It’s difficult to know where to even begin when covering World of Warcraft’s latest expansion set. The game is already so vast as a result of its unprecedented success that to add further content becomes a daunting prospect for anyone wanting to jump in… (warning – may contain spoilers)
My parents named me “Matthew.” It’s a good name, a reasonable name that places no undue burden on me. If I was a girl I was going to be “Christine.” Also good. What if my parents had named me “Deathwing,” though? If my name were Deathwing Sakey and I turned out as I have – as a mild-mannered games industry consultant and user of unnecessarily long sentences – would I be… complete? Shouldn’t I be …
“We’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz!” one merry man sings as he gallops around me dizzyingly. I’m in the Land of the Dead (an appropriate title for a desert filled with skeletons and token scorpions) and I’ve joined a party lead by a rough looking Warrior Priest. ‘Sigmar’ is scrawled across his forehead. I’m unsure whether its carved into his skin, or written on in blood, but either way he’s …
“Has anyone got any Golden Scarabs spare?” I ask mid battle, as we bound across Dragonwake from Eataine. Our band of merry men plough through the lush green fields as one hulking mass of armour and death. In ancient times Dragons would heed the call of Princes to defend the lakes, but I get the impression it is their day off today and it’s down to us, instead…
It’s been eleven months since I last set foot into Warhammer Online. As one of the first to play the game throughout its closed BETA period and launch, I had certainly burnt myself out by late October last year. Playing one class exclusively, and encountering many of the game’s trials and tribulations, a break was certainly much needed…
Yo yo yo, dawg, Realtime Worlds’ banger MMO APB be in the hizzle with the nizzle, foshizzle, be gettin ON with its phat beta. Some folk been K-in fo this, fo sho. Ain no dis, no hatin. Roll on wit some funky-fresh APB bling. Pimp out yo gangsta or yo po-po (if dat be how you roll, dawg) and get yo bad self OFF THE HINGES wit da Keys to da City, yo. I ain’t …
For my third MMOG news piece, Blizzard and the World of Warcraft Armory has finally begun testing the long awaited Remote Auction House for the iPhone, iPod touch and web browser. The free App (and desktop download, available now) allows players to log into the WoW Armory and browse any in-game Auction House that characters on a players WoW account have access to. Once beta testing is complete and the Remote Auction House is truly live, players who …
As the second of my three news items relating to MMOGs (look away now if you’re no fan!) and one which will see Blizzard grinning ear to ear, Chris Hager the producer of Aion: The Tower of Eternity, has announced that server merges are planned for North America and Europe over the coming weeks. As the biggest MMOG to launch in recent years, and what was hotly tipped to ‘de-throne World of Warcraft’ (aren’t they …
If you aren’t already aware, news is finally trickling out of ArenaNet about Guild Wars 2. As a sequel to their fabulous episodic Guild Wars series (originally announced alongside the final Guild Wars expansion Eye of the North in 2007), and having been waiting for what seems a life time, my excitement level has now reached dizzying heights. Still taking place in the fantasy world of Tyria, 250 years after the players defeated the Great …
Darkfall is enjoying its first birthday this year. Born on the 26th February 2009, and developed by Aventurine SA, the game was plagued upon its release by a catalogue of problems that stretched as far as Agon’s land mass. One year later, has the game really managed to overcome its shortcomings, and will it ever prove Ed Zitron and his infamous review wrong?
I am really busy at work, which makes me sad. But developed-by-one-dude-in-Finland Sweden procedurally generated MMO Love was released today, which makes me happy. Even though I don’t play MMOs. Eskil Steenberg made Love all by his lonesome. He’s just one little guy! That’s pretty impressive. Part combat, part collective base-building, Love’s unique visual style and dreamy atmosphere – not to mention the fact that it was made by one little tiny person, have ensured …
Mortal Online, currently in Open Beta, is a new massively multiplayer online RPG by the Swedish video game developer Star Vault. Inspired by Ultima Online, the game places significant emphasis on sandbox-style game design. Unlike other MMOGs, MO proposes to offer the player a level of freedom yet to be experienced in the current generation of World of Warcraft clones…
Picking out Steerpike’s sentiments of freedom within a videogame, it took me back to when I first started playing online video games. Ultima Online was my first, and a game which at the time gave the impression of unparalleled freedom…