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Drama Mamas: When a friend keeps you from leaving WoW
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. Friendship is important, but is it so important that the effort to sustain it be one-sided? Hi Drama Mamas, I've been playing WoW for several years now, and while I enjoy it and am excited for MoP, I'm a little burnt out and want to take a break. However, there's an issue keeping me from taking the break that I want to, which is my friend. My friend Tom is a mutual friend of my friend Kyle, who I've known since high school who has already quit more or less (he's very busy and logs on a couple times a month, if that). Tom is a nice guy, and I enjoy talking with him and occasionally running stuff with him...but he only wants to play WoW. He doesn't want to play anything else, and he doesn't want to even talk about anything else.
EA delays unspecified social game based on 'major' EA IP
EA adjusted its earnings for the most recent quarter (its fiscal Q4) in part because of the delay of an "important social game." It just didn't say which one. In an investor conference call, CEO John Riccitiello broke the news that EA is moving the launch to Q1 of fiscal 2013 (January-March of this year).Later, during the Q&A portion, COO Peter Moore called it "a major title based on a major piece of the EA brand IP." EA recently acquired KlickNation, rebranding it BioWare Social, but that just happened last month -- likely not enough time to even think a game would be ready for this quarter. EA also releases social games through Playfish, EA Play, and EA Sports.
Garriott's Portalarium announces first game, and it's about garage sales
Multi-millionaire Richard Garriott probably hasn't been to a garage sale in many years (unless they were actually selling garages), but he's making a game about them. Perhaps those are the "roots" he intended to return to with his recent startup, Portalarium. Ultimate Collector: Garage Sale, going into closed beta "just after the holidays," is a Facebook game that claims to invent a new "shopping and collecting" category of social games. Players create homes and avatars, and then search in-game garage sales, storage units, estate sales, pawn shops, and other junkeries to complete collections of real-world items, using them to decorate their houses or flipping them in their own sales. Portalarium said that "national retailers" will also have in-game stores. Garriott's own experiences do play into the design of Ultimate Collector. Many of the available items will be from his own collection of ephemera, including space memorabilia, "quack medical devices," and of course shrunken heads. And all of the real-world items will come with information about their provenance. "In fact we've provided links in the game so players can go back to these websites to learn more about the items they've collected," said executive producer Dallas Snell, "and, in some cases, even buy them for real if they still exist and are available for sale."
Enter at Your Own Rift: Getting a head start
Dateline: Thursday, February 24th, 12:55 p.m. EST. After having rushed home from work (huzzah for a half-day), I was frantically putting the kids to bed for an afternoon nap and patching up my RIFT client. Twitter was abuzz with gamers sitting at the starting gate and revving their mice. It was here. After seven betas, it was here, and we would be the first in the door. 12:59 p.m. EST. Began checking the server status list, trying to will the dull grey names to light up as they signified activity. 1:00 p.m. EST. Scott Hartsman posts a short message on Twitter: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to RIFT." Right on cue, the servers came up, and what felt like the entire population of Oregon tried to cram into the game all at once. By 1:01 p.m., when I logged in, my chosen server of Faeblight was already full and had 461 people in the queue. I was 462. It would be another 45 minutes until I was able to play the game proper.
Too late to start playing Lord of the Rings Online?
The trouble with any long-running game is that it gets top-heavy. This is especially a problem in games such as Final Fantasy XI, where you simply have to group to accomplish most things in the game, but it's really a problem even in the most solo-friendly game with an expansion or two. After all, more often than not there's an ever-raising level cap, gear curve, and expected knowledge about the game, not to mention stretches of previously endgame content that's no longer relevant. When A Casual Stroll to Mordor asks if it's too late to start playing Lord of the Rings Online, the question could be extended to many other games. Of course, it's probably not exceptionally surprising that the conclusion is "no," duly pointing out that the only time it's technically too late is when the game is shutting down soon. There are also tips about making the areas at lower levels less of a ghost town, which largely boil down to being proactive. People will almost always have alts or restarted characters, and actively trying to get your foot in the door can make up for a lot of inexperience. It's as true in Lord of the Rings Online as it is everywhere: putting forth the effort makes a lot of difference, even if it won't close the expanded level gap by itself.
Turbine launches promo game, is crushed by its own success [Updated]
Turbine sent us a press release today, saying that it and Codemasters have launched a "new social gaming website" at unlocktheminesofmoria.com. Actually, that's the official website of the Mines of Moria expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online, and it's been running since the expansion was announced earlier this month, but fret not -- there is something new here!The site has been updated with the first of its social games, called King Under the Mountain. It's a "tactical strategy game," and the schtick is that it's derived from a game played by the dwarf lords of Khazad-Dûm. It involves very Dwarven things like "caverns, gems, and fighting." You can play it alone or against your friends, and it's pretty cool.Actually, we're just assuming the "pretty cool" part because unfortunately before we could check it out for ourselves, the site was shut down for maintenance. Apparently it was hosed "due to overwhelming response" from interested LotRO players. It'll be back up at some point though, if it's not already by the time you read this, so keep checking back if you're interested.[EDIT: Site's back up. Enjoy!]
