By: Brian Crecente
I had a chance recently to speak with Frank Pape, senior director of business development for Microsoft Game Studios, Cryptic Studios' Jack Emmert and Vice President of Marvel Interactive, Ames Kirshen, about upcoming massively multiplayer online hero-fest Marvel Universe Online.

The game, first announced at ComicCon earlier this year, will be developed by Cryptic Studios, the team behind City of Heroes, for Windows Vista and the Xbox 360 and will support "seamless play" between the two platforms.
Kirshen said Marvel decided to go with Microsoft because they wanted a console publisher who was a first party and had experience with computer games as well.

"It was a natural fit for us," he said, adding that they are "delighted" to have Cryptic as the developer.
Emmert said that his team at Cryptic Studios has been working on the MMO for awhile now.

" We are focusing on trying to get the action style game play that console players expect and want," he said. "I really want to create a game that is distinct and unique."

While the game will allow both Vista and 360 gamers to play on the same server, one version will not be a port of another, Marvel's Kirshen said.

"Jack's team is working very diligently to make sure the PC game does not feel like a port of the console or the console is a port of the PC game," he said. "They are designing the game to be functional and fun. That's a huge challenge but I can't think of anyone else who can tackle that."

I asked the Microsoft Game Studio's Pape why they would want to get into the massively multiplayer online market when it is currently so dominated by World of Warcraft.

Not only is Microsoft Games not worried about World of Warcraft, Pape said, the game's tremendous success is one of the motivations for getting into the market.

"For us that is the impetus to make this game," he said. "We have always looked at the space, looked at the Everquests, at the games coming out, the Star Wars Galaxies," he said. "Ultimately you see a lot of the same things."

"When you look at it the World of Warcraft, it is a great game, but it has been a black hole, it has subsumed a large part of the audience," he said. "Marvel breaths fresh breath into the space."

"We believe that the Marvel IP transcends what you have seen before in this genre and will fresh life into massively multiplayer online games."

Kirshen added that World of Warcraft taps a very specific fantasy genre.

"If I was working for an IP with a medieval fantasy property it wouldn't behoove anyone to go out there and be against World of Warcraft," he said. "But the Marvel Universe is based in the real world of today. Super heroes are a fantasy, but it's a very different kind of fantasy."

And, while Marvel hasn't made any specific announcements about where gameplay might take place, there's always the possibility it won't in big cities.

"The Marvel Universe isn't just super heroes running around in big cities," he said. "We have Thor and Asgard, we have Atlantis and we have the Midnight Suns and the other dark slices of Marvel."

That depth is something that Emmert is looking forward to tapping into.

"Our passion for Marvel comics is pretty well known, especially my own," he said. "We wanted to do this thing because of our love of Marvel comics. The main thing we can't stress enough is the breadth of the Marvel Universe. Their entire history is at our disposal."

While Emmert is vocal fan of Marvel, Marvel has not always been a vocal fan of Emmert.

In November, 2004 Marvel Entertainment sued Cryptic Studios and NCSoft, accusing them of designing City of Heroes in a way that allowed gamers to create characters that look like the famed heroes of the Marvel Universe.

When asked about it during my interview, Emmert called the whole thing "water under the bridge."

"The reality is that was just business, Marvel wants to protect its IP which is terrific," he said. "They make their living off Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine. I appreciate that protection."

NCSoft, publishers of City of Heroes and City of Villains, declined to comment on the "business dealings of an independent company such as Cryptic Studios."

They did say that they expect to continue working with Cryptic on developing and maintaining both games.

"NCsoft is committed to delivering to its customers the best games possible and this news from Cryptic Studios should in no way affect the high-quality product that the fans of City of Heroes and City of Villains have come to expect," they wrote in a prepared statement. "The "City of" franchise recently released its seventh major content update in the summer and the next free expansion is scheduled to be released later this year. Additional details of future plans for City of Heroes and City of Villains have been spelled out by Cryptic's lead designer, Matt Miller, in an address to the game's community."

Robert Garriott, CEO of NCSoft North America, called the City franchise "an exceptional product."

"City of Heroes and City of Villains have cornered the market on comic-book themed massively multiplayer online games and any competition for this space is several years away," he wrote, "so these games still have a lot of open field running to do."

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