I sat in on another Gamers With Jobs podcast, and it was really nice to be able to do so. Wasn’t feeling my best last week around that point, and the goodjers welcomed me with open arms. Thanks guys!

Episode 95 - July 30th, 2008

PixelJunk Eden, 1942: Joint Strike, Everquest 2 … Wait, What?, The Rise of Cooperative Gaming, Your Emails and more! This week Michael Zenke joins us as we bring cooperative gaming under the microscope. We mostly try and convince Sean to play with us … and we’ll probably end up winning that argument by default. Just give it a couple years.

Seeing Free Realms at E3 reminded me of something I’ve been mulling for a little bit. In the same way that I think guilds are simply not visible enough - too ephemeral - the primary content of MMOs can often be obscured for various reasons. Time is the one that I hear a lot of friends talking about. When Brent put down his Hunter from our Monday night WoW group, he deleted all the quests in his log. To come back fresh, he said. This is a pretty common problem, I think: coming back to a character after a lengthy absence can result in confusion - even bad decisions.

To combat this confusion, Free Realms has a unique display that appears when a player logs in. Here’s a clip from Massively’s writeup:

“When you launch the game, you start at a welcome screen which gives you information about what’s new in the game that you could be doing right now. It includes a bit of the Facebook kind of information from your profile page with your friends mini-feed, but it also has quests that you’re working on, new mini-games that you can click on and go directly to, and information about how your pet is doing. When asked how much direction Free Realms would give its players, McWilliams told us, “We don’t want you to have to go find your fun. It’s not fun to wander around and not know what to do.” The welcome screen will provide players with immediate options of fun things to do, with links to take the player directly there — with no travel time or stumbling around, not knowing where to go next.”

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So, I’m in the WAR Beta. And there is one! That’s about all I can say specifically.

However, I don’t think I’d be breaking any NDAs to say that Warhammer Online has PvP in it. I was playing earlier today, enjoying the chance to not think about RL, and I was slain. (OMG spoilerz you can die in WAR RvR.)

So I’m killed, and as I bow my head in shame and failure I notice the following message from the system: “You have been slain by Mangina.” I sighed. Deeply.

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AOL is making across the board budget cuts on its blogging properties, we’re hearing from multiple sources. The cuts range up to 25% of each properties total budget, which falls mostly on personnel costs - bloggers are simply being told to take a couple of weeks off for now, and there may or may not be work for them later in August.

One area that seems to be immune from the cuts: The Tech Network (including Engadget), which continues to grow like a weed and drives substantial revenue.

Employees across AOL are being asked to cut down on expenses as much as possible, even minor ones. One person complains that they’re cutting things like free bagels, and are being asked to limit travel as much as possible. Are more big layoffs coming across AOL as it gears up for a sale to Yahoo or another suitor? We’re looking into it.

This week the MMOG Nation Broadcast is pretty darned navel-gazing. Join Michael and the rest of the Shortiez guild for an in-depth examination of the game EverQuest 2. We discuss, at great length, everything from our classes to leveling areas, to design … it’s the longest MNB by far, clocking in at almost an hour. Promise this won’t become a regular thing. Michael, Katie, Warty, and Brian are the Shortiez, and they’ve got two years of experience playing the game and plenty to kvetch about.

What about your experiences playing EQ2? We’re total newbs, right? Let us know why!

Relevant Links:
http://www.mmognation.com/2007/11/07/sand-in-my-eyes/
http://www.mmognation.com/2007/11/29/up-against-the-grind/
http://www.mmognation.com/2008/01/14/klakkin-with-my-gnomies/
http://www.mmognation.com/2008/02/07/bashing-bixies-and-bees/
http://www.mmognation.com/2008/03/13/melting-menagerie/
http://www.mmognation.com/2008/03/28/the-fabulous-faydark/
http://www.mmognation.com/2008/06/17/big-xp-and-high-concept-conversation/

I have a bunch of buddy keys for Age of Conan, and everyone I know who might have wanted to play already is.

Let me know if you want one in the comments, or shoot me an email. I think I have about five, so there are plenty to go around.

Update: I’m all out. Thanks for taking them off my hands, folks!

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “My, that Michael fellow seems like a straight shooter”, I’d love to talk to you.

I’m looking for any position to my work as a writer, anywhere in the US. I’m very much willing to relocate. I feel I’m most qualified for:

- Games Journalism (reviews, news, interviews)

- Press Relations (talking to game journalists)

- Games Writing (let me help you string words together)

- Games Design (i love tools!)

If you’re “in the sound of this post”, have enjoyed my work on this site, and are looking to hire someone with my skillset, I’d love to hear from you. Please shoot me an email to michael @ mmog nation . com.

Thanks.