Today a coworker of mine pointed me to a web based Zombie MMO. It’s called Urban Dead, and once you get past its utilitarian interface, it proves to have considerable depth. First of all, as with all MMOs, you choose a class at the beginning of the game. You can be a Scientist, Civilian, in the Military or a Zombie. Aside from the Zombie class each class has multiple subtypes as well.

Urban Dead takes place in the sprawling suburbs of Malton. Although it’s conveniently blocked, it contains a fairly balanced and diverse territory. UD has a definite old school RPG feel to it. Each movement and action uses Action Points (AP), of which you are limited, and must replenish when you run out. You must make sure you are in a safe place before you log off, or you may get eaten. To give you an idea of a random player’s experience, I started the game scavenging ruins and searching for a safe place to stay. I chose a Scientist class, so I quickly began trying to take DNA samples from shuffling zombies. I became too ambitious and actually got infected from a bite. Now I have to find a hospital to cure myself before I become a Zombie. If I do become a Zombie, I can stay a Zombie, and hunt the survivors. Or, I can seek revivification from a Doctor.

Another interesting aspect of UD, is its involved community. It’s been out for a few years, but people are still battling for control of key areas. There are an astounding amount of factions and groups of both survivors and zombies. One look at the map of the suburbs shows that the zombies have pushed survivors to the brink. Drilling down to a specific suburb shows you an almost daily update of its progress, and even reads like its own little narrative. Currently I am hiding in Peppardville, which you can see is fairly volatile at the moment.

Although UD’s gameplay can be limited by its finite Action Points, it definitely encourages you to make multiple accounts, and provides an immersive experience. Give it a try; did I mention it’s completely free?

So about 4 months ago, I heard about The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. Since I am a huge fan of “try before you buy” and that I am a big fan of LOTR, I quickly signed up hoping to get into the beta program. And then I waited…..and waited. Since then, I had as much hope of getting into the program as The Fellowship had of ever seeing Gandalf again after the Balrog knocked him off the cliff.

Well, today Turbine Entertainment sent me my beta invitation and instructions on when I can get in and destroy some Orcs, Wargs, Men, Elves…I’ll try not to be a griefer too much in beta. I do hope they give you the ability to play for either Sauron or on the Fellowship’s side. Congratulations if you got in, if not, I will post pics and discuss my adventures here in BHM.

More information can be found on Turbine’s website.

All right, I guess technically GameTap is a collection of several games (latest count being 710), but they are games I am playing. Right now GameTap has a deal that if you prepay a year it comes to $4.95 a month, or $59.40. Considering how many games they have, and all the Video On Demand content they are offering, I think it’s a pretty good deal. Also, you get a two week free trial to start you off, so you only buy if you like it. There are a lot of fun arcade classics on here like Galaga, Pac-Man, Defender, and Dig-Dug, but to be honest those games are ubiquitous, and get boring quick. Other great games include the original Phantasy Star series, the Myst games, including the upcoming MMO Uru Live, and old school PC adventure games like King’s Quest series, Space Quest series, and the Ultima series. While a lot of the games on GameTap are easy to find by other means, its nice to see all of them combined into a nice easy-to-use interface. And new original titles like Sam and Max and Uru Live, that subscription will only be worth more and more. I am digging it, I think I may opt for the year deal.