pirates-online
Latest
Pirates of the Caribbean Online extends Founders program
Disney has announced that they are extending the Pirates of the Caribbean Online Founders program which was supposed to end the midnight before Halloween. It has been extended for a limited time, presumably to attract more paid players.The Founders program includes a Founder title which looks like a pretty gold coin with an F on it next to your name as well as some goodies that come in the mail at a later date. Pirates of the Caribbean Online is a free to play browser game with optional Unlimited access for $9.95 a month. I signed up to be a founding member because I wanted to see the goodies, but I didn't realize that free players don't get access to my favorite part of the game: poker. It's not listed in the Unlimited Access features list -- I only found out from the tips on the loading screens. I'm not sure what other ingame-only documented benefits I'm enjoying that aren't on the list.If you'd like unlimited access and the Founder's benefits, you can go to their signup site to enter your payment info. The official list of Unlimited Access benefits is after the jump.
Pirates Online goes live on Mac
I heard a few times that Disney's new casual MMO Pirates of the Caribbean Online went live yesterday, but MacWorld reminds us that it's out for both Windows and Mac. Metacritic doesn't have too many reviews up as of this writing, but our friends at Joystiq found it to be a fun, easy to get into MMO when they played an earlier build of it, so if you're craving some pick-up-and-play pirate MMO gaming, it might be just what yer lookin' for, matey.Unless you're running Leopard, that is. Currently, the game's system requirements only list Tiger, and while MacWorld doesn't know whether Leopard is supported or not, they're not alone-- I called Laurie at "Pirates Online Customer Support" (boy, Disney sure poured a lot of money into this one), and while she was very helpful, she didn't know whether Leopard was supported or not. I threw a note into their system to try and check, and if I hear back, I'll update the post.Of course, you could just try downloading and running it yourself in Leopard, but then again this is only one day after Halloween, and running unsupported Disney software on your Mac is pretty scary -- might be a little much along with everything else.Update: Never mind-- our illustrious commenters say it runs just fine in Leopard. Keelhaul away!
Joyswag: A Pirates of the Caribbean sword
[Update: Avast ye readers! We've picked our winner at random, one Mr. Victor Franco, for the second half of his comment in which he rightly pointed out "tis a good prize." Arrrrrr, that she is.]Full disclosure: We've had this sword holed up in our secret underground lair since last February, when we got a look at Disney's mainstream-oriented Pirates of the Caribbean Online (at a swordfighting event). We don't know about your underground lairs, but ours is short on storage space so it was with a heavy sigh that we met the news that Pirates Online would not see a Spring 2007 release (we gotta get rid of this thing!).Well, we waited it out, and Disney sprung the release date of Pirates Online on us this morning (surprise ... it's today) so we went digging through our lair and – voila! – found the sword. It's a replica of Captain Jack Sparrow's cutlass, made from stainless steel, complete with a wall mounted frame and numbered limited edition plaque (#65 out of 3000 if you must know), with an estimated value of $240 or so. If you want this collectible cutlass, all you've got to do is leave a comment on this here blog post in your best pirate speak. You can leave as many comments as you like between now and tomorrow afternoon at 7pm ET, at which point we'll select one winner at random (no automated systems or we'll know; you gotta use your fingers). Last point, those fingers need to be 18 or older and live in the good old US of A if they be wantin' to handle this here cutlass. Click here for the official rules, if you're into that sorta thing.%Gallery-9521%
Pirates of the Caribbean Online is now live
Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Online has launched.For those of you who don't know, it is a MMO that uses your browser and is based on the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise. It is free to play for limited access and unlimited access is $9.95 a month.If you are interested in checking it out, http://www.piratesonline.com will redirect you to either the news site or the Play Now site.The game still has some issues such as frozen black screens, but it does seem more robust than the last time I played in the beta.The character creation is fun and the in-game Poker playing is a blast, so I do recommend at least trying the free-to-play portion. See you in Port Royal!
Pirates of the Caribbean Online launching on Halloween - maybe
Though no official launch date has been announced as of this writing, all signs point to a Halloween launch for Pirates of the Caribbean Online.Fact: The Pre-Order offer expires at midnight on Tuesday, October 30th.Fact: The beta is over and all beta testers can transfer their accounts to the Test Server using the information in emails sent to their registered accounts. Fact: Beta testers are being invited to "celebrate the long night before the dawn of Pirates Online" on the test server where their beta characters await. New characters will have to be created when the game launches, however.Conjecture: If the offer to pre-order expires at midnight before Halloween and the beta is over, then Pirates Online will probably launch on October 31st.Is it ready? I don't know, but I'll be there with my colors hoisted. You'll most likely find me at the poker table. Yar!
Pirates of the Caribbean Online offering pre-order incentives
Disney wants YOU to be one of the founding members of Pirates of the Caribbean Online. If you pre-order the Unlimited Access for Pirates Online, you will get a few benefits that presumably won't be available after launch: 50% off your first month Limited edition cloth map Founder title for every pirate on your account Crew Kit (unknown contents) If you are considering this, there are a few things you should know:Free play: Like most web-based MMOs, you don't have to pay to play. There will be limited free play access to the game.Subscription fees: The cost of Unlimited Access will be $9.95 a month. As a Founder, your first month will be $4.95.Tangible gifts not immediate: The cloth map and Crew Kit will be mailed to your home address "a few weeks" after the launch of the game.No specific launch date: The launch "date" for Pirates of the Caribbean Online is Fall. So they have until December 20th to honor this time frame. Founders will not have their credit cards charged until launch.They may not be ready on time: Pirates of the Caribbean Online was supposed to be released with the third movie which was out this past summer. They have come a long way since then, but I'm not sure if they are far enough along to launch this season.I would recommend trying to get into the beta and seeing if you like the gameplay. Just remember that Beta testing means lots of bugs and lag and rollbacks. Otherwise, unless you are into collectibles, you may want to wait and try the free aspects of the game before you sign up for Unlimited Access. I signed up to be a Founder, but I'm a dork who loves pirates. I'll make sure to let you know if it was worth it.
Pirates of the Caribbean Online: First Impressions
Pirates of the Caribbean Online is in the Stress Testing part of Beta right now, which means there are regularly scheduled lagfests occurring on a weekly basis. This is usually the final part of Beta testing which means they should be able to meet their "Fall" release time. I haven't gone too far in the game and there is quite a bit of hint text missing on the loading screens, but for the most part things seem to be a lot more stable and "filled in" compared to when Beta first began a few months ago. Here is what I think of PotCO so far:Graphics: Not so great. A bit dated actually. But the overall look and coloring works well for what it is.Character Creation: There is a lot of customization available for your pirate. And the name generator is quite a bit of fun as well -- I am Samantha Truepaine. I would not rate the character creation as high as City of Heroes/Villains, but it's close enough.
Joystiq hands-on: Pirates of the Caribbean Online
Last week, at the Bay Area Fencing Center, I got a chance to play Disney Online's Pirates of the Caribbean Online. With its variety of activities, the MMO is targeted at a more intermediate, casual audience than World of Warcraft and other online games. Beyond level grinding players can engage ship battles, venture through quests from characters in the Pirates movies, play card games, and try other pirate-based objectives.Pirates Online is based on the Toontown Online engine, meaning that a fairly old PC can still play. (Final requirements are still uncertain, but a P3 800 with 256MB RAM is the target.) But because of the low entry, the graphics are far from current standard; I saw a lot of blocky shapes and simple gradients. While good graphics would be ideal, I thought the visuals sufficiently conveyed the world.The Toontown engine's recent Mac conversion will also benefit Apple's gamers; Pirates Online will be released for OS X. The developers were excited about Mac prospects and hope to get the game out at the same time as the PC launch in the Spring, but Disney Interactive's official stance is that a Mac game is coming, but without any timeline.I had fun exploring Pirates of the Caribbean Online, taking the helm of ships, shouting arcane seafaring phrases, and swashbuckling. Keep reading to learn about pirate garb, fluid fighting, and massive ship battles.%Gallery-1491%
