MMO Roundup: Last week on Massively
Sometimes you'd like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all those other shiny MMOs! Check out this roundup of the latest news from the wider MMO world.
| Is Fallen Earth our answer to a Wild West MMO? I grew up on Clint Eastwood movies. I grew up on Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings songs about cowboy career prevention. Gunsmoke, A Fistful of Dollars and anything else by Sergio Leone are what helped mold my appreciation for what we refer to as the American Wild West. |
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| Age of Conan offer unlimited free trial With the Age of Conan expansion Rise of the Godslayer approaching, opportunities for new and returning players to explore the game (or revisit it) have been more frequent than usual these days. The latest offer comes via FilePlanet. If you're a FilePlanet subscriber, you can play the first part of the game for free in an unlimited trial. |
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| Nearly three-fifths of users buy items in free-to-play games There's a strong sense in most free-to-play games that the playerbase consists of two people: those who refuse to pay any money unless absolutely necessary, and those who will happily part with their income on a voluntary basis. This is largely true. What's apparently less true is the notion which goes hand-in-hand, that there are a decided minority of players forking over cash for in-game perks. |
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| Runic Games talks Torchlight, the upcoming MMO, Diablo comparisons, more Can't wait for Diablo III? Try Torchlight. The single-player action-RPG, available for just 20 bucks via digital distribution, has got PC gamers talking. But why should Massively readers care, you ask? Because eventually, in about two years or so, developer Runic Games will make it a full-fleged MMO. |
| Warhammer Online drops 1.3.3 patch to live servers Rumors of the death of Warhammer Online have been greatly exaggerated. The game is continuing to put out updates on a steady basis -- at an accelerated rate, even, despite the recent bout of layoffs. |
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| Sith Inquisitor class page open for business The final Star Wars: The Old Republic class page is up and features the Sith Inquisitor. We're pretty certain BioWare has a winner here, because it's difficult to go wrong with a person that can cast copious amounts of force lightning. If you weren't aware of that fact, the new screenshots released alongside the class page will correct that problem quite immediately. |
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| The Digital Continuum: Revitalized Nowadays it seems like a newly released MMO has an estimated lifespan the length of a bag of chips left open overnight. That doesn't leave much hope for older MMOs, right? It appears that way, but games like EverQuest and EVE Online are doing well enough and they've been around for years. Sure, they may not be massive subscription behemoths, but they play home to thriving communities -- which is a lot more than I can say for the sunset titles of yesteryear. |
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| MMOrigins: Life's funny like that We all got started gaming somewhere. For a lot of people, it was the Sega Mega-drive, the Atari 2600 or the NES that signaled their first steps into gaming. For me, it was the Commodore Amiga, a machine that was more a complete home computer than a games console. It was on the Amiga that groups like Team 17, Ocean, Electronic Arts and Blizzard first really made their mark on gaming and it was a great time of innovation in the industry. |
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| Funcom unveils SweetRobot, announces Pets vs Monsters When most parents think of children's MMOs, nobody would likely think of a studio like Funcom. After all, Funcom is the company that brought us Age of Conan, an MMO rife with boobs, blood, and beheading. Quite possibly the absolute last place you'd let your kiddies romp around, really. |
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| Looking For Group: An expo for MMOers If you don't have Minneapolis on your places to visit list, you might want to add it now. The city will play host to the first annual "Looking For Group Expo," a convention dedicated solely to MMOs and everything that surrounds them. |
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| Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment reveals Stargate shooter instead of MMO After over two years of work on Stargate Worlds and an increasingly dubious outlook, Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment launched a website revealing Stargate Resistance. The game defines itself as a third-person shooter, and is scheduled for a release very soon -- Q1 2010. |
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Features, MMO Roundup







Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
greenbag Dec 15th 2009 9:06AM
first yay!
Adam Holisky Dec 15th 2009 9:37AM
Banned.
taker76 Dec 15th 2009 9:08AM
2nd yay lol bored in school might as well just talk to you guys
Adam Holisky Dec 15th 2009 9:37AM
Banned (2nd).
Slog Dec 15th 2009 9:57AM
The idea of a Wild West MMO is very intriguing to me, if they made a game based on The Dark Tower series by Stephen King, I think I might give up WoW!
Eh, probably not but it sure would be fun to play.
Rapskallion Dec 15th 2009 10:22AM
I agree. I highly doubt any MMO (save for Blizz's new one) will pull me from WoW, but I'll happily check out a wild west themed one. I've always enjoyed reading and watching movies/shows of that genre... so it could be fun.
My fear would be the developers would run out of old tech stuff and go all steam punk technology... which can be cool, but not if you want an old school wild west cattle rustlers and land grabbers game.
elvendude Dec 15th 2009 1:52PM
I had high hopes for Fallen Earth. Unfortunately, it just wasn't very fun to play, IMO. I played it to about level five (which is an investment about equivalent to level 15 or 20 in WoW), and I just didn't have any drive to log back in. /shrug So I didn't, and canceled my account.
noobdeluxe Dec 15th 2009 9:58AM
Ive been searching for a free trial of AION but couldnt find anything - is there a reason why they dont have it ?
Jabbaprime Dec 15th 2009 10:19AM
The game is pretty successful and the servers are jam packed, with some having wait time to log in, allowing more poeple to join for free right now won't benefit them as they might hinder the paying customers
elvendude Dec 15th 2009 1:56PM
What jabbaprime said.
Also, if you care to know, here is my experience in Aion:
"OMG, it's so pretty! Wow, it takes a while to level. Hmmm...I'm out of quests, guess I need to grind a bit...oh, wow, I need to grind this entire level? Er...still pretty, but I'm not a fan of grinding this much."
If you don't mind grinding and you want PVP (lots and lots of ganking once you hit 25), it's a gorgeous game that works really well. The content wasn't for me, though.
Charles Dec 15th 2009 10:07AM
The unlimited free trial almost makes me want to try Age of Conan.
Almost...
Valtor Dec 15th 2009 1:09PM
Yea, I've heard that initially it's great fun but that you grind PvP to gear up for PvE, mind you that was back at release when a buddy of mine played, who knows maybe its gotten better. I find most MMO's with a rough-start do get better over time (LOTRO did)
Ringo Flinthammer Dec 15th 2009 1:35PM
How are two-thirds of people a "significant minority?"