A few nights ago, I was playing Wildstar with my committed leveling buddy. We had just arrived at Malgrave, the zone where players on the Exile side spend their last ten levels. After collecting twenty cacti from sun-scorched dunes and reducing a species of space bears to nigh-extinction, I couldn’t help but make a offhand remark. “Man, this feels a lot like World of Warcraft.” This...
Carbine Studios caused ripples last month when they finally announced the payment model for their upcoming sci-fi MMO, WildStar. Gaming pundits and prophets alike were caught off guard by the revelation that the game would require a monthly subscription rather than being free-to-play. Few things are as divisive among gamers as payment models. Some advocate downloadable content and online passes...
WildStar is my most anticipated game of 2013. Although there are a number of MMOs on my radar, WildStar is the only one that seems to possess that magic combination of innovation and rock solid production value I look for. Still, I worry. WildStar isn’t special. It’s not going to be ushered down from the heavens on its launch date, heralded by a cherubic chorus of angels. The game is...
The last thing anyone could accuse WildStar of being is boring. Since the game’s announcement at Gamescom 2011, developer Carbine Studios has trickled a steady stream of tantalizing details about their upcoming MMO to their eager fans. This has included a comprehensive AMA session on Reddit by WildStar‘s executive producer Jeremy Gaffney as well as a charming trailer describing the...
Well it happened. Pathfinder Online is being made. The project’s Kickstarter hit its million dollar goal just hours before the deadline rolled in last Monday evening, it’s success sealed by several substantial pledges at the last moment. Audible sigh. Anyone who reads The World is Square on a regular basis (all three of you) know that I have a storied history with Pathfinder Online. I...
As I mentioned in my earlier article, I’ve recently dipped my feet into the MMO waters again by purchasing Guild Wars 2. Although I feel the game is a fine successor to World of Warcraft, it ultimately failed to hold my attention for longer than a month. It was initially difficult for me to deduce the reason for my disinterest, but I’ve concluded that what I’ve found off-putting about ArenaNet’s...
As someone who writes about video games on a weekly basis, I rarely find myself blindsided by a piece of industry news. But John Smedley managed to throw me a curve ball from the podium of the annual SOE Live convention last week. The infamous President of Sony Online Entertainment announced to a half raucous, half bewildered audience that the next installment in the watershed EverQuest...
There’s been a lot of huffing and puffing on the internet about Guild Wars 2. It seems all summer long message boards and blogs have been extolling the game as a revolution of its genre. The boldest of these pundits have even labeled it a World of Warcraft killer (a moniker that officially lost all meaning after it was applied to Star Wars: The Old Republic). At best these comments can be deemed...