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Hands on with Project Wiki
Project Wiki from Webzen is a bright, colourful MMO that immediately stands out from their other post-apocalyptic/dark-fantasy offerings. With inviting colours and visuals reminiscent of a 2D cartoon, the game seems well-matched to its kids-and-teens target demographic. It's simple to play -- perhaps too simple -- and death comes quickly at the hands of nearby enemies; the character we were playing has a limited number of skills which made combat a little repetitive. Project Wiki is only scheduled for a Korean release -- its anime-inspired graphics may make it appealing in the West, but its gameplay is rooted firmly in the East.
Hands on with Soul of the Ultimate Nation
Korean MMO company Webzen is launching an attack on the Western world with Huxley, but the company isn't confining itself to the MMOFPS genre. Soul of the Ultimate Nation is a fantasy-themed MMO with a distinctive Eastern style that will be launched in North America during 2007 (it's currently in open beta in Korea). Fantasy MMOs are ten a penny these days, so we asked Webzen representatives what makes SUN different. They are banking on its graphical style to win fans, and also its competitive nature -- players enter into 'competitive hunting' with others, rather than co-operating as in many other MMOs. The game also features voice chat amongst adventuring parties and guilds.
Hands on with Huxley
Webzen's upcoming MMOFPS Huxley, to be released on both Xbox 360 and PC, combines both fast-paced shooter action with massively multiplayer gameplay. It's essentially a FPS with levels and questing added -- the gameplay is very much the fast, in-your-face style seen in Quake 4 and Painkiller. However, it allows for tactical play too, with territorial defence missions.The game felt more like a standard FPS multiplayer match with a larger number of players than usual than an MMO. It plays like a FPS -- no skill buttons or floating exclamation marks. The game's setting is a fairly standard post-apocalyptic nuclear-mutation scenario. The 360 version will feature a single-player component as well as the massively-multiplayer part, though Webzen are working on the inevitable issue of keyboard-and-mouse versus controller balancing.
Where's the love for console MMOs?
One genre was conspicuously absent from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft's E3 press conferences -- the humble massively multiplayer game. We at Joystiq are on the lookout for innovation in MMOs, and what better platform to push the genre to its limits than next-gen consoles? Yet few developers seem to be taking the bait.While some console MMOs are under development, the PC is definitely the platform of choice, and nothing we saw at the keynotes has changed that. With the investment in connected online services for the next generation of consoles, it's a surprise that the MMO isn't getting any attention. Perhaps translating gameplay to console platforms is holding developers back, or perhaps it's just too early for the genre to come into its own. Either way, it will be interesting to watch the few console MMOs that are launching soon, as well as Final Fantasy XI, to get some hints of what the future holds.
Splitsville for Microsoft and Sigil after "varying visions"
Sigil Games Online, developers of upcoming MMORPG Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, announced today that they'd be co-publishing the game with Sony Online Entertainment after "it became clear that [Microsoft Games Studios] and Sigil had varying visions and direction for the title's development," according to Brad McQuaid, CEO of Sigil Games Online, as quoted in a company press release on the break-up. It's rare that a game in beta switches publishers. We have no inside information, but a little digging makes it clear that something's not quite right fresh in Denmark. At least one high-profile game designer recently quit, and Sigil's CEO has been defending the game from legions of WoW Fanboys doubters that have been questioning whether it'll ever be commercially viable. The surest sign that the game may be in choppy waters is the fact that McQuaid's now doing business with SOE after his high-profile departure from the same company in the fall of 2001. According to MMOG-community gossip circulating at the time, this departure was also the result of diverging creative visions between McQuaid and Sony on the evolution of Everquest, the successful MMORPG that McQuaid co-founded and designed. Smart observers suggest that the culprit behind all of the churn und drama is the tremendous success of World of Warcraft. To wit: how will Vanguard fare against WoW and the other bajillion MMOGs slated for release? For reaction to this announcement from MMORPG insiders, check the FoH forums, where the unruly mob is being characteristically brutal. Even the President of Sony Online Entertainment is trolled into doing some damage control.
Penalty for being the worst raid leader ever? 50 DKP MINUS! [update 1]
In the NSFW video that follows, a raid leader flips out ninja-style as his team of 40 raiders fails to kill the dragon known to World of Warcraft players as Onyxia. For those who've never raided Onyxia, you need to know that this multi-phase fight is laden with traps and tricks, and usually takes hours upon hours of failed attempts before a group finally downs her for the first time. An experienced raid team can finish the encounter in 20 minutes. The video that you're about to see captures the frustration of the Onyxia experience, showing just how emotional things can get when total party wipe follows total party wipe. It also highlights the hilarity that results when people with very little management experience are given the opportunity to lead a large group of people. Some soar, some flop. Our protagonist in the following video flops like a pancake. Click here to watch. Turn the sound down (or put on some headphones), because the raid leader loves to drop the F-bomb. [Update 1: Fixed autoplay issue.]
MMOs: the near and distant future [Update 1]
Academic blog Terra Nova is asking a big and important question -- what does the future of massively multiplayer games hold? Arguing that current games like World of Warcraft are the best the current-gen has to offer, what's around the corner for next-gen MMOs?A few buzzwords that are floating around the comments thread: middleware; user-created content; no grinding; item-based revenue; user-hosted MMOs; dynamically-changing worlds; non-high-fantasy-themed games; customisation; co-operative control of vehicles; massive-scale MMOs; celebrities; console platforms.That's a lot of theorising, and a lot of potential for new MMOs. Whether new games get personal with localised, user-hosted mini-worlds, or create their own celebrities with ingame content creation that ties into a large-scale international world, there are some exciting possibilities around the corner.[Update: reinserted mysterious vanishing end-of-post.]
Interview with Space Cowboy Online producer Jason Park
Jason Park, producer for the "action-based MMO space shooter" Space Cowboy Online, agreed to a brief email interview. We asked him some tough questions about the game, and he shot from the hip, like a true cowboy. Jason also agreed to monitor this post and respond to any reader questions that might pop up over the next 48 hours (from the time-stamp on the post).
Lord of the Rings Online: Future Competition for WoW?
With usage statistics showing World of Warcraft so far above any potential competition, you've got to whether any game could challenge the top spot. The last major MMO release, Dungeons & Dragons Online, saw a slight drop in my guild's raid attendance for a week or so, but then everyone lost interest, and was playing again. (More recently the single-player game Oblivion seems to have caused a heavier attendance drop across the realms - though that may eventually play itself out as well.) While a true test of Warcraft's dominance of the market is bound to come eventually, questions remain - when and from where? Well, the developers of Lord of the Rings Online are aiming high - with a target of a million subscribers. Though this is still significantly less than WoW's six million subscribers, it's a big jump over the next nearest competition (Final Fantasy XI, with an estimated 650,000 active subscribers). With continued technical problems plaguing Azeroth, how many people are simply waiting for the next big MMO to hit? And is Lord of the Rings Online going to be the one, or yet another passing fad?
Gamer feels cheated by FFXI's sneaky hidden fees [update 1]
Davis Freeberg wrote to Joystiq to let us know that he feels ripped off by the lack of disclosure about the fees required to play Final Fantasy XI for the Xbox 360. Though experienced PC MMOG players and other hardcore gamers know that games of this type typically include monthly fees, Freeberg appears to be more typical of console gamers. He expected to be able to buy the game, pop it in, and start playing. Instead, he was required to spend hours installing the game and registering for a separate online service before he was told that the game would cost $12.95 per month plus an additional $1.00 per month per character (beyond the first) he created. Deceitful marketing or clumsy mistake? Click "continue" below to see what we found.
Guild Wars: Character slots for cash coming soon
Buying virtual goods with real money is becoming a trend these days, but this new Guild Wars announcement turns the game's small number of character slots (four) into a money-spinner: starting this summer, you'll be able to buy more slots for $9.99 each. The upcoming expansion, Factions, will also provide more slots, so the number of characters on a single Guild Wars account should be approaching that of other MMOs soon.Other virtual services that cost real money include realm-to-realm character transfers (EverQuest) as well as approved real money transfer (Second Life) -- micropayments for a little bit of database juggling are on the rise, though Guild Wars at least has an excuse for charging for extra functionality, as it has no monthly fee.
Blizzard to revamp WoW Battlegrounds
Gaming Steve — "the man with the game information" — has the scoop on Blizzard's plans to dramatically enhance Battlegrounds, World of Warcraft's PvP mode. The first update, expected in patch 1.12 or 1.13, will effectively link 16 realms per Battleground server, in turn speeding up queues and opening up the playing field for inter-realm action.But Steve reports that Battlegrounds will undergo its biggest makeover with the release of The Burning Crusade expansion. Players can look forward to features like worldwide rankings, tournaments, and ladders when the expansion drops later this year.
Square Enix snubs Xbox 360, targets PS3 & Vista for new MMORPG
Speaking with Impress Watch, Final Fantasy XI producer Hiromichi Tanaka revealed that Square Enix is working on a new MMORPG for the PS3 and Windows Vista. Tanaka made no mention of an Xbox 360 version, but did confirm the developers' hopes for a worldwide release.Last year, Square Enix showed off a MMORPG trailer at Microsoft's pre-E3 press conference. It was assumed at the time that the Xbox 360 would be home to Square Enix's next MMO project — not just a FFXI makeover. Tanaka's recent comments suggest otherwise.[Thanks, Fan]
MMO subscriber charts show what's hot
Bruce Sterling Woodcock of MMOGChart has been tracking the subscriber numbers for a variety of different MMOs for years; version 19.0 of his data was released about a week ago, providing numbers up to January 2006 in a long-awaited update. The chart's coverage isn't perfect; geographic information would be especially useful, but is near impossible to find, and the site explains the accuracy behind the data (there are differences between active subscribers, cumulative subscribers and boxes sold). However, it's interesting to see what this snapshot of the current MMO world is like.The graph above shows the largest MMOs, those with over 120,000 subscribers. The green line leaping towards infinity is World of Warcraft -- the yellow and red curves, declining slowly, are Lineage and Lineage II respectively. Many of the others stop in 2005, so it's hard to get an accurate up-to-date picture, but the light blue line representing Runescape seems to be finally taking off, cresting the 500,000 barrier -- an impressive feat for a game started by a couple of students.
MMO Account Statistics
Though this site isn't specific to World of Warcraft, MMOGCHART.COM provides some interesting information on the subscriber levels of various MMO's currently on the market as well as the number of people actively playing MMO's. The site has recently gotten its first update of the year, with promises of more updates to come. It doesn't tell us more than we already know - that World of Warcraft is immensely popular - but it does help to put it in perspective. With the next two MMO's below WoW catering to more of the Asian market (NCSoft's Lineage and Lineage 2), it looks like North American competition in the MMO market is pretty scarce.
Console Conan coming to the 360?
What is best in life? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women. Oh, and playing Funco's massively multi-player Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures on your Xbox 360 wouldn't be so bad either. Gamespot's Rumor Control column tackles the likelyhood that Robert E. Howard's brawny hero will battle-axe his way on to our favorite console:Like most MMORPGs, Age of Conan is PC-exclusive. However, that may change, according to a GAF poster. Said poster claims to have a friend who attended a question-and-answer session held by Funcom, the Norwegian developer of Age of Conan. According to the poster, the Funcom developers "showed a trailer with a pretty intense draw distance apparantly [sic] as well as Conan himself wielding a morning star which seemed totally realistic in how the spiked ball would behave due to its weight and momentum." Then, "a question was asked about if they were thinking about other platforms than PC...then the spokesman [Bjorn Sundquist] made a kauf [sic] gesture saying *kauf*Xbox360*kauf*." (Emphasis added.) Since John Milius' Nietsche-tinged Conan classic (starring the Governor of California) is probably my favorite movie of all time (I've seen it a hundred times—please don't mention the disgraceful sequel), I'm tempted to pray to Crom that this works out. Fortunately for purists and people who hate Ahnuld, Age of Conan is based not on the movie, but on the gritty, politically incorrect world created in the orginal pulp novels. And it's been gathering positive barbarian buzz for some time. Gamespot tags the story as "bogus" because, as of right now, Age of Conan is still officially a PC product. But the lack of a publisher as the May PC release date nears means that Microsoft could step in with head-chopping Hyborian ease. We need an MMORPG on the 360 that doesn't have Final Fantasy in the title. Come on Microsoft—let us push the Wheel of Pain.
Pirates of the Caribbean MMO on parade at E3
Fans of Captain Jack Sparrow and his motley crew will be wise to keep their eyes peeled this E3. Disney will be unveiling the first images -- along with a playable version -- of Pirates of the Caribbean Online, a massively-multiplayer online game that should be hitting shelves in 2007. Although a pirate-themed MMO isn't a new idea, taking a film with such a cult following as Pirates of the Caribbean and turning it into a MMORPG could prove a stupendous hit -- as long as it's done right. Disney's VR Studio, the developers behind the family friendly Toontown MMO, are on board for the project -- it's billed as being for "teens to adults" so it'll hopefully have more of a mature feel than Toontown. However, as long as it has Jack Sparrow in, some fans might not care.
Import review: Contact
Gamebrink has posted a review of Contact, currently the most anticipated DS title that doesn't involve a duo of energetic plumbers. Instead, you get an eccentric professor looking for the parts of his downed spaceship in an original RPG that supports Wi-Fi play. The article praises the game for its unique story, excellent presentation and varied locations. I especially like how the game breaks the fourth wall right off the bat, having the professor communicate to you as the player on the other side of a mysterious portable device. The professor will quiz you about some of your favorite things at the start of the game, often sharing his own opinion regarding your answers. It's a cute little gameplay device that, according to the review, really boosts the immersion factor (often quite tricky for a portable game to get right).The only qualm brought to light was the fact that the game's combat system comes across as a bit shallow. Still, if an RPG has enough personality and a great story to tell, it can often get away with such issues. It's when things are the other way around that you start having problems. The English version of Contact should be out later this year, courtesy of Atlus.[Thanks Sense!]
MMO VoIP: cross-reality calling
Telecoms startup Vivox has an intriguing vision, and an ambitiously-named product; "Immersion" aims to add voice chat to online games, with both persistent chat for guilds and dynamic chat for instancing. The product also seems to tie together various text-based chat methods, including regular messengers such as Yahoo and AIM as well as in-game chat.By supplying the (scalable) infrastructure for this service, Vivox hope Immersion will take the burden of providing voice chat away from game manufacturers, while making communication centralised and seamless for players. However, there are already several products that already achieve this -- many guilds have Ventrilo or TeamSpeak servers, while Xfire provides cross-game chatting. Vivox can go either way; it could corner another segment of this fragmented market, or -- if the company manage to deal directly with game developers -- it could become the one-stop-shop communication solution for gamers regardless of their MMO of choice.It'll be interesting to see which way the company goes; voice chat is certainly billed as the next stage of interactivity with MMOs, with Xbox Live gamers testifying to the added dimensions voice can add to various game genres. A recent press release on Vivox's website points to another direction in which the technology could become useful -- adding voice and centralised communication to online dating and social sites -- but reaching saturation point is going to be a tricky ride.[Via Gamesblog; City of Heroes screenshot from GameAmp]
Hope for the Pirates?
There's been a lot of frustration among those who spent time factioning up with the Bloodsail Buccaneers - which automatically lowers your standing with the Steamwheedle Cartel. Those who made the grind to get revered with the pirates to get their pirate hat are now discovering that they're unable to acquire their Dungeon 2 armor set, because the second step of the quest requires you to visit Gadgetzan, where loyal Bloodsails are attacked on sight. To those contemplating the slow grind back to good standing with the Goblins, Tigole offers a ray of hope - patch 1.11 will feature several quests that will help Bloodsails return to good standing with Goblins throughout Azeroth.
