Members of the ZAM team recently participated in the Star Wars: The Old Republic media testing program, and they spent quite a bit of time trying out the classes of the Republic faction.
Keep reading after the jump to find out what Fewyn, Cyliena, Argo and Micajah have to say about the Trooper, Jedi Consular and Smuggler!
Prior to my visit to the Big Huge Games Studio in Baltimore, I'll admit that I didn't know all that much about Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (or just Reckoning for short). Six months ago, Editor-in-Chief Darryl Gangloff and Reporter Kayla Smith went to the studio to watch a demo and attend a Q&A panel with the team behind the Amalur universe but, at the time, Reckoning wasn't going to be launched for almost another year - February 7, 2012 in North America and February 10, 2012 in Europe - so the event was less about Reckoning's core game mechanics and more about the overarching world that Big Huge Games was creating. Ultimately, while I was terribly excited about the creative team behind the game - Ken Rolston, lead designer of Elder Scrolls III and IV; R.A. Salvatore, one of the most recognized authors in modern fantasy; and Todd McFarlane, the artistic visionary behind the comic book series Spawn - I really didn't know what to expect at Reckoning's first hands-on press event.
Some quick background here for those of you who are equally new to Amalur. Back in the day, Curt Schilling's 38 Studios was developing an unknown MMORPG under the codename "Project Copernicus." When 38 Studios acquired Big Huge Games from THQ in 2009, however, it decided that launching a single-player RPG first would be a better idea (Big Huge Games was already working on one at the time it was acquired), so Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was born to introduce players to the universe they'll explore in the MMO. Now, onto the hands-on preview!
RuneScape may have just hit the ripe old age of 10, but the free-to-play browser MMO is far from reaching its end. In fact, Jagex seems to be just getting started with a streak of innovative gameplay features. Back in April, the team gave players new tools to help them organize their clans, ranging from camps to customization options. Jagex quickly followed that update by launching Clan Citadels (otherwise known as floating guild castles) and a Battlefield map editor that lets players create any sort of game they can imagine. Not too shabby for a title that's reached the decade mark.
I recently had the chance to take an online tour of the Clan Citadel and Battlefield features with some highly knowledgeable guides: Senior Content Developer Ash Bridges and Senior Game Designer Chihiro Yamada. We talked about RuneScape as the duo ran a character through clan meeting rooms and built Battlefield maps full of barriers, conveyor belts and spikes. Keep reading after the jump for all the details!
Many MMORPGs put their players directly in the middle of a giant battle, affecting events that shape the entire world... and the world promptly forgets about them as soon as the next patch is released. Snail Games' new free-to-play offering, The Chosen, decided that the players should be more than just faceless soldiers in a global conflict; they should become part of the story itself. We took a tour to find out just how this is being executed in this PvP-centric game. Read on after the jump!
Let's start this hands-on article the right way. Even in the very, very small demo that we saw of WildStar at PAX Prime, the game brings a breath of fresh air to the massively multiplayer online gaming scene. Between the humor-laced dialogue, over-the-top graphics, the new mechanics to cater to different sorts of gamers, and open world style of play (or at least the illusion of it), there was a lot to like from Carbine Studios' new MMO contender.
Best of all... there was very little brown to be seen anywhere.
Just a half a week ago, I flew to Taiwan to join over a hundred members of the press from around the world to attend the very first Gamania Game Show, an event dedicated to showcasing Gamania's four new self-developed titles and other media creations. To most North Americans, Gamania may not be a household name, but in Asia they are the publishers of the Chinese edition of Lineage and MapleStory, two of the most influential eastern MMORPGs in the market. Over the past few years, Gamania has been expanding its ambitions beyond that of a publisher - as evidenced by the recent launch of its in-house developed Lucent Heart in North America - and the Gamania Game Show was a strong demonstration of where the company wants to be in the next few years.
The developers at Turbine are going to make me crazy. With just the right amount of pacing, Lord of the Rings Online is expanding into the wide world of Middle-earth, and they're drawing ever closer to the development and release of the one expansion that will personally make me fall in love with the game all over again (ride Rohirrim!). With this upcoming expansion, Rise of Isengard, the development team has brought players to the very edge of the Gap of Rohan.
Oh, and did I forget to mention that we're also going to be seeing Orthanc, the home of Saruman, up close and personal as well? While there's been plenty of talk about Rise of Isengard among the LOTRO community since the drop of the NDA, there was still plenty to see in the world at PAX.
From junior high until I graduated from college, I was fortunate enough to be able to participate on football (American-style, of course) teams of varying degrees of success. Organized competition has always captivated me, and I was certainly intrigued when BioWare announced one of their organized PvP modes - “Huttball” - at Gamescom this past month. Although many of us, myself included, wondered why they opted to go with a seemingly new branch on the Star Wars IP rather than do something closer to canon, it was exciting to see that Star Wars: The Old Republic wasn't going to be ignoring its competitive gamers.
So during my short time at PAX, I took some time to hop in front of a PC and take a turn at this feature of BioWare's upcoming MMO. Each side featured eight combatants, and one participant, as you've probably seen from BioWare's Huttball video, picks up a glowing sphere and attempts to run it to the other side of the arena. He or she can pass the “ball” from person to person, or have their teammates rip them a hole through the opposing forces.
Want to know more about my play session? Then keep reading after the jump!
There's a palpable sense around the MMO industry (or at least the ZAM virtual offices) that Guild Wars 2 is going to be something special. Even with the fantasy genre beginning to feel a little long in the tooth, everyone always includes the game in their “ones to watch” list. Everything that we've seen has had exceptionally high production quality so far, and I was interested to get my hands on the game at PAX Prime and see what had changed since my last play session nearly six months ago.
The changes were significant. For the first time in North America, all of the races were playable and nearly all of the classes were free to choose (if you were starting a character). So, at long last, I was able to kick off my weak, human trappings and don the larger, fiercer visage of the Norn. Even though I almost always play as a “larger” character in my MMOs, I wanted to try out a profession that might not fit the stereotype for my Norn character, so I opted for a gun-toting Engineer.
As I weaved my way through the overcrowded hallways and intersections at PAX Prime, I couldn't help but pick-up on two points regarding Firefall:
By mid-afternoon on Saturday, I knew I couldn't miss my first hands-on time with this upcoming free-to-play MMOFPS. Firefall, for those that haven't been following the game closely, was originally announced at PAX Prime in September 2010 and was playable for the first time at PAX East in March. Red 5 Studios has been working on pushing out their first title since 2007, so this isn't a game that's coming to the world half-baked. With several years of development time and polish, this PAX Prime public demonstration was a long time coming; and even though expectations weren't high going into the show, attendees were definitely intrigued by the massive amounts of marketing dollars on display throughout the halls.
