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The Game Archaeologist's excellent EverQuest Online Adventures: The memories

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Interviews, Everquest Online Adventures, Consoles, The Game Archaeologist

It's been a good month looking back at EverQuest Online Adventures, wouldn't you agree? Educational, almost. While this title is just about as far from the mainstream MMO eye as can be these days, it's heartening to know it's still out there, still running, and still capable of evoking fond memories from current and former players.

While we did attempt to contact SOE for an interview to see if we could find out anything new -- or even old -- about EQOA, it failed to materialize. As a wonderful consolation prize, however, this week we'll hear from three players who have extensive experience in the game. So let's hit this column running and equip our +2 Ears of Paying Attention!

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The Game Archaeologist's excellent EverQuest Online Adventures: The memories originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Game Archaeologist goes PlanetSide: Your journeys

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, PlanetSide, Culture, Interviews, MMOFPS, The Game Archaeologist

While war itself is a hellish, nasty activity that we'd be better off without, there's always been something compelling about playing war as both kids and adults. When you strip war of death and suffering, the play version can become downright compelling as we get engrossed in tales of heroics, deep strategies, risky gambits, and clear-cut victories. It's why we invest so much time in simulating war throughout our lives -- in snowball fights, toy soldiers, laser tag, and MMOs.

For the soldiers of PlanetSide, the war has been raging for over eight years now with no end in sight, and that's just fine with everyone involved. The game was designed to be a perpetual struggle between military forces -- not due to politics or prejudice but simply for the love of the fight.

In the year or so I've been writing this column, I've never seen so many people come forward when asked to share their experiences with an MMO as have done for PlanetSide. There's definitely something compelling and unique about this MMOFPS that's become a dear part of many gamers' memories, and I'm pleased to be sharing those stories with you today. Hit the jump for the glory, trooper!

Continue reading The Game Archaeologist goes PlanetSide: Your journeys

The Game Archaeologist goes PlanetSide: Your journeys originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Game Archaeologist and the Girdle of Anarchy: The history

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Anarchy Online, Free-to-play, The Game Archaeologist

"The future in your hands," Funcom promised gamers in the early days of the new decade. As the MMORPG genre slowly took shape and grew in popularity, game studios were still babes in the woods, feeling out this brave and complex new world without a standard handbook to guide them to success. EverQuest focused on large group content and raids, Dark Age of Camelot featured Realm vs. Realm conflict, and RuneScape brought the MMO to the browser. Everyone desperately hoped he had the next big hook that would reel in gamers by the thousands, especially Norwegian developer Funcom, which made headlines in 1999 with its highly acclaimed adventure The Longest Journey.

Funcom took one look at the small but expanding MMO market, got together in a group huddle, and said, "You know what guys? This fantasy thing, it's everywhere. Let's do something different. Let's drill for sci-fi gold. And let's throw in robots, cuddly rodents, randomly generated missions and a bitter rivalry between factions. Geronimo!"* (*Quote fabricated by author.)

And thus, almost a decade ago, Anarchy Online hit the industry like a sack of broken features. It wasn't the stellar debut Funcom desired, but the game endured and went on to carve itself out a workable plot of land. This month, The Game Archaeologist trades in his rugged leather attire for space armor and a high-powered laser rifle. The year is 29475, and the place is Babylon 5. Er, Rubi-Ka.

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The Game Archaeologist and the Girdle of Anarchy: The history originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Age of Conan composer nominated for Best Original Score

James Egan — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, MMO industry, News items

Funcom's most recent title Age of Conan tends to come under some fire from the gamers who jumped in upon launch. You may have noticed. While players can fault some aspects of the game, it does have some strengths, namely its fantastic score. In fact, the music of AoC has caught the attention of the Hollywood Music Awards.

Knut Avenstroup Haugen, who composed the soundtrack for Age of Conan, has been nominated for Best Original Score in a Video Game, specifically for his "Ere the World Crumbles" from the fantasy title. We also turned up an interview with Haugen about the challenges of scoring Age of Conan, and of composing interactive music in general.

Having fun in Conan's homeland? Make sure to check out all of our previous Age of Conan coverage, and stick with Massively for more news from the Hyborian Age!

Age of Conan composer nominated for Best Original Score originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Age of Conan composer speaks about Hyborian soundtrack

Chris Chester — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Game mechanics, Interviews

One interesting side effect of having a developer like Funcom being based out of Norway is that we are introduced to a whole cavalcade of interesting Scandinavian names. Case in point: they recently posted an interview on their official site with Knut Haugen, the game's composer, to celebrate the release of the Age of Conan official soundtrack on the iTunes store. The soundtrack itself is suitably epic, and you get a robust 25 tracks for the respectable price of $9.99. Plus, you get to own an album by a guy named Knut! Quite a deal.

As for the interview itself, Haugen talks about how he got into composing originally and how he came to be acquainted with the Age of Conan team. He also talks about the intricacies of balancing Age of Conan's ancient, almost primeval ambiance with a desire to convey complex emotions for a situational score. It's an interview that's definitely worth reading, as it effectively relates an aspect of game development that we often hear too little about.

Age of Conan composer speaks about Hyborian soundtrack originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Average Conanite will reach level 80 in 250 hours

Samuel Axon — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Game mechanics, Launches, New titles, News items, PvE

Age of Conan game director Gaute Godager said at the launch event in Norway that reaching level 80 will take "on average 250 hours of gameplay," according to videogamer.com.

The first few levels will come lightning fast, but the bulk of them up to 60 will be comprised of between two and three hours of gameplay. After that, it will get a bit slower, thanks to some input from beta testers. By our math, that leaves five hours per level including and after 60, but who knows how that will be distributed.

Whether this ends up being faster than competing games like World of Warcraft and The Lord of the Rings Online by the end probably depends on your play-style. He said "on average," so does that mean the hardcore achievers will reach the top in 90 hours and the casuals will mosey on up there within 500 hours? There's been a lot of chit chat and speculation in the Massively office about this news. We suppose we'll get a good sense of it by midway through the summer.

Average Conanite will reach level 80 in 250 hours originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 13 May 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Age of Conan's launch party slated for the 13th

Michael Zenke — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Culture, Events, real-world, Launches

The official Age of Conan website is carrying the news that a huge launch party is planned for the soon-to-be-released MMO. May 13th is the date, and the location is beautiful Oslo, Norway. It's slated to be held at the Nobel Peace center, Latter Aker Brygge. Most of the seats are reserved for game journalists as part of a several day launch event, but some lucky Oslo AoC fans will be able to make it in too.

We got a look at the press invite, and it sounds like a swinging time. The journalists who are there for the long haul get the full monty, including:

Huge in-game events, including large-scale raiding, social aspects, the dancing game, Spellweaving and Conan's role in the game. All of these features will be demonstrated in a full-scale movie theater.
Fjord Boat Ride - A "scenic tour of one of Norway's most beautiful geographical phenomenon".
Live Soundtrack Concert - The orchestra that recorded the game soundtrack will be on-hand for a live performance.
In the evening a festival is planned in the area of Holemkollen. It sounds like plans have changed a bit from the original, which had this fest taking place in an ancient fortress. From the original invite we looked at: "Norwegian death punk band, Turbonegro, will be on hand for a private concert in the fortress courtyard. Conan himself will be on-hand, offering his army of slave girls to meet the needs of every guest."

Somehow the Nobel Peace Center and an "attack on a wizard's tower" sounds a bit tamer.

Age of Conan's launch party slated for the 13th originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 07 May 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Player posts an abundance of AoC videos from Norway press event

William Dobson — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 07:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Age of Conan, Events, real-world, Interviews, New titles

A lucky player by the name of Avery, from Age of Conan guild The Acolytes, won a trip to attend Funcom's press event in Norway and has uploaded a huge amount of footage. There are videos on questing, raiding, mounts, music and more from AoC. Heck, there's even a video of the real-life mounted fighting that was performed for the event attendees in the parking lot outside. A few of these videos are embedded after the break, and this post at The Acolytes forums has a list of all of them, and includes a write-up of Avery's opinion on the crafting system at the current time. Keep in mind these videos are on Stage6 and require a Divx plugin.

[Thanks, Griz]

Continue reading Player posts an abundance of AoC videos from Norway press event

Player posts an abundance of AoC videos from Norway press event originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Age of Conan Product Developer interview, with gameplay video

Akela Talamasca — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, Interviews, Lore, Previews, Hands-on, Massively Interviews, Massively Hands-on

On December 5th, I was invited to the Eidos/Funcom Age of Conan press event, where I was privileged enough to be granted access to both the game itself and the development team. I was able to play the opening area, leading into the first town. I sussed out the combat and the conversation interface. I spoke with Jørgen Tharaldsen, the Product Developer, and he let drop a metric ton of knowledge upon my fevered noggin. I reprint here our conversation, interspersed with my handheld-shot video pieces, the first of which is shown above, which is where the game starts, with you as a survivor of a shipwrecked slaver ship. I'd like to thank Jørgen and the entire Eidos/Funcom team, all of whom I found to be gracious, witty, and enthusiastic about their game, which is refreshing to see. My take? The game looks incredible, and it's extremely immersive from the get-go. They say they're on schedule for an early 2008 release, so this is something to anticipate indeed.

More videos and the interview after the jump!

Continue reading Age of Conan Product Developer interview, with gameplay video

Age of Conan Product Developer interview, with gameplay video originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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