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Play me, my lord: Might and Magic Heroes Kingdoms fires up an interview
The Heroes of Might and Magic franchise has a long and rich history with PC gamers, although the series has somewhat fallen into obscurity as of late. Ubisoft is looking to thrust it back into the spotlight with the upcoming Might and Magic Heroes Kingdoms, a Civilization-type title. We've been tracking MMHK since this year's E3, and recently MMOsite.com grabbed some facetime with Ubisoft's Chris Early about the game. (Note that this isn't the Heroes of Might and Magic Online that's also nearing release.) A browser-based title imported from overseas, Might and Magic Heroes Kingdoms encourages players to slowly build up a city (and later, cities) and interact with their neighbors. This can take the form of peaceful resource trading, hostile skirmishes, or large-scale strategy. While MMHK is set in the Might and Magic universe, the game differs from Heroes of Might and Magic's playstyle -- for example, combat is automatically resolved instead of turn-based. One of the most interesting features of the game is that it has a six-month cycle, after which winners are declared and the server resets for another grand struggle. The interview spends a bit of time prodding Chris Early about the advantages -- and potential imbalance -- between free players and those who drop cash for advantages (such as more cities to control). Early claims that while paying players will have more options available, free players are still a significant force, especially if they specialize. You can read the whole interview over at MMOsite.com.
Boggle for iPad and Might & Magic HK out now, Star Wars Tower Defense coming soon
Here are a few games to try out over the holiday weekend. Boggle for iPad has been released by EA. I got to play the game at an event last week, and while the core functionality isn't much different than that of Bookworm or its many clones, the bright, full iPad graphics are impressive. Outside of the simple Boggle gameplay, there are a few other modes to check out as well, including time-based challenges, multiplayer game types, and modes that will score for you or let you score yourself. At just US $4.99, it's a quality iPad game. French game developer Ubisoft has released its online MMO Might & Magic Heroes Kingdoms for the iPad. We Americans will have to wait, though, as the app is currently only available in France, Germany, and the UK. Those folks had to wait for their iPads, so we suppose that they had to get some fun games at launch, too. Finally, Star Wars: Battle for Hoth is a tower defense game for iPhone and iPad that's not out yet, but man, it looks good. I've never really gotten into the tower defense genre, but the combination of the Star Wars license along with the bigger iPad touchscreen means that I'll be looking for that one on the App Store soon. Also, just as this post was going to press, we heard about one more game for you to play this weekend: Prince of Persia Retro, the original game about Iranian royalty, is now available on iPhone and iPad for just 99 cents. Enjoy!
Might and Magic goes MMO
GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that the Heroes of Might and Magic series is going to be re-imagined as a browser-based Massively Multiplayer Online game. Due out in the Spring of next year from Ubisoft, Heroes of Might and Magic Kingdoms will allow players to lead huge armies against each other, while also developing heroic characters. This is essentially the gameplay seen in the traditional PC games, though assumably it will be set in a persistent environment.The game will be browser-based, meaning no download or installation will be required, and play sessions can last anything between a few minutes to several hours, depending on the player's own preference. The publisher's chief creative officer, Serge Hascoet, commented: "Heroes of Might and Magic Kingdoms will open a wide door to the Might and Magic universe, allowing players to immerse themselves within it unlike ever before."There's no word on what kind of fee, if any, will be leveled for the game service.
