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MMO Blender: Eliot's Copernican dream
When I tried Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning for the first time, I fell in love. Not with the story, and not with the art, but with several elements of the actual game itself. The idea of having all of that brought into the MMO space filled me with a lot of excitement, but I had a feeling that we'd never actually see it come to pass. For those of you who missed out on what happened with 38 Studios, possibly because you read the internet on some bizarre time-lapse system, here's the deal: We're never going to see Project Copernicus come to pass. Oh, sure, we might wind up with something that vaguely resembles that game, but odds are low. More likely the franchise is going to be sold off by the state of Rhode Island for a pittance, and if the game ever resumes production, it'll bear only the faintest traces of its origins -- some art assets and little else. I'm not shedding tears over the world, though. In fact, I'm not going to shed tears at all because I think there's something to be built upon from the ideas of that single-player game, ideas that could make for an excellent MMO. And like any good gestalt, it reaches out to be something much more than the sum of its parts.
Developer announces, cancels a new MMO
Earlier today, [developer] announced [type of fish] Online, a brand-new [themepark/sandbox] game set in a vibrant [genre] world, complete with player [verb ending in -ing] and all the [type of furniture] you could eat. The post also [adverb] hinted that the game would involve [character], a fan favorite that many players have been waiting for over a [time interval] to see. [Number] minutes later, the company [verbed] the post to announce that the game was no longer on the table. Due to [game developer]'s enormous [noun] habit and problems with adapting [game engine] to run on [operating system], the project was shelved indefinitely. Players caught up in the maelstrom feel [emotion]. "I can't believe we'd be so easily [verbed]," said [player name]. "I really thought this would be the game for me, like [game name 1] and [game name 2] could have been if the devs didn't [verb]. Or like [game name 3] was before they nerfed [class]. Or like [game name 4] before they [verbed] it down for the casuals." [Player name] continued listing MMOs for the next [number] minutes. Games Journalism sure is hard work, so we've decided to take a break today and let you write your own news! Too many stories about RIFT on Massively lately? Not enough about the game of your choice? No problem! Much in the style of Mad Libs, today is your day to create the news you want to read, all day on the :30s. Simply fill in the blanks and it's yours. Have fun!
