It's ironic that a group of people so historically despicable as pirates can be, a few hundred years later, some of the coolest guys around. Everybody loves pirates. Kids dress up as pirates for Halloween -- and by 'kids' I mean me, and by 'Halloween' I mean 'Most of the time.' While there have been a couple of attempts at a pirate-themed massively-multiplayer game, none are as ambitious as Pirates of the Burning Sea, which will be setting sail early next year.

Of course I bring this up because FilePlanet Subscribers can set sail as early as this week; a Pirates of the Burning Sea stress test is in the works for Thursday, October 4.



I've always said that building a pirate MMO would be a tough challenge, because you need to have a lot of variety in a game to keep people playing. I interviewed the Pirates guys on this very topic back in February of this year. Months later, now that the game is in place and getting that final coat of polish, you can see it all coming together.

A handful of features help Pirates stand out of the MMO crowd, with the theme being at the forefront: Sunny Caribbean isles and historically-inspired costumes give the game a feel all its own. Then you have the ship-to-ship combat, which is a major part of the game and gives you a much bigger sense of scale. Meanwhile, the actual character-fighting sequences have also been rethought; swordplay is important, and you'll want to watch how your opponents are moving and chose your moves accordingly. You can even practice dirty fighting techniques, like tossing sand in people's faces. Yar!

On a larger scale, players will ally themselves with the major world powers of the day and will fight amongst themselves for control of key islands and ports. This larger 'meta-game' looks to give Pirates of the Burning Sea a lot of longevity, not to mention some really engaging social dynamics. I'm looking forward to some real spectacle as groups of players collide across stormy seas, formations of lumbering 104-gun ships of the line opening fire on one another while nimbler frigates try to maneuver in for raking fire.

We just might get to see some large sea battles in this week's stress test. See if you can get aboard:
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      -Fargo