Atari – Page 2 – MMO Fallout

Neverwinter Will Compete With D&D Online Directly

This article requires a bit of backstory, so if you are already in tune with the Atari Vs Turbine saga, feel free to skip ahead. To start, we must set the stage for the players in this ongoing drama. Wizards of the Coast owns the Dungeons and Dragons IP, and in turn license the video game creation to Atari, who in turn licensed the MMO rights to Turbine. Turbine creates Dungeons and Dragons Online, and pays royalties to Atari, who pay royalties to Wizards of the Coast. Atari owns Cryptic Studios, who were rumored to be creating a Neverwinter Nights MMO, in direct competition with Turbine.

Now this is where the story becomes shady. Turbine sued Atari, claiming that the company had plans to sabotage Dungeons and Dragons Online, in order to nullify the contract with Turbine, take over control of the MMO, and shut it down in preparation for release of a Neverwinter Nights MMO. Given Cryptic being Atari’s chief MMO studio, it was only a given that Bill Roper’s team would be leading the project in some secret underground base, likely in the middle of an active volcano. Although the lawsuit was settled and the terms kept secret, there was a distinct timing between the settlement and Cryptic announcing Neverwinter Online, specifically noting that the game was not an MMO. I theorized at the time that Atari agreed not to make any D&D MMOs as a result of the settlement.

[Backstory over]

I’m a little concerned over how quickly the public took this news and said “phew, at least Atari won’t be trying to destroy D&D Online,” and this raises the question: Is the fighting really over? Or is Atari still adamant in their attempts to shut down Turbine’s MMO, and set up a new title in an environment where they can benefit from more income? Consider this, if you will:

Dungeons and Dragons Online is an action-oriented cooperative combat role playing game where players meet up in a lobby, take quests, and raid dungeons in small groups. The game relies on class-based skills in order to accomplish feats such as disarming traps and finding secret passageways. Each class holds its own place in a team, and in solo will also require different means of play. The game is free to play and supported via VIP and cash shop revenue.

Neverwinter Online will be an action-oriented cooperative combat role playing game where players meet up in a lobby, take quests, and raid dungeons in small groups. The game relies on class-based skills in order to accomplish feats such as disarming traps and finding secret passageways. Each class holds its own place in a team, and in solo will also require different means of play. The game is free to play and supported via cash shop revenue and likely a VIP program. In addition, Neverwinter Online will also feature user-created dungeons and other yet-announced bits and pieces.

So when Cryptic stated that Neverwinter Online will not be an MMO, it’s important to remember that Dungeons and Dragons Online isn’t a true MMO either. The likelihood that the two titles will directly compete is high, simply because the mechanics in both games (at least as they are currently presented) are so similar.

Despite my past differences with Cryptic, I honestly believe that Neverwinter Online could be a great success because the fundamentals play to Cryptic’s strengths. Unlike Champions Online and Star Trek Online, both of which attempted to take a massive world and cram it into a tiny container, Neverwinter Online is in all train of thought built to be a small-scale cooperative game. Of course, given Cryptic’s choice of D&D rulesets to follow, they won’t be gathering in all of the Dungeons and Dragons fans, but if they stay true to the formula and bring the social experience to an online format, Neverwinter Online could be a real contender.

So I call bogus to the idea that Neverwinter won’t directly compete with Dungeons and Dragons Online, and feel that with the right developers behind the wheel, Neverwinter could wind up scooping a good amount of Turbine’s revenue.

Atari Vs Turbine: The Aftermath

For people like me, lawsuits are a swing and a miss, mainly because after all of the legal jargon, reading long court documents to figure out what is happening, and trying to get both sides to speak on the case, there comes the inevitable deal breaker: The settlement. A settlement, often out of court, is generally always secret, none of the agreements are released to the public and neither side can talk about who was wrong on what accord.

So you’ll have to accept my apologies when I tell you I was well aware that the Turbine/Atari lawsuit ended, not only that but it ended four months ago, around the time Turbine was acquired by Warner Brothers. The major changes? Not much to speak of, aside from Turbine reacquiring their publishing rights in Europe, although this could be a decision under the new ownership.

The lawsuit went out with a fizzle and not a bang, and it’s anyone’s guess who won, if there is a “winner.” I’m removing the lawsuit category at the end of the month, as it will no longer be needed.

Cryptic: Yea, It’s Dungeons And Dragons Online

screenshot_2010-01-12-13-04-14 — Set battle axe to decapitate...

It didn’t take long to figure out that Cryptic was working on a third MMO, what with both Cryptic and Atari dancing around giggling like little girls and shouting “I know something you don’t know” in a sing song voice, all the while Turbine shouting in the litigation background, “THEY’RE WORKING ON A NEVERWINTER NIGHTS MMO!” At Gencon, Atari boosted rumors by claiming that they were working on a D&D game, and began buying up Neverwinter Nights domains like they were going out of style (they did, several years ago).

So Gamespot announced today an exclusive interview revealing that Cryptic is indeed working on a Dungeons and Dragons title set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, but it is not an MMO. Instead, Cryptic are creating a cooperative online game (Ala Guild Wars?) that focuses on group play and works by players connecting and playing sessions, much like the role playing version. Players will be able to solo, not to mention create their own content and storylines.

You can read the entire interview and information page on the link, but it appears Cryptic wants to stress that this is an OMG (Online Multiplayer Game) rather than a full fledged MMO. Surely, more details to come.

Cryptic: Yea, It's Dungeons And Dragons Online

I Thought We Already Knew About Cryptic’s NeverWinter Nights MMO?

crypticpoints — I'm sure it will have a cash shop

Ever since MMO Fallout was in its infancy, I’ve been talking about the ongoing lawsuit between Turbine and Atari over the Dungeons and Dragons IP. One interesting note I had about the lawsuit was Turbine’s allegation that Atari was working on a Neverwinter Nights MMO behind their backs, and was intending on shutting down DDO to ensure that there would only be one MMO based on the IP on the market. Of course, this litigation is still going on, not to mention Hasbro’s attempt to grab back the D&D IP from Atari for allowing competing companies to use the D&D name.

At GenCon, Atari gave a cryptic (ha!) hint that they were working on a new D&D game which, coupled with the fact that Atari has been buying up Neverwinter Nights domains like they’re going out of style, and Cryptic has their new MMO being announced at the end of this summer, it all seems to time up just right to announce the essentially-announced Neverwinter Nights MMO.

At this point in the saga, we’re like the fans following the release of the sixth Harry Potter book: We knew the seventh was coming out, all we were waiting for was a name and a date. And J.K Rowling would fool no one going on stage and waving around a piece of paper while exclaiming this great new book she has coming out, all the while buying up Harry Potter related domains.

So…There’s no need to pull back the veil, Atari: The fabric you’re using is already see-through.

I Thought We Already Knew About Cryptic's NeverWinter Nights MMO?

So…There’s no need to pull back the veil, Atari: The fabric you’re using is already see-through.

Cryptic To Announce New MMO: Late Summer

Back when Cryptic announced they did indeed have a third MMO planned, the lines in many of our (bloggers) heads drew together very quickly: Cryptic is owned by Atari, who is being sued by Turbine under allegations that they were trying to sabotage Dungeons and Dragons Online, so they could turn around and market their own secret Neverwinter Nights MMO (Neverwinter Nights is based on third edition D&D). When asked what franchise he would most like to work on, his answer being “Godzilla and Dungeons and Dragons.” I speculated in the article that this would reignite rumors of a Cryptic D&D MMO.

And reignite it did. In a recent interview with Bill Roper, MMORPG.com asked “Do you have anything to say to the D&D Forgotten Realms MMO rumors?”

“I can’t speak to the specifics of what we’re doing, but it’s true that we have another game in the works. We won’t be making an announcement until late summer, and we’re still a ways off from launch. I can say that this is a game and a franchise we’re very excited about. I think people are going to pleased and a bit surprised with what we’re doing in terms of the game, how we make it, and even how we sell and support it. The game is being developed around new design principles merged with Cryptic’s community-first approach to ongoing development.”

MMO Fallout will be here late this summer with all the news as to Cryptics new MMO.

Turbine: Sorry We Directed You To Scams/Phishing

As some players point out to me in the numerous emails I receive each week, I apparently look like an idiot/hypocrite/uninformed child when I praise a company one day, and then crush them like a bug the next (literally) for doing something insanely inane. What these emails forget is that here at MMO Fallout, we shy away from sticking labels on a company, as long as that company is not Mythic entertainment and that label is not Mark Jacobs. But I digress: I feel that events should be taken as they come, and that there really isn’t some kind of point system you can keep to tell how good an MMO is in your graces. Oh well, Turbine gave us some free stuff so that gives them…five points? And the pay wall…You see my point.

Yesterday Turbine introduced the Dungeons and Dragons Online pay wall, where players could opt to complete offers to gain Turbine Points, not unlike MyPoints. The community, for lack of better words, exploded in response to this news. What originated as a shady new way to gain Turbine Points by taking an IQ test by some company in Malaysia quickly turned into controversy:

Players discovered that the user’s username and email address were being transmitted, unencrypted, just by looking at the wall, to the survey providers.
Forum users confirmed that one of the offerers, SuperRewards (or one of its affiliates) was harvesting emails for use in World of Warcraft phishing emails. A number of users, some of whom who have never played World of Warcraft, received similar looking phishing emails shortly after viewing the offer wall.
Offers that require users to download software that secretly harvests information, cookies, and potentially passwords, credit cards, and social security numbers.
Cell phone scams that require you to send a text to complete the offer.
Offers that require you to partake in long surveys that then disqualify you.

Turbine has since completely removed the offer wall, temporarily, to address these issues, but the fact remains: For a few hours yesterday, Turbine was literally walking their players directly into a developer-backed trap. Players who were offered an alternate method to paying for Turbine Points were herded into a trap where they could have had their accounts compromised, or possibly even becoming victims of identity theft, depending on what some of the advertisers were sticking on player’s computers.

Players are, understandably, livid about this and Turbine has released a list of rules that offerers must adhere to. Hopefully this will calm down an inflamed situation.

Offer Wall Rules

Any offer to be published on the Offer Wall must meet the following criteria:

1No unapproved required downloads – ever. This includes toolbars, helper applications, plug-ins, and ActiveX Controls. Player security is our top priority.
All offers must be certified spyware-clean and confirmed in internal testing against a cleanroom environment.
Surveys must be legit. No lengthy prequalification surveys followed by a disqualification and no points. If the pre-qualification is more than 20 questions for our test cases, we won’t host the survey.
Surveys must not ask for game account information or information which could be used to discover a player’s credentials.
No deceptive offers – i.e. take this IQ test and get the results via SMS (free IQ test, SMS costs $).
Partners must display a privacy policy in a public location that can be checked.
Offers must pay out as expected. All offers must deliver the points promised in a clear and straightforward fashion.

More on Dungeons and Dragons as it appears, and no there is no news on the lawsuit.

Dungeons and Dragons Online!

I don’t talk about Dungeons and Dragons nearly enough, but the game is the poster child for the typical crazy success story. Game launches, game goes partially free to play with a subscription and cash shop, game explodes in popularity. Not to say Dungeons and Dragons was hurting, just that not nearly enough people were giving the game the attention it warranted.

Needless to say, the move was a huge success. Turbine announced earlier this year that the initiative had brought in over one million new players, and more than doubled the number of subscribers, while the cash shop saw a huge boost in purchases. Since then, Turbine has done everything they can to accommodate free players, including the removal of leveling sigils, allowing anyone to make it to level 20, and introduced “casual” difficulty, for solo players. Two enormous updates (Update 3 and 4) have launched, with more updates along the way.

So what’s coming in DDO’s future? Guild airships! Players will be able to build bankers, auctioneers, vendors, and other bits in their guild housing, which will serve as transportation and quick teleportation to many dungeons and raids. The guild itself will have a leveling system by which players can access better airships. Even more stunning, the airships will be viewable in in-game airspace! Half-Orcs will become a playable race at some point this year as well, alongside a bevy of new adventure packs and other items hitting the Turbine store.

More on Turbine and Dungeons and Dragons Online as it appears. To those who have asked, no I do not have any new information on the lawsuit between Turbine and Atari.

Cryptic Studios: Subscriptions, Diversions, Neverwinter Nights?

I get the feeling that, if you want to think of Star Trek Online and Champions Online as brothers, Star Trek Online is the more successful younger brother who got all the love from mom and dad, while Champions Online was forced to live in the cupboard under the stairs when his room was emptied to make room for the new baby.

In a recent interview with Jack Emmert, Jack announced that Star Trek Online has “well over 100 thousand subscribers,” an announcement that is great…until you look at the lack of announcement of Champions Online’s subscriber numbers. I don’t want to suggest that Champions Online is doing poorly, but I have always said that what someone doesn’t say speaks a lot more than what they do say, and this lack of information in regards to Champions Online may suggest that the game is not going as great as Cryptic had hoped. Champions Online today launched Revelation, the latest expansion pack that brings new villains, new areas, and new perks/costumes/etc.

One bit that caught my eye, at the end, was when Emmert was asked which properties he would like to work with, his answer being “Godzilla and Neverwinter Nights.” Godzilla aside, this will likely reignite longstanding rumors of a Cryptic-run Neverwinter Nights MMO, the same title that is actually part of the Turbine Vs Atari lawsuit (If you recall, Turbine is alleging that Atari hoped to crush Dungeons and Dragons Online in favor of a rumored Neverwinter Nights MMO).

More on all of these things as they appear.

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