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The Digital Continuum: Fears and opinions
Anyone who's been playing MMOs for a little while has probably been looking forward to an upcoming game at least once. They also probably put a lot of expectations onto that game based on either their first game or what they thought an MMO should be. We've all done this at least once in our time as fans, and we've all been wrong to do it. I've wanted to create some kind of data point -- even a fairly shaky one -- to prove this statement of mine. So, when the Star Wars: The Old Republic community created this thread to express their fears, I had my opportunity. In a wholly un-scientific manner, I've combed through the entire 17 page thread and tallied up all the fears within. This should be an entertaining ride.
Star Wars: The Old Republic fansite kit now available
Some exciting stuff is happening for the Star Wars: The Old Republic community, or at least for anyone interested in running a fansite dedicated to the game. BioWare has released a pretty awesome fansite kit as a part of the newest Fan Friday and it's packed with all sorts of useful goodies like high-res concept art and game logos. We can't wait to see what some of the more creatively inclined members of the community will do with it. In other fan-related stuff, BioWare's released a new video short of a mini-gun animation that's pretty great. There's also some really, really cool fan art by forum user StandAlone. You can see one example of his awesome skills above, but we urge you to take a look at a couple other works, too.
The Digital Continuum: 'Meh' to MMOs?
While the MMO genre appears to be growing at a decent pace (at least for Blizzard) there's still plenty of room for growth. World of Warcraft clones can attract only so many interested players and turning to classic niche designs such as the sandbox MMO ala Fallen Earth won't do anything to pique the interest of people who otherwise have no interest in the genre. So what will appeal to someone who has never felt a desire to play a game both massively and multiplayer?
Taris announced for Star Wars: The Old Republic
Fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic are most likely veterans of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, for reasons that should be immediately obvious. So the announcement of Taris on the official site is no doubt going to bring back some warm feelings of nostalgia... or irritation at the planet that you had to spend roughly seven years on to find Bastilla. Maybe a little of both. Of course, by the same token players might remember that Taris didn't exactly make it through the end of the game intact. Being leveled by an orbital bombardment left the planet a smoldering ruin for the rest of that game, and according to the planet's official dossier, the better part of three hundred years. The Republic is attempting to re-colonize the planet in a show of defiance against the Sith, but they're running into a few problems. The rakghouls and plagues that marked the planet's lowest sectors remain amidst the ruins, along with the Sith attempting to block the Republic from the obvious symbolic victory of retaking the world. We're still a year out from Star Wars: The Old Republic, but with a few of the sites we can look forward to visiting, some players might feel as if they've never left.
The Digital Continuum: Can story supplant grind?
Star Wars offers a setting with incredible chances at strong storytelling and it's for this reason I've been watching closely for any hints at the story elements in Star Wars: The Old Republic. This recent developer blog on the driving forces behind the Sith Inquisitor's tale really dug its claws into my mind. Before now, I'd always assumed most choice elements within the story of any given class would be mostly binary. That was the easiest solution for BioWare, who has created quite the challenge for themselves with the premise of a full singleplayer storyline experience for each class within the game.
The development of the Sith Inquisitor in Star Wars: The Old Republic
The Sith Inquisitor is not meant as just another Force-using class. That's one of the central themes behind the most recent developer blog from Star Wars: The Old Republic. Saying even that the Inquisitor is meant as a Palpatine to the Sith Warrior's Darth Vader is only a fraction of the whole story. No, the Inquisitor exists as someone whose diet of dark secrets and forbidden knowledge is as much a survival mechanism as anything, the manipulator and scholar, the calm and reason to balance against the Warrior's bravado and power. Where the Warrior begins as a member of high society, the Inquisitor begins life as a slave, sent to either become a part of the Empire's almost monastic order of Sith or die unknown and unmourned. Inquisitors face the difficulties of choice, not only of morality but of their personal desires weighed against the needs and demands of the Empire. And through it all, they are the keepers of secrets and mystical knowledge of the Force, learning and studying into the otherworldly aspects it posseses. While we're still more than a year out from the expected launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, fans should still enjoy this look at one of the game's most devious classes.
Giving up on conquering WoW
Backhand of Justice has an interesting post up about something we've considered for a long time: who will overtake World of Warcraft. Way back before this year started, game developers were challenged to come up with an MMO that could take on WoW's influence and popularity, and while there have certainly been some interesting MMOs announced and released (Star Wars: The Old Republic, which isn't out yet, and Aion, which is, are probably most in the forefront at the moment), it just hasn't happened. WoW is still the juggernaut it's been for almost the full five years, and with Cataclysm coming in 2010, that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon. So now, two months from the end of 2009, let's just say it: it's not possible. World of Warcraft is an aberration, an extremely well-made game that happened to be in just the right time and place (the casual game explosion, the adoption of MMOs and subscription model gaming, the "mainstreaming" of fantasy/sci-fi geekiness) to become an uber megahit. In short, game developers simply can't recreate WoW, at least not on purpose. As BoJ says, that doesn't mean they can't try -- there are certainly lots of original and interesting games and MMOs out there, and it's completely possible to be an MMO that isn't WoW-sized and be successful. But as for the actual question of beating WoW and its worldwide audience, game developers have pretty much moved on.
