The GameShadow Blog

World of Warcraft get its third expansion pack later this year. Due for release around September time, Cataclysm will be one of the top Massively-Multiplayer Online titles of 2010, but it will have to face strong competition. The likes of APB: All Points Bulletin, Star Trek Online, DC Universe Online and LEGO Universe are all [...]

Is multiplayer gaming via the internet all that it’s cracked up to be? Playing games with various people from all over the world sounds like a great idea and it should be great fun. Unfortunately, for too many people, fun means being irritating and spoiling things for others. I remember playing Ultima Online and seeing [...]

Hands up anyone who hasn’t seen the South Park episode “Make Love, Not Warcraft”? Good, that means I don’t have to explain the bit where Cartman gets his ‘mum’ to hold a potty so he can ‘go’ without leaving the game. Well for anyone who has done this, been asked to do this or even [...]

Cryptic has posted the first FAQ on the official Star Trek website, answering a few Trekkie questions about Trekkie things. Trek over there for yourself. The gist is: – The entire game is as close to canon as possible, and incorporates elements of soft canon like novels and comics – Yes, you can pimp out [...]

Sometimes I look at gaming and I weep bitter tears of self-loathing. For every Portal out there, there’s a Murder Shooter 5. For every decent, socially adjusted gamer, there’s a thirteen year old griefer. For every forward thinking game like Beyond Good & Evil, there’s a bevvy of bored looking booth babes. The recent firing [...]

The first screens have arrived for City of Heroes and Marvel Universe developer Cryptic’s Star Trek MMO. The game was originally in development at Perpetual, but was canned, with the project later picked up by Cryptic. The developer certainly has the credentials (plus some of Perpetual’s staff) to bring this game to life, and opening [...]

In a recent Eurogamer interview with Gaute Godager of Funcom fame, the Conan Director has… not slammed… but had a cheeky dig at genre competitor WoW. “But you know… I’m going to be a bit cheeky now, but if you’ve been to McDonalds for four or five years, and had your burger and your coke, [...]

As just reported as a part of the LucasArts lay-offs fallout, an ex-employee has revealed details on the previously unspecified Bioware / LucasArts joint project. It’s Knights of the Old Republic III, and it’s an MMO. This will mark Bioware’s first true MMO – Neverwinter Nights doesn’t really qualify in my book – and the [...]

It’s been a while. Yes, the news that’s been hanging around the interweb for months now has officially surfaced: Interplay is building up a development team, and looking to begin a Fallout MMO. The beleaguered publisher was delisted from the NASDAQ and pretty much closed down in 2004. Its famous internal studio Black Isle was [...]

In a recent presentation (slide 25), Take Two has highlighted the possibility for MMOs based on Bioshock and Civilization. The precise phraseology used is ‘Potential Take Two Opportunities: Bioshock, Civilization’. This presentation was made at the Bank of America SMID Conference, with Take Two fighting to justify its portfolio value and ongoing rejection of EA’s [...]

Having acquired the rights to the Tom Clancy name for a reported $60 million, Ubisoft has announced that an MMO based on the IP is in the works. Could be a WoW beater, apparently. With 35 Clancy games already on the market, it’s understandable that Ubi would want to secure the rights to the name [...]

A Chinese partner involved with Blizzard’s new MMO project has let slip the details: it’s Starcraft Online. A report on Tradingmarkets.com has revealed that NetEase – a Chinese online game operator – will be running Starcraft Online for Blizzard. Blizzard itself has not confirmed the game, but has been advertising for staff to work on [...]

Fed up with being ripped off by gold farmers? Want a trustworthy way of buying your way to the best equipment in Everquest? Well it looks like your prayers are answered. Yesterday, Live Gamer announced that it had raised $24 million to build a “legitimate market for virtual trading”. Think of it as an ebay [...]

Ubisoft has just announced the launch of Heroes of Might and Magic Kingdoms, a free MMO that will be launched in Spring 2008.  The decision to base the MMO on the long-running Heroes of Might and Magic series, a turn-based strategy game, rather than the even more venerable Might and Magic series of RPG games, is perhaps surprising. The [...]

Job postings on the Blizzard website have indicated a new MMO is underway at the genre-defining developer. The company is looking for experienced staff to work on a next-gen MMO – not just another expansion to World of Warcraft. Blizzard later confirmed speculation by stating, “No, it is an unannounced Next-Gen MMO. And that doesn’t [...]