Okay -- the FULL LIST of Interesting Games!

I’m not going to blast this post anywhere, but if someone was interested in what a full run of the Google Trendifier looks like with about 160 games on the list. I’m still counting it toward my Blaugust quota, though. Some of the games on previous lists aren’t on this one, as I decided to eliminate those that Google Trends Suggestions didn’t label as an Online game or Video game, just to try and get the most fair comparisons possible. ...

August 13, 2021 · 3 min · 504 words · Tipa

The Most Interesting MMO in the USA, Part Deux.

I’ve just spent the entire night with my hands deep in the guts of the Google Trends API and the Python package that calls it. I’ve even sprinkled in Google Suggested Searches to sweeten the search. I’ve implemented a quick sort algorithm. My boyfriend was helping debug the program. But no matter what I do, the answer always comes out the same. I know this ordering doesn’t make any sense. I imagine it’s based on what people search for, and they’re more likely to search for FFXIV than FINAL FANTASY XIV ONLINE. ...

August 12, 2021 · 5 min · 892 words · Tipa

The Most Interesting Game of All Time!

I was playing around with Google Trends last week, trying to see how a few MMOs compared to each on the ‘Trends. It was fun and all, but I missed a lot of games and I just thought it would be so much better if I could just compare EVERY MMO, past and present, automatically! Google Trends just catalogs the searches people would do for a game, but I figured that had to have at least a loose correlation to popularity, right? ...

August 11, 2021 · 5 min · 1012 words · Tipa

Palia: You're In Our World Now.

That… isn’t actually their tagline (old folks know that it was EverQuest’s), but it seems like what this social MMO is going for. An idyllic world where you can relax with friends. The trailer shows players building their own homes and communities, but is that all there is? Creek Because I enjoy tedious tasks for little reward, I found myself idly listing every MMORPG I could find on Steam last night. People called out all the MMOs I’d missed when I did the Google Trends experiment the other day, and I kept thinking of more, afterward. I’d missed Runescape!? I literally watch Runescape videos every day. I’m pretty sure that the Old School Runescape streamers are being punished in some sort of televised Hell, and I just want to make sure they’re okay and try to give them some hope for the future. ...

August 10, 2021 · 6 min · 1161 words · Tipa

DCUO Episode 41: Into the House of Legends

So, I listened to the DCUO livestream the other day, where they showed a preview of the House of Legends episode, packed to the rafters with quality-of-life changes and new content. I was listening, fascinated, until they mentioned that House of Legends was currently LIVE ON THE TEST SERVER. So, I, um, quit the livestream and installed the test version of DCUO and went to have a look for myself. Allies screen ...

August 8, 2021 · 5 min · 1009 words · Tipa

MMOs on the Bubble

I don’t play every MMO that comes out – not by a longshot. But, I follow a lot of gamers, streamers, and game developers, and between me and them, I see a lot of discussion about the new MMOs that come down the pike. Crowfall was released a couple of weeks ago. Suddenly, everyone was talking about it. And then, suddenly everyone was not. What did it all mean? I asked Google Trends to help me analyze searches for a dozen or so MMOs to help understand what all was going on with MMOs today. ...

August 7, 2021 · 7 min · 1474 words · Tipa

DCUO: New Player Experience

I like my main character, Teal Green, just fine. Well, most of the time. She started out as a hard light controller – a deputy of the Green Lantern corp. But I soured on all the constant comboing and didn’t feel I contributed much DPS. With wild abandon, I tried a few different DPS options, finally settling on Munitions when it came out. I later changed over to become an electricity-based healer, and that is where I am today. My DPS is … reasonable. Team Spode (the league I belong to) is usually at the tops of the DPS charts, and I’m usually third or fourth behind Lord Spode’s ice tank and Stingheal’s sorcery healer. ...

July 27, 2021 · 9 min · 1846 words · Tipa

DCUO Reboots itself with House of Legends

DC Universe Online has had a problem. It’s the most popular of Daybreak’s MMOs, but its spandex tights flies under the radar of most MMO players. Recent content dumps (called “episodes”) are still very crowded. Recent changes to show exactly how many players are in each zone (and across how many instances) shows that the most recent hub areas support hundreds of players at any time of the day – and this isn’t counting the Nintendo Switch players, who have their own sets of servers. ...

July 23, 2021 · 6 min · 1274 words · Tipa

New World: FOMO or FOTM?

Amazon’s new MMO, “New World”, comes out soon. Everyone is excited – but I don’t know if I’m ready for a new MMO commitment.

July 22, 2021 · 6 min · 1126 words · Tipa

Outriders: What is Hulk if not smash?

Square Enix’s new co-op third person shooter RPG, “Outriders”, doesn’t have anything to do with the Marvel heroes. Just, the last demo I played of this sort was Marvel’s Avengers, and I didn’t have a great experience with the co-op features, and this title was just there, for some reason. So, what is “Outriders” if not Marvel’s Avengers? I hadn’t even heard of this game before a couple days ago, when it exploded all over my Twitter timeline. I (being at work at the time) demanded someone patiently explain to me what kind of game it was so that I could join in the fun. ...

February 28, 2021 · 6 min · 1260 words · Tipa