Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Make a billboard for City of Heroes, win fantastic prizes]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/29/make-a-billboard-for-city-of-heroes-win-fantastic-prizes/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/29/make-a-billboard-for-city-of-heroes-win-fantastic-prizes/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/29/make-a-billboard-for-city-of-heroes-win-fantastic-prizes/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Whatever part of City of Heroes you traverse, there is a constant -- the billboards. From Praetoria's official billboards extolling the virtues of working for the state to the civil and capitalistic advertisements dotting Paragon City, no part of the game is free of advertising, albeit for fictional products or services. And the newest contest for the game is asking players to help add to that storied tradition of fake advertisements via the creation of your own billboard, advertising a new service or product within the game's setting.

The contest is open for entries until Monday, January 24th, allowing players ample time to design and send off their best possible advertisements for the game's setting. Obviously, the contest comes with the usual restrictions that disallow players from making offensive, copyrighted, or libelous advertisements, but other than that the sky is the limit. And the prizes? Nothing less than every single add-on for the game, including exclusive convention costumes, for the first-prize winner. Read the full rules and restrictions here, and if you want to make a mark on City of Heroes, get ready to start selling.

MassivelyMake a billboard for City of Heroes, win fantastic prizes originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MassivelyBuilding MMO landscape scenes, part 2 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Landscapes have been a staple component of almost every MMO in recent memory. With the exception of some sci-fi titles, most MMOs take place on the land of some imagined island or continent. Some use stylised fantasy landscapes that run smoothly on even low-end computers while others have managed almost photo-realistic visuals at the cost of performance. But have you ever thought about what's going on behind the scenes in your favourite MMO? Most of us don't think about how the computer is actually drawing the terrain we run around on. We don't give much thought to the different ways each MMO renders the water in lakes, rivers and oceans. And just how does your computer render so many trees and plants without grinding to a halt? As part of my masters degree in computer science, I got to grips with a number of these techniques and found it a fascinating thing to learn about. Now when I play a new game or see MMO screenshots, I can't help but think about what the computer is doing in the background and how particular visual effects could have been achieved.

In this technical article, I talk about some of the components of an MMO landscape scene and a few of the techniques used in creating the graphics behind them.

Continue reading Building MMO landscape scenes

MassivelyBuilding MMO landscape scenes originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In-game advertising is a touchy subject to most players, but it's becoming an inevitable reality. With the increasingly-high costs of game production, developers need to seek other means of revenue besides the trusty subscription fee from players. This is where the in-game ads come in. It's a way for game companies to harmlessly offset production cost inflation.

Wait, did we say harmlessly?

The truth of the matter is, the majority of players are skeptical on the effectiveness and necessity of in-game ads. They're distracting and need to be tailored for a specific target-market in order to be even halfway believable. For instance, you can't have a Coke ad in World of Warcraft. Actually, any billboard ad would just not work in a fantasy setting. So for this reason, are we going to see an influx (even more) of sci-fi MMOs created for the sole purpose of including in-game advertising?

MassivelyThe eve of in-game advertising originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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