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secondhand lands
Posts Tagged “
Mmos
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secondhand lands
debate
Why Aren't There More Console MMOs?
Back in April, Dan Rubenfield (Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies, etc.) ranted, raved, and put MMO developers 'on notice.' And, at the end, admonished developers to "quit making PC games. It’s a waste of time and money." Unsurprisingly, people hit back, and now over at GameSetWatch, Joe Ludwig (producer of Pirates of the Burning Sea) has a snappy little response detailing six reasons why MMOs are just plain harder to develop for consoles versus PCs. Does that mean it won't start happening in greater numbers? Of course not: More »
Interview
Interview: 'This Gaming Life' Travels Online Game Culture, Attitudes
Veteran UK game journalist Jim Rossignol, currently one of the Big Four at the Rock Paper Shotgun blog, has just published a book called 'This Gaming Life,' documenting his experiences in three different cities pursuing and documenting the culture of online games.
He covers the widespread competitive game scene in Korea, looks into Quake's evolving role in the London game scene, and visits Iceland to see the birthplace of EVE Online, to develop what he says is a story of "how games change the lives of gamers."
I thought the idea of a "travelogue" of game culture was interesting, so I asked Jim a few questions about the book, and his experiences.
More »
Trion Arrives
Trion Also At Work On First-Party Van Caneghem MMO, PS3 Titles
Earlier this morning, we reported Trion World Network is teaming up with the Sci-Fi channel to create an MMO based on an upcoming show, a cool idea as the show's direction is intended to evolve depending on what players do in the game. That co-development agreement is not the only thing Trion has in the works, however.
Trion's first title will be a first-party game, a fantasy-themed MMO headed by Jon Van Caneghem (shown), creator of the Might and Magic and Heroes RPG and strategy franchises. Trion will self-publish in North America and Europe through its own proprietary platform
Though the company announced its platform several months ago before any games were on the horizon, it's not restricting itself to a first-party strategy; Trion also announced a publishing partnership today with Sony Computer Entertainment America to do games for the PS3 in North America, though no specific PS3 titles have been announced yet.
Both the first-party game announce and the SCEA partnership release follow the jump:
More »
mmos
Age of Conan Is Priced In Gold
In a Funcom investor briefing, the company has spilled the pricing strategy for their MMO Age of Conan. United States gamers will pay $59.99 for the game and $14.99/month for the subscription. (Meanwhile, European gamers will pay 49.99 Euro and 12.99 Euro/month.) A quick skim through the briefing reveals some other interesting factoids, like that the game has already gone gold, Funcom expects 500,000-600,000 active subscribers at launch and internal surveys show that a "large proportion" of beta testers would like to buy it. Anyone out there considering cheating on their WoW account?
AoC Briefing [TenTonHammer via Maxconsole]
game design
The Rise of the Casual MMO
World In Motion has an interesting round up with Nick Fortugno (creator of Diner Dash and co-founder of yet-to-be-launched RebelMonkey) on the state of the ... casual MMO? Seems like a bit of an oxymoron, but with the statement "The casual barbarians are coming!", Fortugno explains the particulars of a 'casual' take on what has traditionally been seen as hardcore territory: More »
eve online
EVE Online and World of Darkness: Reynir Harðarson on MMOs
Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a great (as always) interview up with Reynir Harðarson, one of the minds behind EVE Online, on EVE, new MMO-in-production World Of Darkness, MMOs in general, and why MMOs should be more like ... Facebook?
They are more like Facebook, or should be. They share the same technology, and they have to be considered as a social technology if the genuinely massively multiplayer gameplay is going to emerge. People interacting is all that matters here. We are going to stick to this vision with our games. It was what we believe in some form back in 1997 when we formed the company, and I think we demonstrated it with Eve. It really works. People like Eve and play it. They kept playing it. Twenty five percent of people who bought the game on day one are still playing it now and I think that is because of how the game is structured.
Great interview touching on a number of interesting points.
Eve Online Creator Reynir Harðarson [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]
game design
Multiplayer Lessons of GDCs Past
Danc at Lost Garden has a blast from the past up, in the form of a snip from a talk given by Dani Bunten Berry on good design elements for multiplayer games (all the way back in 1997). It's quite a list, but just goes to show that a lot of good design elements are pretty timeless.
"Zero sum" is bad. Games where I win and you lose are bad. Worse still is "I win and all the rest of you lose". Notwithstanding the current cultural obsession with endzone strutting by winners, losers do not enjoy themselves and if you can help take the sting out of it, you should. Alliances, cooperative play, ranked "winners" rather than "A winner" with a bunch of losers are all options. Pacing needs variety. Slow periods should follow intense ones and forced "time-outs" can offer opportunities to socialize, catch your breath and anticipate things to come. Remember, the players no longer have a "pause key" as they did in a solo-game. Strategies need "wiggle room". People have different personal styles and when playing against each other it's great to let them "do it their own way" rather than a single approach that all must follow. If possible you should balance the game such that a strategic planner for instance might not always beat the joystick jockey or the detailed tactical type. A game that allows for diverse people to play diverse ways is always best.
There's much, much more, but it is interesting to see what we're still talking about in regards to multiplayer game design. We'll find out shortly what gems this year's GDC will produce.
GDC: Social lessons of years past [Lost Garden]
virtual worlds
Characters of the Year: Does 'You' Suck?
Over in her Aberrant Gamer column, Leigh Alexander has picked her top five game characters of the year - including the 'you' of virtual worlds and user-generated content. She's expanded on her thoughts on why 'you' sucks sometimes over at Sexy Videogameland, and it's an interesting read through. She even expresses doubt that this open world model can sustain itself: More »
virtual worlds
Virtual Worlds Aiding 'Exodus' From Reality?
Edward Castronova, an associate professor at Indiana University and the guy behind a Shakespeare-themed MMO, published a new book last month entitled Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun Is Changing Reality. He spoke to BBC News to talk about his new book and the contents within: More »
mmos
NCSoft: We Have No Intention of Leaving Games
This weekend's Korean Times story, full of woe and certain financial doom for NCsoft, may not be exactly on the mark says the online game developer.
While the Times story says that "NCsoft is slowly but steadily expanding to the non-game Internet service sector, while its cash-cow game business is losing vigor", NCsoft tells us that's not exactly true.
What reads like a negative story in the hands of the Korean Times, sounds like a positive in NCsoft's response to us. Hit the jump to read their official statement and then make your own decision on where NCsoft is headed.
More »
raph koster
Raph Koster On Game Grammar and Creating Fun
Gamasutra has a long (long) interview up with Raph Koster (lead designer of Ultima Online and founder of Areae). It's long. But Koster touches on a ton of stuff - the shift in game design, the ultra-casual market like Habbo Hotel vs. WoW, this idea of 'game grammar', why patents are a necessary evil, and is 'single-player gaming dead'? - and it's an interesting read. Even some interesting ideas on the us vs. them mentality present in the industry (or is it?): More »
hilarity ensues
MMOs They'll Never Make
I love me some Sexy Videogameland, and the fairly recent addition of 'best of' contests makes it that much more entertaining. Up this week? Pitch the most ridiculous idea for an MMO that you can, putting the most genuine and sincere PR spin on things possible. While it's an exercise in hilarity, it's true that virtual worlds are getting ever-increasing attention from mainstream media and people looking for a piece of the potentially lucrative pie. In a world where there's a Barbie MMO advertised on TV and money is being thrown at maybe they'll work out, maybe they won't ideas, perhaps it's not so ridiculous after all (could fiction possibly be stranger than Be-Bratz?): More »
nexon
Nexon's Min Kim on What's Next For Nexon
Nexon - the Korean company responsible for MapleStory and KartRider - has been expanding (quietly) beyond its home borders. With MapleStory already in the US and KartRider due to launch sometime in the near future, Nexon's been making a quiet-but-succesful entry into Western markets. Worlds In Motion has an interview up with Min Kim of Nexon America talking about MapleStory, KartRider, the Nexon recipe for success, and what's next for the company. Not surprisingly, great swaths of his thoughts are pretty sensible (in a market glutted with free-to-play games, yours better be fun or else no one's going to play it), but sensible and game company plans do not always go hand in hand. More »
financial matters
NCsoft Sales Down, Profits Up
NCsoft, the Korean developer behind Lineage (among other things), just posted its second quarterly earnings: sales of $82.1 million, which is down 11%, but operating profits of $11.5 million - which is a jump of 533%. Sales were heavily weighted to the local Korean market, but they continue to make in-roads elsewhere in the world. With contracts to develop games for the PSP and PS3 and several new games launching soon, I suppose we can expect those profits to keep rolling in. More »
life in plastic, it's fantastic!
Fascinating Yet Horrifying: The Barbie & Bratz MMOs
Barbie, everyone's favorite anatomically impossible plastic plaything now has her own MMO: BarbieGirls. Following in the footsteps of things like Club Penguin, just a lot pinker and more irritating, it's a brilliant marketing strategy and already boasts 4 million users. And they haven't even gone out of beta yet. And continue to sign up new users at the rate of 45,000 a day. Wow. Not to be left behind, Bratz - the trashier, more badly made up version of Barbie - is also opening their own Be-Bratz MMO. More »
only in china
Chinese Anti-Addiction Measures Not Going So Smoothly
Despite mandating that all Chinese companies install anti-addiction measures on MMOs and the like by the beginning of July, things aren't going as smoothly as intended: 20 companies have failed to implement the systems and the government isn't too happy about it. Notices have been sent out, and if the companies fail to comply with the requests of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), they will have their internet service suspended (and the games will be shut down until they do comply). More »
we're coming for your children
