For as long as there are rules to follow, there will always be someone who will try to go around them, or even break them. In that respect the game world isn't that much different from the real world. In a recent article, CNN takes a closer look at cheating in MMORPGs via the new book "Exploiting Online Games" by Gary McGraw and Greg Hoglund.

They observe that some online game companies seem to have accepted that cheating is an inevitable part gaming so instead of tightening security they just observe game play and look for anything suspicious. Some companies really crack down on cheating though.

Nexon America Inc., for instance, apply patches to remove every method of cheating they discover in their games. Others just actively boot cheaters from the game. The problem with this though is that most of the time they can just return with another identity.

One idea from Intel sounds promising. To prevent cheat commands coming in from a player's computer to the game's server, a chip will be embedded unto the PC itself. The chip will monitor if the PC sends commands that don't coincide with the rules of the game, like if a single mouse click sends a "fire 100 shots" command.

Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa on the other hand, says they've done all they can do to prevent cheating in the game. Starr Long, producer of Tabula Rasa, comments on cheating in MMORPGs:

In the old days we didn't really think through what would happen once we started letting people play together. Every single piece of content we put in the game, the first thing we say is 'Here's what we want this thing to do.' And the second thing we say is, 'OK, how are players going to try to exploit this?

Developers certainly don't benefit from cheating. What about the players? Hubert Thiebolt, who leads one of the largest teams in World of Warcraft says that cheating degrades the experience for everyone else. Perhaps measures for preventing cheating should start with the only ones who benefit from cheating.

You know what they say: it ain't over 'til the fat Draenei sing. Or dance. Or, well, whatever it is they're good at doing these days. And despite World of Warcraft musical composer Jason Hayes not currently working for Blizzard, he still recounts his experiences with the developers in a positive light.

Hayes had a recent interview with GameSpot AU, talking about the obstacles and nuances of the creative process behind music for award-winning MMO franchise. What caught our attention in the interview, however, was talk of his other projects and possible future prospects. Looks like his future is promising - and from the point of view of us gamers, Hayes' dropping of hints in the interview makes us hopeful. Especially with the mention of StarCraft 2...

GameSpot AU: You weren't credited in the Burning Crusade soundtrack or trailers. Did you have any involvement with the projects?
Jason Hayes: I've since gotten involved with NCsoft. It's a different developer, and we're doing a brand-new title for them; a really huge game that isn't announced yet, but it should be very soon, and it's really exciting.

GS AU: Will you be working on the StarCraft 2 soundtrack?

JH: You never know. NCsoft precludes a certain amount of cross-involvement, but you know, Blizzard and their game worlds are so much in my bloodstream now, and I have such an affinity for that, that I certainly am not admitting to myself I won't be involved with things in the future. I hope to get involved with other Blizzard enterprises, because I still have so many friends there, and they just make incredible games.

Interpret that as you will. We're just giving the guy some props for being such a sport with the people he works with. And if his ties to the gaming developers are strong enough, we can expect a lot of good things in the near and far future.

You can check out the rest of the interview behind the Read link below.

 

A lot of bids have been/are being made to beat the current king of the MMORPGs - Blizzard's World of Warcraft. NCSoft Europe director of development, Thomas Bidaux, spoke about this in the Swedish Nordic Game and suggested ways of toppling, as he called it, the "Tyrannosaurus Rex" of the current kingdom.

According to Bidaux, the only way to take down this behemoth is by establishing one's own niche and not challenging the current niche of WoW. He cited a simple example in CCP's EVE Online. This space MMORPG has catered to a different set of gamers and enjoyed some success in penetrating the market.

Aside from this, he also spoke about the main problem that developers and game publishers are encountering in their attempts to enter the market and why they are failing:

There's a hubris issue with MMORPGs: most of them want to be the bigger game and most of them fail... If you want to be successful you have to survive. And if you're a dinosaur then you have to fine the right ecosystem. You have to find your own market, your own niche: you have to find your consumers.

He also pointed out another problem that involved the differences in Asian and Western markets. He said that "Chinese and Korean markets are already at a different step in their evolution. There are lessons to learn from them." Very interesting points, all in all, but implementing all of the changes will take a lot of redesign and planning on the parts of those who have already made forays into the MMORPG market.

 

Lowbies and newbies do it often. For hardcore raiders, it happens a lot. It's an inescapable fact of life in the MMO world whether you be Blizzard or NCSoft. It's a rite of passage that cannot be denied. It's called death, and there are a myriad of ways in which your MMO's avatar could have gone through it.

I remember my first death rather clearly. I was still playing Ragnarok Online then, and I stumbled into the middle of a world event as a lowbie. Thinking that the green colored jelly monster was an easy one, I struck it with my pitiful level 10 sword...

Alas, poor Civrot, the novice. I knew him well. He died that day, for the very first time, because he underestimated a weak-looking creature.

Since then, the myriad ways by which death visited my avatars has steadily increased. I've experienced being trounced by orcs, by undead, and by blood elves. I've been frost shocked, shadow bolted, and backstabbed. I've fallen off cliffs, bridges, and even the very edges of Outland into the great unknown. Worst of all, I've been killed by weak creatures that had the benefit of lag on their side...

Time and time again.

It's painful to remember, and yet we still keep playing the games we love. How about you? What makes you die in MMOs, and what's been responsible for the most memorable death you've ever had in-game?

NCSoft is doing good quite lately in terms of sales and profits. In fact, the company just released its Q1 sales for 2007 and numbers were up 9% to 84.7 billion Korean Won (US$ 98.1 million). Profits also improved for the first four months of this year with total earnings reaching 14.1 billion KRW or roughly around US$ 15.3 million.

All of these, NCSoft noted, is due to its strong line up of MMO video game titles especially Lineage and Lineage II. Aside from this 9% increase, operating income also rose 96% all in all. Chief Finance Officer Lee Jae-ho added,

Our first quarter sales and operating income rose 9 per cent and 96 per cent respectively. Furthermore, we expect to attain sustainable growth in the second half after releasing a string of new game titles starting with the much anticipated closed beta testing on Richard Garriot's Tabula Rasa on May 2.

The first Lineage made up 38% of sales while Lineage II snatched the bigger slice with 41%. Guild Wars, on the other hand, was able to add 14% and the tandem of City of Heroes/Villains for 7%. These numbers really mean something for the company as its total sales and profits were down as of Q4 of 2006.

Taking a cue from NCSoft's PvP-centric MMORPG Guild Wars, Blizzard's World of Warcraft has finally entered the world of professional gaming. Arena teams have also started getting sponsorships. The first were Power Trip and ZERG IT UP, who are being sponsored by Team Pandemic and CheckSix, respectively. Just recently, we posted about The Fighting Mongooses signing on with Enervate Gaming.

With these new developments, one is left wondering how the whole pro gaming atmosphere will change Azeroth as we know it. In a recent feature, 1UP took a long, hard look at what could be lying in store for World of Warcraft in the pro gaming industry.

"At the moment there are still balance issues that need to be worked out both in-game and in the arena ranking system itself. These issues will continue to become less and less of a problem as Blizzard is surely working hard to alleviate any and all problems standing in the way of its massive freight train of a game," said Stephen Schoder of CheckSix. "In the future you will soon find that Blizzard has tweaked the game to near perfection in preparation for mainstream eSports competition."

"This is only the beginning of what's to come in my eyes - things are only going to get more popular and more companies and teams are going to start to see the potential competitive WoW has," said Power Trip's Joseph Romano. "As far as people going for the 'slice of the Sandpear pie,' yes, I think a lot of people are going to start playing WoW more competitively, especially if gear is on equal terms with longstanding teams."

For the full article, click on the "read" link below.

WoW players must have been having the time of their lives with the in-game Hallow's End celebration. We heard that players can bob apples, wear masks, and do virtual trick or treating to various innkeepers until November 1.

On another note, NCSoft celebrates the Halloween festivities with cool quests. Lineage, for one, will have a monster invasion , while a certain quest in Lineage II may result to a Coffer of Shadows/Omega's Cat purchase for 50,000 adena. Guild Wars will commemorate the event together with Mad King Thorn and his ghouls. Rumor has it that those who want to take a look at this monarch's otherworldly glow will be rewarded with prizes, or if they get lucky, a Halloween gift or two.

No kidding. A lot of MMOs really put a lot of effort in incorporating the usual holiday festivities, and a lot of gamers really look forward to experiencing those. In fact, according to our source, there are around seven million gamers who look forward to gaming holiday festivities (and probably we here at QJ are guilty for being part of that statistic). Honesty, who wouldn't? Not only are there loads of decorations to ogle at, there are cartloads of treats being given away as well.

And although some people think that this is just a marketing ploy to "steal" gamers away from their loved ones during the holidays, we think that these holiday rackets are sure a lot of fun. In fact, some gaming companies even think that these holiday add-ons make the games more grounded on reality:

"The primary purpose of the event is to change the face of the world for a while, which is a driving philosophy behind many of our events," Blizzard representatives said. "We enjoy making the World of Warcraft a more dynamic, living world, and these events certainly help this."

Way to go, Blizzard. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some WoW Hallow's End catching up to do. Do let us know what you think of this, alright?

Yes, I know that you hardcore console folks (I'm looking at you, PSPeeps!) hate seeing this sort of stuff on your blogs, but I'm giving you warning - there's a shameless plug ahead! But we gotta get the word out on two of our newest blogs - and not just any blogs, our first game specific blogs! We all know that MMORPG's are big, and it's the nature of an online beast to have lots of news, updates, patches, mods and upgrades to talk about. These new blogs have been lurking around the QJ network all this week, but it's time to give them the proper introduction they deserve.

Okay, so that one doesn't need much of an introduction. Everyone's heard of a little game called World of Warcraft, right? Yeah, I thought so. It is the MMORPG of our times with millions upon millions of players wandering through the world of Azeroth every single minute of every single day. And that's just the beginning. With the upcoming release of the Burning Crusade expansion, things are about to get even bigger. So it's a perfect time to launch our own WoW blog to keep everyone on top of every single bit of info out there! There's no stopping World of Warcraft from dominating the globe...

...or is there? You see, there's this little gem of a game that's been in the works for over 4 years from the fine folks at NCSoft and Destination Games. At the helm is Ultima Online">Richard Garriott aka Lord British, the mastermind behind the grand-daddy of modern MMORPG's - Ultima Online. With experience and an award winning art team on their side, Tabula Rasa hopes to wipe the slate clean and knock WoW off its high horse. With a unique crossbreeding of 3rd person RPG action with alien-blasting FPS controls and tactics, it might do just that.

TR will soon be hitting the beta stage, and we here at QJ want to be in on the ground floor of what will most likely be the next big thing in the MMORPG universe. This is the place to be if you want to keep up on all the latest news, art renders, screenshots, and developments.

So there you have it - two new blogs to check out, with some pretty snazzy sneak peaks and exclusive content on the way. And a third new blog isn't far behind, and hopefully it will fill the obvious hole in the QJ Network when it comes to gaming news!

At the top of the most popular PC games in the U.S. is (surprise!) the ever-popular Sims 2. Although its MMO incarnation did not take off as EA was hoping, its latest expansion, Family Fun Stuff was the best seller for the week of 7 May, while Open For Business and the original game took sixth and seventh place.

Of more interest to MMO gamers, World of Warcraft - which took a MMORPG.com prize at E3 - came in second, followed by Guild Wars Factions, which was NCsoft's first stand-alone expansion for this particular MMO.

PC versions of the two most popular Xbox 360 games took fourth and fifth: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and  Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter from Ubisoft

.

Three "real-time strategy" games by RTS took the last three spots: Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends, Age of Empires III and Star Wars: Empire at War came in eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.