All good things must come to an end. Even MMOs, and - at least, these days - especially MMOs. Between shifting business models and "there ain't room enough in this town for the six thousand of us" syndrome, niche standouts are finding it harder and harder to keep their heads above water. That sorry truth curling up like a cold, uncaring cat on our hearts and minds, let's bid farewell to Vanguard, Wizardry Online, Free Realms, and Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures.
]]>This is big news for all SOE games, actually, including EverQuest II, DC Universe Online, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, and Free Realms. PCG points out that SOE are signing a European publishing deal with Germany company ProSiebenStat. According to SOE's proposals this could mean that SOE customers will no longer be able to play on both American and EU servers, and in fact existing European players are going to be asked to create an account with the new company to transfer characters and continue playing. Of course, people aren't too happy about that, what with them having relationships with real people outside international boundaries and so forth. The inevitable internet shouting resulted in this response from SOE, indicating that they are "listening". The upshot of the current proposal would be that Europeans would not be (easily) able to play Planetside 2 with American chums. The RPS Planetside 2 outfit would be divided! Those are tears running down my cheeks.
]]>As RPS' only painfully single person at the moment, I'm happy to inform you that Valentine's Day is cancelled. A pox on all happy couples, literally and figuratively. Return to your empty, silent houses with the biggest bag of sweets you can, turn off the lights, and spend the evening sobbing until the sweet, sweet chocolate oozes out of your eyes and anus.
...or alternatively, jump into one of the many Valentine's Day events taking place this week in assorted games. Almost anything with a cash shop will be running a sale, but many are running special events. (Though not all. DC Universe Online for instance scrapped the Valentine's content it tried last year in favour of waiting until the team has the time to do something good instead.) Jump in with a loved one, or just celebrate Aching Solitude Awareness Day by ganking any of those pesky doting sweethearts who get too close. Like I care. Sob.
]]>There's a trailer out for Free Realms, showing off their ponies, both walking and flying. I'm posting it first, because it made me think of I'm On A Boat. And second, because it made me think of I Love Horses. And believe me, they're below. But then I went to the game's site to check stuff out, and it sort of needed me to be a NEW USER to continue, and then it had me create a character, and by that point sticking an email and password in didn't seem a big deal, by which point it was downloading the game for me, because... because the squirrel kept telling me to.
]]>The chaps at SOE must be rather pleased with themselves. Their free-to-play-except-with-micropay-stuff MMO Free Realms has had three million registrations in just seven weeks. Not bad going, even by free-to-play standards. “We are pleased to be able to provide such a vast, in-depth and, most importantly, fun world to an average of 500,000 new gamers per week,” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. I bet you are, John. Those are the big numbers.
]]>Firing up the server-engines today is Sony Online's teenager-targeting, micropayment-funded MMO Free Realms. The sign-up site's currently battened down the hatches in preparation for the coming storm, but in a few hours you'll be able to create a cutsey avatar and dabble in a bunch of cheerful mini-games comprising stabbing, driving, collecting and match-3ing, amongst others.
]]>Imagine a greatest hits of all the games that have found success with non-gamers. The compulsive sight-puzzles of Bejewelled, the dress-up roleplaying of The Sims, the cartoon brawling of World of Warcraft, the micropayment hats of Maple Story, the bumper car silliness of Mario Kart, the customisable animals of Neopets, the ancillary merchandise of Pokemon...
Free Realms, the kid-orienated MMO that Sony clearly hopes will restore its troubled online fortunes, is all things to all children. It has been focused group-trialled to boys and girls alike, and it shows. If your child can’t find something in FR’s long list of mini-games and gimmicks to capture its attention, it’ll probably grow up to be a serial killer.
]]>SOE's new MMO, Free Realms, opens its public beta this weekend. The concept is that this is the free MMO for children, so expect to run a gamut of cute if you're heading in its direction. It seems relatively simplistic with a Wow-but-more-cartoony-by-half game world, and absurdly sugary character creation. There's also the MMO standard of quest-based monster-monstering, and a whole bunch of mini-games that can be played solo, or with chums. There's a bunch of video-based FAQs here and you (or your offspring) can sign up to the beta here.
]]>[Thanks to extreme tiredness, I didn’t manage to write up all of my impressions from E3. Over the next couple of days I’ll clean house and post up my leftover thoughts.]
So if the Sony Online Entertainment game that you are looking forward to is DC Universe Online, well, E3 wasn’t for you. Because cleverly, SOE are going to reveal all of the details of the game at the San Diego Comic Con (which, in retrospect, I should have stayed for) in front of the slavering hordes of nerds that they want to impress the most, instead of wasting the details on the slavering (but smaller) hordes of nerds at E3. What did I learn from my brief chat with the developers? Well, that it’s going to be a heavily physics based MMO where characters be able to “use the environment as a weapon” - and they made a pretty big deal about how hard it is to put proper physics into an MMO.
]]>Something to replace the lost Disney's Magic Kingdom and the about to die EA Land (née the disastrous The Sims Online), perhaps? Free Realms is Sony's forthcoming free, family-friendly MMO.
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