Filed under: The Digital Continuum

The Digital Continuum: Can story supplant grind?

by Kyle Horner Feb 8th 2010 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Game mechanics, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars offers a setting with incredible chances at strong storytelling and it's for this reason I've been watching closely for any hints at the story elements in Star Wars: The Old Republic. This recent developer blog on the driving forces behind the Sith Inquisitor's tale really dug its claws into my mind.

Before now, I'd always assumed most choice elements within the story of any given class would be mostly binary. That was the easiest solution for BioWare, who has created quite the challenge for themselves with the premise of a full singleplayer storyline experience for each class within the game.

The Digital Continuum: The 'Next Big Thing' in MMOs

by Kyle Horner Feb 1st 2010 at 12:00PM

Filed under: MMO industry, New titles, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, All Points Bulletin, Crime

Is All Points Bulletin the "Next Big Thing" in MMOs? While I'm fully aware that Realtime Worlds doesn't specifically prefer to associate the game with this genre, it's very much a part of it -- but it also orbits the fringes of what we commonly refer to as a massively multiplayer online game.

Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 and All Points Bulletin come from a different school of business models. These games hinge on the idea that most people dislike coughing up 15 bucks a month to keep playing their favorite title. Just look to the success of the original Guild Wars, having a year ago passed six million copies sold. That's a pretty great start for non-subscription MMOs, and because of that success we now have GW's sequel and APB on the way.

The Digital Continuum: Your face is 'still in beta'

by Kyle Horner Jan 25th 2010 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Betas, Opinion, The Digital Continuum

There's been discussion recently of the failings of "Dude, it's a beta!" as an argumentative device when someone makes a critical observation about an MMO during the beta process. Syp over at Bio Break takes the stance that people who say things like this are either considerable fanboys or have severe brain health issues. Of course, he then pulls away from that statement by declaring that the truth lies somewhere between the person claiming a game is "suck" and the person defending said title's honor with, well, "It's beta, dude."

I, however, think differently -- and it's probably not what you're expecting.

The Digital Continuum: Delay? You can't handle the delay!

by Kyle Horner Jan 19th 2010 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Rumor: a story or statement in general circulation without confirmation or certainty as to facts.

Example: Star Wars: The Old Republic will be released in October, 2010.

Yeah, guys, that was never in the wings. The fact of the matter is that the game was never delayed. You need at minimum a projected release date before something can be delayed. I personally find it pretty ridiculous that some people are worried about hype dying down for a game which they themselves thrust a false release date upon because they're so hyped up for it.

The Digital Continuum: Socialize, now

by Kyle Horner Jan 11th 2010 at 3:00PM

Filed under: MMO industry, Opinion, The Digital Continuum

Socialization is dead!

Isn't it?

Well actually, that's a tough one. Certainly, the perception that socialization is becoming a lesser factor to more and more developers has become the norm among most people. That doesn't necessarily mean they're correct. So, let's examine the general landscape of yesteryear and beyond to see what's really going on when it comes to human interaction in our massively multiplayer online games.

The Digital Continuum: Traversing the fantasy fantastic

by Kyle Horner Jan 4th 2010 at 4:00PM

Filed under: New titles, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, Final Fantasy XIV

This week I present you with something different. Over the weekend, I participated in an interesting New Year's gaming resolution thought up by the illustrious Phil Kollar. His reasons behind playing over the weekend were to finally finish Final Fantasy XII, but mine were wholly different. For me, it was an experiment to see if I could glean any useful information for what was to come in Final Fantasy XIV. Did I fail or succeed? Well, I'd like to say the latter was achieved, but I'll let you be the judge of that.

Massively's top 5 original features for 2009

by Seraphina Brennan Dec 31st 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, Massively highlights, Virtual worlds, Anti-Aliased, EVE Evolved, Choose my Adventure

Not only are we here at Massively passionate about covering the news, but we also deliver on unique and original content. We're out in the trenches interviewing developers, talking about our favorite games, getting inside our games and meeting the community, and giving you our perspectives on the MMO industry. Sometimes you agree with us, sometimes you don't, but we'll keep writing as long as you guys lend us your support and keep reading.

This year was a real breakout year for our original content as we had a bunch of our features rock the traffic charts higher than our news. So, in the spirit of a banner year, it's time to run down the list and name our top five features for 2009.

Once again, we're presenting the article in gallery-vision (TM), so be sure to jump on in by clicking the link below or clicking the first image in the gallery below that. If you wish to comment, drop back by this post (not the gallery) and leave your comment in the white comment box below.

Massively's top news stories of 2009>>

Gallery: Massively's top 5 original features for 2009

Tateru takes on the Australian government

It's better than those crappy flip books

The Digital Continuum: SWTOR's content conundrums

by Kyle Horner Dec 29th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: New titles, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, Star Wars: The Old Republic

As excited as I am for Star Wars: The Old Republic, I keep wondering whether or not BioWare can pull off three or four games' worth of content. It's no secret that developing an MMO takes considerable time and effort, but adding in all this extra story content has got to require a massive fleet of creative people doing what creative people do best: work on little sleep and lots of caffeine.

Every MMO that's launched, has launched without all the content its designers wanted it to have. In reality, this is true of every videogame, but for MMOs the desire to "perfect" is significantly stronger because they're an ongoing development project. So, for this game, I find myself wondering what exactly it's going to have missing for launch day. As it turns out, there's a lot of potentials.

The Digital Continuum: SWTOR's content conundrums, page 2

by Kyle Horner Dec 29th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: New titles, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, Star Wars: The Old Republic

The Digital Continuum: Find that fresh feeling

by Kyle Horner Dec 21st 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fallen Earth, Opinion, Star Trek Online, The Digital Continuum

For a long time now I've found myself feeling those MMO doldrums. You know the ones I'm talking about. That mood where you want to play something -- anything -- that's even slightly interesting to you, but cannot for the life of you muster the interest to actually stick with it for very long, even if the game is quite good.

Well, usually for me that involves not playing anything MMO for some time. As you can imagine, that makes my writing here at Massively slightly more challenging. Sure, I play all sorts of other games, but this isn't the venue for discussion about them. It wasn't until my recent beta experience with Star Trek Online that I came across something that gave me more vigor for playing than Beetlejuice has for haunting: new experiences.

The Digital Continuum: Revitalized

by Kyle Horner Dec 14th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: MMO industry, Opinion, The Digital Continuum

Nowadays it seems like a newly released MMO has an estimated lifespan the length of a bag of chips left open overnight. That doesn't leave much hope for older MMOs, right? It appears that way, but games like EverQuest and EVE Online are doing well enough and they've been around for years. Sure, they may not be massive subscription behemoths, but they play home to thriving communities -- which is a lot more than I can say for the sunset titles of yesteryear.

The Digital Continuum: Applying Foxbat liberally to Champions Online

by Kyle Horner Dec 7th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Super-hero, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, Champions Online

I thought about writing about a lot of different subjects this week. I knew that I wanted to discuss Champions Online, but I couldn't decide on a topic until I played a lowbie character and re-experienced the amazing Foxbat mission in the teen levels. Then it occurred to me, that what this game sorely needs, is an event of epic proportions centered around the maniacal -- yet lovable -- super villain.

The Digital Continuum: SWTOR's 'inquistoring' Consular conundrum

by Kyle Horner Nov 30th 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: New titles, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, Star Wars: The Old Republic

The revealing of Star Wars: The Old Republic's final two classes has incited much discussion amongst the community and inside my own brain. On one hand, lots of people are happy to have more Sith and Jedi classes to choose from. However, on the other hand, some people are disappointed in the lack of creative and unexpected class options.

In all reality, BioWare probably made the right choice, but let's look at the view of both sides for the sake of argument and to have a little fun.

The Digital Continuum: Federation stands for 'fighting'

by Kyle Horner Nov 23rd 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Opinion, Star Trek Online, The Digital Continuum

A new fragrance is out, and it smells exactly like the old one. It's the gentle waft of something I'm quite familiar with: Star Trek fandom. Let me preface this by saying I've been a fan of Star Trek ever since I saw an episode of The Next Generation back when my parents used to tape it every week so we could watch it as a family. So when I declare that people griping about Star Trek Online's emphasis on combat aren't true Trek fans, I know the amount of weight that statement carries.

And you know what? They really aren't true fans.