You're too busy to follow what's happening in all the awesome MMO games out there. We're not. So check out our rundown of the coolest things happening in MMOs right now. Every month MMOGames.com is here to bring you the highlights of all the most amazing massively multiplayer online gaming news, updates, insights, giveaways, interviews, and articles. We had a really special science-y September here, and we can’t wait to tell you all about it.
In some of our most awesome content of the year, MMOGames met MMOScience, but that’s not all, we’re sharing another amazing EVE Online interview, an in-depth interview with the folks behind Crowfall, feelgood gaming news, indie MMO news, amazing player crafting creations, and so much more.
Popular MMO Gaming Articles, Interviews, and Reviews
“Hands down, developing a full scale MMO in front of a live audience is the greatest challenge.” Hope, renewed? Crowfall has not lived up to many of its players’ expectations. Having recently reviewed the game, we were also underwhelmed with many aspects of it. However, following this in-depth Crowfall interview, we can truly say that we once again have faith in the project. Find out why.
“For us as a society it’s almost imperative to find clever ways to extract value from all this time we spend in games. Gaming is, at its heart, problem solving. What we’re doing, I believe, is one way of extracting that real life value from the time we’re spending in these virtual worlds. The future is an open book, but one whose pages will no doubt be filled by new, impactful, crazy and worthwhile projects like ours.” In this super special three-part mini-series, MMOGames spoke with leading researchers, scientists, AAA game studio directors, and the brilliant minds behind Massively Multiplayer Online Science to discover how MMO gamers are literally saving lives and saving the world. Trust us, you don’t want to miss this.
Save the World with MMO Gaming? No, Really. Meet Massively Multiplayer Online Science.
The AAA Multiplayer Games Revolutionising Crowdsourced Scientific Discovery
EVE Online Interviews
Our monthly EVE Online interviews are back and as epic as ever. We spoke with CCP Directors Saemmi and Bergur with a particular focus on Project Discovery (one of the main projects of Massively Multiplayer Online Science). But that’s not all, we also delved into topics like feelgood gaming, friendship in video games, and the indie games that they just can’t stop playing.
Discovering Project Discovery – In Conversation With EVE Online’s Directors
And if you want more EVE Online interviews covering topics from hardcore sci-fi to the EVE Online interactive movie, then check out the archive!
The Pantheon Series
“That’s the kind of magic that calls to the deep places inside of us, that resonates with what I believe MMORPGs are most uniquely equipped to do – make us want to be adventurers again.”
Over the course of the year, we grew increasingly excited about the upcoming MMORPG Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. We’ve produced an array of articles in our popular content segment, “The Pantheon Series” making our case for why we think Pantheon is different from other crowdfunded MMORPGs.
Recapturing MMO Magic & Joy: The Chris “Joppa” Perkins Pantheon Interview
The Pantheon Series recently reached its dramatic climax with the interview you’ve all been waiting for. We were lucky enough to interview the one and only Chris “Joppa” Perkins, Creative Director. His answers were thoughtful, insightful, personal, and poignant. So much so that we’re pointing you back towards it before diving deeper into more Pantheon content soon.
World of Warcraft Wednesdays (also known as "The Slow Death of Activision Blizzard")
Following a lot of reader demand, this year we brought back a fan-favourite feature on MMOGames - WoW Wednesdays where you can discover all the need-to-know World of Warcraft updates, in-game events, and esports bonanzas.
As many of you will know, the last few months have been an unmitigated disaster for Activision Blizzard. Allegations, lawsuits, petitions, and walkouts have riddled the organization and potentially tarnished their reputation forever. To find out exactly what has been happening, we recommend reading these older articles in the following order:
WoW Wednesday: The Ongoing Debacle of the Activision Blizzard Lawsuit
WoW Wednesday: Brack Takes Flack as ABK Workers Alliance Hit Back
WoW Wednesday: Redditors Offer Some Quick-Fix WoW Changes As the Flagship Sinks
WoW Wednesday: Ubisoft-Blizzard Employee Solidarity (& Daisy's Designer Departs)
WoW Wednesday: More Draenei Customisation Options – A Blizzard That Listens?
This month, we really tried to give Activision Blizzard a chance at redemption. We wrote our first WoW Wednesday piece on how Patch 9.1.5 is surpassing expectations. We wrote our second piece on their further apparent efforts to reform. Then things started falling apart once more. In our third WoW Wednesday piece, we highlighted some awesome World of Warcraft cosplay but we also discussed how one of WoW Classic’s most reputable guilds shut down, fed up with the game developer’s antics. And then, worst yet, we revealed the accusations of shameful union busting on the members of Activision Blizzard trying hardest to make it a better place. After briefly being distracted by the brilliant matches at the AWC Grand Finals, we published the latest news...that Activision Blizzard have settled one of their lawsuits for $18million while continuing to deny wrongdoing. How we wish we had some better news for you, but a redeemed Activision Blizzard? Not even nearly.
Feelgood Fridays
We know times are dark for a lot of people right now, so we enjoy sharing some feel-good gaming news to give you some pandemic cheer. Our #FeelgoodFriday gaming news section talks about the games industry moves that make us happy: inclusivity, accessibility, sustainability, and diversity.
First up we have Fortnite’s sustainability awareness raising event with a net Carbon-zero tournament. Not too shabby, but with the shape our planet’s in, we need more than just “awareness”.
Second up, we had an improvement - SpecialEffect’s game artist competition raising funds with a charity game art competition.
Thirdly, we had something really special. The launch of Steven Spohn’s second #SpawnTogether campaign that aims to raise another $1 million for the fellow inspirational gamers who need it most.
And finally, just for a bit of fun we shared the hilarious fundraising efforts of OrcRun who embarks on long-distance charity runs for the excellent local charity The Alex in full urak-hai armour. Kudos.
Indie Spotlight
In our Indie Spotlight feature, we shine a light on the lesser-known games that are deserving of more love and attention. If you have an online indie game to recommend, let us know via comment or message. This month, we shone our light on the innovative medieval tower-defence game Kingshunt:
“Kingshunt is an online multiplayer action game that combines tower defence, hack-and-slash, and hero-based combat. The beautiful-looking fantasy title was spawned by Finnish developer, Vaki Games – a studio that began with just four industry veterans. And in five years, the team is just about ready to release the first of “the next generation of hard-core online multiplayer games.” Check it out!
Don’t forget to check out our previous Indie Spotlight features on NEO 2045, Frozen Flame, Palia, Voidspace, Scars of Honor, Infinite Fleet, Key to Heaven, Project: Gorgon, Super Squad, Broken Ranks, and V Rising.
Crafty Creations
Say hello to Crafty Creations where we highlight the biggest, funniest and most impressive creations from building and crafting games like this amazing Valheim Viking Village.
After last month’s post about Skyrim’s City of Whiterun, this month is an even more epic fantasy city reborn through Valheim’s crafting and building system. Check out the one and only Valheim Minas Tirith. Or as it has affectionately come to be known, “Mini Tirith”. And this one even comes with a great (and hilarious) video.
MMO Gaming Updates, Expansions, DLCs, Patches, and Events
World of Tanks celebrated a year on Twitch with some explosive statistics! 780 billion shots fired! Read me!
Wizard 101 celebrated its own birthday in a rather more magical fashion. It is announced the Lemuria update with increased level caps and plenty more. Read me!
EVE Online launched its third Quadrant of the year entitled Gateway. It came packed full of significant enhancements to the new player experience. Read me!
Black Desert has announced its entry onto next-gen consoles as well as unleashing BDO Season+ services for all the speedy leveling up a player would ever need. Read me!
Valheim released its highly anticipated Home and Hearth update allowing players to build even snazzier bases than before. Now here’s to that famed Scandinavian “hygge”. Read me!
Grand Fantasia the awesome family friendly gamigo MMO has a big old update in Patch 35: Ultimate Force. Don’t miss our corresponding giveaway above. But for details...Read me!
EVE Online also joined the Epic Store and to celebrate, they pulled a World of Tanks move of their own by announcing some incredible spacefaring statistics. Read me!
Runescape are continuing their year-long anniversary storyline, last month we announced the chilly Glacor Front, and now we have the rather stinkier Croesus Front featuring Runescape’s first ever skilling boss. Read me!
Image: Jagex
New MMO Games, Upcoming MMOGames, Alphas, Betas, and Trailers
Clockwork Labs are just one of the independent studios who have a vision for a social MMORPG to mix up the market. Here’s what we know so far about their in-development game. Read me!
Palia is another contender for a non-combat social MMO, and with the pre-Alpha feedback just in, it may well be the top of the bunch. Read me!
Mortal Online 2 had one final stress test and then released on Steam, we highly recommend checking out our catalogue of interviews and reviews on Mortal Online 2, a challenging game with a bold approach. Or to learn the latest...Read me!
Fractured has also made good progress from its Kickstarter campaign with the launch of their own Alpha. So far, things are looking good! Read me!
Ship of Heroes have completed their summer beta and we’ve compiled a summary of fan feedback. Superheroes in space? Oh go on then. Read me!
New World, the massive MMORPG we’re hugely excited about, has just been released! To celebrate, we’ve put together a handy New World faction-choosing guide. Read me!
MMO Gaming Giveaways
We ran one new official giveaway this month for the delightful Grand Fantasia. The giveaway celebrated their latest patch: Ultimate Force and offers users a generous selection of autumnal gear and mounts.
But don’t miss out on our older giveaways that are still active such as the one for the MOBA + tower-defence hybrid Skydome or Eternal Fury wherein saintly rewards are available to celebrate their Patch 3.2.3.
To unlock your freebies in our gaming giveaways, all you need to do is visit our Giveaways page where you can browse all our active offers. You have nothing to lose and plenty to gain!
Featured Game Artist Competition
Do you know any talented game artists or fan artists? We’re planning to launch an exceptionally large gaming gear competition containing almost $1000 worth of exceptional tech. To ensure they don’t miss their chance to enter, advise them to follow and favourite us on our social channels (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook page, Facebook group) plus our multi-channel hashtag: #ILoveMMOGames.
Our most recent Featured Game Artist was the amazing Darrien Kobayashi Gibson whose stunning cyberpunk and horror reimaginings of classic game characters like Samus, Link, and Raiden really took our breath away. If you know of any talented game artists who would like to be considered, just tell them to contact us. View me!
Some More MMO Games News
With the release of the trailer for the fourth Matrix movie, we took a stroll down Memory Lane to re-explore the Matrix MMO. If they can revitalize the movies, today’s graphics may be a good time to revitalise the MMORPG.
We’re trialing a new content series, Endless Sagas, where we solve the gaming conundrums and challenges you’re struggling with. Like our Mortal Online 2 Starter Guide, our clay-mining explanation for Stranded Deep, and our Valheim dedicated server walkthrough. Tell us what problem you’d like us to explain next!
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