Since we had technology troubles on 23.5, we got together again to do episode 24 proper justice. On this episode, we cut out the news and extras and get right into an hour of round table. This week, we’re talking:

• Negativity in MMOs,
• Used game sales, who’s to blame?
• Half-MMOs

The show came out great and is wonderfully tangential. We use our topics as a launching point and expand, but, hey, we bring it back around, I think.

Oh, and links. Got to have links:

• Hunter’s Insight – Read it!
• Upshift Strike Racer – Play it!
• MMOV Podcast – Hear it!

We’re trying a new topic format, so let us know what you think! Also, big kudos to Ferrel for editing. It’s a bigger job than you’d think and he’s doing great with it.

Long time no see! I know, it’s been too long, but we’re back.  This episode actually demonstrates some of the technological issues we’ve been running into trying out new recorders. Unfortunately, Ferrel echoes throughout; however, the content itself was too good not to share — hence, 23.5 and not 24.

We talk about lots of stuff on this episode: the Neverwinter MMO, the LotRO cash shop, EQ Next, raiding, and more. Enjoy!

Another week, another Multiverse! This week we touch on the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning trailer, FFXIV’s recommended requirements, the cast of DCUO, and more! We have a clarification from last week, too. It seems that the reported 200k new subscribers for LotRO were actually beta applicants. Still impressive, in my opinion! Thanks to Green Armadillo and Doc Holiday for catching that. Green Armadillo also has a post up inspired by our conversation on GW2 from last week. Check it out here.

Our round table this week focused on atmosphere. After playing through a few of Cataclysm’s new starting zones, I started to notice just how immersive they felt – but not because of narrative; rather, atmosphere! We discuss what makes of breaks the illusion and what little noticed pieces we appreciate the most. Ending the segment, we answer an email from Deloryan, who writes:

Hi muliverse crew!! A lot of my friends turn off the music in wow and I don’t get it. I LOVE video game music and think it adds a lot to the experience. Do you guys listen to the music in games and do you have any favorites from the mmorpgs you play?

The last half of this show represents one of the funniest times we’ve had together. Riknas is finally shut out from the furry club. You’re in or you’re out and, unlike some kinds of club, we don’t mind talking openly about it!

Don’t forget to check out my blog of the week, Hunter’s Insight (latest post), for a great look at the upcoming Guild Wars 2. And, if you need a laugh, check out Riknas’s F2P game of the week: Arch Lord.

The ending music of this week’s show is also changed. In honor of my re-downloading the game, we’re featuring one of the most epic scores from Mass Effect 2.

Oh, and before I forget, my new year’s resolution (new year for the blog, anyways), I’m resolving to fit editing time into my Monday to get you these in a more timely manner.

Thanks for listening!

PS: We had some technical issues, so this show is a longer than usual. We’ll be back to our normal one hour format next week.

Vagary Homepage
Subscribe to the Show
iTunes Feed

We’re back this week with the much delayed Episode 22 of The Multiverse: MMO Radio. We first tried this show back on the ninth – right before real names on the forums got canceled – but, as luck would have it, my hard drive crashed and the show was lost. But, intrepid podcaster and great friend Ferrel stepped up to host our return!

This week, we took a pass on the Real ID topic. Well, mostly. We don’t really talk about it but there’s a little segment at the end Ferrel didn’t want to let fade into the internet obscurity. Instead, we talk about the slew of upcoming MMOs 2010 and ‘11 promise to bring us. Is a play or not play show and I have to say that I the my co-hosts surprised me more than once.

Oh, fair warning, there may be an explitive at the end of the show. I had it noted and was ready to cover it with a great chicken impression from Ferrel but, for the life of me, I couldn’t find it again. It was somewhere around our conversation about Legos. Yeah, we cussed during the most childlike portion of the show. Sometimes, when you’re feeling like a kid, you need to feel like a bad kid. Just saying.

Anyhow, the show will get censored and re-uploaded. But, for now, we give you Episode 22.

Enjoy!

Vagary Homepage
Subscribe to the Show
iTunes Feed

Our topic for this show is MMO overhauls. We’ve all seen it happen. An MMO suddenly pulls up roots and changes itself to match the market trend. It started with SWG and it continues with Global Agenda. The question is, is it a good thing or a bad thing? We also spend a little time talking about MMOs that we think desperately need an overhaul and what we’d do with them.

And we have tangents, but you’re used to that by now

To the notes!

Vagary Homepage
Subscribe to the Show
iTunes Feed
Download/Listen Here

Intro:
What’s new this week?
What have we been playing?

Round Table:
News
- Blizzard not planning on taking WoW F2P*
- Progress being made on Torchlight MMO
- FFXIV coming out sept. 30th, march 30th
- WoW Cataclysm beta has begun!
- NBC planning a video game show for primetime

Main Topic

- MMO Overhauls – Payment models, NGE, LotRO going F2P.
- What MMOs would we overhaul and how?

Sorry for the delay on this one. I was a klutz and accidentally deleted it from the server during press time. In any event, on this episode we crew together with the folks from the MMO Voices podcast and talk about the week’s news and more. Join us for the crossover event to end all crossover events on The Multiverse: Episode #20!

Vagary Homepage
Subscribe to the Show
iTunes Feed
Download/Listen Here

Just a head’s up that we’re postponing episode #20 until next week when we’ll be doing a cross-over event with the MMO Voices podcast. Fun! Sorry for the change of plans, but it should make for a better milestone show!

See you on 6/18!

- Chris

This was a good show. The chat room was booming and, at one pointed, a heated debate even broke out. Thanks to everyone who came out to listen live! We’d love to see even more people in there, so join us this Friday at 7:30PM EST by clicking the link above or checking out our sidebar.

I will say this though, we had a couple of technical problems with the stream this week and had to break to fix them. On the plus side, it allowed some very strange audio to come through on Skype. Gavin’s and my mind run amuck
and fun ensues.

Without further delay, to the notes!

Vagary Homepage
Subscribe to the Show
iTunes Feed
Download/Listen Here

The Multiverse – Episode #19 – “In Defense of Gold Buying (and the Point of MMOs)”

Intro:

• What have we been playing/up to this past week?
  • New writers at Game by Night
• Thank you to Merric of Casual Stroll to Mordor for the 5-star review. *Sorry, I forgot to mention this during the recording. I’ll get you next time, Merric!

Roundtable:

• News:
  • Symantec analyzes stolen accounts.
    • 44 million of them! Wayi – 16 million; Ncsoft – 2 million (60,000 from Aion); WoW – 16,000.
  • Sony announces new Star Wars MMO.
    • Free to play with a subscription option to access more content. Browser based, mini-games.
      • Syp reports, “Players will socialize in hubs, meet iconic Star Wars characters, and head off together or solo for a variety of activities, including spaceship battles, tower defense, card games, droid programming and speeder bike racing.”
      • About 20 mini-games present at launch.
  • Bioware claims SW:TOR to contain “50 novels of content”
    • ““The thing that has been a challenge for us on Old Republic is that people tried to convince us these limitations were canon – that they were to be respected, you know? That you could not, in fact, put interesting bits in an MMO because that was now sacrilege.”
• Main Topic: What is the point of MMOs – why do we play, what keeps us playing, and, really, what is the point? How do we feel about Bioware’s feelings that standard MMOs are pointless and what does this mean for TOR?
• Debate: Is it time to accept gold buyers?

Host Segments:

• Chris’ Blog of the Week: Not a blog, but a column! The Game Archaeologist.

Close:

• Shoutouts:
  • Check out the new Vagary! We’re going to E3.
• Contact us at: multiversepodcast@gmail.com

Relevant Links:

• Ferrel’s Site
• Riknas’ Site
• Chris’ Site

• ITG! Is Gaikai and OnLive the future of gaming?
• Gordon asks: is in-game roleplaying dead?
• Just for fun: Tipa has a flaming Rhinocerrous
• And more!

My blog of the week this week is Nomadic Gamer. Keep up the great work guys!

Vagary Homepage
Subscribe to the Show
iTunes Feed
Download/Listen Here:

Happy Tuesday Folks,

Another week, another Multiverse. Riknas was under the weather this week, so it was just Ferrel and I, with Ferrel at the helm. I’ve gotta say, I kind of like being a co-host. And a harvest queen– you’ll just have to listen to get that one.

Ferrel was in rare form, too. I’m pretty sure there’s a thin slice of people he didn’t offend, but it’s hard to say. You can direct your hate mail to multiversepodcast@gmail.com and let him know how you feel. Just remember, he looks a bit like Arnold Schwarzenegger, so choose your words wisely my friends.

Without further delay, here are this weeks amended notes.

Vagary Homepage
Subscribe to the Show
iTunes Feed
Download/Listen Here:

News:
Heroes of Might and Magic Online hits Closed Beta
Fallen Earth lay offs (late but still important)
Games Workshop sues Warhammer Alliance
Obama says games are bad for democracy?

Talking Points:
Cataclysm puling players back into WoW. Are you going back and why? Why can’t we escape this thing?

“In the year 2000″ a look at MMOs that are coming up you might not have heard of: Planes of Telara, Copernicus project

Contest Winners:

Oriik
Insoo Hwang
Jeremy

Thanks for entering!

Contact: multiversepodcast@gmail.com