MMOG Nation Broadcast Episode Five marks the happy return of the ‘cast … with some fantastic personal news for Michael. You’ll have to tune in to find out. Most of the episode is a discussion of ideas and concepts prompted from a talk Erik Bethke gave at the Game Developer’s conference earlier this year. “The 7-11 Gamer”, as a concept, is incredibly insprational for Michael - maybe he will be for you too.

Relevant Links:
Slashdot.org
Massively.com
Massively’s Writeup of Erik’s Talk
Worlds In Motion’s Writeup of Erik’s Talk
Erik’s PowerPoint slides from the Talk

3 comments

If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you may recall the series I ran over at the GameSetWatch blog called (inventively) MMOG Nation. I touched on a number of MMO-wide issues there, and had an absolute blast talking about the ins and outs of the genre. I closed up shop over there when I started doing the Massive Update column for 1up, and today I talk about MMOs every single day over at Massively. So … life’s pretty good there.

In a sort of strange full-circle motion, though, I’ve come back to GameSetWatch with a new column focusing in on everybody’s favorite genre superpower: World of Warcraft. Called “World of Warcraft: Exposed”, it’s going to attempt to convey some of the game’s hawesomeness to folks that might not even play. Topics are going to alternate between the slightly ‘how-to’ (What to know before you make your first character, Learning to Love the Grind) and the social/cultural elements behind the title (WoW’s Most Noteable Player, The Lore of Warcraft).  Right now it’s slotted to run Wednesdays, but I think you can expect a move to Tuesdays before long.

The first column attempts to codify why exactly it was that WoW hit it big where others … not so much.

We know WoW has hit it big. What we don’t know - what we don’t think anyone could claim to know for certain - is why exactly Blizzard’s behemoth was the one to break loose from that nerd stigma. World of Warcraft’s launch and subsequent popularity is a singular event in the history of gaming. Why this game? Why not titles that went before it, like the comic-esque title City of Heroes? Why not Star Wars Galaxies, a title with a huge built-in fan base? Why not WoW-launch contemporary EverQuest 2, the successor to the original MMO superpower?

It’s great to be writing with that site again, and I hope even some of you die-hard players get something out of my screeds.

6 comments

Two things, and I apologize because it’s normally rude to poke so sharply, but I just had to:

1. RPS put up this blurb on their site, and then quickly pulled it down: “The Warhammer Online open beta isn’t far off. It’s so close, in fact, that pre-ordering for the retail version of the game will commence today at 3pm, or thereabouts. If you want to get a guaranteed place in the beta then keeping an eye on the WO site is a pretty good idea. Pre-ordering also gets you a couple of rare in-game items, while the slightly more plush (and pricey) collector’s edition will come with a unique Games Workshop figurine, a book filled with luscious artwork, a graphic novel, and - rather more importantly to the gamer - in-game quests that can only be undertaken by collector’s edition owners. Not a bad little package.” Yay pre-orders!
2. TenTonHammer has started doing something almighty dumb. They’re offering ‘premium’ content behind a subscription wall. Case in point, coverage of the WAR Collector’s edition just mentioned above, and a ‘better’ version of Mythos trailer. Guys - this is retarded. C’mon, Gamespot doesn’t even do this with their subscription. They just offer extras and higher quality video. I’m never, ever going to pay you to see news. Ever. It’s going to be all over the internet very, very soon anyway. You can’t keep anything locked up forever. Hell, your subscriber Mythos video will probably be on YouTube by the end of the day. The Collector’s edition info will be released by EA Mythic at some point. This is a bad idea, kind of staggering in its hubris. I paid for Gamespot two years ago, when it was -almost without exception- the finest source for videogame news in the US. You, sir, are no 2006-era Gamespot.

I even wonder if perhaps 1 and 2 aren’t related? Mayhap RPS pulled down the post because EA gave TTH a timed exclusive, and got tweaked when they saw Jim’s post? If so, I’m going to go ahead and say that’s pretty dang stupid too.

Update: Of course, maybe it’s because of the NEW delay, putting WAR out to autumn. Oh mans …

Update 2: Radar notes in the comments that apparently the WAR news being behind the price barrier was a glitch. Which is good!

4 comments

Can’t let it go past without linkage.

I actually went ahead and registered for the tourney. Why not, right? Heck, the chance to fool around with max-level characters in full PvP kit is worth the 20 bucks! (For me, anyway.) Trying to convince some chums to play with me. PvP healing is fuuuun.

Update: Cameron has a freaking fantastic writeup on what it’s like to do the 5-man Magister’s Terrace run. Go check it out.

1 comment

Earlier this month I sat in on the SOE influencer’s event, a unique opportunity to provide feedback on and hear feedback from the Sony Online community team. As part of that experience, all of the folks at the event were shown a demo of the in-development title Free Realms. Our host was the informative Laralyn McWilliams, lead designer on the project . The core of the presentation was a video demo, essentially the same experience that press folks had at CES. What distinguished the demo we were given was that it wasn’t from CES - it was actually from SOE’s in-house open house event held early this year.

Today I have a complete writeup of the demo we were shown, which fleshes out many elements previously only glossed over. In and of itself, it answers a lot of questions previously raised by SOE’s ambitious project. You can learn about your character’s personal Facebook-style website, the features Free Realms has in common with Google Maps, and what bestselling Nintendo DS game is being incorporated as a major non-violent gameplay component. You can also enjoy concept art like the Town Hall above … exclusive concept art never before seen outside of SOE. Fancy, no?

For the fully monty, make sure to come back tomorrow. I’ll have the contents of the Q&A session held at the end of the event, complete with audio! (Also known as a podcast episode.) That session is full of fascinating insights and hints at what this game may offer - as well as the categorical statement above that seems to typify the attitude of the Free Realms development process. The full on MMO experience, aimed at younger folks … and sans the bullshit.

Read more

4 comments

I’ve been really enjoying writing on MV lately. And why not?

Here’s some great Star Wars Galaxies stuff from the last week or so:

• SWG’s producer talks Chapter 9 testing/hints at Chapter 10
• Star Wars Galaxies soon to feature new pvp badge collection
• Getting the colors right on Star Wars Galaxies’ instruments
• Star Wars Galaxies live update 2 improves Entertainers, Medics

I’m also especially proud of this: a video and screenshot-filled feature all about the FFXI expansion (that, yes, came out last winter.) I’ve actually changed my site banner in honor of it, and slipped a quick fifteen second video that didn’t make it into the article below the cut. I spent a long time putting that together.

Read more

No comments

I want to give a big shout-out and congratulations to Shawn Schuster (of GuildCast, TabulaCast, and OMGRL) and Tipa of the West Karana blog. They applied to Massively in the recent round we put out there, and foolishly agreed when we decided to hire them! Mwahahaha.

So! If you enjoy the work of these two esteemed members of the mmogblogosphere, head over to Massively every once in a while to check them out. Now with even more gaming know-how!

1 comment