Allakhazam Year in Review

Now that 2008 has come to an end we thought it might be fun to do a recap on some of the major news and features that you may have missed. Overall, 2008 was a great year for the gaming industry as a whole, with some amazing advancements in the MMO space. So sit back, nurse that coffee and take one final look at Allakhazam in 2008.

January

  • Allakhazam visited the Consumer Electronics Show. The fun began on Jan. 7 as Tovin reported on the first day of activities, which included Sony’s announcement that the PSP would support Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider Skype and new rigs from Voodoo PC and Alienware.
  • World of Warcraft reached 10 million players on Jan. 22. Blizzard recently announced that they had hit the 11.5 million mark, so it demonstrates the game’s rapic growth.

February

  • Blizzard started off the month by winning a lawsuit against the gold-selling company In Game Dollar (doing business as Peons4Hire).
  • To continue the World of Warcraft-related news, Upper Deck announced they were working on the World of Warcraft Miniatures Game, which was ultimately released on Nov. 11.

March

  • Calthine and Kiara talked with Torrie Dorrell, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for Sony Online Entertainment, about the company’s G.I.R.L. program which is a scholarship for women pursuing careers in game design. The scholarship was announced in February.
  • Gary Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, sadly passed away on March 4 at 69.
  • Turbine Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel announced Mines of Moria, the first expansion to Lord of the Rings Online, would be released in the fall. As we now know, it was released on Nov. 18. Steefel then talked with Allakhazam about the announcement.

 

April

  • Blizzard kicked off the month with an April Fool’s joke, saying that Molten Core will be coming to the Atari 2600. (Little did they know a fan would end up making the game for fun.)
  • Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment announced the opening of FireSky, a subsidiary of the company that will publish not only their upcoming Stargate Worlds MMO, but also their other upcoming online games.


May

  • SOE announced that Rise of Kunark, the fourth expansion for EverQuest II, was the best-selling EQII expansion to date.
  • Beckett's Massive Online Gamer picked its top 20 most influential people in the MMO industry, and Rob Pardo, Senior VP of Game Design for Blizzard Entertainment earned the top spot.


June

  • The Dungeons and Dragons Online update “The Way of the Monk” adds the first new playable class (yes, the monk) to the game since its launch.


July

  • NCsoft combined the worlds of City of Heroes and City of Villains, making both subscriptions valid for all content.


August

  • The first trailer for Mines of Moria, the first Lord of the Rings Online expansion, is released.


September


October

  • RealU and dtp entertainment announce they are working on an Otherland MMO, which is based on Tad Williams’ series of science fiction novels.
  • LucasArts and BioWare announce they have teamed up to develop Star Wars: The Old Republic, an MMORPG set 300 years after Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
  • Gracia Part 2, the newest Lineage II expansion, is released.


November

  • According to Dr. John Parmentola, Director of Research and Laboratory Management with the U.S. Army’s science and technology office, the Army wants to use MMOs to test out virtual human beings.


December

  • SOE launches Station Cash, a new microtransaction service, in EverQuest and EverQuest II.
  • Squadrons Over Corellia, the first expansion for the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game, is launched.

Happy New Year! We look forward to providing you with quality content in 2009!

 

Andrew "Tamat" Beegle
Editor-in-Chief
Allakhazam.com

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Darryl "Togikagi" Gangloff
Reporter
Allakhazam.com

Comments

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surprized
# Jan 03 2009 at 3:43 AM Rating: Decent
27 posts
Unless i missed it somewhere,i seen no mention of EQ SoF expansion.It was a big expansion in my view with the addition of mercs.
Living Legacy
# Jan 02 2009 at 5:48 PM Rating: Decent
28 posts
It's very interesting to see how big the MMO world has grown, more than I think I even realized. However, I was surprised to see the Living Legacy events weren't mentioned, which I thought was this year? Although, I could be losing it. lol
Fun times!
# Jan 02 2009 at 2:36 PM Rating: Excellent
What a great year... but you forgot about our Leipzig coverage! Okay, so not a ton of info - but it was a blast!

Good luck in the new year, Andrew. Much lub! <3
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