The other day, I watched this demo of Gaikai, a new service being spearheaded by the legendary games developer David Perry. The idea is a simple one: using a browser you can access everything from MMOs to racing games and even the memory-hog that is Photoshop with all the actual software installed on a remote server and accessed via the cloud. Now it seems like an awesome undertaking but I came out of it feeling really impressed. WoW and EVE were running at lightening speed and the prospect of not patching or updating got me a little excited. Now browser-based MMOs are now new. Just look at Free Realms and the plethora of free-to-play titles. But the idea of playing seriously intensive games like EVE? Wow, just wow. You still need some kind of graphics card in your computer but the cloud seems to do the vast majority of the work.

So readers, what do you think? You might well have used browser-centric MMOs in the past and their ease of use is encouraging. Would you play WoW on a browser if it could mimic your current setting or even improve on them? Would it make your life easier knowing that someone else was dealing with all the patches? On the other hand, cloud-based technology is still new and shiny, would you rather stick with actual discs or your own hard drive? Tell us, readers, and drop your thoughts in the box below.

Syncaine posted an interesting article on his blog discussing why he thinks there hasn't been much uptake in the majority of MMOs released since World of Warcraft. Basically, he believes that just because you enjoy playing WoW, it doesn't mean you'll enjoy other MMOs.

The post goes on to say that there are many more non-MMO gamers than MMO gamers out there who simply can't fathom spending a monthly fee to repeatedly kill ten rats or grind out the perfect PvP character over several months time. They have much more accessible and engaging singleplayer RPGs or FPS games for that, right?

The main point he aims to make is that designers should stop chasing non-MMO gamers and focus on those who are already fans. On the other hand, hasn't our genre become a bit pigeon-holed as of late? Isn't the biggest and best part of an MMO the community aspect and not the DIKU-based über-grind? We hope so! Couldn't we maybe expand our acceptance of what MMOs are and challenge the boundaries of what they could be? Maybe that's a viable route toward making those who do not care actually care.

My American sources tell me this is a long weekend for you folks across the pond. Something about independence from Blighty a few hundred years ago. Essentially an excuse to let off fireworks, have BBQs, enjoy the fine weather and skive off work. Good on you. It seems like lots of MMOs are using it as an excuse to take the real celebrations in-game. For example, World of Warcraft has the Midsummer Fire Festival which concludes tomorrow with a bunch of snoozing goblin guards and a whopping fireworks display. Likewise, Lord of the Rings Online has one festival with four different names.

Given the fact the games are created by humans, it's no surprise the in-game festivals of all our favourite MMOs share a little in common with actual celebrations in real life. However they can also be handy for people too far away to meet up this 4th of July, most often troops on active duty or family members and friends separated by thousands of miles or even continents. So are any of you out there planning to eschew real celebrations in favour of meeting up with your guildies in-game? Are you going to travel around to see the fireworks or, if you play, WoW raid an enemy city. Do you prefer celebrating such events in-game? Do you mark them on your calendar and anticipate them as much as their real world counterparts? Do you wish the developers would expand world festivals to take account of more important holidays?

You may have noticed that Massively doesn't talk very much about World of Warcraft. Even though it's the biggest MMO on the block, our friends at WoW.com cover it so comprehensively that it seems silly for us to duplicate their efforts. But WoW is an MMO too, and it only makes sense to talk about it when there's news. So, from here on out, we'll be co-opting WoW.com's coverage when appropriate. When you see a post on Massively that says "WoW.com" in the upper left (as in the image above) with an unfamiliar writer's name -- that means you're seeing a post directly from our WoW-centric sister site! It should look and feel the same to you, dear reader, but if you head off to comment, be advised that you'll be leaving Massively for WoW.com, where the WoW fans outnumber the rest of us. You'll be able to comment with your existing Massively account, but tread with caution!

Yesterday, the news first broke that Blizzard had applied for a trademark on the name "Cataclysm", in the fields of computer games, paper-based products, and online entertainment services, according to an article at WoW.com. Speculation has spread across the blog-o-sphere as to what this new trademark could be. Could it be the next WoW expansion? More likely it's the name of their next-gen MMO they're said to be working on.

But what if it's not? As the WoW.com article points out, StarCraft: Ghost was also trademarked, and it never actually materialized. Is this Blizzard trying to throw us a curve ball, or is it really a solid lead into what could be Blizzard's second go at a successful MMO? Of course it's all speculation at this point, but from the information presented, do you think Cataclysm is the next Blizzard MMO?

This is an original opinion piece written by someone who has been following Warhammer Online since November 2007. Comments are open on page three.

Many people claim WAR is a total fail-whale of an MMO. I can see sides of their argument, but I don't believe it's completely true. The "fail" perception mostly comes down to the expectations that were set by Mythic and EA and then never fully delivered upon. It's no secret they were aiming for 500k+ subs and then missed the mark (by about 200k), but it got me wondering... Who is/was WAR's target audience? Was their potential audience actually big enough to support their aspirations?

Let's go back. Waaaaaaaaaaay back. Let's pretend we were a fly on the wall in a Mythic/EA/Games Workshop boardroom as they were discussing the original vision and design direction for WAR. One of the first steps you take before developing any product is to define your target audience or demographic. Knowing your audience gives you better direction and allows you to focus your efforts and design decisions more clearly.

We've been keeping our eyes on various blogs and forums discussing yesterday's big news that Mythic and BioWare are being restructured under EA's new MMO/RPG gaming division and that Mark Jacobs is no longer working for EA. Here's a summary of what we've found so far.

Many people are under the false impression that Mythic and BioWare have merged. One of Mythic's developers made this clarification: "We're still Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Studio, as we have been. I've posted this elsewhere, but we're not 'merging.' We are still a completely separate entity within EA, just as Bioware is, simply now grouped under the same MMO/RPG grouping and reporting to one person, collectively."

When you look at MMOs like World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, and Aion*, you'll find that the "good guys" are usually the most popular. The primary conflicts in these games are between Alliance vs. Horde, Order vs. Destruction, and Elyos vs. Asmodian and it seems that more people choose to play on the side of good than evil. That "evil" is actually more of a "misunderstood" in two out of the three games I mentioned, yet the perception seems to stick.

Is it because we were all raised on fairy tales that hammered strong values and good morals into our heads? Maybe it's because the general trend in storytelling predominantly focuses on heroes of virtue? There are even stories about anti-heroes. Flawed though they may be, these protagonists still manage to absolve themselves of their sins and save the day most of the time.

I usually choose to play the villain in MMOs because I see them as the underdog. It isn't something I consciously think about but maybe there's part of me that wants to see the bad guy shine for a change. That doesn't mean I root for the latest serial killer on the nightly news, but in a fantasy world I want to escape from my normal role as a model citizen and cause a little mayhem in a place that doesn't hurt anyone.

* Aion Korea, where the game is actually released.

There are always going to be times when, due to real life commitments, you can't play your favourite MMO, whether it's a month of exams or an important week at work. I started playing WoW in November 2006 and was on the cusp of getting the game when my first month ran out and I had to fly back to Norfolk from Exeter for Christmas. My mother doesn't have broadband and is a little scared by technology (it's taken me two years to show her how to use a DVD player) so I didn't bother bringing my laptop. This meant over a month without the internet or WoW. It was during this time that I realised how much the game had gotten its claws into me. When I got back, a couple of days before The Burning Crusade was released, I re-rolled to my current main and haven't looked back since.

During that month I started to take an interest in the game. I hit the library and devoured WoWWiki, I researched the lore of my chosen class and that of Azeroth itself. Then I started reading the novels and finally, I was reduced to watching YouTube videos to get a better idea of how the game had evolved as well as a peek at the endgame. So, constant readers, let's say something in real life has meant you can't play your MMO of choice for a couple of weeks, how do you cope? Do you do something totally different? Do you use other media about said MMO (like YouTube or novels) to get your fix?

While the Borean Tundra in World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion is generally a cold and unwelcoming place, there are occasional bastions of warmth and fellowship across the landscape. Today, we bring you one such Alliance town, situated on the coast, surrounded by steep cliffs and some fairly nasty monsters (despite the fact that they don't show up here). This image, sent in to us by Soulbreeze, Level 80 Human Rogue from the guild Crimson Alliance, shows off a land many of us who leveled through Northrend saw. He writes in:
I've ran through this town a million times while leveling up my character, but it wasn't until I got a look at it from a nearby cliff that I truly appreciated all the work that went into it. Perspective is an amazing thing.

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 along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description.

Summer has arrived, July is only just around the corner and with it comes the gaming drought. This seems an opportune time to explore an old favorite, write about it and try to make it as interesting as possible. I figured, what MMO is less known about and more curious than Final Fantasy XI?

Plus, I'd never played it on a console, so this had the potential to be a semi-new experience at the very least. Something about that prospect has always intrigued me -- playing it the way it was originally designed. sorta. I mean, I did purchase the Xbox 360 version.

My goal with this idea is to crack open the sometimes mysterious world of Vana'diel to people who wish they could spare the time and patience to experience it themselves, but otherwise cannot or will not. But before that, a little bit of back story is required and I also need to actually get to those juicy story and boss bits.

Lore is the keystone of every good MMO, it crafts the raid instances and pushes the game to new heights in the form of expansions and patches. For many it is the lure of the lore -- and by extension the playable races -- which pulls them into the game. When I was a little younger than I am now, I studied classics and religious studies and theology at a uni in London for almost four years. I dig religion, I adore translations of ancient texts and I really, really like mythology. As a result fantasy games are especially fascinating for me to me. When everyone else sees Titans, I see a mishmash of the actual Titans and the Olympians given new life, where you see Anubisath I see the ancient Egyptian protector of the dead. Where you see Val'kyr, I see Odin's barmaidens.

So come on readers, how important is lore to you? Do you dig finding all the references in game? Does the lore make a game more rich and appealing? Does it make it feel more real? Do you not give a fig? Are you more interested in just killing things? Do you play titles like AoC or LotRO just because of the books they were inspired by?

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the development budgets of new MMOs. To stay ahead of the technological curve, a large portion of the budget invariably goes toward the graphics department. Studios produce impressive graphics engines and mountains of art assets in an effort to make their game one of the most visually impressive out there. Amidst all the fuss over graphics and gameplay, audio is often overlooked and underfunded. It's been shown that good music and sound effects can have a significant impact on the perceived quality of a game. This is something that some development studios recognise and support but many continue to neglect this vital part of the gaming experience.

In this article, I examine the importance of good audio in an MMO and explain the underlying psychology involved.