“We’ve got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development,” said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. “And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about — in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it.”MMO gaming has NEVER looked better. Anyone that thought that the industry died with World of Warcraft was dead, dead wrong.
Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? “Yes,” he said.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Knights Of The Online Republic
One simple quote has brought the Internet to its collective knees:
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I suspect that somebody at Bioware is outraged that EA people keep blowing their closely-held projects to the press.
ReplyDeleteAside from that, I'm curious to see what this ends up looking like; I think Bioware has a chance to provide us with some real innovation. The Star Wars thing does not really excite me, though; I feel like I've already paid my debt to Lucas by paying to see those three terrible movies he released. Personally, I'd been hoping (against the prevailing current, I know) that their double secret MMO was going to be Forgotten Realms Online.
Bioware sold out to EA, so they have no right to complain.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't think a D&D inspired MMO can make it in this market.
1. It can't stick to D&D mechanics, because they suck in video game form.
2. Without the D&D mechanics, you lose the core audience.
3. Even with the talk that D&D 4.0 is better suited for video games, I think the general ho-hum reception of 4.0 will put it in an early grave.
I think that the D&D brand is still fairly powerful, regardless of the reception of D&D4 (which as a still-active tabletop player I totally don't care about.) There have been a number of very successful, even iconic, D&D video games (NWN, Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment,) and these stuck to the traditional mechanics to varying degrees. I think that's secondary to the strength of the brand.
ReplyDeleteDDO failed not beacuse it was D&D, but because it pretty much sucked when it launched. It's greatly imrpoved in many ways since, but it tried too hard to emulate the tabletop experience to the point of being flat-out not enjoyable unless you happen to be playing in a specific format. I think a well-crafted D&D MMO could be a decent hit.
Don't get in the hype, you'll get hurt. An IP does not mean the mmo created from it will be anything good or revolutionary. In fact, I'm waiting to see Warhammer fall this fall. It is okay to play it for free in beta, but not worth paying for.
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