Who needs a mount when you can fly. Plus, our armor is shiny and stuff!

Aion, lately, has been the talk of most MMO hoppers, and even some more devoted players. Its game revolves around the two races, and two parts of its world. Asmoade is the world of darkness, where its inhabitants have been covered in darkness, and Elysea, a world bathed in light.

The world itself is a marvel of graphics, using the Crysis engine it greatly surpasses World of Warcraft, and it has an extremely customizable character creation, on my first login the game was absolutely stunning. One thing though, I cant get over is the fruitiness of the game, in a world of death and destruction, you happen to grab a magical falling leaf when it rains. For graphics and video related customization, Aion comes out a victor.

Something i was largely disappointed with is Aion’s no third party user interface addons, greatly reducing comfort in customizable UI, using only a top and bottom UI style, although greatly customizable compared to most standard UI’s in MMOs the game is a big blocky when it comes to smooth UI. WoW’s UI has thousands of addons that can be introduced in minutes, making the game fit for the person who is playing needs as well as their personal comfort. For UI and interface customization, WoW is on top.

It is totally raining and I just got my hair did! Eww!

Game play i found was very, strange, but not new. It felt like playing Tekken with combos. Personally though many have stated RNG isn’t a big factor in this game as WoW is, I’d say it would be more in certain situations. Certain abilities trigger combos, but combos have chances to trigger special combos, a team of two could beat a team of 4 simply because of lucky RNG. Also, when casting one cannot turn, move, or do anything but sit still, giving it a very stationary feeling, and making the game feel controlled and less fun, as well as impairing views of the landscape. The WoW fighting style seems more delicately woven, smooth and free. As for fighting, Aion might be unique, but the WoW stylings are much better in terms of playability.

PvP is the reason i think most people seem to like the idea this game, I’m beta once you get to level 25, they show you how to battle in the endgame pvp fortresses, to capture and hold a fortress, and use artifacts to hold, or turn the tide of a battle momentarily. The idea is amazing, with defenses of the fortress to prevent air based assaults, and so forth, but the idea is largely turned by the fact that if one side has more people, it makes it easier to win, a lot easier. Also, with this being the main PvP endgame outlets, it has 2 hours in between assaults, for all the bases, instead of a cascading cool down of fortress captures, so one is always up for grabs. The game seems more into survivability in PvP rather then burst, making healers essential, and with that it seems NCsoft has given them enormous healing capabilities, being overpowered, in 1v1, but not in group pvp. It has a ranking system like Vanilla WoW, but despite that, most players these days don’t have to have to go on to keep a rank, or have to play a game. The idea of Aion pvp is stunning, but the way NCsoft will implement it isn’t as good as everyone might think.

Leveling isn’t the most fun part in a game, sure, but there is some fun to be had in unique quests, and a number of ways to do something, in Aion this isn’t the case. The leveling is tedious, repeat quests are abundant past level 25, making it a grind of mobs to kill, kill, and rest. The game features campaign, standard, and word order quests. Campaign you mostly need groups for after you’ve done 1/2 of the zones regular quests, giving the game a very boring feeling, hours after hours of grinding for a reward as a level, giving it a tedious feeling, getting old fast. Compared to WoW when the questing never stops, and its important.

Finally, what i think personally is a deal breaker, class customization. The game itself has 4 classes and 8 subclasses, Mage, Priest, Warrior, and Scout, which each goes in Spirit master and Sorcerer, Cleric and Chanter, Gladiator and Templar, Assassin and Ranger, in that order. The customization virtually ends there. Unlike wow you choose your class, then subclass and that’s what you do, that is your solo role. Stigmas are abilities that you can have, that are extra, you put up to 5 in your tree and that’s it. One type of healer one type of tank. This is where Aion really falls down. WoW in class rolls and customization brings more to the table then Aion has in every way so far.

Overall, I think its a great game compared to most MMOs that were going to ‘replace’ WoW, it stumps AoC, and Warhammer, but the structure of the game depends on a balance in people on a server who play, without that it becomes who has more people, not more skill. I think its a great idea for a game, but NCsoft has introduced it poorly. With a few patches and implementations of things maybe the game will feel more content, but for now its another WoW ‘killer’ that will affect the game, but not to the degree previously thought.

The above slide, noticed by GameSpot, was displayed by THQ at an investor’s meeting in February. As you can see, it makes mention of sequels in plenty of franchises, notably Saints Row 3 and Red Faction 4, as well as info on the release of a Warhammer 40,000 MMO in fiscal 2012 (April 1, 2011- March 31, 2012).

As successful franchises so far, it’s not really such a surprise to see that THQ will be attempting to milk all of the money it can out of them in the coming years. The Warhammer MMO failed to topple World of Warcraft, and I doubt the Warhammer 40,000 one will either, but let’s hope it gives it a run for its money. And hey, perhaps Saints Row 3 will be Ripten’s game of the year 2010/2011!

Via Shacknews

It’s 2012.

There’s no point in me building up suspense, only to reveal that you’re going to be waiting at least three more years to play as your favorite superheroes online. In an interview with MTV Multiplayer, Marvel president of consumer products, Simon Phillips, revealed the date, along with an explanation.

“It sounds like a long way away, but it’s not,” Philips said. “We’ve got to create, together with [game publisher] Gazillion, that environment that is going to be a totally immersive experience and a perpetual storytelling experience as well.”

Well, truth be told, I’m willing to wait. In the meantime, hit the jump for a list of things that will have occurred in the time before the Marvel MMO comes out.

• Duke Nukem Forever will have been delayed… 7 times.
• GameSpot will go out of business once a suspicious 10/10 review is posted for Imagine: Bloggerz 2.
• Poland will adopt the Euro, and the recession it will ultimately bring.
• The Jonas Brothers will have played at Super Bowl XLIV. In a strange coincidence, suicide rates amongst middle-aged football fans will spike to unparalleled highs on this date.
• President Obama will have lost his life.In Super Mario Bros. I mean. Probably should have said that first.
• Conflict between South and North Korea will cease, once Kim Jong Il and Lee Myung-bak share a broment.
• A famous scientist will find a cure for his cancer- only to die by choking on the medicine.
• Cloverfield 2 will have been released. The monster will be revealed as Trogdor the Burninator.
• Activision will have run out of ideas, and begin selling games via digital distribution. Their first attempt is Guitar Hero: The Best of Oasis. The setlist is empty.
• The National Funk Congress will have finally settled the Get Up/Get Down dilemma.
• Due to the effects of the economic recession, three letters of the alphabet will be cut back. Congress will decide to remove A, I, and G.
• Resident Evil 7 will have come out. You play as a white man, shooting white zombies. But it’s set in Nigeria. Sooooo racist.
• Carrot Top will pass away in late 2010. No one will notice until “society’s worst” are shot into the sun in 2112 and the government can’t find him.
• PSN’s Fat Princess will have recieved three sequels- Fatter Princess, Even Fatter Princess, American Princess.
• SpikeTV will acquire G4 and turn it back into TechTV. (I can dream…)

Source: Destructoid

Tired of the constant nerf fest that is Blizzard’s World of Warcraft? Or maybe you are just looking for a break from Azeroth that doesn’t involve getting a job or anything remotely related to life in the “real world”.

Well, if you answered yes to any of those questions and at one point in your life pictured yourself in tightly fitting spandex, then Marvel and Gazillion Entertainment quite possibly have just the thing in store for you.

The two parties agreed on a ten year deal to create a Marvel Universe based Massive Multiplayer Online extravaganza. That’s right – Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and many others will soon be masquerading as quest givers in a game near you.

If quality is your concern, fear not. Gazillion is adequately equipped to create Marvel branded crack as their team of big wigs boast time spent at corporations such as Apple, Blizzard, Microsoft, and Pixar.

So forget those tired old exclamation points you are used to seeing and get ready to let your spider sense point you in the direction of the next quest giver — it’s bound to happen. Read more about the updated deal announcement over at marvel.com and check back with Ripten for more updates.

One of the latest posts on MMO-Champion reveals the tier 8 World of Warcraft stats and set bonuses. In addition, you can check out the latest plot to rain on your fun parade changes that will likely hit your talent tree in the 3.1 patch. As always, when you are done, you can head on over to the WoW class forums and bitch up a storm hoping someone in blue will give a damn. Check out the goods here.

While the Knights of the Old Republic series has not been the highest selling brand for LucasArts the same way that the Battlefront series has, the KOTOR games remain unique in their own way. For the first time ever, 4000 years before the events that set place in the movies, players found themselves introduced to a more dreamy time in the Star Wars space. A time when Jedi and Sith alike were in abundance and great disgust strewn between the two, a time where political affairs stood out on the forefront all while large corporations and mercenary groups extended their hand for a piece of the galaxy.

With gripping and immersive storytelling, proficient voice-acting, stunning visuals, and not to mention an incredible musical score, both KOTOR games have found themselves a permanent home in RPG and Star Wars fans alike. The only thing missing is the final piece to make it a complete trilogy. That final piece will come in the form of a MMO titled Star Wars: The Old Republic.

It is unclear whether LucasArts or Bioware initially decided to go forward with this project but unsurprisingly the two came together and is looking forward to succeeding again in the industry with The Old Republic. LucasArts will get a second undertake at a MMO after Galaxies and Bioware will take their first attempt. This has been a tough pill to swallow for KOTOR cohorts.

Support has been strong, however, but there remains a large collection of fans who have remained bitter by the MMO concept over the single player experience. It is understandable as I felt similar emotions initially after the announcement, but after elongated forethought and much optimism, I have created three points of focus as to why gamers should feel comfortable and have full faith that Star Wars: The Old Republic, while not KOTOR 3, will become an experience they’ve always wanted plus more.

Korriban, a location essential to both KOTOR titles makes yet another appearance in TOR

The first focus point is that of story. What better success has Bioware had in their previous games than the story? Many people will have their own opinions but personally, the story structures in all of Bioware’s preceding titles is the true testament of their success and with TOR, expect it to be nothing different.

“This game has more story content than every single other Bioware game put together…” -James Ohlen, Creative Director at Bioware

Bioware and LucasArts have remained steady on their efforts to press on the fact that this will be a MMO experience driven by story based in the region of the player’s class and faction. In the time spent in the TOR community, one of the primary concerns is how a MMO set 300 years later, would relate to the previous two KOTOR titles, which were strictly single player adventures. The exploits and fate of Revan and the Exile is the key concern for many of the players who will ultimately participate in TOR.

The players should realize that characteristics from the two KOTOR games such as key events, locations, and characters would be entertained. Nothing that had any type of relevance is going be deserted. This alone should give reassurance to fans of the series that while being a MMO, The Old Republic will cover all content that would have been covered if this were to be a pure single player experience as anticipated.

So the fate of Revan and the Exile will be discovered as well as the surfacing of key events and locations from the past two games will play a central role and TOR would have done it’s part in connecting the games. The desire that has been there since after the release of KOTOR 2 will finally receive the proper consideration.

Simultaneously, the player will embark on a journey which will lead the story further into a new adventure as the Republic and Empire fall into all out conflict after the return of the True Sith Empire. Ultimately, the player would not even give too much attention to the fact that TOR is a MMO because Bioware will have created an experience with the fourth pillar, story, in which it just immerses everyone into a journey of revelation, mystery, and triumph.

“The MMO industry in general has been trying to solve story in their games for a long time. With TOR, what we’re doing is putting story at the forefront of your experience, where everyone of your decisions is impactful to your end goal and character progression.” -Jake Neri, LucasArts Producer

The perspective of story is something else that players should mull over with The Old Republic. Unlike the first two KOTOR games where you had to take control of a Jedi, in TOR the range of classes would be much broader. Not only that, but the story would reflect upon each player’s class and faction.

Bioware is allowing players to experience the final pieces of the KOTOR story through the perspective of many other classes besides just a Jedi. So if you were one of those players who always wanted to experience the KOTOR games as a bounty hunter for the Sith but could not because you were forced into being a Republic Jedi? Need not to worry because that freedom is now granted with TOR, the restrictions have been lifted.

The story will lead players into new locations

Two aspects regarding story that really stand out are the addition of choice and companion characters. Just like in both KOTOR titles, TOR will have great emphasis on the choices your character makes. Furthermore, like both KOTOR titles, companions will accompany the player.

“Part of the story thing that is very important from our perspective is adding choice. Typically online games do not have a lot of choice, you do what is in front of you. But this game, you get to chose to do things.” -Dr. Greg Zeschuk, CoFounder and VP Development Operations, Bioware and VP, EA

“There are a lot of things that the companion characters have, their own stories and their own interest to pursue. Depending on what side of the force you sit on, you can help them and support them or manipulate them.” -Dr. Greg Zeschuk

This only goes to show just how similar The Old Republic will be to the two previous titles, in spite of the fact that it is a MMO. Players would be able to walk into the TOR atmosphere and contain a feeling of familiarity.

It is tolerable if a gamer remains on the fence about this title being a MMO and not being able to deliver a strong story. Bear in mind, however, that this is Bioware, a company which makes a living by delivering some of the best stories told in videogames no matter what the platform or genre they are. Do not be hampered by the verity that it is a MMO because what lies ahead is possibly one of the best Star Wars stories ever told in a videogame. Give the vote of confidence to Bioware and LucasArts and watch them perform something miraculous with The Old Republic.

Next, I will break down how an online community will facilitate into an overall great experience then I will highlight how TOR’s longevity will satisfy gamers years after the release through updates and expansion packs. Until then, may the force be with you….

Tabula Rasa, Richard Garriott’s space-centred MMO, is now totally free-to-play. It seems a little too good to be true, but remember that the failed MMO is set to close down completely on 28 February 2009, due to lack of support (i.e. nobody is playing the damn thing). Returning players can just log back in, and new players can easily get going: Go here to get a serial, go there to sign up, and then hit this to download the client- as easy as one, two, four three! Good news for MMO fans, but bad news for MMO fans who like their games to last more than two months, sadly. Still, maybe if enough people want to play it now, it’ll come back to life; there’s nothing to lose, so get going!

If you like your Chocobo with online multiplayer access, then you’ll be happy to know that Square Enix is set to give you three new expansion packs for their Final Fantasy XI MMO.

“A Crystalline Prophecy – Ode of Life Bestowing” will kick things off in the Spring of 2009 with “A Moogle Kupo d’Etat – Evil in Small Doses” and “A Shantotto Ascension – The Legend Torn, Her Empire Born” hitting PlayOnline for download in the following months. Hit the jump for the full press release.

SQUARE ENIX DEVELOPING NEW CONTENT FOR FINAL FANTASY XI

Award-Winning MMORPG to Expand Its World with Series of New Expansion Scenarios

Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of Square Enix® interactive entertainment products in North America, today announced the development of three upcoming downloadable scenario expansions for their marquee MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game, FINAL FANTASY® XI. The creation of these three expansions is led by Masato Kato, who created the stories and scenarios for FINAL FANTASY XI and its first expansion pack, Rise of the Zilart®.

Available exclusively for online purchase through the PlayOnline® Viewer, these expansions will be made available simultaneously for all FINAL FANTASY XI platforms worldwide. The first expansion, entitled “A Crystalline Prophecy – Ode of Life Bestowing™”, is slated for release in spring of 2009, with the remaining two stories, “A Moogle Kupo d’Etat – Evil in Small Doses™” and “A Shantotto Ascension – The Legend Torn, Her Empire Born™”, to follow in the months thereafter.

STORY

A Crystalline Prophecy – Ode of Life Bestowing

One day, a giant crystal appeared in the skies above Jeuno, triggering a series of unexplained happenings across the land. Now, adventurers will set forth to unravel the mysteries of this primordial crystal that holds the secret of Vana’diel’s past.

A Moogle Kupo d’Etat – Evil in Small Doses

It all started with an innocent drop of rainwater and a rickety, ramshackle Mog House desperately in need of repairs. Little did anyone suspect that this was only the beginning of a harrowing nightmare unheard of in the annals of moogle-kind.

A Shantotto Ascension – The Legend Torn, Her Empire Born

The eccentric Professor Shantotto returned to Windurst one day after a mysterious, unexplained absence, shocking her colleagues with behavior so outrageous it put her old self to shame! When she goes so far as to proclaim herself ruler of her own empire, adventurers set out to discover the truth behind her alarming shift in personality.

Accommodating players in North America, Europe and Japan, FINAL FANTASY XI is the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game capable of simultaneous multiplayer cooperation across three different platforms. Now in its sixth year of service, FINAL FANTASY XI has a robust community of 500,000 subscribers and more than 1.7 million player characters from around the world. The series continues to evolve and expand, offering newcomers and fans alike an immersive, engrossing and engaging universe to traverse, defend and explore.

For more information about FINAL FANTASY XI, please visit the official website: www.finalfantasyxi.com.

On December 17th, Monster Hunter Frontier will be releasing what’s known as season 4.0.  This update includes some famous monsters from 2nd G and a new map to fight on. 

The monsters known as Espinas, Tiger-X, and Rajan in Japan will be joining the already large variety of beasts capable of being hunted, my least favorite being Tiger-X (he’s a pain) which is listed as a variant of the regular one which I assume is in the game.  I haven’t gotten too far on my Frontier character so I can’t say for sure what all is already in there.

The new map that will be released takes place in high peaks.  According to the article on Famitsu, the map will feature winds that will effect the hunters but can also be used to their advantage if they work right.

If this game is released in the States, there will be a ton of content to start hunters off with.  I think it would go over real well if people are willing to get over a small learning curve.

As a side note, it was revealed a couple of weeks ago that there will be a new version of the software released in stores for season 4.0.  This box will include special codes for some in-game items, a free sixty-day hunter pass, and an up-to-date version of the software.  I may pick this up just for the extra sixty days play time and the items.

Source:  Famitsu

You know how you always say that you want developers to try new things? Be creative. Live on the edge. Show you stuff you’ve never seen before. Yea? Well, you’re full a shit.

You don’t want that — you want to feel at home, comfortable, and in command — and you’re not the only one. Many residents of the Azeroth, in the popular MMO World of Warcraft, are not the least bit amused by Blizzard’s attempt to transition into the Lich King expansion.

A simple sign on was all it took for me to feel like I’d been transported to a war torn section of Beirut. Seared flesh, battered bones, and suicidal exploding mad men running in my direction. What the hell’s going on you ask? Well, in the process of preparing gamers for Northrend, Arathas, and his massive scourge army, Blizzard designers decided to unleash a plague of undead zombies on their achievement happy community.

Crates, placed throughout the world, containing contaminated insects were opened by curious gamers. In a matter of moments, the infected individuals transformed into zombies capable of zombifiying others at will. Brain biters lurking around every corner may sound like the perfect compliment for Halloween at first, but listening to the complaints of several frustrated players may change your mind.

I hate this event. I hate this event so desperately that I’m having to talk myself out of canceling my account until it’s over. The game is becoming unplayable. Important NPCs like auctioneers, bankers, innkeepers and questgivers are almost always dead before I can use them … can’t go to major cities because I’ll get attacked by other players (and I’m on a PvE server for a reason). I can’t do dailies because most of the NPCs are permanently dead. - Saboruto

I’m frustrated beyond belief. I cannot understand why Blizz didn’t make this a voluntary event on PvE servers. Wherever I go into a city, I can count on being infected, becoming a zombie, and dying… just so that I can respawn, come back, and pay to have my gear repaired. - Nefetyra

The entire event should be optional…if you’re not flagged pvp then you should not be able to be zombied. Furthermore, if you do get infected, it should be a player removable debuff. - Balduun

I have never ever before considered canceling my subscription.. have loved everything about it.. but now.. well.. I am seriously considering [canceling] my pre-order for the expansion and going to other worlds for my fun.- Bridee

The root of the problem is not necessarily the content itself, rather the mindset of the individuals abusing it. However, it’s common knowledge at this point (thanks to games like GTA) that if you give gamers the ability to do something evil, they most likely will. In that regard, Blizzard must shoulder some of the blame.

One moderator on the game’s official forum shared the following with irate members:

We do appreciate the feedback; if threads are being deleted, it’s because the moderators are trying to keep things consolidated and constructive, not because they seek to stifle dissenters.

As I have stated, if this was planned to last any longer than it is, we would have been a great deal more leery of the wide-reaching effects of the plague. This has been anticipated; I respect the concept that some people dislike it and we’ll certainly take that into account, but this was an event meant to impact players in all walks of life and routines. I am in no way stating it was perfect, and should we do something like this again the feedback both for and against will be taken into account when changes are made, particularly pertaining to lower level players. This event absolutely was meant to shake up the status quo of the average WoW day, and in that it’s been successful.

It will still continue as planned, but for those of you less than fond of the plague, you don’t have much longer to wait.

Afterthought: What do you think? Are you a fan of events that mix PVP with PVE or do you think Blizzard made a mistake by making this content unavoidable?

Source: forums.worldofwarcraft.com

If there’s a downside to Blizzard’s monumental success with World of Warcraft, it’s where they go from here. With reaction to the company’s future endeavors ranging from the justifiably negative to the mostly positive, there’s certainly a fine line to walk for the company.

For their upcoming “next-gen MMO”, Blizzard’s got to win a whole new audience over while not cannibalizing their own properties – what’s their game plan then? Make something different, according to Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime.

We’re not trying to replace World of Warcraft with this new MMO. We’re trying to create a different massively multiplayer experience, and hopefully World of Warcraft will still be going strong when that one is released.

Sounds interesting – let’s just hope they don’t sell a different game for every race. Read on for more Morhaime.

I imagine that people at Blizzard, for all the money they’re making from it, are getting kind of sick of World of Warcraft. That being said, they don’t plan to stop raking in the dough just because they might be getting bored of the game, because, well, nobody else is:

We definitely don’t have a deadline where at this point we’re not going to support World of Warcraft. We wanna support it as long as people want us to support it.

Source: Shacknews

Blizzcon 08 is about to open its doors to the world, and that has many of us discussing our favorite MMO moments, both in game and out. A hands-down personal favorite of mine is the World of Warcraft South Park episode from 2006.

In the event you’ve been strapped to a pipe in a strange basement for the past two years, broke free, stumbled onto a Blizzcon 08 ticket, and decided to go, you may have missed the following South Park episode. Everyone else has no excuse, but you’re free to watch it anyway.

Hit the jump for the classic South Park World of Warcraft episode, and witness Cartman stack sunder armor as only he can.

If the above video doesn’t work, you can always hit up South Park Studios and watch the full episode there.

It appears that a Halo based MMO was in secret development by Ensemble prior to the studio closing its doors. Gamasutra reports on rumors that the game had been a work in progress dating back as far as 2006.

The screen shown above bears a striking resemblance to another popular MMO. When I first got wind of this news I thought “ok, this might be interesting”, but after seeing a Spartan duel-wielding two blades, that notion (like the studio itself) quickly dissipated.

If the idea still interests you, here is a tidbit that may give you hope. Microsoft Game Studios head, Phil Spencer, was recently quoted saying that there are “more than two or three teams” currently working on Halo branded projects. So, Halo MMO supporters can deny the game’s finite death, and instead choose to see this as nothing more than extended resurrection sickness.

Source: joystiq.com

Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online, an MMO based in the Shin Megami Tensei universe that birthed games like Digital Devil Saga and Persona, is coming to English-speaking countries. Aeria Games announced their acquisition of the game (which has been out since last March in Japan) on Wednesday, and are working on localizing it post-haste.

The game’ll be free-to-play with microtransactions being the potential revenue generator.

Gold farming might be a joke among many MMORPG players, but, according to a recent Manchester University study, it certainly is a lucrative one. The study estimates that the industry is a $500 Million market, with over 400,000 employees (80% based in China) earning an average of $145 a month. Professor Richard Heeks, who authored the study, had this to say:

“I initially became aware of gold farming through my own games-playing but assumed it was just a cottage industry. In a way that is still true. It’s just that instead of a few dozen cottages, there turn out to be tens of thousands.”

Hundreds of thousands grinding away in games like World of Warcraft and Runescape, for low wages and in poor conditions. This is the ugly side of globalization manifest in virtual worlds. It’s almost surreal to imagine, but apparently gold farming is becoming a major sector in the economies of the countries involved.

Major enough but unregulated enough to allow the participation of organized crime. That criminal aspect of gold farming makes the Manchester study not entirely accurate, Heeks said. Meaning his estimate could be twice as low, and gold farming could actualy be a billion-dollar industry.

Source: BBC (via Gamasutra)

So you’re visiting the World of Warcraft realm forums. It’s the usual flaming, loot drop bragging and guild drama when a new post pops up that says “Pic’s of My Teacher Nekkid!!1!”

There is a link. Do you click it? If you do, chances are that you are going to find your lvl70 paladin for sale on eBay.

In a startling report from ESET.com, the computer security site reveals that the number one worldwide malware threat for July was against online gaming.

According to the security site, malware attacks against MMO players have been the number one threat for the last three months.

More than 12 percent of all attacks are credited to the malware family known as Win32/PSW.OnLineGames. Essentially a keylogging Trojan that also sports rootkit capabilities that surreptitiously relays your information back to hackers.

According to ESET: It’s important for participants in MMORPGs (Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Games) like Lineage and World of Warcraft, as well as “metaverses” like Second Life, to be aware of the range of threats ranged against them: not just harassment nuisances like griefing and pointless quasi-viral attacks like grey goo, but phishing and other scams that can result in financial loss in the real world. Their objective in such cases is to steal account information or game items and then resell them on the black market (or at any rate on eBay).

Source: ESET

CEO of Electronic Arts John Riccitiello confirmed at E3 that BioWare, in collaboration with LucasArts, is in fact working on the next Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game. Will it be an MMO like has often been rumored? Riccitiello replies simply, “Yes.”

Riccitiello did little to expand on the news other than to say that EA has “two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development.” One of those is the previously announced Warhammer MMO (Age of Reckoning), and the other one is now confirmed as the KotOR MMO, which is tentatively titled “The Old Republic”.

Riccitiello went on to talk about PC versus console and handheld systems, stating that he thinks the PC market will increase in large part due to MMOs. So, does this mean the KotOR MMO isn’t coming to consoles? Riccitiello won’t say.

EA plans on using MMOs as an icebreaker in foreign territories, suggesting that China is next on their list of countries to piss off with their douchebaggery. “We’re launching some mid-session games on a micro-transaction model,” Riccitiello says. Hear that, China? You will be nickel and dimed to death, except those nickels and dimes will cost you $5 each (that’s 34 Yuan Renminbi!). Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Source: Portfolio.com

It’s official! Okay, no, it’s not. Blizzard has been teasing the gaming world with its evolving homepage ice picture, and after this latest update, the planets certainly appear to be aligning for the announcement of World of StarCraft, or whatever they decide to call the new Massively Multiplayer Online game set in the StarCraft universe.

The StarCraft MMO has been rumored for a long time. It was reported as a sure thing for a brief moment in time back in May 2007 that it would be unveiled in South Korea at a Blizzard event, but that didn’t happen. Now with the upcoming release of StarCraft 2, what better time to release the StarCraft MMO than when they already got StarCraft on the brain?

Back to the picture, however, we’ve pretty much all decided there was a face there. It was originally suspected to be a Diablo head, indicating Blizzard’s new game was Diablo 3. Now the face, with glowing blue energy eyeballs, most likely is the face of a Protoss.

You can even see the faint glowing diamond between the eyes. Now let’s superimpose these two pictures:

Looks pretty clear to me. If that’s not good enough, take a gander at this:

The rune to the bottom left of the “face” is quite clearly the exact same as the Protoss symbol. Blizzard has already stated that they will be announcing a new game at their Worldwide Invitational, so it’s not just indicating StarCraft II again. They’ve also had job openings listed for “Next-Gen MMO” on their site for a while now. This all seems to point very rigidly in the StarCraft MMO direction, don’tcha think?

UPDATE: Turns out, no. While the flash image turned out to be completely unrelated to StarCraft (or an MMO), Blizzard confirmed that there is a fourth project in the works that is not yet announced, but is apparently the “next-gen MMO”.  I think you can guess what my prediction on that is.

Oathbreaker is the forth expansion pack, or set, to be added to the Everquest based online card game, Legends of Norrath.

This add-on brings with it more than 250 extra cards to the game as well as two new races to choose from. More exciting that that however is the inclusion of a dragon turtle called Chel’Drak. I don’t say exciting because I’m a massive fan of online card-games, I say exciting because, well, it’s a DRAGON TURTLE. Seriously, just think about that for a bit.

Read on for the full press release.

DENVER, COLO. – June 19, 2008 – Sony Online Entertainment LLC announced the release of Oathbreaker, the fourth set of the EverQuest® franchise online strategy game, Legends of Norrath™. Oathbreaker continues to draw upon the influence of SOE’s groundbreaking EverQuest® franchise, adding fun and familiar elements, including items and characters beautifully illustrated with high-fantasy flair. Oathbreaker will enthrall players with a tale of corruption from within, and redemption that comes at a terrible cost, providing an unprecedented level of drama in the ongoing saga. While Oathbreaker brings the story of your Oathbound hero to a dramatic finale, new gameplay builds on existing functionality and allows for even more creative strategies to emerge.

“In just over nine months since launch, Legends of Norrath has had more than one million matches,” said Scott Martins, director of development, SOE Denver. “And, with the introduction of Oathbreaker, many more matches are on the horizon. There are more ways than ever to enhance your strategies, explore different decks and try out new combos. We’re eager to introduce the new raid and open up cooperative play. And, with the Monthly Sprint Tournaments that started in early June, there are more opportunities for players to climb the rankings and earn special promo cards and free loot.”

Not only does Oathbreaker complete the story arc which originated with LoN’s first set, Oathbound – it’s also the last LoN release before the World Championship event at Gen Con Indy, August 14-17, where up to 32 finalists are slated to compete for up to $100,000 in cash prizes. July 12-13 marks the last opportunity to compete in a monthly online Championship Qualifier tournament before the World Championship event. At Gen Con, two days of qualification heats, open to all Gen Con attendees 18 and older, will take place before the final championship day.

Developed at SOE’s Denver studio, Legends of Norrath is the only online strategy game based on and playable from SOE’s popular EverQuest® and EverQuest® II MMOs, as well as from a stand-alone client using a free SOE Station Account (available at www.station.com). Players can challenge opponents on their game server and across other EQ and EQII servers.

Oathbreaker’s features include:

New Cards – More than 250 new cards for your online arsenal! Collect all 210 base set cards, four starter decks featuring 16 new quests and three random rares, 10 scenario rewards, fantastic new loot cards for EverQuest and EverQuest II and lots of new promotional cards.

Play For Free – SOE is providing all registered LoN users even more complimentary content and bonus features in the game client, including ten new scenarios that tell the tale of Oathbreaker and a brand new raid. Go to www.legendsofnorrath.com for complete details.

New Raid Play – In the Antechamber of Fate, up to four players can face off against the powerful island guardian Chel’Drak, the dragon turtle!

New Gameplay – “Charge” is a new keyword that provides additional bonuses to cards while players have, or get rid of, their charge tokens. Re-linkable navigation offers greater flexibility in play by allowing linked cards to be linked again to a new target.

New Faces – Delve into new avatar races (Froglok and Erudite), unit types, legends, keywords and abilities. Explore more of your favorite EverQuest and EverQuest II classes with the introduction of “unarmed” Monks, Coercers, Templars and Beastlords (with their warder pets)!

Oathbreaker cards will be available via digital download from SOE’s Station Store in both 58-card digital starter decks for $9.99 (plus any applicable taxes), and 15-card digital booster packs for $2.99 (plus any applicable taxes).

To get started, players can download the client for free, test their skills 24 hours a day against AI and real opponents, and then head over to the tournament lobby to compete. Monthly Championship Qualifier eligibility limited and subject to Official Rules. Residents of certain territories are not eligible to participate in LoN tournaments with rewards. Please see the EULA for details. For a schedule of events, rules and further details, see the Events Calendar and the Tournaments page.

For more information on Legends of Norrath, visit the website at www.legendsofnorrath.com.

Pic via wikipedia, your number 1 source for turtle needs.

There has been a lot of hubbub recently concerning the depiction of naked female boobage in the recently released MMO Age of Conan. U.S. gamers fought to keep the nipples in the game, but now it appears they don’t want to actually see them. What gives?

I recently received a copy of Age of Conan (thanks Zungre!) and immediately made a female character to check out what the big deal is. In respectable fashion, I named my avatar Bewbs. The character starts the game in essentially a swimsuit, and that’s just not my style so I took it off.

I ran through the little starter area topless, picking up loin cloths, weapons, gold teeth, and a few chest pieces which I refused to wear. That’s just not how Bewbs rolls. I finally make it to the first little multiplayer hub, the city of Tortage, and find myself assaulted by a good number of people who are apparently not happy to see Bewbs.

The first player to talk to me in the game called me a dumbass. I asked him why I was a dumbass and he said it was because I was topless. See the following screenshot for a brief snippet of our conversation:

I obviously blurred out the irrelevant “New Player” chat channel, and I thought about blurring out this dude’s name to protect the stupid, but you know what? Fuck that guy.

I asked him if he knew anything about the Conan universe and he didn’t respond. I asked him how old he was and he didn’t respond. I asked him why he was playing an M-rated game if he didn’t want to see boobs. He responded, finally, and said that he likes M-rated games for the violence, and he prefers this game over World of Warcraft because of the blood and dismemberment.

Here we go again… Why is it that people are okay with chopping off heads, but seeing some titties bothers them? Doesn’t that seem backwards? After the nerd outcry on the AoC forums at the thought of removing boobs from the U.S. version, we Freedom Fries-eating gamers got our way. After all of that, however, we are apparently not happy to see the nipples we fought so hard to keep.

After I thought about this, I began to wonder why this is occurring. Why do WoW gamers get upset when they see an elf dancing on a mailbox in her underwear? Why now do people yell at me for having my fun-bags out? To be honest, I have no answer to these questions.

It’s obvious that the women of AoC go topless quite often, or at the very least they don’t wear bras. You can see evidence of this in the lack of tanlines and the overall low-set positioning of their boobs. Those puppies are apparently not very often supported.

After running around the town for a little while, I noticed something else: I was the only female player character. I sat at the entrance to the town for a good 15 minutes, watching as people came in and left, waiting for another pair of boobs. I never saw them. Every other player character that I noticed during my playtime so far has been male.

So what’s the deal here? What is going on with this community of gamers? I read recently that the character animations for females supposedly take 25% longer, which means they attack 25% slower and do 25% less damage in the same amount of time compared to the men. This has yet to be officially confirmed, but FunCom is “looking into it”.

Could this be the reason there are no females, or is there something decidedly more sexist going on? Do people not want to roll a chick because they are “inferior”, because they don’t want people to ask to see their boobs, or is it because they want to roleplay as a man and get the chicks as opposed to playing as one?

My character doesn’t wear a top because I choose not to, not that it would do much good anyways since I’m a magic-user that can only equip cloth armor. I would much rather just distract my enemies with my awesome tits. This is an option, by design, that FunCom put in the game, so why does anyone care if I’m exposed, and why the fuck are these people playing a Conan game if they don’t want to see naked breasts!? Conan, by definition, means “topless”, both men and women. Conan without boobs is like Batman without a batsuit.

What do you think about Age of Conan’s boobs? What about sex in games in general? Do you think Microsoft will allow boobs in the Xbox 360 version of the game, and given this experience, do you think it even matters?

June will see the beginning of some new improvements to the fast-selling Age of Conan. Further additions to Funcom’s game will come later in the year to coincide with EA Mythic’s Warhammer Online full release and Blizzard’s World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. We have been looking over the details of what Age of Conan players can expect and here are our thoughts.

To The death

To begin with, a PvP content update is on its way, aptly named To The Death. With it comes more consequences and also rewards for the players who take part in the PvP element of the game.

Ten PvP levels (plus additional ranks) will also be introduced, along with weapons and gear specific to PvP.

What might excite Age of Conan players the most is a new part of the whole PvP experience, namely the Fugitive system. This system will aid against those players who gank lower level players continuously and think they can remain anonymous. Making it easier for players to hunt down this type of PKer could be a welcome tool for all involved in PvP within Hyboria.

Hopefully Funcom have done their homework here and made sure there’s no exploits to the Fugitive system.

“Kinship!” and Powerpoints

Later this year, a Powerpoint system will be rolled out that could look to emulate a similar character evolution and reward system contained within the forthcoming Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (see Tome of Knowledge unlockables).

Rewarding active in-game behaviour, “power” points are gathered by the player through numerous methods including winning PvP matches, being active in a guild, and owning a Battlekeep.

How this will be presented to the player in Age of Conan has yet to be highlighted but as current MMOs go, a tabulated book interface could be in with a strong chance.

“Kinship!” is currently in preproduction and will be a free update concerning guild matters. Allowing the formation of alliances between guilds, it will allow alliances to battle each other to rule and conquer on a massive scale. Battlekeeps and “wonders of the world” can be constructed within allied guilds, allowing huge scope for battle between opposing alliances.

So it seems that Funcom are addressing areas of game mechanic that could keep players active in Age of Conan for a long time to come. It could also mean that the predicted two horse race between World of Warcraft and Warhammer Online has just become a more likely three horse marathon.

Is it a good time to get into playing an MMO? Well, the choices and battle lines are being drawn. Remember, there’s nothing better for the customer than game publishers in healthy competition!

Source: Funcom

The new MMO coming out of Sony Online Entertainment will not have a microtransaction system built in, it has been confirmed in an interview with Eurogamer.

Last month, SOE announced that they had struck a deal with Live Gamer to provide The Agency with a “real money trading service”, sparking talk of microtransactions being built into the game.

Thankfully, Hal Milton, lead designer of the game has ushered these reassuring words:

I want to make this very clear, this is not a microtransaction system within The Agency to allow players to buy weapons, outfits, or operatives to be effective within the game world. That’s something that we’re absolutely not planning on doing.

The payment system will instead be used to allow player-to-player auction based transfers of money to pay for in-game items, similar to the system used in Everquest II. Which is nice.

MMOs, the single most addictive thing on this fine Earth, combined with microtransactions, do cause me to start to worry for my fellow gamer. It’s good to know that in this instance, my worries were misplaced.

Source: Eurogamer

(Thanks Aerox!)

Available today for North America Subscribers, Book 13: Doom of the Last-king (Last King, Lich King, can’t we all just get along?) is the fifth content update to the title, and it boasts a new realm, the introduction of a new class, and a new hobby system. If you are interested in learning more about this update, check out the official press release below.

TURBINE CELEBRATES THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF the launch of THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE™

Month-Long Celebration Marks the Return of the $199 LOTRO Lifetime Subscription Plan

WESTWOOD, MA – April 24, 2008 – Turbine, Inc. announced today a special promotion featuring limited time pricing offers and a series of in-game events to celebrate the first anniversary of The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ (LOTRO), the award-winning massively multiplayer online roleplaying game.

“It’s been an incredible year for LOTRO and Turbine” said Jim Crowley, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. “Winning the 2007 PC Game of the Year, being named 2007 MMO of the Year and the overwhelmingly positive response to the game from fans around the world has been a real validation of our vision*. Our anniversary celebration is a chance for us to take time to gather with our past and present players to enjoy everything that is special about Middle-earth and thank them for their wonderful support with some special in-game events and subscription options.”

The month-long celebration of the first anniversary of LOTRO includes:

Ø Launch of Book 13: Doom of the Last-king: Turbine’s fifth content update to LOTRO delivers the frosty new region of Forochel, a new Monster Player class plus a host of other enhancements that continue to make LOTRO one of the fastest growing games in the world!

Ø Welcome Back Celebration: Former subscribers are invited to come back to Middle-earth beginning May 8th for five days of free play! Experience the new content added since launch that has increased the size of the world by over 30% including new regions, player housing, the outfit system and a myriad of new raids and instances.

Ø Save Middle-earth and Win: During the anniversary celebration, monsters throughout Middle-earth will drop rare items when defeated. Players can exchange these rare items for a special gift box that will reward the player with one of a variety of in-game items to aid them on their adventures in Middle-earth.

Ø Special Anniversary Pricing: For a limited time, Turbine is offering two new pricing plans for the 2007 PC Game of the Year and the 2007 MMO of the Year! Players can choose to become lifetime subscribers for $199 and never pay a monthly fee again. Players can also choose any multi-month plan (90-days or longer) and lock in a monthly price of $9.99 for as long as they maintain their new subscription plan. **

In a world seemingly overrun with MMOs, Jumpgate Evolution is going to have a tough time carving its place among the big players. Developed by NetDevil and published by Codemasters Online (who also own D&D Online and LOTR Online), there is no shortage of experience behind the game, but does it deliver the loot? Or does it leave the player grinding away in the endless darkness of space? Read the full story for my impressions.

I should probably preface this report with the fact that I do not typically play MMOs. Not because I don’t like them– far from it. I don’t play them because I know that I would be uncontrollably pulled into the game, only to emerge some six months later with a beard, poor hygiene routines, and my family assuming I am dead.

After spending some time with Jumpgate Evolution at Codemasters Connect08 in Birmingham last Friday, I have a horrible feeling this may soon be unavoidable.

Jumpgate Evolution is, put simply, a space-flight based MMO. The developers have said there will be a deep story built in from the start, with the understanding that the game will be expanded upon in future. You can play as one of three races, with two other races taking the form of NPCs, each having their own distinct style and history.

You will pilot a customisable ship and, as with most MMOs, go on quests, gain experience, find loot, and customise your ship to suit your style. Where Jumpgate Evoluion begins to stray away from your typical MMO comes in its execution. All flying and combat is done in real time and manually. The developers said they were looking for an X-Wing type experience and they have definitely found one.

The controls they have created for flying your ship around are simply stunning. I sat down and instantly began flying around, without realising I hadn’t even thought about what the controls were. They are tight, intuitive and, dare I say it, perfect for this game. When they say they spent 3 months on the controls, it shows.

Which brings me to the combat. No more standing still whilst your auto attack slowly grinds down the enemies, Jumpgate Evolution throws real-time space combat at you. You will find yourself taking part in some epic feeling dogfights.

This is where the instinctive and effortless controls really come into their own. Using the mouse to point where you want to go or shoot, and the keyboard to adjust speed, roll and to strafe allows you to easily pull of some impressive looking, and satisfying manoeuvres.

Another aspect the developers were keen to stress was that you wont be seeing very many open areas. Even though it’s space and space is rather large, you will still find all the areas sufficiently full of moons, space stations and asteroids to not only keep your interest, but also to force you to think tactically.

With a graphical engine designed to work on any standard PC, the game pulls off some very hot looking graphics. The computers at the Omega Sektor in Birmingham (where the event took place) are top of the range, but it was pointed out that the game will still look stunning on your standard rig.

A public beta for Jumpgate Evolution is due to start in just a couple of months so make sure to keep an eye on Ripten for all the latest information. Also, can somebody tell my parents where I am and feed my cat? Thanks.

Former MLB Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. is off the bench and promoting Real Baseball, a Massive Multiplayer Online Sport Game (MMOSG). Real Baseball has been under beta for the last three years under Ultimate Baseball Online.

The MMO gives gamers a first-person perspective of a baseball player. Players will compete as a team, and character has the ability to build up their skill.

Real Baseball looks to go further fantasy baseball and give players a realistic view of what the game is like, according to Cal Ripken.

“Real Baseball is a fun game that provides the players with a unique perspective and delivers a one of a kind lifelike baseball experience,” said Ripken. “The online baseball community reinforces baseball fundamentals and provides baseball fans and gamers with a challenging experience. It is a great destination for baseball fans of all ages.”

Players in Real Baseball will be manning each position to compete as a whole team against other from across the world.

What better way to represent the MMO, than with one of baseball’s icons? Ripken, who played for the Baltimore Orioles, set a record of longest streak of games played at 2,231 and is also a 19-time MLB All-Star.

“We are very excited to partner with Cal in an effort to make our website and video game even better for baseball lovers across the globe,” said Andy Wang, founder and CEO of Netamin.

“We strive to make Real Baseball the most authentic baseball video game it can be, and adding Cal to our team not only strengthens our brand, but connects us with a baseball legend that will take our video game and community to the next level.”

Players can visit www.playrealbaseball.com to see what the action is all about.

Most of us have heard by now that the much-anticipated Marvel Universe Online game for the PC and Xbox 360 has been canceled. Cryptic Studios was understandably upset, but they’ve taken their work on the superhero game in an exciting new direction. Check out this new trailer for proof that change is sometimes a very good thing.

Indie developer Silverlode Interactive accosted me outside the press room at GDC to show me their new MMORTS (Massively Multiplayer Online Real-Time Strategy) game, SAGA. The game looks interesting enough, and given the fact that it’s essentially free, it very well may be worth your time. I checked out the beta yesterday, and I have to say that I have no idea what I’m doing. There seemed to be plenty of people who did, however, so maybe I just missed something.

Either way, SAGA has just entered open beta for the public, so you can give the game a shot for yourself. Full press release after you click the link at the end of this sentence… wait for it… okay, now!

SAGA Enters Open Beta

Silverlode Interactive opened its servers to all players for SAGA– the persistent world MMORTS.

Provo, UT – February 26, 2008

The World’s First Collectible MMORTS entered Open Beta testing on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008. All players who sign up at www.playsaga.com will receive accounts, allowing them to create nations on the Beta servers. For the duration of the Beta test, all game features will be unlocked and available to testers. At release, a full unlocked copy of SAGA will cost $19.95; however, promotions will be available during the open beta period to purchase the full version of SAGA at a reduced price.

During the stress test conducted on Saturday, February 23rd, the servers performed excellently, with no crashes or other server issues. The SAGA servers are expected to support up to 20,000 players per realm with thousands of simultaneous users. Should a greater-than-expected number of players attempt to login to the world at the same time, a login queue will be implemented and additional realms will be brought online.

Go now to www.playsaga.com to check out SAGA Open Beta!

About SAGA – SAGA is a persistent world RTS in an epic fantasy setting. Players collect troops, build armies, conquer new lands and build up kingdoms, complete with resource collection, city building and peasant management. SAGA’s features include massive armies, multiplayer questing, guild wars, espionage, and an auction house for trading troops and spells.

SAGA has no subscription fees. Players pay as little or as much as they decide, by purchasing ‘booster packs’ of random troops and spells, which are traded and customized to create the strategic army of choice for each player. Visit www.playsaga.com

SAGA Screenshots

22 Photos

 

The world’s first Massively Multiplayer Online Collectible Trading Card Action Figure Comic Book Game (or MMO-NERD) is set to be a good one. Jonathan Zungre and I sat down with the creators to discuss all things Freaky Creatures.

Essentially, Freaky Creatures is a MMO, but the game that you buy is basically a “starter pack” that comes with two creatures. Those creatures are exemplified by actual toys (or action figures, whatever) and comes on a reusable flash drive. You are also given random “cards” that you can use in the game to change abilities and/or change the look of your character. You can then buy “booster packs” that come with another action figure (which unlocks that creature in the game) and more abilities/body parts. Confused?

Let me break it down like this: You buy the game. It comes with creature A and creature B. You can then choose between those two creatures when you make your character in the game. These are just base models, however, as you can then customize your look and abilities by adding parts like a tail, wings, horns, and weapons. The options you have are somewhat random (except for the base creatures), but you can acquire more by purchasing more action figures, which also unlocks that particular creature as a selectable model in your game.

Some of the Freaky Creatures action figures from Series One

Once you are in the world, you can travel around to different lands and interact with other players. You can challenge these other creatures to a fight, and if they accept, you enter a battle of rock, paper, scissors, uh…. duct tape, and… stapler? It’s a five-way this-beats-that showdown consisting of head, body, tail, left arm, and right arm. You then have the option to use a special ability card that you’ve put in your creature’s “deck” to assist in your attack or defense skills for that round. You battle it out until, obviously, one creature falls, and you are awarded with experience points and some more abilities (you can choose something from the other person’s “deck”).

There are a few options like a house-type area (your lair) to rest your ass-kicker and feed it or play with it, but these were not fully implemented when we saw the game. Matt Saia, creative director behind Freaky Creatures, told me that they have a lot planned in this area, and will continue to offer more content even after the game ships. “We want people to have a lot of reasons to come back to our world,” he said.

The great thing about Freaky Creatures is that it’s one of those easy to learn, difficult to master type of things. The target audience is boys age 8 to 16, but hardcore gamers can really dig into the depth accompanying the collectible card game mechanics. After all, there are 50-year-old nerds playing professional Magic tournaments as we speak. You could also buy the action figures for your little brother while you hog the game for yourself, disguising your geekdom as just being a nice guy. The possibilities are endless!

Me and Jon with the Abandon Interactive crew

Speaking of endless possibilities, Freaky Creatures ships with over 3 billion creature combinations! Considering that this is only taking into account the 10 creatures that comprise Series One, that’s a lot. We weren’t told how many series were being planned, but Jonnathan Hilliard, technical director on the project, stressed that the game will be constantly expanding in these areas as well. They will even be explaining how the new content fits within the context of the world through the magic of comic books.

Another first is that Freaky Creatures will also be playable on your cell phone. There will even be cross-platform play between mobile and PC users. The mobile version’s graphics consist of sprites instead of the 3D characters of the PC version, and in some respects it looks even better (though we were told the PC version’s graphics were still not finalized, so that may change).

Freaky Creatures sure looks like an interesting combination of the many forms of nerdiness — quite appropriate considering the premise of the game. If you are interested in what Abandon Interactive is offering with this game, you can sign up for “a sneak peek and priority on the beta list” by visiting this website. Additionally, we will try to score some review copies and give you the full report when Freaky Creatures releases this Spring.

Freaky Creatures

18 Photos

 

Ever wanted to have a social experience with other Hello Kitty lovers without leaving your house? What about making a guild? How about earning and spending Kitty Dollars? What if I told you it was at the magic price of free? No, this isn’t a joke.

Nearly ready for release, Hello Kitty MMO will allow players to visit places such as the Flower Kingdom, London, Paris, Tokyo, Moscow and much more. What are they saving for the expansions?

They’ve also let slip that along with being able to guild up with all your kitty buddies, you’re also going to be able to create “and live their own adventures through an enchanting storyline.” The anticipation is killing me.

For better or worse, kid-friendly MMOs will probably be what your kids grow up playing. Games for Windows magazine had a feature about the Hello Kitty MMO in their March issue, which is an interesting read.

Source: Hello Kitty

In yet another attempt to bring together the worlds of Mountain Dew and videogames, PepsiCo created the DEWmocracy. This Massively-Multiplayer Online game casts players as “an anonymous hero that rebels against the the forces of uniformity and seeks a new world, and a new elixir, that will change everything”. That must be pretty interesting because hundreds of thousands of gamers have already begun doing the Dew.

According to Frank Cooper, VP of marketing at Pepsi-Cola North America, the game’s website DEWmocracy.com has had over 700,000 visitors, 200,000 of which have actually registered on the site and participated in the game. Mr. Cooper added:

Those are great numbers, because we hadn’t expected that many people to get involved in phase one of this campaign, which had an elaborate registration process and had a pretty significant game that required a time commitment. With phase two, when the program comes out of the game and people begin to campaign and vote for the new flavor, that’s the mainstream proposition that allows non-gamers and anyone to come in and vote in the Dewmocracy process. We expect a bigger leap in numbers for that.

Essentially, this is all an elaborate plot by PepsiCo to let the consumers decide the next Mountain Dew flavor, as opposed to doing the research themselves. Anyone who happened to try the Halo 3 branded “Gamer Fuel” is probably incredibly interested in preventing such atrocities from assaulting our taste buds ever again. Let’s hope Joe Average Consumer has better taste than PepsiCo’s R&D department.

This information, however, led me to wonder: how can people play an MMO to decide the new flavor of something if they don’t ever actually taste it? Well, PepsiCo apparently realized how silly this all was and now will have three winning flavors. The flavors will be bottled and put to a national taste test, starting this July, to crown the ultimate in soda tastiness.

So what becomes of the game after that? Well, according to Mr. Cooper, if the demand is still there, they will expand DEWmocracy into a full-fledged long-term MMO, like an actual game! Crazy! Unfortunately, he didn’t specify whether or not there would also be a collectible card game or if Shamans will continue to get nerfed.

Thanks go out to Norm over at www.meetinthelobby.com for pointing this news out to us. Show him some love and visit his site.

Source