Over the holidays we played Pirates of the Caribbean Online. Yes - the long delayed online game is finally up and running.

Pirates of the Caribbean Online is a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) created by The Walt Disney Company, based on their film series and theme park attraction of the same name. The game software is free to download, and players can choose either “Unlimited Access” for a $9.95 monthly subscription fee, or a free-to-play “Basic Access” version which restricts some of the game content and displays advertisements in part of the game window. The game is officially available to players in the United States only. Disney has announced plans for a United Kingdom release in early 2008.

We found the game (for the most part) enjoyable, however you may want to take the buccaneers for a test drive before signing up or even canceling your World of Warcraft Subscription…

One issue to be aware of is that Pirates of the Caribbean Online is a “hardware hog”. Which means you need a fairly good computer to play the game on maximum settings .There are of course many different factors that can contribute to a decrease in game performance. Here is a list of quick-and-easy tips that you can use to help enhance and improve your game-play experience:

• Turn down your in-game graphics settings: Open your Options Panel by hitting F7 in-game, or by clicking Options in the pick-a-pirate screen — turn all settings under the Graphics and Geometry tabs to Low or Off.

• Free up as much RAM as possible prior to beginning game-play: Close any other programs, software, background tasks, and windows that are currently running on your computer.

• If your computer has 512MB of RAM or less, be sure you have Aggressive memory management selected in the Game Options panel. If your computer has 1024MB (1GB) of RAM or more, be sure you have Default memory management selected. (If your computer has more than 512MB but less than 1024MB, try both settings to see which works best for you.)

• Sometimes game performance can suffer when there are a number of other Pirates crowded into the same area — try moving to a less-populated area by selecting a server labeled Quiet from the map page.

• If you are playing on a laptop, make sure you set the power plan to High Performance while playing the game.

• Confirm you have the most up-to-date video driver.

• Make sure your computer’s software is up to date: Check for updates on a regular basis, both for your operating system and the browser you use.

• If you connect to the Internet through a proxy, try disabling your proxy or contact your network administrator (or Internet Service Provider) for additional instructions on optimizing your proxy configuration.

• Make sure you have read and confirmed that you meet (at least) the game’s minimum specs.

PC:
Windows 2000, XP, Vista
800 MHz or faster processor
512 MB RAM
32 MB 3D graphics card
DirectX 9 or better
700 MB free disk space
Broadband connection

Mac:
OS 10.4.6 (Tiger)
PowerPC G4 or any Mac with any Intel processor
512 MB RAM
700 MB free disk space
Broadband connection

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