Game News

"Now Accepting Applications for a Semester Abroad in the Virtual World" is the tagline in a press release from Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life... hmmm.  They have announced their "first visual and performing arts fellowship to support creative innovation in Second Life."  They're looking to provide someone $4,000 to explore the game/virtual world/thing as a creative medium.  You can get more info about eligibility and fill out the application at www.secondlife.com/education. If you're interested in the fellowship, I'd think the rest of that Eduction section of their site will also interest you a great deal.  Linden Lab has made a lot of progress over the years in finding unique ways to utilize their system.  Nice.

Turbine's running a stress test of Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach.  It's a quick one, so get over there now if you're interested so you have the client yoinked to be ready to play.  Also, remember this isn't a "demo" but a "stress test", which my memory is urging me to recall irritating stress events of other games in the past... it might really suck if their servers have a seizure.  That's not stopping me from trying it out, mind you.  I just want to raise the issue.

[update/edit: The test is actually live now.. you don't have to wait 'til Friday like I had been reading.  I just logged out from a bit of hacking and it's pretty fun!  I'm anxious to spend more time in there.  I really dig the DM narration as you move through dungeons.  I got a bit giddy remembering old D&D sessions with the DM trying to set the mood or point out stuff you needed to check out.  It feels pretty good to me so far.]

Sorry I'm a bit late on this, but I had hoped to get in and play this sucker before posting about it... of course, the alignment of stars isn't in my favor as far as game playing time goes.  However, I just can't put off this notice any longer since I'm already a week past the launch date. 

I'm talking about the launch of ROSE Online, made by the Korean folks behind Ragnarok Online, of which many of you are well aware.  The artistic style of this game is enough to attract me for starters, but the premise of the game looks very interesting as well.  Read this bit and then go snag your free client download if you want to play it.  You'll get "7 days or 35 hours of access to fun and adventure" to try it out.  Let me know what you think, if you would... I'll give it a whirl as soon as I can.

Geared to the teen and tween player, ROSE Online caters to an audience largely untapped by other persistent world games.  The game provides a safe, family-friendly game world for today's youth looking for an atypical MMORPG option.

ROSE will thrust players into a deep storyline and involve them immediately, encouraging building community.  Players will have the option to form groups, or guilds, to compete for dominion over the seven planets within the ROSE galaxy.  The title will focus on epic battles with catastrophic implications, rather than small-scale confrontations.  Instead of losing control of a castle, guilds will have to contend with losing control of their world.
 
Kings will emerge, and kingdoms will be created as players begin  to maneuver their way through a social, political and economic labyrinth within the game.  The one who can put all seven planets under their control will become the most powerful force in the universe.  

"We wanted to create a vibrant forum for our players to interact in a way that is compelling yet non-threatening," Peter Kang, Executive Director of Gravity Interactive, said.  "A game of grand proportions requires a large playground; we chose a solar system."

World of Warcraft version 1.8 has gone live and brings with it, much Druid love.  I try to avoid talking about stuff like this too much around here, since it's even more focus on a game whose huge-ness is plenty huge on its own.   I prefer talking about the smaller games and communities more, which I'll get back to soon... for now, I have to say that my Druid will get a visit from me tonight!

 Not THAT kind of visit, pervert!  I'm talking about a glass of scotch and a cigar.. that type of visit.  Well, there will be killing of beasts, too, no doubt.  That goes without saying.

 At any rate, I am VERY stoked to give the other talent trees a whirl besides restoration.  If you're a Druid pre-1.8, or any of the guilds who recruited Druids to be heal-bots, you know what I'm saying when I allude to the fervor that will soon surround our beloved class.  There are a lot of folks who will be crying "foul" at the loss of such a huge number of healing 'toons to the very alluring world of feral exploits. 

 However, what do you expect??  We chose this class due to the flexibility of it and the (gasp) shapeshifting is a big part of that.  Now that the one tree I wanted to adopt all along has become viable, you have to understand my desire to re-spec.  I may come back to healing later, but Innervate will have to wait.  I want to scratch and claw and bite, baby! 

Okay... enough of that blabbery.  I'll get off this microphone so you can get back to your day.