Mmo

Video games had a huge impact on my childhood and teenage years, imprinting themselves onto my psyche for all of the struggles and elation that they produced. While I did play consoles in my youth, most of my gaming time was spent on the PC, particularly during the 1990s. As such, I have a strong fondness (nostalgia goggles alert!) for older games, to the point where I still play and blog about them. While some definitely have not withstood the test of time, you’d be surprised how many older PC titles are still quite enjoyable and even downright compelling today. I think we all have our lists of game franchises that we wish were made into MMORPGs, and today I’m going to look at 10 of some of my favorite older PC games (most, but not all, from the ’90s) and give a few ideas how each could work as a proper MMO. 1. Deus Ex Still an incredible game to this day, Deus Ex truly delivered on the promise of playing your way, with multiple paths and techniques that could be … [Read more...] about Perfect Ten: Older PC games that would make for great MMOs

One of the most common questions that I’m asked from my adoring throngs on the street is, “Justin, where oh where can I get some of these marvelous MMO soundtracks that you talk about all of the time?” OK, that just never happens (on the street, that is), but people are often curious how they can go about starting to amass an MMO soundtrack collection or where to find their favorite album. The sad truth is that so much music from these games is never officially released in any capacity, which is why I scour YouTube for fan rips of the music files. However, every so often I do discover a studio release somewhere, and I try to keep an up-to-date log on these to help others in their quest for video game scores. So in the spirit of Christmas and sharing, today I’m going to show you how you can get your ears on more than 120 soundtracks and scores from MMOs, MOBAs, and other online titles — some of which are free and legal for the taking. You’re … [Read more...] about Jukebox Heroes: Massively OP’s guide to grabbing 120+ MMO soundtracks

This is, bar none, the column I hate doing most on a regular basis. None of the games I highlight in here is something that I actually like pointing to; they’re games that people like, games that may very well be someone’s absolute favorites, and yet they’re also games where the future looks difficult if not outright bad. A cloudy future is never a good thing, and this particular column does not make it all right. But we’re still here in the early days of 2018, and that means it’s still the right time to look at the games we might not see around next year. For various reasons, these are the games that already look like they’re in trouble, instead of absolute face-shattering surprises like a couple of the shutdowns last year. 1. WildStar Another year, another prediction of doom? Not a happy one, of course, but one that still seems apropos. This is a game I really enjoy but that never got the traction it needed to make itself sustainable, and its … [Read more...] about Perfect Ten: The MMOs with the most uncertain futures in 2018

The one thing that I thought we could all count on forever was that the MMO life cycle was pretty easy to understand. A game is launched, then it runs for a certain amount of time, then it shuts down. That last part kind of sucks, but the point is that you know when it’s time to move on. The life cycle is clearly one of creation, then life, then death, like a potted ficus or a cheap desk chair you get at Target. But then sometimes you have a cheap desk chair that breaks in a crucial way, but you manage to screw the right sort of braces together so you can keep using it for another year after it should have been thrown out. And sometimes an MMO is born, and then it lives, and then it… doesn’t live, but it’s not actually shut down or in maintenance. Or it isn’t clear what’s going on with it, due to what seems to be total abandonment. Or it updates more than games which are supposedly live. That’s what this column is all about. MMOs in a weird … [Read more...] about Perfect Ten: MMOs in limbo