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Marvel Universe Online will be free-to-play, penned by Bendis
Move over, Batman: After a few false starts, Marvel's finally poised to become the next big MMO superhero thing. Thursday evening, I attended Gazillion Entertainment and Marvel's live San Francisco reveal of Marvel Universe Online's head writer, the jovial Brian Michael Bendis. Joining Brian for a lively Q&A panel were Gazillion President and COO David Brevik, VP and Studio Head for Secret Identity (fka Gargantuan) Jeff Lind, and VP of Games at Marvel TQ Jefferson. Brian's involvement in the game's story wasn't the only announcement the panelists had in store for attendees -- they almost casually confessed that players will slip into the spandex of iconic Marvel characters and that the game will be free-to-play, making it perhaps the first Western triple-A title to be designed for such a model from the ground up. Because I knew you'd be disappointed if I didn't, I dutifully asked an amused Jeff Lind about PvP, housing, crafting, voice acting, character customization, travel powers, advancement, and all those other goodies, but as you can probably guess, the devs aren't in a position to talk about sweeping systems just yet -- they want to "retain the ability to change [their] minds." So manage thy expectations accordingly! Fortunately, both Jeff and Brian were willing to chat about story, tie-ins, and MUO's niche in an increasingly crowded superhero MMO field, so hit the break for their thoughts and my round-up of the hot topics from the panel.
Gazillion press release clarifies Netdevil layoff rumors
The NetDevil/LEGO Universe brouhaha that unfolded earlier this morning is officially official thanks to a press release just published by Gazillion Entertainment. Gazillion has formally agreed to sell its development stake in the LEGO Universe MMO to the LEGO Group (the game's publisher and custodian of the world-famous toy brand). Most of the LEGO devs, formerly employed by NetDevil (a Gazillion subsidiary), have received employment offers from the LEGO Group and will continue iterating on the game from the company's Louisville, Colorado studio. Gazillion is re-focusing its ongoing development efforts into browser games, according to President and COO David Brevik. "The transition of members of our team to the LEGO Group enables us to focus completely on internally-published, free-to-play game businesses," he said.
Former Blizzard executive named president of Gazillion Entertainment
What's left to do for the man who created Blizzard's seminal Diablo series? A promotion to president and COO of a major gaming company is probably near the top of the list, and Gazillion Entertainment has done just that with former Blizzard North president David Brevik. Prior to assuming his new duties, Brevik served as the project leader for Gazillion's upcoming Marvel Universe title, and also was responsible for lead design and lead programming aspects of both Diablo and Diablo II during his tenure at Blizzard. Brevik dropped a hint as to one possible future for online gaming (as well as Gazillion's focus going forward) in a company press release detailing his appointment. "Gazillion is committed to developing top-tier online games. The future will be defined by console-quality games in the web browser, and we believe we can make this a reality today," he said.
Diablo creator to lead Marvel MMO development
We're not ones to assume that past performance is a definitive indicator of future output, especially in the games industry (Volition goes from Saint's Row to the radical Red Faction: Guerrilla? Who saw that coming?). But we can't help but be encouraged by the news that former Blizzard North boss and Diablo creator David Brevik has joined Gazillion to lead development on the Marvel Universe MMO.We're more excited about the hire because we hope it indicates the title's gameplay direction. A more action-influenced MMO take on the world of Marvel sounds like it's been bitten by radioactive awesome.
