Feb/100
Mortal Online Open Beta a Dud
Normally when a MMO game reaches the open beta phase of its development cycle, it is pretty close to the version that will be released, minus a few changes and bug fixes. However it seems that Star Vault, the developers behind Moral Online, have decided to go into open beta while the game is no where near a complete product
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Mortal Online Open Beta a Dud
Feb/100
Global Agenda First Impression
February 2 saw the release of two MMORPG. Both have subscription fees, both offer PvP and PvE content, they include guns and are set in science fiction universes. The similarities pretty much stop there. Cryptic Studios’ Star Trek Online is geared to satiate the hungered trekkies out there, while Hi-Rez Studios hopes to appease the Team Fortress 2 crowd. The main content, philosophies and core mechanics couldn’t be more different. Global Agenda starts players off in an optional tutorial that explains the basic features of the game, squad-based third person shooting. The developer used this normally boring ordeal to explain the world, how the player came into existence and their reason for being. It’s a creative way to introduce players to a game, one that tackles two problems. First off, it details the absolute basics of the game – movement, jumping, crouching, etc. Things that MMOG players know. Thanks to the interactive story running alongside the tutorial players are not bored to tears. I rather enjoyed learning about the world as I was making my escape. Too bad I haven’t seen any interesting blend of gameplay and story since
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Global Agenda First Impression
Feb/100
League of Legends an MMORPG?
League of Legends (LoL), is a Defense of the Ancients (DotA) game made by Riot Games. I have logged in countless numbers of hours into LoL during the past few weeks but not once did I think of it as an MMORPG until I saw this news feature on the League of Legends website. LoL was nominated for: Best MMORTS 2009 and Best New MMO 2009
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League of Legends an MMORPG?
Feb/100
Risk and Uncertainty
I am currently working on a post that talks about ways to create risk in MMOs and how designers might make that risk palatable to an otherwise risk-averse themepark gaming population. In the meantime, Callan S. made a comment I felt was interesting enough to discuss
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Risk and Uncertainty
Jan/100
ICC Trash: A Step in the Right Direction
For those of you who play World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King , you might have noticed that trash mobs aren’t as mindless and boring as they used to be. Yes folks, gone are the days of trash pulls that required no thought.
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ICC Trash: A Step in the Right Direction
Nov/090
Is Borderlands A MMOG?
A few months ago one of my co-writers here at MMOCrunch.com reported on the Borderlands ( 360 / PS3 / PC ) release date, and it started a heated debate about whether or not that news should have been reported here. The discussion revolved around one simple question, “Is Borderlands anMMOG or not?” I’ll make this simple, the short answer is no, Borderlands is not a massive-multiplayer online game. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t attempting to be one; it just means that Borderlands didn’t execute on those plans.
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Is Borderlands A MMOG?
Nov/090
GameX 2009: Global Agenda Exclusive Video Interview + Gameplay
This past weekend I trekked to Oaks, PA for the first GameX convention and located the Hi-Rez Studios booth for some hands on time with Global Agenda. Michal Adams, an Associate Producer and PR person for Hi-Rez, was kind enough to sit down with me after my play session (shown) for a lengthy Q&A session covering the title, the company, Global Agenda’s creative pricing model and more.
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GameX 2009: Global Agenda Exclusive Video Interview + Gameplay
Nov/090
Aion’s Issues
Aion’s Issues This will probably be my last write up regarding Aion. If you have been following my previous articles, I have detailed my play experience with the game by focusing on the 1-10 experience , 10-25 early Abyss , and the 25 and beyond . This will be my last word on Aion for the time being because some of the game’s issues have forced most of my guild to step back from the game. Now I am not one to make “I quit” posts typically, but all thing considered, I believe my assessment of the game in previous articles has be pretty fair and objective. So what I would like to do here today is talk about some of the aspects of Aion that ultimately ended up turning us sour in a constructive and informative way. The Grind It seems you can’t read anywhere about Aion without reading about the grind, and this blog has been no exception to that. That being said, it has to be mentioned because this is probably the first of several pitfalls that is going to be cause people to throw in the towel.
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Aion’s Issues
Oct/090
Memorable MMO Moments — Freedom PUG
Note: This article is a rewrite from my previous post on mmorpg.com, but because I am on this “Memorable Moments” kick, I wanted to share it here. My regular gaming group has been playing City of Heroes since Beta. Many of these guys were comics fans, but not heavy computer gamers, and only a few had played an MMO.
Sep/090
Flashback Gaming: Old is The New.
I was perusing the shelves at my favorite game store and had decided I was going to finally buy a game for my Nintendo DS Lite.
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Flashback Gaming: Old is The New.