Tag: Console MMO

Stream Of Thoughts: Everquest Online Adventures


I’ve never had an opportunity to play Everquest Online Adventures on the Playstation 2. Released in 2003, Everquest Online Adventures was one of the first MMOs to hit the consoles, and reportedly still has a rather healthy community to this day. For the fact that the game hasn’t been sold in brick and mortar stores for years, it still manages to get by with a subscription and minimal updates.

[This article is ongoing, and will be updated as I play]

4:30: That’s enough for today, I have to get to an evening class.

4:25: I prefer to play with the controller over the keyboard. It keeps me from talking to other people, or at least it would if there were any other people.

4:16: Everquest Allakhazam says I need to be level 10 for the next quest.

4:15: Did I say level 13? I meant level 8.

4:13: I am level 8.

4:06: False alarm. Adessa is sending me to Logger Kripps to convince him that the monster is dead.

4:05: Guess I don’t have to go to Logger Kripps after the quest, I have to go to Adessa.

3:57: I have a thousand monies, my wallet has outleveled my ability to equip anything that the vendors have to offer.

3:52: Only in Everquest can the same NPC that killed me with three quarters of its health left be completely demolished the next.

3:50: I killed the rat and I’m heading back to the Logger to turn in the quest. How many other MMOs can boast 40 minutes for a quest that runs down to killing a single rat? None, that’s how many.

3:25: The usual ritual while I wait for half of my health bar to recover. Laundry, quick trip to Greece, etc.

3:20: The rat despawned. Turns out he respawned in an area filled with other monsters I can kill even less.

3:05: I never get tired of the old Everquest model of placing aggressive over-leveled mobs right next to the ones I need to kill.

3:04: Still working on grinding up to kill that giant rat.

2:45: Turns out I should look before I laugh. Guard screams about monster, turns out it’s just a rat. It killed me anyway.

3/6: 2:44: I’m playing again. Still level 7 warrior, working on a quest to find a guard.

Continue reading “Stream Of Thoughts: Everquest Online Adventures”

Games To Look Out For: CCP Edition


Even if you hate CCP, even if you have no interest in Eve Online or DUST 514, you have to admit that the very concept of an space ship MMO on the PC interacting in real time with a first person shooter on the Playstation 3 is astounding and exciting. DUST is expected to release in Spring 2012, at least according to Wikipedia, and registration for the beta test has begun for Eve Online subscribers. Hopefully CCP will follow the proud Sony tradition of opening the beta to Playstation Plus subscribers.

On the positive side, it appears you will not be forced to join a corporation to play the game. In addition to corporation vs corporation and contract fights, players should be able to join random matches. The corporation vs corporation matches, however, will be for territory control and the aforementioned contracts with Eve Online players.

I know what you’re thinking, “Omali I don’t like to play graphical spreadsheets. I want Eve Online’s unforgiving world but in a more relatable game.” World of Darkness, based on the tabletop RPG, is supposed to be just as hardcore as Eve Online and the upcoming DUST 514. Players live in a world run by immortal vampires, and if the combination of CCP and the existing lore is to be reckoned with, World of Darkness is set to bring forward a deadly world of politics, player interaction, open world combat, and perma-death.

There is still no word on a general release date for World of Darkness, and 2012 seems out of the question for now.

This Is The First Part: Secret World 360 Delayed Forever


Before the discussion begins, let me just put something out in the open: I would love to see an MMO on the Xbox 360. Final Fantasy XI has somewhat of a monopoly, and Phantasy Star isn’t an MMO in the traditional open world sense, so that leaves Final Fantasy with the reigns. I don’t own a 360 (used to), but I know plenty of people who would love to see DC Universe, Everquest Next, Planetside Next, or even DUST 514 or The Old Republic moved over to Microsoft’s console. That being said, after the number of cancelled MMOs for the console in just the past two years, I have no faith that Microsoft will ever allow another MMO on the system (remember, Final Fantasy XI was allowed because Live was in its infancy, according to Square).

I hold the same true to Undead Labs’ MMO, but my statement over The Secret World on the 360 is only affirmed by today’s announcement that the console version is on hold. Indefinitely. How do I know? Funcom commented this:

“We are focusing on the PC version right now.  That is our primary market and we want that version to be as good as possible.”

Sounds like the MMO edition of “it’s not me, it’s you.” Actually, now that I think about it, this sounds like something Cryptic said regarding Champions Online. I could use a flashback right about now…

“It has always been, and still remains our intent to release on consoles, and as soon as we’re able to share more information about it, we will.”
-Daeke, Community Manager, Cryptic Studios, on Champions Online on consoles.

That would be it. Now bring it home with what Cryptic said about Star Trek Online on the consoles.

“It’s something we can readily do in terms of technology. We’ve had it up and running on certain consoles, and had plans and designs in order to take advantage of those platforms. But as it stands right now it’s a little difficult to make that final leap on the business side of things. So, currently, just like Champions, the console version of Star Trek Online is on the back burner.”

That’s the important figure. It’s not the technological side, it’s the business side. Let’s not also forget Funcom’s intent on releasing Age of Conan on the Xbox360 and what came of that venture (read: nothing).

I’ll say the same as I said with Undead Labs’ MMO. If it does release on the 360, it will play in a form that isn’t really an MMO, but rather closer to Call of Duty in that it features a persistent leveling system but takes place in stagnant, lobby based, locally hosted match making servers.

More on The Secret World as it appears.

In Before Undead Labs Closes: The Shock Doctrine


The cleaning lady...

Scott: I dislike you.
Todd: Tell it to the cleaning lady on Monday.
Scott: What
Todd: Because… because you’ll be dust on Monday.
Scott: Huh?
Todd: Because I’ll be pulverizing you sometime over the weekend.
Scott: I’m sorry… what?
Todd: And the cleaning lady… cleans up… dust. She dusts. And she has weekends off, so… Monday. Right?
Envy: What in the hell are you talking about, Todd?

The above quote is from Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, and is a wonderful example of trash talking gone horribly wrong. Granted, Todd beats the crap out of Scott until he has his powers removed for violating the ways of the vegan (note: neither gelato nor chicken parmesan are vegan.), but irregardless he loses in the end.

I don’t get the same glee or satisfaction that others do when a developer does bad or has to shut their game down because of a mistake in development or post release that drives their customers away. I didn’t throw Realtime Worlds into the dirt like a lot of other MMO news websites did, but at the same time I didn’t baby them. I called out the mistakes and called out the positives, voiced my opinions on the future (which were not very positive) and called it as I saw it.

So I hope Undead Labs is wearing a sturdy faceplate when the door slams open on them. Rich Foge of Undead Labs, currently working on a zombie themed console MMO, made a statement that will no doubt spark console vs pc flaming, as well as some ire from the PC MMO community:

“MMOs get breaks because of their social nature, but if you really look at them closely they’re barely even games. Mario 64 (nearly 15-years-old at this point) feels better than any MMO I’ve ever played. MMOs aren’t even close to keeping up with cutting edge videogames from a gameplay or presentation perspective.”

Foge wants an action console MMO, one where your abilities are directed by your skills with a bat, and your ability to dodge with the buttons, not by mathematics, random number generators, and skill balancing. A game with physics, and intelligent AI, and a living breathing world where objectives are done not for gear but for the betterment of the world and those that inhabit it. A game where you and a bunch of buddies can drive your armored car up to a gas station, and while one guy fills up the car and another guy protects him, two more burst into the building through the windows and start stocking up on Kraft Mac and Cheese while gunning down zombies (okay the mac and cheese was my addition). And you know what? Undead Labs are gamers and they’ll be damned if they just sit back while this game is not being developed!

If this pre-release hype doesn’t have you foaming at the mouth, you are likely a long-time MMO player and have heard this drivel a thousand times over. I have a theory that the bigger the company’s mouth is prior to release, the more disappointing the game is. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the games are bad: What I am getting at is that the hype is so much over the feasible game’s quality, that the end product is nowhere near what was promised after cutbacks and delays, and that is where the disappointment comes from.

Undead Labs wants to do a combat based shooter MMO? Alright. Will it be instanced? If so, you can take your pipe dream for a subscription and throw it into the garbage now. If not, hopefully you have a system to combat inherent lag, similar to Planetside.

Even so, I’d like to think that more people each year become attuned to the pre-release hype as the meaningless drivel that it is. For people like myself, who have to turn around and write about the hype, the talking points get old fast. In fact, I lose another thirty minutes off of my estimated lifespan whenever a company uses the term “innovative” in its advertising which, thankfully, Foge did not use even once.

So being the seemingly contradictory hopeless optimist that I am, I’m going to stay over here with the pessimists, who keep me grounded and to earth with regards to my expectations.

And if any of you think that Undead Labs’ MMO will ever make it to the Xbox 360, you are out of your mind. That is all I will say on the matter. The Xbox Live community has a better chance of Microsoft making the service free.

Twisted Pixel MMO: Not Really That Hush Hush

An upcoming Turbine MMO is inconspicuously referenced by contractor Twisted Pixel Games.


I thought you said Twisted Pixel...

Dear Twisted Pixel,

Saying that you are working on a secret MMO for Turbine, on your list of games no less, qualifies it as “no longer a secret.” Over on their website, Twisted Pixel Games has listed that they have just finished a contract with Turbine over a console-based MMO of no specific genre or IP. I’ve talked before about Turbine’s stated interest in a console MMO, despite a lack of information whatsoever other than Turbine’s interest in a console MMO.

Well at least we know that the Turbine Console MMO is official. Only thing to wait for now is a name, a theme, a genre, a payment model, a release date, cash shop, control scheme, which consoles, and a few other minor details. My only question is: I wonder what part TPG had in the development, and how far it is from release?

Looking forward to more news on the Turbine Console MMO.

Point For PC MMOs: Xbox Live to Shut Down


If Funcom's money was gold-backed...
Not going to save the Xbox

Meridian 59 is acclaimed as the first MMORPG, following a long line of Multi-User-Dungeons (MUDs) and paving the way for Ultima Online to come in and steal the show only to give way to Everquest, and eventually World of Warcraft. Despite a fifteen year timeline, these titles are still up and running to this day, Meridian making its rounds at fifteen years. Unfortunately if these titles had been released on the home console market, they would have died out a long time ago.

When Turbine said that developing for a console was easier than developing for a PC, they were 100% correct, but for the wrong reasons. Developing for a console is easy because you can optimize the game for one configuration, hence why each current generation console is able to get current generation graphics despite comparatively low specs to the equal PC (A pc may need two gigabytes of ram to what the console only requires 512 megabytes). With a console you don’t have to worry about people screaming for support for every obscure peripheral device, and cheating is much less of an issue (well it was at least).

I said the most important thing an MMO has to deal with for success is retention rate, not only pulling in a lot of subscribers but keeping them there after they have started paying those monthly fees. Obviously keeping the game flowing is a cause, but it all pours into keeping the subscribers happy while keeping your focus of the game.

Console MMOs, however, have a generally unmentioned brick wall: Life expectancy. This week Microsoft announced that on April 15th, Xbox Live will shut down for good on the original Xbox. Not only will service for the Xbox shut down, but also service for all Xbox Original games on the 360, meaning say goodbye to your Halo 2 multiplayer statistics, those are gone. Now, the Xbox doesn’t have any MMOs to speak of, but it does raise a firm brick wall: Not only does the MMO have to deal with its own life expectancy, but that of the console’s online service. Granted, an MMO that was released on the Xbox two years before the Xbox 360 launch would have enjoyed a five year lifetime, but you could still look towards Everquest, Ultima Online, and Meridian that are still running after ten years.

As far as console MMOs, players have the choice between Final Fantasy XI, Everquest, and almost nothing else. Phantasy Star Universe is here, but shutting down on all systems sans Xbox360 this March, and Massive Action Game is making its rounds on the PS3 but just launched last month. Other than Final Fantasy’s success, which has been slight compared to the PC MMO market, and Everquest limping along which topped out at below thirty thousand and has since dropped, the only other MMO to speak of is the Phantasy Star Universe line. Each Phantasy Star Online title in the franchise has had a two to three year life expectancy before shutting down due to low subscriber numbers.

So the MMO market in consoles may be bigger, but tapping into that market is a difficult venture that has yet to be accomplished. Age of Conan, Star Trek Online, Champions Online, The Secret World, and DC Universe Online are just a few of the titles looking to break into the MMO marketplace, with Massive Action Game just recently launching on the PS3 to much support from the fans. Although doing analysis would be much easier if the publishers would give us straight numbers on the titles, all we can do is go by the official reports, as well as reports from players on the field.

Is there a console version of World of Warcraft (not literally) that will rise up and tell all of the other console MMOs how the game is really played? If the (slightly buggy) transferral of Final Fantasy XI from the Playstation 2 to the Playstation 3 is any indicator, hopefully we can avoid the human aspect of the console MMO (That just because your neighbor was gunned down at the age of 25 and you weren’t doesn’t mean you are going to live forever).