mark kern
The Game Archaeologist: Firefall, an MMO tragedy about more than just a bus
Back when I first started writing for Massively and was energetic enough to go on trips to trade shows, I hit up a PAX...
Perfect Ten: MMOs that ghosted us after talking a big game
There's nothing worse as a fan of games to buy into all of the hype and previews of a promising-looking project only to see...
Perfect Ten: Get out of my dreams and get into my (MMO) car
Cars. They go vroom-vroom, and then they go really fast, and how do we live in a country where you basically need a car...
Whatever happened to Mark Kern’s crowdfunded Firefall-successor Em-8er?
We're taking a trip back to the halcyon days of Firefall to set the stage for this piece, so hop aboard the esports bus...
Perfect Ten: 10 notable MMO developers that shut their doors
When En Masse Entertainment announced that it would be closing its doors this fall, we here at Massively OP came to the realization that...
Mark Kern didn’t just quit WoW Classic: He accused his old Firefall studio of Chinese corruption
Earlier this week, we reported that former World of Warcraft Team Lead Mark Kern had very publicly posted that he was quitting WoW over...
Massively Overthinking: MMOs, challenge, and flow
A couple of weeks ago, MMO developer Mark Kern tweeted a controversial claim about how challenge and interactivity is the point of games (and...
Perfect Ten: MMOs that set themselves up as spiritual successors
As with the larger video game market, sequels aren't unknown in the MMO space. We've seen studios take a stab at following up successful...
Mark Kern’s crowdfunded MMO shooter Em-8ER has ‘nearly’ finished its demo characters
It's been a while since we checked in on Em-8ER, Mark Kern's frustratingly named "massive planetary wargame," so we're rectifying that today.
MMO players will...
Em-8ER lands Firefall’s composer, works on demo
So what has Mark Kern's Em-8ER been up to these past couple of months? The team shared the latest news about the giant mech...
Firefall will officially sunset tomorrow
Did our article yesterday on MMOs in limbo knock one loose? Probably not, but one of them is sunsetting all the same: Firefall. Late last...
Perfect Ten: MMOs in limbo
The one thing that I thought we could all count on forever was that the MMO life cycle was pretty easy to understand. A...
Em-8ER funds on Indiegogo and adds new stretch goals
If you were worried that Mark Kern's Em-8ER (properly pronounced "eem-eight-er" for those willing to die upon snarky hills) wouldn't fund on its latest...
Mark Kern will share Em-8ER’s design vision – for a price
Em-8ER, Mark Kern's attempt at subverting game naming conventions (and also something about giant mechs), is launching its next limited fundraiser on Monday to...
Em-8er creates 20-page ‘pitch’ book to sell the game concept
Mark Kern's Em-8er project has reached another internal milestone, with the team achieving a few small (and decidedly quirky) goals such as creating an...
Mark Kern’s Em-8ER on omniframe classes, THMPR animations
Mark Kern's crowdfunded MMO-shooter Em-8ER has a slew of new videos out this week featuring animations for the THMPR, finishing off the mech's "basic...
The Soapbox: What the Mass Effect Andromeda kerfuffle ought to teach us about games criticism
Today is the official release of Mass Effect: Andromeda, which was preceded by the frankly baffling decision to allow people access to an early...
Mark Kern’s Em-8er lore combines Nazis, ghosts, and terraforming
"Welcome to the world of Ember, or as star charts designate it, Em-8ER ('E-M-Eight-E-R')," says a new dev blog from Mark Kern's Em-8ER MMO...
Em8er steps gingerly across its fire and ice tiles
Virtual landsapes are made up of thousands of tiles that are shaped and forged into landmarks and obstacles. The first steps to making Em8er's...
Mark Kern offers Em-8ER credit to Firefall players and founders
If you're a former Firefall player -- or a current one, since technically it's still alive -- and you are looking forward to Mark...
