e3-2004
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The Game Archaeologist: The bizarre death of Wish [Updated]
First of all, "wish" is one of those words that ends up looking dang strange the more you focus on it. Wish, wish, wish, wish. It's just a bunch of meaningless lines and squiggles to me now. Anyway, what's up for today's topic? We're going to look at another MMO that didn't make it to the starting gate even with some genuine enthusiasm and hype surrounding it, and that game is wrrrshhsish. Wish. That game is Wish. While memories of this never-launched title have faded with time, Wish is still remembered for two things: a truly audacious feature set that promised the world and an abrupt, bizarre end that seemed to come out of nowhere. What made this MMO so special and why did it die so young? Our very own Game Archaeologist is on the scene with a special report.
The Game Archaeologist and the What Ifs: Climax's Warhammer Online
Let's begin with a little personal history. Back in 2008, I decided to get into the blogging scene by jumping on board the latest MMO hotness -- in this case, Warhammer Online. As I was growing increasingly tired of World of Warcraft, WAR seemed to offer a refreshing alternative: a darker world full of brutal PvP and awesome new ideas. So I joined the elite ranks of bloggers (hey, stop laughing so hard) and spent the better part of two years jawing about Mythic's latest fantasy project. And while Warhammer Online was, in my opinion, a solid product, it certainly failed to live up to the extremely high expectations held by both the development team and the players. No matter how it turned out, I really enjoyed talking about WAR, especially in the days leading up to its launch. One of the first articles I ever wrote for my blog WAAAGH! dealt with the first attempt to bring Warhammer Online into the MMO genre (as a fun aside, it was one of the first times I got my name on Massively!). It's a "what if?" tale that's tantalizing to consider -- an entirely different studio, Climax Online, creating a much darker version of Warhammer than we've ever seen online. The tale of the game's rise and fall (and subsequent rise and fall again) captivated me, and I wanted to expand my old article as part of our recent series into exploring MMOs canceled before their launch. So what if Climax had brought Warhammer Online to bear? Would it have eclipsed Mythic's vision or been its own animal? Hit the jump and let's dive into the pages of ancient history!
Tabula Rasa: why game delays are good for us
Talking with some new friends in Tabula Rasa last night, we happened on the subject of game delays, and why sometimes we have to suck it up and take them without complaint in order to enjoy a more complete product later down the road. Of course, with as many players as the MMO genre has under its sway, the "without complaint" aspect is often ignored in favor of nagging and incessant whining. Gamers accustomed to instant gratification and pandering from developers are often inconsolable when a patch is delayed, saying nothing of an actual retail release. Forums and IRC chats become flooded with complaints, insults, and sometimes even threats of bodily harm. Mindful of a couple big titles delayed in recent months, I thought I'd offer up evidence of why game delays are sometimes good for us.The video you see before you is Destination Games' showing of Tabula Rasa at E3 2004, a scant three years ago. At the time, Tabula Rasa was a confusing mishmash of fantasy, sci-fi, and... unicorns? Sensing that they had an impending disaster on their hands, they replaced 20% of the development team, scrapped 75% of the code, and started over essentially from scratch. While some still debate whether the finished product they put on the market earlier this month was worth the effort, I find it hard to believe it could be any worse than the trippy mess of a game shown in their E3 presentation. In Tabula Rasa's case, the delay likely saved the game from bombing.So next time the big game you've got on preorder is delayed, relax. The developers are probably doing you a favor. That is, unless you like unicorns.
