a statement on the message boards, pointing out that the disputed quote in the Old Republic press release was very similar to an earlier quote made by John Smedley, head of Sony Online, "in his New Orleans Fan Fair 2004 keynote." He adds, "This was clearly an unintentional oversight and shouldn't even be news; but here we are. Just another glorious day in the gaming industry. It's all about hits and giggles."

We all know that a public relations gig can get tedious at times; hey, any job can have its down days. But it seems that whomever developer Quest Online hired to handle the PR for their recently relaunched MMO Alganon decided to take it easy on the day they sent out a press release touting the game's reboot.

As pointed out by Kill Ten Rats, the press release sent out last April seems to be a near-copy of the first official press release for BioWare's upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic which was released back in October 2008. Derek Smart, the head of Quest Online, posted a message in the story's comments that states, "While I'm certain that there is a reasonable explanation for the similarities in the releases, I simply do not want to speculate but only to say that we are going to investigate this tomorrow." Smart says he will issue an official statement sometime next week "once I have all the facts."

[Via Massively]

For the past couple of months the news stories behind the fantasy MMO Alganon were not about the game itself but on the war of words between the game's current and former development heads. Now it's time for the game to speak for itself. As promised a couple of weeks ago, Alganon has relaunched with not just new and updated content but its new business plan of selling the basic game via digital download for $19.95 but with no monthly fees (a la Guild Wars).

If you have been keeping up with this game you know that its developer Quest Online first launched the game in December 2009. However the title had a less-than- successful launch due to bugs and other issues. In March it was revealed that Quest Online president David Allen had been fired and that Derek Smart of 3000AD had taken over both the developer and Alganon's development with the intention to relaunch the game. Since then Smart and Allen have participated in a war of words over the circumstances surrounding Allen's departure and Smart coming on board.

[Via Blue's News]

In the dictionary, the definition of the word "drama" could easily be replaced now by "See Alganon". The fantasy MMO from developer Quest Online launched last December but bugs and gameplay issues plagued the title. Then last March it was revealed that 3000AD head Derek Smart had taken over the development of the game. The December launch was also retconned; it is now termed as a "soft launch."

Today we received word via email that Alganon will get its official launch on April 28. Really. No kidding. And while all that is going on David Allen, the former head of Quest Online, has filed a civil complaint against Derek Smart (Thanks Massively) . While Allen says Smart was hired by Quest Online to be a consultant for the game last December he states that Smart's statements to the press about how he was eventually brought in to run the entire game were "false." Allen states, "Mr. Smart began a smear campaign attacking my credibility, first privately among the investors, and then publicly." You can bet this virtual word war between Allen and Smart is not close to being over.

Earlier this month, 3000AD head Derek Smart surprised most people by announcing he was taking over as President of the game developer Quest Online and would revamp the previously launched fantasy MMO Alganon. Now our sister site Massively has posted up a chat with the ever loquacious Smart about how he came on board the game and his plans for Alganon.

Smart reveals that his involvement with the game and Quest Online actually started in late 2009 and that it was his decision to make the game a free-to-play title after Alganon launched as a subscription based game on December 1. Smart says that they are still planning to relaunch the game on April 8 although he adds, " . . . if something comes up, I will delay it." The interview is full of info and humor and is a must read if you are at all interested in this game.

It's official; Christmas is just one week away so get moving and check out these sales now:

• Direct2Drive has put three games on sale for one day only today: Trine has a 50 percent price cut to $19.95 today. Deus Ex is on sale for just $4.95 today and Deus Ex: Invisible War is on sale for $14.95. Plus Fallen Earth has a $10 price cut and an extra Survival Kit with three exclusive in-game items. Finally Alganon has a $5 discount if you use the code 5OFFALGANON at checkout.
• Impulse has several games on sale including Eve Online for just $9.95 and Europa Universalis III Complete for $11.99. Oh and a one day sale for Galactic Civilizations II for just $1.99.
  
• Best Buy has Guild Wars Trilogy on sale for just $14.95.
• Finally, the EA Store web site is offering 40 percent off their downloadable games if you purchase two or more titles.