Avelia Pet Adventures

Submitted by Hoza on February 28, 2007 - 1:17pm

This game looks freakin' sweet, honestly. Now mind you, I haven't played it yet, so that's just a "hey, cool concept and neat look/feel! I hope it's fun!" -kind of statement. Hopefully some folks will give it a whirl and write in to tell me about it. I'll get into it as soon as I can, but hey.. work to do this week and all. Blah, blah.

Anyway, Aggressive Game Designs has announced they hit the 1,000 registered users mark in their pet-raising MassMOG called Avelia Pet Adventures . You can design your own pet and customize it a lot, or start with another person's pet design and tweak it from there. Pretty interesting. I'll just post the press release below in my usual, lazy fashion. It's a free download, so go try it and let me know what you think, eh?

(This time, I'm going to post the full release AFTER the jump, so hit "read more" to get the rest.)


Online Game Development Conference - OGDC

Submitted by Hoza on February 28, 2007 - 11:17am

Again, I'm going to just post-and-run. I'm still learning about the OGDC - Online Game Development Conference, but here's a press release about some of the newest speakers being added. It's really shaping up to look like a decent event from what I've read so far. This week is the final week to get in on pre-registration savings, so if you're up for going, you ought to sign up right away. Check it out:

SEATTLE, WA - February 28, 2007 - Over thirty-five speakers have now been confirmed for the ever-growing Online Game Development Conference 2007 (OGDC). From CEOs to artificial intelligence visionaries, security experts to game producers, in large part because of the diverse and experienced array of speakers lined up OGDC is prepared to be a unique, no-holds-barred conference.

Among these speakers are:

. Kevin Bjorke -- Art & Technology Evangelist for the NVIDIA Corporation

. Ramon Axelrod -- CTO for AIseek

. Bart House -- Development Lead - Windows Server Performance Team for Microsoft

. Robert Mitchell -- Senior Programmer for Sony Online Entertainment

. Mike Goslin -- Vice President, Virtual Reality Studio for Disney Online

. Scott Brown -- President and CEO of NetDevil

. Joseph Ybarra -- Vice President of Product Development Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment

The Online Game Development Conference is also in the FINAL WEEK of offering over 40% off on-site registration rates for this information-packed game industry event. After March 1st, rates will rise from $195 to $345.

OGDC is tailored to offer game developers forward-thinking, in-depth answers to the challenges facing the fast-growing, rapidly evolving online segment of the game development industry. OGDC will be held on May 10-11, 2007 at the elegant Fairmont Olympic in downtown Seattle. Visit the official website http://www.ogdc2007.comfor the latest news and information, including registration, the most current speaker list and agenda and more. Early registration rates for OGDC end on March 2. To be on the fast track to receive updates, join the official conference mailing list.

Last Chaos beta loot

Submitted by Hoza on January 25, 2007 - 11:36pm

I tried several times to summarize or rewrite this so it made more sense out of context and such. I basically failed, so I'm reverting to the tried/true method of copy & paste. Does that make me lazy? Perhaps. Whatevah. I'll do what I want.

Last Chaos is a free download/play game that's getting closer to launch. It's in beta now, so you can go snag the client and get started right away. Get your little avatar butt to level 15 and you could score some loot with Team Aeria Games. Good stuff... "free", I said. Go get some...

With the approach of the Last Chaos launch and the opening of the item mall system Team Aeria Games would like to give players a chance to line their pockets with the much anticipated Aeria Points. As always the Game is Free to play and to download.

All that’s needed is to have a Last Chaos account in good standing and at least one character level 15+.

Prizes Range from $5 - $50 worth of Aeria Points with hundreds of winners possible. And even a few more IPods to sweeten the deal

Winner will be drawn over the next few weeks up until launch.

Lord of the Rings Online special preorder pricing deal

Submitted by Hoza on January 25, 2007 - 7:25pm

So Turbine has revealed what they're calling "revolutionary" (why does everyone have to keep using that word??), the Preorder Founder's Program. It is really quite cool. Essentially, if you preorder the game (after Feb. 1, '07) you'll qualify for signing up as a Founder. This entitles you to some cool bits in-game, but most interesting to me is the modified pricing for these early adopters. The subscription for these folks will be either $10 a month OR $199 for a LIFETIME subscription. Neato!

I friggin' like that... well, I don't like how it puts a number on how much money a 'scrip ends up costing us all tidy like that, 'cause it's sure a lot of money to play a game. However, I find this to be really, really appealing. I'm guessing if I play the beta and see more about the game, I'd be very likely to pony up the dough and just figure I'll play it for at least a year... but then will be able to keep playing it even if it dulls a bit, instead of dumping the subscription and leaving all that investment behind.

Now, this lifetime deal only works if the game maintains its own life. I'm not sure if I have to bring up Asheron's Call 2, but ya know... let's just say I didn't buy a lifetime 'scrip for that puppy.

Read more to see the whole press release. There's some good stuff I left out of this paltry intro...

Snow, wonderful snow!

Submitted by Hoza on December 21, 2006 - 11:50am

I'm just dropping a post to say "hello" and thank you folks for stopping by.  I know it's been really slow around here.  I'm sorry to leave you hanging, but I've been incredibly busy with other work for a while.  I just wrapped up a couple big projects, but now I'm taking a break for the holidays.

 So... Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Yippity Skippity Doo... whatever you're doing this time of year, just have a great time and I'll see you soon.  Happy New Year!!

Oh yeah... the "snow" thing eludes to the fact that there are 4-foot snow drifts outside my front door!!  Wheeee!  It snowed around 2 feet last night & yesterday here in Denver, Colorado (USA) and I freakin' love it.  I grew up in the mountains West of here and when I was a kid, there were a lot more of these big storms than we've been having recently.  

Anyway, it's a white Christmas for me.  :) 

Slacker. Me.

Submitted by Hoza on November 27, 2006 - 1:16pm

Yeah, I'm a lame duck.  I'm not posting here several times a week like I was for a while there... I know I got your hopes up.  I got my hopes up as well.  Paying work has me buried and I'm struggling to get other things done.

 However, trust me... having me getting paid for other work is the surest way to get me posting to my sites like MassMOG.com!  Have patience, Grasshopper.  If you have news you think I should post, send it on in and I'll do my best.

 Otherwise, I have nothing to say at the moment.  I'll dredge through my email and see if something interesting pops up that I can quickly post.  Thanks for stopping in.  Keep coming back please... I really appreciate it.

TiE Conference in Denver

Submitted by Hoza on October 30, 2006 - 11:39pm

I'm going to be attending the TiEcon 2006 in Denver on Friday.  If you're in the area, you may want to attend.  There will be sessions with panelists from several Denver-area developers represented.  Of special interest to this readership include Scott Brown from NetDevil and Scott Martins from Sony Online Denver (formerly Worlds-Apart Productions ).  Also, a couple other friends of mine will be speaking there, including Gary Rosenzweig of Clevermedia and Christopher Williamson of Bonzoid Studios .

No, I'm not just dropping names here, I just wanted you to know that some MMO folks from my area will be speaking on panels.  It's a great event for our local development community and I'm stoked to see how it turns out!  Also, you'll definitely want to come by if you're a student looking for work.  Many of the local shops will be represented there and will reportedly be taking in resumes.  Good opportunity, I'd say.

NCsoft hands out virtual Halloween treats

Submitted by Hoza on October 30, 2006 - 3:57pm

If you're playing any of the NCsoft online games, there are Halloween events all around. Here's a quick list-o-links of the respective event announcements for each game, all nicely formatted for you:

Need to write something...

Submitted by Hoza on October 20, 2006 - 4:25pm

Some thing.

 

Bah.  I'm waaaay behind on getting stuff added around here but I'm just not too excited about much of anything these days with all the freakin' work I have to do elsewhere!!  Gah!

I know you don't want to come in here to see what whining I'm spewing forth for the week, so I'll stop now.  Just know that I am indeed paying attention and I'll find something interesting to post soon.  I just don't want to post all the misc. press releases I get every day like a mindless fool.  I want to have something to say about stuff instead of just plopping down the marketing drivel I get handed in most of my email.

"Bah," I say.  Maybe I need to look for some writers to help out... are you interested?  Maybe you should contact me  and tell me about yourself.  If I like what you have to say, maybe I'll send you a request for writing samples and we'll go from there.  No promises... I've not yet felt very comfortable with the idea of taking on more writers, so I might not do it at all unless the right folks come along.  Talk me into it, eh?

GuildMates.com - Social Network Site for MMO Players

Submitted by Hoza on October 8, 2006 - 11:54pm

I'm a little slow on this (most?) news, Blake Peterson dropped a note about a month back announcing his site's launch at GuildMates.com . It's really an interesting idea and I'm curious how well it works over time. They've built a free service where you create a profile of info about yourself and which guilds/games you've had characters in over the years. With a system of email, forums and instant messenging, their goal is to help people reconnect with old guild... well, mates (sorry, I couldn't be bothered to formulate different wording there.)

I've browsed through the site a bit and it's really quite nice. I can imagine a social network tool like this would appeal greatly to folks who've built interesting friendships in the past but don't have accounts with all their old games anymore. I know I'm fairly curious what some folks I used to play Asheron's Call with are playing these days, for instance!

Of course, this kind of site will be most useful if it's existence is widely known about... so I guess I'm playing a part to spread the word for Blake. Maybe long-lost friendships can be rekindled by the use of such a tool, eh? Pretty neat idea, I think.

Syndicate content