I've played a number of MMORPGs…some of which keep me invested for months on end, while others bore me within a few days or weeks. I've been a dwarf. I've fought orcs. I've seen too many elves to count. I've flown in space. I've shot lasers. Throughout my adventures, however, I've never ran across a true horror themed MMORPG (no, slapping a vampire or werewolf in as a playable race is not a horror MMO in my book). In this series of articles based around a theoretical trip through the world of building a MMORPG, join me as we discuss the creation and premise of our very own game: Dead End.

Last time, we focused on the human character classes of the game, which would define the type of character you'd play as. This time around we're going to focus on the various character classes we're eyeing for the game in terms of the zombies.

I've played a number of MMORPGs…some of which keep me invested for months on end, while others bore me within a few days or weeks. I've been a dwarf. I've fought orcs. I've seen too many elves to count. I've flown in space. I've shot lasers. Throughout my adventures, however, I've never ran across a true horror themed MMORPG (no, slapping a vampire or werewolf in as a playable race is not a horror MMO in my book). In this series of articles based around a theoretical trip through the world of building a MMORPG, join me as we discuss the creation and premise of our very own game: Dead End.

Last time, we focused on how players will be able to play as zombies in the game's PVP system and perma-servers. This time around we're going to focus on the various character classes we're eyeing for the game in terms of the human characters.

I've played a number of MMORPGs…some of which keep me invested for months on end, while others bore me within a few days or weeks. I've been a dwarf. I've fought orcs. I've seen too many elves to count. I've flown in space. I've shot lasers. Throughout my adventures, however, I've never ran across a true horror themed MMORPG (no, slapping a vampire or werewolf in as a playable race is not a horror MMO in my book). In this series of articles based around a theoretical trip through the world of building a MMORPG, join me as we discuss the creation and premise of our very own game: Dead End.

Last time, we focused on how the main gameplay would be utilized, going for a Fallout 3-esque FPS system. In this week's installment we're going to focus on the one thing a zombie apocalypse MMO couldn't be without – playable zombies.

I've played a number of MMORPGs…some of which keep me invested for months on end, while others bore me within a few days or weeks. I've been a dwarf. I've fought orcs. I've seen too many elves to count. I've flown in space. I've shot lasers. Throughout my adventures, however, I've never ran across a true horror themed MMORPG (no, slapping a vampire or werewolf in as a playable race is not a horror MMO in my book). In this series of articles based around a theoretical trip through the world of building a MMORPG, join me as we discuss the creation and premise of our very own game: Dead End.

Last time, we focused on the general premise behind the game, including the world and type of stories we're looking to tell players. In this week's installment we're going to focus on the basic gameplay mechanics. Here's a hint: we aren't doing click and kill.

I've played a number of MMORPGs…some of which keep me invested for months on end, while others bore me within a few days or weeks. I've been a dwarf. I've fought orcs. I've seen too many elves to count. I've flown in space. I've shot lasers. Throughout my adventures, however, I've never ran across a true horror themed MMORPG (no, slapping a vampire or werewolf in as a playable race is not a horror MMO in my book). In this series of articles based around a theoretical trip through the world of building a MMORPG, join me as we discuss the creation and premise of our very own game: Dead End.

During the last great E3, I remember attending Nintendo's presser at the Kodak Theater and it was an awe-inspiring event as it was the first unveiling of the Wii. I went to Nintendo's presser the year after, however, and I was bored out of my mind and left early to cover other stuff. Having a good presser isn't necessarily a guaranteed win for the company that season, but it comes close as a good indicator. With that in mind we're going to analyze Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo's press conferences and see how they rank. Plus, if the winner were to be decided based on things saw, who would've won?

Everybody loves lists. Like flies to honey, nobody can resist a list, if only to then argue about the items on it. Recently, I was thinking just how easy games are now. If you get a game and put a decent amount of time into it, you're pretty much assured to complete it. But the young ones nowadays who only grew up with fancy graphics and surround sound have no idea that there was a time where finishing a game was literally impossible. We'd scour video game magazines or code booklets at the bookstore to find a cheat that would reveal a game's ending.

In the spirit of nostalgia, I present a list of the top 5 hardest games that I've ever played. Mind you, these are games that I played. Before some of you get uppity that I didn't include Battletoads or Comix Zone, I didn't play those games, or at least not nearly enough to discover just how hard they were.

We're near the eve of E3 and we've gotten a little nostalgic about the history of gaming. Though we expect great games to be a given, we're also hoping for some technical evolutions at the show, as the industry is known for taking great leaps and bounds when introducing new concepts that changed gaming. We look back and present our Top Ten Technological Advancements In Gaming.

I’ve just got back from going to the convention center to get my media badge after having had a chance to watch the Microsoft conference. I let the fanboy-ish “OMG! OMG!” moments settle in – thought not too many of those – and have let the less than stellar moments warm up to me a little as well. As it turns out, Microsoft is great at providing games…and equally great at ripping off other companies. I wonder how long until we get a quirky title to make fun of how the Avatar system is nothing more than a Microsoft Mii.