Issue 29
Hello Again, Gamers! Despite the title, there won’t be a lot of Mists of Pandaria information in this issue, mainly because there is so much out there that I didn’t want to flood this post with articles just about the next WoW expansion. If you really want to check out all the upcoming features for MoP I would head over to MMO-Champion, they have quite a comprehensive collection of information.
Instead I tried to keep things more about other games because, despite Blizzard’s best efforts, there are other games out there to play then just WoW and after nearly eight years, the other games are just more interesting. I did include a couple of WoW-related posts but I think people might enjoy some new information about upcoming (new) MMOs like Pathfinder Online and World of Darkness.
Age of Empires Online Available From Steam
Posted 3/29/12 – I really like what Steam has become. I remember back when I was playing Half-Life and Steam was primarily used for authentication and protection from piracy. Now there are a plethora of games available for download. The latest edition is Age of Empires Online where players can get discounts on the individual civilizations or you can buy the “All-in-Wonder” pack. Follow the link to check it out.
Joystiq post
Latest Pathfinder Online Developer Blog
Posted 3/28/12 – There isn’t a lot of news these days about Pathfinder Online so while this article doesn’t contain any big announcement, I thought it would be fun to share for anyone interested in this MMO. The focal point seems to be around the game’s economy and what will be the monetary unit used in the game. The link goes to a post on Massively and there is a link at the end of the post to the full developer blog post (which is quite lengthy but full of information).
Massively post
Blizzard’s MMO Grip Slipping
Posted 3/27/12 – I have been playing WoW for a long time and I am still hesitant to get on the MoP fan boat. It seems that even with the MoP beta live, Blizzard is still struggling to remain at the top. I thought this article was pretty good. I think it does a decent job of describing what the expansion is about but also describes some of the obstacles this expansion will have to overcome. I found the article on a website called “ars technica” which I have never visited before, but Google found it for me.
ars technica article
Mobile WoW
Posted 3/26/12 – Blizzard has apparently started giving thought to porting World of Warcraft to run on mobile devices. They think this will address the declining subscriptions. This is not a good idea. I have no desire to try to play my character on an iPad (and I love my iPad). Blizzard just needs to face the fact that their game is no longer as popular as it use to be and I really don’t know what they think they can do to change that (just ask EverQuest) but going mobile definitely is not the answer. Follow the link to read the Forbes article.
Forbes article
In-Game Footage for World of Darkness
Posted 3/26/12 – I can’t remember if I provided details on this before or not, it has been a while since CCP has provided any details on their Vampire MMO. Apparently the ruleset for this game is based on the old pen and paper system. I find that a little interesting because, for a brief time, I did play Vampire: Masquerade in the old pen and paper style. The graphics quality looks pretty impressive. Check out the link below to see the video and to read more.
PC Magazine article
More Server Merges for Aion
Posted 3/22/12 – NCSoft has announced that they plan to do more server merges, which I don’t think really makes any sense when they are on the verge of going to Free-2-Play. Perhaps they are trying to keep all the current players on specific servers so they can separate the F2P players from the veteran players? Follow the link to the Massively article to read more about their plans for the merge for existing characters.
Massively article
Mists of Pandaria Beta Has Begun
Posted 3/22/12 – Blizzard has been teasing about this for several weeks and now it is official, the beta for the next World of Warcraft expansion has begun. Players who are eligible to participate in the beta should be able to install Mists of Pandaria. Anyone that agreed to the Annual Pass should be eligible to participate in the beta, others, I believe, will have to opt-in. I have yet to decide if I will participate. Follow the link below to read more about (though there is a plethora of information out there already)
Gaming Blend article
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