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Champions Online celebrates two years
It's hard to believe that Champions Online is about to celebrate its second anniversary, but it's true: Cryptic Studios just sent out the invitations to the game's anniversary party! On Thursday, September 1st, our favorite super-heroine Sapphire takes center stage at the Renaissance Center at 1 p.m. EDT to start the festivities. She'll perform her musical set once every hour until Monday, September 5th at 2:59 a.m. EDT. Between sets, the audio automaton DJ Madbot thumps his funky beats all night long. Look for party hosts all about the center for party favors, unlocks, and missions. The party doesn't end at the Ren Center, however: Each of the zone bosses drop anniversary gives as well. What are these party gifts you ask? Developers at Cyptic tell us that favors consist of the standard gift boxes, party bombs, and boosters, but new this year is the Noise Visualizer Device. This device sparks visual effects like "Pow!" and "Bam!" Plus, Cryptic continues giving gifts with DJ Madbot costume and Glitter Heroic Wear unlocks. The event is open to the whole Free-For-All community, so why not stop by? At least you can find out why it looks like that robot has a box for head and maybe get one for yourself.
Free for All: The end of physical media
In my ongoing journey to find my next laptop, I have begun to suffer from tunnel vision. After all, there are only so many ways to package a processor, some RAM and a graphics card or chip. Sure, sure, I can become an obsessed overclocker and work hard to squeeze the most power out of a PC possible, but instead I would rather pay for a good-quality, mid-range device. I use the heck out of the one I have now, and it was only $500. One thing I am noticing is that I always snicker when I read websites that brag about included optical drives, which do me very little good but cost me more money. I rarely, if ever, use a CD or DVD burner. There's just no reason to. I can upload 20gb videos to my YouTube account and use services to send larger files. I rarely have a need even for that. Now that my wife and I have Pandora and Spotify, we don't even need to worry about physical libraries of music... it's streamed to us wirelessly. What does this lack of physical media mean for the free-to-play gaming world? Well, a lot. click past the cut and we'll discuss it.
Free for All: Using a controller to play your favorite MMO
In my constant pursuit to make my game playing sessions smoother and more pain-free, I decided to finally buy a controller to play with. Lately, I have been needing some relief pretty badly. The whole "pain" thing started many years ago, back when I worked on a PC most of the day back. Even though I had physical therapy and an employer who was understanding about the dangers of repetitive action, my pain continued. I've tried heat, cold, and even shock therapy, but after all these years of drumming, drawing, and playing games, the pain still comes more than goes. Click past the cut and I'll discuss how to use a controller with an MMO... and whether it helped my poor wrists.
Free for All: The 'fall' of free-to-play
Here in Texas we have been suffering from one of the worst heat waves in the history of the state. It's the type of constant heat that makes you mad at something, perhaps the sky or the sun. It's not logical, but you start to get mad at the state for being where it is. Then you start to get angry because your lawn is dying off or because your electricity bill is almost double what it was the year before. The next logical thing is to dream of colder times. I have already begun to fantasize about wrapping myself up for a crisp, cold winter's walk with the dogs. Hot cider, the holidays... it's all coming soon. I hope. The next several months will also be the time to keep an eye on a bunch of developing titles. Click past the cut and let's look at what makes me so excited for this fall!
Free for All: The best-looking games in free-to-play
Of all of the wacky arguments I have heard over the last few years, the "are video games art?" one has got to take the prize for most ridiculous. Sure, you can argue either side of anything, but to ask whether or not games are art just seems to be an attempt to assuage some boredom. We can also ask whether this life is really real, just in case we hadn't already been put to sleep. Art is what the artist says it is, period. Art is also in the eye of the beholder. Our games are spread across a wide spectrum of styles, and many of us have very strong feelings about what we like and will not tolerate. I have seen people turn down great games simply because of the way a screenshot looked. Heck, I've done it myself. With as many games as I look at every week, occasionally it is smart (and fun) to organize them into lists. This week I am taking stock of my game list and figuring out the games that I feel look the best. Of course, you might not think so. I decided to leave off games that are in testing or not available for the public yet. Click past the cut and see if you agree with me!
Free for All: So what else can you get for 150 dollars?
Recently, fans of the upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic had the pleasure of plopping down 150 clams to pre-order a special collectors edition of their favorite game they have never played. I've seen this before, and have even pre-ordered a few in my day (I'm looking at you, giant Warhammer Online box.) Pre-orders are the oldest form of virtual goods...they were cash-shops before cash-shops appeared in every game. The funnest part is seeing hardcore cash-shop haters gladly paying huge sums of money for a robot pet or a cool looking cape. Somehow, they see it as a different thing altogether than buying a shiny mount or pink dress from in-game. Still, I understand the impulse. I get it every time I am in the check-out lane and the new flavors of gum have been released. Even worse is when one of my favorite games releases new items in their cash shop. New mounts, housing goods, heck even new weapons or stat-increasing potions...they make me drool. So, I decided to take a 150 dollar budget and see what I could get for it. Click past the cut and let's look at the list!
Free for All: Recreating my teenage superhero with Champions Online
I grew up drawing. I was known as the artist kid in all of my classes, and the other students would often sit around me and just watch me draw. I have to admit that it was a nice feeling, but a lot of the time I would be drawing such emotional things that it was a little embarrassing as well. As I battled my way through puberty, I discovered that my love for comics had transferred to a love of making my own comics. The main characters were often based on me and people I know, filtered through a superhero lens. I have always disliked the Supermen of the comic world. I preferred to make characters that had flaws or weaknesses. Still, I wanted to make my superhero powerful enough to survive a scrap. Don't ask me why (I don't remember), but I came up with a character named Check, named so because of his use of the "in-between" energy of the universe. While some villains harnessed dark powers, and others fought with light, Check fought with the energy of the mundane, the bland, the boring. I know it sounds odd, but he fought using the same energy that someone might feel during meditation or sleep. Essentially, it was energy that was everywhere, very dependable, and very powerful. Still, controlling it made Check a very somber fellow. Lately I had been thinking more about Check -- and his gray step-mother, Grin -- and decided to give him another go inside one of the wonderful superhero MMOs. Even though I had made him before in City of Heroes, I wanted to try him out in Champions Online this time. Click past the cut and I'll walk you through my creation!
Free for All: The MMO freak show... step right up!
Back when I played and toured with a band, we would always finish up our East coast trips in New York. Sure, it's a big beautiful city but the true fun came when we visited Coney Island. We'd check out the rides and grab some fried foods, but the best part was visiting some friends of ours who ran and performed in the freak show. One particularly lovely lady was known as Insectavora, and she was covered in tattoos. She had a knack for eating bugs, too, and describing to the audience what they tasted like. (Feeding crickets oranges made them taste orangey.) There are plenty of MMOs out there that would feel right at home in the Coney Island freakshow. These odd ducks are made by someone special, played by a special few and visited by me. I love them, but making a list of them was sort of hard. After all, these days we have MMOs that are populated with the weirdest looking critters you can imagine, and all of our tolerance levels for the odd and unusual have risen. But click past the cut and let me show you some of my favorite oddball MMOs. Remember...I use that term lovingly.
Champions Online adds housing via new hideout feature
Cryptic Studios is adding another feather to its player-generated content cap via a new Champions Online feature called the hideout. As per the Champions website, "every hero should have a place to call home," and hideouts are "themed environments that allow you to choose and customize your own bit of Champions Online real estate." In other words, welcome to the superhero version of player housing. Each hideout is an account-wide perk with a variety of customizable features (including access to a tailor and a Socrates crime computer terminal). Hideouts also come in four flavors: the basement, cave, moon, and Sanctum varieties. Head to the official Champions website to read more about each option and find out how to unlock hideouts on your account. Also, don't forget to check out the video preview after the break.
Free for All: EVE drama due to bolster waning TV soap schedule
Much was said recently about the latest EVE Online "drama." If you've talked and written about MMORPGs as long as I have, you'd be very rich if you were paid a nickel every time you heard the word. Drama, when applied to the world of MMOs, ends up feeling like a funeral for an insect... more than a little dramatic. As someone who has played EVE a bit off and on (I have a six-year-old account, but only a 10,000,000-SP character), I was more than a little surprised at the response -- but not really surprised. In fact, the recent drama -- hell, any EVE drama -- comes off as rather humorous. The same thing happened when World of Warcraft began selling the infamous sparklepony or when Lord of the Rings Online decided to sell a special skeleton steed in its cash shop (I was lucky enough to get one during the holiday event). Players screamed that they would be canceling, that they would protest in some form or another, and that they would never buy a product from the developer, go anywhere near anyone who shared the same name as any of the developers, or even utter the name of their poor, lost avatars again. Yet, here we are. Every time something like this happens, it happens for a few distinct reasons. Click past the cut and I'll fill you in.
Global Chat: We're only human edition
Welcome to this week's Global Chat! We love hearing what you have to say at Massively, and we love it even more when we can share the best comments with all of our readers. Massively staffers will be contributing some of their favorite comments every week, so keep an eye out every Sunday for more Global Chat! This week's edition of Global Chat focuses on combat styles and playable races. Follow along after the jump to see what our readers had to say this week!
Champions Online issues state of the game letter, launches Aftershock Issue 5
We've got double the Champions Online treats for you folks today, as Cryptic has released the June state of the game letter as well as the next issue in the ongoing Aftershock weekly comic series. We'll start with a quick run-down of the state of the game letter. Hideouts will soon be added to the game, giving heroes a place to call their own. The Telekinesis power set review is almost finished, and players should be on the lookout for a mid-July release. A good deal of new items have been added to the C-Store, and Cryptic has also announced that July's additions to the store will follow a fantasy theme, while August's will focus on sci-fi and technology. There's much more to the letter that we simply don't have room for, so head on over to the official site for the full state of the game announcement. Next we come to Aftershock's Issue 5, titled Dark Tower. In this issue, CO players must infiltrate a tower belonging to the nefarious Kings of Edom in order to save Luther Black and the last remaining UNTIL soldiers from a diabolical fate. It's a battle against time, as our heroes must succeed before the arrival of the Kings of Edom themselves, lest the very fabric of the Qliphothic Realm unravel with them trapped inside. Will our heroes survive? Find out in Aftershock, Issue 5.
Free for All: Fairyland 2 weirds me out at E3 (in a good way)
Imagine taking MTV and turning it into a physical place and mixing in the internet and the circus -- the biggest, noisiest (and surprisingly non-smelly) one of all -- then throw in millions of dollars in hardware, and you have a good idea about E3. I don't like noise much anymore, especially after playing drums as hard as my stick arms could let me for nearly 24 years. My ears are tired. My eyes need rest. I can walk forever, but information overload can drain me. So I designated each of the two major show floors as "noisy" and "less noisy." Still, it wasn't as though I was being forced to walk on fire or to stab needles into my eyes. Let's be honest: This was the greatest assignment any game writer could ask for. Still, I wanted to find the games that no one was talking about. The booths that were tucked somewhere near the bathrooms. And find one I did. It was a cool little booth that represented games from Taiwan. As soon as I saw that, I pounced. Granted, one of the games was not an MMORPG, but they were all intriguing. I walked around the entire collection of publishers and asked questions. I found some pretty neat stuff, too. Click past the cut and I'll tell you what I found.
Free for All: A small case of burnout
Last week, we asked you fair readers what you thought about the sheer number of free-to-play titles out there. Could there be too many? we asked. I read the comments; I even posted one myself. Oh, sure, free choice is always a good thing, but let's be sure to understand what we were asking. The question was not only are there too many titles? or could there be too many titles? but also will quality go down as the number of titles goes up? Or in my particular case on this particular day, is burnout inevitable when we're faced with so many choices? I only ask because I have suffered from a slight case of burnout myself recently. Now, I need to explain. I can already hear the tick-tacking of the keyboards as free-to-play "opponents" rush to say, "AH HA! See? We told you!" in the comments section, without bothering to read the rest of the article. Let me explain, if you don't mind. Then you can make your comments. Click past the cut.
Free for All: Which came first, the grind or the grinding?
Grinding is an interesting thing. I've thought about it a lot lately in an effort to come to grips with the fact that I just don't play MMOs like my friends do. Oh, don't get me wrong; I can log in and blow away five hours of my life on a title, just like I did last night with the newly relaunched APB: Reloaded. Holy moly, I can play that game forever, especially if I have a friend with me. I can also spend countless hours in other games, exploring and generally acting like some kind of virtual hippie, never touching a sword or destroying a foe. A lot of the time, combat just feels repetitive. Exploring for hours and driving a car into mailboxes over and over really shouldn't count as grinding though, should it? Grinding is, in my opinion, defined by the repetition of the exact same action (or close to it) for a long time, usually in the pursuit of a single goal. The thing is, the grind has been around since the dawn of graphical MMOs. Hasn't it? But what started the grind? Was the desire for grind already there? Is the playerbase just better-suited for grinding? Click past the cut and let's chat about it. Grab some tea.
Global Chat: Room for improvement edition
Welcome to this week's Global Chat! We love hearing what you have to say at Massively, and we love it even more when we can share the best comments with all of our readers. Massively staffers will be contributing some of their favorite comments every week, so keep an eye out every Sunday for more Global Chat! We love our MMOs here at Massively, but we'll be the first to tell you that nothing's perfect. There's always room for improvement, but sometimes things just are what they are and you find a way to work with the situation and enjoy yourself anyway. Today's Global Chat is all about acknowledging those limitations and less-than-fun aspects of gaming and what you can do in spite of those potential roadblocks. Follow along after the jump to see what the Massively community had to say this week!
Free for All: A few tips for the indie developer
I am no developer, nor do I have dreams of one day becoming one. I absolutely love having the ability to write about what I like and to interact with those who enjoy (or hate) what I write. Developers have their hands and tongues tied much of the time, and often the indie developer gets no credit whatsoever. Granted, if artistic release or programming is your thing, I say go for it. But I will absolutely admit to wanting attention most of all -- it's what I like to do. Over the years, I have visited more independent MMO sites and played more independent MMOs than I care to recount. Still, not a week goes by when I do not find a new one to look at, and so I file it away for future use. I am often amazed at some of the mistakes indie developers make -- such obvious ones, too. I try to remind myself that the garage-coder is not always the best choice for graphic designer, so sometimes the websites and logos of these tiny companies look like they were hosted on Geocities. I decided to have some fun and throw down some general rules that I apply to indie developers. Take them or leave them, but I think that they are based on quite a bit of observation. Feel free to add any of your own. Click past the cut and let's get to them!
Free for All: Gaming with Game of Thrones
I have really been enjoying the new series Game of Thrones over on the HBO network. In fact, when I recently changed to a faster internet provider, I deliberately added on the exclusive channel just for the series. Even though I have never read the books, a 15-minute preview of the show was enough to convince me to watch it. While I am truly enjoying the break from fantasy that is chock-full of smart-alec modern-day references (all delivered by smirking hipsters with swords), I admit to still being a little afraid that the series will take a turn for the goofy or overly dramatic. If a single vampire shows up in this one, I am going to turn it all off and go on a long vacation. So far, though, it's been a delightful romp into a cold, realistic world. After I watch a new episode, I avoid the internet for fear of random spoilers or the temptation to look at character bios. I simply do not want to know what's going to happen, so please do not tell me. Since the series has started, I have begun to notice how I enjoy the same basic entertainment in my gaming. I want political intrigue, amazing landscapes, and the occasional epic, bloody fight. Join me past the cut and let's look at some games that provide those three things.
Free for All: So how DO they make their money?
Each and every article I write will have at least a few comments from different points of view on the subject of free-to-play profits and cash-shop uses. Once again my wonderfully unique position as a writer for a large gaming website gives me some general insight into the mind of today's modern MMO gamer -- at least the type of gamer who comes to Massively for his information. As with any group, there are a lot of myths that are passed around, as well as many truths. Figuring out which is which takes time. I decided to continue with this fascinating look at payment models by gathering even more information. Already I have collected some of my favorite comments from many of you for possible future use in a column, but I love asking questions for you to answer. This week I thought it would be fun to examine some of the different "truths" about free-to-play that get passed around. For example: How do free-to-play publishers make their money? Do most free-to-play players really pay more than a typical subscription price? Do free-to-play games sell power? Click past the cut and let's look into some of these items.
Cryptic reveals new Devastator archetype video
There's a new heavy weapons-based archetype coming to Champions Online, and Cryptic has unleashed a new trailer to whet your appetite. The Devastator looks to be something of a melee powerhouse if the one-minute clip is any indication, and viewers will be pleased to know that the video is crammed full of dastardly violence, mighty swings of a rather large battle axe, and enough over-the-top villainous atmosphere to fill a year's worth of comic books. The new archetype debuts in today's patch, and you can check out the full trailer after the cut. While you're at it, why not partake of the Devastator discussion on the official Champions Online forums?
