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Massively mammillary online: Evony hires model to be the... face of the game

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Events, in-game, Free-to-play, Browser, Humor, Miscellaneous

Quick -- what's missing in your life? No, not your dog; that beast is never coming back and you might as well get used to it. We're talking about Evony's tasteful, classy, and omnipresent chest-centric ads that had absolutely nothing to do with the gameplay itself.

While Evony eventually replaced those ads with ones that showed elements from the actual game, it was only a matter of time before the bosoms of glory returned. To solve the crisis of the irrelevant breasts, the game studio hired a model to portray an in-game character, Eva, in a new series of ads.

According to the press release, Eva was chosen by the game's players to find the right look for the person to represent the game. Eva will be displayed as both a real model and cartoon version. Undoubtedly, this is the high point of civilization as we know it, and everything will go downhill from here.

Massively mammillary online: Evony hires model to be the... face of the game originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Captain's Log: Socializing and the quiet of space in STO

Ryan Greene — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, Opinion, Star Trek Online, Captain's Log

The Star Trek universe caters to a whole lot of different interests. You've got your basic sci-fi fan, who enjoys the shows and movies but doesn't get super into them. You've also got your movie buffs, who perk up for showings of Wrath of Khan or Nemesis (ha!). Futurists marvel at the prophetic nature of old-school Trek tech, and casual fans used to flip on the boob tube to scope out Seven of Nine's ram scoops.

And of course, Star Trek has its die-hard fans, the Trekkers. (What's wrong with calling them "Trekkies," again?) I noticed a handful at New York Comic Con, traipsing about in their uniforms, snapping group pictures, scanning the Anime Festival next door for signs of intelligent life. And that got me to thinking about socializing in Star Trek Online. Why is it often so lonely in space?

Continue reading Captain's Log: Socializing and the quiet of space in STO

Captain's Log: Socializing and the quiet of space in STO originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anti-Aliased: Boobs and you

Seraphina Brennan — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, Opinion, Anti-Aliased

Well Happy Turkey Day everyone! It's Thanksgiving Thursday, but it's also that time of the week again -- the time where Sera gets to rant in her opinion column to her heart's content. Yes, that's right, it's time for Anti-Aliased.

This week's topic is one that's near and dear to my heart. Well, it's near to my heart, at least, and I mean that quite literally. It's also a perfect topic for today's holiday! I mean, who doesn't like to talk about large breasts on Thanksgiving? (Score one for the terrible synonym.)

During last week's column on Blade & Soul, the main topic that came up time and time again in the comments wasn't the game's combat, or the game's engine, or anything really related to the game at large. No, it seems that many of you were turned off of the game by the fact that the screenshot I used had a woman with huge boobs. That was the deal breaker for the game.

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Anti-Aliased: Boobs and you originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively multiplayer online... boobs?

Seraphina Brennan — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Business models, Culture, MMO industry, News items

Did you know that MMOs and breasts have a long history with one another? It's true, you know. From the time MMOs came onto the scene, so too did scantily clad women with huge hooters. Also, yes, this is indeed one of "those" articles. The article where we talk about breasts seriously, I mean.

Sanya Weathers, no stranger to the MMO industry (or breasts, for that matter) just recently took a pretty funny tour of how breasts work into advertising, whether we like it or not. From box art to marketing departments, she looks at some of the good, the bad, and the downright horrible when it comes to putting hot women on boxes to sell games.

If you're up for a laugh, go check out her article over at MMORPG.com. It's funny, it's insightful, it's historical, and it's full of what men want most -- awesome games. (Get your head out of the gutter if you thought that last line was going to be another boob joke.)

Massively multiplayer online... boobs? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Inner World launches a new magazine for Second Life

Tateru Nino — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds

The creators of the new Inner World magazine have let us know that they've got their inaugural edition out, and it's 92 pages of pretty, served up by Issuu. The Inner World magazine appears to be the brainchild of Jussara Correa, of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Available in Portuguese or (slightly uncertainly-formed) English, the magazine has a lot going for it with a panoply of advertising-supported Art, places and stories from Second Life. There's a smattering of mature content (that's 'boobies' for those of you who probably shouldn't be taking a look), so take care about when and where you choose to idly flip through the mag.

The Issuu viewer that it runs on top of requires flash and javascript and is happiest under Windows (other platforms may have a less than ideal viewing experience with the layout), but nevertheless seems to be an attractive alternative to PDF-formatted online magazines and tabloids. It's colorful, pretty and doesn't represent a lot of heavy reading.

Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Inner World launches a new magazine for Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Best of Massively: Our top 5 weirdest news stories

Samuel Axon — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Galleries, Age of Conan, EVE Online, Culture, Sword of the New World

We're still counting down to Massively's first birthday by compiling the best and most entertaining coverage we've done. So far we've listed our most important interviews and our most helpful guides. This time around, we're looking back at the top five strangest, weirdest and sometimes-raciest news stories we've covered since we launched last November.

Whether you missed these stories or you're just ready for a refresher, we hope they'll make you smile and laugh -- or at least make you raise an eyebrow or two!

Click to start >>

Gallery: The Best of Massively: Our top 5 weirdest news stories

The Best of Massively: Our top 5 weirdest news stories originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Funcom apologizes for involuntary breast reductions

Chris Chester — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Bugs, Forums

We'll have to be completely honest with you; ever since Jorgen Tharaldsen's famous proclamation,"You'll see titties," the topic of Age of Conan and its famously epic mammaries is one that comes up rather frequently around the Massively offices. What can we say, we're admirers of the female form... also, we like boob jokes. In any case, we were rather distressed to hear of some Age of Conan players complaining that their in-game counterparts were lacking a certain lactoid luster.

It might seem like a frivolous complaint, but from the images provided by a forum user named Gust, it's become evident that the change in chesticle size is actually significant. And Funcom is taking the complaint seriously, saying in part, "Funcom can confirm that some of the female models in the game have had the size of their breasts changed. This is due to an unintended change in data that was introduced in an earlier patch, data which controls the so-called morph values associated with character models and the size of their respective body parts. We are working on a fix for this and your breasts should be back to normal soon." It's sporting of them admit their mistake, and hopefully they'll have it fixed as quickly as many of the other bugs they've had since launch.

[Via Kotaku]

Funcom apologizes for involuntary breast reductions originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TurpsterVision: I am a real Barbarian

Mark Turpin — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Video, Age of Conan, Launches, Reviews, Opinion, Hands-on, Humor, TurpsterVision

Every Tuesday think "T" for Turpster and take the "a" in "day", capitalise it, remove the little bit in the middle, turn it upside down and you get a "V". Put the two together and you'll have TV for TurpsterVision -- the best Internet video podcast on Massively! (Never mind that business about it being the only video podcast on Massively...)

It is a well known fact that Turpamania is running wild, but before Turpamania there was Hulkamania; arguably not as widespread and with as many Turpamaniacs, but our lesson has to begin somewhere. You see, Age of Conan was released today, and with that it conjures up images of the greatest barbarian of all time, Hulk Hogan - don't pretend like you don't remember all the words to his song, "I am a real Barbarian".

Anyway, I digress: AoC has been billed as one of the four horsemen to herald the end of Blizzard's evil tyranny over the MMO market, but can any game, or any group of games, really topple the giant that is World of Warcraft? No, of course not, but that doesn't mean that they aren't great fun!

Continue reading TurpsterVision: I am a real Barbarian

TurpsterVision: I am a real Barbarian originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 20 May 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ladies and gentlemen: Flexiboobs

Akela Talamasca — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Real life, Video, Business models, Crafting, Making money, News items, Opinion, Second Life, Free-to-play, Virtual worlds

If you were around in Second Life when flexiprims were introduced, you knew, as I did, that it was only a matter of time before this happened: flexiboobs have arrived.

Raven Ivanova sells these avatar attachments at her store Smashing Prims, where apparently they're quite popular -- to the tune of about $2,000 after only 2 months on the market. Residents can buy the breasts as separate attachments, or as adjuncts to dresses that Ivanova also sells at her store. For the full story, and a video of the flexiboobs in action, check out Hamlet Au's New World Notes.

I'm going to have to stop predicting the future. Or failing that, predict something useful to me.

Ladies and gentlemen: Flexiboobs originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Behind the 'Cheetah 2' performance increase in Age of Conan

Michael Zenke — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Age of Conan, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, Patches, Previews, Opinion, Player Housing, Massively Interviews, Massively Event Coverage

While there weren't many MMO companies at CES, you could find a few doing their thing at the edges of the show. Sony Online Entertainment was certainly there, and we came away with a few choice tidbits from their games. Age of Conan was a big presence at the Games for Windows area of Microsoft's booth, and Dan O' Halloran has been reporting on what they had to offer.

I stood and chatted with Conan designer Jason Stone for a specific purpose: to get to the bottom of the newly announced 'Cheetah 2' package of upgrades. Essentially a large number of engine tweaks that are all coming together at the same time, Funcom chose CES as the perfect time to unveil their nerdy workings.

"Yesterday in our Cheetah 2 build we were able to fly over this valley with 800+ NPCs loaded, every NPC in the zone loaded, and I never dropped below about 25 frames per second. Without loading all those NPCs, I was going over 64/84 frames per second. Now, the Cheetah build we brought to show, a lot of people have been asking "Can I run the game on my computer?" and "What's it going to look like on DX9?". We've made sure we focused on what we brought here as far as Cheetah 2, is all DX9/Windows XP. We're talking about 1920 by 1200, and getting upwards of 30 to 60 frames per second - very solid Windows XP graphics. Massive, massive increase in performance, and we're really proud to be able to show that to people. We want people to know we're not going for a repeat of our Anarchy Online launch."

Read on for more on their effort to bring the shiny to the players, what it's like to work on a game non-stop for three years straight, and a view on the 'boobs and blood' debate from his side of the screen. And if you're still not all that familiar with the game, go back and read Akela's great chat with Jørgen Tharaldsen from last year.

Gallery: Age of Conan CES 2008 Gallery

Continue reading Behind the 'Cheetah 2' performance increase in Age of Conan

Behind the 'Cheetah 2' performance increase in Age of Conan originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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