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• 10 Years Ago This Week: EverQuest

  10 Years Ago is a recurring feature that looks at whatever the new hotness was around this time 3,652 days ago. Ostensibly it will look at the game’s impact both in past and present terms, but mostly it will just make you feel really old. While not the first successful MMORPG (Ultima Online is frequently cited for this accolade), EverQuest (released March 16, 1999) was undoubtedly the first truly culturally relevant MMORPG, and the first one to achieve critical mass in its player base. The things EverQuest did in its five years at the top of the genre defined not only the way MMORPGs are designed. It also codified how the MMO business is structured, cemented a great many aspects of massive game player culture, and began the controversies that continue to haunt the genre to this day. It’s hard to overstate how much EverQuest has contributed to the medium, and you could certainly make an argument for it being the most important game of the last ten years (though you only have the rest of the day to do so). Read More... Posted Mar 16 2009, 10:00 AM by Joe Keiser with | with no comments Filed under: world of warcraft, sony online, mmorpgs, pc games, everquest, joe keiser, 10 years ago, the realm, mythic, meridian 59, stormfront, ultima online, mac games

• How to Cook like a Tauren

  "Tired of your character getting all the great food?" So begins the sales pitch for one of the interent's quirkier e-books. Some internet hero has developed a cookbook based on the fictional delicacies found within World of Warcraft's Tauren territories. Dee-lish. You've fought like a Tauren and died like a Tauren (and probably taken more than a few with you,) so why not eat like a Tauren? In real life. Why should you only be able to eat Poached Sunsdcale Salmon in-game? You've seen Delicious Cave Mold dropping here and there, but what's it really like? Mmm. Cave mold. Read More... Posted Mar 13 2009, 11:00 AM by Cole Stryker with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: world of warcraft, cole stryker, mmorpgs, cooking, tauren chef, food

• Whatcha Playing: FusionFall

  Yeah, uh, I'm only playing this for work-related purposes. I...I... I'm still cool. Actually, FusionFall has received a lot of hype, and there's quite a bit of charm to it. Worried parents wonder if Cartoon Network's MMORPG is merely another name for Billy's Gateway World of Warcraft Addiction, but there are some interesting speed bumps that are in place to keep kids from descending down the vortex in its entirety. Levelling up occurs through the completion of missions, not hours of grinding, and your rewards actually lessen if you log several consecutive hours of gameplay. These restrictions serve well as wake-ups for enraptured children who will hopefully realise that it's a good idea to go outside and play once the cow has been milked dry. It's probably not foolproof, though. Who wants to stop when they're with their friends, giving evil what for? It's still up to the parents to pull the game when their kids' eyes start turning into squares. Pity the poor hand-wringing adults: the thought of having to administer some means of discipline on their children will send many of them scrambling for their stationary so they can re-direct their energies into writing a blame piece for Scare Weekly. It's too bad, because I believe FusionFall might serve well as an introduction to MMORPGs. Read More... Posted Jan 14 2009, 11:53 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: whatcha playing, world of warcraft, mmorpg, nadia oxford, wow, cartoon network, fusionfall

• Up All Night: Blackthorne

  Blizzard doesn’t need to make games in a timely manner. They finish games when they’re finished. This is because Blizzard are masters of their craft. They are unimpeachable purveyors of the best the medium has to offer. Got something bad to say about the Warcraft trilogy? Best keep your trap shut, pal. Think World of Warcraft is a cunning way of enslaving free minds? Keep it to yourself. And heaven forfend if you question the merit of Starcraft, Diablo, or either of those series’ impending sequels. Indeed, Blizzard are new gods for the 21st century. But this was not always the case. Once upon a time, Blizzard made trash. Fun trash to be sure, but trash nonetheless. That is to say, once upon a time, Blizzard stayed up all night. Of the multiple Up All Night candidates from Blizzard’s catalog – and believe me, The Death and Return of Superman and Justice League Task Force are prime subjects – none are so deserving as Blackthorne. Read More... Posted Jan 13 2009, 06:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, up all night, world of warcraft, starcraft, diablo, diablo iii, blizzard, out of this world, flashback, oddworld, starcraft 2, the death and return of superman, blackthorne, justice league task force, warcraft

• Should Reviewers Go Easy on Cheap Games?

  In "researching" for my previous post about free MMO's, I came across the following comment on Kotaku: Third and most important, its FREE TO PLAY, FOREVER. You aren't losing any money playing this game (unless your buying cash shop items, but who can blame them for trying to cover some of the costs) Try it out yourself and stop saying how much its this or that. I personally think they did a really good job at the game. There are bugs here and there (It's beta) but its a F2P game that I'd actually play. Most of the F2P games I have tried have either been soo god awful I couldn't play more then 20mins. Others were kind of fun but soo cartoony and kiddish I'd be embarrassed to be seen playing them. On top of game play issues in every other F2P game I've played (mind you I've tried a lot) they lack updates and fixes support. If Runes of Magic is going to do any of what they said they were going to there's going to be content patches with class balancing and new content. They wanted to give a new F2P experience, and so far they have delivered. I'd urge anyone on the edge to try and play it and remember, It's FREE. This mindset really bugs me! Read More... Posted Dec 17 2008, 05:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: world of warcraft, cole stryker, freeware, free markets, runes of magic, runescape

• Free to Play MMO's: Where do You Draw the Line?

  According to a press release, over 220,000 people have joined the Runes of Magic beta since Monday. This number astounds me.  I have never got into any MMO's, but it got me thinking, at what point will users be willing to pay money for an online game? How much better a play experience is World of Warcraft as compared to something like Runes of Magic? Are people willing to put up with a noticeable drop in quality as long as they can avoid monthly subscription fees? Where do you draw the line? Read More... Posted Dec 17 2008, 04:30 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: world of warcraft, cole stryker, freeware, mmorpgs, runes of magic, runescape

• Video Game Addicts Dropping out of School

  Game Politics reports that FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate has declared the following: You might find it alarming that one of the top reasons for college drop-outs in the U.S. is online gaming addiction - such as World of Warcraft - which is played by 11 million individuals worldwide. Taylor provides no hard data to back up this claim, but it got me thinking about some of the casualties I knew, not necessarily from online gaming, but gaming in general. During my freshman year in college, there was a guy who literally punched a hole through his laptop monitor after repeated losses in Counterstrike. He didn't drop out, but he had to shell out for a new monitor. I don't think nerd rage was covered by the university insurance policy. Read More... Posted Dec 11 2008, 06:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: world of warcraft, prince of persia, super smash bros, counterstrike, cole stryker, addiction, battlefield 1942

• Watching Age of Conan Die

  Some guy is getting a lot of attention on Reddit for a fascinating writeup on the dramatic rise and fall of Age of Conan, a surprisingly successful MMORPG whose popularity has waned nearly as quickly as it exploded last spring. He argues that the first twenty levels, which take place in the bustling city of Tortage, are fully-fleshed, bursting with fascinating NPC's, fun quests, and breathtaking visual design. But then: From here on out, most of your questing will involve going to the proper Place of Great Respawn and grinding mobs like you were filling up a resume to take some Chinese gold farmer’s job. The dust and dirt must be really hard on the lungs, too, since the vast majority of quest givers are mute. Voice acting, it seems, was too much a courtesy for Funcom to extend after the trial period. Ouch. I met a guy who worked for Funcom during Age of Conan's development period at a pub. We became friends. He complained a lot for a guy who (to me) had one of the coolest jobs in the world. He also drank a lot. Apparently, he wasn't the only disgruntled employee: Read More... Posted Dec 08 2008, 08:30 AM by Cole Stryker with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: world of warcraft, cole stryker, age of conan, mmorpg, reddit

• Play Bejeweled Inside World of Warcraft

  The world's most addicting game just got addictinger. So you're waiting for your fellow clansmen to meet up at a waypoint before a raid and you've minimized the window to play a little Bejeweled. But when you pull up the WoW window, you find that some h4x0r pwned your n00b ass while you were goofing around. Well, this unfortunate situation will never happen again because now you can play Bejeweled, the game most likely to have been downloaded by your mom, inside WoW.  From Yahoo: An amateur game maker and World of Warcraft junkie, the San Jose State undergrad decided to break more than a few laws by creating an unauthorized clone of the great puzzle game Bejeweled (called, laughingly, Besharded) that could be played in the middle of a Warcraft session. While such insolence normally leads to a barrage of cease and desist letters, Bejeweled publisher PopCap Games opted for a much different strategy. They decided to go ahead and allow players to play Bejeweled inside Wow, kind of like how you can now play officially branded Scrabble instead of Scrabulous inside Facebook. The game can be easily pulled up and closed. Of course, all this does is give me more ammo for hating on MMORPG's. If the game isn't interesting enough to hold your attention, why not just go play Bejeweled to begin with?  Related Links:  Kotaku Endorses Products Unaware Terrorists Using WoW to Plan Attacks? Shawn "Napster" Fanning: Wow Nerd Success Story Posted Sep 29 2008, 04:40 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: world of warcraft, cole stryker, bejeweled

• Terrorists Using WoW to Plan Attacks?

  Wired reports that the Pentagon is researching the possibility of terrorist groups working within World of Warcraft, using the MMORPG as a chat room and demo arena for potential terrorist attacks. This is pretty scary, but at the same time...hilarious. In [a hypothetical scenario], two World of Warcraft players discuss a raid on the "White Keep" inside the "Stonetalon Mountains." The major objective is to set off a "Dragon Fire spell" inside, and make off with "110 Gold and 234 Silver" in treasure. "No one will dance there for a hundred years after this spell is cast," one player, "war_monger," crows. Except, in this case, the White Keep is at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. "Dragon Fire" is an unconventional weapon. And "110 Gold and 234 Silver" tells the plotters how to align the game's map with one of Washington, D.C. Read More... Posted Sep 18 2008, 10:00 AM by Cole Stryker with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: world of warcraft, cole stryker, terrorism, wired, pentagon

• Gold Farming: Why I'll Never Play an MMORPG

  A sensational title, to be sure, but this is insane. BBC News reports that nearly half a million people make a living supplying lazy first-world gamers with monopoly money.   Read More... Posted Aug 26 2008, 08:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with no comments Filed under: world of warcraft, cole stryker, mmorpgs, gold farming

• Shawn "Napster" Fanning: Wow Nerd Success Story

  Remember this smug little prick? The original tech wunderkind (years before Rose and Zuckerberg took it to the top) Shawn Fanning built Napster from the ground up, earning a few million before he could legally drink. He sold Napster and dove headfirst into WoW, where he was inspired to create a social networking site for Wow players called Rupture. He recently sold it to EA Games for 30 million. Read More... Posted Jul 31 2008, 06:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: world of warcraft, cole stryker, social networking, napster, shawn fanning

• NSFW: The Top Five Game-Based Pornos

  Seriously. Not safe for work. As they used to say back on the farm, if it exists on this here planet, you can be cocksure there’s a porno based on it. Okay, you caught me. I didn’t grow up on a farm. I grew up in the middle of a lot of farms though, and I’m telling you, people on those farms used to say this all the time. The past twelve years of browsing the internet have taught me that this age-old maxim is absolutely true. Hollywood movie parodies have been a rich and lasting resource for triple-x features forever, birthing immortal classics like Edward Penishands, so videogames seem like a no-brainer. That’s not even taking into consideration modern gaming’s largely Japanese origins and that country’s penchant for all manner of costume-related perversions. We at 61 Frames Per Second, being the powerful cultural critics we are, have compiled this list of the top five Game-Based Pornos from east and west. Be warned: continuing to read may cause embarrassment for humanity, uncontrollable laughter, and occasional revulsion. Read More... Posted Jul 14 2008, 03:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, world of warcraft, final fantasy, wii fit, brain age, super mario bros, porn

• Screen Test: Diablo III

  I came home from a weekend holiday to find a buttload of Diablo III info had been released. Apparently some Blizzard fans are nonplussed, concerned that the series's art direction has taken a turn for the cartoonish. This online petition, which looks like it was composed by someone with a tenuous grip on written English, has gained some traction (nearly 5K signatures as of this writing!). Is Blizzard aiming for WoW's widespread appeal by toning down Diablo's gothier design or does someone need to call a whaaaambulance? Whatever the case, this petition is sure to go nowhere, as Diablo III has been in development for four years now. Making these changes would surely require a massive design overhall.  Some of the screenshots are darker...   than others.   Read More... Posted Jul 01 2008, 06:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: world of warcraft, cole stryker, diablo iii, art, blizzard

• Captivating Discontent: Where's the Nintendo Love, Capcom?

  Written by Derrick Sanskrit Like a lot of other gamers, I was rather perplexed by the announcements at the Capcom’s recent Captivate ‘08 event. Sure, Street Fighter IV is starting to look like a worthwhile return to the franchise and Bionic Commando just looks awesome - both got me wanting to pick up that Xbox gamepad again - but what the hell happened on the Nintendo side of things? Neopets Puzzle Adventure and Spyborgs? Capcom doesn't really believe that ALL Nintendo gamers are eight years old, do they? But as the media rolled in, I started to warm up to these new IPs. Read More... Posted Jun 05 2008, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: resistance, nintendo, nintendo ds, street fighter, derrick sanskrit, resident evil, wii, capcom, world of warcraft, bionic commando, call of duty, neopets, spyborgs, puzzle quest, ratchet & clank, tony hawk, zack & wiki, the sims

• Kotaku Endorses Products Unaware

  Yesterday Kotaku published a post regarding how Figure Prints, a company that creates 3D models of WoW avatars, ran an ad in a comic book with a testimonial from Axel at Kotaku. The compelling testimonial reads, "Wow... I NEED ONE!!!" Problem is, no one who writes for Kotaku goes by the name of Axel. It turns out that the company snagged the gushing prose of one of Kotaku's bleating commenters, attributing the quote to Kotaku.com, where it technically appeared. And the commenters are all slapping Axel on the back with hearty shouts of, "Kotaku commenters FTW!!" Read More... Posted Jun 04 2008, 02:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with no comments Filed under: kotaku, world of warcraft, advertising, journalism, ethics

• Brainy Gamer Asks the Ever-Present Question: Can’t We All Just Get Along?

  While admitting this risks damaging my “cred”, I do not game that much online. Indeed, my experience with online multi-player is limited to only a handful of games like Mario Kart DS (which I quickly abandoned due to rather egregious cheating) and a very brief stint in World of Warcraft (once I got to more populated areas of the game, my aging G4 PowerBook just couldn’t keep up. I got lucky.) That said, like so many others, I’ve played a lot of Halo 3 online. In general, the random people I’ve played with have been alright; not offensive but not people I’ll become bosom buddies with. Playing online is like hanging out with any group of strangers: it’s civil and awkward. On heavily populated nights though, when Microsoft’s servers strain under the weight of hundreds of thousands of players, that’s when you get a taste of the horrific behavior that keep many people from playing online at all. Racist, moronic, misogynistic rambling from a multitude of pubescent men with no sense of irony, humor, or decorum. No description, no recording can do it justice, you have to experience this sort of dumb hostility yourself to truly understand it. Though you don’t have to play online to witness it at work in the community. Just look at the Kotaku comments section during last year’s Resident Evil 5 debacle. Angela from Lesbian Gamers and Michael from Brainy Gamer have written up an essay that succinctly states the problem and elegantly asks what’s to be done about it if discourse on games is going to grow. Read More... Posted May 14 2008, 11:00 AM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, lesbian gamers, penny arcade, world of warcraft, level up, brainy gamer, mario kart, halo 3, ngai croal