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The Daily Grind: The MMO you're most looking forward to
There are so many upcoming MMOs to anticipate, we honestly can't say which one we're looking forward to most. Champions Online looks like good fun (with a good sense of humor!), DC Universe Online has us wowed with its array of super powers (that thing where you can freeze someone in a block of ice and throw them around? We're led to understand it never gets old.), Wrath of the Lich King is sure to turn our attention back to Blizzard (we may or may not have the beta client open as we type -- we'd never admit it if we did), Warhammer Online is just around the corner, Star Trek Online calls to the inner geek in all of us, and Knights of the Old Republic Online (or whatever it might be called) is a siren's song to any geeks not falling head over heels for STO. We're in such a state of giddiness over upcoming games, we can't quite determine which one we're most excited about -- and that's where you come in. Which of the many new titles out there are you most looking forward to?
The week in Massively features (E3 Edition)
E308: DC Universe Online roundupSony Entertainment Online revealed a metric ton of new information on their upcoming superhero MMO DC Universe Online at E3 this week, and Massively was on hand to pick the spicy brainmeats of Creative Director Chris Cao, SOE-Austin VP of development John Blakely, and famed DC artist and Executive Creative Director for the project, Jim Lee. The Digital Continuum: Five KOTOR MMO Jedi counter-measuresWith the less-than-grandiose announcement that Electronic Arts, BioWare and Lucas Arts are working together on a KOTOR MMO, I've found myself pondering the game that until now was nothing but a rumor. Granted, I already thought about the game quite a lot even before it was the now more official affair. E308: Membership and microtransactions in Free RealmsWe know that SOE's upcoming title Free Realms will be free to play, but that begs the question of how SOE might profit from the title. (Especially considering that Lead Designer Laralyn McWilliams stressed that Free Realms is just as important to SOE as the other titles being shown off at E3, The Agency and DC Universe Online. E308: Erling Ellingsen talks patch timeframes for Age of ConanEarlier today we sat with Age of Conan product manager Erling Ellingsen. Due to the development cycle Conan is in right now, Ellingsen didn't really have anything in particular to show us - but he did have some things to tell us. E308: SOE President John Smedley talks Free Realms, possible sequelsYesterday at Sony Online Entertainment's E3 headquarters, the Massively team got to see and hear the latest details on SOE's trifecta of new titles: The Agency, DC Universe Online, and Free Realms. There will be in-depth coverage of these games across the site during the rest of the day. To kick off, and to give you some perspective on what these games mean for the company, we sat down to talk with SOE's CEO John Smedley.
The Digital Continuum: Five KOTOR MMO Jedi counter-measures
With the less-than-grandiose announcement that Electronic Arts, BioWare and Lucas Arts are working together on a KOTOR MMO, I've found myself pondering the game that until now was nothing but a rumor. Granted, I already thought about the game quite a lot even before it was the now more official affair.There are no two ways about it. Star Wars as an MMO presents developers with a tough issue: how to deal with the Jedi class. I still think that one of the many mistakes with Star Wars Galaxies was setting it during the original trilogy, where Jedi were almost non-existent. I got the draw of the setting, but for an MMO it really didn't cater to the fervent desire to roll a Obi-wanna be character. Yet I also feel like it's a mistake making Jedi readily available without presenting players with other options that are equally appealing. Neo-futuristic-magical-samurai with energy swords aren't a hard sale for most players choosing which class they want to play. Thankfully, BioWare seems to have chosen itself a wonderfully powerful loop-hole: Knights of the Old Republic.
KOTOR MMO confirmed by Electronic Arts
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/KOTOR_MMO_confirmed_by_Electronic_Arts'; We've had plenty of speculation -- lots and lots of it -- but now we've got confirmation from Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is indeed getting a massively multiplayer online iteration. Portfolio.com has the story. The article quotes Riccitiello as saying, "... the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it." When directly asked if this was confirmation of Knights of the Old Republic Online, the executive said simply, "yes".You can commence the freaking out now.
EA: LucasArts and BioWare building KOTOR MMO
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/LucasArts_and_BioWare_building_KOTOR_MMO'; Portfolio.com just published a short excerpt of its interview with EA boss John Riccitiello who tells the site that it's "got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development" including "the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare." One doesn't need to connect too many dots to arrive at the conclusion that BioWare is returning to the Star Wars universe with a Knights of the Old Republic MMO.Of course, this product has been rumored for ... well, for a long time. Separately confirming a BioWare / LucasArts collaboration and a BioWare MMO project lead to certain obvious conclusions and countless other rumors and leaks seemed to do everything but confirm (and some denied) the project's existence. Though it would appear Riccitiello wasn't quite ready to put a name on that project – it's Portfolio.com connecting those dots – by referencing that this is the game that "people are dying for us to talk to them about" he clearly seems to be pointing to KOTOR.[Update: We've just spoken with N. Evan Van Zelfden, the writer of the report, who told us that when asked specifically if this game was "KOTOR Online", Riccitiello responded unequivocally, "Yes." So, there you have it – sounds like we can take off our skeptical glasses.]
E308: BioWare says there is no KOTOR MMO (wink)
We just saw BioWare show off their new Dragon Age: Origins here at E3, and while that singleplayer game looks great (imagine a Mass Effect game set in the world of Baldur's Gate), we did spring the requisite massively multiplayer question on them for you. At the very end of the Q&A session with developer Dan Tudge after the demo, the PR rep told us there was just "time for one more question," and we threw it out there: "So, how's the Knights of the Old Republic MMO coming?"There was silence in the room for a moment. Tudge quietly said, "I... have no idea what you're talking about," and then everyone laughed as the PR rep nervously said, "Good answer." Tudge added, "You're asking me that in front of my boss?" And so we revised the question: Dragon Age has a very MMO-style design -- there's a minimap in the upper right, party portraits in the upper left, and a bar with icons for skills across the bottom. Does BioWare really want to make an MMO? "The interface looked like Baldur's Gate to me," said Tudge cooly. "The real question is, how much of the MMOs did Baldur's Gate influence?"Touché. But we left the press conference with a smile, a special secret that we'll share with you now. As much as Tudge was thrown off by the question, as much as the PR flack was aghast that we asked it, we did leave with this satisfactory piece of information: they didn't, in point of fact, deny. Did you enjoy this? Check out all of our E3 coverage as the week rolls forward!
Rumor: Further evidence of Star Wars: KOTOR MMO discovered
1UP recently added some fuel cells to the fire of the relatively aged rumor that the result of Bioware and LucasArts' recent collaboration is an MMORPG which takes place in the long-winded universe of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. While one could make a case for and against this claim, a script for the game, which apparently landed in the laps of 1UP's digital ink slingers, could prove conclusive evidence for the online epic -- if it's completely legit, that is.The script details the online game as a "role-playing game set in the historical past of the Star Wars universe," where "Jedi and Sith battle across the galaxy." While those two phrases could apply to many chapters of the Star Wars mythos, the tipster who submitted the script was convinced it carried Bioware's trademark verbosity. We're confused -- how will we be expected to spend hours mindlessly grinding and spawn camping with all of that dialog getting in our way? Hopefully they'll fix that in beta.[Via Massively]
1UP thinks the Force is with the BioWare MMO (again)
We cannot foresee the details of BioWare's MMO; shrouded in mystery they are. The biggest rumor has always been that it's based on the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic IP. And what a ride that rumor has been. Just since the beginning of this year it's already been falsely confirmed once and denied twice.It's the most popular nonexistent game in the known universe, but is it really nonexistent after all? Oh no, here we go again! As our own Mike Schramm commented after the most recent denial: "If you strike this rumor down, it will only come back more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Prophetic words, those.A tipster sent 1UP an excerpt from an MMO script, allegedly from within BioWare. The script doesn't sound very MMO-like, but according to 1UP's Steve Watts, it resembles dialogue in previous BioWare works, and it's "set in the historical past of the Star Wars universe." Sounds like KotOR to us! 1UP poked LucasArts for a comment, and basically got the "no comment" comment.
BioWare strikes down latest KotOR rumor
Yesterday we ran a story about an EA report that appeared to quietly announce that BioWare is working on a new Knights of the Old Republic game. That was pertinent to MMOs because BioWare is making an MMO at its Austin studio, and people have been speculating that it might be based on the KotOR IP.Well, BioWare got in touch with the Joystiq network to let us know that everyone's been jumping the gun; it turns out that the EA report was referring only in a general fashion to the KotOR IP (to demonstrate "the pedigree of the studio"). EA did not intend to imply that any specific new title is in development. So there goes the basis for the latest KotOR rumor.
More evidence that BioWare's MMO isn't KotOR [Updated]
Joystiq reported today that an EA investor report listed a new Knights of the Old Republic title and the "New MMO" separately. This is not a logical certainty, of course, but it seems unlikely that the Austin-developed MMO is KotOR if there's already another KotOR title in development, given that the LucasArts/BioWare collaboration announcement implied only one title.This comes after an industry insider specifically named BioWare as a company that's not developing a Star Wars MMO. So our hopes have become a mere whimper by now. Tragic.Well, BioWare's Ray Muzyka will be talking about the future of MMOs at the Game Developers Conference this month. Maybe he'll mention what it is now that we're fairly confident it's not KotOR. Probably not, but we can hope.[EDIT: BioWare has contacted us and informed us that the EA investor report is referring only in a general fashion to the KotOR IP; EA did not intend to imply that any specific new title is in development. The listing of "KotOR" does not speak to the existence or nonexistence of a new KotOR title. We apologize for the error.]
Knights of the Old Republic (not necessarily) back in BioWare's hands
Update: EA has responded to this post, saying their report does not actually confirm the existence of a Bioware KOTOR MMO. Original post below: After a brief stint with Obsidian Entertainment in 2004, the Star Wars: Kuhniggets of the Old Republic franchise is set to return to the folks at BioWare. So says an EA investor report (yes, that one) which listed the game amongst BioWare's multiple ongoing projects. Mind you, it's listed simply as "KOTOR," so there's a small chance that the studio is actually working on Kleptomaniac on the Origami Recliner. That doesn't sound like something you'd collaborate with LucasArts on, though ...While it doesn't preclude the possibility of the company working on more than one online game (or more than one KOTOR title), the separate listing of "new MMO" in the same report does cast some doubt on earlier KOTOR rumors. We'd prefer a single-player adventure over online organic meatbaggery, but perhaps you feel otherwise.
Star Wars the only IP that can challenge World of Warcraft?
Games industry rumor-monger Surfer Girl is apparently not done with MMO-bombshells yet. Last week she partially deflated the hopes of folks wanting a Massively Multiplayer version of Knights of the Old Republic. Today she says she sees the SOE/LucasArts venture Star Wars Galaxies closing down within a year of the release of the new game. Lucas and the (unnamed) company working on the new MMO apparently think Star Wars is "the only IP that can pose a serious challenge [to] World of Warcraft". She also claims that the Old Republic setting is too niche to fully utilize the Star Wars IP, which is why it's not the new game's setting. If the new MMO is set in the same period as the new television show, as she previously claimed, it will likely take place sometime between Episode III and IV. That previously untapped period in the Galaxy Far, Far Away is the setting for most of Lucas' new projects. She goes on to say that LucasArts and the dev house expect their new project to have at least three million subscribers by the end of its first year. As for what BioWare is actually working on, she intimates that the Edmonton studio is working on a new KOTOR title. The MMO the Austin studio is making (according to an earlier post of hers) "has a fantasy setting akin to the company's previous fantasy role playing games." So ... Dungeons and Dragons possibly? The world made so much more sense last week. Do you think she is right about WoW and Star Wars? Is the Force the only thing that could shake Azeroth's deathgrip on the massive gaming genre?
MMOGology: The next big thing
I remember the excitement I felt back in 2001 when World of Warcraft (WoW) was announced. I greedily read early previews as new details were released in magazines like PC Gamer and Computer Gaming World (now Games for Windows). I savored each scrap of gameplay information and every gorgeous screenshot. It seemed so different, visually and conceptually, than all the other MMOGs I had played to that point. Yes, Blizzard was taking tried and true gameplay techniques from Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, and other popular MMOGs at the time, but it was keeping the fun concepts and removing the painful ones. It was a somewhat foreign concept at the time to focus on making the fun factor the focus of the game. Some people will undoubtedly argue with me, but running naked while avoiding agro on a twenty minute corpse run in Everquest was not my idea of fun. Blizzard's game was also the only MMOG I knew of that promised it wouldn't discourage casual and solo play. Apparently I wasn't the only one excited about World of Warcraft. Six years after WoW was initially announced, and on the eve of its three year launch anniversary, WoW has somewhere between eight and nine million subscribers. WoW is clearly the current king of the massively multiplayer mountain; at least in terms of populatiry. With one expansion under its belt, another set for release in 2008, and constant upgrades along the way, it's clear that WoW has a lot left to give. But there's always one thing you can count on when you're the king of the mountain; you'll always have a challenger aiming to steal your crown. Inevitably it will happen. Something will replace the WoW so many of us MMOG players know and love. It might be another Blizzard creation, a WoW 2.0 or a World of StarCraft. Or it might be something entirely different by another developer. It's a question that will continue to be asked until WoW is finally replaced. What will be the Next Big MMOG?
