MMORPG much? It's a brave new world in Halo 3 land

By Sam Broadbent

October 18, 2007 | MMORPG, RPG, FPS, and RTS to the average joe mean very little, but in the life of a gamer these acronyms represent hours of effort and hundreds of dollars.

Massive multiplayer online role playing games, role playing games, first person shooters, and real-time strategies are just a portion of the games available for purchase at Wal-mart or almost any mall.

For some gamers playing these games has used a lot of money and many hours of waiting in lines.

"I sold my spot in last year line for $200 to a kid who said he had to have a Nintendo Wii," said Brandon McGary, Utah State University student and online gamer. "I thought it was awesome!"

The Wii was first available in the United States on Nov. 19, 2006. According to IGN.com in the first eight days of sales over 600,000 Wii consoles were sold and at $250 a pop that equals over $150 million for Nintendo.

"It's just something new," was USU student Ryan Hall's explanation for the high demand of the Wii. Hall went on to say most gamers just want the newest stuff out there and its not always that the system or game is that great.

One factor that set Nintendo apart from its competition was its pricing. The Xbox 360 priced at $400 when it was released and the Playstation 3 was priced at $600 at its debut. Wii was able to provide a new product for the smaller budget.

Like Hall said, in the gaming world whoever has the newest console or game is on top. In the console realm of gaming, the newest hype comes from Halo 3.

"When I showed up at the mall at 9:30 p.m. the night of the Halo 3 release there were already hundreds in line in front of me," said McGary.

The store manager at EB games in the mall said they were issued 500 copies of Halo 3 and that all of the copies had been reserved months prior to the release date.

Some of the first to receive their copies of Halo 3 were seen running from the building yelling and screaming.

According the the player counter on Bungie.net there are over 250,000 players online playing Halo 3.

"Online game play is the main reason I bought the game," said Parker Williams, a Logan local, "I want the highest rank among my friends."

Not everyone however plays for online ranking or to have the newest game on the market. Some gamers don't even use a console.

The computer gamer doesn't use a console at all. As a result, dealing with lines and console costs is seldom a problem.

Sam Francis, a USU alumnus, pointed out that the computer has done everything a console does, but the computer did it first.

"Multiplayer internet gaming, communicating in a game, and playing your own music during a game all started on computers and console creators are now learning to reproduce these features," said Francis.

Francis also enjoys that computer game play guarantees him his own screen during multiplayer games. "On consoles if you play on the same screen your opponents can look at your screen and cheap shot you," said Francis.

One of the larger MMORPGs is World of Warcraft (WOW). The website www.mmogchart.com tracks subscriptions of various online games and currently WOW has one of the highest active memberships of 12 million users.

Playing World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer role-playing online game (MMORPG), was the pastime of Williams for over a year.

"My friends and I were hardcore! We would level up to a 70 and if we didn't like the combination we would just start over," said Williams. "We started over four or five times."

The original WOW game is available at most electronics stores for around $20, but requires an online membership which costs around $14.99 a month.

UVSC student Christin Buck asked, "I don't understand why anyone would spend that much time and money on a stupid game?"

But the 12 million active accounts on WOW and the 250,000 players on Halo 3 seem to disagree with Buck.

"I use gaming as a relaxant, but it's hard for me to justify it because I think it's a huge waste of time," said Jacob Roskelley, USU student. Roskelley went on to say he rarely plays more than once or twice a week, due to a busy schedule.

Francis said he games because its fun and provides a challenge.

"When you play online the games a never the same each opponent is someone in other part of the world," said Francis.

For more information about gaming go to your local electronics store and ask the clerk who looks the youngest.

NW
MS