Oh come on! You guys had to know this one was coming from us, here at MMOCrunch. To ring in the new year, and to celebrate the last day of the old year we at MMOCrunch bring you the sexiest MMORPG armors of some of the most popular games around the world. I don’t know what it is but people seem to love to oggle digital skimpiness. Who can blame em with armors like these though, eh? Enjoy the pictures (each game is labeled as such, photos come courtesy of monkeyspy via the MMORPG.com forums):

So which one is your favorite?

P.S. For any ladies in the crowd that feel this is a bit unfair. Fear not, I plan on doing a male version before the end of the week. Equal opporunity oggling for all!

Wired.com had an article about a new nasal spray a few days go that is currently being tested on monkeys that supposedly can keep you awake up to 36 hrs. Although thats nothing new, the big breakthrough here is two fold. One, there were no recorded side effects experienced by the monkeys. Two and more importantly it keeps you alert and calm, the monkeys didn’t experience any hyper activity or gitters like caffeine or sugar give you.

Although it’s a few years away before it becomes available, it’s interesting to see how this could have a huge affect on gamers. You’ve already heard about gamers playing 30-40 hrs marathon sessions, some even dying afterwards, but what if these gamers could play for 40 hrs and feel 100%? You might soon be hearing about 100 hrs gaming sessions. Scary thought.

Ron Paul, a Presidential hopeful for the Republican party, is getting a little help from World of Warcraft gamers. A group of Ron Paul supporters on the Whisperwind server are planing on marching from IF to Stormwind in support of their candidate.

Now I’m no genius, but holding a political event in a game that is mostly made up of people that can’t vote doesn’t sound like a very good idea. If only Whisperwind were a PVP server, the mayhem that would surely ensue would be glorious. I can just see it now, Ron Paul supports are slaughtered on their political march.

Even thought it isn’t a PVP server if anyone games there feel free to send us some screenshot if anything interesting happens. Heres the time. News Years Day at 8:30 pm EST (won’t move out until 9:15 pm EST)

So a couple weeks ago I did a short blog about MMO-alternative games. It was all well and good in that it included some RTS, FPS, and strategy games. Something, that I think we can all agree is a rare sight in the world of MMOs. Well, as it turns out, I completely left out an entire genre of MMOs, one that isn’t all that rare: MMO Rhythm Games, a.k.a. MMORGs. I have been thinking a lot about these types of games and it strikes me as odd that there are so many of these games popping up lately, for example Dance Online (above). So what is the appeal? What makes a company decide to invest so much into a game such as this?

Well a quick and easy answer would be: Guitar Hero. Need I say more? The guitar based rhythm game has been a smash hit amongst console gamers so it would only make sense that it would be at least mildly successful amongst MMO PC gamers as well. There is no real question about it, MMORG games are successful. In January of 2007, Nexon sent out a press release that stated it had garnered 100,000 registered members for its free2play MMORG, Audition. One hundred thousand members for a game that essentially has your avatar standing with  with a few other avatars and dancing, while you hit the appropriate up, down, left, right arrows on your keyboard. Well that doesn’t sound like very much fun. So why does Nexon have 100,000 members (as of a year ago) playing there game?

As an owner and lover of Rock Band, I can tell you that one of the greatest parts about the game is getting 3 of my friends together and rocking out to some great songs on the soundtrack. It’s a bunch of fun, and my honest opinion is that rhythm games, in general, derive a lot of their “fun factor” from the communal aspect, e.g. playing with your friends. MMORGs don’t have this factor and yet they are still fun (for certain people). Why, because despite people not actually being with you watching you play, chances are there are people watching your avatar dancing, in whatever appropriate outfit you have given him/her. So is that what it all boils down to? Do people really just want to perform, and be in the spotlight? A lot of people are too shy to do that even in front of their friends, so maybe that’s it. Maybe this is the secret behind the appeal of MMORGs; a safe place to perform without feeling like your being judged, at least not you personally. I am sure people will be judging your avatar plenty.

Anyways, that’s just my two cents on the matter. What do you think?                                        

In a genre of gaming where the first word is ‘roleplaying”, its a bit humorous that almost no one actually roleplays. Seriously when’s the last time you saw a character act like there supposed to. For instance in LOTR lore we know that elves and dwarfs are not very fond of each other in, however in the actual game dwarfs and elves regularly quest together and are even in the same guilds. Once in a while you can find a elf, dwarf or hobbit in character, but after a joke or two the player would go right back to normal breaking out of character.

The obvious answer here is that most people don’t actually want to roleplay. Sure being a elf hunter with a mean bow shot is one thing, but who wants to go around talking like a Legolas or not joining a quest group because theres a dwarf in it. Hell its hard enough finding full groups for raids and quest without discriminating dwafts. Also think about what you type when your chatting. If your seeking a group for a quest you probably type somethink like “LFG – quest name”. If I had to write a long winded sentence in the style of LOTR, I’d never get anywhere.

With that said, I do enjoy running into people that actively roleplay. It brings the game more to life and it’s actually fun to be around them. While I don’t actively roleplay myself, if I run into someone that is, I try to get into it also. It’s quite fun once in a while, you should try it.

(img: http://www.tehw00t.net)

About a week ago I did a short piece on Mythos, being developed by Flagship Studios. It was sort of a pre-preview that entailed very little information because, well to be honest Flagship has decided not to make the website accessible to anybody who is not in the beta. Good thing for you, and me, then that I was accepted into the beta and am now able to give you guys a proper preview! Also a good thing that the NDA was lifted a couple months ago.

In typical fashion, I started my character in the world of Uld by choosing his race: Satyr, Gremlin, or Human. Naturally, I chose to be a Gremlin (they are PURPLE!). From there I went on to choose my class. Currently, there are only 3 classes available: Bloodletter (a melee class), Gadgeteer (hunter/ranged class), and Pyromancer (spellcaster). Deciding to go with a theme I decided on Gadgeteer simply because whenever I feel a bit purple I also feel a bit firey. After all the customization (hair, face, etc.) I was finally ready and set to make my appearance in the world, which after a quick tutorial quest, sent me to Stonehill. For players looking for some extra adventure there is also the option of choosing Elite mode (which makes everything harder) and Hardcore mode (which means if you die your character is gone), for some real spice you can turn em both on. (Pardon the grainy images, JPEG is too big a file size)

Stonehill is the main gathering point in the game, from what I can tell. It is the Ogrimmar/Iron Forge of Mythos, if that helps at all. You’ll start your game here and, for at least the first 10 levels, you’ll be doing a number of quests from here. It’s a pretty nice town that is very beautiful and very active. After gathering some quests I was off to do battle in the lands of Uld.

The first thing you’ll notice about Mythos is how similar the game plays and feels to Diablo 2. Seriously, when I say this game is a Diablo 2 clone I very seriously mean it. The game allows you to map skills to your left and right mouse buttons, the left being primarily for weapon skills and the right being for everything else. The movement in the game is very much the same as Diablo 2 as well, where you click is where you’ll go. If you hold down the left mouse button your character will continue to go in that direction. A brilliant system that works just as well in Mythos as it has in every other game that has employed it successfully.

Upon doing a few quests and leveling up a few times you’ll notice some more stark similarities between Diablo 2 and it’s soon to be released twin brother Mythos. Upon each “ding” you’ll get 5 stat points and 2 skill points. The 5 stat points can be put into any of the 4 stats: Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, and Wisdom. Each one of these stats does something different, and much like Diablo, depending on your class and play-style you’ll want to put your points into different stats. In addition to the stats, you’ll also notice that each class has 3 skill trees from which to choose various skills. As a gadgeteer my skill trees were: Marksman, Grenadier, and Tinker. After reviewing each tree for a few minutes I decided to mainly pursue the Tinker skill tree which allows me access to sentries, notably a flame sentry.

Continuing on in pure and utter Diablo delight I ambled my way through many dungeons and went through many quests. Some of them were fun and some were mediocre, but at no time did I think: “this is a poor Diablo clone” because if anything the new vibrant graphics and identical gameplay made it an even better game. For those still not convinced that this game is the spiritual successor to Diablo 2 you’ll be happy to also jot down that the game has randomized dungeons, hordes of monsters, and more loot than you could ever have hoped for. Top all this off with an inventory system that allows for identify charms, town portals, and gemstones to slot into items and you have got yourself one awesome Diablo-esque game.

Bottom line is that Mythos is an awesome game. Anybody who loved the Diablo games of yesteryears will enjoy Mythos equally as much, if not more so, because of near identical gameplay. Toss the gameplay in with new quests, more storylines, and an overall feel that Mythos is a world as opposed to a single player game with an optional online mode and you have yourself a game that is sure to be a smash hit amongst fans. The best part about it? It will be 100% free to download and play. I’ll be the first to admit that because I have only played the first 10 levels of the game there is still a lot I have yet to see, maybe the game gets horribly repetitive after level 11. Maybe the game gets unbearable after you complete a certain quest. I don’t yet know these things. What I do know is that you will, at the very least, get some enjoyment out of the beginning parts of the game. So what are you waiting for? Beta sign-ups are just a click away. Screenies below:

P.S. Once again, sorry for the grainy images. For some reason I couldn’t upload JPEGs and had to downgrade em to GIFs, the game really is beautiful.

Sega has announced that Phantasy Star Online Expisode I & II is set to go offline Feb 1st for Japanese gamers, ending the games 5 year run. I played a bit on Dreamcast a few years ago at a friends house, although I didn’t really get that far since it was my buddies console, I think I got my character up to lev 20 or something. I remember getting a pet, which I though was pretty cool, and chatting with some players. “All your base are belong to us” just became popular and I remember people spamming the chat channel with that phrase. Overall it was ok, I remember liking the game, but not being too impressed.

It’s an interesting thing when a MMO goes offline. Its sorta like that question, “If the world was to end tomorrow, what would you do?” Money, leveling, grinding and everything else becomes pointless. I would expect all out mayhem to ensue, which sounds like a lot of fun.

Just a quick stop by to wish everybody a Happy Holiday! Enjoy the photo, courtesy of www.freakygaming.com. Remember to spend somtime away from your MMOs today. I am sure your family will appreciate it. For those who can’t reach their families today then you can rest assured you are in MMOCrunch’s thoughts. So without further ado:

Merry Christmas

Happy Chanukah (Yes I know it’s a bit late)

Happy Kwanzaa

Happy New Year

And have a great day!

See you guys tomorrow!

Happy Holidays from MMOCrunch

Well its been a few months since I quit LOTRO and over a month since I stopped playing Tabula Rasa. I really don’t have any desire to start paying either again, but I’ve been thinking about reactivating my LOTRO subscription just to see what new things they’ve added since I left.  Age of Conan is coming out soon, but not soon enough and I haven’t been accepted to any of the betas I’ve signed up for. I was really hoping to get into either the Warhammer or Mythos betas, but I’ve received no reply from either.

Anyone playing a decent MMO that can hold me over until Age of Conan comes out? My LOTRO box is staring me in the face, I’m not sure if I can hold out.