14 DAY TRIAL // It's clear that the “Age of Steam,” as some have called it, is here, as NCsoft, a publisher and game developer that has a proprietary digital store in the form of PlayNC, is turning to the Valve created digital distribution service to sell its videogames. NCsoft, which publishes a wide range of MMOs, has brought most of them to Steam in an effort to expand its player base.
There are three videogames that should soon be available on Steam: City of Heroes, Guild Wars and Lineage. NCsoft is also saying that it plans to put forward some special offers related to the MMOs in the coming weeks and hopes for a big spike in sales for them as a result of these offers. If you don't like Steam too much, you can also get NCsoft videogames from Direct2Drive or in boxed form.
David Reid, who is the president of NCsoft West, stated that “Extending our distribution reach with Steam will allow more gamers the freedom and flexibility to stay updated and engaged with our games and online communities.”
Probably the most attractive of the three videogames offered is City of Heroes, which has been expanded with City of Villains. The game allows players to create their own superhero, complete with powers, energy source, enemies and stated goals.
Recently, the MMO received a new update, or Book, as it is called, which implements a Missions Architect, allowing all the players interested to design their own story arcs and make them available to play for all others. In one week, players have created around 20,000 mission arcs.
NCsoft is currently working on another MMO project, called Aion, which is set to arrive sometime during fall. The company is saying that it plans to release the game at the same time in stores and on Steam.