One Shots: Worlds within worlds

When it comes to winter holidays, I'm always disappointed that they come so darn early in the season. We could really use all that cheer, celebrating, and lighting come, say, February after we've been wallowing in the cold and dark for months. No matter; what's done is done, and we have a giant snow globe as proof.

Reader Trevor sent in the following picture from Guild Wars 2's Wintersday, as he took a photo of a world within the larger world and wrote, "Happened upon this giant snow globe amongst the flurry of gifts, giant flying colorful snowflakes, and Wintersday cheer. If you listen closely, you can hear my computer screaming in pain."

Oh, we'll make more than your computer scream in pain before this column is done!

New expansions bring new vistas, and reader Petter is quite enthralled with this particular area in RIFT: Storm Legion.

"Tempest Bay is the new hub for both Guardians and Defiants in Storm Legion," he wrote, "and it's absolutely breathtaking. I am not sure how many of these screenshots I've taken by now; whenever I stop and look up, I have to take one. Trion's really outdone itself."

As a player of the game, I have to concur; that town is truly magnificent.

Phinneas said goodbye to one of his favorite games lately, taking a picture to preserve the moment. "Here is a snap from my last day in Glitch," he said. "As I write this, I'm counting down the hours until the servers shut off. There's really not much more to be said about that..."

Hope time has started to heal that wound, man. The gaming world is definitely poorer without Glitch in it.

PlanetSide 2 isn't just about groundpounders running to and fro; it's about plenty of death-dealing vehicles as well. Siphaed took this memorable picture at dusk or dawn of a facility swarming with high-tech helicopters.

"Here's a night raid on Skydock in PlanetSide 2's beta," he shared. "It's a very hard-to-attack location when they have AA guns defending it, as air landing is the only way to get there (hence the name)."

That's it for this week! Thanks for all the submissions, as always. Next week's photo challenge is to send in a picture of your greatest accomplishment from 2012. Peace!

Want to be featured in a future edition of One Shots? Send your favorite MMO screenshots to oneshots@massively.com, and don't forget to include your name, the name of the game, and a description of the scene. Large, colorful, UI-free shots that tell a story and really show off the game make for the best images. Look ma, we brought back One Shots!