Sony Online Entertainment has released an infographic detailing just how technology and the internet has progressed since Everquest launched in 1999, not to mention detailing a decade and a half of the franchise’s achievements. Do you remember when hard drives cost $25 per gigabyte? I do.
Those of you who read MMO Fallout know that I have quite a lot of respect for SOE’s John Smedley. The guy isn’t perfect and no one would doubt that there are plenty of mistakes made in Sony’s past, but the guy has a tendency to spell it out as it is and be as transparent as his corporate overlords will allow him to be. The company keeps their games going long after they are commercially viable, and even after they were no longer profitable.
Over the past few days, Smedley has taken to Twitter to defend 38 Studios and Curt Schilling, stating that Schilling’s “only crime was believing in his own ability to will things to be better,” adding that “he busted his ass to get funding.” He then goes on to state that Sony Online Entertainment was approached by 38 Studios for funding, but did not jump on board because the game was deemed too expensive and risky. He went on to say that the fact that no other company was willing to get on board should have been the first warning sign to Rhode Island not to go through with the deal. Public funds, says Smedley, should never go to back something as risky as an online game.
Rhode Island is set to vote today on encouraging out of court settlements against Schilling and those who drafted the loan.
(Source: Gamespot)
Gamers looking forward to seeing Everquest Next Landmark on 32-bit operating systems can officially put their dreams to rest. Dave Georgeson posted on Twitter today to announce that there will be no 32-bit version of the game.
Another News Flash: Landmark is going to have to be a 64-bit OS game *only*. We are going to be unable to support 32-bit OS as we had hoped.
Unfortunate indeed, but unavoidable due to unforeseen technical issues. For those who already purchased Landmark, SOE is offering refunds with no questions asked.
(Source: Twitter)
John Smedley is a man after my own heart, because what would be better for the company heavily invested in everything that SOE is doing other than to announce yet another MMO? We know from Smedley’s Twitter that there is definitely an MMO in the works, one that is dedicated to Star Wars Galaxies fans, presumably those who have been disgruntled with the developer ever since the New Game Enhancements way back when. Since then, Smedley posted two pictures on Twitter of in-game houses that were confirmed to be related to this upcoming MMO. So what is it?
Super sleuth Ste2000 over at the MMORPG.com forums found that Sony Online Entertainment filed a trademark last month for H1Z1, which sounds suspiciously like an MMO:
Computer game software and video game software; downloadable multiplayer, role playing, real time computer and video game software via an online website for entertainment purposes
H1Z1 is the name of a hoax zombie virus that spread around the internet claiming to be a strain of the H1N1. This isn’t a guarantee that Sony will do anything with the trademark, as developers are often known to file trademarks for products that die in concept/development.
(Source: MMORPG.com)
The Everquest Next Landmark alpha has been up for less than 24 hours, and John Smedley has taken to Twitter to announce that the nondisclosure agreement has officially been lifted. Players are allowed to talk about what they want, stream what they want, and post screenshots as they want.
The NDA is officially lifted for EQNL. Have fun. It will be Monday before we can yank it from the game
As far as people getting the wrong impression from the state of the alpha, “that’s life,” says Smedley.
(Source: Twitter)
Sony Online Entertainment is set to launch the alpha for Everquest Next Landmark later today. Given the increasing reliance on early access purchases and your average gamer’s habit of buying an alpha stage game and then being stricken with buyer’s remorse because it isn’t a finished product, SOE is offering a full refund for anyone not satisfied with the alpha. As John Smedley stated on Twitter:
We will offer a full refund to anyone not satisfied with the Alpha. It’s not confidence. It’s being honest about the fact that Alpha’s aren’t for everyone. Plus we don’t know the kind of problems we expect to see. Things like running it out of North America now. I don’t want any EU players feeling like they got screwed if the streaming has hiccups at first. We just don’t know what we don’t know yet.
It’s actually nice to see a company respond to early buyers with something other than “you should have known what you’re getting into.” Hopefully this quality guarantee will be adopted by other companies, but that is unlikely.
(Source: Twitter)
Following the announcement that four of Sony Online Entertainment’s MMOs would be shutting down, John Smedley went on Reddit to take part in an Ask Me Anything with the community. While this is nowhere near all of the answers, I’ve put together some significant comments for your easy viewing. First of all, the shuttering of Free Realms and Clone Wars is SOE quitting the field of kids games.
No. No more kids games. Kids don’t spend well and it’s very difficult to run a kids game. Turns out Kids do mean stuff to each other a lot.
Did Sony learn anything from the poor performance of Wizardry Online? Somewhat.
The main thing we learned was that this particular game didn’t work in the US. I wouldn’t draw any conclusions other than that.
Next, Smedley offers a glimpse at their next game. Something to please Galaxies players.
SWG PLAYERS – OUR NEXT GAME (not announced yet) IS DEDICATED TO YOU. Once we launch it… you can come home now.
As for what this game is..
It’s called “go figure it out for yourself” 🙂
As usual, Smedley once again apologized for Star Wars Galaxies, talked about how Vanguard cannot be sold due to business reasons, and more. Check out the entire AMA at the link below.
(Source: Reddit)
Sony Online Entertainment has announced that four of their MMOs will be shut down later this year: Wizardry Online, Free Realms, Vanguard, and Clone Wars Adventures. Free Realms and Clone Wars are set to shut down March 31st with Wizardry and Vanguard following on July 31st. Sony attributes the sunsetting of Free Realms and Clone Wars as being due to its user base growing up and finding new games, while Wizardry Online was due to a mutual agreement with the publisher. In the case of Vanguard, SOE was unable to get past technical issues with the game’s outdated engine.
player population numbers have decreased making it difficult to justify the resources needed to support and update this game. This is an older game and we’re experiencing more and more technical challenges to continue running and updating it in a way you deserve. Simply put, these are issues that cannot be fixed in the long term and as a player, we would be doing you a disservice and going against our company commitment to provide the best gameplay experiences. So given this information, sunsetting the game later this year is the inevitable conclusion.
Vanguard is the oldest title to shut down, having launched in 2007, with Free Realms and Clone Wars going live in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Wizardry Online launched last January. Vanguard being shut down is especially saddening when you consider that (prior to being stopped by technical issues) the company seemed rather excited to start working on it. Still, the good news is that workers affected by the shutdowns were apparently absorbed into the SOE hive mind to work on other projects.
(Source: Vanguard Announcement, Clone Wars Announcement, Wizardry Announcement, Free Realms Announcement)
Everquest Next Landmark looks better with each passing video. Today the folks at Sony Online Entertainment dive into crafting, detailing how players will go about obtaining recipes and crafting items. Learn about altars and recipes and the secret meaning of life. Hint: It is corgis.
Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from Sony Online Entertainment with Dragon’s Prophet. Sony’s upcoming mounted combat update might be exciting, but it’s nothing to lose your head over. Did I say that out loud? I apologize.
MMO Fallout 