Hello and welcome to another installment of Online Games 4 Dummies. First off, I’d like to apologize about not having a column prepared last week. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I lost my internet connection for five days and spent the week trying to catch up on work I really needed to get completed.  Recently was accepted into two different closed betas and I’m testing the open beta of another MMO. So I’m hard at work trying to bring you news on these. As a result, I’ll give you some first impressions on these games  next week, expect a full out review once I’ve had more time with them.

Secret World Preview

According to IGN.com, a new kind of MMO has had some more of the veil removed. But at the GDC last moth, Funcom gave us more information on their upcoming MMO, Secret World. The game is going to play on the paranormal, but not in a normal sense. Characters will be in modern areas like New York and London, going about everyday tasks. But, in a chance encounter with the paranormal, you will be thrown into a whirlwind of combat and intrigue that will tease, prod, and shake your senses. All of my fellow MMO freaks shall be happy to know this game is trying to redefine the “no grind” genre, a staple of the MMO gaming world. For those unfamiliar with the meaning of grind, it is essential killing multiple monsters, goblins, orges, etc. in order to advance ones character to the next level. Instead, the game will focus on just developing new skills, allowing players to spec exactly how their character will be designed, essentially eliminating classes. This is all in an effort, the creators stated, to try and destroy the “catch-up” game, situations where lower level players have to play extra hours to “catch up” with their higher level peers. The game shall be  a cross-platform MMO, meaning it shall be available on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, in addition to  shooting to be the second MMO released on the Xbox 360 (The first being Final Fantasy XI, another cross-platform MMO).  If you’d like to view the official trailer, you may do so here at PC IGN.

Love – The MMO

If you don’t already know about Love, allow me to inform you to the greatness that shall be this game. First off, you have to know one thing. This game was and is created by one person. And no, that’s not to meaning he’s the “brains behind the operation”, I mean this game is literally built by one person names Eskil Steenberg. He started to project about two years ago, and at GDC last year, released more information on his upcoming title “Love”. This is revolutionary in the world of MMOs for more than just the fact he’s the sole team member. Instead of large servers, with 1,000-5,000 players at a time, Love will limit every server to 200 players, forcing you to make close relationships with your fellow server members in order to succeed in the game. The game is built in (from what I can tell), a Second Life, Civilization, World of Warcraft, Populus kind of way. When you start, you have to find a “token” and with this token you acquire land in which you are free to terraform and move around as you please. In addition, using a very similar system to Second Life, you build you’re community from the ground up. This includes buildings, scripts, stores, the whole shebang. As you progress, you’ll acquire more tokens, which you will in turn use to expand you’re world. What I foresee is once the game is launched, 5-10 players per server coming together to build complex cities early in the game that become “main capitals”, with other players building smaller surrounding cities. But having to come together as a “nation” against the AI threat. This brings me to the other revolutionary idea in the game, the AI. Instead of you’re usual PvE objectives, the game is tailored to grow as you grow, molding it’s actions against what you do. In this way, the environment is always against you, focusing on your weaknesses, and causing you to always be alert to the computer threat.  Love is still being built and there is much we still don’t know, but from what we’ve seen, expect this to be an instant hit in the gaming world. If you would like to follow Love Updates and find more information about the game, you can visit the website Quelsolaar.com. Also you can vist Eskil Steenberg’s blog.

That wraps up another entry in Online Games 4 Dummies. Be sure to keep coming back to Nerdles, your source for all your nerd news!

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