Andrew Ross
Reporter
Andrew Ross usually covers E3, MOBAs, MMO-ish multiplayer games, and game related studies for Massively OP. He's a hardcore PvPer who delivered pizzas to shard defender supply runners in Asheron's Call's Shard of the Herald event, fried fish during Darkfall's World War 1 and 2, and killed many alliance members in World of Warcraft for picking "his" flowers. He is a terrible jungler, but he can usually stay on the road in Mario Kart.
The Soapbox: Why is Pokemon GO still a tech demo?
I've been a bit frustrated with Niantic lately. I love some of its ideas, but I watched someone else play Ingress prior to Pokemon GO's...
Pokemon Go shinies, promo codes, and trading
Pokemon GO recently ran a Water Festival to celebrate International Water Day on March 22, a holiday I hadn't known existed in either America or Japan (though...
Pokemon Go: Japan’s snorlax event, gyms, PvP, and trading
Despite what I may think, Niantic is still calling Pokemon GOÂ an MMO at GDC 2017.
Senior Product Manager Tatsuo Nomura referred to it as one...
The Soapbox: Pokemon Go Generation 2 still isn’t a real MMO
Pokemon GO Generation 2 is out now, and it feels a lot like an MMO expansion in a lot of ways:Â We have new features,...
Preview: Path of Exile reveals The Fall of Oriath
Path of Exile fans, today is the big day: Grinding Gear Games is officially unveiling your next expansion, dubbed The Fall of Oriath.
It turns out that the...
First Impressions: Struggling to survive in Conan Exiles
I am no stranger to covering survival sandboxes for Massively OP. I wrestled with dinosaurs before ARK: Survival Evolved was a thing. I got kidnapped...
A Virginia gamer was shot and killed playing Pokemon Go last week
According to Chesapeake, Virginia, news, a 60-year-old resident was shot and killed by a security guard while playing Pokemon Go last week.
The victim, Jiansheng Chen, who...
Ten life lessons I learned from the Asheron’s Call series
As Asheron's Call 1 & 2 are going offline shortly, I thought I might give it a final send-off with a list of things I...
In appreciation for post-apoc Dereth: The life and times of Asheron’s Call 2
On the left in the screenshot above is a windmill in the town of Cragstone in Asheron's Call. On the right is, well, the...
In appreciation for Dereth: The life and times of Asheron’s Call
Imagine a game where magic was actually rare, complicated, and often underwhelming in terms of time vs. efficiency -- a game where players actually...
Examining the potential for exercise and exploration in Pokemon GO
Just in time for your New Year's resolution, we reported on how Pokemon Go was featured in a peer-reviewed study on getting people to move more. But...
MMO lockboxes, keys, and booster packs: Gambling or gaming?
Lockboxes have become a hot topic over the last couple of years. Last month, both our writers and readers crowned SWTOR worst business model of...
How Pokemon Go should integrate Pokemon Sun/Moon
Say what you will about following tradition, but when I first heard more Pokemon would be added to Pokemon GO, the first thing I thought...
The Soapbox: Asheron’s Call is dead, and Turbine killed it
You'd think recent news about Asheron's Call 1 and AC2 would be easy to swallow. After all, we'd already been warned that Turbine was becoming a mobile...
New research suggests head-mounted VR sets are unintentionally sexist
A new research study conducted by University of Minnesota researchers Justin Munafo, Meg Diedrick, and Thomas A. Stoffregen says that head-mounted virtual reality is unintentionally...
Pokemon GO confirms rumors with Generation 2 update, 7800-store Starbucks rollout
The Starbucks leak is at least partially true: Niantic has confirmed that Pokemon Go has teamed up with the coffee company. Starting at 2 p.m. EST today,...
Pokemon Go Starbucks Event and a possible new Pokemon are rumored for December 8
Starbucks Pokemon trainers (or friends of trainers) have apparently leaked images today that purport to reveal an upcoming promotional event for Niantic's Pokemon Go. While most...
A Parent’s Guide to Video Games: Condensing ‘The Video Game Debate’
Remember The Video Game Debate? The game research book edited by Thorsten Quandt and Rachel Kowert, the latter of whom we've been covering here since Massively-that-was? Good....
For Science: A third of our polled social media users quit Pokemon Go over trackers
Pokemon Go has received some large updates recently: the buddy system, medals, some big gym changes (twice), and now we've got dailies. We've been dazzled...
Exploring real-life PUGs, the Plus, and the antisocial nature of Pokemon Go
Although Pokemon Go isn't advertised as an MMO, both experts and players have noted it does present some interesting similarities: Both have tons of players on servers...
