mmo

Star Wars: The Old Republic expansion to launch April 14

It's finally here. More than a year after it debuted and months after it went free to play, Star Wars: The Old Republic is getting its first downloadable expansion, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, due to arrive on April 14 (or April 9 for early preorders). The obvious question is, what has it got that could tempt former players to come back?

First of all, a new planet and more story. Much of the appeal of BioWare and LucasArts' MMO is the way every quest takes place against the backdrop of the galaxy-wide struggle between the Empire and the Republic, and every player class ends up playing a different but pivotal role.

Rise of the Hutt Cartel picks up at the end of the original story: The Republic's beating back the Empire, and the war machine on both sides needs fuel (hey, it's more dramatic than trade sanctions). The resource-stripping Hutts decide it's a good moment to take over the galaxy and be generally slimy, as they are wont to do, but now you can shoot them. Yay! Actually you're fighting their mercs. What starts as a quick smackdown of the Hutts turns into something more urgent and planetwide, and as usual, it's all up to you.… Read more

Logitech follows Razer's lead with MMO gaming mouse

You might be familiar with the Razer Naga gaming mouse. Revised a few times since its 2010 debut, the Naga's core aim has always been helping gamers master the complex control schemes of online role-playing games like the World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Apparently feeling the absence of such a device in its own lineup, Logitech today announces the G600 MMO Gaming Mouse.

Like the Naga, the G600 has 12 programmable buttons along its left side. Logitech's take on the design adds a dedicated "G shift" button on the top of the mouse, which lets you swap button mappings on the fly. This effectively gives at-hand access to 24 separate in-game commands.… Read more

BioWare cuts 'Star Wars' staff

Several weeks after the surprising announcement of losing 400,000 players in mere months, BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka and co-founder Greg Zeschuk noted in a forum post that the company is bidding "farewell to some talented, passionate, and exceptionally hard-working people who helped make Star Wars: The Old Republic a reality."

The layoffs affect the Austin, Texas, division of BioWare an Electronic Arts-owned studio largely responsible for the creation of the game. The announcement lacked any specific information regarding the number of employees let go in the restructuring, and EA did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment. … Read more

The Elder Scrolls Online barges in next year

In an exciting development and confirmation to long-standing rumors, developer Zenimax Online Studios today announced The Elder Scrolls Online, a new massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set for release in 2013.

Initially revealed by Game Informer, the long-anticipated game offers a massive world "set a millennium before the events of Skyrim as the daedric prince Molag Bal tries to pull all of Tamriel into his demonic realm," according to the magazine. … Read more

Razer to hand over new gaming mouse for lefties

Computer peripheral maker Razer posted a question on its official Facebook page late last month asking if fans wanted another mouse built for left-handed gamers. The company requested at least 10,000 "Likes" on the post within a month to give the idea serious consideration. It only took a week to reach that number.

Several years ago, Razer launched a basic five-button gaming mouse for left-handed folk, the DeathAdder, giving everyone an equal opportunity at the perfect headshot.

Now, after the recent affirmative votes from Facebook-ers, Razer plans to release a left-handed mouse based on the Naga, which is designed specifically for massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).… Read more

Star Wars: The Old Republic gets massive in April

Everything will change immensely for players of Star Wars: The Old Republic in early April.

Last week, a video emerged from BioWare describing a massive 1.2 update for the popular multiplayer online role-playing game. The content patch--named Legacy--offers several major benefits and a plethora of little changes that could make things much more enjoyable for those invested in the game.

The big-ticket items include a new warzone (Novare Coast) and operation (Explosive Conflict) located on the planet Denova. We also spotted a new flash point named The Lost Island, which you can further see in the trailer below. … Read more

Meet a retired World of Warcraft server

A game like World of Warcraft requires several thousand servers to operate the hundreds of online realms within its ecosystem. Earlier this year, Blizzard Entertainment auctioned off several of those server blades "used during World of Warcraft's early days."

A Reddit post brought up the subject again recently, and contains a few pictures of a server blade used for the European server Sunstrider from February 27, 2005 to August 24, 2010. There's little doubt that countless gamers spent thousands, if not millions, of hours playing during that time frame. A special clear enclosure reveals the innards of the server, which contains 6 gigabytes of RAM (DDR-400MHz). It did not come with the original hard drives. … Read more

Star Wars: The Old Republic takes on World of Warcraft with force

After at least three years and an estimated $155 million, Electronic Arts and BioWare open their new massive multiplayer game, Star Wars: The Old Republic to general audiences on December 20.

The developers' hope is that the game will bring meaningful competition to the World of Warcraft-dominated online gaming market. Gamers and the "Star Wars" faithful, on the other hand, just hope the game is fun. We've been playing the game in an early release phase, open to customers who preordered the game and others.

Rich: Games in the MMO (massive multiplayer online) genre are notoriously hard … Read more

Glitch, for tree-huggers and chicken-squeezers

If you're like me, you enjoy killing orcs, zombies, spiders, clowns, Kagouti, Vahzilok, and dark Jedi as much as the next guy. But every now and then you put down the mouse and think, is this all there is? Can't I just explore pretty places and, um, pet cute animals or something? Maybe hug people?

That's when you want Glitch.

Unfortunately the game just went back into beta, and it can take a few weeks to get an invite. But if you're looking for something cute and different, it's worth checking out.

Glitch, developed by Tiny Speck, is a browser-based side-scrolling MMO with pleasant graphics and music and a PG-13 sense of humor. There's some easy platform-hopping and coin-collecting, and a little prodding to cooperate and socialize. It's free--you can pay to get more costume options, but you don't need them.

The crux of the game is balancing the demands of your mood and energy levels. You can cook food, make cocktails a la Kingdom of Loathing, grow crops, mine rocks, and so on. That all takes energy. Meanwhile, everywhere you go, trees and pigs--fine, piggies--want to be petted and watered or fed; other players can be hugged or kissed--or mooned or "splanked," if you have a moon or a plank on you.… Read more

Play DC Universe Online for free

Need something fun to do this weekend? Want to step into the shoes of a superhero and duke it out against evil supervillains (or vice-versa)? Don't want to spend any money for the privilege?

DC Universe Online is a massively multiplayer online game (or, as the kids like to say, MMOG) built around comic-book characters. Until a couple days ago, access would cost you $14.99 per month, but now you can play DC Universe Online absolutely free.

I'll admit I'm not a big fan of the MMOs, having never dipped my toe into World of Warcraft … Read more