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MMObility: Fifteen fun free MMORPGs for your tablet or smartphone
Mobile MMORPGs are still hard to come by. Sure, there are a ton of pseudo-MMOs and developers who claim to have created an MMO, but the fact is that persistence -- a key to defining what an MMO is -- is often gone from many of these games. I want to be able to log out of the game while the rest of the digital world goes on without me. Or better yet, and in the case of most MMORTS titles, I want to log out of the game and continue to have an effect on the world through trades, wars, or the fallout of diplomacy. Even though the market is often bare, there are still quite a few MMOs out there. Many of them are fun as well! I know, I know, I am making it seem as though the smartphone or tablet MMO market is empty of all content, but the truth is that for its age, it's doing very well. There are more and more coming out all of the time, and hopefully I'll be there to cover them. In the meanwhile, enjoy a list of the specific titles that rest on my Nexus 7 3G tablet, just waiting to be played anywhere and any time!
MMObility: The 16 MMOs in my pocket
I have a smartphone that is pretty much filled to the brim with actual, functional, persistent MMORPGs. Some of them are three-dimensional romps through massive worlds filled with dungeons and dragons; others are representational browser-based games that work through the phone's native browser; and the rest are hardly nothing more than a few dots on the screen and impressionistic gameplay. Still, they are MMOs. I love having access to them, and over the last year I have actually grown to love simple, clever design and basic artwork over almost anything else. Forget Guild Wars 2; we'll hear enough about that to make us choke. Sure, it might be a fun game, but I'm a tech guy from the Bizarro universe. I prefer to see how little tech I need to game with. I want to push the limits even lower. Anyway, it's springtime here in Texas, so it's time to clean out all sorts of crap from my life. I organize all of my hundreds of songs, films, movies and art pieces and get my digital life in order as well. This process includes tweaking my current line-up of basic technology and downloading any updates for the games that exist on those devices. It's time to cull the weak and glorify the wonderful.
MV Guide: September 12-18, 2011
MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively's Livestream channel. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During livestream events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, livestream events are subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.)
MMObility: What makes a good mobile game to me
Over the time I have been exploring mobile gaming, especially since I have been writing this column, I've discovered exactly what I like and dislike about the genre. Mobile MMOs are the tiniest niche within the greater world of MMOs. Some would say that MMOs are even a tiny corner of gaming in general. While I don't quite agree, I would say that explaining my column to random game shop employees or curious friends is quite the challenge. "You write about games... on your phone?" "Yes, massively multiplayer games." "Huh?" Luckily there are many new ones that offer a much more robust gaming experience. I can proudly show people examples of games like Order and Chaos Online, Star Legends or Illyriad. Of course, I sift through many poor examples before I get to the good ones. So let's take this opportunity to discuss what I think makes for a good game. Click past the cut and feel free to add your ideas in the comments section!
MMObility: More new games and news from mobile MMOs
Finding mobile MMOs for smartphones, slates, and browsers is not easy. I will often lump games that can run on a basic laptop into this column, but the specific games for those wonderful mobile devices are still rare. Yes, there are quite a few games in the Mafia Wars-style, but I have been scouring the internet to find games that actually resemble "real" MMOs -- you know, the ones that have persistent worlds and interaction with large numbers of players. They're out there, but the faucet is at a slow drip. It must be hard to make mobile games, especially MMOs, especially in a market that is not only new but such a niche. Granted, titles like Order and Chaos Online and Pocket Legends have shown that great success is possible, but in this columns, I like to highlight the little guys and the hidden gems. So click past the cut and I'll share with you a few updates on some of my favorite lesser-known mobile MMOs.
Are we ready for an iMMO?
TibiaME, the MMO for mobile phones from German developer CipSoft, has announced plans for an iPhone client release in Q1 2010. TibiaME has been around since 2003, and is said to be the first MMO for mobile phones worldwide. Benjamin Zuckerer, responsible product manager for TibiaME, says "We started our first technical test run about a year ago. After we had mastered the challenge of developing an intuitive and easy control, we started to polish our graphics and decided to develop a completely new high-resolution client. As soon as the AppStore supported a subscription based business model, we were ready to go."TibiaME (Micro Edition) is the mobile phone version of free-to-play MMO Tibia. Players can take their warriors and wizards wherever they go, fighting monsters and solving puzzles during lunch hour and between errands.TibiaME is also looking forward to a high-resolution client. While it's still in early alpha phase, a few screenshots are available on TibiaME's Facebook page. The screenshots were taken with an iPod Touch, and the difference from the low-res screenshots is noticeable enough to make it a tempting addition to your iPhone game collection.
Mobile MMO TibiaME hits 10,000 subscribers
This isn't one of those "Wow, this game has only been out for X days and already has Y subscribers!" posts. TibiaME (the ME means Micro Edition) is certainly not a new title. In fact, the mobile MMO was released all the way back in 2003. What makes its latest milestone of 10,000 premium subscribers more notable is the rate at which the game's playerbase has been growing in recent times. 2008 saw the number of subscribers double, and 2009 has been extremely strong so far too. Off the top of our heads, we would say the rising popularity of smartphones would be a contributing factor, but apparently a collaboration with a large Indonesian mobile phone network has been a huge help as well.TibiaME bills itself as "the first massive multiplayer online role-playing game for mobile phones". After this latest news, Andreas Weikl (marketing manager from the game's German developer CipSoft) thinks it might be time to add another achievement to the list: "Altogether, TibiaME now has an active player base of around 40,000 players. As far as we know, TibiaME is therefore not only the first but by now as well the biggest mobile MMORPG in the world."
