Beta

…or so they would like you to believe. The GOVERNMENT says that we are in a GIANT SPACESHIP, a HUNDRED KILOMETERS LONG. How does that make any sense? DO YOUR RESEARCH! We, the ones the media disparagingly call “Round Earthers”, KNOW that we live on a spherical planet that circles a STAR. WAKE UP SHEEPLE! It’s City of Heroes… except in space (if you believe their lies, anyway). And it’s just part of larger push to bring the MMOs of yesteryear into the present day. ...

A Giant in the Stonefields This weekend’s fourth Rift beta event introduced seven new levels, two new zones, two new dungeons, and Warfronts. Warfronts being Rift’s version of instanced battlegrounds. And aside from the new Defiant-side dungeon, I saw all these things. I played a heck of a lot of Warfronts, each time tuning my various specs. With so much choice and so many combinations and so many styles of play, players should plan on making their specs flowing, freely changeable plans. ...

Trion has announced the third beta event for their Rift MMO. It’s been described as an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary game, and that seems about right. Like fantasy novels, I guess, where very few ever try anything new, and yet people still buy, read and enjoy them. It’s a decent genre entry, and as I don’t currently play any games in the fantasy MMO genre, I’m very much looking forward to it. (Wizard101 is so entirely different that it cannot be compared to the WoW-likes in any way. That’s what I love about it!) ...

This mysterious e-mail just mysteriously appeared in my in-box. My in-box OF MYSTERY! I can neither confirm nor deny that I will be leveling my lower gluteal regions over the weekend as a warrior brought from the past to defend the Vigil against the rifts – and from the evil warriors summoned from the future by the Defiant. E.g., the folks that were the community of the first beta event. ...

Time to put on your shades, spin the name wheels and step into your time machine, because it’s 2004 and SOE has just released World of Warcraft: Kids Edition. This isn’t a criticism. WoW is a great game, but the similarities are unmistakable. It looks JUST like WoW, the game is HIGHLY polished, consistent look everywhere. You are in a cartoon, but it’s a fun cartoon. Character creation is meant to be easy and simple. The small number of choices will be instantly familiar to anyone who plays WoW or Wizard 101 because in Free Realms, as in those others, you are recognized by your gear. Fifteen different outfits for fifteen different jobs. The name wheel will also be familiar to Wizard 101 players, though you can request a custom name which, if approved, will replace your name wheel name. ...

You can talk about it now! Expect an article about it for tomorrow, but if you’ve been playing – how did you like it?

It’s just one day shy of a week since the folks at Acclaim proudly stated Spellborn would be entering closed beta this very week. Has anyone gotten in yet? And if so, without breaking the NDA, is the stability good? How do you like the new tutorial on the shardship? How fun will it be once you find out you can’t skip it with subsequent characters? :) Well, maybe they’ll add some way around that. (This is based on the EU version of the game) ...

Runes of Magic has been getting a lot of attention from the blogosphere lately. Though obviously heavily inspired by World of Warcraft, this Taiwan import adds multi-classing and many other little twists to the basic formula. It’s been in beta for months, goes live in March, and today sent me an email saying they had over 450,000 players worldwide. That’s not just beta signups – that’s implying there’s 450,000 people – worldwide – playing Runes of Magic. And that is a very, very good thing. ...

There’s a slim possibility I may have been dismissive of Sparkplay’s Anthro (not Furry) MMO, Earth Eternal, in the past, but – Okay, I just have to get this off my downy-feathered chest, here. Earth Eternal is a Furry MMO. I understand why they are trying to distance themselves from it. The Furry sub-culture has gotten a reputation for kinkiness, but, seriously, there’s a certain percentage of any sub-culture that’s kinky. Go to any sci-fi convention and it won’t be only the Furries who are getting odd looks. ...

Wizard 101’s beta is ending, and all characters will be deleted prior to the game going live. So this is a goodbye to Tara Mythcrafter, Adept Conjurer and part time Pyromancer. A lot of people look to Free Realms as an alternative to run-of-the-mill MMOs. I look to games like Wizard 101, with very innovative design and mechanics, to show us what the future might look like. I did go back to the Emperor’s Throne Room in Krokotopia, by the way, and it seemed about the same as before, though not as buggy. ...