I’ve been excited about a brand new version of Animal Crossing for a real console for a very long. Ever since I had my hands on the original gamecube version years ago. After all, my mind thought, this is essentially an N64 game with a few additional house items and features, I wonder what a…Continue readingAnimal Crossing: City Folk Review
I have long been a proponent of death penalties in MMORPGs. Yeah they can sometimes be a harsh penalty that is rather off putting, but there are many reasons why the game design requires the death penalty to be there. Heck I still like the idea of permadeath although I think the time for that…Continue readingDeath Penalties
In one of my previous posts this last week I started delving into MMO design issues that have been changing for the worst in my opinion. In that particular article, I talked about how having instant messaging and global channels have potentially changed how the world of players interacts with each other. Continue readingTravel Times of Yore
I recently found out that Tabula Rasa was going to be shutting its doors after just one year on the market. In addition to this, Richard Garriott, whom largely is thought of as one of the major pioneers in MMORPG design, is leaving NCSoft as well. While this isn’t entirely surprising, the move is still rather amazing to me and quite sad to see it come to this.Continue readingGoodbye Tabula Rasa
I read a recent blog post somewhere recently (sorry I don’t remember where) that talked about the original vision of what MMOs were intended to be and the disappointment of where they are now. At heart of this dilemma are the constant need to do mind-numbing quests, the staticness of the world, and the never-ending…Continue readingOld School Rules for New School Views
From a game design point of view, I understand why these parts packs are putting out, and realistically it is a good idea. These part packs first seen in Sims 2 as Stuff Packs are a merger between an expansion and pay for a part model that is becoming increasingly more popular. I actually quite…Continue readingSpore: Cute & Creepy Pack