After contemplating going back to LOTRO for sometime now and learning that Age of Conan was pushed back another 2 months, today I went and reactivated my LOTRO account. I’m currently installing the game, as I had a HD failure 3 months ago and lost all my stuff.

For anyone that plays, I’m on the Windfola server under the name of Omicronn. I have a lev 50 Elf Hunter. Not sure what I’m going to do when I login. I’ll probably hookup with my old guild and see what there up to. Then I’ll check out the PvP situation to see if they added anything worthwhile. I noticed they added another Book to the storyline, so I’ll definitely do that. But aside from that, I’m hoping I don’t get bored.

Anyway if your on Windfola, feel free to say hi.

In today’s MMO world there is a bunch of competition. Between pay2play games such as World of Warcraft, and Everquest 2 and free2play games like Archlord, and Dungeon Runners there just doesn’t seem to be much room left for the smaller, more indy, MMO games that get released. In fact most of the time they are so small that you never even knew that they existed. Quite sad really, but no matter, that is why we are here to help enlighten some of you who may be looking for an “off-game” to check out or just like reading about some new games.

Now, before I continue, a couple of these games (and they will be labelled as such) have not yet been released. They are very small indy games, and therefor hold no promise that they actually ever will get released. MMOCrunch is not vouching for them and if you opt into any sort of “pre-order” you are doing so with your own knowledge and caution.

Ok, sorry about that, I had to get the legal mumbo-jumbo out of the way. Onto the games:

• Exteel - Brought to you by NCSoft, Exteel is a new MMORPG-ish game that is based around mechs. “Gundam” type mechs to be more exact. The game is fast, free, and very fun for what it is. In a review by GameDaily, the newsite compared it more to Unreal Tournament than World of Warcraft, which is definitely a good thing for those of you who were looking for a more aggressive and furious game. Definitely something worth looking at.
• Lost Colony - This game looks very much to be a Planetside clone. However, that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad game. The creators are a start-up company called Red Planet who decided, after a few bad decisions in their favorite game (Planetside) to make their own MMOFPS game. The game may seem a bit rough on the egdes right now, but it’s also still in development. Something to keep an eye on for any MMOFPS fan in the crowd. (MMOCrunch does not guarentee this game will every be released)
• Force of Arms - This is another mech-based game, only it’s based on the more traditional mechs from the popular franchise: Mech Warrior. The game is being developed by a company called Wardog Studios. Promising mech customizability, a huge world full of PVP, and faction based combat the game is looking to be quite fun. For an indy developer they seem to have big big plans for their game. Also worth noting is that the game is to be set in a persistent world. Keep an eye on this one. (MMOCrunch does not guarentee this game will ever be released)
• Pirates of the Caribbean Online - Now, I know what you are thinking, “how can a Disney game be included in your list?” Well, to be honest, a lot of people don’t actually know about this game. It launched a couple months ago with very little fanfair and almost no advertising at all. The game is free2play, and just by that makes it worth at least a gander. Aside from being based in a Disney world, the game is actually pretty fun. For those who have no desire to pay for a pirate-based game such as Pirates of the Burning Sea, this game provides you an excellent free option.

So that’s it, well all I could find anyways. I’m sure that there are a multitude of MMORPGs out there that deserve attention but won’t get them. It’s a sad truth, but games that don’t have multi-billion dollar publishers usually don’t get any spotlight no matter how great they are. So, is there any game I left out?

Craig “Silirrion” Morrison. The man behind the robot.

It is the dream of many players to work on, in some aspect, their favorite MMO. Whether it was world building, item creation, or class balance, we have thought that if we were in charge, the game could become “perfect.” What if that dream can come true? In recent years, many games have hired former players to become developers. Craig “Silirrion” Morrison is a player turned Game Director for Funcom’s Science-Fiction MMORPG, Anarchy Online. As a long time player of Anarchy Online I was very interested in finding out more about Craig, as well as his thoughts on being Game Director. Craig was very happy to answer a few questions for MMOCrunch:

Can you state your name and current job title?

My name is Craig Morrison and I am currently the Game Director and Producer for Anarchy Online.

Can you state any other positions you have held at Funcom?

Prior to becoming the Game Director I was the company’s Community Manager.

What brought you into gaming? What brought you to Anarchy Online?

That’s a tough one, I’ve been gaming since I was about six years old and my father bought us a BBC Micro home computer and I first discovered Asteroids! I don’t think I ever stopped being a gamer. In the 90s I got into MMO games, starting with Meridian 59 before moving onto Ultima Online and Everquest. It was while playing Everquest that a guild mate showed me Anarchy Online during the beta period and since then I have been hooked on Rubi-Ka!

In terms of getting into the industry it was really a series of very fortunate accidents to be honest. I first threw up some help pages for Anarchy Online onto my personal website to help some other EQ guildies get into the game. From there it somehow turned into a fully-fledged fan-site I updated every week, almost without me realizing I was doing so! It was really the support and encouragement from the community at the original fan sites like AO-Basher and the AO-Vault forums that helped me expand into actually running a fan-site too. Then I was hired on a freelance basis (as I had what most would call a ‘proper job’ at the time working in the newspaper industry in the UK) by IGN to run their AO Vault fan site and so it became a daily thing for me. Then being part of IGN I got to meet, interview and get to know some of the folk at Funcom and go to things like E3 and eventually through those connections I was offered the Community Manager’s position when it became available. There definitely wasn’t a magical career path I had plotted for myself and I still look back and am very thankful that things turned out the way they did!

Do you still play Anarchy Online? Do you play any other games?

I still play AO as often as I can, it is very important to keep in touch with the player base and experience the game we spent our time creating from their point of view as well. I don’t get to play as much as I did as a fan, but I still make sure I find the time to spend time on Rubi-Ka!

I think I have played most western MMO games and a good deal of the eastern ones as well! Now through professional curiosity but I have always loved the genre and it’s always interesting to see what other people are doing. So I still pick up all the new releases as they appear.

What was it like to go from player, to community contributor, to Funcom employee and then to Game Director?

Easier then you might think! The first transition was actually not all that hard, as Community Manager you are representing players in many ways, so that felt quite natural going from playing to providing the feedback on that. As I got more involved in the production side of the game, and then to Game Director I think the biggest (and scariest) change is when it first dawns on you that people aren’t just asking for your opinion anymore but are asking you to make the decision! I’m very lucky though that we have a fantastic team working on the game and they really make my job in that regard pretty easy. It definitely takes a little getting used to though!

How do you react to some players who may feel that certain classes are still unbalanced, particularly in regards to PVP?

There will always be opinions about balance. That’s inherent in any situation with such a diverse selection of gamers, game-styles and preferences. So we expect there to be disagreements (all the designers don’t always agree, let alone tens of thousands of players!). With PVP in particular the systems in AO are deep and complex, which is the beauty of the game, it is also however a fact that means that there will always be some inherent ‘imbalances’ in the system. Therefore it’s a constant task to nudge, adjust and otherwise meddle with things to try and bring improvements.

How do you react to some players who may feel that certain classes receive unwarranted buffs while others do not receive any?

I don’t think we would ever put anything in that we considered ‘unwarranted’. Of course the players might always have a different opinion! We do realize that when other professions (who did need it) get some attention, that others (who don’t so much) feel left out. It’s one of those pesky tricky balancing acts we have to get right when we do professional changes. At the end of the day sometimes you do have to consider some updates or changes for a given profession on the basis that they haven’t had one in some time. As with the PVP question in a game as complex as Anarchy Online this is an area that’s never easy, and we won’t get it right 100% every time, but an area that we would never make changes too that we didn’t think would have some overall benefit.

Being a former player, how do you separate your want to please players, yet still retain the responsibility of Game Director?

I think deep down we always want to please people! After all we are making these games to provide entertainment for people. Yes, it’s a business too, but if people aren’t having fun with your game, they won’t keep playing it. We do have to do so responsibly though, in particular with virtual worlds like Rubi-Ka and we always have to consider the implications of the changes we make. It’s not always an easy balance but it’s an important one and something that is at the core of all the decisions we have to make, so whether we want to or not, that responsibility is forced on us. I wouldn’t have it any other way either!

What do you feel has been your most successful addition to Anarchy Online?

Personally I love the recent Dust Brigade team instance. I was very happy with the balance we managed to get there between challenge, reward and fun. I think it’s re-playable in a good way with a decent return for the player’s time.

What do you feel has been your least successful and how have you learned from it?

I try to avoid thinking in negative terms too much, but there are definitely things we learn from all the content we put in. I’d certainly like to think nothing has been totally ‘unsuccessful’ so far! What is true is that we have definitely learned how to do things better as we go along. I think the experience in the Alappaa team instance was better then that in Albtraum (which was the first team instance we ever made) for example, and the Dust Brigade instance better again as we moved along with learning how to integrate the team instancing technology better and get the game-play and the rewards balanced better. It’s always a learning curve.

Any advice for other players looking to get into MMO game development?

Get involved in the communities around the game, and never presume that things are as easy as they sometimes might seem from the outside! It’s not a guarantee that you might one day land a job, but it’s certainly not a bad start! Also always try to be objective in your views on the game and look beyond your own personal preferences. The key to being able to understand and work on MMO games, is understanding all the different play-styles and how they interact. Always remember that the designers of your favorite game made any given change for a reason, even if you don’t understand it (or worse really hate it!) try and think about it and why that change might have been done. Looking at these games in that way will generally give you a much better idea of the concepts involved. I think that’s what any company making an MMO are looking for most when they interview for design positions – someone who understands the dynamics within the gameplay of a virtual world.

If you are artist then just keep producing and practicing! Your portfolio is really what you will succeed or fail by.

What do you feel you bring to Anarchy Online that the previous Game Directors did not?

I think that’s a hard one and probably something you should ask the players rather then me. I think everyone who heads a creative process brings something to the table and it’s very different for each person. The main thing I have tried to focus on is providing the players with new content and asking the design to team always keep one question in their minds – ‘will this be fun?’ I think that’s the most important thing I try and maintain.

Is Omni-Tek your friend?

Now that would be telling! In all seriousness it’s a not so well hidden secret that the majority of my characters were Clan and as a player I was in Clan organizations, so purely in that context I guess Omni-Tek would not consider me a friend!

I would like to thank Craig for his time in answering these questions. As a player, I feel his passion for the game has given Anarchy Online a fresh breath of air. From implementing player suggestions to bringing in new and challenging content, the game has changed quite a bit since he has become Game Director, with many more improvements on the way.

You can check out the game at www.anarchyonline.com.

Way back in 2006, NCSoft launched one of the most unique MMO games I had ever seen. It wasn’t based in the fantasy world of orcs and elves, nor was it based in space like EVE Online. This game was set in a more “Mad Max” type theme of mutants, cyborgs, and deathcars. It was quite a game, and one that I personally found to be quite fun. Unfortunately, last summer the game was cancelled due to having too low suscriber numbers to support it. It was a sad day for those who loved it, and it was a sad day for NetDevil, the developing company behind the game. So why did the game fail to achieve any sort of mass appeal?

Well, to be honest, I am not quite sure what was wrong with the game. The graphics were fairly capable (not the best but not the worst) and the gameplay was fast and furious. This was not a WoW-clone where you sat and waiting for your attacks to get carried out. In Auto Assault you were constantly driving around and planning your attacks and skills. If anything, the game was almost too fast.

In addition to the fast combat, the game utilized the Havok engine for most of it’s physics processing. This means that a lot of the world was fully destructible. While cruising down the highways you could smash through any number of small buildings which would shatter brilliantly into a dozen or more pieces. It was quite fun just roaming around. . .

In the end, the mass of MMO players just did not seem ready for an MMO like Auto Assault. It was completely off from the norm and back in 2006, nobody was really pining for change in the industry. Today, the landscape for MMOs is much different as many gamers are calling for new games with fresh ideas. Had Auto Assault been developed for today’s market with today’s technology it may have survived and actually become successful. Unfortunately, that’s not the case and because it failed back then chances are we won’t ever see another game of it’s type. A sad, sad truth. . .

The unstoppable juggernaut that is World of Warcraft has yet again set a new record for active MMORPG subscribers by announcing today they have hit the 10 MILLION mark. The breakdown in subscribers goes like this, 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and approximately 5.5 million in Asia. Burning Crusades expansion was also the best selling PC game of 2007 selling more than 2.4 M copies in the first 24 hrs and 3.5 M within a month.

So the question is now, when will this growth finally hit its peak? Well I wouldn’t count on it anytime soon. Blizzard is planning on a Russian version later this year and another expansion, Wrath of the Lich King,  so I’d expect those numbers to continue to increase for a least another year or two.

Well crap, it looks like Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures will be delayed an additional eight weeks.  Funcom, the publisher of AoC, today announced that the game is being delayed to add more polish.  The new release date is May 20th.

Well that sucks ass, there’s no way I’m going to be able to wait that long for a new MMO.  Mythos is fun as hell, but I already completed all the storyline quests and doing the random generated quests is quite boring.  Hmm, I think I’m going to have to make my way over to the LORTO site to see what new stuff has come out, might get back into that until AoC comes out.

So, it’s actually 9:30am when I am writing this and all the little names are in crumpled up bits of paper in a box to my right. I know, I promised you guys it would be done in a bowler hat not a box, but, you see, I am moving later this week and I accidentally packed my bowler hat so the box will have to do. If anybody is seriously upset you can call our complaint hotline at: 1(325)234-9876. Operators are standing by. . . no they aren’t. Don’t actually call that number because I literally just made it up off the top of my head right now. To any person that owns that number and is accidentally called by disgruntled contestants complainng about some hat and/or box, I’m sorry. . . you can go ahead and call this number so as to reach our comments/complaints operator: 1(678)432-7654. Sorry, I lied again. . . we don’t have a number. You see the horrible conditions Mike makes us work in, we don’t even get telephones!

Wow, ok so now you know what its like to begin writing a blog that you can’t actually publish for a half hour. I would normally go ahead and pull the contestants names right now, but there might maybe possibly just be one more entry in these last 15 minutes.

Now, without further ado (it is 10am now ), the contest winners are:

• Joshua Tompkins
• Dan

Congratulations to those winners! WhooOOooOOO! I seriously hope both of youo enjoy Mythos. Feel free to give me a hoot while in game if you are lonely, my Mythos characters are Wrenches, and Bloodface. I could be on either one at some point today.

Also, as a side note, we had no people disqualified during this contest, which is a good good thing! I was a bit worried when I went to sleep with 3 contestants and then woke up to find over a dozen. Which leads me to another side note, we got 17 contestants! Not a bad start for a first ever contest that we in no way advertised at all. I think we all deserve a hearty pat on the back. I can’t wait until we begin offering real prizes like actual games. . . maybe an Age of Conan contest when it gets released? We’ll see. . . enjoy Mythos guys.

P.S. Both invites were sent out to the email addresses provided. If, for some reason, you don’t get yours then their must have been a problem with your email address. We don’t have anymore to hand out at this time so it’s not like we can just send you another one.

So, seeing as how we got so many requests for Mike’s Mythos invites a few days ago. We decided that it would be a good idea to give mine away as well. I had a few real life buddies who were thinking about playing but they can’t seem to make up their minds, so now you guys get em instead! Hurrah!

Now for those who know next to nothing about the game; Mythos is a Diablo 2-esque MMORPG that features multiple classes, races, and vast amounts of loot. Seriously the game is almost exactly like Diablo 2 but with a different story. A very very good thing, in my opinion. I absolutely love the game. You can check out my preview here, or Mike’s first look here.

Contest outline: The contest will be a random name drawing based on your name as listed in the comments. When the contest ends, I will, personally, throw everybody’s name into a hat (bowler, in case you were wondering what kind) and draw two (2) of them. The winner’s will be announced at that time and have their invites sent off via the email provided to our comments section. MAKE SURE YOU USE A REAL EMAIL ADDRESS.

Contest Rules:

• You can only submit once (we can check IPs, email addresses, etc. do not attempt to cheat over a lousy freebie Mythos invite)
• Let us know why you want a Mythos invite inside your comment. (No explanation means no chance of winning sorry)
• Use a valid email address.
• There is no cash reward, and you cannot sell this invite.
• Contest ends Monday, January 21st at 10:00 am PST. Good luck!

I have read the Mythos website and could not find anything barring people from overseas from getting an invite so feel free to enter if you are from another country. Just make sure you can speak English as we have to be able to read your explanation.

It appears that yet another government agency is getting into MMO development (see my previous article). NASA recently announced their intentions to create an MMO aimed at high school and college level education, which would include a focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. No specifics have been made as to who will be developing the game, but the requirements of a realistic physics engine will definitely make this an interesting addition to the MMO realm. Why would NASA be looking into MMO development in the first place? They give a very good answer in their FAQ:

“MMOs help players develop and exercise a skill set closely matching the thinking, planning, learning, and technical skills increasingly in demand by employers. These skills include strategic thinking, interpretative analysis, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, team-building and collaboration, and adaptation to rapid change.”

In the current anti-gaming political environment, it amazes me to see NASA come forward with this statement. It is about time the world at large sees that today’s youth is increasing its integration with technology everyday. Text messaging, MySpace, and YouTube are now becoming the preferred methods for communication and entertainment, foregoing traditional methods. With this in mind, NASA is looking to reshape online learning by making a virtual world for educators and business leaders to teach the skills needed in the real world:

“Virtual worlds with scientifically accurate simulations could permit learners to tinker with chemical reactions in living cells, practice operating and repairing expensive equipment, and experience microgravity – making it easier to grasp complex concepts and transfer this understanding quickly to practical problems.”

The big question, is how popular would this type of environment be? I see no issue with the students being able to pick up the mechanics, as they are already knee deep in gaming, but trying to educate the educators how to use a virtual environment I feel will take time. However, coming up with attractive and engaging educational games within this world will be the main challenge. Even if they manage to provide the training and come up with the games, it will also be hard to implement this game into a curriculum.

A large collaborative project such as this has some precedent, but the scale at which this is being done, may dwarf all previous educational gaming attempts to date. It will be interesting to follow the development of this game and see where it is taken. See you at the virtual particle accelerator!

I came across Infinity: The Quest for Earth a few months ago when they released a trailer of a spaceship flying seamlessly from one planet to another with no loading times. Let me say that again, from the surface of one planet into and across space, into the atmosphere of another planet and onto the surface with NO loading time. Today they released a new video of the games combat system. One of the main things I didn’t like about Eve Online and one of the reasons I couldn’t really get into it was because you don’t actually get to fly, it’s basically point, click, wait, even the combat. Infinity allows for real-time combat where you actually get to pilot your ship. How well you can maneuver will no longer be based on stat point, but instead on your skills. By my count that gives Infinity a huge advantage over Eve.

Aside from the real-time combat system and seamless flying, Infinity also promises to have an enormous galaxy to explore. Keyword is galaxy, you can land on a planet, fix your ship and get supplies, but you can’t walk around it. It’s basically like Eve where you’ll spend most of your time in your ship.

“Expect a galaxy with up to hundreds of billions of worlds. You will not be able to visit them all in your whole lifetime, even if you were to spend only one second per world”

Wow, that makes Eve look like my backyard. So how does one travel to all these billions of planets? There will be jumpgates throughout the game, however every ship can equip a hyper-propulsion system so you don’t need to travel all the way to a gate. But just because you have a jumpgame doesn’t mean you’ll get to where you going instantly.

“You can choose your destination on the galaxy map and jump there (providing you have the resources). Jumping will not be instantaneous. It will be very fast to jump to a local system, but jumping to the other side of the galaxy will take from minutes to hours (in real time). “

HOURS! I’m sure they’ll change there minds once gamers get a hold of the game and curse them out. Seriously, who’s going to sit there for hrs, just make the resource cost very very high, problem solved. The game promises to be very open ended, which means PvP. HORAY!

Infinity is still in very early development and is expected to take another two years before the game is finished. So far from what I’ve seen it looks like it might be worth the wait.

More Infinity Videos here