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Spacetime announces cross-platform mobile play, prepares to license game engine
Spacetime Studios, the makers of the wildly successful Pocket Legends MMO, has just announced a new influx of funding that will enable continued development on the Spacetime Engine and licensing of said development platform to other game makers beginning in 2011. Gamasutra reports that Spacetime is also claiming an industry first for Pocket Legends in terms of the ability for players on Windows PC, Android, and iOS systems to play on the same shared servers. "Providing players, no matter where they are, with a single deep, seamless 3D MMO gaming experience on multiple devices has been a dream of ours since the company was founded. We feel we're at the forefront of a whole new market for MMO game developers," said Spacetime CEO Gary Gattis.
LEGO Universe creative director on building a LEGO MMO
The thought of a LEGO MMO seems like a pretty simple one. LEGO bricks themselves are a pretty basic concept, but that doesn't translate to quick and easy development according to Ryan Seabury. Ryan is the creative director of LEGO Universe, and he gave Gamasutra some insight into how things work behind the scenes. From the first days of planning to the current state of beta testing, the interview is one of the most in-depth discussions of the game that we've seen so far. Ryan explores the possibility of LEGO Universe on consoles, talks about the game's target audience, LEGO's insistence on keeping the in-game bricks true to the brand and even NetDevil's plans for keeping player-crafted structures rated PG. Check out Gamasutra for the full interview.
Epic's Mike Capps talks about Epic Citadel and the future of iOS gaming
Gamasutra cornered Epic Games' Mike Capps (he of the very impressive Epic Citadel demo yesterday at the Apple special event), and Capps confirms that what you see running on your iPhone is the real deal -- Unreal Engine 3, with all of the bells and whistles that it has on the major HD consoles. The actual game that Project Sword will become is being designed by Chair (which is the same group that did the popular Shadow Complex game for Xbox 360), and we'll see the full project soon. Capps also confirms that UE 3 needs at least an iPhone 3GS to run, but he says that in terms of hardware, Apple's devices are right where they need to be. High-resolution textures are an issue (you can't install a 15gb game on an 16gb portable device), but the memory and speed are actually there, says Capps. "You've got 16 gigs of flash memory," he says, "which is way better, faster memory than what most people have generally on a home PC. So that stuff works really well." The biggest issue holding handheld gaming back is larger environments, but game developers are getting better and better at designing worlds that render quickly and well to all kinds of platforms. And Capps looks into the future, and sees even more possibilities for Apple and their product lines. "It doesn't take a whole lot of leaps of faith to say, 'Right now, I can display from my iPad to my Apple TV on a big screen TV.' How far away are we from 'that's my game console, and it's displaying wirelessly to my television set?' It's not far away." That's kind of a trippy thought -- that Apple had to finally move away from the Mac to earn a larger foothold in gaming. It's very heartening, as a gamer and an Apple fan, to hear Capps as excited as he is about the possibilities for iOS and the App Store. [via Joystiq[
Paragon Studios spills the secrets of success
In a day and age when brand-new MMOs can run into serious trouble within the first few months following launch, it's remarkable to consider that City of Heroes has endured the test of time, studio transitions and competition, and still be running strong in the grand old year of 2010. Recently, the folks at Paragon Studios sat down with Gamasutra to celebrate CoH's six-year milestone, and pontificate on why the title succeeded when others failed. Senior producer Jesse Caceres and art lead David Nakayama shared particular pride in how CoH has grown and adapted over the years. One of the examples they cite is their recent "Ultra Mode" upgrade to the graphics engine, which allows players to pump up the pretty visuals that would've been all but impossible in 2004. Another reason for their success, according to the pair, is that the team worked hard to provide gamers with play choices, such as the ability to roll a villain or to create their own adventures through the Mission Architect system. Caceres has an additional idea regarding the game's longevity: its community. "I don't know if it's just the nature of our game or what, but our community is very mature... I think that kind of back-and-forth and that discourse that we have with our player base is one of the reasons why we have such a dedicated following." You can read the full interview and glean all of Paragon Studios' secrets at Gamasutra.
En Masse Vice President discusses goals for present and future
TERA has been generating a huge amount of interest in the MMO world these days, and the team at En Masse Entertainment is feeling pretty confident about where things are headed. En Masse Vice President Chris Lee spent some time chatting with Gamasutra about the company's past, present, and future, as well as what he sees in store for TERA. TERA is, of course, the main focus these days; the team is working to make the game's quality live up to expectations, developing it for the Western market, and generally preparing for a successful launch. But what about post-launch? What's in store for En Masse in the coming years? The team has no plans to slow down, and they want to expand a bit. "Our goal would be to go beyond what Bluehole's producing. I think they're the type of studio that's going to produce blockbuster hits, but take multiple years in between each one." They're hoping for a "small portfolio of high-quality titles" to introduce to the MMO market. Fans aren't the only ones attracted by En Masse's success, by the way. Runes of Magic publisher Frogster liked what it saw, and has secured publishing rights to bring TERA to Europe, broadening the game's scope even further. Check out the full story at Gamasutra.
SOE vets create new studio for TCGs based on upcoming MMO
They're not quite Three Wolf Moon, but the folks over at Dire Wolf Digital have their own special brand of magic waiting in the wings. Formed by several Sony Online Entertainment veterans, including Scott Martins, Paul Dennan, Ryan Anderson and Bruce Mitchener, Dire Wolf Digital will focus on creating online trading card games (TCGs). The SOE vets have several TCGs under their belt, including Legends of Norrath and the Free Realms TCG. What's interesting for MMO fans is that Dire Wolf Digital is working on a project in conjunction with an upcoming MMORPG. Per the press page: "The company is currently producing a trading card game based on an upcoming massively-multiplayer online game, and is in pre-production on additional social and strategy game projects for 2011." Of course, we have no idea what this upcoming MMO is, but the talent involved makes Dire Wolf Digital worth watching. Considering that the team has previously worked on several TCGs for SOE and elsewhere, it certainly appears to have the pedigree necessary to succeed in the field.
"Icelandic Model" is ideal for small MMO start-ups, says Alexander Gianturco
When Iceland isn't belching volcanic ash that brings sky travel to its knees, it's kicking butt in the MMO world. EVE Online is widely seen as one of the greatest MMO success stories -- a small yet incredibly complex title from a small-fry studio (CCP) that's seen steady growth over the years instead of the typical rise, crest and fall of most other titles. In a recent chat with Gamasutra, Alexander "The Mittani" Gianturco followed up his talk at GDC 2010 by outlining just why CCP's business model may be the Rosetta Stone for future games to follow. According to Gianturco, the crash-and-burn of many MMOs is due to the insistence that their games stick to the "Big Content" model (à la World of Warcraft), which requires a huge amount of resources and time before launch. He says that this is "near suicidal" for most studios to pursue.
Jagex Founders join Sunday Times Rich List
Earlier this month, we talked a bit about the impressive revenue and profits that Jagex have seen over the past few years, mostly thanks to the long-running success of Runescape. The company began small but saw steadily increasing success over the years, eventually pulling in record profits. The revenue numbers gave Jagex another feather in their cap as founders Andrew and Paul Gower joined the Sunday Times Rich List with their £138 million fortune. The brothers earned another £39 million in 2009, making them the "483rd richest in the UK, ahead of the likes of David Bowie (£100m), Sir Tom Jones (£135m) and Phil Collins (£108m)." Solely from a game industry standpoint, the runner-up for the richest developer title goes to Jon Burton, the developer of Traveller's Tales. He netted a respectable £75 million when his company was purchased by Time Warner. Check out the full story at Develop Online. [via Gamasutra]
Trion names upcoming MMORTS, renames Heroes of Telara
If you've been waiting for information on... well, pretty much anything from Trion Worlds, it's your lucky day. Trion has come forth with information about three projects that have gotten a fair amount of attention in the past, but left fans wanting to know much more. To begin with, Heroes of Telara is no longer Heroes of Telara. The game has been renamed Rift: Planes of Telara, a new title that reflects one of the most important mechanics of the game. Trion also revealed a little more information about the mysterious SyFy MMO that they're working on. No elaborate details are forthcoming quite yet, but we now know that it will be an "MMO action game" set on Earth between 50-100 years in the future. Finally, Trion unveiled End of Nations, which they say will be "the world's first premium massively multiplayer real-time strategy game." The fact that the game was an MMORTS has never been a secret, given that Trion actually named the game MMORTS for a while, but we've got a fair amount of new information with the unveiling. The game is aimed at existing fans of the genre rather than looking for converts, so players will be able to jump right into what they enjoy. Check out the full story on End of Nations and Trion's other projects over at Gamasutra.
Eskil Steenberg: Why is LOVE so unusual?
Eskil Steenberg's LOVE stood out from the MMO crowd from the first time it was presented at GDC two years ago. It didn't fit neatly into any pre-determined genre and the game's appearance was different from anything we were used to. Two years later, LOVE has launched, and Steenberg is thrilled to see his work reach this point. He spent some time recently chatting with Gamasutra about how the game developed the way it did, what its focus is, and what he hopes players will take away from it. LOVE isn't only unusual because of its appearance, Steenberg says. It also stands out because the focus is somewhere completely different than your traditional MMO games. Players cooperate to develop and build the world, interacting with it as they see fit: "It becomes almost like playing a RTS but one where you're playing a peon in an army, and you can decide what to do -- you can stay at home and build, you can explore, you can do all kinds of things," Steenberg explained. That's just the beginning of what makes LOVE so unusual, though. The full interview is an interesting look at the mind behind the game, and can be read at Gamasutra.
Spacetime's Pocket Legends hits Apple's app store
While there have been many attempts at reproducing the MMORPG experience on Apple's incredibly popular iPhone and iTouch devices, the limitations in technology and connection speed have kept these applications from hitting the big time. Spacetime Studios hopes to change all that, as they just revealed a new MMO for the app store: Pocket Legends. Boasting 3D graphics, three classes and accessibility across iPhone, iTouch and iPad devices, Pocket Legends might be considered an "MMO-lite," but it still contains all the necessary ingredients. Players can choose from one of three anthropomorphic animal classes -- a cat sorceress, a bird archer, and a bear tank -- and head off for a career full of dungeon running, chest looting, and stat leveling. Grouping is also possible (and encouraged!), with thousands of players connecting over a server. Spacetime promises that players can not only play Pocket Legends on almost all of Apple's portable devices (except the first edition of the iPhone), but the game can be accessed via WiFi, 3G and even EDGE networks.
Curt Schilling says majority of savings spent on 38 Studios
Retired Red Sox player Curt Schilling has approached the development of 38 Studios with the same drive and enthusiasm as he did his baseball career, a fact that comes as no surprise to those who know what an avid MMO gamer he is. A recent article on Gamasutra took a closer look at the development of 38 Studios. Schilling felt confident in his endeavor from the very beginning, making an initial investment of $5 million and hiring a lineup of very familiar names including R.A. Salvatore, Todd McFarlane, and several others. Once the project was underway, he increased the investment in a big way: "I have put the majority of the money I've earned in my life on the table. If I make another financial investment, I will have crossed the point of no return from a personal investment and company standpoint." The financial and personal commitments have been significant, as with any large business venture, but Schilling remains very confident in the project: "I have no doubt I am on the cusp of creating a multi-million dollar company[...]" Take a look at the full story on Gamasutra.
Former Blizzard dev starts Atomic Operations game studio
Industry veteran Chris Millar has been around -- he's been with Blizzard since the WarCraft II days, and has worked on everything from Black and White 2 to Fat Princess – but now he's off to head up his own company called Atomic Operations. In this quick Q&A with Gamasutra, he says that the company will be a grab-bag of methods and products, all using "an evolved production method similar to that of movies." They've already got a project out the door, too: Atomic is the company that's supporting Fat Princess, with the bugfixes released the other day and presumably more to come. Millar and Atomic Operations join the multitude of other Blizzard veterans off working on their own companies. Let's see, there's Keith Lee and his crew at Booyah, the ex-Blizzard folks at Red 5 Studios, the unfortunate souls at Castaway Entertainment and Flagship Studios (now Gravity Bear and Gargantuan Studios), new WoW TCG licensees Cryptozoic, and a few other little developers and divisions headed up by ex-Blizzard devs. Whew, that's a whole lot of babies -- Blizzard is like the Zeus of gaming studios lately. What are they serving in the cafeteria over there, startup cola?
Derek Smart and ex-Alganon employees butt heads
News of last week's shakeup of the Alganon team has been sparking a lot of talk in the gaming community, and the fans aren't the only ones with something to say. Derek Smart is taking Alganon back to the drawing board in a big way, but he's still finding time to maintain his policy of very open communication: "The fact is that in our industry, the less you say, the more people will fill in the blanks for you." You're not going to find many blanks to fill in here. Gamasutra reported the news Monday, and Smart posted some clarifications to the story in the comments section. He had quite a bit to say over the next 24 hours, and Hue Henry and Jason Blood stopped by to add their voices to the conversation as well. The discussion that followed was interesting to say the least, and offered quite a bit of insight into their thoughts on the matter. The comments section, while long, is well worth a look, particularly if you're familiar with the participants or a fan of Alganon.
Americans spend $3.8 billion on MMO gaming in 2009
Do you feel like you spent a lot on MMOs last year? Well, you're not alone. It's no secret that the MMO industry is a huge one, and all of those box sales, Steam downloads, sub fees, and item shop purchases added up to a pretty impressive number. Gamasutra reported today that MMO gamers in the US spent $3.8 billion on their hobby in 2009. What's interesting about this figure is that it follows the trend you find in free-to-play games these days: of the 46 million Americans playing MMOs, only 46% of them spent any money at all on games. The rest, approximately 25 million, were completely free-to-play. Even so, American gamers are clearly more enthusiastic about opening their wallets for games than other countries, with the total coming to about 15 times more than any European MMO market. You can take a look at the full report and more number crunching at Gamasutra.
Building The Secret World: An interview with Ragnar Tornquist
As the buzz surrounding Funcom's upcoming title The Secret World increases, we continue to hear more from the developers in the form of things like concept art and some spooky game footage. The latest dose of information is an interview with Funcom's Ragnar Tornquist. He spent some time with Gamasutra recently, and their interview tells all about building a cozy little corner of hell in Kingsmouth. The discussion ran the gamut from fantasy genre oversaturation to the creation of a game set in the real world. The extensive interview is well worth a read for anyone interested not only in The Secret World, but in the thought process behind game design as well. Tornquist explores his history as a gamer and how it helped to shape the way he is creating The Secret World. The interview covers quite a bit of ground and reveals plenty of new information about TSW. It can be found here -- enjoy!
Rumor: Red 5 Studios lays off one-third of its staff
Their official site reads "Red 5 Studios is seeking highly talented and driven programmers to help us build a AAA massively multiplayer title." Well, maybe not. A report from Gamasutra gives the news that we never like to hear or report: Red 5 Studios -- founded by former World of Warcraft team members -- has laid off approximately 30 people. This report comes from a "reliable source" close to Red 5, and if the number is accurate, it's nearly a third of their 100-man team. (That figure from a December 2008 interview with CEO Michael Weingartner.) Red 5 Studios has been around since 2005, and as a rule has stayed very quiet regarding their ambitions for their upcoming MMO. They secured funding in 2006 and made some staff changes in 2008, but it's been mostly silent on the Studio 5 front for the most part, until now. Our best wishes go out to those affected by the layoff, and to all involved. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in as a tip!] Update: Red 5 has confirmed and clarified this rumor via a press release announcing the restructuring of the company: "As part of the restructuring, some team members chose to part ways while others were let go."
Plummeting PS2 and PSP sales shrunk Sony's market share in 2009
For many, 2009 was the year Sony started turning things around: the PS3 finally dropped to an affordable price with an ad campaign that didn't give children nightmares. However, Gamasutra's Matt Matthews points out that in terms of revenue, 2009 is one of the worst years for the company. Whereas Sony was able to generate $6.4 billion in revenue from its family of PlayStation products in 2008, the company was only able to rake in $5.1 billion in 2009 -- that's a drop of $1.3 billion, or 20 percent. While Microsoft and Nintendo also shed some revenue in the difficult economic climate, their losses seem insignificant in comparison: about $200 million each. Matthews notes that a large portion of Sony's lost revenue in 2009 comes from sagging sales of its decade-old PS2 platform. The (understandable) lack of software sales on the PS2 resulted in the loss of approximately $700 million in revenue, while hardware sales have contracted another $150 million. The PSP also had a difficult year, and it appears the PSP Go hasn't turned around Sony's fortunes. According to Gamasutra's analysis, hardware and software sales on Sony's handheld shrank by about $425 million in 2009. With the demise of the PS2, and the languishing state of the PSP, Sony's former dominance of the market seems but a memory.
Nintendo to Greenpeace: We do care about the environment
Greenpeace harshed on Nintendo's eco-coolness last week, and this week the House that Miyamoto Built is firing back. It's released a statement to Gamasutra saying that it takes environmental responsibilities seriously, and that the company is committed to saving energy, making both of its consoles energy efficient and using carefully picked and clearly-labeled materials in an effort to make post-usage recycling easy. To be fair to Nintendo, most of Greenpeace's argument against it was that the company didn't share information about what it did for the environment, and let's be honest here: Nintendo's not really one for sharing. While Nintendo did get blamed for increasing its CO2 emissions, most of Greenpeace's other complaints (as you can see in the PDF) were not actually about mistakes Nintendo was making, but its failure to share information or release reports about its operations. We can't really blame Nintendo for that -- on at least a few of its points, it seems Greenpeace's methodology was more responsible for the big N's bottom-of-the-barrel listing. [Via GoNintendo]
Capcom: Wii is 'a tough market to crack'
Capcom spoke to Gamasutra recently about the difficulty in taking advantage of the Wii's huge user base -- it and other third-party developers have struggled for a long time to sell games to the casual folks who bought Nintendo's console, and Capcom's senior director of communications Chris Kramer says it hasn't gotten any easier. "If you're not Nintendo," he says frankly, "it does seem harder to make money on the Wii today compared to the PS3 and the Xbox 360." So what's the solution? Fewer titles, higher quality. Kramer promises that Capcom will release fewer titles on the Wii in 2010, and that the few that do hit store shelves "will be much larger, event-size games." And he expects that other major developers will follow suit: You'll see "fewer games from the major third parties, like EA, Activision, and Ubisoft." If third parties don't see sales on the console, says Kramer, they'll stop developing for it.
