Glitch, a free MMO from the creators of Flickr, launched today

A new free-to-play MMO was released today from developer Tiny Speck, and it's nothing like World of Warcraft. Glitch is a browser-based game where everyone plays in the same world on the same server. All you need to participate is Flash enabled, the internet, and a computer that isn't ancient. You can download the game from glitch.com. Currently, there's a wait time of a few hours, but it should go faster once the initial post-release fervor has died down. The concept for the game is a little tricky, and may only be explainable through song. This one should do nicely:

Glitch takes place inside the minds of 11 imaginative giants across areas that range in style from psychedelic to contemporary mixed media. There's no real end to the game and few concrete goals. Instead of tackling bosses and teaming up for raids, Glitch encourages players to think creatively to expand and shape the world around them. There are over 1,000 items to interact with and 90 skills. New outfits can be purchased with virtual currency or a subscription-based fee system, but no purchasable item will effect gameplay — they'll just look pretty.

This is also the first game from Tiny Speck. The company was created in 2009 by four of the founders of Flickr, and has grown to be about thirty people. Last July they managed to convince the famously clever creator of Noby Noby Boy and Katamari Damacy, Keita Takahashi, to join the Glitch team full-time. Since then Takahashi has been working hard on the emotional aspects of the game — no doubt making sure the intense cuteness and ambient art has a maximized impact on player psyches.

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