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My impressions of Puzzle Pirates developer Three Rings’ new project were colored by the minor car accident I got into on my way to check it out. More »
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Ex-LucasArts producers Isa Anne Stamos signed up with Berkeley, CA game developer MindFuse Games today to work on their “advanced-casual MMOG” Gatheryn. More »
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Want to get in on the ground floor of an upcoming post-apocalyptic MMOG? Fallen Earth is going into alpha testing this Thursday the 14th, and Icarus Studios want to give you a chance to help them test out their game. Sign ups are being handled via a rather primitive GameSpot page, meaning you'll have to have signed up for a free subscription in order to participate, and then you'll have to meet their criteria in order to actually be selected, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy. More »
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Meteor Games, founded by Neopets creators Adam Powell and Donna Williams, have just announced Twin Skies, a massively-multiplayer online game that changes the way players interact in an MMOG. While the main game will be a fully-developed 3D PC title, players will be able to interact with the game world via mobile applications, games, and web-based mini-games that will have an impact on the in-game world. The example given in the press release is of a player achieving a high score in the web-based Hungry Junkworm game, which in turn unleashes a giant Junkworm in game which starts attacking players there. It sounds hugely ambitious and extremely intriguing. Twin Skies will enter beta testing this year, with the full game expected sometime in 2009. Check out the initial screens and concepts below, and hit the jump for more details. More »
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Lego Universe developer NetDevil has given us an exclusive peek into Lego Universe, the massive multiplayer online game where you can use bricks to collaboratively "build in real time", having adventures through maps that span across all Lego themes: from Space to City to Pirates to Ninjas to Underwater, everything will be in there. After creating the game tools, the game is now in the world design stage, where advanced Lego users are helping NetDevil to create the actual worlds. More »
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Ed Wood and Second Life go together like chocolate and peanut butter. After all, Ed was a director of inspired incompetence; Second Life is an entire virtual world filled with that incompetence. More »
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The Congressional Joint Economic Committee — a group of taxmen, economists and autocrats — have admitted that tax law has fallen "way behind" the march of MMOG progress and are now seriously looking into the issue of taxing virtual assets and incomes. More »
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As a gay albino African-Irishman, you just know I have rhythm. If you've ever read Voltaire, you might recall Candide's description of what happened when Cunegonde stripped naked: every bystander fell to the ground in epileptic seizures of ecstasy. Well, that doesn't happen when I expose my mottled, creepy pink flesh, but when I get naked and hit the DDR mat? Everyone becomes my ho. More »
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Neither man, nor woman, nor furries, nor Wagner James Au is safe from terrorism, even when digitally ensconced in the Metaverse, as wild-eyed Warren Ellis describes a terrorist attack that took place in Second Life. More »
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A feature in this week's Economist, on news stands now, does something that Wagner James Au and all his fruity techno-utopianism never could: make me want to try Second Life. More »
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Eve Online is a game I desperately want to love: an MMOG that doesn't involve playing a bearded midget dressed only in his Underoos. I gave the two week trial a shot: I loved the imagination behind the universe and my Shodan-like ship A.I. But after the initial novelty wore off, I realized that most of my time was playing Eve Online was actually spent in another room entirely, reading a book. I guess that's swell for multitaskers, but I like games that actually require me to be around to play them. More »
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This has been doing the rounds lately, but just in case you're looking for an MMOG fix and don't know which bobble-head Korean freebie to turn to: this astonishing blog compendium of free MMOGs and MMORPGs, called descriptively enough "The Best Free MMORPG List (and MMO's)" More »
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In a shocking announcement that has resulted Wagner James Au sobbing and headbutting his crotch, Republik Games have announced that they are canceling their eagerly anticipated MMOG, Spend the Night. More »
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The infamous John Romero — known for designing Doom but better known for (ha ha ha!) Daikatana and marrying an Eastern European teenager — has posted a petulant retort on his blog in response to a recent interview done with him on Computer and Video Games. In it, he is outraged that his friend Lane's name is misspelled as "Lain", positing "how many times have you seen that name spelled 'Lain'"? Realizing that it's not exactly the sort of name you hear outside of Missouri trailer parks, Romero then asserts that he never claimed that John Carmack and Adrian Carmack were lovers... sorry, we mean brothers. He also corrects Computer and Video Games for saying that he is working on an MMOG with an unnamed company. He does this by mentioning that the name of his company hasn't been announced yet. More »
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GamersReports has two images from the recently announced Star Trek massive multiplayer online game available for viewing. Their blurb is careful to note that these aren't final screenshots, but rather engine renders. This is more or less what is being targeted for the game's final product. It looks good considering how early it is. More »
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It sounds romantic, doesn't it? Stop having to trek to the office, stop having to file TPS reports and just play a game and make money? Wired has a piece that looks at people leaving the real work force and entering the digital workforce. The vehicle for this? Linden Lab's Second life. Wired looks at Jennifer Grinnell, a woman who stopped working as a furniture delivery dispatcher when she realized she could make more money selling virtual clothing to people in Second Life. In the world of Second Life, the users are rsponsible for creating much of the content, so the oppotunity is there to capitalize. The last part of the article wonders if this is a fleeting chance to make some cash, or a legitimate way to earn for the future. Wharton professor Dan Hunter points out that "the expansion of the economy is almost certainly going to be dependent on expanding the service opportunities." Services like, cyber sex, among other, more utilitarian ones, I'm sure. More »
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Tony at Clickable Culture links to and blogs about a writer reviewing the sexual services found in Second Life. Simply called Second Life Escort Ratings, the blogger writes up detailed NSFW-text descriptions of encounters with various escort services. The reviewer, Tommy Thompson, is based in real life Amsterdam and visits SL's version of the country to see which escorts are the best. I guess when people are able to make money within the confines of Second Life it makes sense to review the "product," right? More »
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True, the headline makes me think about the Super Mario Brothers Super Show and how a similar show hosted by Night Elves could be a giant mess, but that's not what this is about. Instead, Business Week published an article interviewing James Cameron (yep, Terminator 2 director). Cameron indicates he wants to create a game that will first lure MMO gamers and have them play in the virtual world, before the movie comes out shortly thereafter. More »
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Prodigious Gaming reports that MMO City of Villains will get a content update with the April showers. Timed missions called "Mayhem Missions" will be introduced, allowing players to harass civilians, mess up the Po-Po and rob stores for points. Expect some user interface updates, general streamlining and a bunch of textures being upped to hi-res in both CoV and its honorable older brother, City of Heroes. More »
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Gaming Steve is a fan of Blizzard's World of Warcraft, but his friend Clapperoth is an even bigger one. So big, in fact, that Clapperoth came up with an excellent guide to leveling your fishing and cooking to 300. Click over, check it out and get out there and open that damn wall. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=148059&view=rss&microfeed=true Clickable Culture has a note up about Eventful, the now-public events calendar of Second Life. Now, Eventful is getting an RSS feed. From the note: "Virtual-world residents can travel directly to event locations via Eventful by clicking an embedded link in each entry containing exact coordinates. Event-listings, which are updated regularly, can be subscribed to in iCal and RSS format." More »
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Gamers Reports links to an OGaming interview with Stephen Hewitt, lead designer of the MMO cops and robbers 360 game, All Points Bulletin. The biggest carrot APB will offer? The endless turf war between cops and gangs an ever-landscape all set in the pulse of the inner cities. If they give the players enough freedom, this could be a game worth writing about. More »
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NCSoft and Cryptic released some screens this week of the Longbow organization in City of Villains. This one picture just feels really Ace & Gary to me. There's a couple more pics after the fold. More »
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Before I started to read this paper on MMO gambling, I balked a little at the article title "Internet Gambling and the MMORPG." I remember the joke-y bingo game some clever WoW players created, but thought little of it. Mark Methenitis, however, didn't. He authored the aforementioned paper and in addition to gambling, Melethenis takes a long look at the rise of virtual economies and their penetration into very real world wallets. It's a looooooong read, but one of the best I've come across. More »
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1UP reports that Sigil, the company behind upcoming-ish MMO Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, is working on an MMO that's set in the Marvel Universe. Details are scarce. The only thing 1UP said they've heard was that the MMO will be playable on both the PC and Xbox 360. That's hot. Marvel MMO to be Designed by Sigil [1UP] More »
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An NPR piece takes a look at how MMO economies are threatened by power leveling, gold buying and account purchasing. The writer infuses a little of his own situation when he asks if the time it's going to take him to make 90g for his level 40 mount is worth more or less than the amount of real life money he could spend to purchase the gold for the mount. However, the headline is a little misleading as you can't really "win" MMOs, you can clear what they have to offer, but there is always something to do, some obstacle implemented - and if not, one is probably coming a future patch. More »
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Is this guy, Lord Recluse. Even though I don't play CoV, seeing MMO uber bosses is still pretty exciting, especially when you consider the work the playerbase puts in to the games. Couple more pics after the jump. More »
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For some addicts players, it's been a year of gaming in Azeroth. From login queues to begging for new servers to having your class broken before your very eyes, it's the ups and downs of an MMO. Admittedly, here in Detroit, I missed the WoW craze when it launched. I was all about Halo 2. Then, I installed this infernal game March 9 and have since logged something like 77 days played on my main. Gross. More »
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This kind of sums up how I feel about the Star Wars MMO. Star Wars Galaxies am cry? More »
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R.O.S.E Online has come to Europe. If you sign up in January, you'll have a chance to be one of the 50 players who will be picked out to be able to compete for prizes that include a top purse of a million Euros. That's pretty good odds! More »
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Perverse, yes. Interesting, maybe. Back in 2002, a game developer begins working on a S&M based RPG, funding the project with his own money. The game is called Sociolotron, and it lets players do pretty much whatever the f they want. We've covered the game before (and Crecente's even published an article in Playboy about it), but GamesFirst's indepth, two-part article on this MMOG deserves a mention. Quote from the article: More »
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The in-game plague that temporarily harassed citizens of Blizzard's World of Warcraft wasn't a piece of malicious code, it was a bug. The citizens of Second Life aren't so fortunate. Clickable Culture says that the "Red Wing" virus has returned to the game. This isn't the first time Second Life has had virus issues. I'm not sure what's worse, a crippling in-game bug that wipes out entire populations or a virus that pops up with lewd pictures of men behaving badly. More »
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According to Next Generation, gamemaker Q Entertainment is planning on making an MMOG for Japan, South Korea and China. The developer, who is best known for puzzlers like Lumines and Meteos is currently working on Xbox 360 titles Ninety Nine Nights and Phantagram. No word on whether or not techno music will be the backdrop for the MMO. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=134389&view=rss&microfeed=true At the Austin Games Conference in Texas, Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley announced plans to release a new massively multiplayer online game that does not require a subscription fee. Then he declined to name names. More »
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The New York Times' travel section (interesting location) has a piece about virtual vacation spots, specifically focusing on the world of Second Life. Author Mark Wallace (of Walkerings) shows that Second Life and other virtual spaces serve as more than just games. Interviewees range from an Indiana telecommunications professor who uses Wow to say hello to his wife, to a woman who met her husband in Second Life. I wish logging into Azeroth felt like a vacation, most of the time it feels like a second job. More »
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A South Korean student is being held by Kyoto police for stealing another student's online game items. The Korean student obtained the other's password and then logged on, taking 24 items from the RPG game Lineage 2. The South Korean police have been called in to assist with the matter, making this an international incident. More »
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Sure, it sounds a little strange, but Thomas Malaby's post over at Terra Nova makes pretty good sense. He talks about a comment that was made which called Blizzard's World of Warcraft the "new golf" and then extends that into virtual worlds possibly serving as the new country clubs and gathering place for the social elite. Before you untie the sweater that's around your neck and beat me with it, he's simply wondering if online gaming can "become a marker of class." If they can, my Shaman is the new aristocracy. All kidding aside, read the piece. We need more thinkers like this putting fingers to keyboard. More »
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The stigma around gold farming in MMOs isn't glamorous. Gamecloud has an interview up with "Christine" of Enjoy WoW that tries to change that. Aside from being a farming group composed entirely of women (according to "Christine"), Enjoy WoW allows gamers to get more than just gold, they'll run Upper Blackrock Spire for your BoP Blue chest piece until their faces match your new breastplate. More »
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We've got a handful of Coralax Villains shots for the upcoming MMORPG City of Villains, which drops this Halloween. And dang, these badies look like they've been hit with the ugly stick. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=131794&view=rss&microfeed=true Game Guides Online has a piece looking at the lives of farmers in and out of game. There's a lengthy segment on farmers making money and trying to hide the gold from their bosses, storing it on the characters of in-game friends and then asking them to sell it and paypal the farmer the proceeds. The Black Black Market. More »
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