skimpy-armor
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One Shots: Female fashion show
Every once in a while I issue a screenshot challenge that lights a fire under the community here, and my call to show off female armor that wasn't chainmail bikinis did exactly that. So today we're going to have a fashion show, starting with Ralph the Wonder Llama! "If battleframes were cars, I think recon battleframes would be the hot little sports coupes of the Firefall universe," Mr. Llama writes. "Here my ARES pilot shows off the sleek, bold lines of the Raptor battleframe as she gazes down upon Sunken Harbor. It gets good gas mileage too: sporty, fun to drive, and economical!"
Flameseeker Chronicles: Cultivating positive growth in Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2's Tower of Nightmares release has been with us for the past week, transforming formerly beautiful (if centaur-populated) Kessex Hills into a toxic wasteland. The source of the devastation is a massive, thistle-topped structure in Viathan Lake, which was built and defended by the Krait and Nightmare Court. A whole lot of mystery is tied up in that thing, from Krait religion to Nightmare ambitions to the involvement of Scarlet Briar, but Marjory Delaqua and her partner Kasmeer Meade are on the case. The Pact has also gotten involved by aiding with research and demolishing the tower plant's offshoots, which are spreading on the wind like dandelions, only I wouldn't recommend adding them to salads, and they're not fluffy. The ArenaNet team responsible for this release has made some praiseworthy improvements over previous releases, which supports the idea that GW2's living world is still a work in progress with lots of room to grow. Combined with some interesting developer responses from the collaborative development initiative, I think it paints a promising picture of where the story is going in the upcoming months.
Scarlet Blade streaks into closed beta
The self-proclaimed "premier mature MMO" of our time, Scarlet Blade, has gone into closed beta. Aeria Games announced that this saucy beta test will be the last step before the game's launch. Aeria Games calls this a "monumental day" and says that Scarlet Blade already has one of the largest fanbases of any of the studio's titles. Players who hit certain mature milestones in beta testing will receive premier prizes when the game goes live. Scarlet Blade also has several founder's packs available for those who want to stock up on bundled goods for a discounted price. There's no word yet whether the studio will be charging for character clothes by the square inch or for sex change surgery so that male characters can join the fun. [Source: Aeria Games press release]
Lineage II offering augmented Adenian underwear promo
While wading into virtual battle in your skivvies may invite the wrath of the PC police, doing so in the world of Lineage II will give you substantial stat bonuses. NCsoft is running a Choose Your Underwear promotion from now through March 13th. The unmentionables in question are broken down into five cash shop sets, each of which grants the wearer base stat bonuses in the form of +35 to physical defense, +15 to magical defense, +7 to speed, and +15 to elemental attributes (fire, water, wind, etc.). The garments can be augmented with additional stats and skills via life stones and gem stones. Lineage II's business model relies completely on the cash shop, as 100% of the game's content is available to all players for free. [Thanks to everyone who tipped us!]
The Perfect Ten: Why MMO armor is completely ridiculous
This is probably a rant best saved for another day, but I want to know when it became completely acceptable not to demand that MMO studios explain the building blocks of their game universes. The devs know that we'll just draw on tropes (usually fantasy) to fill in the gap, so most of the explanations they give for in-game reasoning have to do with a weak backstory of a class instead of why, say, a liquid potion binds together bones and allows you resurrect completely after being chopped into 60 pieces. I get why tropes are depended on so much, but in my opinion, they rob these games of the potential to be more immersive and lifelike. Pretty much most elements of MMO games break down even when you apply the game's own internal logic (what little has been revealed) to it. Chief among these borked elements? Armor. MMO armor just doesn't make sense, nor does it hold up to even a light level of scrutiny. Today we're going to cast aside the "it's just fantasy, go with it" excuses to investigate why your gear is completely ridiculous from a common sense standpoint. Heck, I wasn't even breathing hard by the time I counted to 10 on this one.
Aeria highlights Scarlet Blade's skimpy armor
Aeria Games is readying yet another free-to-play MMO. We say yet another because by some counts, the newly announced Scarlet Blade will be the company's 13th published MMORPG since its founding in 2006. This time around the firm is giving players 50v50 and 80v80 PvP as well as control of what it calls "eye-catching heroines" and "exhilarating combat." The former gets more play in the company's latest press release, which states that Scarlet Blade's all-female cast is "so adept at combat that they can hold their own even in the scarcest attire." Closed beta signups are now live on the game's official website. [Source: Aeria Games press release]
The Soapbox: TERA's rocky road to release
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. What a difference a year makes, eh? February of 2011 found me drooling over my keyboard as I devoured all the screenshots and gameplay footage leaking out of TERA's Korean launch (yes, the westernization process really has been dragging on for a year). Fast-forward 12 months and the game is losing a little bit of its luster because of certain En Masse decisions and in spite of the fact that the firm has a potentially awesome MMO on its hands.
Female-only Queens Blade launches website, pubescent fantasies
Do you ever complain that video game females are too chastely attired, even when heading into major combat? Is TERA's feminine armor covering up completely unnecessary square inches of real estate? Then you're not only someone whom we'd probably inch away from in an elevator but the target audience for Queens Blade, an upcoming MMO that features six all-female classes -- and little female clothing. One of the game's spotlight features is the ability for characters to transform into super-powerful versions via the Maximizing System. It both lifts and separates, we're told. Actually, the transformed versions of the characters are giant, hulking suits of armor with nasty weapons. Queens Blade now has a teaser site available with loads of information, pictures, and videos of the game. There's an option to view the site in either its native Korean or in English. If you're interested -- and we're not judging here -- stay tuned as the game is slated to head into closed beta testing earlier next year. The official trailer after the cut gives a good glimpse into this colorful post-apocalyptic landscape and the women set out to tame it.
Neowiz partners with Epic Games Korea for new Unreal 3 MMORPG
There's a new fantasy MMO in town, and it goes by the name of Bless (for now, at least). And actually, when we say "in town," we mean in Korea, where Neowiz has partnered with Epic Games Korea to develop the former's first Unreal 3-powered MMORPG. MMODen has the press release as well as the game's first trailer, and Bless features Eastern MMO staples like skimpy armor, feline anthropomorphs, and slick violence doled out with rather impressive weaponry. There's virtually no information on actual gameplay save that the title will feature 10 races, but we'll keep our eyes peeled and bring you the latest info as it develops. Prior to Bless, Neowiz was best known for its Cross Fire and Alliance of Valiant Arms MMO shooters, and the new title boasts 150 dedicated developers who've been working on the project since 2009. Check out the trailer after the break.
The Daily Grind: Does realism have any place in MMOs?
We may roleplay a lot of different things in our MMOs, but realistic living is usually not one of them. After all, we can fly, sustain massive amounts of damage without a visible scratch, never have to go to the bathroom, expect chainmail bikinis to protect us, slaughter thousands without remorse, keep horses in our back pockets, defy every law of nature there is, and encounter dozens of animals that are all missing essential organs needed for a quest objective. So as much as we've gotten used to the fantastical elements that pave the way to fun gameplay, I have to wonder: Does this mean that there is no place for realism in MMOs at all? If you look at older pen-and-paper RPGs, realistic elements such as pack weight, the need to eat, and persistent injuries all helped contribute to a relatable experience. What do you think? Should devs reconsider realistic elements in MMOs? Are we getting so far away from a believable experience that we've lost something crucial to RPGs? Or are you just hunky-dory with things as they are? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Perfect Ten: Death penalties
Death penalties belong in that tier of MMO discussion topics that is reserved for the most controversial subjects, along with skimpy armor and the New Game Enhancements. Death, as we know well, comes for us all with big, nasty, pointy teeth. But for some reason, we are not fans of it, neither in real life nor in online games. One of the reasons death penalties continue to be a divisive subject is that they used to be brutal beyond belief in MMOs back in the olden days of yore. As the MMO genre progressed, the penalties were lightened and experimented with in an effort to avoid driving players barking mad because of them. So we've ended up with two camps: one group of gamers who campaign for harsh death penalties to make the world seem exciting and dangerous, and another group that campaigns for lenient penalties in the interests of sanity. So today we're going to go through 10 of the most-used types of death penalties in MMOs, starting with the most brutal and ending with the most lenient. Stay for the after-column party as well, as you'll get a taste for this debate in the comments section!
The Perfect Ten: Weird staples of every fantasy MMO
If you take some weird, outlandish, or out-of-the-ordinary item and then saturate your life with it, sooner or later the bizarre becomes the accepted norm. So much so, in fact, that you'd cease to even think about it. I mean, do we ever question those magic boxes known as "microwaves" that mysteriously heat up our foods? Does anyone blink twice anymore when small computers tell us how to drive instead of nagging spouses? What about Carrot Top? Likewise, fantasy MMORPGs have erected trope after trope that we no longer question -- or even notice. Actually, the only time we'd notice one of these is if a game failed to include it. No matter how illogical and sometimes silly these MMO staples are when you think about them, we've been around them so long that we would no more notice them as we would the individual keyboard buttons that we type on daily. Still... you're thinking about them right now, aren't you? Those keys, cruelly dominated by your pecking fingers, pushing them back into place. What a techno-bully you are! In any case, come with us as we count down 10 weird staples that every fantasy MMO seems to include.
The Daily Grind: Are MMOs too over-sexualized?
The other day, a group of us in the Massively office watched the latest TERA demo video in a sort of horrified awe as the skimpily clad character ran with her fanny flying in the wind and gyrated her hips to cast a spell. It sparked an intense discussion among us as to the fine line between sexing a game up and over-sexing it just to draw in stereotypical drooling male gamers. It's a well-known adage that sex sells, and like it or hate it, attractive characters and skimpy outfits have been a part of MMORPGs for quite some time now. From World of Warcraft's seductive succubus to Age of Conan's topless extravaganza to Star Trek Online's character creation "breast slider," game studios tend to play the sex card first and frequently to pull in customers. This is why, for example, male armor tends to always be practical (if oddly flamboyant) while female armor isn't even big enough to protect one's dignity, never mind one's internal organs. So granted that sexual visuals are staples of the genre, do you think that MMOs have gone overboard with it all? Have you ever looked at a MMO or game advertisement and declared loudly and to no one in particular, "That isn't sexy, that's just tacky"? Should skimpy armor come in dude versions so that this sexualization isn't as lopsided? Which class is the biggest offender in your eyes?
The Queue: The Scantily Clad Edition
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Hello, everybody! I'm going to jump right into things today because I'm sure at least a dozen people will want to shiv me for my answer to our first question, and I'd like to give everyone time to do that.Andrew R. asked..."Why do the females in WoW always wear such scantily clad gear? I don't see how plate armor that exposes half your upper body will do you any good when someone wants to stab you. Isn't it kind of degrading to real women who play the game?"
One Shots: Distracting your opponents
It's perhaps a slightly underhanded tactic, but if it works, why not? Today's Warhammer Online One Shots comes to us from ScytheNoire who unleashed a small flood of Warhammer Online shots on us. Sadly he didn't give us a note to go along with this image. Of course we think it fairly well speaks for itself - if you want to get the attention of the opposing force and flummox them, why not head into battle wearing only the barest slip of armor and see what happens. It certainly got our attention!If you've snagged a screenshot of a massing army, a central city, or a battle, we want to see those screens! All games are welcome, from the large-name titles to indie games. Just email them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name and a quick description. We'll post it for everyone to ogle.%Gallery-9798%
