BioWare's MMO team just wants to be competitive

Can't we all just get along? At least that's the attitude of BioWare Austin director Gordon Walton regarding his upcoming MMO and its assumed rivalry with Blizzard's industry-dominating World of Warcraft. Walton insists that it is not BioWare's goal to dethrone the champ, but to simply provide a little healthy competition: "Will some people who play WoW play our game? Of course. But we'd be better off if we got new customers, too. It's not a zero-sum game out there."

As always, BioWare's designers will rely on their ability to spin a good yarn, and also try to avoid the FedEx-style quests that have helped define the MMO genre. Creative director James Ohlen explains: "We want to bring a level of storytelling that's equal to the single-player box games that BioWare has done. I think we can do that. One of the big challenges will be making our storytelling work in an environment that has multiple players."

The name and estimated release date for BioWare's MMO are still MIA, so Blizzard and its bloodthirsty orcs can rest easy for now.