| Rise and Shiny: City of Steam Posted: 08 Sep 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Video, Game Mechanics, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Browser, Casual, Post-Apocalyptic, Rise and Shiny, Livestream, Steampunk The first thing that people say when they see City of Steam is, "Wow, this is a browser game?" I've seen the comments on videos and even talked about it during my own livestream (you'll find it embedded after the cut), but in the back of my mind I know that browser-based games have looked good for a while now. Still, the game does look good. It looks darn good in many places. It's a world of oily, smoky machinery and grimy dungeons, and the graphics do their job. With the dirtier styles and dungeon crawlers, however, comes the risk of repetitive design that toes the line between neat and bland as cold porridge. City of Steam mostly wins in the graphics department but does fail occasionally. It's still fun to tell people it's a browser game. The beginning intro alone feels like a well-made MMO, while some of its staging and tutorials make the game feel as if it cost more than it did to make. The rest of the game isn't bad, either, aside from occasionally repetitive gameplay. Continue reading Rise and Shiny: City of Steam  Rise and Shiny: City of Steam originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 08 Sep 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| One Shots: Sunset over Eorzea Posted: 08 Sep 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Screenshots, Culture, One Shots, RIFT, Final Fantasy XIV, TERA, Miscellaneous Reader Gordy feels that a new era is dawning on Final Fantasy XIV these days, and as I survey the general excitement over this title, I'd have to agree. Who would have thought it considering how messy this title was two years ago? "Even with the many, many server issues during the re-launch, it's still a wonder of a game in my opinion," Gordy testifies. "I was mining out in Thanalan, and when I turned around, I realized the sun was setting, and there was a warm comfortable glow over the entire world. I had to grab a screen and add it to the (probably piles) of shots you're getting for the launch of this gorgeous game." Get the full color version and more for the low, low price of $9.99 if you just call... what? We're not allowed to charge readers for this column? Man, I'm never going to buy myself out of indentured service to Bree now! Oh well, go see it for yourself after the jump. Continue reading One Shots: Sunset over Eorzea One Shots: Sunset over Eorzea originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 08 Sep 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Daily Grind: What's the story behind your character name? Posted: 08 Sep 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous I love me a good character name. Before I settled into the habit of using the same handful of names over and over again, I used to rely on a multi-page list of interesting names that I added to over the years. Many of these names would be chosen just because I liked the sound of them, but sometimes the names had little stories behind them. My World of Warcraft Hunter, Ghostfire, was named after a Magic: The Gathering card. I started using the moniker Yeti Yesterday in Guild Wars because I love alliteration and it sounded like a strange superhero. And my standard nomer, Syp, was created because I have a theory that everyone only types in your first three letters of your name anyway. So what's the story behind your character name(s)?  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: What's the story behind your character name? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 08 Sep 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Make My MMO: Crowdfunding August 25 - September 7, 2013 Posted: 07 Sep 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: MMO Industry, Massively Meta, Miscellaneous, Crowdfunding, Make My MMO If you build it, they will come. While that adage hold true for baseball diamonds in cornfields, it's a little bit different for MMOs. If you're set on developing a new virtual playground, you get them to come so you can build it! That's the philosophy behind crowdfunding, anyway, and many are latching onto it. So how fare the fields of crowdfunding lately? New projects ( Alteil Horizons, Epic Space) sprouted up, one took root and grew stronger ( Divergence), and others ( Project Snowstorm, Realms of Creation, Enspira Online) withered away from lack of nourishment. See how your favorite projects are growing right here in Make My MMO. Continue reading Make My MMO: Crowdfunding August 25 - September 7, 2013 Make My MMO: Crowdfunding August 25 - September 7, 2013 originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 07 Sep 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Wings Over Atreia: Aion's birthday bash delivers daily presents Posted: 07 Sep 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Events (In-Game), Opinion, Free-to-Play, Wings Over Atreia, Anniversaries If you had the opportunity to celebrate your birthday for an entire month, you would, wouldn't you? I mean, what reason could you possibly have not to stretch out the festivities for four weeks... as long as you don't have to foot the whole bill, that is! Well that's exactly what Aion is doing in the weeks leading up to its fourth birthday later this month -- it's throwing a multifaceted bash with a variety of activities for Daevas to participate in. So was can party-goes expect first? How about daily presents and the return of the Wheel of Fortunerk! You heard me right: You join the party and you get the gift! And while you might have missed part of Aion's recent summer block party event, there's no reason to this time. The Alchemy Event runs until maintenance on September 18th, so you have plenty of time to get in and start hoarding your goody bags. While there's more a-comin' as the week's wear on, keep reading for all the details about these first festivities (and maybe a hint or two about the next ones). Continue reading Wings Over Atreia: Aion's birthday bash delivers daily presents Wings Over Atreia: Aion's birthday bash delivers daily presents originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 07 Sep 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's Grand Companies Posted: 07 Sep 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, The Mog Log, Subscription Wednesday's maintenance came and went, a handful of minor issues surfaced and were quickly squashed, and Final Fantasy XIV moved on. Since the maintenance, I hit a queue once or twice and that was it. This has not stopped several people from crowing that the game has already failed, but most of us have accepted that server issues happen on launch. And you're getting some extra free time out of it in a game whose chief issue is that everyone actually wants to play it. So let's move on and talk about Grand Companies. It's easy to miss the enlistment point in the Companies if you're a Legacy player focusing on other activities, and it's just as easy to enlist and then completely forget about the company since it's a different sort of progress track. So let's talk about what the companies contain, what you can get out of them, and why you should bother caring. Continue reading The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's Grand Companies The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's Grand Companies originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 07 Sep 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| EverQuest II moves expansion to November Posted: 07 Sep 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Expansions, Free-to-Play, Dev Diaries EverQuest II's next expansion, Tears of Veeshan, has been moved to mid-November, according to a letter by Senior Producer Holly Longdale. Calling the expansion "something special," she said that the team will begin the beta on October 15th and that the project is coming together well. In the letter, she also announced that heroic characters are now scheduled for the first week of October. Longdale said that the team is still "fine-tuning" details for the heroic character release and is making adjustments to Destiny of Velious zones so F2P players have a place for heroic characters to romp. Finally, if you haven't purchased the Age of Discovery expansion, you might be interested to hear that SOE is selling features from that expansion individually. EverQuest II moves expansion to November originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 07 Sep 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| League of Legends poaches EVE Online lead designer Posted: 07 Sep 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, MMO Industry, Free-to-Play, Sandbox It's EVE Online's loss and League of Legends' gain as Kristoffer Touborg said that he's moving from CCP to Riot Games. The former EVE Online lead designer announced the news on his Facebook page, praising his former job while anticipating "something new" with League of Legends. "It's been an incredible five years, working for a company I love, on a game I love. Not a lot of people get that opportunity, but I did and I'll always be grateful that CCP let me work at a place where I'd get up every morning and be happy to go to work," Touborg said. "You can't do the same thing forever though and I feel like after more than five years, it's time to try something new." Touborg has nothing but excitement for his new position: "A few years ago, my overwhelming interest was the EVE universe; now it's League of Legends and the competitive scene there. To everyone at CCP, it's been wonderful and I would happily do it all over again. To everyone at Riot, I'll see you soon." League of Legends poaches EVE Online lead designer originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 07 Sep 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Advanced fish physics and more
