A creative chef over at WoW Insider has posted a recipe based on the World of Warcraft game recipe, Murloc Fin Soup! The recipe includes the translation into real food (for example, murloc meat = boneless skinless chicken breasts). Personally, I always thought murlocs would taste more like tuna than chicken given that they are fish people, but the recipe sounds fun.
Quite a few articles and interviews for Stargate Worlds have appeared on various MMORPG sites in the past few weeks. Joe Ybarra, the VP of Product Development for the game, has done a number of these interviews. Stargate Worlds is being developed by Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, and is still in the internal development phase. Read on for a summary of interesting info from the articles and interviews.
The April issue of Computer Games magazine includes a closed beta key for Lord of the Rings Online. From what I hear, this issue is on the stands right now, and the key can be used to play in the closed beta right away. Closed beta ends on March 25th, and open beta begins on April 6th (for those who did not pre-order the game), so if you want to try out the game early, get your hands on the April issue of Computer Games magazine.
In Lord of the Rings Online (beta), I’ve made my way up to level 13 now, and I thought I’d post the screenshots I’ve been taking. There are 50 screenshots, and they are a mix of scenery, quests, and user interface. The graphics are quite good, and I couldn’t help taking screenshots of some of the more picturesque locations.
View the Lord of the Rings Online screenshots or read my beta impressions.
Starting today and running through Monday, February 25th, Turbine will be holding a free open stress test for Lord of the Rings Online. What does this mean? It means that this test is open to anyone who wants to play. A stress test is meant to stress the servers in order to find weak spots. You can expect long wait times, crashes, and other issues, but it is a great chance to try out the beta early before open beta begins in April. The population must be much higher than usual in order to properly stress the servers, so go try it out!
Turbine is also running a contest for stress test participants. Anyone who plays at least two hours each day (including time spent waiting in the server queue) will be entered into a drawing to win one of three NVIDIA GeForce 8800’s. Read more about the stress test and the contest on the Lord of the Rings Online stress test page.
Check out my Beta First Impressions article to read about my experiences in Lord of the Rings Online.
My last experience with an MMORPG beta (Vanguard) was less enjoyable than I expected. The game wasn’t very fun and did not seem ready for release. Now I’m playing in the Lord of the Rings Online beta. Since the NDA (non disclosure agreement) has been lifted, I’m free to discuss my experiences. So here are a few of my first impressions.
“Welcome to The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (LOTRO) Beta Program!” It’s not open beta yet, and I managed to get into another closed beta. Woohoo! Hopefully this one will go better than the last one (Vanguard).
Lord of the Rings Online is an MMORPG based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy scheduled to be released on April 24th, 2007. Lotro is set in Middle Earth after the time when Frodo leaves the Shire with the ring. Players can play Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits. Apparently evil races like Orcs and Goblins are not playable since there is no good/evil alignment among players. Read more about Lord of the Rings Online.
Lord of the Rings Online is an MMORPG developed by Turbine. They are having open signups for the beta now. The open beta doesn’t start until April, but they may be accepting more people into the beta before then. Sign up on the LOTRO website.
First impressions last in the world of gaming. It is inescapable. Beta testing can either make or break a game… before it is even released. A good way to build a solid player base for a game is to have a solid beta. The game should be playable for the most part, and large bugs should be mostly ironed out before this time. World of Warcraft is an excellent example of this. Blizzard opted to go through beta testing without an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). This meant that all beta testers were allowed to discuss their testing experiences, both good and bad, post screenshots, etc. It was quite a risk to take, but Blizzard triumphed because the beta made a great first impression.
