Tag: Sony

Planetside Next, The Agency, Everquest Next Oh My!


Bringing the finest in Smedlertainment

Sony Online Entertainment remains the juggernaut in the MMO industry, with more than ten titles currently on the market, with more on the way this coming year. Already released is DC Universe Online, based on the popular comic books characters and worlds. Aside from DCU, SOE has three titles that are on their way, two of which should be released by the end of the year.

First in line is expected to come in March, the sequel to Planetside codenamed Planetside Next. The next incarnation is anticipated to take the large scale battles of Planetside, and make them even bigger. As John Smedley stated in an interview with Eurogamer:

“And we haven’t announced a release date for it but you can expect it… We’re looking at late first-quarter, early second-quarter [2011].”

Next up, The Agency, expected to launch late this year. The Agency may be smaller in scale than Planetside (expected to be mostly instanced with social lobbies), but Smedley has big hopes for the game post-release, and is allowing the team to take as long as they need to make sure the game is up to snuff.

“One thing that we’ve learned over our company’s history is that it takes time to make great games. And we’re not trying to make cookie-cutter MMOs. There’s some stuff coming out in the next two or three months, MMO-wise, and a lot of it is generic copycats of other games. That’s not what we want to do. We want to make new experiences for people. So The Agency is a new kind of MMO so we want to make sure it’s as good as it can be.”

Third in line is Everquest Next. Although not slated to release for a good while, Everquest Next is expected to take the world of Norrath and turn it on its head. The number of classes and races is confirmed to be reduced, less than Everquest II and likely more around the numbers in Everquest. With a new art style, new lands to travel, and no doubt tons of lore to become accustomed to, Everquest Next may also be heading onto the Playstation 3 to saddle up with Sony’s increasing number of MMOs slated for release on the console.

Planetside Next, The Agency, Everquest Next Oh My!


Bringing the finest in Smedlertainment

Sony Online Entertainment remains the juggernaut in the MMO industry, with more than ten titles currently on the market, with more on the way this coming year. Already released is DC Universe Online, based on the popular comic books characters and worlds. Aside from DCU, SOE has three titles that are on their way, two of which should be released by the end of the year.

First in line is expected to come in March, the sequel to Planetside codenamed Planetside Next. The next incarnation is anticipated to take the large scale battles of Planetside, and make them even bigger. As John Smedley stated in an interview with Eurogamer:

“And we haven’t announced a release date for it but you can expect it… We’re looking at late first-quarter, early second-quarter [2011].”

Next up, The Agency, expected to launch late this year. The Agency may be smaller in scale than Planetside (expected to be mostly instanced with social lobbies), but Smedley has big hopes for the game post-release, and is allowing the team to take as long as they need to make sure the game is up to snuff.

“One thing that we’ve learned over our company’s history is that it takes time to make great games. And we’re not trying to make cookie-cutter MMOs. There’s some stuff coming out in the next two or three months, MMO-wise, and a lot of it is generic copycats of other games. That’s not what we want to do. We want to make new experiences for people. So The Agency is a new kind of MMO so we want to make sure it’s as good as it can be.”

Third in line is Everquest Next. Although not slated to release for a good while, Everquest Next is expected to take the world of Norrath and turn it on its head. The number of classes and races is confirmed to be reduced, less than Everquest II and likely more around the numbers in Everquest. With a new art style, new lands to travel, and no doubt tons of lore to become accustomed to, Everquest Next may also be heading onto the Playstation 3 to saddle up with Sony’s increasing number of MMOs slated for release on the console.

The Agency: I’m Just As Confused…Late 2011 Release?


Sony Online Entertainment

Given that it is December 7th, you’re probably wondering why the trumpets of fanfare haven’t been going off at the headquarters of Sony Online Entertainment. Unless many of us were in a hallucinogenic daze earlier this year, I do believe that The Agency, Sony’s instanced espionage MMO, was slated for release this month. Granted, we haven’t heard anything about the game since E3, so fill in the gaps as you will: It’s not coming out this month.

So what happened? Simple answer: Sony looked at The Agency and said “we’re not happy with it.” In an interview with Kotaku, John Smedley of Sony Online Entertainment said:

“There was a moment in time in our company where we looked at our own stuff with a clear eye and saw we have to do better,”

You can read the whole article here, but The Agency will not be making it to a retailer near you before the second half of 2011, possibly putting the title in direct competition with The Old Republic, DC Universe, and others.

The Agency: I'm Just As Confused…Late 2011 Release?


Sony Online Entertainment

Given that it is December 7th, you’re probably wondering why the trumpets of fanfare haven’t been going off at the headquarters of Sony Online Entertainment. Unless many of us were in a hallucinogenic daze earlier this year, I do believe that The Agency, Sony’s instanced espionage MMO, was slated for release this month. Granted, we haven’t heard anything about the game since E3, so fill in the gaps as you will: It’s not coming out this month.

So what happened? Simple answer: Sony looked at The Agency and said “we’re not happy with it.” In an interview with Kotaku, John Smedley of Sony Online Entertainment said:

“There was a moment in time in our company where we looked at our own stuff with a clear eye and saw we have to do better,”

You can read the whole article here, but The Agency will not be making it to a retailer near you before the second half of 2011, possibly putting the title in direct competition with The Old Republic, DC Universe, and others.

Everquest II: Cataclysm May Be On Its Way


Cataclysm

John Smedley acknowledges that Everquest II players are not World of Warcraft players, as reflected in moves by Sony Online Entertainment to not jump on the bandwagon by introducing a $25 mount to…To be fair, I’m sure that the Everquest II Prowlers were being developed years before World of Warcraft did it, more likely around a time when Sony was allowing sandbox title Star Wars Galaxies remain unique rather than dramatically shifting gameplay, say, right after a major expansion, overly simplifying the gameplay in order to compete with WoW. That’s just crazy talk.

In an interview with Kotaku, Smedley admitted that it isn’t current Everquest players that Sony is afraid of losing to World of Warcraft, but rather the pool of new MMO players Sony is looking to grab away from Blizzard. Despite what one might think, Smedley apparently has deep respect for Blizzard and their behemoth of an MMO, noting:

“The reason I respect Blizzard so much is that they don’t make massive mistakes,” he said, talking about the risk of making massive changes to a massive game. “They have the goods and they know it. So why not take a risk like that?

Of course, Everquest II isn’t the only MMO looking at a Cataclysm. Maplestory is set to release the Big Bang patch, which is supposed to be a dramatic change to the game’s map and leveling curve. Crimecraft is set to launch Bleedout tomorrow, a PvE storyline system. Of course, more MMOs will follow with their own world shifting events.

More on Everquest II as it appears.

Play Star Wars Galaxies Free This Week


Harrison Ford...

What does Star Wars and Indiana Jones have in common? If you answered Harrison Ford, you would be correct. And if you want to be your own Indiana Solo and rescue Princess Belloq (kudos if you know who that is off-hand), from the evil Toht The Hutt-I’m just going to stop merging names. If you’d like a hat and whip of your own, you are cordially invited back to Star Wars Galaxies this week, while subscribers will receive the items as wearable cosmetics.

Sony is also offering a free to play week, which technically started two days ago (the 23rd) and goes until the 30th of November. During this period, you can pick up your fedora and whip, while after the period ends those who subscribed or stayed subscribed can turn the items into wearables. Otherwise, they’re really only good for displaying in your house.

So there is no confusion, the whip is cosmetic and does not act as a weapon. For those of you thinking of checking out Star Wars: Galaxies, the link above has a nice list of new updates you may have missed.

Why Turbine Saved The Industry: The Safety Net of Free To Play


Well someone had to do it.

Here at MMO Fallout, I don’t think it is any surprise that Turbine is essentially my deity, and for numerous reasons. The one I’d like to get into today is what I call The Great Safety Net, not invented but popularized by Turbine. Before Dungeons and Dragons Online went free to play as a saving grace, an MMO losing its subscription was generally accompanied by an announcement that the game would be shutting down. The company couldn’t sustain the title anymore, and hell since the game was shutting down in a few months why not let everyone enjoy it while it lasts?

Dungeons and Dragons Online is a perfect example of a game that was falling down hard, and moved to what was, at the time, a fairly experimental system involving Turbine points, a VIP system, an allowance, and the contents of the item shop itself. Of course, communities saw this and immediately called the impending death of the game. After Turbine launched the free to play effort, Dungeons and Dragons increased its paying subscribers by 40%, with a 500% increase in sales over the first year.

So why do I say Turbine saved the industry? With Dungeons and Dragons Online, Turbine has proven that there is an option other than simply shuttering a title. Following Dungeons and Dragons Online, Turbine has proven that even a healthy title can become an even bigger cash cow when Lord of the Rings Online went free to play. Since Dungeons and Dragons Online, we’ve seen Everquest II move to free to play, alongside Pirates of the Burning Sea, and upcoming Champions Online, Global Agenda, Alganon, and more. Even the normal banter has changed. In many of the forums I visit, the phrase has changed from “I wonder how long until it shuts down” to “I wonder how long until they go f2p with a cash shop.”

Granted, taking the plunge into free to play cash shop is not a guarantee at success, but rather it’s like putting a cast on your horse’s broken leg in hopes that it will heal, rather than outright shooting it. In the case of Chronicles of Spellborn, well you can’t go free to play if your developer goes out of business. Perhaps if Turbine had popularized this just a year or two earlier, we might still be playing Tabula Rasa, The Matrix Online, and other titles.

More and more we can see companies experimenting with or thinking about the Turbine model. Sony is getting into the system with Pirates of the Burning Sea and Everquest II. Funcom and Mythic have discussed such moves with Age of Conan and Warhammer Online respectively, noting that the option is not off the table but not being considered at the moment. Cryptic is taking Champions Online to such a model. The option is no longer cake or death.

Of course, there are some companies that would rather shoot the horse than risk the cast, although with the popularity of Dungeons and Dragons Online, more of those companies might start seeing the light. I’m looking at you, NCsoft.

Which MMOs would you like to see go free to play? Drop us a comment below. Want MMO Fallout beamed directly to your email account? Sign up in the sidebar. Follow us on Twitter: @mmofallout.

By The Way: Everquest II Server Mergers Abound


 

Attack!

 

A great man once told me, “mark my words, Everquest II will have a big server merge less than six months after it goes free to play.” I can’t recall who said this, and thanks to the wonders of corrupt hard drives and lack of backup copies I no longer have his name on file, so I will let him take credit wherever he is. Those of you playing Everquest II, be it the free or paid version, are likely well aware of today’s announcement that Sony will be shuttering a number of Everquest II live servers. Sixteen servers, overall, are merging into eight, with the remaining eleven being unaffected.

Players with legacy titles will have their titles changed to “of <server name>.” The server mergers themselves are nothing surprising, however, as Sony put it:

We’ve been planning to merge the EQII Live servers for a long while now, and most of you have been asking for it to happen for just as long. As part of our ongoing effort to utilize community feedback and deliver the best gameplay experience possible, I am happy to announce that we will begin merging several servers this fall.  Bigger population density on a server is just simply more fun for everyone involved, so it’s time to get it done.

Everquest had a server merger just a couple months ago. It happens when your MMO is not named World of Warcraft.

More on Everquest II as it appears.

Psst…Clone Wars Adventures Is For Kids…


So much for this being photoshopped...

Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures launched ten days ago to moderate fanfare from the media (IE: Me), a factor that can mostly be attributed to the idea that the game is for kids. This isn’t to say that Clone Wars Adventures is a low quality game, simply that many kids are likely to just jump right into the game, rather than research it beforehand. Any research being done will most probably be by the parents, and as a direct result many of the articles are directed towards that group.

Now, I do the occasional review of Nintendo DS and Wii games over at Giantbomb.com, but I can honestly say I have never played Imagine: Party Time Babyz nor do I have any inclination towards the title. I’m sure by my standards it is a sloppily put together low budget shovelware title that copies every other mini-game framework on the market and sticks it on the shelf for fifty bucks, knowing that little girls will see the photographs of babies on the front and beg and scream at their mothers to buy it, but to each his own. What you also don’t see me doing is buying the game and reviewing it, from the perspective of a twenty-one year old with a mustache, and talking about how easy it is. I have the reasoning ability to know that Party Babyz is not directed towards my age group. Luckily, however, Party Babyz costs money, meaning no one except the target demographic is going to buy it, making such badly aimed reviews nonexistent.

So it baffles me when I read a news article on Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures hitting one million registered users just a week after launch, and the threads are populated with claims that the figure must be a lie, that nine hundred thousand of them must have quit, that it is essentially a lobby with mini-games, Free Realms is much better, etc.

News flash to Sony Trolls: Clone Wars Adventures is a lobby-centered mini-game-based social activity center for children. It incorporates a wide variety of fairly short mini-games with a difficulty setting that ranges from extremely easy to quite difficult, even for many adults, and foregos grinding mobs for grinding mini-games. CWA is also not Free Realms, it has been designed with a 100% different outlook in mind, as a lobby based game, where Free Realms is closer to your more traditional open world approach.

Granted, most of this frothing rage is coming from your usual Sony trolls of whom, if Sony had made the aforementioned Party Babyz, would buy the game for full price and then complain about how Sony screwed up once again. One million users may mean absolutely nothing in terms of activity, but a lot of the feedback towards this news isn’t directed at the one million figure, but rather your usual nerd rage coming from a group of people who still haven’t grown up from the Star Wars Galaxies Combat Upgrade, or who still hold ire towards Sony for Vanguard’s botched launch.

More on Clone Wars Adventures as it appears.

Epic Loot: Sony, Codemasters, and Blitz Looting Realtime Worlds’ Unemployed


Here in my town, there’s no better moment than when an electronics store goes out of business, generally because that means 50+% off on expensive electronics. When FYE went out of business, I managed to pick up Tabula Rasa at 90% off, and it was only one year after the game shut down! When a company starts shedding property (read: Employees), and said company is Realtime Worlds, it’s a veritable picking day for other companies to come in and get recruiting.

Sony, Codemasters, and Blitz were reported shipping off recruiters, designers, and artists to populate the nearby hotels as they pluck up ex-Realtime Worlds employees for interviews in one of their many studios. Codemaster’s chief talent acquisition manager had this to say about the company’s outlook on the ex-RTW staff:

“Realtime employees expertise is unquestionable,”

Blitz’s CEO Phillip Oliver had equal amounts of praise;

“We know that Realtime World has some fantastically talented people and were very sorry to hear the  news as it broke late last week. We think Realtime Worlds staff will be pleasantly surprised at the opportunities we can offer them and look forward to talking with them.”

The administrators are doing their best to keep Realtime Worlds alive, but for the time being it is nice to see that ex-employees are getting every offer to jump back into the work force as quickly as possible.