Black Gold is the second game from Chinese developer Snail Games.  In this Action MMO players join one of two factions, either the Steam or the Nature Mystics. Each faction is seeking a resource known as the Black Gold, which they use for their own purposes.  For the Steam, the Black Gold is a fuel for their machines.  The Mystics on the other hand take the Black Gold and use it as a power source for their warlocks and other spellcasters.

This game has an open world concept that is unusual in MMOs.  There are no separate zones, and PK is available in every town, every village, every hovel, and every city.  There are no sanctuary areas, and the only place you are safe from PvP is in an instance.  

The world bosses are very difficult to kill, requiring precise tim

Blade&Sword II is PixelSoft’s sequel to their successful hardcore 3D Action MMO.  Bringing back the best of the Blade&Sword series, Blade&Sword II expands upon the features you loved by providing a rich, immersive combat experience wrapped in exquisite graphics.  I got a chance to see this little beauty during my first day at E3 2013 when I sat down with the developers to take a peek at the game.

Blade&Sword II at its core is an Action MMO, and PixelSoft does use the term lightly.  They went back to the drawing board with their combat animations, hiring the best fighting masters they could find. Using motion capture, they recorded all the fighters’ movements and used this as a basis for animating their fighting animations.  Just looking at the combat you will see incredibly complex abilities, many of them modeled after the actual techniques used by fighting champions.

The game features six classes: The Swordman, Spearman, Fairy, Assassin, Archer, and H

It’s been a little over two weeks since WoW Patch 5.3: Escalation dropped, and players have been scouring the Barrens for supplies in order to take down Garrosh Hellscream.  There’s plenty of high-level information out there in the form of guides, but I’ve run across several nifty tidbits of information that will make your time playing through the first stage of the world event easier.

Luck into the Caravans

My biggest frustration so far with the event has been the Overturned Kork’ron Caravans -- and specifically how hidden they appear to be.  Well, one savvy commenter on the WoW forums said that they actually spoke to Blizzardabout these caravans not showing up on the world map when the global announce goes out.  The GM responded that you have to be very close to the caravan

In the midst of all the hub-bub surrounding San Diego Comic-Con this morning, RIFT: Planes of Telara released a bit of information about their next content update.  I love this sort of information, because not only does it show you new content (one of my favorite things in life) but it also gives us a deeper understanding of the game and the lore behind it.  Sometimes I forget exactly how much story is baked into RIFT, and it's moments like this that remind me just what a beefy world it really is.

God of the Sea

On a ship at sea, a sailor plots his course, a merchant dreams of distant shores, and a scholar charts the stars. Each in their way prays to Thontic, God of the Sea, of trade, and of mystery. When the gods formed Telara from sourcestone at the dawn of day

Tonight as the sun sets over Ming Imperial City, the players of The Chosen will gather at the Wedding Area for a very special event.  You see, two lovers will unite their lives together for the first time in the game.  We've heard about these sorts of in-game marraiges before, but this one is unique in a couple of ways.  First, this is a marriage between two players who met playing MMOs years ago, and who have been dating in real life.

Meet Baby and odis, the lovely couple, who are excited to be the first couple to take advantage of The Chosen's marriage system, which will give them benefits (but not in that way, dirty mind!) when grouping together.

The ceremony will take place this evening at 5:30 pm PDT, and all are invited.  Wear something formal, but get ready

The folks over at Kill3rCombo have been busy little bees.  Yesterday they announced that they added the second tier of job skills to Elsword, along with a host of graphical improvements.  Once players playing Elsword (the character) reach level 35, they will be able to transform into Lord Knights or Rune Slayers.  This handy skill means serious domination on the battlefield.  I'll be excited to see what the other two characters get as their second jobs.

In other Elsword news this week, a little German beauty took the prize in a European cosplay event hosted in Germany.  She dressed as Rena, and I am really impressed with the quality of her costume.  Check it out for yourself:

Love MMOs but don't have a lot of cash?  Wish you could check out those heftier Pay-to-Play titles without having to take out a morgage on your PC?  You're in luck:  Today Rift: Planes of Telara has gone on sale, with the price for the core digital upgrade dropping to $4.99, and the upgrade to the Collector's Edition to $9.99.  That means that you can download the game, play a week for free, and then upgrade to the full version for the price of a Big Mac.

This is great news for the MMO community, and I think these big developers need to consider discounting their game clients from the get go.  It isn't the upfront cost that makes them their money, and giving away a reduced priced client (or a free one even) means that more people get in and fall in love wi

Ever wonder what it would be like to be one of the press attending E3?  You're in luck: En Masse Entertainment has decided to release a video showing you exactly what we played behind closed doors during this year's E3 presentation of TERA.  The presentation this year as all about the political system, and I was so delighted to see some of the non-combat aspects of the game because we had spent so much time bashing BAMs over the head in our previous demos.  

Granted, even the political system affects combat, and so as you'll see they had us charging in to take down a special mob in order to gain faction points with our territory.  It's all complex, hardcore, and very fun.  TERA will be coming out soon, and I can't wait to get a chance to play the whole ga

In one of the smartest moves I've seen in MMO gaming this year,LEGO Universe today announced that they are launching into the Free to Play space.  Players will be able to play the game for free starting this August, and not a moment too soon.

“The LEGO Group remains committed to success in the digital space and toLEGO Universe,” said Jesper Vilstrup, Vice President, the LEGO Group. “We see LEGO Universe as a key element for our digital play division, and are adjusting the business model to make the game more accessible to players, without the immediate obligation to purchase or subscribe.”

LEGO Universe will continue to generate revenue through paid memberships, and there are no plans for micro-transactions at this time. Players can try out the fr

Russian developer Nival has decided to put their expertise in social gaming into the MMO market.  Thus their first offering, Prime World, blends the best of MOBA combat with casual and social gaming to provide an experience that is viable for many different types of gamers.  While not the most hardcore of the online strategy games, Prime World is a blast to play for those people who want a casual PvP experience they can enjoy with their friends.

I got the opportunity to play Prime World for myself last week during E3, and was surprised at how much fun I had.  The match we played was a 5v5 against the computer AI, and I spent all my time laning and slaughtering towers, so I was able to better understand how their "terraforming" mechanic works.  In Prime Wo