Rift is World of Warcraft

Rift may be a completely different game than World of Warcraft, but I will never know.  I've played two hours of Rift and had I not seen the title screen, I would have thought I was playing World of Warcraft.  This is the same thought I had while playing Aion.  The same thought that made me shriek in horror when I finally got to play "the game that shall not be named".  It annoys me that so many games have copied World of Warcraft and not just copied ideas, but cloned wholesale everything about World of Warcraft.  It is so bad that the games are all using the same text color to identify different levels of loot.  The font used looks almost exactly the same.  The icon shapes.  On and on and on this goes.

There has been a long running discussion that World of Warcraft just copied Everquest which just copied DIKU MUD and therefore the current flood of WoW clones is expected.  I disagree with this line of thinking.  Everquest's biggest achievement is that it brought the DIKU MUD to 3D graphics.  Other than that, I would argue Everquest was a pretty terrible game.  World of Warcraft's biggest achievement was that it refined the DIKU model into something that made sense with a massively online game that is beyond a doubt one of the best games ever released.  Secondly, WoW brought MMO to the mainstream.

These other games: Rift, Aion, etc. They are all clones; none of them bringing anything significant to the genre.  They aren't even trying to bring something to the genre.  They are all fighting to carve out a piece of the table scraps of players that Blizzard ends up shoving off the table where they keep the money hats.

Does this make these games bad?  Not really, but after an hour of playing Aion I was done; having decided if I wanted this experience I would just go back to play World of Warcraft.  Rift?  Same story.

Yet, the worst part is each and every game tries to sell itself as though its the "next big thing".  That its ONE THING IT WILL DO DIFFERENTLY is the NEXT PILLAR OF WHAT IS GOOD IN GAMES.  It's annoying.  These developer's need to just shut up and tell gamers that they really liked World of Warcraft and wanted to make a game that emulates it.  I would be far less pissed off about the state of the MMO industry if the big players would just come out and admit they are riding WoW's coattails

Rift is World of Warcraft.  I don't care if the game gets better in the later levels or has some whiz-bang new idea that you get to enjoy at some point.  Give me something different that as soon as I start playing the LAST thing I think of is the other game I played before it.  When I played DOTA 2, I didn't think "oh man, this is League of Legends".  DOTA 2 is it's own game.  It defines itself as something unique.  AND DOTA 2 IS A LITERAL CLONE OF ANOTHER GAME!

Fuck it, Valve make me a god damned MMO already.

Aion May Be A Grind, But It Looks Good Doing It

Aion has released a "vision of the future" video and it looks fucking amazing.



Aion may get booed out of the stadium for being a grind, but everything I've seen about Aion makes it look like a great game. If this video is any indication of what's to come, I will still stick by my statement that Aion is the ! of Diku. Player housing? Epic (and I'm not talking Star Wars: The Old Republic epic here) battles? Cannons? Looks good to me.

Digital Distribution Domination

The weekly numbers are in and MMOGs are dominating the digital distribution channels such as Steam and Direct2Drive.

Steam Top Ten (9/20 - 9/26):

1. Aion Collector's Edition
2. Aion
3. Fallen Earth
4. Batman: Arkham Asylum
5. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
6. Left 4 Dead
7. Resident Evil 5
8. Counter-Strike
9. Star Wars Jedi Knight Collection
10. Red Faction: Guerrilla

Direct2Drive Top Ten (9/20 - 9/26):

1. Aion Collector's Edition
2. Aion
3. Fallen Earth
4. Neverwinter Nights 2
5. Assassin's Creed Director's Cut
6. Titan Quest Bundle
7. Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir
8. Champions Online
9. BioShock
10. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

The important MMOGs to note are Aion and Fallen Earth. Both have strong showings. Hiding in the charts is Champions Online, which launched a few weeks ago. Also related to a certain happening within the MMOG space, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic had a recent surge in popularity due to a reduced price from Bioware as they promoted their upcoming MMOG; Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Digital distribution is no longer the future, it is the NOW.

Turbine Targeting Aion Server Queues... With Advertising?

Yes, I run advertisements targeted at search traffic on this blog. Yes, on a blog that costs me NOTHING (other than my time and dignity) to operate.

Looking over my search traffic and targeted advertising (have to keep those fucking gold selling ads in check), I've been getting a lot of Aion keyword searches into the site. The advertising targeted at the Aion keyword is VERY interesting, as shown below:


So, its terribly apparent that Turbine is targeting their keyword, search-based advertising for a completely different game. Now, to be fair, Turbine does also target the DDO keyword with DDO advertisements. However, it always cracks me up to think about how much search-based advertising gets away with. They essentially make money off the brand names and trademarks by selling redirected search attempts to their competitors.

God, I love the Internet.

One Paragraph To Describe Aion

I found this over at Massively:

Aion is the vanilla of MMOs. It does things right but it doesn't do them spectacularly. It targets everyone, but it simultaneously targets no one. It doesn't take risks. It's fun, but it's not endearing or memorable. It simply is.

With all of the launch day hype and coverage flooding in, this single paragraph describes almost all of it. Aion is the ! to the Diku-inspired sentence that Diku MUDs started, EQ brought to paper, and WoW wrote. The model can not be improved any further. New Diku MMOGs are all about polish and execution.

This game is solid. Period. If games could be graded on polish and polish alone, then Aion is one of the most polished games I've come across in a while

Of course they did have a year-long headstart on polish with the Korean launch.

This is, of course, due to the fact that Aion has had a year to work all of these problems out in Korea, and the fact that NCsoft's localization teams have been so absolutely thorough with the game.

Ok, I lied. Three paragraphs to describe Aion. None of them talking about server queues!

Aion Launches, Has Server Queues

Aion has launched in North America. No, I am not playing and have no plans of playing.

Aion has really long server queues. Anyone that believed that a new, AAA MMOG could launch in this day and age without server queues is ignorant, blind, or just a flat-out newb.

Enjoy waiting in line.

Aion Gold, Forgotten

Aion has gone gold. However, it's pretty much forgotten with the rumor mill working overtime for the upcoming Blizzcon and potential World of Warcraft expansion announcement.

Brighton, England - 17 August, 2009. Today, NCsoft, the world's premier publisher and developer of MMOs, confirmed that Aion has been released to manufacturing. Aion is the highly anticipated game that has already taken Asia by storm and has quickly become one of the world’s largest MMO franchises ahead of its release in Europe on 25th September.

Actually, if Blizzard doesn't shock the world and announce that the next WoW expansion will go live in September or October, Aion has fit into a nice slot for release. While I don't believe WoW expansions kill off new games (actually the opposite, it probably helps some), any success is measured against an awfully big stick. Especially for a game like Aion that is so close in terms of potential players with WoW.

Oh, and Aion is available via Steam!

Aion Is Pretty

Aion has another gorgeous update out:

The Sorcerer is a Daeva who follows the Star of Magic. They are able to freely wield the destructive power if the natural elements: Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. A sorcerer is a scholar at heart, evident by the books and orbs they normally carry with them. However, these items can be dangerous weapons in their hands as they help to increase a Sorcerer's power.

Aion Launch Set 4 September

Aion is set to launch:

Your adventures in Aion begin this September! NCsoft is proud to announce that Aion launches in North America on September 22, 2009 and makes its official debut in Europe starting September 25, 2009.

Not only can you find the game at your favorite retail store, Aion will also be available as a digital download at NCsoft.com, Direct2Drive, and also through Steam this September.

Don’t forget to take advantage of the special preorder promotion at participating retailers now to receive access to the Closed Beta events as well as a head start to your journeys in Atreia.

Take to the skies and become a part of a stunning world brimming with otherworldly inhabitants, mysterious enemies and ancient secrets. There is no reason hesitate - Become a part of Aion this fall!

Did I make it clear enough that the game will be available, at launch, via Steam? Woo woo!

Aion: The ! of Diku?

Tipa, of West Karana, has a great non-NDA breaking post regarding Aion's NA beta:

But there’s no NDA that tells me I can’t talk about the players.

Take one step into the world of Aion, and from that moment on, you’re an expert player. All your years playing MMOs has prepared you for this moment, and nothing you encounter will give you a moment’s hesitation. By the end of the preview Sunday, many characters were fairly high level, guilds had been set up and there was a rough hierarchy of achiever guilds vs casual, friend-based guilds.

Tipa is addressing the general crowd that reads West Karana, which is probably the same sort of crowd that shows up around here. Mostly, veteran MMO players that have played everything from Ultima Online to World of Warcraft. More importantly, we all understand the Diku-inspired MMO structure. We have long been experts. We grind levels and loot bosses in our mother-f'n sleep.

While the Aion beta is still under NDA, there's tons of freely available information from other countries that have the Live version of the game already. A quick search for Aion on YouTube or Bing, brings up all manner of info for the game.

The general consensus is that Aion is pretty good, but derivative of all games that have come before it. Aion delivers on the basics and adds a little flair (like flying, the Abyss PvP, etc.). It's all wrapped up in a great looking package and delivered by a company with a somewhat reliable track record. Everything for Aion is in place for it to be a serious contender in the MMO space.

Where World of Warcraft was the definition of Diku-based MMOGs, it appears Aion will be the exclamation point.

Aion and Other NCSoft Titles Available via Steam

Being the Steam connoisseur that I am, not sure how I missed this one: NCSoft adds its titles to Steam.

If you're one of those gamers who prefers the digital minimalist approach as opposed to having game boxes everywhere then you're in luck. MMO-giant NCSoft have announced they will be offering their titles -- including City of Heroes, Guild Wars, and Lineage -- via Steam. They're also planning to offer their latest, most anticipated and shiny MMO, Aion as well when the game launches later this autumn.

Aion has me somewhat intrigued, even though I am on a free-gaming kick currently. There is just something a subscription-based MMOG delivers that freemium, free-to-play, and micro-transaction games don't.

Honestly, it will be great to finally have an MMOG available at launch via Steam. I'm still bitter that Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning was months late to the Steam party.

W A R Stands 4

Waiting on Aion's Release

Sorry, couldn't help myself.
Anyways, Aion looks pretty cool.