Blizzard surprisingly hopeful for The Old Republic's success

EA Games' Frank Gibeau was less-than-complimentary to Blizzard's World of Warcraft this past week, saying that the older game "feels more like doing a shopping list at times" than EA and Bioware's upcoming The Old Republic title. But Blizzard's Frank Pearce is a little nicer to his competitor, saying in an interview that he'd love to see another popular MMO arrive. "This is a game that has an opportunity to grow the MMO market if done right," he said, "and therefore is very important to the industry as a whole, not just EA."

Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime was similarly excited by the prospect of a quality Bioware MMO and its effect on the market. "From our perspective, we hope they make an enjoyable game because they're going to bring in a lot of new players to the MMO genre," he's quoted as saying.

These guys make an MMO about war? Where's that blood, the fury, that boisterous arrogance? There's just one answer: Morhaime and Pearce must both play Alliance.