By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot Posted Ubisoft ships Three Rings' offbeat PC MMORPG, which features adorable buccaneers solving puzzles to collect cartoony booty. 

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Ubisoft announced that it has shipped Puzzle Pirates, one of the odder and more original PC massively multiplayer online role-playing games on the market. Rated T for Teen (due to the inclusion of pirate rum), the game is exclusive to the PC and retails for $19.99, with a monthly subscription fee of $9.95.

Originally developed and self-published by the small dev shop Three Rings under the name Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates, the game puts players in the boots of a PlaySkool-esque buccaneer in a cartoonlike realm. There, they must solve puzzles as a part of engaging in various pirate deeds, including sailing, swordfighting, navigation, carpentry, and gunnery. The game also features a player-run economy, with the option to own shops, trade goods, and colonize islands.

Puzzle Pirates' quirky charm won it awards in the Technical Excellence and Audience Award categories at the 2004 Independent Games Festival and a distribution deal with Shockwave.com. Then, in January, Ubisoft succumbed to its charms,(Puzzle Pirates Gold) inking a deal to distribute the game in stores.