Archive for the ‘PC’ Category
Magic: The Gathering – Tactics Coming Soon…
If you’re a gaming geek like me, there’s probably a pretty good chance you’ve played a game or two of Magic: The Gathering. If you haven’t, then shame on you! Numerous videogames have been released over the years based on the popular Magic franchise, such as the online card game Magic Online and the fighting game Magic: The Gathering – Battlegrounds. Read the rest of this entry »
StarCraft II Choices
I finally started playing StarCraft II, which is obviously an amazing game. I’m addicted to playing and loving the new units and story so far. Anyone that knows me probably also knows that the original StarCraft is my favorite game of all time.
Although, I admit I have one complaint – the choices. As an RPG fan, typically I love being offered alternate paths and having the freedom to impact the game, but this isn’t really one of those cases. I hate permanently missing out on a potential upgrade just because I chose to research a different upgrade. As a strategy game, shouldn’t I be given both options and allowed to strategically decide at the time which best suits me?
I’m also not a fan of how the story progresses. I don’t really need several options about which mission to do next. I’d much rather KNOW which mission comes next both story-wise and difficulty-wise. Giving players the option to jump around and choose how they progress just seems to break the story up. Ideally, I’d like to have various options about how to proceed, but I want enough direction to make a decision about how to do it.
Still, I’m not done with StarCraft II so I’ll reserve my judgement. And either way, I’m thoroughly enjoying the experience so far.
Free Realms Reaches 8 Million
Impressive. Sony Online Entertainment has just announced that Free Realms has reached an impressive 8 million unique users. Here’s a little snippet from the press release:
“Free Realms is more than just a virtual world for our players; it is a portal for imagination. A place where players transform their house into a jumping maze for friends to compete or a petting zoo that boasts all their pets,” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. “Our job as developers is to listen to and predict what they want and give them the tools that inspire and compel them to share their experiences with eight million others.”
And of course, some hints at what they have planned. Sounds fun!:
Later this week, Free Realms is scheduled to kick off the Festival of Hearts, a special month long event that celebrates love, friendship and kindness. All players will be able to participate in themed events, daily social activities and storyline quests that incorporate traditional items and rewards which embody the holiday: hearts, candies, forget-me-not cards, flowers, love potions and more. Heart Breakers are invited too, as even the Stone Hearted can participate in the world events that ensue. New Hippo, Tiger, Beetle, Groundhog and Owl pets will also be available in the Marketplace.
To play Free Realms, visit: http://www.FreeRealms.com.
Funcom Goes Casual
Game developer Funcom has announced that it has established SweetRobot, a subsidiary company that will focus on casual and social games.
Funcom, a Norwegian developer best known for MMORPGs Anarchy Online and Age of Conan, will continue to focus on the hardcore market while SweetRobot explores less traditional MMOs. SweetRobot’s first project, Pets vs. Monsters, describes itself as a “free-to-play MMO Adventure”. Pets vs. Monsters will target 8-12 year olds and promises to include some familiar RPG mechanics, exploring, and pet collecting.
Beta for Pets vs. Monsters is expected to open later this month. I skimmed over the site and it looks interesting. Might be worth keeping your eyes on if you’re a kid looking for something new to play, or a parent with kids seeking an MMO.
Free Realms Updates
A ton of changes to Free Realms along with the latest update (and a few previous updates that I never mentioned…). I unfortunately haven’t had a lot of time to play lately, so I may have missed out on a few recent changes. The second Free Realms comic has also recently been released, so I’ll have to make sure to run out and buy that. Here’s a rundown of some recent additions:
- Style cards – You can now purchase style cards to change your face paint, wings, and hair style! Very nice addition. See my new wings and facepaint in the pic? You can buy some cards from ships in Sanctuary and purchase more using Station Cash.
- Tons of new freebie codes – try these out: mmmdonut, berrycupcake, drinkmilk, EMD73DK, MILKRULES
- 5 million pack celebrating Free Realms reaching 5 million players, includes a party hat and other goodies. Just waiting for you to claim it if you haven’t yet!
- New Soccer Game and new soccer job class – new job is for members only, but everyone can trial up to level 5
- Inspect feature – click another player to see their jobs, levels, and equipment
- You now earn coins as a pet trainer from perfect tricks
- Halloween decorations in Sanctuary. In the pic above you can get a sneak peek. A few pumpkins and spiderwebs in the background.
- Take Me There feature – during a Quest, click ‘Take me there’ to go straight to your destination
- Whenever you move towards a Quest goal or enemy, you’ll be asked if you want to check it out
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs promo is now officially over. Gotta hand it to Sony Online Entertainment and Free Realms. I’m thoroughly impressed, not only by the quality of the game, but also by the consistent updates that keep things fresh and interesting.
Dragonica Online Open Beta
Dragonica Online, a fantasy MMORPG by THQ, has launched into Open Beta today, August 18 2009.
Publisher THQ describes the game as “Set in a world of Dragons and magic, Dragonica Online takes adventurers across the windswept land of El Grego to the far reaches of the world. Gorgeous hand-drawn style visuals complement lightning fast combat while 3D battlegrounds let you get the upper hand on opponents. “
They also hype partying with friends, PvP battles, massive guild brawls, deep character customization, many hidden combos and skills, and exciting events that constantly shape and expand the world of Dragonica Online.
Sounds interesting. I plan on taking a few minutes to at least check the game out. I’ll post feedback when I can. Visit the link below for more info.
Bobba
This virtual world looks interesting… almost enough to make me want a new phone that will actually allow me to play it.
Bobba is from Sulake, the developers of Habbo Hotel (Habbo fans will recognize the word ‘Bobba’), which I’m rather fond of. I’ve been following it for a while now and it seems to have a lot of potential. If you’ve got a compatible mobile phone, you might want to check it out.
I’m not much for mobile gaming, but I did love Pocket Kingdom. Anyone tried Bobba? How is it?
UPDATE: Gamasutra reported a while back that Sulake plans on releasing Bobba onto the PC in the future. Well, screw getting a new phone… I’d rather play on PC anyway so I’ll just wait it out.
“Of course I can say that we’re not planning to limit this only to mobile
phones,” he expanded. “In the future it will also be for the PC platform
market.”
Starcraft 2… a trilogy?
Without a doubt, StarCraft is my favorite game ever made. A superb storyline, awesome characters, deep and balanced gameplay, and three fascinating and unique races… it’s just a great game!!!
Obviously I’m really hyped about SC2 (although, I’m not much of a PC gamer so I expect I’ll need a new computer to play it). Up to this point my only fear wast that I was so used to the ol’ StarCraft that playing this “new, fancy looking StarCraft” just wouldn’t be the same. Could it possibly live up to my enormous expectations? Of course, I can deal with change and Blizzard has a history of making great games. So that fear was minimal.
But now, I unfortunately have a new worry… Blizzard just announced that StarCraft 2 will… be a trilogy? Each game will focus on one of the three races. WTF?
Obviously this has the potential advantage of MORE STARCRAFT! W00t! As a huge fan of the game, I’d be lying if that prospect didn’t get me excited. On the other hand, I also don’t want to have to pay for 3 separate games, which is what I’ll need to do to see the whole storyline and as all three races. Sounds like a scheme to pull in more cash, huh?
Not to mention, I’m horrified that I’d have to purchase all three just to get the full multiplayer experience of all three races and their unique units and abilities. Of course, this hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s scary to think that I might have to keep dishing out more and more cash just to be competitive. Naturally, I expect to see bonus features in an expansion and I also realize that these features should be limited to those that purchased the expansion (like in Brood Wars)… but I DON’T expect to see gamers DEPRIVED of features just because Blizzard wanted an excuse to divide the game into three parts. This could hurt the perfect balancing that the original StarCraft had and really limit the online play.
Oh well, I guess we’ll see how it goes. Clearly this has me worried because it inspired me to finally update, which is something I should do more often. Read about it below:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20603
Two Worlds Tries to Tempt Us
SouthPeak has announced that Two Worlds Temptation is set to hit stores this fall on the PC and Xbox 360.
Temptation is an expansion to the open-ended RPG Two Worlds for the Xbox 360 and PC, taking place right after the events of the original. It features improved voice overs and animations, retooled horseback riding and a totally revamped combat system.
“Our entire development team is now putting their all into making Two Worlds: The Temptation a game that is far and away better than the original,” said Miroslaw Dymek, Chief Developer with Reality Pump explained. “We’ve taken to heart all the comments made by gamers about Two Worlds and we’re going to give them what they want with the sequel.”
Crazy Elf MMO
I just want to quickly introduce our readers out there to Elf Online, which claims to be the ‘craziest MMO of 2008’.
Jason Ferguson's Geeky Gamer Blog 