First Person Shooter
MMO
Strategy
Assassins Creed
BioShock
Command and Conquer 3
Civilization 4
Company of Heroes
Crysis
Dirt
Enemy Territory
Far Cry 2
Fear
Gears of War
Guild Wars
Halo 2
Lord of the Rings
Oblivion
The Orange Box
The Ship
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Starcraft II
Unreal Tournament 3
World in Conflict
Graphics Card (def)
Installation
Keeping Clean

A somewhat new game genre with roots that go back two decades, the MMO or (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) is a huge step towards coop in gaming and networking millions of people together. This grammatically bad sounding genre revolutionized how we play games and how much disc space a game can fill on just one CPU. These MMO games don't necessary jump any hurdles as far as graphics are concerned, with most games utilizing graphics engines of last gen systems, they soar when it comes to gameplay. Mixing a nostalgic feel of old RPGs with massive amounts of new spells, techniques, skills, and so on.

Enough of an introduction, to be honest, as far as graphics cards go, most MMO's don't need that powerful of a graphics card. They need tons of disc space but usually graphics are simplified in order to make such vast countries spanning virtual miles across the game. If you are playing a game like World of Warcraft you only need any lower end card under 128MB, yes it says officially that you only need a 64 MB video card to run this game which you can buy for under 100$. Other MMO's like Rappelz, and Guild Wars have similar requirements and will work just fine with lower end g-cards.

There is still the future of MMOs, and its okay to be cautious about what next gen MMOs will bring graphically. Such newer games like Pirates of the Burning Sea, Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, Age of Conan and a slew of other multiplayer mediodrecies, will have a quite similar system requirement as to previous MMO games. So if you really don't have a computer that can run World of Warcraft or any other MMO game then it is time for a graphic/video card upgrade! In conclusion MMO's rock for bringing the gameplay.

Will the games that offer us a world wide connection and seemingly never ending experience ever catch up to the graphics curve of modern gaming? Are MMO doomed by there own nature to have a style that will always be considered last gen? Should people look beyond graphical beauty and see the shining force of gameplay included in some of the greatest MMORPGs?

You boot up your computer, download an MMO, run the game and find a simplified graphical experience... does it bother you or are you taken by the community and gameplay? The preference is usually split in to two types of people: the people who play these MMOs and fall in love with the immersive experience and the people who don't play MMOs and hate therefore hate their graphics. As biased as it seems most MMO graphic haters are of those who don't play MMOs, but that doesn't mean that the graphics couldn't change for the better in a lot of these games. What better to exemplify the gameplay then adding incredible realistic graphics? The problem is most developers can't make a game so massive running smoothly if they focus on creating the best textures, shaders and modelers and a MMO is something that should be able to be played by all PC owners regardless of there RAM, Graphics Card and Processor.

World of Warcraft offers huge worlds made of simplified polygons, very simple lighting techniques, reused textures, and some fairly good particle effects. The game requires a graphics card of 64MB, a card existing in most computers from several years back. What is the future of MMO gaming? What games are going to come out that blow these graphics away? Well in all honest if your waiting for MMOs to catch up to the high powered graphics card curve than your kinda out of luck for this next year (2009). Practically no games carry a graphics card over 128MB and offer similar looking graphics to the MMORPGs in the past. Not to say that there is no hope, one particular game has shown some promise, a game called Fury. This MMO fighter game, shows more violent gameplay, smoother lighting and a almost next gen look (as far as early previews go). This game might bring something to the table, with the systems requirements making you have a 256MB graphics card.

All and all a improved graphics card level in MMO gaming isn't that much of a argument or a problem especially when people still see themselves playing World of Warcraft for another couple years or even if you haven't put down Everquest. Keep those heads high all you high res graphics fans, or go check out the new fast paced MMO fury.





We have set some of the solid foundations of what an MMO should be with such games like Guild Wars, World of Warcraft and even as far back as Everquest. Are developers ready to take the next step with more creative ideas? or are we just forced to repeat the same spells on our hot keys?

A lot of peoples takes on a MMORPG are "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," a totally true statement to everybody already playing fantasy RPG's like WOW. Although can this MMO genre be stretched to a wider audience or a niche for those not attracted to video games at all?

• Pirates of the Burning Sea might not stray away from the formula too far, but some of the concepts are totally new. With focus more on economical gameplay and finding a place in the brave new world, rather than just fighting or searching dungeons for a belt made of unicorn hair, it can contribute something more to the genre.
• Another game called Fury adds slight variance to the group with fast style almost deathmatch like MMO gameplay, which has you fighting in realtime using spells and weapsons.
• The last game on our radar is a game called Tabula Rasa which is looking very interesting adding the same RPG qualities as previous games but adding more real time strategy shooting in the action. You shoot guns, take cover, and think on your feet, unlike some other real time battling system games that still feel turn based.

Other than that, we have seen strengths improve in other games that keep a similar structure to games like WOW, with such games like Dungeons and Dragons, Conan, Warhammer, etc you have similar acounts of leveling up, upgrading, and questing with slight varience between them all, but its hard to find the appeal if your not into fantasy gameplay.

Another option is to look to the internet to find a MMO that fits your style, personality, or niche, some people may find success with a free MMO others may find themselves playing something that looks like a high school multi-media project. Not to discredit the makers of any MMO because it takes commitment to make such a massive world without bugs and error messages. You don't see very many smaller game developers making MMO because it is a many year painstaking project, which also might explain why developers don't stray too far away from the MMO formula. 2007 might not be the break out year for diverse MMO's but there still are a lot of games that are worth the fans of the genres attention, and we will definitely be seeing more in 2008.