Gaming Massively

Friday, February 5, 2010

Closing down

Well, Blogger has announced they will no longer allow FTP blogs (meaning blogs that are copied to a remote server, like the one hosting my website). Combine that with a general disinterest in blogging right now (I'm much too busy on other fronts) and I figure it's time to close this one down. I haven't had a lot of luck with the games I've chosen, although I did enjoy World of Warcraft for a time. Right now there's nothing on the horizon that I see as being particularly interesting - the big name stuff right now doesn't interest me much - I think I'm waiting for a hardware revolution (iPad MMOs, maybe?) to really draw me back in. So, thanks for coming by, and maybe I'll see you around the intertubes!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

D&D Offline?

So in a bit of 'stupid IP laws screw with us all' drama, it seems the people who own the D&D rights are suing the people who licensed the D&D rights and made an MMO out of them. If they prevail, the game would be in what could only be called 'a world of hurt'. Depending on how acrimonious things get, this could probably go either way - the rights could be re-licensed, money change hands, and things continue, or, if the two companies decide they really hate each other, we could see D&D Online go away. This would seem to be a very good reason to create (or own fully) your own IP when you create an MMO.

Labels: , , , ,

Friday, December 11, 2009

Stargate news

So it looks like we get a shooter instead of an MMO. Not perfect, but a good use of something that's already been developed!

Labels: , , ,

Friday, November 20, 2009

Stargate?! Still!

Well, a post over at Massively seems to indicate Stargate Worlds is still kicking. I hope so, on general principle - no game should make it almost out the door, only to fail at the finish line due to cash flow.

Labels: , ,

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

reinvention

I was recently reading a post on Bio-Break about strategies to revitalize Warhammer. And I got to thinking about the shiny-chasers - you know, the gamers (I fear I may be one) who chase each new game, try it, become disillusioned, and leave, never to return. And I wondered about the chances of revitalizing a game, using strategies aimed at the gamers you originally lost. I think it can't be done that way. I think a game (an MMO, to be precise) gets one shot to get the hardcore gamers, and ninety-eight percent of them blow that chance. But it seems like we're now seeing some methods for revitalization that are working - moving to a free-to-play model, for example, brings in a whole group of people who won't pay $15 a month, but who might pay something. And it brings back a small percent, I think, of the original wave, who come because they can (it's free, right?) There's also the Eve method of revitalization, which isn't really a method, nor really a revitalization - they just keep going, and after a while people come because, let's face it, people like polish, and polish takes time, and if you just keep at it long enough your game will acquire polish (assuming any level of competence and assuming you don't completely destroy the game (Star Wars Galaxies, anyone?)) But I'm not sure that expecting the people you attract at the beginning of the cycle to come back is ever a good plan - but then, I'm not totally clear you ever wanted those folks in the first place - WoW certainly seems to do better with care bears.

Labels: , , , ,

Friday, October 30, 2009

free WAR?

Well, not all of it is free, but apparently now you can play the first tier (12 levels, I guess?) for free. I may have to add this to my list of 'games I finally get around to trying out'!

Labels: , , ,

Friday, October 16, 2009

DDO

There's an article up at Ars which is rather timely (for me), all about how Dungeons and Dragons Online has gone free to play, and how that business model is working out just fine for them. It's timely because I just downloaded the client last week, and if I ever get free time again I hope to see how the game works out.

Labels: , , , ,

Monday, October 5, 2009

not dead yet, sir

40 years of Monty Python. Amazing!

Anyhoo, I'm really not deceased or anything. I just really haven't seen anything that caught my fancy. Tobold's recent post on the GENI of WoW was pretty impressive, and I was taken by the Free Realms demographics posted at Game Genus, and I see a few folks talking about Alganon (which is, I presume, a game where you get really smart the first half, then really dumb, then you die - doesn't seem like it'll sell very well to me!)( for those that don't get it)

So I'll keep watching, and waiting. Innovation will happen - it just may take another year or so....

Labels: , , , ,

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Turbine developing for the console

According to an article on Tom's, Turbine has already spent 20 million dollars developing basic infrastructure for a new console-based MMO. That's serious cash, though it has to be noted a few million doesn't go as far as it used to. The article speculates they might be building new gameplay models which are console specific (which wouldn't be a terrible idea, considering how different consoles are from PCs).

Labels: , , ,

Monday, August 31, 2009

MMOs and Consoles: a Winning Combination?

Slashdot pointed me to an interview with Cryptic Studios' Jack Emmert, in which he says that Microsoft is holding up the 360 release of Champions Online due to not being quite sure how to handle it (vis-a-vis XBox Live). I wonder if this is another facet of what seems like the on-going 'MMO on consoles not happening' saga. I feel like, given the number of console owners, MMOs should be a bigger presence on them than they are. Of course, there's the complexity of development and all that, but given that "around 90 per cent of the game code is shared between platforms", it doesn't seem insurmountable. On the other hand, that article also notes the complexity of the rules to be followed from platform to platform, which seems to move us towards the xbox problem. Other places have also noted the problem with payment models on other console-based MMOs. I wonder if the console makers are shooting themselves in the foot, or if, given that "MMOs have the 'highest failure rate of any entertainment product'", they'll be just fine even if no MMO ever makes it to their door.

Labels: , , ,