Crimecraft isn’t an MMO in the sense that Tabula Rasa was an open world, but more along the lines of Guild Wars: Public lobbies, while the action takes place in instanced matches. Crimecraft is a third person shooter, one of the first MMO’s to be built off of the Unreal 3 engine, next to TERA Online, Huxley, Global Agenda, Mortal Online, and more. You have a choice of PvP and PvE.
Please remember: Crimecraft is in open beta. It is not a finished product.
Being my usual late self, this will no doubt be information to none but the three of you who don’t already read WoW news feeds religiously. World of Warcraft’s upcoming expansion has been leaked, along with several details of the title. Titled Cataclysm, very little is known about the upcoming expansion, although much is being speculated. Going off of the title’s name, all of the speculation reaches one point: There is going to be massive change to the world of Azeroth, possibly having to do with the previous expansion; Wrath of the Lich King.
The expansion will also open up two new races to players. Joining the horde are the Goblins, while the Alliance will be receiving the Wolf-like Worgen species.
I don’t think I need to reiterate just how successful WoW has been in terms of sales of not only the game, but the expansion. Since its release last year, Wrath of the Lich King hasn’t as much as shuddered from the top of the PC sales charts, and the announcement of another expansion will only boost sales more and reinvigorate interest in players who had long since left. At this point, an expansion to WoW is like a billionare deciding to buy yet another country whose GDP barely stands up to his monthly profits.
When Champions Online launches this September, it will be the first in a line of superhero MMO’s looking to dethrone the current, and only, contender for the genre; City of Heroes/City of Villains. As there is no timeline for the Marvel MMO, and DC Universe Online isn’t giving us anything more specific than late 2009, early 2010, Champions Online will no doubt enjoy the leg up on the competition…As it tries to get a leg up on the current competition.
Planetside, touted as the first true MMOFPS, takes yet another turn towards its ultimate demise, with the announcement that the game’s two servers will finally merge into one, to deal with lacking population. The original five servers have gradually closed and merged, and currently the game houses two servers; One North American and one European.
As far as MMO’s go, server closure is one of the first lines of defense in keeping a game alive. When empty servers spread players thinly, forcing them into a smaller space will give an illusion of player count, and may inspire ex-players to jump back into the renewed action, creating a snowball effect that brings more and more players to the game.
Sadly, if history has taught us anything, it is that this mantra will more than likely fail for Planetside, a game that has been on a downward slope for years now. Planetside’s status as pioneer in MMOFPS action, massive scale battles, and focus on skills above levels, will not help it in its fall from grace.
The merge will go ahead on August 25th. Once Planetside is consolidated on to one server, it is anyone’s guess as to how long it has to live afterwards.
MMO Fallout 