Mmorpg Games News

With the launching of the new online portal – PlaySega – we see Sega entering the casual gaming scene in both the U.S, and Europe. A literal plethora of different game types have been announce, including arcade, word, card, puzzle, quiz, Sonic-themed games and sports titles. There will also be original games exclusively built for the portal, alongside old favorites like Ice Shuffle and Aquatic Word Burst. PlaySega also features Sonic at the Olympics, the mobile release, ported for the web. Appropriately, the virtual currency will be called PlaySega Rings.

With achievements displayed via leaderboards for all games users can tailor the site and their profile pages with new decorations & backgrounds to better display their scores. Building on a sense of community, users can invite their friends to view their favorite games with their achievement levels & scores too.

There is also a plan to build a VIP area where paid access will be implemented. Here users will gain access to some additional exclusive titles for PlaySega only & classics from the Sega lines. These titles will include games such as Columns, Puyo Pop, Chu Chu Rocket, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Super Monkey Ball Tip ‘n Tilt.

The intention is to provide Sega fans a place to come onto the site with the new players & build a community around classic vintage titles, and have the opportunity to get access to the new titles developed exclusively for the PlaySega portal. The rumor about the locked vault of retro titles over in Japan has also been confirmed.

The network business director at Sega Europe has received many game suggestions from all over the company. The feedback provided by all employees – from the CEO to all levels of staff – has been overwhelming, but very welcome.

Like other publishers of games, bringing their inventories of existing products to the web will strengthen their position in the industry & position them for growth as their communities fill up with new & seasoned users of their content. The tendency to capitalize across offline & online worlds will continue to fuel the growth of these digital media giants as they see opportunities to bridge the real world & the virtual world with similar offerings. Unique branding & creation of products with synergy in real & virtual worlds will become a masterful way to grow a media business into an empire. Good work Sega, here’s hoping it pays off.

For some sick MMORPG wallpapers and final fantasy RPG Wallpapers go to RPGWallpapers.com

All over the world, at any given time, you can bet that someone, somewhere, is hacking their avowed enemies to pieces with a two handed axe. It’s not as horrific as this may sound however, as they are parked in front of a computer, and their enemies are imaginary.

In fact, more often than not, their enemies aren’t even human, they are NPC (non-player characters) designed with the sole purpose dying by your hand, and helping you gain levels as they do. This hacking of enemies to bits is often accompanied by atmospheric Celtic music, and continues over a myriad of landscapes, including villages, fortresses, and mountain ranges.

Fanatics typically play for six to eight hours at a time, sometimes almost every day, and often joke about wishing they could hook themselves up to an intravenous feed so they wouldn’t have to stop playing for the inconvenience of eating. It’s a scary thought to those that have never experienced an MMO ‘addiction’ – but to those of us that have – it’s heaven on earth.
These endless role playing fantasy worlds envelop players, drawing them in with a series of battles to be fought, and a plethora of treasures to be collected. The game’s compelling charms can often lead to the kind of obsession that causes problems in other areas of life, such as the college kids who cut class and forget to study.

Such compulsive, all-consuming game playing can lead to a lot of changes that aren’t positive. For example, they can lead to changes in sleep and wake cycles that can negatively affect concentration, memory and physical health. It can also lead to the neglect of meaningful personal relationships, as the gaming world becomes more satisfying than the real world.
Statistics from the American Psychiatric Association indicate that 90 percent of American children play video games. Of these, fifteen percent have an addiction. Out of adult players, 10 to 12 percent play more than 6 hours a day.

Video gaming isn’t technically an addiction. Online video games like Runes of Magic can be habit forming, however, and this can have an effect on the brain, gamers experience an adrenaline rush and a feeling of satisfaction from playing. The games basically press the buttons of our instinctual reward systems, and gamers repeat their actions in order to get those rewards. It’s similar to compulsive gambling – but not technically an addiction.

Although online gaming is thought of by most people as a social activity, many gamers naturally enjoy the social aspect that comes included in an MMO. Online games involve a real community of real people playing, and earning rewards and respect from other players is a big part of the fun. Games like Atlantica Online pay homage to this, with a large and robust community of welcoming members.

Sometimes college students become so obsessed with the games that their professors, upon seeing the condition they’re in when they show up for class, may think they are using drugs. Many professors believe that compulsive online gaming is one of the causes of kids failing in their subjects that seem to fly ‘under the radar.’

As with most things in life, gaming provides benefits when done in moderation. They are often difficult and require an intricate thought processes. But remember, there is a fine line between a hobby and an obsession. If gaming crosses the line into an obsession, then maybe it’s time to stop, even if it means getting help.

Online games are an equal opportunity pastime. They give women of all ages a chance to get involved, and lately it seems advertisers have been taking notice. A study by a game industry research firm has shown that advertisers have spent close to $150 million on ad buys at casual game sites, or inside the games themselves, in the year 2006. In 2002, they spend $74 million.

Advertisers recognize that the audience for casual online gaming is fast expanding to all genders and ages. Nowadays players tend to spend more time online and less time consuming traditional media. Ignoring this niche leads to missing out on an opportunity to reach target audiences at a time when they are paying the most attention.
Women can’t seem to get enough of mind-bending puzzle and strategy games. The total female online gaming audience grew 27 percent over the previous year to nearly 43 million visitors. The number of female gamers in the 12-24 and 55-64 age groups grew even faster. This fact is indicative of a substantial opportunity for advertisers, who have looked to the gaming industry as mainly the province of young males. The increased interest in online gaming from teenage girls and adult women is convincing marketers to shift a larger percentage of their advertising budgets to the free online gaming space. And it’s not only game distributors doing this; pharmaceutical advertisers now use online game portals as a way to reach female customers as well.

The online gaming industry is fanning the flames by developing gaming content, portals and websites that are geared toward the interests of a female audience. This strategy is a way of making sure the popularity of casual online gaming among women will continue its explosive growth.

Women are also the most dedicated players of casual online games. Adult women are twice as likely as men to spend 20 hours per week playing PC games. Casual online game sites, it can be concluded, are amongst the stickiest sites on the web. An advertiser who can tap into this highly engaged audience has a better chance of having consumers pay attention to their message than other advertising venues, which consumers tend to tune out.

Ad formats in-game can also be quite innovative. Online games offer – in some cases – (and in addition to the traditional banner ads and rich media) in-game advertising, contest sponsorships, and branded ad-games. These formats broaden the advertisers’ brand engagement, and give a more tangible return on investment to advertisers when compared with traditional media buys.

The bottom line on all this is as follows. A fast growing, diverse female audience is looking to casual game sites for a number of reasons. They can, for one thing, connect with like minded people. They can also make new friends and have fun. These sites are sticky, and people tend to come back to them and get to know them quite well. Advertisers and media buyers, therefore, can win big by purchasing space in these online game destinations, and taking advantage of innovations like in-game advertising.

The Guild is a comedy web show based around a group of MMORPG players known as The Guild. While a lot of the humor is clearly inspired by World of Warcraft, the name of the game the actors are playing is never mentioned, and the comedy should strike home for any video game fan, MMORPG players especially. Each show is about 5 minutes in length, which is great for those of us who have important video games that take up most of our time.

For its primary storyline, The Guild humorously examines what happens when online game players meet in real life. In season one, Zaboo, played by Sandeep Parikh, decided to show up at the doorstep of Codex, played by Felicia Day, after a misunderstood online message. So far, season two has Codex trying to rid herself of Zaboo’s company.

This is where the humor of The Guild does most of its work – in the meeting of the game world and the real world. For example, one of the funniest running gags is Zaboo’s constant use of the “‘d” construction at the end of words, as referenced in the title of the second Webisode. Zaboo uses phrases like “obvious’d” and “Kinko’d,” presumably references to “pwned” from the online gaming language ‘leetspeak’. Only, Zaboo uses this language in real life.

The climax of the first season came when the entire group decided to meet in person for the first time to discuss guild business. Again, this show is ultimately about the intersection of real life and gaming culture.

Of course, MMOs have been a ripe spot of humor for a while now, going back to things like Leroy Jenkins. But, more often than not, people are laughing at us MMORPG players and gamers in general. With The Guild, I think the creators are laughing with us, which is a refreshing change.

The Guild is a hilariously funny show and definitely worth the five minutes a week. In fact, you can still watch the entire first season in about an hour. The new season is available in HD on MSN Video, in the Zune store, on YouTube, and even on Xbox Live.

Among the computer gaming community, many are saying that boxes and CDs or DVDs, may be a thing of the past very soon. Most in the industry believe that all computer games are moving toward digital distribution. Children born today — even those who are already alive — may never buy a DVD, a CD, or a game in a box. Who would say such a thing? No less than the president of Sony, Phil Harrison.

Harrison also believes that huge-budget, single-player games are on the way out. He doesn’t think that indicates a lack of ambition to do really incredible games with high quality, high execution and high innovation, just that they won’t be one player, narrative-driven, beginning-middle-end type games.

Chances are boxed games may continue to exist for a long time. This however doesn’t mean that the mainstream gaming world isn’t flowing elsewhere. The recent explosion in online gaming testifies to that. The trend is currently toward games that are more social, and even games that involve stories, such as role playing games, and open-ended adventures.
Furthermore, free gaming – in various forms – is really catching on. Games installed on sites like Facebook and MySpace have become overwhelmingly popular. Unlike earlier generation video games, they are inherently social. For many online games, you don’t need to round up your friends to start playing—indeed, if you have a profile on Facebook, chances are you have already gathered enough friends to play.

These games, though, are the tip of the iceberg for massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. There are many types of MMOs, and they range from casual gaming, such as the Scrabulous game installed on Facebook, to intense, absorbing virtual worlds the likes of Atlantica Online or Runes of Magic. These games that are technically free, and involve optional micro-transactions to increase gameplay enjoyment.

There are also several different Online Poker games, that generally come in one of two flavors. Free ones, such as the games built in to Facebook, that are for fun only, and the kind that are considered a legitimate form of gambling. Some online poker players have become so good at playing that they make their living at it! Online poker is good news not only for those who live in remote areas, but for those who are lousy actors — no one will notice your tell if they can’t see or hear you!

Another immensely popular form of online gaming is the massively multiplayer online role playing game, or MMORPG. MMORPGs are often free to play, and feature vast worlds for you to explore — full of both player characters and computer generated characters. Many follow the traditional swords and sorcery genre, with Lords of the Rings like activities such as seeking treasures and battling Orcs, but many have become more innovative in terms of subject matter — for example, there are games based on popular TV shows and even warped, satirical versions of fairy tales.

Online gaming is the wayof the future, and is definitely here to stay. Once you discover this world — if you haven’t already — you may never buy another game in a box again, regardless of your age.

It has been reported that The Walt Disney Company will be launching their first ever MMORPG world with the much anticipated Disney Fantasy Online -  expected for release in the Spring of 2009. Disney have partnered with NetDragon Websoft Inc. – to bring us this title, who are known as a leading developers of online games in China.

This is a significant event for Disney, as it shows that they may be seeing their mainstream audiences toward the MMORPG industry to spend time playing games. This might just be able to create a new source of revenue for Disney. It also might be helpful with curbing  the loss of revenues they are seeing from other product lines because their target market is spending more time online, less in the movie theaters & even less time at theme parks.

We all know about Disney’s media prowess to generate an experience that immerses their followers in a highly engaging visual experience. That experience tends to keep the audience glued to the screen for a fixed period of time. Now the games that they produce can be live & online, and can be seen as building a community of players rather than just a solo or small group experience.

Details of the games features were discussed in a press release on Yahoo where the creative aspects of the games operation were discussed. With a free to play model in mind, the opportunities for revenue would most likely draw from the utilization of Disney character persona’s. Mounts & interactions with the Disney-themed game were laid out & impressed many with their broad adoption of traditional MMO design techniques.

Disney is now offering validity to the gaming styles & user engagement approach that others have seen when mixing offline & online consumer marketing & revenue generation strategies. These opportunities to cross populate the markets of digital media, movie theaters,  theme parks & now the online MMORPG gaming markets will surely be watched closely by many players.

The game will evolve with opportunities for new content, more playing styles & even the creation of a users own pets, virtual castles, communities to explore the game experience together with others, making the experience tailorable to their own interests.

It isn’t yet known if Disney has any long-term relationship with NetDragon, as details of the relationship don’t seem to be available at this time, but an entry into this market with the Chinese gaming market alone could be huge for building the China market for Disney & then migrate into other parts of the Globe.

The opportunity to link the China market with others is also huge, and if the Chinese government allows their MMORPG players to connect outside of their country then the opportunities to bring other cultures together into the MMORPG gameosphere will be huge.

Stay tuned for further developments in the Disney MMORPG launch and watch them make their move into this potentially huge market. They will likely set records and position fantasy gaming as more mainstream choice with this development – and that’s great for everyone.

Secondhand Lands is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in a compelling, imaginative, parody fairytale world. This is not the kind of fairytale world with pansy elves and cantankerous dwarves, but more, the sort of world where the heroes are the wolves or sheep who have pledged their undying loyalty to Bo Peep, or Little Red Riding hood.

According to Callipygian Games and Pixel Mine Inc. the game is currently in closed Beta testing, and was originally announced in March of 2008. Aside from its humorous premise, Secondhand Lands hopes to offer players a unique skill advancement system, player-to-player mounting, and over 120 handwritten quests to complete. For example, you could steal cable for the gnomes, play spin the bottle with the fairies, or take scandalous footage for the “Bears Gone Wild” documentary. You can spend the points you earn playing these quests to train your character in new skills, or perfect the skills you already have.
Whether you are a jaded veteran of the MMORPG genre, or new to the scene, you will quickly find a role to play among the followers of rival sisters. Or, you can embrace the dark side and join the Black Sheep or the evil Wolves in Sheep’s clothing. Secondhand Lands has all the features you’d expect of a good MMO alongside some truly innovative elements and features.

Both group and solo play are supported, as well as PvE and PvP, and you can choose what faction you want to support. For example, as a sheep you may choose to serve Bo Peep’s crook or instead be won over by Red Riding Hood’s sarcasm and wit. You can gain up to 200 levels and complete over 100 quests, with new endgame events added on a regular basis. There are also a several new expansions planned, so that even the most experienced players will always find something new to fill their time.

Once you choose whether you are a sheep or a wolf, you will be locked into that player class. However, the way the skill system is designed you could make a very unique Sheep or Wolf character, and have distinctive combat styles for specific purposes – similar to games like Shaiya or Runes of Magic.

The Austin, Texas based companies that are developing Secondhand Lands have been working closely with each other for several months leading up to the June 27th announcement that Callipygian would be utilizing the Pixel Mine Portal as a distribution platform. The innovative Pixel Mine distribution portal technology allowed the development team to focus on gaming aspects of the project, thus making for a better overall gaming experience and the kind of game that turns the heads of every style of gamer. Secondhand Lands definitely has potential, both for its gameplay style, and its unique, innovative and humorous concept.

The best part? This MMORPG is free to play! Your character can advance through the game quite readily without you ever having to spend a dime. Are you a sheep? Or do you see yourself as more of a wolf? Sign up for the Beta and find out today!

Shaun O’Donovan, seventeen years old, was the last one of his friends to buy the popular online MMO World of Warcraft. This was after his next door neighbor – Mikey Carroll-Morris (12) – had suggested he try this incredibly popular online game. Sean says the first time he played the game was for around 3 hours.

“The problem is that the three hours became my natural timeline for playing the game after that,” says Shaun, who soon began dedicating 5 hours to one sitting in the online fantasy game.

World of Warcraft is the worlds largest MMORPG or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games available, and Shaun and Mikey are just two of the 11 million players worldwide that make up this vast online community.

There are many different things that members of the community do while playing the game. They are able to create and control characters that are able to fight enemies, go on quests and missions, and speak and interact with other members of the world. All of these things, in fact the entire game, are played online, and all of the members of a particular server will be playing in the same world online. In Ireland, the game boasts a 12+ rating.

“We would play every day if we had the chance.” Says Shaun, “And after school sometimes we’ll go into an internet cafe in town to play. I haven’t played it much lately, though, and my mother has banned it from our house as my younger brother, Jack, who is10, has starting to play it also.”

This has resulted in worry by Shaun’s parents over the amount of time that is spent playing this seemingly addictive online MMORPG. In fact,     his mother even went as far as purchasing him a membership to a gym in order to try and get him out of the house and more active. She says that it is extremely difficult for parents to know exactly how long and what type of games their children are playing all of the time. She notes that it is also important to be aware of the content of a particular game to make sure that it is age appropriate.

“I know my cousin has a five-year-old son who is getting a Gameboy for Christmas.” She says, “So the age kids are being exposed to computer games is getting younger. The family units are changing and with both parents often working and so on, it’s perhaps seen as a way to occupy children.”

There is also a huge push from parents like Shaun’s for tighter restrictions when children are purchasing games. Almost all kids are able to freely purchase the games of their choosing without having to show I.D. or be accompanied by a parent. In fact, even some of the games that are titled as 18+ games are being sold to children as young as 12.

By Daniel Shephard

During this Christmas season Tales of Pirates will be offering two fun quest lines to do to keep your characters’ spirits jolly – Summoning Santa, and Daily Christmas Fun.

For the Summoning Santa quest line you will need to talk to Wynne (1379, 525) at Icicle Castle.

Because she is so busy spreading holiday cheer she needs your help to fetch her Red, Orange, and Green Christmas Cases. Snatch up this quest (actually called “Help Wynne”) and then stroll outside and kill the Evil Reindeer who roam outside the main cities until you have three of each of the cases. Although killing Reindeer might seem a bit disturbing, the 8000 experience reward will help you forget all about your qualms quick enough. After turning in this portion make sure you keep talking to Wynne until she gives you the next quest to escort the Blue Christmas Case to Missy Elene at Icicle Castle. For this latter part you get a Santa Summon Scroll!

To enjoy your Daily Christmas Fun quest just slip on over to Marriam the Innkeeper (2212, 2782) in Argent City.

She needs you to snag her some Turkey Meat (x30), Christmas Lollipops (x30), Little Snowballs (x20), a Reindeer Summon Scroll, and a Snowman Summon Scroll. After returning with the goods you’ll be handsomely rewarded with 100,000 gold and 2 level 3 Sand Bags. Each player can only complete these quests once prior to December 17th, but starting December 18th you can do it once a day!

There will also be a Christmas community well wishing and wish granting event. All you need to do is buy Christmas Greeting Cards at the Item Mall and track down the magical wish granting Christmas Tree (Deep Blue 1220, 550) to dedicate a Christmas blessing. Each Christmas blessing costs a Christmas Greeting Card and 1000 gold and it will be broadcast by the server to share your holiday cheer. In addition to this, once per day anyone level 40 or higher can choose one of the following wishes to be granted to them by the Christmas Tree:
-I want to be a millionaire.
-I want to eat something delicious.
-I want safety arms.
-I want to be more powerful.
-I want a romantic Christmas.

Merry Christmas from Tales of Pirates, and a Happy New Year!

By Jay Orton

Christmas is almost upon us once more. The wonderful time where we are forced away from our beloved games by our other beloved ones to spend time with annoying family members who keep saying “Gee, you look really pale.”

I was thinking the other day about what to get people for Christmas and realized that I didn’t have the faintest idea what to get for my MMO friends. I assume that a lot of other gamers are having similar difficulties too, so I’ve drawn up a list of great gifts for gamers. Bask in the glory that is:

Top 5 Christmas Gifts for the MMO Gamer

5 – T-shirt
The custom-made T-shirt is a great gift, but it requires some effort and can be quite costly, depending on what you have in mind.
Have a look online for a custom T-shirt website; there’s plenty around. Then personalize the design for your friend ((see above)).

If it’s anything like my design, then your friend won’t be wearing it outside the house. Good for a laugh though!

4 – Signed “Photo”
Take a tasteful screenshot of your character in-game, get it printed out (in color) then grab a large black marker and autograph it with something like “Merry Christmas! Love xXAsSaSsiNXx” or whatever your name is.

There’s a few different ways to jazz this up. Try printing it out on photo paper (some digital photo-printing shops might help you with this). Grab a nice frame to put it in etc. If your giftee is online, you could scan the image after it’s been signed and email it to them.

3 – In-game items
This one’s fairly obvious. A lot (if not all) F2P games have a gift system. Buy some cash items and send them to a friend in time for Christmas Day… and while you’re there, grab something for yourself as well. Games like Runes of Magic, Atlantica Online, and Maplestory are great for this.

2 – Merchandise
This one always works. If you don’t already know, find out what your friend’s favorite game is, then go and grab some merchandise! Figurines, posters, books… You’ll find plenty when you know where to look. Naturally eBay is one of the best places, but specialty hobby/anime shops might have what you want too.

If you can’t afford merchandise or your friend is online-only, try hunting down desktop wallpapers or even some of the game’s soundtrack on mp3 (obtained legally, of course) that they can chuck on their iPod.

1 – Hardware!
Every gamer in the world wants new hardware. It is the golden rule. You probably don’t want to spend heaps of cash getting the latest processors and video cards, so keep an eye out for other things like keyboards and such.

If you’re really going that extra mile to get a gift to one of your online buddies who is overseas or otherwise very far away, then some of the cheaper stuff can be really useful too. I got a USB extension cradle for $10. It stops me from having to give my pc a reach-around whenever I want to plug in my iPod or other assorted gadgets. Keep an eye out for any useful stuff – cheap doesn’t always mean crap.

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So there you have it, a couple of different ways to set yourself apart from the pack. Just remember to tell them who gave you the idea *grin*.
Now where’d I leave my reindeer…