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Tamriel Infinium: Audience expectations, Elder Scrolls Online, and EverQuest Next
Last week was a huge week for MMO fans. We were expecting some cool news from Sony Online Entertainment about EverQuest Next from SOE Live. Despite not being a huge EQ follower, I was enormously interested in what SOE (one of my personal favorite game developers and publishers) planned on doing with its staple franchise. Then Bethesda announced that for the first time ever the ZeniMax team would show in-game footage of the Elder Scrolls Online on Twitch TV. Specifically, players wanted to see the first-person view not seen at previous conventions. ZeniMax delivered, and the crowd went wild. I believe both presentations were wonderful, and I would be lying if I said that both presentations didn't pique my interest. I would also be lying if I said that I had no concerns about how each of the games will be received. I talked about it with my guild, Nefarious Intent. We have some hardcore Elder Scrolls fans and some MMOers who have been playing EQ games since the '90s. During the course of the debate, we came to the conclusion that the audience of each game expects something completely different and that pitting these two titles together is completely unfair. So of course that's why I have to do just that in today's column. Why are there different expectations between ESO and EQN? How is it going to be completely possible for both games to be highly successful?
NintendoLand is a virtual theme park on your Wii U
Nintendo has announced a set of minigames called NintendoLand for the Wii U, which uses various Nintendo characters to show off the capabilities of the new systems. There will be 12 different "attractions" in the game, with five them being shown off at E3 this year. From the demo being shown on stage, NintendoLand seemingly collects last year's Wii U demo minigames and expands on them.The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest, Animal Crossing: Sweet Day, DK's Crash Course, and Takamaru's Ninja Castle were the attractions mentioned in the presentation, all of which highlight a certain feature of Nintendo's newest console. Sounds an awful lot like the PlayStation Vita's "Welcome Park" application if you ask us!Nintendo compared the mini-game collection to Wii Sports, the pack-in title for the original Wii. NintendoLand launches alongside the Wii U this holiday.
Why I Play: Fallen Earth
I'm going to start my Fallen Earth testimony by echoing the same sentiment that Shawn shared last week with WURM Online: I really didn't get it the first couple of times I tried it. I had heard great things about this post-apocalyptic title from Massively and elsewhere at the time, but it felt so different and kind of raw when I logged in that I didn't stay for long. In fact, it wasn't until I forced myself to sit down and devote an entire evening to Fallen Earth that I got past my initial objections and it clicked for me. It clicked hard. Since that time, I've been an ardent fan of Fallen Earth, using it as Exhibit A whenever people complain that all MMOs are too much alike and boring. Well, here you go, I say. An MMO in a contemporary setting that also happens to embrace apocalyptic themes. An MMO that revels in dark humor and edgy themes. An MMO where 95% of the gear in the game can be crafted and used by you. An MMO with free-form character growth and -- this is important -- motorcycles. An MMO with a world that's genuinely fun to explore (and might I add, huge). It's not perfect, it's not my main MMO squeeze, but it is a title I've carried a torch for since my first days in the wasteland. I've got no shortage of words when it comes to this game, especially if there's a chance that my verbosity will get you to take a closer look at Fallen Earth (which is easier than ever since its free-to-play conversion).
Gundam Statue rebuilt to guard eponymous museum
Let's be honest, the saga of the giant RX-78-2 couldn't have ended with the 59-foot replica mecha lying scattered in pieces. On April 19th, Bandai's opening a theme park dedicated to the world's greatest giant-robot cartoon, Neon Genesis Evangelion Mobile Suit Gundam. Adults will pay 1,000 yen ($13), Kids 800 yen ($10) to visit the 2,050 square-meter "Gundam Front," park, in a shopping mall in Tokyo's Odaiba district. There's even a themed café and store, to buy all of your giant-robots and giant-robot-based accessories -- but no word yet if we'll be able to build our own version of the giant Gundam that'll guard the entrance. In other news, we've still not heard anything about that Space Battleship Yamato-themed cruise liner that was in the offing a few years ago.
South Korea's Live Park uses RFID and Kinect to bring your Holodeck fantasies one step nearer
All those long, long drives to Florida in the family station wagon seemed worth it at the time, but now that we've found out that those lucky South Koreans have another crazy theme-park, we might just change our minds. Located near Seoul, Live Park uses 3D video, holograms and augmented reality, interacting with RFID wrist bands and Kinect sensors to stitch together a continuous immersive story. You (and your avatar!) have 65 attractions, over seven themed zones, and the world's biggest interactive 360 degree stereoscopic theater to wave, jump and shout your way through. Two years and $13 million in the making, Live Park's creator d'strict is now looking to license the concept out internationally, with locations in China and Singapore already earmarked. We're not sure we could handle that long of a family drive just yet, but with a Hollywood entertainment "powerhouse" reportedly nibbling, maybe we won't have to.
Kinect-powered theme park opens in South Korea
While South Korea's cousins to the north are busying themselves with their new glorious leader, the folks in the south's Ilsan districts of Gyeonggi-do are being entranced by American technology. An entire theme park has been created using Microsoft's Kinect tech combined with RFID wristbands that allow attendees to create avatar representations of themselves and move through the park while interacting with its various "attractions."But what are these attractions, you ask? They're just as bizarre as you might think, with things like "The Ender Mirror" allowing photo-taking powered by smiles, "Live360," which creates a 360-degree video game "with multiple story endings in a huge space," and much more. The park is being touted as "the world's first 4D avatar theme park," which we find hard to argue with. The question then becomes whether the world asked for such a theme park, which we find much, much easier to dispute.
WildStar Wednesday tackles the sandbox vs. themepark debate
Sandbox or themepark? It's a never-ending debate around these parts of the internet. Carbine Studios knows both sides of the argument all too well, and it shows. Which side of the argument does WildStar fall on, though? If today's WildStar Wednesday dev diary is to be believed, the game straddles the fence between the two. WildStar's Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney points out that "developer-directed game play isn't always at odds with the player-directed experience" and notes that sometimes leaning too heavily in either direction can be detrimental to the overall gameplay. As such, the developers are attempting to hit the sweet spot between sandbox and themepark gameplay. If you're interested in finding out how they plan to do that, head on over to the dev diary at WildStar's official site.
The Soapbox: The battle for story
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. When I was in grad school, one of my favorite classes spent a couple of sessions talking about the use and importance of story in teaching. It opened my eyes to the fact that stories are one of the most universal elements of the human experience, from antiquity to modern times, ranging from a little kid playing with toys to an adult penning a novel. We simply love to tell and listen to stories -- they grab our attention, spark our imagination, teach us valuable lessons, and create lasting memories. But somewhere along the years, something went horribly wrong when it came to MMOs and stories. MMOs were always supposed to be the ultimate platform for storytelling, as both developers and players could pitch in to weave epic sagas, and for a while that seemed to be the case. Lately, however, I've seen a movement that is thrashing hard against stories in MMOs, typically using one of the following two statements: "Get your stupid story out of my game!" or "Stories are better left to other forms of entertainment." It's made me a sad panda to realize that MMO storytelling is under attack by the very players who should embrace it, and often they're acting as if they're being dragged, kicking and screaming, into future MMOs where story is placed as a priority. Make no mistake: The battle for story is on, and the stakes have never been higher.
Sony reinventing PlayStation Home to be more like an MMO
PlayStation Home was a hugely anticipated feature for console fans, one that ultimately garnered mixed reviews and apathetic affection. Due to the reception, Sony has decided to reinvent the game lobby-slash-virtual-world to incorporate the best of themeparks, MMOs, and social networks. When it relaunches this fall, PlayStation Home will look radically different, resembling a sleek mall with plenty to do and faster functionality for those who want to get right to their games. But between playing commercial titles, gamers are encouraged to hang out for a while, which is where MMO elements come into play. The new Home has a number of districts, as an amusement park would, and in them players can pick up quests, go on treasure hunts, and explore these video game-themed zones to find hidden mysteries. Sony also promises that it will incorporate persistent, ongoing stories, similar to those you'd find in MMOs, such as an alien invasion that affects all of the areas. Sony is hoping that the 23 million Home users will embrace this new experience and form stronger social connections through it.
EA bringing Theme Park, Battlefield 3 to iOS
According to Pocket Gamer, EA's taking a scattershot approach to succeeding on the iOS platform with two of its recently revealed upcoming releases. The first is Battlefield 3, which EA wasn't keen to share any details about -- though the safe bet is that the game will resemble the iOS version of the series' last installment, Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The second is Theme Park, a new version of the 1994 amusement park management sim which is absolutely nothing like Battlefield: Bad Company 2. No release details beyond "later this year" were given to Pocket Gamer, though both titles will be playable on the show floor of Gamescom next week. We can't wait to fluidly switch between the two, heating up our blood with a round of evildoer-shooting followed by a cool-off period in the Bouncy Castle.
The Daily Grind: What challenges have you added to your game?
I'm always fascinated with stories of players who deliberately add challenges to their MMO gameplay. Sometimes you hear about folks who try to get to the level cap without killing a single creature, or people who play with naked (unarmored) toons, or those who make it their mission to complete every single achievement and quest there is. I see self-created challenges as an attempt to add spice and flavor into games, usually after you've long since gotten bored of the most efficient leveling path. Some players think up these challenges to add a slice of sandbox-style goals into an otherwise theme park-oriented title. Right now, one of my characters in Lord of the Rings Online is attempting to do every single solo quest in each zone before going elsewhere. It's challenging to slow myself down and get over that desire to progress and go for the big XP rewards, but it's a ton of fun so far as well. So, big or small, what challenges have you added to your game? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Sharp walk-in display over-stimulates 32 guests at a time in Japanese theme park
We've seen plenty of building-sized televisions -- like the 80,000-square-foot ceiling screen in Beijing, or that record-breaking monstrosity that the Cowboys installed in Dallas -- but those single-dimension LCD's have nothing on this "5D" cube opening on Friday. Constructed from 156 Sharp 60-inch HD displays, the 5D Miracle Tour can only be found at Huis Ten Bosch, a "residential-style resort built after a medieval 17th-century Dutch town" located in Sasebo City, Japan. The unique attraction accommodates 32 guests at a time, and consists of one main front screen, surrounded by additional panels on the top, bottom, left and right. Lasting eight minutes, the tour presents the story of a mermaid named Sirena, though content will occasionally change -- given the transient nature of mermaids, of course. We've only been able to dream of the modern-day curiosities we'd encounter while visiting 17th-century Holland, but we certainly hope this magical place won't elude us the next time we're near Nagasaki.
The Daily Grind: Where would you vacation in an MMO?
MMOs are often the place we go to get away from the routine of life, where we can explore exotic worlds and cull all life from them in pursuit of the almighty ding. Even though this virtual exploration is fun, from time to time the locales call to us strongly. "Come!" they say. "Visit us! Ignore the rampaging orcs and rest under the shade of our death trees!" I sometimes wonder where I'd vacation in an MMO if I was given the chance. I'd probably say either Lord of the Ring Online's Shire -- during any given pie festival -- or on Guild Wars' sandy beaches. Either of those would be supremely relaxing and probably superior to hoofing it around Vegas or Disney World (cue MMO "theme park" joke). So where would you vacation in an MMO if the laws of reality would bend to suit your travel plans? Would it be somewhere gorgeous, somewhere interesting, or somewhere with locals you'd love to meet? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Disney World's Haunted Mansion gets interactive upgrade, digital spooks (video)
It may not be as scary as Walt Disney World's Hall of Presidents, but the Florida theme park's Haunted Mansion just got a ghostly upgrade. The ride's grand finale, which previously positioned hitchhiking ghosts -- by way of half-silvered mirrors -- alongside unsuspecting visitors, is now reportedly using a series of digital mirrors and sensors to make things more interactive. As opposed to just popping up next to passengers, Disney's Ezra, Gus, and Phineas are now equipped to rip your head off, blow it up balloon-style, and send it flying. Sure it sounds scary, but this is Disney, the same company that didn't see the nightmare-inducing capabilities of a robotic Obama. For a peek at the new creepers, peep the video after break.
The Road to Mordor: The final ding
It happened far sooner than I'd hoped. I tried to put it off, to ignore the creeping bar, to spend my days in frivolous activities instead of fighting evil -- but to no avail. It was a simple quest turn-in somewhere deep in Mirkwood, and with only two elves to witness the event, a stream of white light erupted from my head. I was level 65. For me, it's always been extremely disconcerting to hit endgame in any MMO, which is probably why Lord of the Rings Online marks only the fourth game of my MMO career in which this has happened. I like the feeling of leveling up, gaining experience, going on a mostly solo journey through the lands. But once I ding that final level, the XP gains go away and the questions arise. What do I do now? Should I become concerned with raiding? I wasn't before! Is there a purpose to keep on questing at this point without XP? Am I going to avoid fighting mobs unless I absolutely have to do so? What is there to do? Will I get bored? Who replaced my wallet with a ketchup packet before I sat down? Join me after the jump as I take you through these questions and more on my journey to discover a life after the final ding.
The Daily Grind: What are your goals in a sandbox MMO?
One of the main attractions to sandbox MMOs is the wide freedom of choice, of exploration, and of goals that you can accomplish. In games from Wurm Online to EVE Online, players have reveled in the ability to make their own stories and carve out a slice of the world for their own use. So if you've ever played a sandbox MMO, what were your goals? What do you try to do when you set foot in a brand-new one? Do you quickly dive into crafting or strike out on bold adventures? Do you become a feared bandit of the forest or an avenging savior of the helpless? Do you see whether you can find the edge of the known world and then cross it? And if you've never experienced a sandbox MMO, what would you hypothetically do in one if you played it? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Captain's Log: Will STO become a sandbox or remain a themepark?
Welcome back from the holiday, readers! I trust everyone has recovered from the excitement of a long weekend, a tasty Thanksgiving and a rabid Black Friday. By now you should have settled back into the slow, miserable slog toward more holidays. I know I have. For this week's Captain's Log, I'm going to discuss themepark and sandbox MMOs. What do those terms mean? And how does Star Trek Online fit into that dichotomy, both in its present form and in its Foundry-expanded future?
The Perfect Ten: Reasons why it's great to be an MMO fan today
After my last Perfect Ten list, I strongly debated creating a new one revolving around the issue of spiders and their relation to insects and gigantism, but my editor told me that that wasn't enough of an MMO topic to suit Massively's needs. So, bowing and scraping in apology, I must instead present to you my back-up plan: Ten reasons why it's great to be an MMO fan today. I can hear some of you grimacing right now: "But Justin -- if that is your real name -- are you really so doe-eyed and naïve? Don't you know that all MMOs suck, that it's all the same old crud, and that you have gray in your beard?" That's where I'm different, I guess. I'm not blind to some of the serious issues that plague the MMO industry, and I've had my fair share of burnout, disillusion and frustration with the games, but I can't bring myself to become an MMO cynic. On the contrary, I feel that part of being an MMO fan is that it's fun to look on the bright side and get excited about this hobby we all share. So in that spirit, I present to you 10 reasons why it's a great time to be an MMO fan right now more than ever before. And, yes, I'm still calling spiders "bugs." You can't stop me. I'm immune to all conventional weapons!
Anti-Aliased: What happened to building worlds
I hope you guys have taken the time to check out our GDCO coverage, specifically our interview with Richard Bartle. If there's anything that has really been on my mind for these past weeks, it's been that. Dr. Bartle's approach to MMOs is very similar to my own personal approach to MMOs: these are games, but they are also worlds. And it's been that line of thinking that has lead me to today's column. What happened to creating worlds in our games? Now, I'm not saying that our games don't include vast settings for us to explore. All of our MMOs include some great settings, but they seem to fall flat anymore. Instead of focusing on how players can interact with the world and each other, many developers are focused on creating the coveted "theme park" environment. We have worlds filled with pre-planned obstacles and challenges that rarely change and evolve over time, instead of allowing players to interact with the world and vice-versa. So, with all of our new knowledge on how games work, what's stopping us from tackling the challenges we used to tackle regularly? How can we make world building and sandbox practices approachable? How can we re-ignite the creative fire?
Ask Massively: Why so serious edition
It's that time again! Ask Massively has returned this week with answers to a handful of new questions. Since we didn't get too many this week, I went back and grabbed a few unanswered questions from our first week. Topics include Guild Wars population numbers, APB impressions and our new code of conduct. Click right past the jump below for this week's answers. If you'd like to see your question answered next week, add it to the comments below or send it to ask AT massively DOT com. We'd love to hear from you!
