WoW Insider brings the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational to your door2009-09-22This past weekend Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational, also known as "BlizzCon Europe", had PC gaming fans throwing up the horns. Massively's sister site WoW Insider was onhand with pen, camera, and laptop from keynote to closing shop. World of Warcraft news was plentiful, of course, with a huge amount of information ...
IGE Bigwig Joins SOE2009-09-18Welcome to the 567th edition of Loading... If you aren't reading this in your e-mail, you could be. Sign Up
11 more wins until the Stanley Cup Parade in Sabreland.
I've mentioned this before to lukewarm response, but I believe that it is time to change the format of this blog and it's accompanying mailing list. There is far too much "Bling" in the layout of the mailing list for my liking. It was a fantastic way to start 567 editions ago, but is time we went back to a simpler, easier to follow format.
The real question isn't whether we should remove the bling, but should we alter or adjust what I am writing each day? I'm not alluding to the numerous spelling and grammatical errors. I'm referring to the actual content. What is most important to you? Does the Real World News or Vin Diesel Fact detract from the MMOG content? Is the opposite true? Should I perhaps just give up and write comics for a living?
I would love your feedback. What brings the 500,000+ of you back each month to this blog and newsletter? Comment in the blog, or fire me an e-mail and let me know how important each of these areas is to you.
MMOG Headlines
Hot Content
Real World News - You Can't Make This Up
Vin Diesel Fact
Today's Exclusive TenTonHam...
Our Look Forward From E32009-09-14It's officially here, the end of our E3 coverage. Today we bring you two more pieces to cap things off. The first is a look at the NCSoft free-to-play hack'n'slash MMORPG Dungeon Runners.
E3 2007 Look Forward: Dungeon Runners
NCSoft (developer/publisher)
Article by Dana Massey
NCSoft's Robert Garriott clearly listened when his parents told him not to be wasteful. He applied that lesson to the wreckage of Exarch - an MMO that had gone to the great code database in the sky after its cancellation - and from that, a crack-group of programmers and artists created the latest free-to-play sensation Dungeon Runners.
NCSoft believes that the free-to-play model has been under utilized in the North American market. Here, we mostly have Asian-imports, which makes sense given that continent popularized it. Free-to-play of course isn't free, it's just that instead of a monthly fee, players pay a fee for premium content, or individual items within the game. The rest of the world can play some form of the full game free of charge. Dungeon Runners became one of the first North American produced games to embrace that model earlier this year when it was released.
The team described Dungeon Runners as a "casual hack'n'slash MMORPG". It's fast, it's point-and-click, and it's got an isometric view. They might want to toss the word "retro" on there too. The game evokes feeling of Diablo or even the cartoon-style of World of Warcraft, but doesn't have the heft of either classic. This isn't a bad thing. They told us flat out that Dungeon Runners is the type of...
The Age of Conan Launch Party2009-09-09There are a few things that will always make for a great party: an abundance of free booze, an even ratio of guys to girls, music that's just on the threshold of too loud and an enclosed space that's nearly too crowded. Battle axes and serving wenches were never on that list for me - until last week.
Tomorrow, Norwegian developer Funcom will go live with Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, a fantasy MMOG set in the fictional universe of Robert E. Howard's Conan. Though it's poised as the next World of Warcraft killer, it's up against the most polished MMOG ever released, held aloft by millions of subscribers worldwide and one of the largest publishers in the world. The odds of Funcom wresting the top spot from Bli...
WoW: Gold Farming in Wrath of the Lich King2009-09-05It the inequitable truth that gold is much like the spice in World of Warcraft. The gold must flow for the game economy to remain healthy. WoW economy operates on a constantly inflating fiat currency known as gold which is different from many trade based economies where resources (such as phat loot) have an intrinsic value for other resources (i.e. more phat loot). Since all loot binds to a character then there is little more to drive the economy than gold.
Gold itself comes from non-playable characters. Every PC in WoW is a sort of for-hire hero vigilante with a fistful of letters of marque that allow them to slay every evil-doer out there. These NPCs contain copper, silver, gold, and/or items that can traded to vendors which stack up gold. Quests (repeatable or not) also offer a secondary method for gold to enter the system. This gold is then moved either back into the game into meatsinks (such as mounts, reagents, vanity items, repairs, etc.) or moved through the auction house in exchange for goods.
See all of this amazing gold? Yeah, from farming herbs, doing dailies, and not spending any. ...
LucasArts and BioWare join forces once more2009-09-03It has been confirmed that George Lucas’ LucasArts and RGP specialist BioWare are hard at work on an as of yet unannounced title, Next-Gen reports.
Nothing is yet known of the game, though LucasArts president Jim Ward stated: ˇ°Through our previous collaborations, we know that BioWare has an impressive abil...
Archiv
TAGE
