Sports

Pirates are cropping up everywhere, even on golf courses. Players of the free-to-play golfing game Pangya Tomahawk have the opportunity to win rare in-game rewards like a pirate costume by participating in a special crossover event called Treasure Hunt. For a limited time, players can take part in this online board game that could net prizes such as rare costumes, premium golf clubs, and in-game currency.

Joan Kim, Pangya producer, stated that SG Interactive wanted to treat players to something a little different. The result? A board game powered by the golfing gameplay in Pangya. Players can earn chances for Treasure Hunt dice just by playing either nine or 18 rounds of golf on any of the game's courses, then use the dice rolls to move the caddy around the online game board. Every space on the board has a chance at winning in-game rewards, but there is also a chance of losing progress if defeated in the mini-games lurking on some spaces.

SG Interactive is celebrating the third anniversary of popular golf MMO Pangya United today with giveaways galore, including daily prizes, a scavenger hunt, a golf tournament, store discounts, and double XP bonus weekends.

Players who do nothing more than log in to the game from now until April 25th will receive daily chances to win special gear and outfits that are exclusive to this third anniversary. The double XP weekends will take place from April 14th to 15th and from April 21st to 22nd from 11 a.m. EDT until 5 p.m. EDT each day.

In addition, we've been given a few item codes of our own for 25 interested readers. These codes will unlock a special golf ball in game called the Comet. We have redemption instructions and 10 codes included after the cut, but we'll be giving out the other 15 throughout the rest of the week on our Twitter and Facebook pages, so stay tuned!

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The incredibly popular football (read: soccer) video game franchise Championship Manager is about ready to take the jump into MMO-space -- and Square Enix will be there to hold its hand all the way.

The studio announced today that it will be publishing Championship Manager: World of Football, a free-to-play browser-based title for sports fanatics. Developed by Beautiful Game Studios and Shanda Games, Championship Manager will initially launch in China with a possible international release later down the road. A beta for the title is to be announced shortly.

This is a further indication of the shape of the partnership between Square Enix and Shanda Games, which we reported on last year. The Championship Manager franchise dates back to 1992, with recent versions created by Beautiful Game Studios.

Thus far, Community Detective has stayed on the straight and narrow course of fantasy MMORPGs during its brief existence. Sure, I've taken the occasional detour into sci-fi, superhero, and quasi-historical territory, but the majority of the column's first 23 issues were -- like the genre itself -- largely concerned with sorcerers, scantily-clad he-men, and sword-related violence.

This week I'd like to break out of that mold for a bit and examine a title based in the real world (or more accurately, Electronic Arts' approximation of the real world). To borrow a quote from dear old '80s cinema: I feel the need, the Need for Speed World.

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Another day, another creatively defined user record shattered. This time around, Need for Speed World does the honors by surpassing five million registered users. The free-to-play racing MMO from Electronic Arts most recently made metrics-related headlines last December when it topped three million registered users.

Gamasutra has the details on the latest milestone and also notes that NFSW is offering motorsport fans a chance to check out virtual versions of actual automobiles from Audi, including the new A1 ClubSport Quattro that was unveiled yesterday.

Need for Speed World is the 15th iteration of EA's venerable racing franchise and the first to feature MMORPG stylings. You can read all about it and download the free client at the game's official web destination.

Free-to-play publisher gamigo has added a sports title to its MMO roster in the form of Golfstar, a new title that officially teed off earlier today. Golfstar features five game modes (stroke, match, skins, tournament, and team tournament) and allows for up to 30 players to compete simultaneously on a single course.

The game also features a progression element in the form of outfit and accessory collecting, and your virtual golfer can procure clubs, clothing, and a variety of "practical accessories that will make playing easier" according to a gamigo press release. Head to the official Golfstar website for further details, and check out the gameplay video we've got for you after the cut.

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Despite the scorn that sports MMOs receive in some quarters, there are a few of them out there. One of those rare beasts is 2 Out Rally, a free-to-play baseball sim that gives players the opportunity to micro-manage a team of major leaguers as both a top-ranked talent scout and a team owner. Gameplay involves creating, training, and developing ballplayers, as well as negotiating with other 2 Out Rally gamers to fill out your roster.

2 Out Rally's fourth season begins Friday, February 18th, and brings with it an increase in team ownership opportunities as well as higher levels of challenge. Season four will continue with a tradition established in season three by allowing players to write for The Scoop, the league's fictional newspaper that adds a layer of immersion and atmosphere to the game.

You can learn more about the game, and start planning your pursuit of the pennant, at the 2 Out Rally website.

MMO racers are an interesting breed, seemingly rarer than a '68 GT40. Whether it's due to EA's relatively under-the-radar Need For Speed World or the gone-but-not-forgotten Motor City Online, car enthusiasts with a shared passion for MMOs have endured slim pickings in recent years. Happily, Atari and Eden Games are looking to change all that with this week's release of Test Drive Unlimited 2, an ambitious new racing title for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 platforms.

TDU2 lives up to its MMO billing (and its "beyond racing" tagline) by delivering a non-linear experience that is as much about collecting and progression as it is about driving. Also in the mix are a variety of social options such as avatar, housing, and furniture customization as well as the requisite car tuning and parts tweaking minigames. TDU2 also aims to out-MMO many current MMOs by delivering large playfields and emphasizing shared social spaces (including gambling hubs, player-run clubs, and cooperative races).

TDU2 can be played sans a sub fee after you purchase the digital download or retail box, and Atari plans to offer DLC in the form of car, clothing, and furniture packs to monetize the game over time. Check out our exclusive in-game gallery below and head to the game's official website for more info.

Bloodline Champions is an exciting arena-based PvP game brought to us by Stunlock Studios -- pretty darned impressive stuff for such new developers, if we do say so ourselves! We took a quick look at it a while back, if you want to catch up first. While our abilities were nowhere near up-to-snuff, it was still obvious that many players were already enjoying the heck out of the game. In fact, if you look at the game's Facebook page, it's obvious that many gamers are enjoying it.

But we wanted to know more, so we fired off some questions to the team. Luckily, they decided to answer our questions before hacking us to pieces. Read on!

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FreeJack is a new MMORPG brought to us by Gamerkraft. It's based on parkour, a sport that pits human against pavement -- a ballet performed upon rooftops and railways. Well, that's the theory, at least. In reality, parkour is sometimes very cumbersome to watch. If you are ever fortunate enough to catch a televised parkour competition, you'll see that there is almost no fluidity involved at all. Instead, players perform flips and spins on a perfectly laid-out track. It feels clunky, especially when the runner pauses to set up a killer move.

FreeJack, I had hoped, would give back some of that fluid movement to the sport. After all, a fall in a video game does not end your life -- greater risks can be taken. When we picture parkour in our heads, we see superhero-like movements, leaping between buildings, or balancing on wires. In most ways, FreeJack delivers this experience. It also features some really cool graphics, fantastic customization and great social systems.

But in the middle of all that fun, the game can just stop you and make you feel more human than ever.

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It's not every day that you're invited to make an anthropomorphized vehicle that you're expected to both race and comfort its feelings. Leave it to Disney Pixar, then, to make the first move in that department, which is why they've launched World of Cars for the hot-rodding set.

Based on the 2006 hit animated film, World of Cars invites drivers of all ages to create their own personable car and go head-to-head with friends and strangers. There are even cameos from the movie, as Cheech Marin and Jennifer Lewis return to reprise their roles in the game. Players can explore the open world, upgrade their cars, and enter races for fame and money as they like.

Right now, World of Cars is free-to-play with optional microtransactions and subscriptions, and features a full set of parental controls so your mommy or daddy can tell you when you need to stop playing and go into work. Or school. It's okay, we won't tell anyone you're actually having fun with cartoon cars if you won't tell on us too.

When it comes to adrenaline junkies, there's no challenge that seems too crazy -- especially when it's in a video game and you won't really suffer any broken bones from those insane stunts! Today's One Shots contributor, Jeroen V., is not content to simply zoom around in Need For Speed World at high rates of speed, racing against other players. Instead, he's dreamed up a crazy driving stunt he wants to pull off... somehow. He writes in:

"I was just cruising the streets of whatever they called this town when I came across a roller coaster. Who doesnt want to race his car down a roller coaster track? I'm still searching for a way in!"

There are tons of interesting sights out there in the MMOGverse, but we need you to help make One Shots happen. If you'd like to contribute, grab a screenshot of something interesting from your favorite game for us! Then all you have to do is email it to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. We'll post it out here for everyone to enjoy and give you the credit.

Bloodline Champions, a new arena-based combat game from Stunlock Studios, asks only one thing of the player: to kill. Unfortunately for me, I am better at balancing bicycles on my nose than I am at pwning noobs, so I was a little hesitant in trying the game. I decided to puff out my chest and hit the download button. What I found was about what I expected, but made with care. The game is "tailored for esport," meaning that it is made to allow players to repeatedly knock the crud out of each other while racking up kills and stats. If you ever ran the World of Warcraft arena over and over in the hopes of filling out your wardrobe with "welfare epics," then you have experienced a game much like Bloodline.

There are several "bloodlines" to pick from, each with its own set of unique abilities, spells and looks. Many of the bloodlines compliment each other, and forming an efficient team of killers requires communication and dedication. During my stint within the arena, I found myself (and my team) being murdered over and over again by much more tightly knit gangs of players. After a match or two, the pattern and strategy of the members of the opposing team quickly became apparent: they actually talked to each other and discussed tactics. What a strange concept to me. I tend to come to fights somewhat randomly.

Well -- very randomly.

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