Tag: MMO

My MMO Is Not A Car (Please Stop Comparing Them)


I read an interesting conversation about World of Warcraft “clones” (because I can’t say no to a topic I know will leave me steaming), someone brought up cars, and why no one refers to today’s cars as “Model T clones,” or “Ford clones” because Ford made the first commercially viable automobile. This got me thinking, and I found that cars do get compared just as much as MMOs do. Not all the way back to the Model T, but to one another, as “clones.”

Automobiles are, for the most part, structurally similar. They contain your basic engine, headlights, dashboard, steering wheel, four wheels, etc. Compared to an MMO, these would be the systems that make the game not unique, but are rather required simply to maintain functionality. Where vehicles start to branch out starts to come into effect when looking at the casing (graphics), handling (controls), speed (performance), reliability (long term viability), and other perks and pieces. For example, my Kia Rio looks a bit like my friend’s Honda, but while my car carries Sirius Satellite Radio, his car has fancy things like anti-lock breaks and electric windows.

What you end up with are automobile companies that are famous for one thing or another, each with a line of vehicles that are easily distinguished from one another from a visual and statistical perspective. For example, most minivans look alike, but when you look at them closely, you start to see the distinguishing features.

So perhaps the car analogy does fit well, but the same applies to any line of products, and I imagine I would see similar conversations going on cars if I frequented those forums the same way I do for MMOs.

What Happened This Week: 4/24-4/30 Edition


Welcome to the second episode of Week In Review (or whatever I’m calling it this week), your look at some stories that didn’t make MMO Fallout headlines for one reason or another.

1. Bethesda’s MMO May Not Be The Elder Scrolls

Chalk this one up as a disappointment, and actually a rather old news story by news standards. I came across an article from early April from Bethesda stating that multiplayer in The Elder Scrolls was entirely possible, but the company believes multiplayer would detract from what they see as primarily a rich and deep single player game, rather than the recent formula which appears to be a short single player story with the primary focus being multiplayer level grinding.

For what it’s worth, Bethesda was referring to the game Skyrim coming up this year, and an MMO is still possible in the future, having a game that is completely online instead of trying to split the two systems and dilute both experiences. Until Zenimax opens its doors and tells us what it’s been working on, all we can do is speculate.

2. Rift’s New Coin Lock Restrictions Prevent Banning

One of my criticisms with Rift’s coin lock system is that, although it was designed to stop commercial account theft by making the character unable to trade, drop, or deposit, the system did not stop non-commercial account theft (IE: The guy who steals your account just to ruin your day). It did not prevent the person from getting banned via chat-spam or a gold farmer using the account simply to spam advertisements for their website.

The new restrictions on Rift’s coin lock restrict access to everything Guild and Chat related, so a compromised character can no longer speak, nor can they wreak havoc on their guild. All I can say is, good on you Trion. There is the matter I brought up of tying the account lock to email, a system likely to also be compromised along with a person’s account, but it’s a good step nonetheless.

I use Rift’s authenticator on my iPad, not that I’m worried about my account being stolen. I set it up just to test it when it came out and, quite frankly, I’m too lazy to go through the channels to have it removed.

http://rift.mmosite.com/opinion/more_coin_lock_restrictions.shtml

3. I Shared The Agency’s Lack of Enthusiasm

Looking back on The Agency, I’m almost relieved the title was canned. The more I saw the game’s trailers and interviews, the more I saw a concept that worked well in theory, but in practice would not fit well within the MMO genre. More importantly, I noticed a distinct lack of enthusiasm from Sony Online Entertainment, almost reminiscent of a kid who doesn’t want to play a musical instrument, but his parents make him, so he tries his best because he’s stuck there anyway, but he’s ready to throw that thing in the trash as soon as he receives the green light. The news for The Agency was sporadic, and often went through long periods with absolutely no information.

The Agency reminds me of Dungeon Runners, an experimental title that has ceased its operations. On the other hand, however, Sony can hopefully put more manpower into its upcoming series continuities; Everquest Next and Planetside Next.

4. I’m Looking Into Culling More Categories

I’m trying to give myself a consistent set of guidelines with MMO Fallout, because I hear from the grapevine that that is what real journalists do. Being the nonprofessional dope I am, I’m pretty much winging it. I did decide on delisting MMOs that are cancelled before release, at the end of the month they are cancelled, meaning The Agency is delisted, as well as Stargate Worlds.

Looking at my editorials page, I realized I need to do a lot more with that section than I have in the past. Checking in with the BBB is a series I’m proud of, but the category became rather stagnant and unchanging, even at three months per article. So I’ve deleted the category, and the series has been relegated to once every six months, meaning I’ll put out an article in June.

I’ve also deleted Looking Back, Moving Forward, because I hate monthly recaps. I don’t want to reread my own articles at the end of every month to pick out which ones I happen to like the most. Sales is gone, because I now have a dedicated sales and where to buy page that is hard enough to keep updated by themselves, especially since I’ve broken the HTML on the Sales page so many times it’s a wonder this website hasn’t started murdering random viewers in some violent revenge plot against its human oppressors.

So my remaining articles are In Plain English, which still has a purpose. My more regular categories will be Killing MMOs, Week in Review, and Community Concerns, all of which will be weekly articles.

That’s all for this week.

Marvel Universe: No Customized Characters, Ever.


There is something to be said about MMOs. Specifically, MMOs have always been about creating a character (occasionally one that looks like you), and setting him loose in a world to run through their story. The more casual among us might use this character creator to push out an aesthetically pleasing avatar with generous amounts of cleavage, while the more hardcore role players may spend hours customizing every last detail down to the width, depth, and length of their character’s cheekbones, and bless them for it. Key factor is, I play my character to have his part in the overall story. In WoW, you are just another peon in the ongoing war between the Alliance and Horde. In games like Aion and Rift, your character has a bit more prominence than the simple grunts on the battlefield. In DC Universe, your character gains his powers via exobytes from Lex Luthor.

In Marvel Universe, however, players will be relegated to controlling iconic Marvel super heroes, including Spiderman, Wolverine, etc.

Players will play iconic Marvel characters, just as they do in SHSO. In fact, the game will feature more Marvel characters than any Marvel game to date. We won’t be merely “sidekicks.”

If this is Gazillion’s selling point, I’m not buying. I’ve played City of Heroes, Champions Online, and DC Universe, and all three of those have managed to allow me to create my own hero/villain and not feel like the sidekick. Hell, in Champions Online I had my own nemesis, and I even got to customize him with his own backstory, minions, powerset, and looks.

This raises a lot of questions that leave me intrigued, but not actually interested in trying out the game. Is there some form of character progression? If so, how will the story justify the heroes suddenly losing their powers and having to grind to get them back? Will there be any customization at all? How do you justify a couple thousand Spidermans running around?

Individuality is a big contender in the life and death of MMOs, and so is progression and hoarding things. What Gazillion is proposing sounds like taking DC Universe Online’s Iconic Play Mode, calling it an MMO in and of itself, and throwing it onto the internet. Actually, I should say it sounds like Super Hero Squad Online on Hard Mode.

So I guess my question to Gazillion Entertainment is this: As a free to play cash shop MMO, why should I choose your title over Champions Online? The IP? I hope that isn’t your only selling point. I’ll be waiting for this to come up as new information develops.

Suit Up: More Star Wars Galaxies Server Mergers Coming…


Star Wars Galaxies is always an interesting topic here on MMO Fallout. On one hand, you have Sony Online Entertainment, who referred to Galaxies as having one of the most active communities in SOE’s portfolio of games. On the other hand, you have those who remain in Star Wars Galaxies who, apart from complaints of only a small number of the remaining servers being active, are more likely to agree that the game has improved in leaps and bounds since the NGE and CU updates. On the third, mostly useless vestigial T-Rex arm sprouting from your chest, you have the Star Wars Galaxies Pre-Update players, a group of disenfranchised “veterans” (I hate that term) that devotes itself to trolling any MMO discussion, even if it has nothing to do with Galaxies, or Sony for that matter.

Sony is opening up free server transfers on Star Wars Galaxies, and historically that has lead to just one outcome: server mergers. The announcement mentions no end date, but does mention that while players will be able to transfer off of Starsider, they will not be able to transfer back. In addition, a Sony staffer mentioned that paid transfers will no longer be possible. Players will be restricted to one transfer, per character, per 90 days.

You can read the details here, but the link has been dead (along with the entirety of Star Wars Galaxies’ website) for quite a while. I will follow up with more details when I can get them. Obviously a server merger has not been announced, but given the status of many of the remaining servers (according to players), a merger is likely on the books.

There is a forum thread to discuss the server transfers here.

Major Layoffs At Sony Online Entertainment


Word that Sony Online Entertainment Seattle is having layoffs and that studio closure is possible. http://bit.ly/eSxtvq
-George Broussard on Twitter

This was reported by Kotaku, although there has yet to be an official statement, Kotaku reporter Owen Good (who reported on the story) has confirmed it with a more involved source than George. It has yet to be seen which studios have closed down, although reportedly the studio behind the upcoming Agency MMO has been slashed.

This is no doubt a bombshell, not only for us playing Sony’s games but more importantly for the people who are losing their jobs and livelihoods. MMO Fallout is committed to this story, and will be updating as soon as any news is released.

Sony and Square Enix: Not Billing Japan This Month


With the recent earthquake in Japan, the power companies have asked that people and companies conserve as much power as possible, for fear of an electricity shortage. In response to the warning, Square Enix has decided to temporarily shutter services for Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV in Japan for at least a week, and will not be billing players for the cycle through April. More information is expected on how long the servers will be down, although players in Japan likely have more important out-of-game issues to deal with at the moment.

Source for Square Enix

Meanwhile, Sony Online Entertainment has announced that they are suspending billing for Japanese players. The company does not host servers in Japan. In addition, Sony had linked up players to the Google relief effort where they can donate.

http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html

Our hearts go out to those affected by the earthquake, and we here at MMO Fallout wish a speedy recovery for Japan.

Runes of Magic Coming To A Browser Near You!


of Magic

Back in the day, you may remember that Dungeon Runners was set to receive a transfer to the web browser shortly before death. Due to the nature of MMOs being the opera singers (read: fat) of the gaming genre, free to play titles have a harder time gaining new customers when that means convincing someone who is jumping from title to title to sit down for another multi-gigabyte game they may hate after five minutes. Now, games like Runescape and Battlestar Galactica and FusionFall work with small downloads, through the browser. Turbine, Sony, and Blizzard attempted to fix this as well by offering streaming downloads, where you only download a portion of the game, and the rest downloads as it is needed.

Last year in October, Frogster released a 3.5gig client for Runes of Magic, carrying the same functionality at a smaller size than its 7gig counterpart, as well as carrying higher optimization and better performance. Apparently this wasn’t far enough, as Frogster has announced through press email that Facebook and browser based versions of Runes of Magic are coming, fully functional. Expected to be arrive in Q2 2011, Runes of Magic browser edition will open up a legion of untapped customers.

I can only hope that Frogster will invite me to swim in their money jacuzzi after this update goes live.

Rift: **** Your One Additional Server!


Just enough time to kill a FFXI boss.

Rift’s head start launched out the door yesterday, and almost immediately the title was punched in the throat, dragged into a back alleyway, and beaten with a metal club for all of its bandwidth. Of course, those of you familiar with MMO launches will be well aware of the launch-day queue lines, matched and surpassed only by lines for new rides at Disney Land. Everquest added one new progression server due to the overwhelming demand. Trion, on the other hand, has added over 20.

At the start of the day, Trion had added in 13 servers, comprising of seven US servers. Over the course of the day, ten more servers were added to continue alleviating stress on existing shards. Depending on how the game goes at the true launch, more servers may have to be added to compensate for the additional, additional load.

Being who I am, I have to add my voice of pessimism. Once the pre-launch hype wears down and the post-free-month community settles in, the excess servers will likely be merged. Of course, Rift could continue growing after launch, in which case you are free to take this article, sharpen the edges, and use it to murder me in my own apartment.

http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?87152-New-Servers-for-Head-Start-(Updated-5-00-pm-PST)

Aventurine Has Regained Investments On Darkfall


Money money money!

For many companies, regaining the insane investment that MMOs require can often take a game plan of around five years, which is why MMO Fallout specifically designed its patented (not really) longevity test around the five year period. For Aventurine, however, this has taken approximately two years. In an interview with Greek TV (fair warning: It’s in Greek), Tasos Flambouras noted that the company has already seen a return on all of its investments, meaning the profits should be higher in the year to come without all that debt to pay off.

“More and more young Greek scientists conquer their ideas to the international market. Typical is the case of the initiators of the electronic game «Dark Fall», which was created in Greece before 2 years and rampant around the world with more than 100,000 users in over 150 countries and big profits for their creators.”

You’ll have to excuse the poor translation. 100,000 users? And people think Darkfall is a failed MMO.

Second Star Interactive: Dark Age Of Camelot + Ultima Online?


Second Star

Does anyone else remember the excitement you felt when you learned that Richard Garriot was back and making MMOs? I believe it was 2005/2006 that Tabula Rasa was fully announced and confirmed to be in development, and many of us just couldn’t wait to see what Garriot’s twisted mind would come up with. Another Ultima Online, perhaps?

SecondStar Interactive is a new studio formed out of names we know well.

  • Darrin Hyrup: Founder of Mythic Entertainment.
  • Lory Hyrup: Lead Designer of Dark Age Of Camelot.
  • Cooper Buckingham: From Warhammer Online, Dark Age of Camelot, The Sims, and Gods & Heroes.
  • Tim Cotten: Ultima Online.
  • Eric Piccione: Art Director responsible for the look of Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot.

What type of MMO is SecondStar working on? I have absolutely no clue. All we know is that the game is running off the HeroEngine, the same engine you’ll find in Star Wars: The Old Republic and a few other upcoming titles.

I know what some of you are thinking (Ultima Online pre-Trammel PvP with three factions and an extensive crafting system and RvR) and I must ask to contain your drool! That being said, the wait for information shouldn’t be long, SecondStar has rounded out their announcement by claiming a late 2011 release date.

More on SecondStar’s upcoming MMO as it appears.