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E308: EA announces Rupture expansion, to mesh with Warhammer Online
You may recall that EA recently purchased Rupture, a social networking site for gamers. Previously in-development by Shawn Fanning and Co, Fanning is now a proud EA employee. At the massive press conference for Electronic Arts today, the company announced an expansion to the Rupture system, in the form of the identity system Nucleus. Players will have a persistent tag that they can carry across games, ala Xbox Live. More importantly, from our perspective, they hinting that Warhammer Online will be meshing with this new system, and providing new opportunities for unique social interactions. Players will be able to "subcribe to and track what their friends are playing". This is extended even further by the capability to set "customer challenges" for friends - essentially player-made achievements. They single out the possibility of "asking a friend to level a Warhammer Online character to 30 before the end of the weekend." Any developer can choose to hook into the Rupture framework, allowing social achievements across EA games and beyond. As exciting as it sounds, though, we somehow doubt that Blizzard's going to bite. A shame: would have been fun to challenge your WoW friends to a leveling contest. The press-release information is below the cut.
Josh Drescher on WAR in a post-WoW world
Many of you probably know Josh Drescher from his nifty production podcast videos for Warhammer Online. While you may think of him as "that video podcast guy" Drescher does also work on Mythic Entertainment's upcoming MMORPG as well. In an interview with Gamasutra, the man behind the digital curtain of animated bits discusses his thoughts on MMOs in the post-WoW era. The general gist of his thoughts? World of Warcraft has done quite a bit of good for the industry --- which is true -- and Warhammer Online is a different experience that will draw from the general audience created by Blizzard's success. He also plays the "WAR doesn't have to compete against WoW" record once more, in case you hadn't heard the tune already.From the sounds of things, Mythic doesn't seem to think its game is going to gain enough critical mass to tip the scales against World of Warcraft -- and why should it? Drescher himself puts it best when he says, "I imagine if you ask most of the people who are continuing to work on [Vanguard, Lord of the Rings Online], they're profitable, and really, at the end of the day, that is the most basic metric of success."
The Digital Continuum: Diet WAR
Diet Warhammer Online: same great taste, less content. Is it bad that the recently re-branded Mythic Entertainment just cut out a large portion of our Warhammer Online pie and put it in the deep freeze? Well it's certainly not good when a developer cuts content they've been talking about publicly for so long, especially when launch is only three or four months away. I've already written about why this MMO ode to classic tabletop trappings shouldn't be shoved onto shelves half-baked and I still feel like I'd rather see a delay than see so much content cut. While there have been plenty of delays already, that doesn't mean more would have been intolerable. I'm going to try and take an honest look at what the removal of four capital cities and four classes means for Warhammer Online. I will admit that when the news first hit, a vile and seemingly ancient sort of anger began to boil up inside my lungs. It was the onset of some form of draconian rage at the removal of so much content that I'd been personally invested in as a future player. I never really got into Chaos and planned on playing Dark Elves, but now a large part of that content is gone. At first I felt anger and confusion towards Mythic. It wasn't until after that initial knee-jerk anger passed that I was able to give some real thought to their choice and was able to consider the varied consequences.
Mark Jacobs clarifies the loss of Warhammer classes, cities
Yesterday's unexpected news of deep cuts into Warhammer Online's at-launch content is still sending shockwaves through the fan community. It seems like it's just been a whirlwind of WAR news of plate, with the announcement of the Guild Beta and the reacquisition of the Mythic Entertainment name close on the heels of the content losses. In the forums at the largest WAR fansite, Warhammer Alliance, Mythic VP and General Manager Mark Jacobs attempted to further clarify what prompted these dramatic announcements.Jacobs and WAR community coordinator James Nichols have been on the front lines of this discussion. Jacobs in particular has offered up two lengthy posts on the issue, providing Mythic's viewpoint on both the classes and cities pulled. On the class front, it sounds as though these offerings simply weren't coming together from a design perspective. Jacobs even goes so far as to say that new classes may be put in their place if they can't 'get them right' post-launch. The pulled cities, on the other hand, will probably be added to the game at a later date. For now, the team wanted to focus the energy of the players and the developers into two red-hot points. There's a ton of perspective on this issue in the forum posts - make sure to check them out.
WAR guild beta begins
It's been a big day for Warhammer Online fans, and in spite of our expectations, not entirely in a good way. We've been having enough trouble attempting to process the news that Mythic is cutting four capitol cities, but wrapping our heads around the idea of a world without Choppas has been trying indeed. In spite of our scarcely contained nerd rage, we haven't been entirely immune to the good news that's come out : namely, that the Warhammer Online closed guild beta should begin some time today.Or at least, that's what the press release says. A straw polling of our many internet spies shows that, as of the time of writing this, guild beta centers have not been updated for those who were accepted into this round of testing. We expect lots of page refreshing to ensue.
Mark Jacobs announces major features cut from Warhammer Online
In the latest of an ongoing series of interviews with MMORPG.com, Mythic Entertainment VP and General Manager Mark Jacobs has dropped big news on the Warhammer Online fanbase: major features are being culled from the game in order to make their Fall launch deadline. In short, the capital cities for the Dark Elf, High Elf, Orc, and Dwarf factions will not be in the game at launch. The Human city of Altdorf and the Chaos Inevitable City will be the only Capital cities in the game. This is an enormous change, seemingly changing much of what we know about the game's core of RvR gameplay. Additionally, four classes are being removed, deemed to be in a condition unsuitable for launch. They are: The Choppa (Greenskin) The Hammerer (Dwarf) The Blackguard (Dark Elf) The Knight of the Blazing Sun (Empire) As the website notes, all of these are melee classes and two of these were intended to be the primary tanking classes for their race. This leaves the Empire and Dark Elf races without a dedicated tanking career, possibly limiting their contributions to end-game PvE content. Jacobs moved immediately to try to curtail the obvious rumor-mongering: "This has nothing to do with EA ... they had zero input in this ... They don't even know about it. It's not a discussion we would have with them." We've previously expressed some reservations about just these issues. How do you feel about these major announcements for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning?
EA Mythic reclaims original Mythic Entertainment name
It was only a name change! Remember when Mythic Entertainment, the force behind Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online sold out and got slapped in the face with the EA brand? Many gamers associate a stigma to EA and were disheartened by the name retrofitting that took place in 2006. In an interesting twist, Mark Jacobs announced yesterday that EA Mythic has reclaimed the Mythic Entertainment name. As to why, according to Jacobs it's as simple as EA wanting to reinvent itself. EA's recently acquired studios Bioware and Pandemic retained their identities. In an MMORPG.com interview conducted by Jon Wood, Jacobs explains the new rationality being employed by John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts. EA wants studios functioning as their own city states with more creative freedoms and maneuverability, an example Riccitiello uses in a February 10th Gamasutra article. It's important to note that even with the name change Mythic Entertainment is still a part of Electronic Arts. (Duh!) Mark Jacobs also confirmed that the company will be revealing a new logo soon. Two more Warhammer Online announcements are planned for later today. What will they be? It could be about the Collector's Edition pre-orders, a release date, or worse another delay. We will keep you posted.
Massively goes to WAR: The early days of Mythic Entertainment
Thursday afternoon Christian Bales and Josh Drescher sat down with us to discuss the Living Guild system in Warhammer Online. We did, at length, and you'll see the results of that discussion on the site later today. In the midst of all that information, though, we got to talking about their early days at Mythic Entertainment. Unlike many of the AAA MMO developers today, Mythic originally started out as a 'garage-style' development house. It's hard to imagine today, walking the halls of EA Mythic's corporate office space, but the duo's tales of antenna-based internet service, hallway offices, and legacy code make for a great reality check on the modern MMO marketplace. Read on below the cut for stories that will make you very glad to be working in a cubicle ...
Warhammer MMO delayed until fall
Many orcs are putting on their sad faces today as Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning suffers another delay. Eurogamer reports that the game's producer, Jeff Hickman, stated the title is being pushed from Q2 until the fall. WAR's last delay, which shifted it from 2007 to this year, was blamed on EA's takeover of Mythic, though it did affordthe company more time to polish the title. The only thing that raises a red flag about WAR releasing this fall is a little game called World of Warcraft and its expansion that many believe will hit later this year. We're just saying, if we were releasing a fantasy-themed MMO, we'd leave as much breathing room as possible between our game and any WoW release. [Via Massively]
Signs you are not smart enough...
I love eating bees. Well, I love to read Eating Bees, the industry insiders POV from the legendary Sanya Weathers. I love it because she says it like it is, an all too rare commodity in this overly politically correct world. In her latest diatribe Sanya takes on people who are not smart enough to moderated boards. This list can apply to virtually any board whether it be about shooters, MMOs or even movies. But since Sanya came from Mythic Entertainment they are likely based on personal experience. And they're a riot. Take for instance this doozy: You delete anything that isn't porn, advertising, or one member calling another member a "faggot retard." If you are deleting things because someone posts that such and such a decision is "poorly thought out," you are too sensitive and need to not be online. Ever. Or this classic: You avoid posting something that might cause drama, even though the something in question is most certainly going to be part of the game. Man UP, you chicken$@!* wimp. As the Guinness guys would say: Brilliant!See, I have some experience in this arena. Back in the day, long before Al Gore invented the "Internet," I created and moderated some of the very first online Star Wars forums. Based on that experience, what Sanya says is dead on. If you don't follow what amounts to her "guidelines" you end up with the inmates running the asylum. Or in this case those damnable forum trolls. By the way, the numerous comments adding more to the list (which she asked for) are almost as funny. It's worth a read.
More than half a million sign up for Warhammer Online beta
When EA Mythic announced plans to delay its upcoming MMO Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning until 2008, we'd be lying if we said the news was met with anything but a sigh of relief. After all, retail shelves are already home to more than enough half-baked massively multiplayer escapades for our liking, and anything to keep from being tempted to fork over hard earned rupees for the honor of being glorified beta testers is just fine by us. We'd much rather that pleasure fall to real beta testers, which according EA now number more than 500,000 strong in both North America and Europe, an impressive jump from the some 200,000 announced just six months ago. Warhammer Online, which promises "revolutionary" realm vs. realm combat and just might be console bound, is currently poised to launch for real sometime during 2008's second quarter, though those players itching for an early taste of what the tabletop-inspired MMO will offer can still sign up for the beta on EA Mythic's website. As for the rest of us, we'll continue to play the ever-popular waiting game, which may or may not be just as fun. For those of you who are in the beta, feel free to let us know.
Warhammer Online starts beta with 200k signed up to play
EA Mythic wants to show they're off to a good start with Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning by letting everyone know that 200,000 players are currently signed up to play their closed beta. The beta started on May 30 and the 200,000 mark was reached ten days after launch. What's the average amount of time that normally takes? Who knows, but they put it in the release so it must be an interesting fact. The Halo beta ended up having 820,000 players (that's actual players, not "signed up"), but that's an apples to oranges situation, and yet, also an interesting fact. There are still spots open for the beta and EA Mythic is taking applications at the WAR site. WAR was recently delayed from this year until sometime in 2008. EA Mythic is looking to have this dog ready for the show by that point. We're sure to get the first tidbits of how the game is sometime soon and we're definitely going to get our first real taste for the game when EA shows it off at E3. [Via Press Release] Update: Oops, EA Mythic has 200k players signed up for the beta, they don't give an actual number of people who are playing.
Warhammer Online seeks beta testers
EA Mythic is starting beta registration today for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. The game, which was recently delayed until 2008, will begin an invite-only beta in the relative future. To sign up you just click here or there is more information on the Warhammer site. We've got the nagging suspicion that Warhammer Online is going to follow the same route as Lord of the Rings Online in terms of polish. EA Mythic is holding on to the title for longer than necessary to tweak and get that game to shine when it goes gold. Remember, entering the fantasy MMO market, games can't go in fresh, they have to feel like they've got two years of battle under their belt to compete against World of Warcraft. Where's Tabula Rasa already for those done with fantasy and need an MMO sci-fi fix? [Via Press Release]
Warhammer Online delayed until 2008
EA Mythic's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has been delayed to 2008. The game was originally expected this fall, the statement was made in a newsletter stating the delay was caused by Mythic's acquisition by EA and they've been "afforded many wonderful development opportunities" which they plan to take advantage of, which "includes taking several additional months to make the best MMORPG possible." Warhammer Online is EA's ticket into the MMO market and they aren't releasing this game until it's perfect. Mythic is best known for creating the successful (by pre-WoW standards) Dark Age of Camelot and EA purchased Mythic in an attempt to have a successful MMO in their portfolio following the colossal epic ginormous mythic failure of Earth and Beyond and The Sims Online. When we saw a very early version of Warhammer at last year's E3 it looked perfectly fine and was moving along with some interesting innovations to the genre. We're sure to get a better idea of the final game and what to expect by E3, followed by months of tweaking by the developer. If the Warhammer Online team follows the lead of the Lord of the Rings Online then they know that an MMO can't enter the market without being well-done. MMO's can't feel like they're just starting, they need to feel like there's been two years of extra content built into them -- it's one nasty genre to get involved in at the moment.
Rumorang: Warhammer Online heading to consoles
A recent EA Mythic job listing has renewed speculation that Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) is being co-developed for consoles, likely Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The listing calls for a 'Warhammer Console' producer who will lead the production and design of a "title being developed across next generation console platforms for the online MMORPG market." While WAR is not explicitly named, it's certainly implied. With this revelation, comes a mess of questions: what effect, if any, would console versions have on WAR for PC? Would the projects be wholly separated? Or would bits and pieces from each version be sacrificed to simplify cross-platform development and keep the overall budget down? [Thanks, Ves]
Warhammer Online updated screens
Games Workshop's Warhammer franchise has provided the setting for multiple PC strategy titles over the past ten years including Shadow of the Horned Rat, Dark Omen, and the recently released Mark of Chaos. Next year, Electronic Arts plans to bring the popular fantasy realm into the MMO market with Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Speaking with GameSpot earlier this month, lead designer Steve Marvin said Reckoning will be the "best-looking massively multiplayer RPG out there". See if you agree with him by checking out developer Mythic Entertainment's (Dark Age of Camelot) massive gallery, which was just updated with over a dozen new screen shots.
EA's Mythic acquisition
Electronic Arts has announced they will acquire Virginia-based developer Mythic Entertainment, which should be finalized by Q2 of next year. Mythic is best known for MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot, and is currently working on Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. According to Mythic co-founder and CEO Mark Jacobs, "EA's commitment to the online market as well as its focus on creating games of unsurpassed quality, scope and scale gives us opportunities and resources we could only dream about in the past."This move strengthens EA's role-playing lineup, with Project Gray Company expected to arrive on next-gen consoles in early 2007.
