Captain’s Log, Stardate 70009.8. I thought it would be the holodeck that eventually did in the crew, but it turned out to be Pokemon Go. Who would have thought an antique Japanese Gameboy IP and a niche mobile subgenre would combine to destroy civilization as we know it? Who will roam the stars in search of knowledge when they can fall off cliffs, get stuck in caves, and get shot at filling out their Pokedex? May god have mercy on our souls.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
POKEMON GO
First impressions: Why Pokemon Go is uniquely compelling - I, like many others who were children throughout the ‘90s and early 2000s, went through a period in my young life where the only thing I wanted in life was…
Pokémon GO becomes the biggest mobile US game of all time - Well, that certainly didn't take long! In just a week, Pokémon GO has overtaken every mobile game in the United States, becoming the biggest title of all time. The game boasts 21…
Pokemon Go gets cloned, sponsored, and harmonized - If you're in China, you might not be able to play Pokémon Go right at the moment. You can, however, play City Spirit Go, which allows you to do more…
Pokemon Go designers discuss inspiration and development plans; trading is coming soon - How do you go from making Ingress to making Pokémon Go? We're using the hypothetical "you" here, if it weren't clear; you personally can't make either of them, they already…
Meridian 59 creator says that MMOs are everywhere in disguise - Have you felt despondent at the apparent decline of the production of new, bold MMOs? According to Meridian 59 creator Brian "Psychochild" Green, these games are actually everywhere these days --…
Pokemon Go quickly hits the top of the mobile charts - If you're one of the few people left who have missed out on Pokémon Go thus far, you've missed out on the fastest game ever to climb the mobile revenue…
Raph Koster says that augmented reality games like Pokemon GO are MMOs - Want some justification that the time you're spending on Pokémon GO and Ingress isn't pointless? The creative brain behind Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies sticks up for these newer titles, saying…
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
World of Warcraft preps Legion pre-patch for July 19, previews transmog 2.0 - World of Warcraft's Legion pre-patch is on the way as promised: on July 19th, to be exact. The patch will include the new transmogrification system as well as numerous changes to…
SWTOR: Knights of the Eternal Throne confirmed for this fall - [AL:TOR]Move over Fallen Empire, Knights of the Eternal Throne is about to become the newest expansion on the Star Wars: The Old Republic block. BioWare confirmed this weekend that the…
A sneak peek at Guild Wars 2’s Living World Season 3, Episode 1: Out of the Shadows - It's been nearly a month since the end of E3, but today, ArenaNet has finally given the go-ahead for press to talk about what we were shown for Guild Wars 2's Living World…
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2 Season 3 Predictions - [AL:GW2]If I've read the words "content drought" under your name in the comments section recently, you will be as delighted as I am to note that Guild Wars 2's dynamic…
Massively Overthinking: The best MMORPG trailers of all time - This week's Massively Overthinking should be a fun one -- and hopefully it'll contrast nicely with the Game Archaeologist column we ran last week, which covered some bizarre launch commercials, trailers,…
Perfect Ten: The most exciting MMO developments yet to come in 2016 - In the annals of MMORPG history, 2016 might well go down as a very odd duck of a year. While on the surface it might not seem like there is…
Jagex confirms sale to Chinese company - Back in March, we reported on the rumored sale of Jagex to Chinese company Shandong Hongda, a company known chiefly for its mining operations. The rumored price was $300 million; at…
Trove is headed to console as it celebrates 5M players - [AL:Trove]Here's some happy news for this week's birthday game: Trion is launching voxelbox Trove on PS4 and Xbox One later this year and touting "five million registered players from over…
Star Citizen rep: ‘Nothing special’ about $3000 Kickstarter refund - A Star Citizen backer who says he believes the game is a "scam" now says he's successfully procured a series of refunds for his Kickstarter pledge of $3000. Going by the name…
Hands-on: A tour of duty through Star Trek Online: Agents of Yesterday - [AL:STO]With Star Trek Online: Agents of Yesterday, Cryptic is obviously looking to rope in as many Star Trek faithful as possible, particularly from two camps that haven't been serviced by…
WildStar’s Heroes Evolved update brings in new class and race combos - WildStar now has a lot more options for how you build and create your characters, thanks to today's Heroes Evolved drop. The update mainly focuses on providing more character options,…
Star Citizen has the financial backing of 500,000 fans - While much is made of Roberts Space Industries' work on Star Citizen, perhaps much less known is the job that Turbulent has performed. This small team has been tackling web…
Black Desert revises skill awakening and reset systems - If you've been eagerly anticipating Black Desert's upcoming skill awakening system, you might want to take note of a few changes. Renamed skill add-on instead of awakening, this system will…
WoW Factor: Titanforged items and content relevance - If you've missed discussion of it elsewhere (including on this here site, even), World of Warcraft is rolling out a new system for item upgrades in Legion. Item drops from…
Trion’s Scott Hartsman on Trove’s console launch, fighting lag, and whether RIFT is next - [AL:Trove]Following Trion's announcement earlier this week that its cutesy voxel sandbox MMORPG Trove had registered five million players in its first year and that it's headed for a console launch…
Elder Scrolls Online’s dye system adds a color splash for cash - You may not care what color your armor is in MMOs as long as you're not creating a garish scene, but rest assured that there are a lot of players…
Landmark patch nixes build flags - Are flags a fad? Those flapping bits of cloth have seen their day, and at least Landmark is calling an end to their use. A small bugfix patch released today…
Valve issues a statement against Steam-based gambling sites - It was more than two weeks ago, and the subsequent weeks have been taken up by all sorts of game announcements and some kind of poke-based mangos, so maybe you've…
World of Warcraft outlines the demonic invasion hitting Azeroth - The Burning Legion is coming to World of Warcraft, and players have to fight them off. Sure, we're not going to be able to do that for good before Legion…
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR’s mid-term report card scored by Bartle’s taxonomy - [AL:TOR]Well, BioWare, it’s half-way through the year. It’s time to look at how you’ve done with Star Wars: The Old Republic and what can be done for the rest of…
Devilian, Defiance community staffers shuffle as Trion seeks new hires in Austin - An anonymous reader tipped us off to possible staffing shifts at Trion Worlds this week, and now Trion's Garth Chouteau has confirmed to Massively OP that two employees did depart in…
Overwatch’s next hero is revealed as Ana - If you've been waiting until San Diego Comic-Con to find out the identity of Overwatch's next hero, you're in luck, because the news has gone out early. The next hero…
Black Desert’s Ninja and Kunoichi arrive July 20, siege system July 17 - The Ninja and Kunoichi are coming! This would probably be bad news for you in real life, but it's lovely news for Black Desert players over in the west. "The…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 73: AdventureQuest 3D
The Stream Team: Building an ARK egg farm
The Stream Team: Pushing further into Path of Exile’s labyrinth
The Stream Team: Things are heating up in HEX
The Stream Team: Wandering into Warframe for the first time
The Stream Team: Pressing toward tier two in SWTOR’s Dark vs. Light Event
The Stream Team: Be your own boss in Evolve
The Stream Team: Trove turns one!
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
Burning Legion invasion starts after patch 7.0, includes transmogs, toys
A guide to transmogrification in Legion
Simple Overwatch tips for competitive play
Every week, get caught up on the MMO genre’s latest news and Massively OP’s best content in our MMO Week in Review! Want more roundups of content? Try Friday’s Betawatch for MMO testing highlights, Saturday’s Make My MMO for MMO crowdfunding updates, and Sunday’s The MOP Up, which mops up all the little bits of news we didn’t cover anywhere else.
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