Wizard101

I vividly remember a conversation I had with my then-girlfriend's parents back in 1996 about the potential of this growing "internet" phenomenon. With my limited understanding, I made it sound downright noble, a Library of Congress available at the fingertips of the average Joe or Jane. What I really should have said that it would be a tool for the distribution of pornography, nerd rage, and cute animal pictures.

I have no idea how big the cute animal picture industry is, but there have got to be millions of aspiring photographers daily who prod little baby critters with encouragement sticks in the hopes of eliciting a few "awws" out of strangers. Even when the serious business of MMOs came a-calling, cuteness infested fantasy lands near and far.

Whenever I see something absurdly cute in an MMO, I always smile because I know that somewhere, some uber-elite, way-too-serious player is developing facial tics from being in the same game world as it. So twitch away, as here are 10 of the cutest critters as seen in-game!

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Selling power is a much quieter controversy than it used to be. I've been in gaming long enough to remember when selling anything desirable at all was taboo. At the same time, it's always been OK to sell some things like subscriptions or special boxed editions, proving that MMO gamers and others are brilliant at segmenting their rage. If it's a cool, special box with a neat virtual item inside, it somehow does not fall under the same umbrella as selling powerful, useful items in game. I think it does. But geeks in general are good at justifying poor behavior if they get what they want; just ask the hackers and file-swappers.

Still, it doesn't matter how we feel about selling power because the industry is already moving in the direction of selling power, lots of power. EA recently announced that every title it produces from now on will feature microtransactions. While that doesn't guarantee the sale of powerful items, I can promise that it will include some. This train ain't stopping. Sure, the console community seems a bit late to the party when it comes to the power-selling controversy, but that's likely because of MMOs' always-on multiplayer mode.

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Recently, Massively's Jef Reahard seemed to revisit his inner-child with his Why I Play article on Clone Wars Adventures and a Daily Grind of a similar topic. He summed up perfectly why CWA, a kid-friendly MMO, is a lot of fun for grown-ups too. There are actually many MMOs that are marketed toward a younger audience but are fun and challenging enough to entertain adults. Meanwhile, there are plenty of kids who have no problem holding their own in "grown-up" MMOs.

So what exactly makes an MMO kid-friendly? It might not be as easy to define as we think.

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Winter is always my favorite time of year for family-friendly MMOs. Holiday events tend to be the norm now in most MMOs, but they're tailor-made for games with a younger audience. Winter also seems to usher in lots of new changes and updates as well, so it's time again to revisit some popular titles to play catch up.

Over the past year, we've looked at several new titles and visited veteran MMOs titles to see what's changed. From Club Penguin to Pirate101, we'll look at recent updates and upcoming news in MMO Family's winter roundup!

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The first deal really gets to the heart of the spirit of giving: Every purchase of today's special, the Fa-La-La-La Llama mount, will directly benefit two children's charity organizations. This limited-edition mount is available for both games, but must be purchased separately for each.

I think it's safe to assume that we all love games. If we didn't, I wouldn't be in this crowded, noisy coffee shop writing this and you wouldn't be blowing off some sort of important responsibility reading it. We're all here together, engaged in this somewhat-anonymous internet back-and-forth, because games have touched our lives. It sounds corny, but it's true.

For many of us, games have a deeply personal and specific meaning. We like the games we like not so much for their craftsmanship or content but for the way they engage our minds and spirits. Games create incredible, irreplaceable moments infused with emotional resonance, and it's only natural we would feel some sort of personal connection when a piece of digital entertainment syncs just right.

It is precisely this personal connection that leads many of us to act like total morons.

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Last month, KingsIsle Entertainment shared the news about an upcoming land in Wizard101 populated by intelligent dinosaurs and littered with ancient temples. Today, that lost world of Azteca has been found, and is now on the live server for players to enjoy.

Besides dinosaurs, this content update includes new mounts, gear, pets, another crafting tier complete with new recipes, a higher level cap (90), and many new spells. Adventurers can also explore 13 new zones. To learn more about the update, check out Massively's Interview with Producer Leah Ruben. Don't forget about the patch notes!

[Source: KingsIsle press release]

KingsIsle Entertainment wants you to know about Grub Guardian, its latest product that is both inspired by and accessory to Wizard101. Grub Guardian is a stand-alone guardian defense game for iOS devices and PC or Android web browsers.

Players can log in using their existing Wizard101 accounts and "advance the skills and experience of their in-game pets," according to a KingsIsle press release. The company boasts of more than 30 million registered users across its free-to-play family-friendly MMOs, and it says that satellite games like Grub Guardian "represent a new frontier for game design in which standalone mobile game connect seamlessly with larger online worlds like Wizard101."

[Source: KingsIsle press release]

Never accuse us here at Massively of being prejudiced against dinosaurs. We love them. Sure, they're scaly, bitey lizard/bird/demon monstrosities, but they do make great mounts and steaks. Oh, and MMOs. We desperately need more dinos in our MMOs, which is why we applaud Wizard101 for doing so this week.

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While KingsIsle has been heavily focused on Pirate101's recent launch, the studio wanted to send a strong message that it's still fully behind Wizard101 and has a dedicated team working hard to keep improving and expanding the game. In fact, the Wizard101 team is larger now than it was at launch and has a huge announcement to share.

So what's the big exciting news of the day? Producer Leah Ruben was bursting at the seams to tell us in three words: "Dinosaurs are awesome!"

Actually, the big news is that Wizard101 is preparing to release its ninth new world since launch, a dinosaur world named Azteca. Azteca not only will challenge players to progress through 13 areas but is going to raise the level cap. And the biggest surprise of all? It's going on test servers this week for players to try out.

Keep on reading to find out what Azteca is going to do for the landscape of Wizard101!

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Let's face it: It hasn't been a banner year for MMOs. We've witnessed disappointing launches, studio layoffs, and even studio meltdowns. There have been reports questioning whether MMOs are a good investment, and some studios have even signaled that they're shying away from traditional MMO development in the future.

With all of these dark clouds looming overhead, it's sometimes hard to stay cheerful about MMOs. But ironically, the kid-friendly genre might actually buck the trend. KingsIsle's launch of Pirate101 and SOE's recent updates to Clone Wars Adventures and Free Realms might help curb the malaise with a blend of old and new styles of gameplay. In this week's MMO Family we'll look at what's new with these titles and why kids both young and old have reason to celebrate.

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If you're a fan of family-friendly MMO Wizard101 and can't wait to get a taste of KingsIsle's next project, then this is your lucky week because Pirate101 is set to begin its head start on October 8th. While the game doesn't officially hit digital shelves until October 15th, you can hop in and get to pirating beginning on the 8th by picking up specific membership types or snagging a pre-launch game bundle (beta participants are also invited). Additionally, Pirate101 game cards will be available in retail stores as of October 8th.

Pirate101 is in many ways the spiritual successor to Wizard101 and marks an ambitious undertaking by KingsIsle to build another engaging and successful MMO that is also family friendly and safe. We talked to producer Jay Gordon and associate producer Mike Stone to get an idea of the challenges the team faced and what may lie in store for those looking to loot and plunder.

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Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column.

I hate it when MMORPG players completely misrepresent this hobby. I cringe every time I find myself in the middle of a discussion about "MMOs" when most of the people chatting are pulling only from their experience as a World of Warcraft raider and nothing more. There are hundreds -- actually, thousands -- of MMOs in existence. Discussing MMOs without knowing about as many as possible is really talking about specific titles, not a genre. You wouldn't catch a group of "foodies" basing all of their passions on a few items from a handful of menus. The same should apply to MMO discussions if we ever want the genre to be taken more seriously by outsiders.

MMO players love to pigeonhole titles. What are some of the worst descriptions? "Hardcore" is one. What does that even mean? Does it mean a title is hard to play? In what way is it hard? Does it mean that it takes time to play? How much time equals hardcore? "Facebook game" is another term that drives me crazy, and it's often used by many MMO fans to dismiss all sorts of titles. While I know that the term generally refers to FarmVille-style gaming, using the term literally reflects how little the person knows about the variety of games that actually appear on or are connected to Facebook.

The term that drives me the craziest of all is pay-to-win.

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If you've been following the MMO industry for a while, you've probably been watching in near astonishment as Texas-based developer KingsIsle Entertainment grew a little-known MMO called Wizard101 from the level of "just some kids game" all the way to a very successful world for all ages. So when we heard about a new title in the works, we wondered whether it was possible for the KingsIsle team to duplicate its earlier successes. Well, after trying out new kids on the block Pirate101, I can say that it might even dwarf the success of its predecessor.

Why do I say that? Well, there are many reasons. The game is in only a beta stage, but it's aiming for a launch this year. And even though it's still in beta, the current Wizard101 fanbase is going nuts over the game. If that, combined with the unique selling points of the two titles, is any indication, KingsIsle can count Pirate101 as a huge step forward. One that will make a lot of money, I'm sure.

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