Bitmob Game Club Third Edition: Game Selection

Editor's note: Alex needs your help selecting a game for the latest edition of Bitmob Game Club. He's looking for a multiplayer game that's free. Any ideas? Leave your suggestions in the comments and follow his instructions for a chance to become an official contributor! -Brett


Bitmob Game Club: Sonny Edition, hosted by the inestimable James DeRosa, may be winding down, but the next edition is just getting started!

I'll be taking the reins for James this time, and I want to tweak the formula a bit by bringing Game Club into the multiplayer realm. I think it'd be interesting to hear stories about Game Club contributors teaming up and griefing other players, or about them going toe to toe with each other.

Unfortunately, I'm not a huge indie/freeware/Flash game aficionado, so if you have any suggestions I would be glad to investigate them. I want something that is free, online, and multiplayer. But I don't want it to be just four weeks of "and then I won a match, and then I lost a match," so there should be a big enough experience in the game to also make for four weeks of interesting articles.

I am going to offer up on the table Love, the MMO that Eskil Steenberg has poured his life into making. It has gone into an open alpha and can be found here. What do you think?


If you'd like to be a contributor, these are the rules you must abide by:

1. The second Game Club will wrap up this Sunday. On that day, I will email the participants for the third and announce the game. From then on, we work on a weekly basis. The following Friday will be the due date for your first week's draft, and I will post them all on Sunday. This will give me Saturday to curse you out if you didn't get something in and find a replacement if need be.

2. If you cannot commit to four straight weeks of playing through a section of a game and writing briefly about it, then please do not enter. I've got a kid, two jobs, a wife, and several other projects to concern myself with. I don't want to be bothered with having to send you countless email reminders. It's not too hard to get a submission in, but it's even easier to not sign up if you can't keep up.

3. We used to say that if you couldn't cut it, you'd get the Darnell Boot-O-Doom, but Lance couldn't exactly give it to himself last time (The Internet misses you, Lance. Quit your day job!). So now, if you miss two submissions, you get the DeRosa Fist-O-Steel. Trust me, you do not want this.


So there you go. Sign yourselves up and suggest/vote on the game in the comments below. Emails will be sent on Sunday.

Comments (38)

I actually have an interesting idea: Eliminate, ngmoco's new online FPS for the iPhone. What about that? (it is free too)
Trevor Hinkle , November 03, 2009
Maple Story! Pixie Hollow! Club PENGUIN!
James DeRosa , November 03, 2009
@Trevor - I don't have an iphone so I can't check that one out. Would there be enough of a story or enough gameplay variety for people to talk about more then just how many matches they won?
Alex R. Cronk-Young , November 03, 2009
@James - I was actually going to suggest Maple Story because you said you played it in one of the Jukeboxes. Now you are mocking it. I'm not going to investigate those until you tell me which ones are serious, if any.
Alex R. Cronk-Young , November 03, 2009
MegaTen: Imagine, yo. MAKE ME PLAY that game.
Jasmine Maleficent Rea , November 03, 2009
@Jasmine - Did you just start speaking a secret language? That sounds like a lottery game. Is it a scratch off? Is the name MegaTen: Imagine, yo? This whole comment confuses me greatly.
Alex R. Cronk-Young , November 03, 2009
I love how much Game Club has evolved. Good idea about multiplayer!

I think I may be in for this one, depending on the platform/game.
J. Cosmo Cohen , November 03, 2009
Ummm... Maple Story is the only quasi-serious one. It's a Nexon game so, you know, it's free to play but full of micro transactions.
James DeRosa , November 03, 2009
@Alex: It is Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine. The MegaTen MMO
Jasmine Maleficent Rea , November 03, 2009
Oh! Thats a good suggestion then. Right now it's looking like it's down to Love, SMT Imagine, and Maple Story. Unless someone can tell me more about Trevor's suggestion.

I still like the idea of Love a lot, but I'm also very excited about this SMT Imagine idea. Anyone have any thoughts on which of those two would be better?
Alex R. Cronk-Young , November 04, 2009
I'd be interested in getting in on this if there are any slots still open. I've never played an MMO before, so I'd bring a completely fresh perspective to the table.
Brian Petro-Roy , November 04, 2009
I have absolutely zero experience with multiplayer games on PC, so I feel as if I should weigh in on this. Play Maple Story, because I need to know if I should play Maple Story. Consider it a public service.
Travis McReynolds , November 04, 2009
Apparently you have to pay to get into the Love alpha. So maybe SMT Imagine? Unless people want to pay, or have any other suggestions.
Alex R. Cronk-Young , November 04, 2009
I think Shin Megami Tensei is the best idea.
James DeRosa , November 04, 2009
Also, I will play if you need someone to round out the four. (As long as it's on something I own, which it probably is.)
James DeRosa , November 04, 2009
I've played SMT: Imagine...it is not good. I was in the beat for a free to play MMO called Neo Steam from Atlus back when Bitmob first started and wrote a preview on it. It actually wasn't bad for something that was free
Derek Lavigne , November 04, 2009
There are some cool multiplayer games on this site:

http://www.instantaction.com/

One of them is a spiritual successor of tribes.

My vote is for Lore: Aftermath.

Hmm since the games are multiplayer maybe pick three and spend two days on each...or something like that.
Evan Campbell , November 04, 2009
@Derek - Neo Steam seemed acceptable. Imagine still has the bigger name on it though. Are you sure it hasn't been improved? These MMO's get patched a lot.
Alex R. Cronk-Young , November 04, 2009
@Evan - I was hoping to find a more meaty experience. Not necessarily an MMO, but probably not any shooters. A mech combat game probably wouldn't be enough to write about.
Alex R. Cronk-Young , November 04, 2009
I have no idea what game, but I'll definitely play along. I don't know if I can contribute twice or not, but I'll throw my name in anyway. Either way, I'm looking forward to the next game club.
Chris Davidson , November 04, 2009
SMT: Imagine has the name only, it has nothing to do with Atlus. Neo Steam, on the other hand, is Atlus' game.
Derek Lavigne , November 04, 2009
Battlefield Heroes, of course.

It's very good.
Andrew Hiscock , November 05, 2009
Also, any of the offerings at instantaction.com
Andrew Hiscock , November 05, 2009
Not that i will join you, i already got the fist-o-steel
Andrew Hiscock , November 05, 2009
@Andrew - Is Battlefield Heroes deep enough to support several articles?
Alex R. Cronk-Young , November 05, 2009
I thought of a game that's largely single player but has some multiplayer components that might work out. That game is the Kingdom of Loathing, a browser-based RPG that's most well known for it's pop-culture parody writing. The "multiplayer" element is limited to in-game trading, an unassuming/minimalist PvP system, and co-operative dungeons in the in-game clan system.

Nonetheless, I've been playing this game for quite a while and it's pretty easy to get into. Since the writing is often pretty humorous and there are multiple ways to play the game, there might be a bit to talk about. It's also simple to hop in and try out pretty quickly, so I guess I'll leave the rest to you:

http://www.kingdomofloathing.com/
Jon Cole , November 05, 2009
@Jon - Meh. It's interesting I suppose, and kind of amusing, but I don't think it'll fit well with Game Club.
Alex R. Cronk-Young , November 05, 2009
Here are some that I've heard of:
Savage 2 - http://www.savage2.com/en/main.php - (MMO/RTS Hybrid)

Dungeon Runners - http://www.dungeonrunners.com/ - Diablo style MMO, but comedic and a parody of other MMOs

Runes of Magic - http://us.runesofmagic.com/us/index.html - Certainly a WoW clone, but probably the most polished free fantasy MMO

Free Realms - http://www.freerealms.com/ - Cartoony, and geared towards a younger audience, but full of crazy mini games and backed by Sony Online Entertainment, makers of Everquest and a whole bunch of other MMOs

Hope this helps.


Jay Henningsen , November 05, 2009
@Jay - Thanks! Your description of Dungeon Runners intrigues me. I'll check these out in a bit.
Alex R. Cronk-Young , November 05, 2009
I know everyone can't access Pay-to-Play/retail games, but what about old PC games like Counter-Strike/Counter-Strike Source, or Battlefield 2? Counter-Strike would be really interesting with so many mods(ZombieMod, jailbreak) that you don't have to download out of game.
I generally don't like the idea of MMOs due to time investment and leveling. Not only does it take a lot of time to get to a high level and see all the content, but the range of levels can get out of hand with some people playing a lot/little.
Art Siriwatt , November 05, 2009
You guys should try either Dungeon Runners or Battlefield Heroes. Both are quite enjoyable.
Jason Wilson , November 05, 2009
If Derek is right about SMT Imagine, then I'm liking Dungeon Runners the most right now. Jason's recommendation sealed it, but I'll have to check it out in the morning.

Also, very few people have signed up for participation as of right now. I think more then 4 have, but it's close. No one else wants to contribute? I guess that means I don't have to put any names in hats.
Alex R. Cronk-Young , November 05, 2009
I would volunteer if I thought my computer had any chance of playing something like Dungeon Runners.
Derek Lavigne , November 05, 2009
So, Dungeon Runners looks good, but it's not for Mac. Cosmo needs a Mac game, and without him, we don't have 4 people yet. Are there any more volunteers?
Alex R. Cronk-Young , November 06, 2009
Maybe we should do Battlefield Heroes, but cut it down a week? Can you play that on Mac? I don't see anything mentioning it on the website.
Alex R. Cronk-Young , November 06, 2009
Dungeon Runners is a very well done WoW clone that has enough originality to stand on it's own. It's not Mac supported. I really enjoy playing Dungeon Runners.

Battlefield Heroes is not supported for Mac either, so it looks like some people are short of luck. It certainly has enough depth to be Game Club'd, the game style changes as you play with higher leveled players with all sorts of abilities and strategies from experience.

Currently, I can't play any non-Mac MMOs, because I have a Mac now, like Cosmo.
Kevin Zhang-xing , November 09, 2009
Haven't played this, but it looks pretty good and is Mac-supported:

PlaneShift
http://www.planeshift.it/
Kevin Zhang-xing , November 09, 2009
Triple post! (someone's got to combo breaker me)

I'm pretty sure that Dungeon Runners is pretty low-spec, despite looking pretty good.
Kevin Zhang-xing , November 09, 2009

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