Massively^™

There's just something really cool about being able to climb to the top of a hill and look around. Exploring in MMOGs is a great deal of fun, and really should be embraced in more games, we think! Today's One Shots comes from one intrepid Age of Conan explorer, Julien. He writes: [This is me] looking down at Conall's Valley. The vertical zones of Age of Conan are amazing. There's something tremendously cool about knowing you can both run around down there or climb way up high, in the same zone.

Do you have screenshots from a bit of cliffwalking adventure? If so, you should send those in to us -- after all, vistas like this are better when you share the experience! Just pop them in an email to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com!

Today's One Shots is actually one from this blogger's personal archives. This Troll Rogue is enjoying the holiday fireworks in Booty Bay from World of Warcraft, taken before Burning Crusade was released. American MMOG-industry companies are off for the holiday weekend, and we are running on a skeleton crew as well. However, those of us still lurking around the offices are keeping an eye out for news for you.

In the meantime, we hope those of you stateside have a great (and safe) holiday with friends and family. To the rest of you out there, don't worry - we'll be back up to speed once we've had a chance to sleep off all the partying!

And hey, if you have the chance to snap some screenshots while enjoying in-game holiday events this weekend, send them in to us at oneshots AT massively.com! We'd love to see what you're up to.

Despite many people saying that Age of Conan is still very rough in places, one of the things that many people have been thrilled with has been the graphics. Today's lovely One Shots image from our reader Watumez shows off one really lovingly detailed area in Age of Conan. He writes: This is at a place called Crom's rock; a truly impressive place. This is Sarman the Guardian (on the Ymir EU server).

Do you have a lovely landscape you snapped while out and about in your favorite MMOG? If so, you should send that screenshot to us, rather than letting it collect virtual dust where only you can appreciate it! it's easy. Just send it to oneshots AT massively DOT com with a little bit of information on what we're seeing in the shot, and relax. We do the rest!

Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out our Age of Conan destination page, including all of our interviews, hands-ons, galleries and original features!

With all the exciting news coming out of Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational this year, many people are turning their eyes back to World of Warcraft to see what changes are coming. Today we have a lovely One Shot from Brumbleby the Dwarven Warrior, who decided to send this snowy shot along, evoking the icy feel of so many of the Wrath of the Lich King promotional materials we've seen to date. He sets up the scene for us: "After examining his prey to see if it had anything of use on its person, Brumbleby looked around and noticed that, amidst all of the carnage, bloodshed and loss, the world of Azeroth still was beautiful."

Are you once again (or perhaps for the first time) turning your eyes to the Azerothian skies? If you've snapped a lovely screenshot from your favorite game (no matter the MMO) we'd love to see it! Send it in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your quick description of what we're seeing in the screenshot. Yours could be next!

Today we bring you the follow-up panorama to the last one that we got from eugaet. Today's Guild Wars One Shots is from a few years ago according to eugaet, who said that the above shows off a view of post-sear Ascalon City in Guild Wars. While we can't show it full-size in the column, we can offer it for anyone who wants to see this image in all its glory -- be sure to check out the full-sized panorama!

Do you have any interesting screenshots from quite some time ago that show what your favorite game used to look like? Have there been lots of graphical changes since then? If so, we'd love to see what they look like. Just send those to us here at oneshots AT massively.com. We're looking for lots of screenshots from any MMOG out there, so don't be shy!

Woohoo! It's the weekend! Time for rest and relaxation, unless of course, you're one of the insane masses who was up at oh-dark-thirty this morning waiting on a certain bit of news to come down the wire. But now that that's done, it's time to get our MMOG party on! Today we find our One Shots regular, Finudir, who has apparently been doing a fair bit of tavern hopping in Lord of the Rings Online....

After a recent bout of revelry, Finudir of Gondor became exasperated at the never-ending stream of baddies slipping into Nan Amlug from Angmar. Walking dangerously close to a precipice, especially after having consumed one too many Blue Bocks, Finudir threw up his arms and directed a well-versed rant at the world below. "Why can't we all just get along!!!!" could be heard for miles in the valley.

All we can say is that we hope he slept that crazy idea off somewhere. After all, who would give us loot if we made nice-nice with the monsters! Do you have any screens of your own in-game revelry (or the resultant messed up aftereffects) that you'd like to show off? If so, pack them up (with a quick blurb for each) into an email, and send it to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com! The more screenshots, the better!

Wait, what is it that we have here today? A landscape? No, it's not Lord of the Rings Online. It's showing off a lovely, grassy (and un-glitched) area in Age of Conan! Today's One Shots comes to us from David L. who was thrilled to see we used his last submission, so he sent us another one to celebrate. (See? We do use them!) Dave writes:

I was inspired, so here is a view in Field of the Dead from the Stream Bridge re-spawn point. These two hulking statures staring at each other is probably the best signature piece in that zone (that I've seen so far). In the evening/night the fire flickers quite nicely off them as well, but that screenshot doesn't look as good!

Dave is living proof that we love lots of One Shots submissions and will indeed run them! All you have to do is snag something you think looks cool, has a story, is funny, or whatever your reasoning is, toss it in a mail, write up a blurb and send it to us at oneshots AT massively.com. Yours could be next!

While this looks like a very teeny tiny screenshot, we assure you it isn't! This is one of another series of lovely panoramic screenshots that was sent in, this time by Eugaet. This one comes from pre-sear Ascalon City in Guild Wars, standing lovely as we remember it. Eugaget sent some others that we'll be showing in the upcoming days, but for now, enjoy a flashback to simpler times when the land was lush and lovely and the sky was blue!

Do you have a lovely panoramic you've created out of game screenshots? If so, we'd love to see it! Just send it to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com. Yours could be next!

Today we bring you a scene of surprise and daring from one of our regular Lord of the Rings Online contributors, Captain Finudir of Gondor. We're just glad to hear that he and Alamast came out alright! He writes: Finudir of Gondor's been trekking through the North Downs recently. During one of his recent walks through the forest of Taur Gondwaith, he accidentally stumbled upon a grumpy Rock-Troll. Good thing Finudir never solos without his trusty herald, Alamast, or it might have been Good Night and Good Luck for our well-travelled adventurer. As it turned out, the Rock-Troll met an early death. Huzzah!

Do you have any screenshots of you and your friends out adventuring in the world? Perhaps you've met an unbelievably nasty beast in your travels that others really should see. Whatever your reason (and your game) send those screenshots to us here at oneshots AT massively.com! We love to hear your stories.

It took a little while, but this morning we got a One Shot in from the Fire Festival event going on in World of Warcraft! This screenshot, sent in to us by One Shots reader Stapes, shows off a wee teeny Tauren in festival gear, dancing and having a great time. Stapes writes:

This is my 70 Tauren Druid, Stapes, from Twisting Nether enjoying some of the Summer Festival festivities. I had just finished getting all of the Summer Festival gear as well as the Brazier pet and wanted to show it around.

We really like the updates that Blizzard has done on the Fire Festival, and have really been enjoying the change of pace there. Of course, anything involving Tauren doing the peanut butter jelly dance is win in our book!

Feeling left out? There's no need to be -- just snap screenshots of you (or others) enjoying an in-game event. Send them to oneshots AT massively.com, and we'll show them to the world. Easier than getting Fire Festival gear!

Today's One Shots isn't one of a game -- it's of one of the most popular virtual worlds out there, Second Life. This particular screenshot was one of the first things our Senior Editor, Elizabeth Harper found after she had decided to jump into Second Life and check it out. We're not entirely sure what the story is behind this particular display, but we do know that it's terribly cute. We're also curious just what would happen if one were to theoretically feed the plushies. Would they turn into gremlins? Or perhaps they're just on a low-fat plushie diet after being fed too many snacks for being too cute.

Have you seen anything in your travels that made you stop and giggle? We love to laugh along with the rest of them, so if you've seen something silly or fun, please send it to us here at oneshots AT massively.com so we can share it with the rest of the readers!