As promised in my previous article on Lord of The Rings Online, here is a look at Everquest II Extended. It seems that I have to put a disclaimer of sorts when I write my articles, so here it is.

This is solely my own opinions on the game, which at this point of time, I have no where near completed. This will touch on the changes I know about since my last time in Everquest 2, which is quite a while back.

Okay, now on to my own personal review!

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) has watched Turbine's Dungeons & Dragons Online raise from the ashes by making a carefully-planned switch from P2P to F2P, and the result is Everquest 2 Extended.

History

Everquest 2 was officially released (in the US) two weeks (8th November 2004) before World of Warcraft (23rd November 2004) and while res

It's been quite a while since I last wrote anything, so I thought I would come back and get started with a game that is just about to be open as a F2P game in a day or two. Yup, Lord of The Rings Online (LoTRO) will be heading to the Free to Play realm like it's older sibling Dungeons & Dragons Online, and there is much to anticipate for this wonderful 'AAA' title!

LoTRO has been around for quite a while, and is currently slightly over 3 years old. It has been rather successful, with a rather unique experience not found in many games so far. With so many changes done over the years, the game has been fine-tuned and polished to a level not expected of a F2P game!

With the right hardware and Direct X 10, it still does look rather spectacular!

It is an MMORPG which is similar to gam

Dear Public Closed Beta Testers,

I would first like to congratulate you on your acceptance to be part of the all exclusive closed beta test that is so secret, it is only mention it in a few websites. It is with my heart-felt wishes that I hope you would make the game a better one for me to play when it is released.

Might I make a suggestion that you should keep the bragging of it to yourself? Don't mind me, but I do believe the NDA, which stands for Non-Disclosure Agreement, should say something about keeping a

It has been a year since I last walked on the lands of Azeroth and the Outlands, and as you have figured, much have changed. But are these changes enough for me to continue on, and keep World of Warcraft as my main MMO?

Apparently, it is!

Changes

As the year went by, you could imagine that much changes were made to WoW. I am not talking about ground-breaking in-your-face graphical updates, but the usual. You know, class tweaks in the name of balance, bug fixes and the like. Nothing much new here; however, if you would to go back now after a long haitus, you might feel a little lost and some research on where your class stands, and how to maximize the potential of your classes needs to be done.

And you will want to maximize your potential, because of the additional features and content added!

Random Dungeon Finder

A most welcomed window!

The one feature that was added, so simple, yet so essential to WoW evolving would be the Dungeon Finder system, and it's Random Dungeon reward system. W

Revenge is a major plot driver in many games, stories and movies. Specifically in games, be it a single player game with revenge as the main plot, or just a quest in your favorite MMO, it has always forced the player to understand that in order for the player's character or some NPC to feel at peace, revenge must be done.

And I just realized that it goes against every moral fibre in me to do so! I have always believe in 'karma', at least just it's basic principle that what you do to others will happen to you eventually. 

In this day and age, revenge seem to be the norm. And I can't help but question, has years and years of fiction from various media, interactive or not, calloused us into thinking that revenge is the right thing? We have even been able to discern "good" revenge and "bad" revenge, and have vague guidelines as to what makes an acceptable level of revenge.

Perhaps I look at such matters with much disdain, especially in games, where

Global Agenda has since launched, as as promised, here is a revisit of the game.

To bring people up to speed, Global Agenda is an MMOFPS, but unlike Planetside, it functions quite akin to WoW's Battlegrounds, where one enters a staging area, a virtual lobby if you will, and joined a queue for the various PvP and PvE matches.

To find out more, you can revisit my old article, Beta Look: Global Agenda.

Structure

Not much have changed with the basic structure; you still play the same few maps with random game modes for PvP and set PvE maps. But before you disregard everything else, please do note that the developers Hi Rez has since announced content update, starting with an open world area.

What does this mean? Simply put, it is a significant shift from what could be called a graphically represented lobby, room and matchmaking system. Players would soon be able to run around on a map, and see others running around while completing quests and objectives.

So you can be sure you wi

Finally, I'm talking about true online games again! Global Agenda has just lifted the NDA, which means that I can freely talk about Global Agenda, what I saw, and what I think it will be in the near future. Take this as a first look of the game though, as due to the prior betas' crazy time schedule, I couldn't really play and it is only recently where the time has changed did I manage to get a good hour or two in.

The Setting

Global Agenda is set in the future, and you play in one of the independent factions that are fighting against the Commonwealth, an oppressive government body that grew to power from the ashes of the third world war. Yup, it makes as much sense as your average action flick, but in a way, the difference between Global Agenda and a traditional fantasy based game like World of Warcraft is indeed like comparing an action flick with a epic trilogy.

But that isn't necessarily bad.

Expect lots of robotics, high tech armors and weapons, jet packs for every single player, and the like.

Starting Out

You start out by creating your character and are given a few customization options for your character. Now, don't go expect full morphing features from the likes of AOC o

Recently, CrimeCraft has revamped their business model, and with that, allowing people from all over the globe to try out the game and continue on if they so wish to. So here, is a review of the game, just because I think it deserves at least that much, because I sincerely believe that there is potential in CrimeCraft.

History of CrimeCraft

CrimeCraft was developed by Vogster, a small-time studio. It launched with a rocky start, with a rather contrived business model that served to confuse and chase people away. They have since went the route of a "free unlimited trial" with plenty of limitations, but allows one to get a good idea on what kind of game it is. If one wishes to continue on, there are two plans available, both of which are much lower then your average P2P MMO prices, which is a move I applaud, not  simply because it's cheaper, but because they understand that their game will not stand up to a real MMO.

What is CrimeCraft?

That is not to say, that your experience in CrimeCraft is going to be very limited of course. CrimeCraft's soul is a Third Person Shooter powered by the Unreal Engine. Now put on a crafting system, a persistant lobby system ala Guild 

A while back, I reviewed the Japanese version of A.V.A, but since then, A.V.A has went open beta in Ijji, in English! I have thus decided to write another review for the Ijji version.

What is A.V.A?

Not sure who the good and bad guys are, the blue guys have a masked guy and the red has a hooded guy...

A.V.A, or Alliance of Valiant Arms, or the game with too long a name that don't quite mean anything is a typical Online FPS that has two sides, a few different game modes and the ability to purchase various weaponry. 

However, unlike games like Combat Arms from Nexon with whom I still have a gripe with, it does things slightly differently.

The Look

A screen shot showing the detail textures of the character, the shadow system, etc.

Using the Unreal Engine, it is arguably the most pretty looking game in it's genre. Of course, This would mean a higher minimum system requirements, but the game still does look pretty good even at the lowest settings. But a game is not only based on it's looks, so let's move on to the other unique features.

Details like rank and clan badge can actually be seen on the sleeves of the character, though, usually you don't notice them.

Game Modes

You have y

Here is a transcript of a new game annoucement, called Online™, enjoy!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce a game that would be THE game of the year. In fact, I am so confident in it, that I would say that it would be THE game of the century.

So, please sit back, and enjoy the nice cold glass of banana milk sitting on your arm rests.

The History

As we all know, MMOs have had quite a long history. But for the sake of the newcomers, let me give a brief history.

The genre gained definition ever since men have learnt to draw. Because, we all know, that drawing an imaginary universe, with imaginary characters, is the first stepping stone of an MMO.

Moving on, we had Pong, which, while many believed to be a game played against a friend or the computer, was actually networked over your power sockets. However, as many people know, it was a then top secret project by the Military to find the most alert and strategic people to be placed in real warfare situations.

Fast forward a few decades, we now have, what I would simply call, "Online™ ".

ONLINE™

It's Bold

Why did we decide to just call it Online™ , as opposed to a