Those of you who have seen my Better Business Bureau articles may have wondered at one point: But Omali, what do you think about the ESRB? My answer, of course, is I hold the ESRB in the highest, most prestigious form…of contempt. The ESRB was formed in an attempt to rate games based off of … Continue reading “ESRB: Breaking Privacy, For The Sake Of Privacy…”
Earlier this year I started Checking In With The Better Business Bureau, a segment talking about the consumer protection group with no authority. Back in February I checked up on a few MMO developers to see their scores, and this time I want to go more in depth on each company and their score. For … Continue reading “Checking In On The BBB”
I’m not a fan of cross-platform games as the more systems that are added to the fray, the higher the odds for delays due to unforeseen problems on one system. The end result is that, in an attempt to please everyone in the crowd, the developer delays all of the titles in order to ensure a simultaneous … Continue reading “Final Fantasy XIV: Delays And Pricing Structure”
Back in January I asked a pretty simple question: Since Sony has had so much success with the Station Pass, an offer where players can pay the fee of two MMOs to gain access to eight (previously nine) MMOs, why don’t we see more packages where developers or publishers bundle together MMOs to increase subscriber … Continue reading “Put Your Money Episode #1: ________ Station Pass”
A growing trend in several MMOs ever since Eve Online popularized the mechanic, has been offline training: skills and abilities that level even though you are offline. Eve Online and Alganon are just two games to utilize this feature, with Age of Conan recently joining the fray: In games like Eve Online, considering your character … Continue reading “Age of Conan: Offline Leveling With No Respec”
It feels like it was all the way back in January, more specifically the twelfth, that I was maliciously defending Runes of Magic (being the troll I am, apparently). Frogster implemented an update that bound all diamonds (cash shop currency) purchased to the player’s account, if said diamonds were purchased with a credit card or … Continue reading “Runes of Magic: More Diamond Restrictions”
It feels like only late March that Cryptic announced shutting any hopes of Champions Online appearing on the Xbox360, even though it was marginally through the third quarter of the month (A little business humor for you). I noted at the time that, although Star Trek Online was planned for release on the console platform, … Continue reading “Star Trek Online: Console Version Officially Canned”
It’s always good to have some form of anti-spam protection on your blog/website especially if, like me, you find yourself being taken into flattery, however genuine, a little too easily. For example, if it weren’t for the intercession of Akismet, I likely would not have looked past: Hey great website, you really know your stuff. Definitely adding … Continue reading “Well Played, Sir. Clever Spam?”
Alganon booted in December this past year to a very mixed reaction. Launched as a lower budget, indie MMO, Alganon plucked various mechanics from other MMOs (offline leveling system, skill branches, etc) and threw them together in a game that looked similar to a world of war and craft. Reviews for the title were generally … Continue reading “Alganon: Moving to DDO Formula”
The triple-B, or Better Business Bureau, is quite an interesting outfit. One one hand, the organization has absolutely no authority over any business anywhere at any time, ever. On the other hand, its advice is taken very seriously by many consumers, by some as gospel, and by others who believe that the BBB actually has … Continue reading “What Does the Better Business Bureau Say?”
MMO Fallout 