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The Daily Grind: Why can't Earth have a fantasy MMO?
Take a look at the preeminent Fantasy MMOs available: World of Warcraft takes place in Azeroth. Age of Conan's setting is Hyborea. Guild Wars boasts Tyria as its location. Lord of the Rings Online has Middle-Earth, which Tolkien refers to as much as an age as a location, hinting that it could in fact be Earth's past, but the landscape as described doesn't really match anything in our reality.And what does Earth have? Hellgate: London, The Agency, The Day, and possibly The Secret World. While there may be supernatural elements in a couple of these titles, for the most part they belong firmly in a science-grounded reality, and couldn't be considered true Fantasy settings. So what gives? With the unlimited imagination on display for all these other titles, why does Earth get short shrift? Is there any good reason for our fair Terra to be left out of the Fantasy loop?
Glimpses of the next-gen HD MMOs
The MMOABC site has a bountiful screenshot buffet, looking at some of the high-definition imagery we'll be enjoying in the 'next generation' of Massive games. They have shots of Blue Mars, Huxley, The Day, The Agency, Stargate Worlds, and Global Agenda. They have descriptions of each game world as well; helpful, since some of these titles are very newly announced. For more info on Blue Mars, check out our sneak preview from E for All, and our screenshot gallery: Gallery: Blue Mars Gallery
Action MMO powered by Crysis engine? That'll be The Day
Former employees of NCSoft and Phantagram have created a new studio to design a 'third-person massively multiplayer online action game'? And it's powered by CryENGINE 2, the same game engine used in Crysis? Tell me more. As it says in the press release: Reloaded Studios are a Seoul-based game company that seem to lack neither experience nor funding. Their first project is entitled The Day, and it aims to have a heavy emphasis on PvP combat plus a unique, immersive storyline involving parallel worlds and the destruction of all humanity. I also aim to solo Illidan Stormrage tomorrow.The Day joins a growing list of MMOs to use the Crysis engine, along with Entropia Universe and Blue Mars. They're both more virtual world than action MMO, though, and there's a lot of untapped potential in the latter. Planetside never made much of an impact, but games in a similar vein are a market waiting to happen -- even if it isn't a Halo MMO.
