Armada: Kingdoms, an MMMORPG
Is the world ready for an MMMORPG -- a Mobile Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game? Bloomsix, out of Amsterdam, is betting that it is. Coming in the second quarter of 2008, Armada: Kingdoms is an MMO to be played on your Java-enabled cellphone. According to their website, Bloomsix says the game is as much about building a community as it is about combat. While they mention that maintaining one's town can take a mere 10 minutes a day, deeper involvement is encouraged.
Even better, Bloomsix will be leveraging the connective features of the cellphone to enable players to contact one another even when they're not logged in to the game. But is this something people will find engaging, or ultimately annoying? The hardcore players out there will likely appreciate being kept up to date on every last event, whether it requires their personal attention or not, but if you're like me, when it's time to quit, I shut the program down and walk away. I don't want to have to worry about it when I'm no longer in-world -- that would just be obtrusive.
However, the concept alone is intriguing. No word yet on whether this will be free-to-play (unlikely, considering the cost of airtime) or require a subscription. We'll keep our eyes on this and see if we can't figure what it's all about when it's released in Q2.
[Thanks, Joris!]
