Funcom’s latest MMO outing, The Secret World, dropped its embargo today. Interviews and previews are popping up all over the shop. I’ve not had the chance to rummage fully through them all yet.
However, heavily influenced by Lovecraft, there is one thing that we can be sure it will possess in abundance.
Tentacles!!!
I always hoped that someone would build an MMO based on the Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG. The great thing about it is that you would only really need a rich and interesting character creation system, and the tutorial zone. Nobody would ever survive that tutorial zone, drastically cutting down on the need to provide any actual content.
That would be a good project for Cryptic, come to think of it.
The Secret World does not sound as if it will be quite as brutal as my vision of Call of Cthulhu, though it has taken an axe to many of the traditional MMO structures. With no classes or levels, and a slightly weird sounding power slotting system that reminds me of picking cards for your deck in Wizard 101, it sounds genuinely fresh, and I’m looking forward to getting my grubby pseudopods upon it, and investigating further.
I don’t know if this is a new advert. I’ve certainly never seen it before today, but if it did not have a big “World of LordCraft” logo, anyone would assume it was an Evony ad, complete with the “Come Play, My Lord” line that has been roundly mocked across the internet. Heck, it probably was an Evony ad, but they just switched the logos.
LordCraft - Come Play, My Lord
What’s a “Formal Operation”? What does that even mean? Why would we need to be told the operation was formal? Will I need to wear a tie to play? Are a group of mysterious tuxedo-clad gentlemen going to turn up at my house and steal my kidneys? (The joke would be on UMGE, as my wretched kidneys would not be worth the plane ticket.)
They’re not even trying any more. Sure, they’ve created a shell company called GSprite that nobody has ever heard of, and another one called Thunderstorm Entertainment, that as far as I can tell is just there to take the piss out of Blizzard Entertainment, but feebly trying to cover their tracks would have worked better if they hadn’t made almost every other aspect of their design identical. They were already a parody of themselves, but now they’re a parody of that parody.
The picture of that lady in the advert is almost certainly stolen from somewhere. I’ll give an UNPRECEDENTED Epic shoutout to anyone who manages to figure out the original source.
And again, please don’t let these scoundrels get their hands on your credit card details, or use the same login details as you do for World of Warcraft.
Update: Jason correctly identified the model. It’s a lass called Joanna Krupa, and a bit of a rummage through Google imagesearch finds that the picture is from a Maxim magazine photoshoot. That link may not be safe for work, but if you’re reading my blog at work, you’re either already sure the boss isn’t watching, or work in the gaming industry and can claim it as research!
I find it comforting to know that nothing changes with the way that UMGE finds pictures for it’s advertising.
There is much to say about World of LordCraft, the latest addition to the world of browser games. Little of it is good. It is essentially an Evony reskin, though with the addition of a Might and Magic type battle system, and the hero-equipping features of Kingory. It also has the kleptomaniacal tendencies of Evony, having plundered World of Warcraft for every ounce of lore they can manage. Races, placenames, and history have all been pulled directly from World of Warcraft. Just as an example, this is character creation:
World of Lordcraft Character Creation Screen.
Sadly, Tauren appear to be a race you have to unlock somehow, so I go with a boring old Alliance human. You’re then offered the chance to start in such interesting sounding locations as the Barrens, Stranglethorn Vale, or the Swamp of Sorrows.
The Lordcraft forum has this little disclaimer stickied:
Players have been discussing about the source of World of Lordcraft recently. We consider that a statement should be made here to clarify the issue.
World of Lordcraft should be regarded as a fan game of WoW. All the creators and staff members of this game love WoW and we thank Blizzard for such a brilliant work. WoL is not a replica of WOW. WoW is a MMORPG while World of Lordcraft is only a browser game of building, strategy and simulation. They are totally not the same kind. All the artworks in World of Lordcraft are the original creations of our art team. However, some elements were similar to WoW and some other games. Likewise, WoW also borrowed some elements from Tolkien’s novel. We hope that WoL can provide an interesting alternative for those players lacking time for WoW raids and arenas. Or you may also insert a few clicks between raids or wipes in WoW.
We’d appreciate your support if you like World of Lordcraft and wish you have fun in the game.
Well, that all sounds quite reasonable (To me. Not to Blizzard’s legal department), if it really was just a fan-based game, with no intent to make profit. However, it appears to be a rather professional operation, and is funded in exactly the same way as Evony, through buying ingame currency.
Also, there’s the small snag of this passage being in the LordCraft terms and conditions:
All rights and title in and to the Service (including without limitation any user accounts, titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialogue, catch phrases, locations, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, any related documentation, “applets” incorporated into the Game Client, transcripts of the chat rooms, character profile information, recordings of games played using the Game Client, and the Game Client and server software) are owned by Thunderstorm Entertainment Inc. or its licensors. The Game and the Service are protected by United States and international laws, and may contain certain licensed materials in which Thunderstorm Entertainment Inc.’s licensors may enforce their rights in the event of any violation of this Agreement.
I don’t think Blizzard’s lawyers are going to like that terribly much. Who are Thunderstorm Entertainment anyway? The only Thunderstorm Entertainment I can find on Google is an Los Angeles based small film company specialising in recording weddings.
Wait a moment. Thunderstorms and Blizzards are both weather events. It was then I realised that the terms and conditions for World of Lordcraft were extremely extensive. Far too extensive for a simple browser game.
Yes. World of Lordcraft is so impossibly unoriginal that they have stolen WoW’s Terms and just done a search/replace for every mention of Blizzard to change it to Thunderstorm.
That’s pretty special.
I haven’t yet plucked up the courage to give LordCraft a playthrough. I’ll let you know if I do. Just watching this trailer drained enough of my will to live that I think I’ll put off actually playing it to another day.
The narrator sounds like he has been drugged and locked in the bathroom. Either that, or he is doing a particularly poor Sean Connery impersonation.
“Never Surrender You Freedom!” I want to build an UNPRECEDENTED Epic Castle! Why is it UNPRECEDENTED, you ask? Castles have been known to appear in both the real world, and in games, but perhaps they just weren’t as epic as LordCraft’s castles. Or maybe they build them out of all the cease and desist documents they receive in the mail.
The person who made this trailer clearly has a decent amount of talent in animation. A tragic waste. The same might perhaps be said for World of LordCraft as a whole. It is not a terribly hard thing to create your own Tolkienesque fantasy world. I could probably knock three of them up between breakfast and lunch. An ounce of creativity (or failing that, a random fantasy name generator) would have let them avoid the incoming legal storm.
Update: I charge World of LordCraft with being another of the heads of the Evony hydra. As evidence I present the welcome screens to both games. You can click the images to enlarge them to read the text.
The World of Lordcraft Welcome Screen
The Evony Welcome Screen
Apparently they’re both “The World’s Best Web Game”. Which is lying? My money would be on both of them.
So many aspects of the design are identical that I’m fairly confident that David Guo’s UMGE, the company behind Evony, is also behind World of LordCraft.
This is not the first MMO that the Evony gang have committed grave crimes against, as Maltheas reported.
The same advice I gave that you do not give Evony your credit card details applies equally to World of LordCraft. It is just not worth the risk, as they obviously have a problem distinguishing between things that belong to them, and things that do not. Even more importantly, if you must play, absolutely do not use the same password you use for WoW, unless you want to end up assisting UMGE’s goldselling division.
Update: I’ve posted some more about LordCraft’s obvious ties to Evony, and the source of the buxom lass for one of their recent adverts.
Update of June 2010: A little housekeeping, as this post seems to be getting a lot of attention at the moment. The video seems to have stopped working. They’ve actually got a new version of it on their website with a less incoherent narrator now, and fixing the typo. Happily, I found the original trailer has made it to YouTube :)
They had also changed the address of the Lordcraft Terms and conditions. Changed the web address, but not the fact that it’s a direct copy of WoW’s terms. The link has been updated.
This performance is two for the price of one. With Kraljevi Ulice & 75 Cents’ “Romanca” you get the spectacle of a septuagenarian rapping in Croatian, paired with a genuinely haunting song. It was especially notable for its excellent selection of hats.
Miserably,they only came 21st out of 25, with 44 points. I suspect the lyrics are a bit too meaningful and depressing for the tastes of most Eurovision judges. For me, it was the best song of the year, though it would probably be improved by 75 Cents not shouting in the middle.
This screenshot was just posted up on Twitter. What does it mean?
The Free Realms Pirate Treasure Hunting minigame!
It means that Pirates are coming to Free Realms! No longer will those pesky Ninja get to rule the roost, for their nemesis is upon them. I think I just found a new favourite career.
There had been rumours that the scurvy swabs might be incoming, ever since a sharp-eyed dataminer found piratical content in some of the gamefiles. Now we know for sure.
There’s no real details as yet beyond that screenshot, but it matters not one jot, for you see, as I’ve said before, Pirates make everything better!
Update: The Free Realms blog just put up a little bit more information, and some more pictures.
You may have seen some of the mysterious pictures that “leaked†earlier this week on our forums, twitter and Facebook pages. And, while we are still trying to figure out who the sneaky mole is, I can announce that “Pirate’s Plunder†is the next 3-D mini-game that will be out later this week! In addition to the launch of this extremely cool game there are also new pirate-oriented clothing and housing items available, new characters around the world, and just generally awesome pirate-ish-ness going on. (You know you need a pirate ship outside your house, right? Yarr!) – David Georgeson
I’m still unclear as to whether Pirate is going to be a new job or not, but either way I’m looking forward to setting sail when Pirates come to Free Realms!
UPDATE: More information! Pirate’s Plunder will be arriving this very Friday. I’ll start polishing me cutlass. Avast ye!
The UK picked our representative for the Eurovision song contest at the weekend. As has been usual, recently, our entry is going to be boring and uninspired. But that’s alright, as I’m sure the other nations will provide some fine entertainment, and some great music, not always at the same time! It saddens me that my US friends miss out on this yearly spectacular!
Over the next few weeks I’m going to post some of my favourite Eurovision songs of the last few years.
Today, the lovely Ruslana of Ukraine, with Wild Dances. I loved this track the first moment I heard it, and it was no surprise at all when it won. Blending traditional Ukrainian melodies and instruments with a heart-pounding beat, it is an astonishingly fun song to dance to when you’re out clubbing, if you can find a DJ who’ll play it. Failing that, it’s also pretty good to do the hoovering to. Crank up the bass, and have a listen!
A couple of weeks ago, as I mentioned, I started playing EVE. It is a very different sort of MMO, but I think I’ll save the game analysis for when I’m feeling a bit more intelligent. Still, I thought you might be somewhat curious as to how I’m getting on.
Quite well, as it turns out. EVE’s learning curve is famously steep, and it is very easy to find yourself wondering what the heck you should do next. Fortunately I have enough experience with previous true sandboxes, mostly old school Ultima Online, to not be too disorientated by that.
I signed up for the 14 day trial, but that did not last terribly long. Trial accounts can’t take the Industrial ship skills, even though you receive a couple of ships needing that skill during the tutorial. Well, a wannabe tycoon like me wasn’t having that, so clearly the thing to do was to subscribe! As there is no charge for the game itself, it was just a matter of 20 Euros, including a one-off signup charge. Within my current funds, just about! Impressively, unlike most trials, the remaining trial time you have is added to your subscription, so you don’t miss out on gametime by subscribing before the end.
I started off as a Gallente citizen in the Verge Vendor region of space, and completed all the advanced tutorials at the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Clellinon system. The advanced tutorials are extremely generous with gifts of skillbooks and ships, not to mention wisdom, and this gave me an excellent start. On finishing up there, I decided to base myself in the nearby Luse system, setting up shop in a starbase belonging to the Federation Customs corporation. In retrospect, they weren’t necessarily the best Corporation to concentrate on, but they were local, and have looked after me quite nicely. I ran missions for the local corps for a few days, before deciding I wanted to explore a little more of the universe.
So off I sped to the the Amarr and Minmatar tutorial zones. I had discovered that you can go through the advanced tutorials at every system that offers them. Completing each series gives a decent chunk of standing, so it seemed worthwhile from that alone. What I do is simply leave all my gear where it is, get in my Gallente Shuttle, and buy the cheapest frigate available when I get there. It has been extremely useful in learning how the other races ships and weaponry work, which I am sure will be useful in the future.
I’m still in two minds whether or not to go do the tutorials in Caldari space, as they are the sworn foes of the Gallente, my primary faction, and my Gallente standings would take a serious knock. I’ll probably save them for if the Caldari start looking like they really hate me. Doing the odd bit of work for their allies, the Amarr, should keep that from happening any time soon.
So far as I can tell, there doesn’t seem to be any limit on how much stuff I can have. This is a major boon to a pack rat like me, but I can see that I will have an epic time of it trying to keep track of where everything is, even with the useful Assets window. I have a base of operations in each of the three Empires I have so far visited, each with its own pile of ships, loot, and general junk.
The other reason for me visiting the Amarr is that different areas offer different loot and salvage, and the capacitor related salvage I seek is most easily gained from Amarr’s local pirates; the Blood Raiders, and Sansha’s Nation.
My relationship with the Federation Customs is standing me in good stead as I prepare to move my Gallente operations to the Luminaire system in the Essence region. They have a couple of starbases there, so I arrive already having access to level 2 missions, and a good tax rate. I’m mostly moving to be a little more central, as it is a lot quicker to get into the other Empire areas from here. There are a heap of drawbacks to being in a busier area, but travel is far from trivial in Eve, and it’ll save me a lot of time in the long run.
Currently, I’m poking about the Luminaire area, seeing what’s on offer, and building up my standings with the local Corporations. Some are the same as over near Luse, but there are quite a few that are new to me here. Slowly building up my resources, skills, and standings. Patience is key.
For anyone interested in my current build, it’s coming up after the leap.
