tibia
Latest
Perfect Ten: MMOs from the '90s
The course of MMO history and the developer pioneers who forged a path to online gaming have long fascinated me (so much so that I write an occasional column about it). While we often think of MMOs as modern entertainment barely out of its infancy, the truth is that you can trace the industry back decades to see a fringe group of devs and players striving to make these games a reality. While the number of MMOs in existence exploded in the early- and mid-2000s (and hasn't stopped growing since), the 1990s are often an overlooked decade that featured more than the one or two games that are usually mentioned in brief history overviews. There were actually far more titles than most assume, even if you dismiss text-based MUDs and the like. Today we're going to run down 10 MMOs that were born during the era of the dot-com revolution, dial-up modems, and the peak of the Simpsons (third through seventh seasons).
The Game Archaeologist: The silent world of Tibia
If I were to tell you that there's a Western MMO out there that's as old as Ultima Online and yet still has a half-million players, would you believe me? Heck, I wouldn't believe me even if I came back from the future of having written this article to talk to the past version of me who had yet to start it! But that's Tibia for you: a weird underdog of an MMO that's cruised underneath most players' radars for over a decade and a half. From its origins as a student project, Tibia jumped in the unexplored waters of the early MMO era and dog paddled for all its worth. This 17-year-old title remains one of the very few active MMOs from the '90s and one of only a handful that stubbornly stuck to a 2-D graphics format even as 3-D swept the gaming genre. And trust me, those aren't even the most interesting facts about it!
The Game Archaeologist: Checking in with classic MMOs
What's this, you say as you rub your eyes in disbelief. Is it... The Game Archaeologist, long since thought lost in his expedition to Atlantis (and the trials therein)? It is indeed, my friends. TGA has been a long-running passion of mine on Massively, but I needed a break for a while to recouperate and refocus. However, as of late I've felt the call of neglected classic MMOs and wanted to make sure that they were getting some column love here on the site. So going forward, expect to see The Game Archaeologist pop out of his hidey hole once or twice a month to talk about our old favorites and perhaps pontificate more on the history of MMO development. Sound good? Did you miss me at all? You totally didn't, did you. If you've been out of touch with classic MMOs, I've done the legwork this week to provide you with the 10 important and relevant news items that are sweeping through this aging yet still vibrant community. Read on, McDuff!
MMObility: The pros and cons of Tibia's browser version
Tibia is an MMO that has been hanging in there for many, many years. You have to give it respect for that alone. When you add on the fact that the game seems to be updated relatively frequently and boasts a pretty good-sized playerbase, it becomes even more intriguing. I've played it in the past and have enjoyed the simple graphics and slower-paced gameplay. I like how NPCs chat with you, old-school EverQuest-style, and how there seems to be a lot more to the game than meets the eye. There are plenty of eyesores, however. The developers recently released Tibia in a beta browser form. While the client was always easy enough to download and run on my multitude of devices, I always prefer to just jump into my browser and load it up. I found a lot of neat little systems but also quite a few bugs or odd design choices. Colors and layout can be a problem, and I am not the biggest fan of Flash-based MMOs. Still, I am enjoying myself so far and look forward to more. Let's talk about what I found over these last several hours with Tibia's browser-based version.
Free for All: New browser-based converts shine light on issues
I recently threw out a prediction that within five years, most of our MMO content will be coming through our browsers. To be more specific, I think that most players in the United States will be enjoying their favorite MMOs within a browser. That can mean several things but does not refer to games like Free Realms, a client-based game that is only signed-into at the browser level. As with any discussion about genres, mechanics or styles in the MMO world, I have to be very specific. It's pretty likely that a very large percentage of the US playerbase is already playing browser-based games. Look at the American market for games like RuneScape, Battlestar Galactica Online, Club Penguin, Drakensang Online, Evony, and Ministry of War and you might just find millions of players. Next we need to consider that there are more games coming into the browser market. This new batch is essentially a group of standard, client-based MMOs that are porting themselves to the browser. I tend to be a little skeptical about some of these in the short-term, for several reasons.
Tibia summer update features new world quests, tutorial
Quick, name a few of the world's oldest MMORPGs! Now, name a couple that are still running. Chances are most of you chimed in with Ultima Online, EverQuest, or maybe even Meridian 59. You're correct of course, but there's another title that released in 1997 that's still going today. That title is Tibia, and the 2-D fantasy game from CipSoft GmbH has just announced a world-changing summer update. World quests are "highly complex missions which can only be accomplished if dozens or even hundreds of Tibia players cooperate," according to a new press release. The new quests add another level to Tibia's conflict-driven dynamic that sees players and guilds war with one another for years at a time, as the battlefield will now extend further into the open world and likely result in competition for quest objectives. Tibia is also offering a new quest line for newbs. The comprehensive tutorial series leads new players through various gameplay tasks and offers a concise yet thorough introduction to one of the genre's longest-running titles.
Free for All: Twenty-five free MMOs for that shiny new laptop
So there you are, reading a column from your favorite Massively writer on your shiny new laptop. You might be stuck with your parents and family because of the snow, or you might simply want to find a new MMORPG to play on the device. Perhaps you broke down and bought that cute pink netbook at Target, and now you need something to do with it besides reading your favorite writer of all time? Don't worry, because I've taken the time to compile and test 25 MMOs that will work wonderfully on your new toy! Yes, there are real MMOs out there that are not dependent on the latest graphics card or six gigs of ram. These are fully realized worlds, complete with chat windows and socializing. I will make a note if the game might have some difficulty on the oldest of hardware -- or the least powerful -- so keep an eye out for that. Otherwise, download away! For the record, this is my new toy. I got it for work, but you know the first thing I had to do was try out gaming on it. Click past the cut to see the list!
Are we ready for an iMMO?
TibiaME, the MMO for mobile phones from German developer CipSoft, has announced plans for an iPhone client release in Q1 2010. TibiaME has been around since 2003, and is said to be the first MMO for mobile phones worldwide. Benjamin Zuckerer, responsible product manager for TibiaME, says "We started our first technical test run about a year ago. After we had mastered the challenge of developing an intuitive and easy control, we started to polish our graphics and decided to develop a completely new high-resolution client. As soon as the AppStore supported a subscription based business model, we were ready to go."TibiaME (Micro Edition) is the mobile phone version of free-to-play MMO Tibia. Players can take their warriors and wizards wherever they go, fighting monsters and solving puzzles during lunch hour and between errands.TibiaME is also looking forward to a high-resolution client. While it's still in early alpha phase, a few screenshots are available on TibiaME's Facebook page. The screenshots were taken with an iPod Touch, and the difference from the low-res screenshots is noticeable enough to make it a tempting addition to your iPhone game collection.
Mobile MMO TibiaME hits 10,000 subscribers
This isn't one of those "Wow, this game has only been out for X days and already has Y subscribers!" posts. TibiaME (the ME means Micro Edition) is certainly not a new title. In fact, the mobile MMO was released all the way back in 2003. What makes its latest milestone of 10,000 premium subscribers more notable is the rate at which the game's playerbase has been growing in recent times. 2008 saw the number of subscribers double, and 2009 has been extremely strong so far too. Off the top of our heads, we would say the rising popularity of smartphones would be a contributing factor, but apparently a collaboration with a large Indonesian mobile phone network has been a huge help as well.TibiaME bills itself as "the first massive multiplayer online role-playing game for mobile phones". After this latest news, Andreas Weikl (marketing manager from the game's German developer CipSoft) thinks it might be time to add another achievement to the list: "Altogether, TibiaME now has an active player base of around 40,000 players. As far as we know, TibiaME is therefore not only the first but by now as well the biggest mobile MMORPG in the world."
The MMO launch subscriber bubble
It feels like a new MMO is being released every month these days and the market for persistent online games is certainly expanding. At the head of this market is a set of games commonly referred to "triple A" titles. These are popular games from big name studios or games using popular intellectual properties. New games that are considered "triple A" have a unique ability to build unparalleled levels of anticipation and hype around themselves prior to release. In order to draw in as many players as possible, an obscene amount of cash is often spent on advertising to hype these games up for release. But is this appropriate and cost-effective or does it show a fundamental misunderstanding of of the MMO market?In this article, we look at what can go wrong with over-hyped MMO launches and what happens when the subscriber bubble bursts.
