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MMObility: Fifteen fun free MMORPGs for your tablet or smartphone
Mobile MMORPGs are still hard to come by. Sure, there are a ton of pseudo-MMOs and developers who claim to have created an MMO, but the fact is that persistence -- a key to defining what an MMO is -- is often gone from many of these games. I want to be able to log out of the game while the rest of the digital world goes on without me. Or better yet, and in the case of most MMORTS titles, I want to log out of the game and continue to have an effect on the world through trades, wars, or the fallout of diplomacy. Even though the market is often bare, there are still quite a few MMOs out there. Many of them are fun as well! I know, I know, I am making it seem as though the smartphone or tablet MMO market is empty of all content, but the truth is that for its age, it's doing very well. There are more and more coming out all of the time, and hopefully I'll be there to cover them. In the meanwhile, enjoy a list of the specific titles that rest on my Nexus 7 3G tablet, just waiting to be played anywhere and any time!
The Hobbit makes Unexpected Journey to browsers, mobile in Armies of the Third Age
Kabam has launched a new free-to-play browser tie-in, called The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age, in which players build strongholds and wage war.Three factions – Orcs, Elves and Dwarves – are in the game, which is playable on a PC web browser or through a free app on both iOS and Android. Popular figures from the Tolkien universe like Legolas and Thorin can be seen taking the field, though we suggest maybe fighting far away from them. If you've seen either dude throw down in their respective movies, then you just know their prowess is only gonna make you look bad on the battlefield.
Free for All: The 10 best-looking browser-based MMORPGs
Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Keep that in mind before you tell that me the games that fill out the following list of "best-looking browser-based MMORPGs" are ugly as sin. Sure, some of them are an acquired taste, but I wanted to display just how much variety there is now in browser gaming. It's not the delivery system it once was; we have had fancier-looking Flash-based titles for a while, but now with engines like Unity or Silverlight and even HTML5 coding, we have games that look no different from their client-based counterparts. There are still some ugly-as-sin games out there as well, but they have endearing qualities all the same. So keep that in mind; this is my top 10 list. If you want to suggest your own in the comments section, I would love to hear them! Now, on to the list, in no particular order...
Free for All: How to survive an attack in your favorite MMORTS
You know what I love about the MMORTS? It's the massive scale of everything involved. But it's not as though you are hand-crafting every single siege engine or raising armies of monsters one baddie at a time; that would simply take too long. The MMORTS is really a casual genre that is equal to playing with your action figures on a Saturday afternoon when you were nine years old. Don't let its casual nature fool you; just like those battles between plastic toys, the wars that can happen in your favorite MMORTS can suck you in and keep you glued to the screen for hours. It's going to happen to you at some point. Some bigshot is going to send a round of spies, estimate that you're easy pickings, and throw a fresh batch of hurt your way. What do you do? The good news is that it can be a thrilling experience almost every time if you follow a few basic guidelines.
MMObility: The Chromebook 'All-In-One' project - The pros and cons wrap-up
Well, it's been pretty much a month since I first got my hands on this Samsung Chromebook. In that time they have become a very successful product, and I've witnessed a lot of new 'Bookers falling in love with the device. I wanted to set out to see if I could use one device for pretty much every aspect of my digital life, from work to play. I've had help from my wife along the way, as she quickly got used to how easily the device worked. I've pushed it in every way that I could think of. I've watched videos on it, plugged things into it, written on it and used it to play games. So, what do I think now? Does this little notebook fill every need? Well, yes and no. It's definitely able to do what I want it to do, but I want it to do some pretty specific things. I also wanted to show that gaming, especially massively multiplayer gaming, is accessible from the 'Book. Why? The truth is that I wanted to illustrate how MMO games not only come in all shapes and sizes, but that there are many different communities all over the world that enjoy very successful browser-based, "low-tech" MMOs. As far as Massively is concerned, this experiment was an attempt to sneak in some very cool MMOs under the guise of "cool new gadget."
MMObility: The Chromebook 'All In One' project - Ten MMORTS titles
Last week I introduced you to my newest device, the Samsung Chromebook. Yes, that's the official way to refer to the newest $249.00 Chromebook, according to my contact at Google. I have pined after one for a while, but the price point finally became too tempting and I nabbed one at my local Best Buy. Why? Why didn't I just spit out a few more bucks and get a "real" laptop or netbook, one that runs Windows 7 or 8? Well, it runs silently and almost without heat. It's essentially a keyboard attached to an 11-inch tablet that runs Flash. The Chromium OS is very secure, and it auto-updates every six weeks. But you're here to read about games. This week I am going to talk about the MMORTS genre and why it works so well on the Chromebook. I'll list 10 of my favorites -- a drop in the bucket for all the MMORTS games out there, but these are easily some of the best and run well on the Chromebook. Stay tuned for future columns, where we'll look at even more Chromebook-friendly MMOs and pseudo-MMOs as well.
MMObility: Holding on to Arcane Empires
Kabam, maker of MMORTS titles like Thirst of Night and Dragons of Atlantis, is back with a portable title that can be found only on the Google Play market. I stumbled upon one night, installed it for free, and soon found myself recognizing those old Kabam earmarks. It's hard to find high-quality MMOs for mobile devices. They're out there, and there are more coming into the market every day, but I wonder exactly how Kabam intended on spreading the word about Arcane Empires without featuring it on the official homepage. The MMORTS publisher has always seemed pretty savvy about the genre's formulas and how to make a successful game, so I have a feeling it must know what it's doing with the first mobile-only title in the lineup. When I check out mobile titles, I keep in mind that I might be mistaking convenience for fun. How many of us log into a game every day or every week only because the shortcut is sitting right there on our desktop or because the game rests on our phone or tablet just waiting to be touched?
Realm of the Mad God studio acquired by social game maker
Aside from having one of the more memorable names in gaming these days, Realm of the Mad God also has a new owner. Wild Shadow Studios has been acquired by Godfather: Five Families maker Kabam, according to a blurb at Gamasutra. Realm of the Mad God originally launched in 2010 as an indie game competition entry before finding purchase on Steam and morphing into more of an MMO. Gamasutra says that designer Willem Rosenthal will stay onboard to direct the project. Check out Massively's Realm of the Mad God impressions via our Rise and Shiny column.
Engadget Giveaway: win a new iPad, courtesy of Kabam!
What could be better than our usual Monday morning giveaway? Why, a Tuesday morning giveaway of a new iPad, of course. If you missed the pre-order madness or can't be bothered to hit your local bricks and mortar to pick up a new iPad, no sweat, Kabam's got you covered. Celebrating the launch of its first iOS title, Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North, Kabam decided to gift one of Apple's newest toys for you to make the most of its free game. Entering is as easy as dropping a comment in this post -- and reading the rules. But don't sweat it if you miss out on winning this iPad as Kabam's giving one away each day until the 31st of March for just playing the game. Good luck! The rules: Leave a comment below. Any comment will do. Duplicate entries will be filtered out and discarded, so adding additional comments won't increase your likelihood of winning. Contest is open to all residents of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so direct your anger at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad. Winners will be chosen randomly. One winner will win a new iPad. If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. Apple, Kabam and Engadget are not held liable to honor warranties or customer service. The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here. Entries can be submitted until March 21, 2012 at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
Rise and Shiny recap: Thirst of Night
I love my MMORTS games, for sure. I've had to work on my ability to look at them with the freshest eyes that I can possibly muster, mainly because I see so many of them. It really is a genre of details. The gameplay in different titles is often almost exactly the same, but little details will set them apart. Thirst of Night, a new MMORTS by Kabam, tries hard to set itself apart from the pack, but does it do enough? I also have to consider that, for many players, these experiences I go through every week are brand-new experiences. For a good number of people, the games I cover are their first or second ones. While it is hard for me to fathom, I have to keep that in mind. So while I saw a game this week that was lacking and tired in some areas, I know that those same areas would be pretty exciting to a new gamer. Like I said, I'm working on it.
MV Guide: January 16-22, 2012
MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!
MMObility: Some new gear, and some new news
It's been a pretty exciting time in mobile gaming this week. Not only am I finding more reasons to love minimal specs and portable gaming, but I see even more applications coming down the pike that will make mobile gaming even more exciting and possible. I envision a future in which cloud computing, storage and high-speed internet make devices thinner, lighter, and faster. Of course, this all depends on several factors from developers who might wish to take advantage of the technologies to companies that will provide the pipeline to us all. In my opinion, it's not a matter of if but when this switch to portable, cloud-based gaming happens. It just makes sense when you look at all of the ways we have switched to a more cloud-based world. I write these articles through the cloud; I do my banking on a website that is hosted somewhere far, far away. If you've ever bought a product online, you have trusted the internet in more ways than one. So let's take a look at some of the exciting new mobile goodies I discovered this week!
