2009 posts

Massively Reader's and Staff Choice Awards results for 2009

by Shawn Schuster Jan 1st 2010 at 12:00PM

Not only are the results in for our 2009 Reader's Choice Awards, but we've also compiled our own list of winners according to what we at Massively think should win in each category.

This year's vote turned into something quite interesting, we must admit. Instead of being a direct "reader's choice", it seems to be much more of a popularity contest among the fans of the largest games. This made many of you quite angry when Runes of Magic dominated every category literally overnight. Some studios created contests to get their players to vote in the poll, most added a link to the awards on Twitter or Facebook, but the Runes of Magic team did everything from front page placement of the awards link to regular in-game announcements prompting fans to vote. Now that's how you win a vote. Especially when you have millions of players.

Hand-in-hand with this, there have been reports of exploits on the polls involving a simple cookie clearing (although the site designers promise that an exploit through clearing cookies alone is not possible). Even if we assume that the exploit is true, this whole thing shows who has the fans that are most dedicated to supporting their favorite game. There's nothing wrong with that.

So we're still going to show you the results as voted by the fans, and the results of our own staff poll. Follow along after the jump for the complete run-down.

Tags: 2009, 2010, end-of-the-year, featured, massively-meta, opinion, polls, readers-choice-awards, votes

Massively's End-of-the-Year Reader's Choice Awards

by Shawn Schuster Dec 3rd 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Polls, Opinion, Massively meta

The end of 2009 is almost upon us, and Arthur C. Clarke's dreams are all about to come true in less than a month. It's been an interesting year for MMOs, including everything from Tabula Rasa's official closure to the launch of LotRO's second paid expansion. While it's inevitable that the Massively staff all have their own favorite games in several different categories, we figured it would be best to get the readers involved this year.

So we've compiled a series of polls (found after the jump) in which you can vote for your favorite games of 2009 in 10 different categories. The poll choices consist of some aspect of games or expansions that launched this year, so don't expect to see older games on these lists. With almost 50 online games launching in 2009, we chose to only include a maximum of 10 for each category.

At the end of the month, we'll compile the results into one post, letting everyone know what the Massively readers think is the best of the best (or worst). So you have plenty of time, but the deadline for votes is December 31st at 11:59pm EST!

Tags: 2009, awards, end-of-the-year, massively-meta, readers-choice

Changes in rules come to the Guild Wars tournament series

by Seraphina Brennan Feb 24th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Game mechanics, MMO industry, PvP, News items, Free-to-play

Those of you who are highly interested in the competitive tournaments of Guild Wars might like to know that ArenaNet has recently posted a new version of the tournament series rules on their website.

The tournament series are the monthly tournaments that take place in Guild Wars between eight member guild teams as well as one versus one battles. The tournaments not only pay out with recognition as being one of the best players or being a member of one of the best guilds in the game, but also with tangible rewards from the Zaishen faction. Some of the rewards include titles as well as special emotes and potions.

The full list of rules can be found on the main Guild Wars site, under the competitive section. It's a long read, but a necessary one for anyone interested in participating in this year's tournament series.

Tags: 1v1, 2009, 8v8, arenanet, guild-wars, guilds, monthly, tournament, tournament-rules, tournament-series, zaishen, zaishen-tournament

A look at the MMO coming attractions in 2009

by Shawn Schuster Jan 16th 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: At a glance, MMO industry, New titles, Opinion

Now that we're comfortably settling in to our new digs at casa de 2009, it seems like the best time to reflect on what we have to look forward to in the coming year. Eurogamer has done the dirty work for us, as they've compiled a handy article detailing the coming attractions.

All Points Bulletin tops their list as the star attraction, citing enthusiasm for the GTA-style action and depth of customization. SOE's The Agency and Free Realms, along with Cryptic's Champions Online and NetDevil's Jumpgate Evolution round out the remaining top spots on this list, for varying reasons. Some honorable mentions include Aion, Darkfall, EVE's Walking in Stations expansion, Earthrise, Global Agenda and many more expected to see the light of day this year or next. Will all of these games actually make it to a 2009 release, or will 2010 truly be the year of epic MMO launches?

Tags: 2009, aion, all-points-bulletin, apb, champions-online, darkfall, earthrise, eurogamer, eve-online, free-realms, global-agenda, jumpgate-evolution, the-agency, upcoming, upcoming-releases

Guild Wars announces plans for 2009

by Shawn Schuster Jan 15th 2009 at 3:30PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, MMO industry, News items

The team at Guild Wars has just released their newest developer update, which explains ArenaNet's plans with the game throughout 2009. This was something that was alluded to in community manager Regina Buenaobra's wiki journal last week, and speculated upon in the major Guild Wars forums. Now the word is out, and it seems promising for the majority of Guild Wars fans.

First off, the team plans to restructure their content updates and be more open about what they're working on. Their Live Team is expanding and their new goal is to release new content in "fewer yet more substantial updates". So what can we expect in the coming months? In April, a few new features will be implemented for players, including increases to account-based storage, improvements to character-based storage and account-based changes to the Hall of Monuments.

Be sure to read the entire dev update for complete information on the new direction of Guild Wars in 2009.

Tags: 2009, arenanet, content, guild-wars, nc-west, ncsoft, plans, storage

AAA MMO developers offer up their 2009 resolutions

by Michael Zenke Jan 9th 2009 at 6:30PM

Filed under: At a glance, Culture, MMO industry

So far this year we've talked about some resolutions for game developers that touch on World of Warcraft, and some player-offered resolutions for the developers of Warhammer Online. MTV Multiplayer's Tracey John one-upped both by tracking down developers from most of the AAA MMO studios to ask about their upcoming year. She spoke with some big names you've no doubt seen many times on Massively, the likes of Jeffrey Steefel, Josh Drescher, Matt Miller, and Craig Morrison.

Their resolutions are great, on a number of levels. Some, such as Morrison's hopes for Age of Conan, are bold proclamations of their future plans. Others, like Miller's proclamation that City of Heroes will continue to be seen as the best super-hero MMO, reflect the ways the industry will be changing this year. Our favorite is probably Noah Ward's lookahead to EVE's 2009, a massive statement of purpose for the coming few months. He concludes, "I predict that in 2009 we will finally see the day where there are more EVE subscribers than Icelandic citizens. There will be more 'pew pew' than ever before." Read through to the article for the full resolution buffet.

Tags: 2009, age-of-conan, breaking, ccp, city-of-heroes, eve-online, funcom, lord-of-the-rings-online, mmo-developers, mythic-entertainment, new-year, resolutions, turbine, war, warhammer-online

The Daily Grind: Happy new year!

by Elizabeth Harper Jan 1st 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Opinion, The Daily Grind

Another twelve months have gone by, the earth has revolved around the sun once more, and a brand new year stretches out before us. And while the rest of the world may be thinking up new year's resolutions of a more practical nature, this is Massively and you can't expect a conversation with us not to involve MMOs. So what are your MMO resolutions for 2009? Planning on playing less? Playing more? Diversifying your MMO portfolio? Leveling an alt of each class? For our part, we plan on playing as much of as many games as possible -- or to the extent we can get away with telling our significant others, friends, family, and household pets that, though it may look like we're killing giant lizards, we're actually working. Have any resolutions for 2009 you'd like to share?

Tags: 2009, new-year, new-years, new-years-resolutions, resolutions, tdg

Richard Garriott wants to get back into fantasy gaming

by Shawn Schuster Dec 31st 2008 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Real life, MMO industry

The impending closure and lack of expected success from Tabula Rasa is not going to deter Richard Garriott from giving the online gaming business another shot. In a recent interview with the BBC, Garriott expressed his intentions to get back into MMO business. "After 25 years at Origin, the last thing I wanted to make was yet another medieval fantasy game," he said. "Now, after a very interesting break, I'm keen to get back into the fray and work on a new game. Probably medieval fantasy and probably online; there's something very powerful about getting people together."

Also in this interview is a bit of insight from Warhammer Online's Paul Barnett into what 2009 may bring. "I expect to see some large studios go under and some big name titles fail," Barnett predicts. Whether this next year will see a fantasy MMO announcement from Garriott or Barnett's prediction of failure come true, you can't deny that it's an exciting time in the world of MMOs.

[Via Wired]

Tags: 2009, fantasy, genre, ncsoft, paul-barnett, richard-garriott, warhammer-online, wired

The Daily Grind: What MMOs are you looking forward to in 2009?

by Shawn Schuster Dec 28th 2008 at 8:00AM

Filed under: MMO industry, New titles, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Yesterday, Kyle gave us his impressions of the most anticipated games for 2009. This watch list was based not-only on games that are set to release within the year, but also games that are set to be announced in 2009. This list includes everything from DCUO and The Agency to the speculation of a City of Heroes 2 announcement. The comments were heated, so we thought we'd pose the question officially here for our readers.

What is your most anticipated game or game announcement for 2009? What games do you dream about? Do you think Red 5 Studios will reveal their stealth project? Will Darkfall finally be your holy grail? Do you think Guild Wars 2 will finally get a release date by the end of the year? Let us know!

Tags: 2009, anticipated, darkfall, dcuo, guild-wars-2, red-5-studios, the-daily-grind, the-digital-continuum

The Daily Grind: Looking towards 2009

by Elizabeth Harper Dec 26th 2008 at 8:00AM

Filed under: New titles, Opinion, The Daily Grind

This year's joyous non-denominational festive season (to borrow a phrase from our own Tateru) has come to a close -- and there's probably more than one unfortunate reader out there who has trudged into the office today. (To those readers, we offer our greatest sympathies. At least the greatest sympathies we're capable of offering while grinding the rest of the way to level 80.) But as 2008 winds down towards the new year, we have a question to pose you, whether you find yourself at home, at work, or anywhere in between: with this year mostly behind us, what are you looking forward to in the future? We have an array of exciting games on the horizon: SWTOR, DCUO, and STO just to name a few of the easily acronymized options. Are you looking forward to any juicy new releases in the next year or is your new year's wish something that's not on our radar?

Tags: 2009, new-year, new-years, predictions, tdg

The Digital Continuum: Looking back while moving foward

by Kyle Horner Dec 20th 2008 at 5:00PM

Filed under: MMO industry, New titles, Opinion, The Digital Continuum

This last year has seen a lot of things happen in our beloved MMO-world. Things like the launch of Pirates of the Burning Sea and Age of Conan delays seem long lost in the fog of summer and winter. It was all buried underneath the revelations of DC Universe Online and Star Wars: The Old Republic. And the noise created by the build up to Warhammer Online's launch seemed squelched by the silent wall that was the Wrath of the Lich King launch. It was all a gust of insanity that blew through our brains, creating ebbs and tides in our attention and interest faster than any of us probably thought possible. And just when we all thought it was over, Atari bought Cryptic.

But it seems safe to leave our homes and wonder about the great precipice of 2009. At least until the next massive storm rolls in and knocks an oak tree into our recently mended skulls.

Tags: 2008, 2009, age-of-conan, aoc, atari, blizzard, champions-online, cryptic, everquest-2, featured, free-realms, funcom, jge, joystiqfeatures, jumpgate-evolution, lego-universe, ncsoft, netdevil, pirates-of-the-burning-sea, potbs, soe, sony-online-entertainment, star-trek-online, star-wars-the-old-republic, the-agency, the-digital-continuum, world-of-warcraft, wotlk, wow, wrath-of-the-lich-king