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The Daily Grind: Should MMOs have something for everyone?
Triple-A MMOs in the days of yore always seemed to have one goal: to be everything to everyone, to provide a little something for every imaginable player and rope in as many people from as many gaming styles as possible. Even if a game wasn't explicitly a sandbox, it still tossed in crafting, dungeoning, exploration, PvP, or zones that blatantly pandered to players of different nationalities. Nowadays we have a lot more choices, and modern games seem more willing to embrace niche design. Star Wars: The Old Republic is story, story, story. The Secret World focuses heavily on puzzle gameplay. Outside of AAA titles, the shift is even more brazen: Glitch eschews combat in favor of economy, while Darkfall features open PvP as the centerpiece of its world. It's not that these games have nothing else; it's only that they do one particular thing really well and aren't necessarily trying to hide it. They wouldn't turn down players with opposing playstyles, but they're not exactly working overtime to lure them in, either. So what do you think? Should MMOs keep aspiring to provide something for everyone, or should they just try to do one thing well? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Blu-ray making greenbacks, sales up 72% to start '09
Congratulations Blu-ray, you might be ready to step into the zone of mass market acceptance, as NPD's retail tracking service found Q1 sales of standalone players up 72 percent over last year, moving over 400,000 units with a 14% increase in dollar sales. Last year sure the format survived mad fights but high prices were a setback; fast forward to March when an online survey of 6,994 people found awareness has reached 90 percent in the last six months, with customers fascinated by its updates. Although BD-Live is looking more and more like an unneeded gimmick, the real facts are people care about cost and average player prices dropped from $393 last year to $261 in 2009. The "Blu-ray report" suggests the magic number is $214 for folks like Shawn Marion, so more room might be needed to breeze, and could come as soon as this fall around the time Vizio's player finally appears. It might be tragic for Vudu, CBHD and others trying to get a foothold, but Blu-ray's magic wand is word of mouth - so while much talked about, but much lower selling tech like Kindle is happy as hell to get a record deal, right now Blu-ray's unique skills can't be compared.
