So you may have noticed somewhat of a turmoil over the blog sphere this past week on Blizzard’s latest virtual good offer – the Celestial Steed.  I don’t really have an opinion one way or the other about the horse (well I do, but that’s not the point), but it’s been fascinating reading some of the responses, and a few I must credit for spawning some insight of my own.  And it’s that insight I wish to talk about this morning (when I should be coding).

Read the rest of the entry »

So if you ever do any blogging, the end of the year always presents an interesting challenge.  That challenge is.. do I do a “year in review” post, or a “predictions for the upcoming year” post.  If you’re especially prolific, which I’m not, you do both.  The “year in review” posts can be fun because it’s always interesting to look back, see what was launched, which trends took hold that we didn’t expect, and to see how things panned out.  But they also require work, as you actually have to spend time going back through articles, checking dates, cross-referencing performance numbers against your claims (it’s all well and good to say that Champions Online tanked, but did it really?  I’d have to check my numbers.  Honestly I don’t think it did.  It just felt like it did), and in general do research.  Prediction posts, on the other hand, are much easier, We get to simply talk out of our butts about whatever we think is going to happen, and there’s almost no work involved at all, save putting our prophetic statements to paper.  Lazy blogger that I am.. you can guess which kind of post this is. 

Read the rest of the entry »

I never can tell about these things – whether it’s just that because I’m playing it, I have an increased awareness of news about the game, or whether I just happen to jump in at about the same time as the rest of the world seems to take notice, but it seems there’s been an awful lot of buzz lately about Dungeons & Dragons Online, and their “giving the game away” model.  The air quotes are there because that’s just exactly not what Turbine is doing, even though the press sure likes to talk about it that way.  But the business model they are employing is, I firmly believe, the future of MMO’s.

 
Read the rest of the entry »

So Free Realms launched yesterday.  Okay technically they were supposed to launch on Tuesday, but in a brilliant move to avoid launch day crushes, they simply kept their launch portal firmly closed all day and waited until the wee hours before midnight and then launched.  And yes, I’m being snarky I’m sure that wasn’t their actual attention but in retrospect it actually did roll out rather quietly and successfully a day after their announced launch day, which has me wondering…

 
Read the rest of the entry »

As I mentioned back in December, 2009 looks to be a year with a lot of promise in the MMO space.  And here we are in April and we’re already seeing some of that promise fulfilled.  Chronicles of Spellborn finally launched here in the US, Champions Online has issued a launch date (and it’s soon!) and Free Realms has been in open beta and is launching tomorrow.  And with so many MMO’s right on the cusp of launching, most everyone I know in the MMO space has been bouncing around one beta or another.  It’s been difficult to sit on the sidelines during all this, enduring what is esentially a self-imposed exile, but from what I’ve read recently, I’m still glad to have stuck by the decision I made some time ago to stop participating in MMO betas.  Here’s why.

Read the rest of the entry »