| Rise and Shiny revisit: Myst Online: Uru Live Posted: 19 Jan 2014 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Screenshots, Video, Game Mechanics, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Hands-On, Casual, Rise and Shiny, Livestream I'm just going to get this out at the beginning: I absolutely adore adventure games, and honesty above all honesty, I think adventure gaming is almost the perfect genre. I wish MMOs would play like adventure games. I wish that adventure games had multimillion dollar budgets so they could go on forever and ever, patch after patch of head-scratching puzzley goodness. I wish that adventure games were not as rare as they are. But I also wish I were actually good at adventure gaming. I have a hard time with puzzles. Golem would have had me for lunch. I've been enjoying my time in Lilly Looking Through and Memoria so, so much, all the while becoming extremely depressed each and every time I look up a walkthrough that made me feel like a complete and total three-year-old who could barely assemble one of those funny multi-colored donut toys. The thing is, I'm smart, right? I was in those funny advanced classes that taught me languages and told me my IQ was high and were separate from the muggles. At one point they even did experiments on me that made me put together odd puzzle-thingies and attempt to control a primitive computer. Yet here I am now playing Words with Friends and trying to spell words like "THURK" or "ZSATS." Why on earth did I subject myself to the tough puzzles of Myst Online: Uru Live? Continue reading Rise and Shiny revisit: Myst Online: Uru Live  Rise and Shiny revisit: Myst Online: Uru Live originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 19 Jan 2014 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| One Shots: Over the moon and back Posted: 19 Jan 2014 07:00 AM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Screenshots, Warhammer Online, One Shots, Humor, Mabinogi, RIFT, Miscellaneous Welcome back to One Shots! I've missed you! I've missed you so much! It's been so long -- how long has it been, really? A week? That's far too long. Let's catch up: What have you been up to? Me? Well, I've been collecting the very best player-submitted screenshots for all to enjoy. But I guess binging on Breaking Bad is a valid use for your time too. Reader Derrick sent in our first picture of the day from Mabinogi, and this might well be one of my favorites. Just looking at it makes me want to live a better life so that one day I might be invited to sit up there with them. "Here I am sitting in my personal homestead on Ladeca, one of the two moons of Erinn," Derrick explains. It only gets more whimsical from here, folks! Join us as we swing on a star and see what our fellow gamers are up to in MMOs. Continue reading One Shots: Over the moon and back One Shots: Over the moon and back originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 19 Jan 2014 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Daily Grind: Do you bypass MMOs with learning curves? Posted: 19 Jan 2014 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous I might be getting less patient with new things as I age, because I have found myself becoming frustrated with MMOs and video games that require actual research and learning to play. If I can jump into a game and figure things out, well, great. If I'm going to have to work slowly through a two-hour tutorial while referencing guides on forum posts, I might just shy away. MMOs that go outside of the norm may have a lot more to offer, but the requirement to learn a new way to play or how all of these confangled systems work can be an obstacle to enthusiasm and engagement. I know it makes me sound a little wussy, but it's the truth. I really had to push myself to get into The Secret World and Fallen Earth before falling in love with both of these games due to the learning curve present. So am I alone? Do you bypass an MMO if it just takes too long to learn how to play it?  Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!The Daily Grind: Do you bypass MMOs with learning curves? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 19 Jan 2014 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Led by mobile and free-to-play, U.S. digital sales see big gains in 2013 Posted: 18 Jan 2014 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Real-Life, Business Models, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, PvE, War, Free-to-Play, Browser, Mobile, MMOFPS, Dungeon Fighter Online, Miscellaneous, MOBA, League of Legends, MMORPG The digital games market is still on the rise, generating $11.7 billion in sales in 2013. According to market research firm SuperData, this total marks an 11% increase over digital sales in 2012. SuperData noted that Christmas and New Year's occurring in the middle of the week may have helped spiked end-of-year numbers; December 2013 saw a 36% increase in digital sales compared to December 2012. Mobile titles claimed the largest percentage of the digital pie, representing $3.6 billion in sales. Free-to-play titles were up 45% year-on-year to $2.9 billion. Perhaps most interesting for MMO players is the fact that F2P MMO offerings from games like World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic landed in the top ten, though the top three free-to-play earners in 2013 were CrossFire, League of Legends, and Dungeon Fighter Online. Data used by the firm is gathered by collecting digital transaction data directly from developers and publishers. [Thanks to Hagu for the tip!] Led by mobile and free-to-play, U.S. digital sales see big gains in 2013 originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Norrathian Notebook: Preparing yourself for EQN Landmark Posted: 18 Jan 2014 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Opinion, Free-to-Play, Humor, The Tattered Notebook, Family, EverQuest Next, Sandbox, Norrathian Notebook Whether you are a Founder who will access alpha or not, EverQuest Next Landmark is coming up on us like a bullet train; it will be here before you know it. As opposed to most games that stretch your anticipation out for years, this one is going from announcement to playable in less than six months -- if alpha does indeed make it out in January. Those who are opting for closed and open betas or even launch shouldn't have much longer to wait, either. I expect that those stages will maintain the same speed we've already seen, putting players into the game proper well before the next SOE Live. So with the ultimate build-it-yourself sandbox on the horizon, the question is this: Are you ready? Have you got all your ducks in a row in order to best experience Landmark? Can you say you are all set to take advantage of those first minutes logged in? If not, I've got a few strategies, tips, and tricks to help you prepare for when the game goes live. Continue reading Norrathian Notebook: Preparing yourself for EQN Landmark Norrathian Notebook: Preparing yourself for EQN Landmark originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's Crystal Tower Posted: 18 Jan 2014 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Endgame, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, The Mog Log Let me be up front with you, dear readers: The Crystal Tower in Final Fantasy XIV is one of the most well-designed dungeons I have had the pleasure of playing through, ever. Not just "in Final Fantasy XIV" but anywhere, ever. It's fun, it's clever, it's clean, it's engaging, it's freaking spectacular. If not for one minor wrinkle, it'd be a nearly unambiguously perfect bit of bliss. But I'll cover that part later; the important point is that right off the bat, this dungeons is something that I consider absolutely stellar. Longtime readers will also know that large group content is generally not my thing. I dislike a big raiding endgame, and I'm not a fan of the style of play, so the idea that my current favorite dungeon in the game is a 24-man rush through the tower probably seems a bit odd. So let's talk about boss strategies, progress through the tower, and the one blemish on what is otherwise unambiguously great. Continue reading The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's Crystal Tower The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's Crystal Tower originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Game Archaeologist: A brief history of roguelikes Posted: 18 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, MMO Industry, The Game Archaeologist, Miscellaneous, Diablo III As with adventure games, it appears as though the mobile market has triggered a resurgence in the popularity of roguelikes with both developers and players. I've been stumbling over them left and right for a while now (I'm quite fond of FTL, which takes the roguelike into space), and every time I can't help but think of how this genre is almost the antithesis of an MMO. Instead of persistent worlds rich in lore, roguelikes favor randomized dungeon crawls with little or no story. Instead of immortal characters that grow with a player over months and years, roguelikes feature permadeath around every corner. Yet there's love for both in many gamers' hearts and perhaps even a few similarities that help to transcend differences. I find roguelikes fascinating because they are so hardcore, they yank me out of my comfy little leveling bubble, and they force me to use my brains for something more than figuring out whether it's time to use the "2" key once more. So what the heck, let's take a quick trip through roguelikes this week and see where -- if at all -- they connect with MMOs. Continue reading The Game Archaeologist: A brief history of roguelikes The Game Archaeologist: A brief history of roguelikes originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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