The Best Multiplayer Online PC Games of 2008

Numerous difficulties still restrict Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) games to the PC platform, but that has not curtailed their growing popularity. MMOs offer a tempting mixture of fantasy play, social interaction and intellectual challenge that is pulling more and more people away from their television sets. Today we'll look at the top MMOs of 2008 and the qualities that have put them at the top of their game.

World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)

The undisputed king of MMOs is Blizzard's World of Warcraft. With more than 11 million subscribers, World of Warcraft, or "WoW" as the game is affectionately known to its fans, has become a household name all over the world. Since is North American release in November of 2004, WoW was rated the best selling PC game of 2005 and 2006. In 2007, it ranked second only to its record-sales holding expansion, The Burning Crusade. The expansion set the record for the fastest selling PC game of all time, with 2.4 million copies sold within the first 24 hours of release. That record was broken again November 14, 2008 when Blizzard released WoW's newest expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, and sold a whopping 2.8 million copies within the first 24 hours.

World of Warcraft is a fantasy MMO set in world of Azeroth. It contains much of the lore of the Warcraft universe, however knowledge this lore is by no means necessary to enjoy the game. WoW offers ten playable races and classes, numerous professions, thousands of quests, mounts and transportation systems to speed your travel by land or air, and a vast expanse of very different environments to explore. Player vs. player (PvP) play is also readily available at all levels, including dueling, free for all world PvP, organized battlegrounds utilizing several different gaming strategies, and Arena battles that pit team against team. The strongest allure of WoW may be that the game doesn't really begin until you reach the end. After exploring and questing your way to level 80, an entirely new world opens up with end-game dungeons requiring the cooperative efforts of up to 25 players.

System Requirements:

Intel Pentium 4 1.3GHz/AMD Athalon XP 1500 (Mac: PowerPC G5 or Intel Processor)

12GB available HD space

512 MB RAM (1 GB for Mac and Vista users)

4x DVD-ROM drive

Windows XP (Service pack 3), Windows Vista (Service Pack 1) or Mac OS X 10.4.11 or newer

DirectX compatible sound card

ATI Radeon 7200 or better graphics card

Broadband internet connection required

Warhammer Online (Mythic Entertainment/EA Games)

Since its release September 18, 2008, Warhammer online has earned over 750,000 subscribers and is fast on track to become one of the best selling PC games of 2008. Rumors ran wild before launch that this would be the game to finally challenge World of Warcraft's undisputed #1 spot, and apparently the rumors weren't too far off base as Warhammer's popularity continues to grow.

Warhammer Online is another fantasy MMO set in a grim world where war reigns supreme. While Player vs. Environment (PvE) content is readily available, Warhammer's unique selling point is realm vs. realm combat. Warhammer also offers a unique Public Quest system, cooperative PvE encounters and a multitude of solo quests. The cities of Warhammer rely on the players of their realm to become more prosperous, or decline and the unique guild system allows players to capture and claim keeps and earn Guild Tactics as they progress and grow.

System Requirements:

2.5 GHz P4 (single core) processor or equivalent

15 GB available HD space

1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista users)

128 MB video card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0

Windows XP or Windows Vista

Broadband internet connection required

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures (Funcom/Eidos)

Aimed at the mature gamer, Age of Conan (AoC) is set in the beautiful virtual recreation of the world of Hyboria, originally created by Robert E. Howard, author of the Conan novels. Although its May 20, 2008 launch was marred by some persistent bugs, AoC is a spectacular game with some very unique qualities. The scenery is beautiful, character creation is fun and very customizable and the combat system is unparalleled.

Rather than the traditional target-and-auto-attack system, each move, each swing, each spell cast is carried out by the player who can utilize specific combinations to increase the devastating effects of their attack. Attacks and defensive movements are made (and changed) on the fly and there is a definite element of skill involved in becoming the victor. The result is a combat system that keeps the player engaged and in control of their encounters. Conan also offers player-built cities and siege warfare. Although the game has a distinct emphasis on PvP play, non-PvP servers are available for more subdued game play.

System Requirements:

Intel Pentium 4 3 GHz processor or equivalent

30 GB available HD space

Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista

1 GB RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better video card (128MB)

4x DVD-ROM Drive

Broadband internet connection required

Although the MMO genre has been fairly stagnant for the last few years, there is hope on the horizon. As of the writing of this article, the last two games aren't yet public but are scheduled for Nov/Dec 2008 releases. Both deserve some scrutiny from the jaded gamer looking for a new experience.

Darkfall (Adventurine)

Darkfall is the next generation of fantasy MMO, conceived and developed by gamers, for gamers and aimed exclusively at PvP'ers. The best elements of all of our favorite games, Ultima Online, Shadowbane, Dark Age of Camelot and even World of Warcraft are wrapped into one beautiful whole. Like Ultima Online, there are no levels, no set classes, no templates but rather hundreds of skills to select and develop into a truly custom character. There is old-school free-loot PvP, piracy on the high seas, and player owned housing as well as siege warfare, racial wars, politics, and player run conquering of city states. The land mass is titanic, taking literally hours to travel and there is a complex and sophisticated crafting system designed to drive the player based economy. This game has been nearly a decade in the making and is scheduled for release Q4 2008. Darkfall has too many complex and fascinating features to cover in a short review, so check out www.darkfallonline.com and discover it for yourself!

Guild Wars 2 (Arena Net)

Following in the free-to-play footsteps of the original Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 promises a new game engine, changes to character development, PvP, significantly changed control system, and new ways of interacting with the environment. Although it is difficult to imagine, considering the current beauty of the Guild Wars world, developers are intending to create a beautiful world that

Game Designer James Phinney has said will "look like a whole new game" New non-human races, the Asura, Charr, Norn, and Sylvari, are being added as playable races and a side-kick system is being introduced to allow higher level characters to play with their low-level friends. The game will also be on multiple worlds, with players able to change worlds in the new game as easily as they changed districts in the original Guild Wars, and persistent areas are being introduced to allow players to meet and interact while exploring, although quest and dungeon areas will still be instanced.