grinders
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Rise and Shiny recap: War of Angels
To continue my investigation into "imported grinders," I have moved on to check out War of Angels, a new game being published by gamigo. I have to say, I found plenty of good stuff and plenty of bad stuff in the game, as well as some of those obvious tiny fixes that will hopefully be undertaken after this open beta. Let's be honest -- an open beta is considered a release these days, and I don't think that's fair. Yes, many games use it (and I have heard developers admit to this) as a way to make money while continuing to roll out basic development, but I say we allow them to just drop the "beta" part and get on with it. As far as the background story: I do not log into a game to memorize the lore. I do not go to the website to write down notes on the lore in the hopes that I will get it right in my first impressions article. Just like any stranger in a strange land, I am not going to know everything right away. It should be no different for me in a game, and one of my litmus tests is to see whether the game will provide me with an understanding of who and where I am. It's not impossible; other games do it. I didn't find much lore in the quests at all, so I cannot comment on it much. But let's talk about how War of Angels plays.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - Incumbent versus Reform
The superhero MMO debate is upon us, with hot button topics like PvP and Character Customization being thrown around as if we were trying to reform health care. Grinders has not picked a side, but in a year or two when the fresh car smell is gone from Champions Online and City of Heroes has either sank or swam, we'll have a clear idea of what we really actually want out of these games. Still, the competition is healthy for the market, and I say pile it on.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will be allowed to hack into your brain. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and inventing a paint-drying MMO, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - A Backup Plan
Looks like the Matrix Online is taking it's last breath today, which is just the way these things go sometimes. It was a niche game, but the idea of playing a video game inside a computer world is still a nifty hall of mirrors. Personally I hope the new TRON movie revitalizes the franchise and puts an MMO on the table. I sure would like to take on the Master Control Program myself someday.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will be allowed to hack into your brain. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and inventing a paint-drying MMO, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - See, It's a Metaphor
Especially during press and publicity events like San Diego's Comic Con, we are teased with what future games are to come, and lament the games that we cling to yet so desperately yearn to abandon. Grinders understands your pain. We're also pretty entertained by all the silly acronyms.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will be allowed to ripen on the vine. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and inventing a paint-drying MMO, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - Cronyism Cronies
The Grinders gag today is from our own James Egan, who made a critical typo while working on an All Points Bulletin article. Swapping words in the title gave us a whole different game concept, the gritty underground world of white collar crime. Which reminds me, time to check my Swiss bank account, I'm sure Realtime Worlds' check has cleared by now.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will be held over the shredder until they talk. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and inventing a paint-drying MMO, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - Leave the Vase, Take the Cannoli
Every MMO with a floating economy seems to have problems with gold farming, but Final Fantasy XI makes the issue even more peculiar by having actual plant cultivation involved in the process. With Grinders I'd prefer to imagine some angry moogle mafioso running an underground botanical operation for money and power.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will be ruthlessly sold by moogles for fun an profit. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and inventing a paint-drying MMO, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - Gender Equality
City of Heroes continues to fulfill items on the long list of player requests, next up being the option to change your height and gender, the only to pieces to the costume editor left static. While I think it's neat you'll finally be able to make that Mr. Hyde knockoff you've been waiting to build, Grinders today reflects other possible gameplay options.On a side note, I wonder what this'll do to the character gender debate. Now in CoH, your character doesn't need to have a gender, just a costume slot does. You could make a character that is in fact five distinct characters. Food for thought.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will also probably involve boobies in some form or another. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and making glib social commentary, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: The Haves and the Have-Nots
I suppose I should legally declare that Grinders is not paid by Sony to do comics about Free Realms, but on a completely unrelated note, I do so enjoy flossing my teeth with hundred dollar bills.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will be put under a microscope and checked for the latest strain of Murloc Flu. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and sporting a fancy tophat and monocle, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - Urban Adventurers
Welly welly well. It's about time the MMO scene started seeing some real deviation. Grinders is more than proud to get revved up for Cities XL, and try out some more playstyles than just leather armor and pest control. Though, it'll be really interesting to see what similarities do come out of the game. It'll also make us rethink what an MMO is, because if 'lots of players' and 'online' are the only two sticking points, I don't think that it'll stay a genre of its own for much longer.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will he harangued for showing up the rest of them and upsetting the curve, but will be probably worked into the comic somehow. %Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and taking naps at his desk with his nose on the H key, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - Hot or Not
Sticking to the theme of horrible MMO ideas that shouldn't, but are, the Grinders thinktank has aimed its sights at the new Seventeen MMO. Though, I bet calling it an MMO is really starting to abuse the term, much like Virtual Laguna Beach and Habbo Hotel have caused us to do in the past. Still, I expect there will be a few fun-loving fuggos who will want to mix up the bubbly suburban content. You've been warned.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will he harangued for showing up the rest of them and upsetting the curve, but will be probably worked into the comic somehow. %Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and taking naps at his desk with his nose on the H key, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - MMOs for Anything These Days
I like to think of Grinders as having the potential to be a window into the absurd, which is exactly what category a Tom and Jerry Massive Multiplayer game would fall under. As it is with these things, truth is stranger than fiction. Still, if I had my hands on the art direction I'd gritty it up a bit.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will probably not involve Tom or Jerry in any way, and will be worked into the comic somehow. Magic, I bet.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and making too many alts in City of Heroes, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - Didn't Make the Cut
Often times Grinders is a story of something that has actually happened, but today we dabble in the wonderland of the Free Realms that could have been. Honestly I think taxidermy would work great with the Pet Trainer job. Keep little Bella around forever. Yeah, I'm sure you named your pet cat Bella.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will be put under a microscope and checked for the latest strain of Murloc Flu. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and making too many alts in City of Heroes, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - Spies in the Spyhouse
So, this week's Grinders is clearly not an MMO, which would be a gross infraction if it wasn't such a raw truth; whenever Team Fortress 2 undergoes a class update, the online gaming community all shifts to one side of the boat, dropping their MMOs to grind the new unlockable weapons. This of course means a certain shift in the team populations. Valve's trying something different this time with two class updates instead of just one, but see if that'll really help. Really.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will be tenderized into a square patty and grilled on the barbie for our next luau. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and making too many alts in City of Heroes, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - The Best of the Best
As depicted in today's Grinders, there's a lot of variety to the jobs in Free Realms. However, not all of them are best suited for combat, as Morgan and Wendy experienced. Still, I think the idea of a kart racing class is pretty darned cool.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will be tenderized into a square patty and grilled on the barbie for our next luau. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and making too many alts in City of Heroes, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - You Reap What You Sow
Today's Grinders takes a little deviation from the earlier formats into a more political satire direction. Still, farming is a hot topic in any reward-driven MMO, and the recent farm wars have made the agrarian playstyle all the more relevant. Still, whatever your stance on the debate, you're always welcome to join those of us chuckling from the sidelines.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel.pew@weblogsinc.com. The best will be tenderized into a square patty and grilled on the barbie for our next luau. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and making too many alts in City of Heroes, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - Big Ships Eat Little Ships
This is probably a common gag for EVE players familiar with the Titan capital ships, and Arkhamina from GoonFleet was kind enough to share it for Grinders, along with this adorable little narrative:"Once upon a time, there was a sad Titan. All of his buddies had gone to Empire space to gank the freighters who were safely moving things around where Concord was there to protect them. Since Titans are not allowed there, he could not go play with his Goon friends, he wandered lonely alone, until he saw a Tempest, all alone. He opened his mouth wide and..... CHOMP."Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel@massively.com. The best will be tenderized into a square patty and grilled on the barbie for our next luau. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and making too many alts in City of Heroes, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - Switching Roles
Gender issues in MMOs are a low-hanging fruit for lampooning, but today's Grinders comes from Random Button, a girl gamer who sometimes prefers the big goofy characters to avoid attention. Backwards? Maybe. I can't vouch for the genders of the other featured characters, but I do want to thank them for rallying in Atlas Park to get in the feature. Thanks, heroes!Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel.pew@weblogsinc.com. The best will be tenderized into a square patty and grilled on the barbie for our next luau. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and making too many alts in City of Heroes, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - Horses Make Bad Parachutes
Today's Grinders anecdote was submitted by Berengar on the Meneldor server in Lord of the Rings Online, who learned this fact the hard way. Still I think the concept of the "Aerial Dismount" deserves some commendation.Have a funny story of your own? Submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel.pew@weblogsinc.com. The best will be tenderized into a square patty and grilled on the barbie for our next luau. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and making too many alts in City of Heroes, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - Limitless Creativity
Grinders is a weekly cartoon here at Massively devoted to chronicling your adventures in your favorite MMOs! If you have a funny story or just a funny character, submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel.pew@weblogsinc.com. The best will be etched in stone and displayed in the town square for all to see. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and making too many alts in City of Heroes, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
Massively webcomic: Grinders - The Nyangnyang Dilemma
Grinders is a weekly cartoon here at Massively devoted to chronicling your adventures in your favorite MMOs! If you have a funny story or just a funny character, submit your tale complete with a screenshot to lemuel.pew@weblogsinc.com. The best will be etched in stone and displayed in the town square for all to see. Or just put in the comic.%Gallery-63060%Lemuel Pew is a webcomic artist and MMO player with the attention span of a guppy. Between sketching gamers in cartoon form and making too many alts in City of Heroes, he draws an online comic called Blank It. Feel free to watch his Twitter at your own risk.
