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The Game Archaeologist seals up 2011
You know what I love about the end of each year? The lists. Man, but I'm a sucker for lists, especially when they come in "best of" varieties. In the lull between Christmas and New Year's, there typically isn't a lot happening in the world of entertainment, so it's a good time to look back before we head forward. And so it is for The Game Archaeologist. 2011 marks the second year I've been doing this column, and it's been one of my personal favorite series to write. Every week I'm learning more and more about the history of the MMO genre, and I'm encouraged to see just how much passion and interest there are for the titles that started it all and got us to where we are today. So before we head into 2012, let's take one last glimpse back at the road we've traveled. If you've missed out on any of these columns or want to revisit your favorite classic MMO, I've compiled a huge list of everything I talked about this year, from histories to interviews to player stories. There's also a special request for you (yes, you) at the end of this column, so do me a favor and hit that jump!
The Game Archaeologist jacks into The Matrix Online: Your memories
What can you trust when your memories are merely the by-product of intelligent machines tinkering with your brain? When you come right down to it, who's to say that our alleged recollections of The Matrix Online weren't just computer viruses uploaded into our cerebral cortexes -- and that the game never existed at all? Real or not, The Matrix Online is in no danger of being forgotten. Whether it's because of the meta setting, the too-hip-to-stay-on-cows fashion, or the interactive stories, MxO never fails to evoke passionate testimonies. After speaking with developer Ben Chamberlain last week, today we're going to turn the tables on the players themselves to see what they have to say. Was The Matrix Online really all that and a bag of computer chips? Was it merely a good-looking graphical chat room or something more? And how will it be remembered many years from now when we sit our grandchildren on our laps and tell them about how we took the blue pill? Or was it red... I can never remember!
The Game Archaeologist jacks into The Matrix Online: Jamming with Ben 'Rarebit' Chamberlain
When we started into The Matrix Online month last week on The Game Archaeologist, one of the comments caught my eye. Massively reader stealthrider wrote: Please, please do a tribute to Rarebit. MxO was his baby, and no one took its death worse than he. He did everything for that game, much of it single-handedly. Everything from playing the canon characters and co-writing the story to fixing hundreds of bugs and even creating a new zone from scratch. Not to mention developing and implementing the story missions, new items, the RP item vendors, and pretty much everything else in MxO's final couple of years. He even implemented and moderated a player-created minigame as part of the official story. He retired from game development in the months before MxO's shutdown. He was that dedicated to this game that he couldn't work on anything else afterward. He's a god among developers, and he is as sorely missed as the game itself. I think this sums up how many Matrix Online vets feel about Ben "Rarebit" Chamberlain. So instead of a mere tribute, we drove the MassivelyMobile over to Chamberlain's house (read: send a polite email request), and he graciously said he'd be glad to reminisce with us. So hit that jump to find out the last word on MxO from the dev who held it together!
The Game Archaeologist jacks into The Matrix Online: The highlights
It's not every year that a movie comes along that captures the pop culture zeitgeist so powerfully and so quickly as The Matrix did. I recall lugging a few college friends along to see this in 1999 -- having heard only a few sparse details about it beforehand -- and coming out of the theater feeling as if we we'd been electrified. The bold mix of science fiction, martial arts, philosophy, action, and leather ensembles became the smash hit of the year, and a franchise was born. And while we had great hopes that this would be this generation's Star Wars, The Matrix ultimately proved to be a lightning-in-a-bottle phenomenon, impossible to recapture once unleashed. Sequels, animated shorts, video games, comic books -- none rose to the height of the original film, and eventually the franchise petered out. During this period, an odd duck of an MMO was born: The Matrix Online. When you think about it, an online virtual world where people log in and fight against programs was a really short hop from the movie series. MxO, as it was abbreviated, was an audacious game with unique features, story-centric gameplay and a sci-fi bent in a field of fantasy competitors, and while it only lasted four years, it was enough to make a huge impression for its community. So by popular demand, this month we're going to revisit the 1s and 0s of The Matrix Online to see just how deep the rabbit hole (and well-worn cliche) goes -- and what made this game stand out!
Anti-Aliased: So long, and thanks for all the woah
It's a depressing news day for me today. As we've reported earlier, Sony Online Entertainment has finally made the decision to pull the plug on The Matrix Online, a decision that makes absolutely perfect sense given the dire straights the game has been in for the past few years.MxO was always "the little game that could" in regards to the community outlook. Even with horribly broken systems, a grind worthy of an Asian MMO, and periods where I literally sat around doing nothing, there was some odd charm about the game. Perhaps it was the setting, or maybe it was the really cool combat system (yes, it too was broken, but those animations were sweet), but I think it was the storyline.Let's have a look back the history of Matrix Online and some of the stories no one ever heard about.
The Matrix Online update 66 brings about The Omega
The delayed Matrix Online update 66 saw the light of day today as the servers were brought down this morning for the patch. Update 66 brings in the new Windows Vista enhancements, which fixes many of the graphical problems users were experiencing when running the game on Vista, as well as new RSI capture items and the "little surprises" that Ben "Rarebit" Chamberlain promised in his leaving letter.The surprises have come in the form of a new collector, named The Omega, and have included a few new clothing items that make use of the matrix code render and the ability to turn the Area K Black Trenchcoat into a white version and the white Patcher's Headgear into a new black "Omega" version.For the full patch notes, check them out on the Matrix Online forums.
Friday the 13th too cursed for Matrix Online update 66
We reported earlier in the week that The Matrix Online update 66 was due to hit servers yesterday, however community relations representative Virrago has informed the MxO players that the update will be pushed back to next week.The patch notes on this update are still in the dark, and no one is quite sure what will be included with this update past the fixes for Windows Vista and the removal of storyline progression. It looks like the MxO team will be releasing the notes the day of the patch, keeping everything a surprise until the last moment.Also up in the air is Ben "Rarebit" Chamberlain's leaving date, as his original intent was to leave after update 66 was pushed to the live servers. It would appear that he's staying with the team until the update is pushed, but that is unclear as of this posting. In any case, we wish him the best of luck with his future endeavors and thank him for all of his hard work putting together the innovative story of The Matrix Online.
The Matrix Online says goodbye to a developer
The Matrix Online is saying goodbye to one of their main developers as Ben Chamberlain, aka "Rarebit," leaves the MxO staff on February 13th. Rarebit was largely responsible in the last months for continuing the Matrix Online's main story via many live events each week -- the events that have kept the spirits of the dwindling community interested in the game.According to his leaving note, Rarebit is also concluding his work in the games industry after 10 years of work.His departure from the staff will begin shortly after Update 66 launches on live servers on February 12th. Update 66 will include the very critical patch that will clear up the many visual corruptions that occur when a user runs Matrix Online on Windows Vista, as well as provide secrets that Rarebit is holding to his chest. Rarebit has also announced that he will be releasing the outlines for the rest of the MxO storyline, providing all the wrap-ups to the game's main plot that have occurred since chapter 5.2.
