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The Daily Grind: How many MMOs have you sampled this year?
Betas. Trials. F2P. Friend keys. Special deals. Bargain bin boxes. Steam weekends. Welcome back weeks. If you're anything like me, then the siren's call of MMOs is constantly pulling and constantly tempting you to try worlds other than these. If you're anything like me, then you'll have given in to that call repeatedly, even though you technically have no more time in your gaming schedule to shove in time with another title. Even if you have no intention of staying past a day, week or the initial month, sometimes it's just fun to add variety to your game rotation and spend a little time with the forbidden fruit of a temporary MMO. So fess up: How many MMOs have you sampled this year? Are you loyal beyond belief to your main game and wouldn't think twice about looking at a fetching up-and-comer, or do you find yourself downloading betas, trials and one-time subscriptions to satisfy your curiosity? Has a friend's strong recommendation prompted you to at least see what his or her mad raving is all about? Looking back over the year to date, how many MMOs have you gotten under your belt?
EVE Evolved: Making the most of your EVE Online free trial
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/EVE_Evolved_Making_the_most_of_your_EVE_Online_free_trial'; Like many MMOs, EVE Online offers a free trial to let players try the game out before they buy it. While this lets you see if you like the gameplay before committing, the sheer scope of EVE makes it practically impossible to experience everything the game has to offer within the trial period. Additionally, since the learning curve is relatively steep to begin with, it's very easy to become overwhelmed in a short trial period. These factors can make it hard to experience what EVE is really like, meaning it's hard to make an informed decision.In this guide, I explain how you can maximise your time and fun with the EVE free trial and help make an informed decision on whether it's the game for you.
Buddy Keys finally implemented in Age of Conan
Buddy Keys have been a long time coming, but they're finally part of Age of Conan. Funcom assured us last week that they'd be going live this week, and they've made good on that. This is only the first part of the program; wisely, Funcom have opted to deal with the Collector's Edition keys first. The Buddy Keys that were to come with the regular retail boxes will be added later.Age of Conan Senior Community Manager Tarib tells us that 'Everybody who has purchased a Collector's Edition can now invite up to five friends, who can try the game for seven days without purchasing a retail box.' Buddies have the option of borrowing a set of disks to install the game with, or downloading the game directly, which won't come free - it'll cost them $2.99/€2.99. This option does, however, add 3 additional days of play time 'to cover the download time'.
No, you can't has AoC buddy key. Yet.
Unless you've been under a rock somewhere, or playing the single most awesome MMO to be released by any company at any time ever, you may have noticed that Age of Conan has recently launched. The immense tide of people wanting to join the Beta has been followed by a similarly vast number of people paying to get in, and on the heels of that, we have now have the gargantuan flood of people wanting to try it out for free with a Buddy Key. Given that the (now sold out) Collector's Edition included five of these delicious free tastes of Hyborian goodness, the impact of all the Buddy Keys being activated can be likened to a battlefield full of bellowing Spartans all piling on to the same bouncy castle.So, don't be surprised that the Buddy Keys aren't active yet. The Devs want to let the first wave of paying players get settled in, and give the servers a chance to catch their breath, have a nice cup of tea and a sit down before the next lot arrive. Will it be worth the wait? Absolutely.
PotBS to introduce Buddy Key program
Enjoying Pirates of the Burning Sea, but can't convince your stingy friends to give it a try? Come Monday, a new Buddy Key program will launch that provides active account holders with three 14-day trials of the game to give to friends, so there'll be no excuses for them shunning your Caribbean exploits anymore.There won't be an expiry date on these keys, so if you don't have three people that you want to hook at the moment, hang on to them for later. Instructions on claiming the keys will be provided on Monday, and we'll bring you the news when it breaks.
