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By Ellen Beeman An international online gaming phenomenon has arrived for Mac OS X. Lineage is a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that allows you and thousands of others (both Mac and PC users) to adventure side-by-side in the vast fantasy kingdom of Aden. It’s a persistent world, which means that it evolves even when you’re not logged on.
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 Fantasy, magic, and adventure — welcome to Lineage. |
The fantasy world of Lineage is huge, with a vast array of possibilities for exploration and adventure. But the game was designed with a straightforward, easy-to-use interface, and the designers have definitely kept the “newbie” player in mind. There are entire regions of the world that are geared towards new players, such as the Singing Island. And the game is designed to help build a community between the players, including chat and features intended specifically for teams of players (called “bloodpledges”). See the “Character creation” sidebar for more on character types.
Collaborate with others and fight for your cause.
The Ultimate Gaming ExperienceLineage is the most popular massively multiplayer game in the world, with four million active subscribers worldwide, and over 330,000 players sharing online adventures at any time. Until recently, this game was only available in the Far East, but it will be available for Macintosh gamers in the United States in February 2002. Lineage was announced at the recent Macworld Expo, and won Macworld Magazine’s “Best of Show” award.
Jake Song, director and Chief Creative Officer of Korea-based NCsoft,
explains what prompted him to bring Lineage to the Macintosh. “Market opportunity, of course, but also because it would be cool,” says Song. “I wanted to play Lineage on the Mac, too!”
Lineage for the Mac was a joint project between Song and the NCsoft team in Austin, Texas, which is led by Song’s creative counterpart, executive producer Richard Garriott.
“We are obviously thrilled to be able to bring Lineage to a new audience,” says Garriott. “Companies that do not release Mac versions of their games these days are making a giant mistake. The Mac and its super-modern operating system, Mac OS X, provide the ultimate gaming experience and there’s a huge untapped market of gamers using this platform.”
All types of treacherous terrain await you in Lineage.
Lineage Comes to America
Garriott is well known, not only as a pioneer of early fantasy games with his
Ultima series, but also as a trailblazer in the massively-multiplayer arena,
with Ultima Online. At an exciting event at last May’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, this author watched their relationship formally begin. Richard, Jake, and their business partners exchanged gifts (cowboy hats from the Texans, painted fans from the Koreans) and signed documents creating this new creative and business partnership.
Jake and Richard’s first goal was to bring Lineage to the American market. “All of the Austin team helped customize Lineage for the U.S.,” says Song. “These are the people who worked on Ultima Online, UO2, and Ultima 9: Ascension with Richard. Specifically, they improved the newbie experience and made changes for the cultural differences between Korea and the U.S.”
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In addition to his creative talents, Richard has brought his alter ego “Lord British” to Lineage. “Richard announced that Lord British was departing Britannia, so we made a (story) plot for him to come to the Kingdom of Aden, the world of Lineage,” explains Song. “We had events last November and December with Richard appearing in Lineage. And we’re planning on making this kind of event again in the future.”
You have a vast array of character classes
to choose from.
to choose from.
Persistent Evolution
Developing Lineage for the Mac was less challenging than expected. “It was a pleasure developing for Mac OS X,” Song explains. “And we had a lot of help from Apple. I really appreciated their help and the development
relationship!”
Song views his relationship with the Mac gaming community as a long-term one. Massively-multiplayer games are constantly evolving, and he emphasizes the importance of the online community that develops in these games. He recognizes that the Mac players will be different from their non-Mac counterparts, both in the kind of online community they may want to create, and with regard to technical and customer support issues.
“If there are any issues or specific requests from the Mac community, I’m willing to modify things. I’m very open about this,” says Song. “Lineage is not a fixed world. It will change; it’s interactive development. We’re always getting feedback from the user community, and improving, adding more content, changing game balance. There’s a new episode every quarter. So I think people should try Lineage on the Mac, and then keep playing!”
Build armies and march across the battlefield.
To learn more, visit the official Lineage site. You can even download a player’s guide to get a head start on the Lineage download page.
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Learn more about creating your character and read some gameplay tips on page two.    |