News is in the NASA are considering making their own MMO. Unfortunately the title will allow players to “simulate real NASA engineering and science missions” and not fake lunar landings or keep the world safe from alien warlords.
Maybe I’m wrong on this one but does this seem like it could be the most boring game ever conceived. I’ve got visions of endless “you forgot to uncouple the fuel line, respawn in 30 seconds” screens. Okay, in reality the game will be used as an educational resource, but I still think NASA needs to learn that launching a rocket virtually is inversely boring as it is fun in real life. Your tax dollars at work people.
GSC Game World, creators of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. have said that they are “seriously considering” producing a MMO. I don’t know about everyone else, but the prospect of a vast MMO in a post nuclear meltdown world gets me excited. Having a factionless game that relies on tentative negotiation and bartering with fellow players could be a big hit on the MMO scene.
Webzen Games have released a new video of their MMOFPS game Huxley. It’s been about a year since we have heard from them, and frankly we were wondering what was going on - but it seems like everything is on track with this video from the closed beta. While the game does look absolutely stunning, hopefully there is a bit more to it than just running around shooting stuff. As far as we know, the game is still set for a release in Q2 2008.
Sony Online’s Pirates of the Burning Sea is set for a beta run come Friday 11th. Paid FilePlanet subscribers will be getting the opportunity to sign up on Friday, while those who take and don’t give (like true pirates) will be able to play the following week.
The long awaited MMO is still slated for a full release on January 22nd. Hopefully that means over a month of beta time to get you well and truly hooked.
Last months data from Xfire has revealed a drop of 18% in hours played for World of Warcraft. The drop is not just exclusive to WoW, as many of the top ten MMOs have experienced a similar drop. Second and third spots occupied by Guild Wars and Silkroad Online dropped 13% and 27% respectively. One explanation for the drop is the end of summer holidays in the US, causing many students back to their studies - Halo 3 is also likely to be a contributing factor.
Top FPSs have also taken a hit, with Call of Duty 2 Multiplayer and Counter-Strike Source losing 12% and 18% of their audiences respectively.
No doubt about it, there’s plenty of cashed-up gamers out there these days. One in particular, a World of Warcraft player by the name of Shaks, has the strange ability to make the people who spend tens of thousands of dollars on collections of shrink-wrapped video games look like savvy investors by comparison.
When a player by the name of Zeuzo decided to sell a Level 70 Rogue armed with what is arguably the best set of gear in the entire game, Shaks was first in line with the 7,000 Euro (USD $9,700) asking price.
Shaks either didn’t know, or didn’t care, that Blizzard doesn’t like people selling their WoW characters, and that it was absolutely certain that a purchase of this magnitude would get covered by every video game forum/blog on the internet - meaning it was only a matter of time before it came to the attention of Blizzard.
Nevertheless, after a brief, and reportedly rather shameless display of suckage in a PvP area, Shaks was banned from World of Warcraft. We suggest anyone planning a similar purchase find a better way to spend the money, such as hiring someone to slap you around the head each time you plan a similar purchase.
New research from Nottingham Trent University shows that the stereotypical image of online gamers as anti-social loners is no longer relevant. The study, Social Interactions in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, looked at almost 1,000 gamers from across the world, and found that more than half of MMO players meet up with other players in real-life - and one in ten go on to develop physical relationships with other players.
Blizzard Entertainment have announced a new milestone for their award-winning time-pit, World of Warcraft. Over nine million people now pay a monthly fee for their fix, placing Blizzard on top of an ever-growing mountain of cash…and with the Burning Crusade expansion yet to be released in China, there’s plenty of growth still on the cards.
Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime is justifiably chuffed:
We’re thrilled that gamers around the world have continued to embrace World of Warcraft so enthusiastically. We’ve worked hard to provide a compelling experience for our players, and we plan to continue updating the game with exciting new content for them to enjoy for many years to come.
