Still half-asleep and thinking quite strongly about coffee, I stumbled across a YouTube video this morning that-well-got me to thinking about the future of gaming instead, and how awesome it's going to be. Take a look.

Pretty, isn't it? That seems to be the theme for 2009. Making things pretty. And not just graphically either, as it's not only the visuals that make a thing pretty. It's a lot to do with the way it flows, too. The smooth animations, side-rolls, jumps and flips; the elegant swishing of sword through the air, and the pretty colours that follow its trail.

I'm not going to delve too deeply into the credibility of the video here, as I know that quite a lot of it isn't correct. "Diablo 3," for instance, isn't an MMORPG -- not by the gamer's definition anyway. And I don't think "Kingdom Under Fire 2" is, either. The maker of this video doesn't seem to be in the know when it comes to gaming terminology, but he's compiled for us a wonderful look at some of the treats 2009 intends to offer, and we should be grateful nonetheless.

Had you heard of those games before? I'd seen a few of them floating around, but not all of them, and not "Mabinogi Heroes," that's for sure. "Blade and Soul," "Aion," "Diablo 3" -- we've all heard of these guys before, and we're all eagerly awaiting them, I would assume. But what about "Lineage 3"? I didn't even know it was being developed, let alone established enough to release a video. And what about this "Continent of the Ninth" business? Never heard of it before in my life, but damn, I can't wait to play it! I'd be interested to learn a bit more about "Silkroad Online 2," and "Red Stone 2," too. At the very least, the video's got me thinking.

Well, it's got me wondering more than thinking, really. Wondering about the quality of these games, and about the direction they'll be taking in their design. They're all strikingly pretty; we've covered that already. But what about the content? Are we destined to complete mundane "fed-ex" quests and samey PvP battles from now unto the end of time? Or do our faithful developers have something more in store for us? "Blade and Soul" seems to be winning that race at the moment, as by the looks of things we can be expecting some pretty intense wall-running action and destructible environments. That'll spice things up a little, no doubt, but what about the rest?

"Aion" has its flying, but I can see that getting old in a hurry. And "Lineage 3" will no doubt follow in a similar direction to its predecessor. Something along the lines of killing an assortment of enemies without rest for the next 7 years of your life in hopes for a spot in the next castle siege. "Diablo 3's" been a long time coming, but I can't see it changing its design, either. Blizzard is smarter than that, they know the power of their fans; change the "Diablo" formula too much and they'll be looking at the next World War.

No, it's the others that I'm more interested in. The "Mabinogi Heroes's," and "Continents of the Ninth's." These guys still have an element of unknown floating gracefully above their heads. There doesn't seem to be a lot of information about them yet, either, so for all we know they could simply be the same repetitive nonsense, too. But maybe, just maybe, one of them will be different. It might contain some unknown feature that changes the way we play MMO games forever. I know, I know. Wishful thinking, right? Well, we'll find out soon enough.

(And if I'm right, you owe me fifty bucks.)

Posted by Cody Hargreaves

April 3rd, 2009

If you are a game developer or publisher and would like us to write about, review and update your games, then contact our editors. Please email: press@mmolife.org. and send us your latest press releases, game updates, images and videos.

At this year's GDC, one thing became increasingly clearer to me: the next big trend in gaming is going to be free-to-play MMO titles. A few years back, we entered into the Age of the Military FPS; before that, it was the Age of the Animal Mascots. Now, though, we're entering a time when you'll see free-to-play online games popping up left and right-in the US.

Until now, the free-to-play market has largely been dominated by Asian developers, and on the Asian continent, with Western developers and players staying away; there's no money or quality in optional payment games, obviously! With "Runes of Magic" and "Wizard101" putting up huge numbers in such a short amount of time, Frogster and KingsIsle have proven that notion wrong. Thanks to those titles, a wider number of the gaming public and industry are aware that free-to-play titles are a viable option. MMO developers are making free-to-play titles funded by optional microtransactions, and some are even looking at switching over their older, under performing games to that sort of model.

Even studios that have never touched an MMO before are working on their first. And their first? In many cases, free-to-play. The biggest name who has made an announcement is Petroglyph, who last year announced their free-to-play MMO, "Mytheon." (Check out our exclusive GDC preview of "Mytheon" here.)

And, they're just the studio that's announced their project. While I can't name any names, I can say that, after meeting with (and chatting up) studio people at GDC, there are three more big name Western studios that are already well past the initial planning stages of brand new, original IP free-to-play MMOs.

So, not only are "Runes of Magic" and "Wizard101" taking off faster than anyone expected, but more will soon follow suit. Acclaim is one of the companies leading the way, Petroglyph is taking it to the next step, and several more are on board and should be making announcements sometime between now and E3. The best news? From my experiences talking with developers and producers, the Western companies take the concept of "free-to-play" much more seriously than Eastern ones. With most Eastern titles, "free" means "limited"; you can play without paying, but you'll be at a distinct disadvantage.

Sure, "Wizard101's" free-to-play feature is basically a glorified trial, but others out (and coming out) are making much of the premium, paid-for content nothing that players couldn't get by investing extra hours into the game. (So paying is more of a convenience than an advantage.)

Will free-to-play MMOs and MMORPGs ever be able to overtake "World of Warcraft" and the kingdom it built? Time will tell. (And, if you wanted my guess - probably not.) But will studios give it an honest shot and develop serious, high-quality, free-to-play titles in an attempt to carve their own niche into the growing market? You bet. The suits upstairs finally realized that you don't always need a monthly fee for an online game to be profitable, and the players are finally realizing that "Good, free, MMORPG -pick two" isn't going to work as a sarcastic answer much longer.

Posted by Brendon Lindsey

March 29th, 2009

If you are a game developer or publisher and would like us to write about, review and update your games, then contact our editors. Please email: press@mmolife.org. and send us your latest press releases, game updates, images and videos.

Valentine's Day is approaching fast and it means the same thing every year: millions of men scratching their heads while staring through the window of gift shops, at gift magazines, and online, trying to find a gift that won't land them in the doghouse. Yup! That's right. The world will be full of pink hearts and probably some broken ones, but what are you going to do? I know, a little bit of escapism in your favorite MMO.

Unfortunately for those looking to get away, Cupid has not missed out on our MMO worlds. He created an account in every MMO known to gamingkind, flew around and went berserk with those arrows of his. Now almost all MMO publishers and developers are coming up with ways on how to spread the Hallmark Holiday onto the online realms. Upon a quick look around the developers sites, I found dozens that are offering special seasonal updates and features for a limited time only. It's like Christmas all over again; except this time, it's a little pinker and a little less snowy.

IGG is offering a gift service and other features for their games, most notably in "Wonderland Online." Some of the stuff they have come up with include cupid ****wings for your character and an 'energy halo'. You can also pick up other things at the mall such as the 'Magic Magnet' which draws characters together and something called a 'Wisdom Crystal.'

"Runes of Magic" is also launching a Valentine's update where players can create special chocolate to win the hearts of their desire. Other features also include the distribution of in-game roses.

It has been seven or eight years now since the first version of "America's Army" flickered onto our monitors. (I mean that literally; there were many faults.) Since then, over nine million players have registered and given it a go. That makes America's virtual army fifteen times the size of its actual military. Hmm… I smell a pinch of irony.

Anyway, recently the developers and the US Army have been praised with the announcement by Guinness that they have smashed through five world records.

The first of which is easily recognizable and definitely belongs in the trophy case of "AA" — it is that of the largest virtual army. Seems fair. After all, if we include real life armies here, this game's force is still bigger than the worlds biggest land force, Russia. Many of these users still log on regularly and as a hardened recruit to "AA," I can safely tell you that there can actually be times when you have to wait around for a spot to open up on a server so you can jump in. Good news for the "AA" developers.

The second award that was thrown their way was Most Hours Playing a Free Online Shooter. Well, with over nine million players the maths seems to add up.

The game also nabbed Largest Travelling Game Simulator. I guess it's thanks to the fact that it's available in over fifty countries worldwide. It was also awarded the record of Most Downloaded War Video Game. Perhaps the use of the word 'War' in the title of this record will send shivers down the publishers spines because, if anyone remembers, when the game was first launched there was uproar with people nearly forming into mobs saying that the army were promoting war, etc. Chilax, people. It's just a game — and it's free!

Version 1.9.02 of "Zu Online" will arrive sometime in the future (the official word is "very soon"), but until that time, developer IGG is teasing its players with a few of the snazzy new items included in the update.

According to their official site, the newest version will bring a new pet, the Aurora Tiger; a new minion called the Hades Fire Beast available only for level 240+ Summoners; the Pumpin-Q Head; weekly cards; monthly cards; and a daily regular reward system. As usual, the company notes "many game features will be adjusted, all the known bugs will be fixed and the max level requirements for receiving quests will be canceled."

IGG notes more information will be made available at a future time concerning the update, but doesn't indicate whether or not more spiffy-looking creatures will be added. If we hear anything more, we'll be sure to let you know.

How do you briefly explain the localization process in bringing a China-developed MMO to Western audiences? You relate it to food. At least, that's what "Perfect World International" developers Beijing Perfect World did, according to a report from MMORPG.

"Not all Chinese people like American food and not all Americans like Chinese food," note the developers. "You can probably find more Americans that like Panda Express (Americanized Chinese cuisine) than Americans that like genuine Chinese food."

They continue, "This is a simple analogy to the approach we took with our concept art for 'Perfect World International.'"

Later in the article they note the changes made in the appearance of the Blademaster ****as one of the aspects they had to Westernize. The Chinese version appears as a serious male, whose heavy armor and weapon are meant to draw people's attention. For the US version, the character is instead a curvaceous female wearing skimpy clothing.

Changes or not, they both still look generic to me. Although, I'd rather look at more concept art of the US version.

How many times have you formed a rag tag group of heroes made up of other players and saved the world from the clutches of an evil mastermind? Don't you wish you could actually learn something while inhabiting an online world? Well now you can … kind of.

Mind Candy, the developers behind "Moshi Monsters," have purchased "Tutput," a site dedicated to multiplayer educational games.

"We've been very impressed with the site that Paul Birch and his team built, and are delighted with this acquisition," said Michael Smith, CEO of Mind Candy. "We strongly believe that kids learn best when having fun, and the global endorsements from teachers about 'Tutpup' confirm this."

Following the acquisition, Mind Candy plans to integrate Tutpup's puzzles into the world of "Moshi Monsters."

Attempting to bring the player-versus-player experience of MMOs to a wider audience, Multiverse has released the flash-based gladiatorial sim "Battle."

Similar to the gameplay in the free-to-play "Guild Wars," players can only choose six different skills to bring into each one-on-one arena-****battle. Being able to choose between 13 skills across three different categories should make each battle unique, but like any MMO, some builds will probably prove more popular (and possibly overpowered) than others.

Corey Bridges, co-founder and executive producer at Multiverse, said "'Battle' is the first glimpse of a whole new level of excitement in casual games. While new players can begin having fun in seconds, experienced gamers will be thrilled to finally see in a web browser the kind of action and graphics they've found on consoles and in massively multiplayer online games. We're confident 'Battle' is going to redefine players' expectations of what's possible in casual games."

Since the game is built on a flash-based platform, it's available to play on all the popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and whatever flash-supported networks the whippersnappers and social butterflies are into these days.

As of writing I'm the only person playing, so as much as I'd like to communicate my impressions, doing so wouldn't be very fair.

Lasers, stars, weird looking guns, battleships and last but not least, an astounding view of the universe and beyond. No, it's not a re-run of "Star Trek." (Good guess, though.) It's a new online space game based on thousands of different player-controlled galaxies. "Galaxy Online," developed by the same team behind games such as "Tales of Pirates" and "God's War," will be released this month.

The game is kicking up a storm and sucking many players in. The official forums, which were launched yesterday, already feature an abundance of praise for the game. Most frequently touched upon are the 'cool battles' and 'building a galaxy of your own' (mostly opinions from screenshots and videos). Another cool aspect of the game is the user interactivity within the environment.

Players have the ability to take their fleet of battleships and customize them to their needs. They can also alter the position and variety of planets within their galaxy. Speaking of galaxies, it's not enough to just own one — that would be boring. According to the official website, one must create customize, control and most importantly defend their galaxies whilst having the ambition to expand their galaxies by conquering.

IGG has described the game as follows:

"'Galaxy Online' is set across the vast universe. Battles rage constantly and in this galactic sphere, the law of the jungle rules. Players must promote their strength ceaselessly to maintain their position, and only the bravest and wisest commander can be the King! Players may like the many thoughtful design elements in the game, such as smart client, convenient galaxy trustee system, individual and intelligent Plug-ins system, all of which let players experience wonderful feelings whilst playing the game!"

I don't know how many browser-based cheerleading games there are, so when "Spirit Fever" comes out in April it may very well be the first.

Developed and funded by a small independent team from Switzerland, this free-to-play title places players in the role of a squad leader whose duties include piecing together a team, training its members, and competing in a variety of events.

The game's creator, Joëlle Krummenacher, explains the origins of this odd title. "Here in Switzerland, cheerleading is not very popular or developed. The lack of free games about cheerleading as well as my passion for this sport in a country where it is virtually unknown, are the factors which led me to start my own game."

If English is your second, third, or even fourth language, you might still be able to manage some unruly cheerleaders. "Spirit Fever" will be available in almost 10 different languages "to ensure its global reach."

This is just a guess, but I don't think one of those will feature Latin. Sorry, nerds.