I’ve recently started playing Rift again after taking a break for about four months. It’s impressive to see how far the game has progressed – talents and abilities have been revamped, the artwork has been improved and a ton of new features have been added. The guys at Trion have been hard at work. Then…
Last week I took the plunge and decided to order a new mouse. My trusty Logitech mx518 just wasn’t up to the challenge and I’d been eyeing up a rival for months – the Razer Naga. I’d been on the fence about purchasing one, mainly because I wasn’t a fan of the blue colour scheme….
There was no Armageddon The camera plays over a derelict ruined city, buildings half-buried in the sand, bleached dune grass desperately clinging on. The dry wind howls. We saw the end coming. Those who could leave did so. Those who thought they could defeat it perished in their idiocy. A different city scape, different architecture….
One of the allegations I often hear thrown at the MMO genre is that it’s become stale and generic, with newer games rushing out to mimic the most common or popular features instead of innovating and looking at new ways to progress the genre. Over the weekend a group of us headed out to the…
One of the parts of MMO content that I often overlook are in-game events. These small pockets of in-game happenings can last anything from a couple of hours to a few weeks, providing players with an alternative to other activities. Whether they’re the seasonal events that are loosely tied to real-world ones, dynamic events as…
There’s an argument kicking round at the moment that MMOs require no skill in order to play them. This statement is both completely correct and utterly wrong. How can a statement contradict itself? Let me try to explain. If I take a carving knife to an MMO then the prime rump is usually the levelling…
It’s been a week since I started talking about the things I find great about MMOs. In that time I’ve looked at a whole bunch of stuff from how the games are built to how they’re supported. In the final post for the week, I wanted to talk a bit about one of the things…
Previously on Smile Week I’ve talked about how MMOs are changing mobile gaming, how the developers are more open with the community and how much work they put into art, music and worldbuilding. Today I’m going to talk about something a little closer to my heart: the nuts and bolts of an MMO and how…
How many times have you been playing through your favourite MMO, only to pause for a moment and say “Oh, wow…” Screenshot Likewise, how many times have you been in a quest, dungeon or even a raid and caught a moment of of stirring music. You remember – the kind that has you muting everything…
Today’s entry in Smile Week is a bit of compare and contrast. As MMO gamers we’re a bit of a fortunate bunch when it comes to developers and publishers. We’re looked after, listened to and cared for much more than our single-player brethren. What do I mean? Let me show you. A single player game…