Video games are more popular than ever, but the needs and desires of gamers are quickly becoming less focused. You have casual gamers that are only interested in simple games like Diner Dash and Jewel Quest, but you also have people that love nothing more than to get fully ensconced in a virtual MMORPG world, competing and evolving alongside the online avatars of their real world friends.
Setup at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, I had the chance to meet up with the folks at Sony Online Entertainment and they had a handful of games that they were looking to highlight at this year’s CES. These games are all approaching different markets and genres, ranging from child-friendly virtual living to swashbuckling in the 18th century. Let’s have a look!
Free Realms
What do you get when you take elements from a whole bunch of different games and throw them into a whimsical virtual world styled much like Shrek? Free Realms is the answer to a question that no one asked, but Sony Online Entertainment hopes that it will be a big hit with pre-teens, because this title is free to play. Yes, that’s right parents, you can “hook up” your kids with a new game and it won’t cost you a penny. At least, it won’t cost you anything at first.
The game is comprised of four core areas:
1. Tasks and Home Development: You could say that this aspect is akin to the things that you do in Animal Crossing. You lead a virtual existence, earning money by running errands for your neighbors, and then you spend those funds on various upgrades for your house. You can buy furniture, grow a garden, and so on.
2. Pet Raising: If your human friends aren’t satisfying your needs for companionship, the game gives you an opportunity to raise a virtual pet, much you do in Nintendogs. You can choose from a variety of animals and then you interact with them by patting them on the head and such.
3. Combat: Unlike some other more adult-oriented MMORPGs, you will not be ambushed in Free Realms. All combat scenarios are on an opt-in basis, so before you partake in a battle, you have to consent to it.
4. Minigames: The casual game market is exploding and SOE wants a piece of the pie. They’ve integrated a series of minigames similar to Diner Dash, and you get rewarded with points that can spent to customize your character. There is also an online highscore leaderboard.
There will be two versions of Free Realms available. The first is free and will be ad-supported. The other is subscription-based, free of ads, and comes with some extra content. There is also a small economy inside the game where players can buy upgrades for their character. Parents can load up their kid’s account with a set amount of funds that they can then spend how they like. No credit card is required at time of registration.
Free Realms is scheduled to launch before the end of the year.
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Pirates of the Burning Sea
Developed by Flying Lab Software, Pirates of the Burning Sea is an MMORPG that, surprisingly enough, takes on a heavy pirate theme with plenty of battles on the high seas. The game takes place in the 18th century, during which time various nations are trying to take control of the Caribbean. When you first start out, you select your character’s gender, fighting style (Fencing, Florentine, or Dirty Fighting), and allegiance (England, France, Spain, Pirate). The goal is work together with your fellow countrymen.
In addition to your character, you also take control of a ship to sail between the over 80 ports. In fact, you have an opportunity to captain a fleet of up to 30 ships, sailing around, plundering, swashbuckling, and doing all those other things that pirates (and their opponents) had a tendency to do in the 18th century. There is a full player-driven economy in the game, wherein participants manufacture and sell all the goods found in the game. And you need that money to buy upgrades and equipment.
With other MMORPGs, the upgrading of equipment and armor affects the look of your character. With Pirate of the Burning Sea, when you decide to upgrade something, it doesn’t affect the appearance of your character, but instead just ups their skill level.
While the hand-to-hand combat and exploration of the ports serve as a large portion of the game, you also get involved in ship battles on the high seas. You have to take factors like wind, speed, cannon alignment, and so on into effect. You can target the sails, the hull, or the crew, and if you manage to slow down your opponent, you can attempt to board their ship and take it over, including the looting of all their, well, loot. Pirates is available now.
Legends of Norrath
I never really did understand the craze behind trading card games. I’m sure you’ve seen these types of games in real life — Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering, etc. — and you’ve probably seen the electronic versions of these titles as well. Legends of Norrath follows in the same tradition, except you get to partake in an entire online community dedicated to their version of the card battle game.
You build your deck and challenge people from all across the world. What’s cool is the only real cost involved is when you have to purchase the booster packs. There are no monthly fees to stay involved in the online gaming world, but the booster packs — which contain 15 semi-random cards. There is also the option to play against the computer or a human opponent, as well as online marketplace where you can trade cards with other gamers.
Sony has integrated Legends of Norrath — the Forsworn expansion pack was released on December 19th — into Everquest II, meaning that you can play the card-trading game within the Everquest universe. What’s more, certain bonus cards can unlock content for Everquest. Sony also plans to host free monthly tournaments with a $5000 prize pool. They mention free entry into the world championships too.
Sony Online Entertainment Is All About Gaming Online
It’s obvious where this is going, because it’s right there in their name. All three of these games have a very heavy online element. In fact, by and large, you can’t even play these titles without an Internet connection. It’s like they’re telling you to game on… line.
For more pictures and screenshots from all these new titles, please check out our SONY Online Entertainment CES 2008 Photogallery!
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