A survey emailed to current and past Planetside subscribes has indicated that Sony is planning “to expand the Planetside universe with another game”. It has also been discovered that SOE (Sony Online Entertainment) registered Planetside2.com on September 21st.

“We plan to expand the PlanetSide® universe with another game and we need your help with the design. After all, who knows the game better than you, our customers, the people who actually play it! Don’t worry about the original PlanetSide, it isn’t going anywhere.

We want to hear your opinion and to do so we have put together a short survey. The information you provide will play a critical role into helping guide the development and direction of the next hit Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter.” - Source

Planetside Universe, a Planetside fan site, contacted John Smedley, the CEO of SOE, who had this to say;

“PlanetSide fans will be happy We have big things planned in the next 12 months. We’re working on something new that’s really cool.” - Source

Planetside was never the most popular MMO (at its peak it was estimated to have around 75,000 players) but it had some great ideas, which led to some truly epic moments (some of the player stories that came out of the game are amazing). Now only a few thousand hardcrore fans remain and you’d be lucky to see the massive battles that the game experienced during its prime. If a new game can successfully fix its predecessors problems then I’m all for it, just like the guys over at Rock, Paper Shotgun.

I stopped playing World of Warcraft a few years back - mainly because it was taking up way too much of my life - but if I had still been playing it and I owned an iPhone then the official ‘World of Warcraft Mobile Armory’ application would be a must have.

Since this new application has officially been designed by Blizzard you no longer need to rely on third-party applications, which are sometimes unreliable, to keep track of your WoW characters while on the move. The free application has all the functionality of the web-based armory, but with the added bonus that you can do it away from your computer.

A few of the features include the ability to check your current equipment set-up, those of other players, guild databases and information on every item in the game. There’s also a spec calculator to help you plan out your character, a calendar that keeps track of upcoming raid events and an achievement tracker. It’s also under 10mb, so you can easily download it away from your computer with 3G.

So, for you WoW obsessive’s this new application means you’ll never have to be all that far away from the ‘delights’ of Azeroth. I’m not actually sure if that’s a good thing or not…

(Image source: Kotaku)

Bioware - a company well known to Star Wars fans due to the excellent Knights of the Old Republic series - has announced that the new Star Wars MMO rumored a few months back will be called Star Wars: The Old Republic. The game will be set three centuries after the events of KOTOR II and will feature two opposing factions - the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. You won’t be forced to pick good or evil right from the start though as, like KOTR and Mass Effect, your good or evil status will evolve through the choices you make.

“Players get to come in and take the roles of heroes–or villains–at this pivotal moment where we’re starting to go back into a big galactic war,” promised Erickson. - Gamespot

There’s not much more we know yet, aside from the basic information about the story (which is apparently going to be pretty important to the game, and each class will have its own unique story). The game’s art direction will not be realistic (as you can obviously see from the screenshot above) but it will not be overly cartoon-y either. The big reason for not having spectacular realistic graphics is similar to the approach that Blizzard took with World of Warcraft. Having more simple colourful graphics means that the game will be able to work on a wide range of systems, which is part of why WoW is so popular.

Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the second attempt at creating a Star Wars MMO. Star Wars Galaxies was certainly ambitious but never quite managed to fully grasp the attention of the extensive Star Wars fanbase. Then there was the complete change to the way the game played that angered most of those still playing the game, and while the game still exists today its playerbase is tiny compared to what it could have been.

Hopefully it will be a better game than its former attempt, especially as it’s being made by the rather excellent Bioware. The game is only in development for the PC at the moment but Bioware aren’t ruling out a console release just yet.

More information:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Revealed - Gamespot.
Star Wars: The Old Republic - What we Know so Far - Kotaku.
BioWare Compares ‘Star Wars’ MMO Combat To ‘WoW,’ ‘Age of Conan’ And ‘The Force Unleashed’ - MTV Multiplayer.

I recently wrote about the upcoming Wii game SimCity Creator and my main concerns were that many of the micro-management aspects that come with running a city had been stripped due to the more casual approach. This is to be expected with the Wii and I don’t fault Maxis for wanting to bring SimCity to a new sect of gamers. However, now that SimCity has been scaled down it leaves the door open for a new sim to step in with the features that made SimCity so addictive in the first place. So, hardcore sim addicts may now have a new game to make up for Maxis going all casual on them.

Cities XL is the latest game from Monte Cristo - the team behind City Life. At its most basic the game looks a lot like it’s predecessor but attempts to expand on this in almost every way possible. City Life introduced social classes which meant you had to think a lot more about where to place certain buildings, other than the usual ‘don’t plonk industrial zones near residential zones’ which should be basic common sense to any aspiring city mayor. So, for instance, rich people would want to eat at fancy restaurants while the poor would be happy with the nearest burger joint. Cities XL takes all this and vastly expands on it, so while you can still do the traditional zoning you can also plonk down individual buildings - something I’d always wanted to do. You can even go as detailed as placing bus lanes, creating pedestrian and bike only areas, or even build a ski resort and carve out ski routes with varying difficulty levels. After you’ve set this up you can walk around your creation as one of the cities residents (one click will return detailed information on each and every resident).

Probably the most interesting aspect of the game is what it will do when connected to the Internet. Monte Cristo not only promise to offer constant updates in the form of new buildings or micro management responsibilities (for example, you can purchase the ski resort pack described above) but also offer a full MMO style game world to play in. Thousands of players will build competing cities on an earth-like planet and will have the ability to trade for each other. For example, if your city is located near oil fields you can negotiate with another player who’s city is a burgeoning automobile production centre and trade for, say, lower cost automobiles. Some will question the need to give a city creation sim a multiplayer mode but it sounds like it’s shaping up to be pretty enticing. Be sure to check out the sources below for more information on the multiplayer mode.

Cities XL is extremely ambitious and you could be forgiven for thinking that it may fail for trying to do too much. If you’re anything like me you’ll probably be extremely excited about the game, but then again I am a bit of a nerd. Hopefully it’s extreme micro management won’t turn many people off, but there’s also plenty of SimCity fans out there who may be willing to make the switch.

Preview: Be a Massively Multiplayer Mayor in Cities XL - Wired.
Cities XL Impressions - City Building, Management, and Multiplayer - Gamespot.

Funcom, the incredibly talented people behind The Longest Journey, Dreamfall and (the now freeware MMO) Anarchy Online and one of the best European developer teams around, have finally released their biggest and most ambitious project so far: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. And yes, it’s the latest epic fantasy MMORPG offering that will try to take over your hard-drive, life and bank account. It also is the only game obviously -and officially- based on Howard’s popular, pulp, low-fantasy, high-on-gore, 30s, sword and sorcery works.

But, really, why should you care for another contender to WoW’s throne? Well, for starters, you could be a Conan fan, I suppose. I sort of am… Failing that, you might just care for a less cartoony, more violent and way more adult in its outlook RPG experience. Or perhaps can’t withstand Age of Conan’s absolutely fantastic visuals and impressive production values. See the pic above? Good. Now, imagine moving through it in glorious 3D with sun and weather effects turned on. Not impressed yet? Well, the hefty single-player element and truly innovative action-oriented combat are the last things I’ll try to convince you with; if nothing else, they are a welcome deviation from the standard MMO formula and help make Age of Conan a great game. A great game indeed. Despite its obviously unfinished state and not so modest hardware requirements.

It’s been four years in the making but finally the first MMORPG for mature (as in truly junevile and properly immature) audiences has gone gold. Quite appropriately the Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures pre-orders have already began too, as co-publishers Eidos and Funcom announced that the vaguely barbaric game will be very soon hitting stores worldwide. Oh, and did I say barbaric? Sorry for that. What I meant was to use the publishers’ official description of the game as the most savage, sexy and brutal MMO ever created, which does admittedly border on barbaric but subtly differs.Then again, who cares about such things, eh?

Nobody, that’s who. All that matters is that Conan is everyone’s favorite, fantasy, 80s, mass-slaughterer and it’s been ages since the last time we visited a digital version of Hyboria. That and the succesful beta, a couple hundred thousand or so preorders and a few rather prestigious awards, that -if nothing else- sort of guarantee the game’s quality.

Now, as to what to expect from the game, besides some fantastic graphics, the well documented setting and the huge world every MMO seems to be promising, I’d say its key features would be a crafting system that should allow players to go berserk and even create a city, an advanced melee focused combat system, many PvP options bordering on RvR and a deep character customization/creation system. Oh, and a chance to properly role-play a Herald of Xotli. Joy!

I guess you could start by taking a bath and buying a new chainmail bikini, but I’m afraid Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will need much more than that. It will need patience (yes, more), fast preordering skills (to secure the beautiful collector’s edition pictured above), a desire to pay monthly fees, above average hand-eye coordination, a working mouse, a decent PC and a combination of MMORPG and Warhammer skills. Then, having covered the basics and in order to make sure you stand a chance of rising as one of the greatest heroes of the digital online version of the Old World, you’d better follow a few simple preparatory steps. These simple steps actually:

a) Make sure your love of Warhammer is as deep as ever. Better yet, make sure you remember how good Warhammer video games can be, preferably by playing the excellent and highly atmospheric RTS that is Warhammer: Mark of Chaos. Retro offerings like Shadow of the Horned Rat might come in handy too.

b) Start working on your PvP skills making sure you focus on the realm-vs-realm side of things. Warhammer Online’s key strength after all will be the extended RvR options, mechanics and arenas. Sun Tzu’s Art of War would probably be of some help, though flexing your MMO combat muscle is better achieved through playing the brilliant Dark Age of Camelot MMORPG. Mind you, them Dark Age of Camelot developers are the same people that will be responsible for the Age of Reckoning and -not surpisingly- DAoC has the best RvR battles yet.

c) Try to stock-up on free time, as you will quite frankly need it. Getting fired, entering a monastery, finishing any remaining PhDs, Mscs, term papers, etc, or preferably getting some paid vacation time are all acceptable solutions.

d) Catch up on your proper pen & paper Warhammer knowledge. Grab the latest edition (7th) of the rules, flick through the RPG book, browse the multitude of forums available online, tidy your Army Books, paint the odd miniature and re-read those yellowy Black Library novels you’ve been hiding in the basement. There, you’re ready for WAR!

I don’t believe I’ve mentioned it here on ButtonSmasher before, but Lord of the Rings Online is hands-down my favorite MMORPG and I thought you should, well, know. Actually, I’d even go as far as saying it’s the only MMO game of any sort I’ve truly -nay, deeply- enjoyed and a rare game I kept playing for what must have been seven months. Daily, that is, and, unlike World of Warcraft or Guild Wars, LotRO wasn’t something I gave up as a result of boredom. Far from it; giving up LotRO, its impressively written quests, its jaw-dropping world, its amazing storyline and the sense of living in Tolkien’s world was more of a social necessity than anything else.

Problem is, I might just have to give up sleeping once again though, for Turbine has decided to expand the game beyond them regularly released book updates (sporting everything from new quests, areas or play mechanics to in-game houses) by releasing the first full retail expansion of LotRO. It’s name? Why, it’s The Lord of the Rings, Volume II: The Mines of Moria of course.

Mines of Moria, that should be released sometime during the fall of 2008, will greatly expand the game and quite obviously give players a chance at exploring the glorious underground capital city of the Dwarfs, kill a few goblins, say things like Khazad-dûm aloud and probably have tea with the (winged?) Balrog. Other than that, players will also be getting six new books to play through, a level-cap increase to level 60, two new classes (Rune-Keeper and Warden) and those shiny new legendary weapons. Provided they forge them themselves, that is. Far too exciting stuff to miss really…

Mind you, even before the expansion gets released and provided you care for some quality deluxe RPG action, you could still consider giving the LotRO Gold Edition a look too.Oh, and better stick to the role playing servers.