Fifteen years ago we embarked on a journey. Frustrated with the state of information about cooperative games in the renaissance of online gaming, we set out to catalog all of the important bits of information about non-competitive multiplayer. On January 28th, 2008 Co-Optimus was born.
Tower defense games are fun enough, but things really heat up when players get to hop into the action instead of just commanding from the sidelines. We'll be seeing plenty of action in VooDolls, an upcoming Steam game from French developer SideRift and Tate Multimedia. Up to four online players will team up as voodoo dolls who have to defend a ...
HD Online Player (Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe full)
In 2021, Resolution Games released Demeo, a VR game, to Steam Early Access. The game soon received a non-VR edition called Demeo: PC Edition which finally graduated from Early Access (and received a new campaign) in December. Demeo is a "cross platform cooperative adventure" that looks and plays like a fantasy-themed board game. Now that the full game has been released, I jumped at the chance to try it out in both 2-player and 4-player online co-op.
When Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection launched earlier this year, 6 out of the 13 included games featured online multiplayer. That number has now increased by one thanks to this week's huge update. The update adds 2-player online co-op to the Super Nintendo version of TMNT: Turtles in Time as well as numerous new options and enhancements to other parts of the collection. It's going to be a cowabunga-cool Christmas for Turtles fans!
The Nintendo Switch Online Plus Expansion Pack is a yearly subscription that gives players access to numerous features. Among those features is a library of Sega Genesis games, playable on Switch with online multiplayer and other enhancements. 4 new games have just been added to the Switch's Genesis library: Golden Axe II, Alien Storm, Columns, and Virtua Fighter 2. Golden Axe II and Alien Storm are classic 16-bit beat 'em ups, and now Switch Online Plus subscribers can play them with online co-op!
The first game to fully make use of the capabilities of this technology is Sword Art Online, a fantasy MMORPG created by Akihiko Kayaba, the inventor of the very device used to play it. However, a sinister trap awaits the first ten-thousand players who log into the system: they discover that they cannot log out, effectively trapping them within the game.
Star Wars: The Old Republic, simply known as SWTOR or TOR, is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) that was produced and released by BioWare, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. Developed over the course of more than five years by BioWare Austin and LucasArts at a cost of over $200 million, Star Wars: The Old Republic was first conceived in 2005 as an MMORPG follow-up to BioWare's previous video games, the popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and the game was first announced on October 21, 2008. The game itself was released to the public on December 20, 2011, and The Old Republic is accompanied by an expansive metaseries of Star Wars multimedia, including a four-book novel series, three comic series (Threat of Peace, Blood of the Empire, and The Lost Suns), and a number of short stories, as well as additional content.
With the Free-to-Play system, there are restrictions that separate players from Subscribers in terms of gameplay, though many of the restrictions can be bypassed or removed through consumables that can be purchased on the Cartel Market. Players who purchase the game, a Cartel Coin Card, or anything from the online store are granted Preferred Status, which removes some of the restrictions.[85] Any player who has ever paid a monthly subscription at any point in time is automatically granted Preferred Status.[86] Free-to-Play gamers can only access the Sprint and Emergency Fleet Pass abilities at Level 10, and are unable to access bank storage or Secure Trading without purchasing Cartel Market consumables. Players can only train one Crew Skill, have a 200,000 credit cap, and have a restricted chat system as well as access to only two item listings on the Galactic Trade Network. Free-to-Play gamers can only receive in-game mail, and can only have two character slots with only three species options.[87]
Preferred Status players, on the other hand, can access the Sprint ability immediately, and are permitted two Crew Skills and access to the Bank system as well as a credit cap of 350,000. Preferred Status also grants access to Secure Trading, full chat, mail, five Galactic Trade Network listings, and six character slots instead of two. Both Free-to-Play and Preferred Status players are unable to access Operations, and can only play five Warzones, three Flashpoints, and three Space Missions per week. They possess a reduced inventory, a longer cool-down on the Quick-Travel ability, and a delayed access to mounts and speeders, and their ability to use medical probes for instant respawn is reduced to only five times. Both player types cannot normally equip most advanced gear or receive high numbers of commendations, and Subscribers receive a discount on items from vendors and removing modifications from armor. Preferred Status and Free-to-Play players also are restricted to only two quickbars, and do not receive rest experience from waiting in safe areas like Subscribers do.[87]
In 2005, the video game company BioWare secured funding from a private equity fund, Elevation Partners, that would allow them to build a new studio dedicated to developing a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game, as their recent game Neverwinter Nights had driven the company towards exploration of the MMORPG genre. BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk were then approached by Rich Vogel and Gordon Walton, both of whom were veteran MMO developers, at the Game Developers Conference in 2005 with the idea of building a BioWare MMO. Vogel and Walton were based in Austin, Texas and had previously worked on Star Wars: Galaxies, the first Star Wars MMO. When asked, Vogel and Walton agreed to head and build the studio that came to be known as BioWare Austin, and the two worked to gather a team of talented game developers from around Austin, which was already a central location for MMO development beyond BioWare. While Vogel and Walton began to gather recruits from Austin, Muzyka and Zeschuk selected personnel from their Edmonton studio, including James Ohlen and two of the senior designers on Dragon Age: Origins, Daniel Erickson and Emmanuel Lusinchi. The first team meeting took place in an Austin hotel with Muzyka, Zeschuk, Ohlen, Erickson, Lusinchi, Vogel, and Walton, and the group was joined by its lead concept artist Arnie Jorgensen, art director Jeff Dobson, and a former technical director named Bill Dalton.[92]
Once the collaboration was decided, the two companies immediately began to gather their production teams at LucAsts and the new BioWare Austin studio. As with Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare was responsible for the bulk of the game's development, handling all of the script writing, character and environment designs, world building, animation, programming, and the construction of the game's technical systems. LucasArts provided its experience in audio design to help make the game the first fully voiced MMO, and their team was lead by audio director Darragh O'Farrell, video director Wiliam Beckman, and producer Orion Kellogg. By the game's release, LucasArts had cast, directed, recorded, and edited more than three thousand lines of dialogue, and music supervisor and staff composer Jesse Harlin worked alongside seven other composers to create more than six hours of original orchestral and cantina music. Jake Neri and associate producer Tim Temmerman coordinated between the two companies, approving content, providing ideas and feedback, and ensuring that the game met with both player expectations and Lucasfilm's approval. The pair also worked with Lucas Licensing to ensure that the game meshed with current continuity.[92]
Adding to their focus on story, BioWare and LucasArts chose to include the light- and dark-side alignment system from the previous Knights of the Old Republic games. However, initial attempts to transfer the system directly from the first KotOR game proved unworkable, as the system's critics complained about the ultra-polite conversation requirements for gaining light-side points, and The Old Republic would not have a save function to allow players to go back and choose different options. As a result, BioWare decided to make the alignment system more action-based, allowing players more freedom of speech and making their actions more important. This allows Jedi players to become dark-side characters and Sith to become light-side characters without overly affecting the story, as openly declaring one's opposing allegiance to their faction would have consequences on the story. The addition of full voice-acting for the game allowed the developers to create complex, emotional conversations and added a depth to characters that was not seen in any other MMO at the time.[92]
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan is the fourth Digital Expansion for The Old Republic, and launched on December 9, 2014.[12] On February 3, 2014, it was announced that players could expect two Digital Expansions in 2014, similar to the two released in 2013. The first, later announced to Galactic Strongholds, was said to resemble Galactic Starfighter in scope, while the second expansion was stated to be similar to Rise of the Hutt Cartel.[50] The short teaser entitled "A Deadly Force Returns" was released on September 16 and featured the returned Revan;[253] a full announcement was expected by the end of September[254] after a brief trailer entitled "Revan Returns" was released on September 16, but was delayed until October 6.[12] The expansion is a continuation of the "Forged Alliances" three-part Flashpoint storyline, but completion of the "Forged Alliances" Flashpoints is not a requirement for the expansion;[255] the expansion adds solo versions of the Forged Alliance Flashpoints so players can complete the storyline and also includes dialogue for players who have yet to complete Forged Alliances.[44] 2ff7e9595c
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