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Mythic's Mark Jacobs leaves EA
Mark Jacobs, the former General Manager of Mythic Entertainment and Lead Designer of Warhammer Online, has left EA on 23rd June, the company announced today. This comes as part of restructuring plans within EA which includes both Mythic and BioWare and have culminated in the formation of a new, as-yet-unnamed, studio which will focus on RPGs and MMOs. The new studio will be led by BioWare co-founder and General Manager Ray Muzyka, who will become Group General Manager. BioWare's other co-founder Greg Zeschuk will become Group Creative Officer while Rob Denton will succeed Jacobs as General Manager.You can certainly expect more from us as this story develops.[Via The Examiner]
The Daily Grind: Will The Old Republic break new ground?
Yesterday evening, you may have noticed a disturbance in the MMO blogosphere. It was as if a million voices cried out "awesome" at once at the announcement of Bioware and Lucas Arts' new MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. It appears that Bioware and Lucas Arts are setting the standards fairly high in terms of development, too. From initial reports, players will be able to affect the world, not just in little "kill-ten-rats" fashion, but broad changes. Apparently NPC companions can turn on you and betray you, and so very much more that set heads spinning here at the Massively virtual offices. Of course, as time wore on, we started to see rumblings of "cartoony" equally met with "but it's Bioware - they do awesome storylines" then rebutted with "but they don't know about MMOs, having never put one out." The commentary has truly run the gamut since last night. As such, this morning we thought we'd ask -- are you excited about the confirmation of the long-suspected Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO, or no? What are you intrigued by, or not so thrilled about after reading all the news? Bioware has finally unveiled Star Wars: The Old Republic, their new MMO! Massively's got you covered on all the details -- from liveblogging the announcement to screenshot galleries and more. Join us in the Galaxy far, far away!
The Daily Grind: What are your three E3 wishes?
Hey, today's the first day of E3 and you know what that means boys and girls! Well, maybe you don't know what it means so let us explain: You get three completely nonsensical E3 MMO wishes! Yes you heard us right, we want to know what your three MMO fantasies are and the crazier the better. Although don't let that stop you from slipping us any hidden riddles if you know something. Then again, you could just throw us a tip through our tip line as well.For our three wishes we'll have to go the obvious route: Bioware MMO is announced, whatever it may be -- we just want it out in the open. Square-Enix announces their next big MMO project that's hopefully set in Ivalice this time around. Finally -- and this is the biggun -- Bungie reveals that their next project is in fact an MMO being created exclusively for the Xbox 360. We know, it's insane! Looking back on our wishes, we just realized that our biggest mistake was making too many must-play MMOs known at once. Now our social lives must suffer the consequences.
BioWare MMO release window revealed, KotOR rumors persist
Total Video Games has a new scoop about BioWare's mysterious MMO project. The site reports that Electronic Arts' CEO told investors that his company is funding an MMO in Austin. Of course, that's a no brainer. Since BioWare is owned by EA now, we assumed that much. But he want on to say that the MMO is slated for a release in "the fiscal 2010/2011." That means it's coming between April 2010 and March 2011. It'll be a long wait; how sad! That's not all, though.There's also the rumor that will not -- cannot die. An alleged disgruntled ex-LucasArts employee (the "ex" bit because of the recent layoffs) e-mailed gaming blog Kotaku saying that one of the projects "in the pipeline" at LucasArts is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3. That alone is no surprise, since LucasArts and BioWare announced a new collaboration months ago, but ... he also said that KotOR 3 is an MMO. Oh noes! Not that rumor again! Well, anyway, we're sure our very intelligent readers know to take with a kilogram of salt the paraphrased words of an alleged disgruntled former employee. Right?
Muzyka: BioWare MMO is innovative, polished like WoW
Gamasutra spoke at length with BioWare head honcho Ray Muzyka about living under the EA banner, and his company's vision for its up-and-coming MMO. He assured Gamasutra that the unique identity of BioWare has been preserved despite EA's acquisition, and pointed out studios like DICE and Criterion as other EA acquisition success stories. He noted also that BioWare now has non-mandatory access to all the tools and technologies of the EA family. Of the Austin studio's mysterious MMO project, he said: "It's going to feel like a BioWare game. It's going to have the best of breed of MMO features, and some new innovations that when we reveal them, hopefully they'll be impactful for people." As we learned a while back, he has a positive opinion about World of Warcraft and Blizzard. "I think they've done a great job," he said. "But the fact that people want to play that kind of game is an opportunity to really deliver that level of polish and quality, and innovate in a few key areas, while they continue to innovate in a few key areas, too."Still no word on what those innovations are. Keep on guessing!
Bioware wants to try 'something different' with their MMO
If you've played even one of BioWare's many wonderful games, then you're well aware of the kind of quality they strive for when they craft them -- especially the stories offered. Well all right, there was that one game called Jade Empire that had some strange story pacing and lackluster combat -- but otherwise Bioware strikes gold nearly every time.So what's their plan for finding the same success with their upcoming MMO venture?
Top 10 MIA MMOs of 2007 - part 2
The MMO landscape for next year is already looking extremely promising for all parties involved. Even in their unfinished state, games like Age of Conan, Pirates of the Burning Sea, and Warhammer Online already appear like industry trend-setters, and its only a matter of months before we're finally able to sink our collective teeth into fresh, new, massively multiplayer meat. But as we all well know, the excitement doesn't stop with those familiar names.We return once more to deliver the part two of our list of the Top 10 MIA MMOs of 2007 -- those games which we know exist somewhere out there in the ether, but which we know ... well, basically nothing about. If you missed part 1 of the list which was posted last week, make sure to go back and read over it before proceeding any further. That way, you can know for sure whether or not we skipped that big game that you're looking forward to -- and the ensuing hate mail can, at the very least, be properly informed.
BioWare likes WoW but thinks it can do better
GameInformer published an interview with BioWare President Greg Zeschuk and CEO Ray Muzyka in its December 2007 issue. Most of the questions in the interview focused on the EA acquisition, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age, but one did probe for information on the (KotOR?) MMO in development at BioWare's Austin studio.Both Zeschuk and Muzyka admitted to being players and fans of World of Warcraft, but expressed dissatisfaction with the way that making progress in the game is so time-consuming that "it's almost like having another job." They said they are thinking about ways to make the genre more accessible and easier to "pick up and play and have fun.""We certainly like the games," said Muzyka, "but the staying power hasn't been as strong. They totally enthrall a certain set of people, but we thought about how to make it an experience where you don't have to have a massive investment of itme."Blizzard had similar aspirations with World of Warcraft, and it succeeded in its goal; WoW is far more accessible than previous entries in the genre. Can BioWare expand the appeal of MMOs even further?
Bioware seeking you to write their MMO
The latest Penny Arcade comic (which, for the record, also features a little hiring humor) has a news update that will probably be super interesting to those of you thinking about a career writing videogames, specifically MMOs. Daniel Erickson, the lead writer over at Bioware Austin, is looking for people from all walks of life to come help him write the new Bioware MMO.Erickson says that it's the biggest project Bioware has ever done (ever), and that he expects the story to take the efforts of "a double digit writing staff working for years" to get done right. Additionally, he says that many of their greatest writers have come from weird career places, and so whether you're working the fry line at Dairy Queen or finishing up your own indie RPG, Bioware is willing to check out your work and see if you'd join them. There's more deets on their website-- basically, besides the normal job application stuff, they want you to create dialogue inside a Neverwinter Nights scenario, and make it good. There is one drawback, however-- if you do get the job, don't forget that you'd be working for EA.Even if you're not applying, this little letter (reprinted after the break) is interesting-- they ask specifically for "Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape Torment, Neverwinter Nights" style game dialogue. Does that mean that this isn't the KotOR MMO we've all been expecting? Is Bioware putting together a Forgotten Realms MMO? If so, I call Entreri!
MMOGology: The next big thing
I remember the excitement I felt back in 2001 when World of Warcraft (WoW) was announced. I greedily read early previews as new details were released in magazines like PC Gamer and Computer Gaming World (now Games for Windows). I savored each scrap of gameplay information and every gorgeous screenshot. It seemed so different, visually and conceptually, than all the other MMOGs I had played to that point. Yes, Blizzard was taking tried and true gameplay techniques from Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, and other popular MMOGs at the time, but it was keeping the fun concepts and removing the painful ones. It was a somewhat foreign concept at the time to focus on making the fun factor the focus of the game. Some people will undoubtedly argue with me, but running naked while avoiding agro on a twenty minute corpse run in Everquest was not my idea of fun. Blizzard's game was also the only MMOG I knew of that promised it wouldn't discourage casual and solo play. Apparently I wasn't the only one excited about World of Warcraft. Six years after WoW was initially announced, and on the eve of its three year launch anniversary, WoW has somewhere between eight and nine million subscribers. WoW is clearly the current king of the massively multiplayer mountain; at least in terms of populatiry. With one expansion under its belt, another set for release in 2008, and constant upgrades along the way, it's clear that WoW has a lot left to give. But there's always one thing you can count on when you're the king of the mountain; you'll always have a challenger aiming to steal your crown. Inevitably it will happen. Something will replace the WoW so many of us MMOG players know and love. It might be another Blizzard creation, a WoW 2.0 or a World of StarCraft. Or it might be something entirely different by another developer. It's a question that will continue to be asked until WoW is finally replaced. What will be the Next Big MMOG?
