DC Universe Online, the first “big” non-World of Warcraft MMO release of the year (the other being Star Wars: The Old Republic), has done quite well for Sony. It’s done so well, in fact, that Sony has had a hard time keeping it on store shelves. So says a tweet from Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley. → Read More
Blizzard has confirmed its next-generation MMO. It’s currently called, or at least referred to as, Titan, and it was first noticed in the leaked roadmap that surfaced a few days ago. The company isn’t too happy that the project’s existence leaked (a Blizzard China manager resigned in wake of the leak), and that it’s currently working on recruiting “the best talent in the industry” to help work on it. Hmm… → Read More
We’re, what, three weeks away from the release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm? Yes… I have noticed the sun shining brighter, the air tasting sweeter of late. Right on cue, then, is the new the new MMO keyset for SteelSeires’ Shift keyboard. → Read More
Comic-Con visited New York at the weekend, and I was there. I agree with what Fez Whatley said on Ron and Fez earlier today: the show was fun, but you can definitely tell that New York Comic-Con is the B show to San Diego’s A show. That’s not all bad, as the New York show doesn’t feel as commercial as the San Diego one; there are no lame actors trying to attach themselves to geek culture for the sake of a slightly bigger opening weekend. That’s my sense, at least. → Read More
Picked up your copy of Final Fantasy XIV yet? (You’ll recall that the collector’s edition was released on the 22nd, with the standard edition hitting stores on the 30th.) Any interest in this, thing, a Final Fantasy XIV-branded controller? → Read More
So… there’s going to be a Michael Jackson MMO. How many of you just screamed, “WTF?” → Read More
September 10, 2010. That’s when you’ll be able to play the newly relaunched, and, most importantly, free to play, Lord of the Rings Online. That’s a pretty big deal, yes. → Read More
Online gamers received quite the scare last week when Blizzard announced it would require message board posters to use their real names. This was to be done in order to fight the scourge of online anonymity. The Internet freaked out, of course, so much so that Blizzard eventually changed its mind. I mention this up to not open old wounds, but to take the time to remind you of this: there are other MMOs in the world besides World of Warcraft. In fact, I’ve been playing one such MMO, the outer space-themed Eve Online (developed by Iceland’s CCP Games), for several days now. Come, let us enter a world (universe, really) of spaceships, cross-galaxy pirate raids, and Astronomical Units! → Read More
Any of y’all beat BioShock 2? Me neither. Played it for, eh, 20 minutes, then moved onto Napoleon: Total War. Don’t worry, though: the game is on my “to do” list. Also on my “to-do” list: whinge about an MMO based on BioShock. → Read More
The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism doesn’t want the country’s youth becoming addicted to video games, particularly MMOs, so it’s imposing a ban of sorts. Starting in the second half of this year, underage gamers will find their Internet connections disabled for six hours every night, either from midnight to 6am, 1am to 7am, or 2am to 8am. The idea is to ween kids off these games, by hook or by crook, before they become addicted. Gotta start somewhere, I suppose. → Read More
Do you want to participate in the LEGO Universe beta? You may be able to! Here’s the sign-up site, but there’s no guarantees you’ll be selected. LEGO Universe? It’s a LEGO-themed MMO. Could be fun, yeah. It’ll be released for the PC later this year if all goes according to plan. → Read More
I’d be lying if I claimed to know anything about Star Trek Online, but I do know that it went into open beta today. That’s good news, yes? → Read More
MMO players have another mouse from which to choose, this time from Razer. It’s called the Naga, and it’s designed to “enhance your ability to control your character.” No harm in that. → Read More
How I missed this, I have no idea. (Actually, I was at SXSW, that’s how I missed it.) Eurogamer, which is always good for a “think piece” or two, is running an exposé on gold farming, a term used to describe the buying and selling of in-game currencies (and items) in games like World of Warcraft. It’s a four-parter, and part two was just published today. Headline there: there are approximately 1 million gold farmers in China alone. Subhead: conservative estimates put the gold farming industry at $2 billion USD. Yes, that’s billion with a “b.” That’s officially insane. → Read More
Blizzard’s World of Warcraft now has 11.5 million subscribers. Assuming each subscriber pays $15 per month, that’s approximately $172.5 million per month in raw revenue. That’s quite a bit of coin. → Read More
Flickr’d There’s a group of developers who are trying to resurrect the old, fun version Star Wars Galaxies with the Star Wars Galaxies PreCU Emulation Project. The “CU” stands for Combat Upgrade, a term Sony Online Entertainment, the game’s harebrained developers, concocted to described the game-breaking changes it made to the combat engine. Longtime players of Galaxies, my brother Gabriel included, hated the Combat Upgrade.(“Upgrade? More like downgrade!”) Gabriel, who helped me write that Hitler Twitter video and is now a freshman at NYU, spoke with the project’s developers last week in order to figure out what makes them tick. This is their story, as written by young Gabriel. → Read More
Wow. That’s pretty much the only word that can describe Tom Armitage’s “If Games Ran The World.” Its thesis is that, in the next few years, people who grew up playing video games will become world leaders. People who have played all the big games from every generation—Pac-Man, the first EA Sports games, Resident Evil, MMOs, fighting games, etc. Real gamers. Then point, then, is that this generation of leaders will have already tackled the types of problems that they’ll face once in power. Things like scarcity—you only have so many bullets and saves in Resident Evil 2, so how best to manage this?—resource allocation—looking for tanks and healers to join 25-man raid, already have DPS—and so on. The games these people have been playing their whole life have taught them skills that can be used in the “real world.” It’s a fun read. It’s not a short one, mind you, but it being your day of rest and all, and most of you being gamers in some capacity, you might well enjoy it. Me, I’ll be playing Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix on and off this afternoon. via Rock, Paper, Shotgun → Read More
Quick note, amigos. The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria, the MMO’s first expansion pack, comes out today. We already discussed some of the game’s finer points, so get in while you can. Unless, of course, you’re currently in the hospital because you’ve overdosed on too much Death Knighting. → Read More
Oh this made me laugh. The developers behind the upcoming Lego-themed MMO, Lego Universe, want to make the game as authentic as possible. Fair enough, sure. But how do they ensure that? One method: by using a team of more than 50 die hard Lego experts who essentially function as hired consultants. “More this, less that.” Et cetera. I never was a Lego fan growing up (more of a TMNT kid, to be honest), so I’ve no idea what “this” or “that” might entail. This is becoming more and more common, developers using fan knowledge to help create video games. The upcoming DC comics MMO is doing a similar thing, having hired a guy to make sure all the superhero interactions make sense, gel with lore, etc. → Read More
Long story short: some kid got tired of playing Final Fantasy XI, and tried to cancel his account. His parents couldn’t cancel from the game’s Web site, and had to—gasp!—call the number found on the credit card statement. The kid’s dad is a bigwig in his state (Illinois), who got his legislator friend to help pass a law stating that online service providers must provide a way to cancel an account online. The moral of the story is, have important parents, or get the shaft like the rest of us. Neat, right? via The Earth Times → Read More
