massively multiplayer online game
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Amazon Game Connect links free-to-play, MMO games to store accounts, turns 1-Click into way too many
Amazon must have a lot of free time for gaming during its summer vacation: just a day after unveiling GameCircle as a cloud infrastructure, it's trotting out Game Connect to make buying game content that much easier. Once it's integrated into a title, the new platform will let customers buy content in free-to-play games, or subscribe to massively multiplayer online games, directly from their Amazon accounts -- no copy-and-paste juggling involved, even if the game account has to be made on the spot. A handful of game developers have already lined up, including Super Monday Night Combat creator Uber Entertainment and World of Tanks' Wargaming.net. If you're engrossed in gaming enough that you'll need 1-Click to buy virtual goods and MMO renewals that much faster, Amazon has you covered... although you may also want to slow down and relax.
Free for All: So, what does "MMORPG" mean?
As a reader of Massively, you should have a pretty good idea what MMORPG means. Not just what it stands for, but what it feels like, looks like, and behaves like. The problem is, despite common definitions, the games keep coming in different shapes and sizes -- and from all over the world. While I receive many comments about the Western coverage that Massively features, I would only be doing half my job if I reported on only the latest half a dozen games to break the multi-million-dollar budget mark in America. The world is a smaller place, especially now. And across the world there are MMORPGs that are being played and enjoyed in many different ways. There are PvP games, games that place players into instance after instance with only a handful of other players, all while offering the potential to hang out with thousands of other people. Is an instanced combat game still an MMO? How about a game like Mabinogi, which maintains a persistent world, but is broken into several invisible channels for players to skip in to and out of? This is impossible, but I think I will try to define exactly what MMO means -- now, in this current market.
The Digital Continuum: Don't Fear The Re: Console
Massively Multiplayer Online Games have always been the slaves to their PC masters, rarely able to exist on anything other than the PC platform. That isn't to say there haven't been partial attempts in the past such as Final Fantasy XI, but since launch that game has been developed for three different platforms including the PC. Developers still have yet to create a console MMOG that becomes as financially successful as some of the more popular PC titles. In all reality, it still remains easier to make and maintain MMOGs for PCs. The reason MMOG developers find creating and sustaining their games on the PC easier is the very problem with a console exclusive. When creating any Massively Multiplayer Online Game for the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3 that problem happens to be that as advanced as those consoles are they do not offer the flexibility of a PC. A large part of Blizzard's longterm success with World of Warcraft comes from the depth of the community tools and game customization. It's the wonderful ability to alter your user interface and the incredibly addicting habit of alt-tabbing back and forth from game window, forum posts or online game guides. I'm personally unable count the number of times I've been playing City of Heroes windowed while listening to various albums, simultaneously browsing news, guild forum posts or maybe just checking my email. You may be able to get a browser onto your PS3 and you might manage custom music on both the 360/PS3 but in the end would it be as easy as a keystroke to flip back and forth between both of those functions?
New art from CrimeCraft MMO for 360
Our friends at Xboxygen clued us in on some new artwork for CrimeCraft, an MMO from Vogster. The game is set in a sprawling urban environment in which characters participate in the commerce, politics, and cri-, er, economics of the city. The game promises to allow players to own real estate, run shops or warehouses, and fight with other clans over territory. Players will also be given a choice between different character types like crooked cops, shady criminals, or boring law-abiding citizens. Finally, CrimeCraft utilizes the Unreal Engine 3.We were surprised that this is the first we'd heard of the game, so we did a little digging. The game's developer, Vogster, is based in the Ukraine, and it looks like this is their first game (they're still looking for a programmer, if you're interested). The game also has an official website, though right now it's just a splash page.We're definitely intrigued by CrimeCraft. Only yesterday readers mentioned that they wanted an MMO that wasn't set in the typical fantasy realm. Rest assured, we'll keep you posted on the latest news (and don't forget to send us tips if you find it first). Don't hold your breath, though. The game was announced in September of last year, so it's possible CrimeCraft won't see the light of day until 2008.
