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Rise and Shiny recap: City of Eternals
City of Eternals is somewhat of an enigma to me. I've heard of it off and on through the last few years. I've seen it before, and it doesn't seem as though it has changed much, if at all. I am familiar with it just because I have been covering games for a long time, yet I've never really checked it out. Sure, I poked my head into it through Facebook once or twice, but to be honest, I didn't really like what I saw. I am all about independent, different-looking, or not-so-pretty games... heck, if I weren't, I'd have nothing to play but bloated "AAA" grindfests. But there's just something about the skinny-jean, pleather-wearing vampire scene that I cannot stand. My wife is into True Blood, the campy, vamp-heavy, naked-people festival that shows on the HBO network, but at least the show has fun with it and builds up interesting characters. City of Eternals seems to be stuck in that cheesier area of vampire fandom, though. Still, I played it over the last week and started to enjoy it a bit, for a few different reasons. Click past the cut and I'll tell you about it.
MMObility: Fifty games for the mobile lifestyle
I like lists. Lists help keep my candy-coated brain functioning. I see so many games, devices, and developers that I need to write things down periodically or become lost. Not so long ago I made a list of 25 games for your shiny new laptop, but I wanted to update it with other devices as well. I'd like to clarify the devices I have, though, especially since it was brought to my attention that a lot of players use laptops as their primary gaming machines. When I refer to a laptop, it is far from a gaming machine and could not run games like EverQuest II or Age of Conan. So here are some stats: I have an HTC Inspire, an iPhone 3GS, an iPad, a Phenom Triple-core PC desktop with an Nvidia 9800 card, six gigs of ram and onboard sound. My laptop is an HP G62 with an AMD Athlon II P340 dual core processor, three gigs of ram and an AMD graphics chip built in. I also have a more powerful gaming PC, but that is often referred to as "the wife's machine" around here, and it is so packed with her items that I rarely touch it. So most of these games can be run on their native devices, and if they are meant for PC, probably on netbooks as well. When I'm playing on netbooks, resolution is often the major issue. Some games just will not fit on the tiny screens without some slight modding. Anyway, click past the cut to see the list. The first 11 are my favorites, the ones that I play often, if not every day. The rest are in no particular order, so keep that in mind as well. Remember that this year is going to be an incredible one for mobile, thanks to the new games I found at E3. So this list will change!
MV Guide: June 20 - 26, 2011
MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively's Livestream channel. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of games to take a look at. During Livestream events, you can participate in the live chat to learn about the game, ask questions, and spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, Livestream events are subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) We now return you to your regularly scheduled program! The Massively crew is recovered from E3 and ready to dive back into livestreaming. We've got plenty lined up this week, so follow along after the jump and see what's coming up on MV TV!
Rise and Shiny recap: Pockie Ninja
Well, it's nice to finally get back to my regularly scheduled columns after attending E3 last week. I have to say, I loved all of the new games and gadgets that I got to check out at the event, but I missed the rhythm of my columns. So this week I decided to get back to Rise and Shiny in full force by attacking Pockie Ninja, an odd-looking little game that I have been hearing about for quite a while. In fact, it doesn't take much to see that it has grown pretty popular, but I still wasn't sure why. So I signed up (thank you, Facebook connect!) and jumped into the game. It should be noted that a lot of the game has not been translated very well. This is a real problem when you consider some of the learning curve involved in Pockie Ninja. Sure, the English is there, and there are words that I know, but they are often arranged in such a strange order or just come out sounding so... odd that I have no idea what is going on. Click past the cut and let's see if I can explain what I found.
Allods Online Producer leaving Gala-net
Allods Online's Associate Producer Darren Allarde bid farewell "with a heavy heart" to the Allods Online community yesterday. Allarde is leaving his position in order to his talents to the City of Eternals team over at Ohai, leaving Kenny Yan to fill his shoes at Gala-Net. Krystin "Nephy" DeHaven will complete the transition by stepping into the Production Coordinator position. Yesterday was Allarde's last day with Gala-Net, and you can read his farewell in full on the Allods Online site. We at Massively wish Darren, Kenny, and Krysten the best of luck in their new ventures.
The Daily Grind: Who's your MMO mistress?
Many in MMO circles look down on what they consider to be the second-class citizens of online gaming: browser-based MMOs. In fact, just about every time that we post a news article about a browser MMO here on Massively, it's inevitable that someone will pish-posh the game on the general principle that "all browser MMOs suck." Yet that attitude overlooks one of the key demographics of browser MMO players: us. It's not uncommon for many of us to be stuck with a non-gaming computer for a good chunk of time, i.e. at "school" and "work" and "in the Batcave." While we may not talk about it in mixed company out of fear of being ostracized, I believe many of us have an on-the-side MMO that feeds our addiction when we're away from our main gaming rig. Whether it be on Facebook, a browser or even on a mobile device, what MMO do you visit on the sly when you can't access the real thing? Have you spent time doodling around in City of Eternals, RuneScape or even Pocket Legends when your boss isn't looking? Who's your MMO mistress?
Facebook MMOgraphy: First impression of vampire MMO City of Eternals
Every two weeks, Facebook MMOgraphy brings you the latest news, guides and analysis about MMOs on Facebook and Facebook apps associated with MMOs. Twilight jokes aside, vampire MMOs are among us. Free-to-play Dark Eden and Reign of Blood are already out. IGG's Moonlight Online is due later this year and Spacetime Studios, developer of 3D action MMORPG iPhone app Pocket Legends, has Empire of Night in the works. And earlier this year, ohai Studios debuted their free-to-play vampire MMO, City of Eternals, both on their own site and on Facebook. City of Eternals is the only MMORPG on Facebook that is really like an MMORPG. Quests, factions, crafting, equipment that needs regular upgrading and other recognizable features are there. But more than that is the fact that the game places you in the same virtual space with other players. This isn't a trading card game with a chat interface or a single player RPG that allows you to use your Facebook friends to accomplish tasks in-game whether or not they are online. In CoE you actually run past other players. For that, the game gets points. Unfortunately, many of the game systems are confusing and the quest flow is a mess. Read on for more first impressions!
Want to sink your teeth into a vampire MMO? Massively can help!
With the recent popularity of movies like Twilight, it seems that the folks at Ohai have timed the announcement of their new vampire MMO just right. City of Eternals is a browser-based MMO set in the world of modern vampires. It is completely free-to-play and is currently in its private alpha testing stage. According to the developer, "You can choose your Vampire look and fighting style, explore a massive city with dozens of story quests, combat instances, and standalone missions. You will learn to harvest valuables and craft useful items, customize your own home, and choose your path to becoming the ultimate Vampire." If that genre appeals to you, and you'd be interested in alpha testing the game, head on over to their invite page where they have 100 invites reserved for the Massively readers. Each person who gets into this alpha will receive 100 "ohais", which are their own form of virtual currency in the game that will cost real money once the game launches.
