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!

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.

Stargate Worlds is still being developed!

In a recent interview with Gateworld, one of my favorite sites in the universe, Stargate executive producer Brad Wright said that the game was toast - "They had an opportunity and they got our support, and they obviously had significant funding, and it didn’t happen." The developers have come back saying "we're all fine here, now", noting "the lights here are still on and the development team is working hard every day to get this game built. Team members are in the office seven days a week to deliver Stargate Worlds. [...] unfortunately we had not recently updated [Brad Wright] on our progress or the impact from the current global economic crisis, and he was not fully aware of the continuing progress on our game." So in theory things are still moving forward. I think we'll just have to wait and see - I know I wouldn't want to be in a funding crunch right now, given the economy.

probably a bad sign...

Oh dear. Kill Ten Rats has pointed out that Ten Ton Hammer is running a pledge drive for workers at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, so they'll have cash for Christmas. I'm pretty sure that bodes ill for dev work on Stargate Worlds....

Stargate problems?

Massively is reporting that the makers of Stargate Worlds may be experiencing a cash flow issue (well, from the way I read the comments from Cheyenne Mountain, they definitely -are- having a problem). This news appears to have come out when a website, days-since-cheyenne-mountain-employees-have-been-paid.com was put up. I think you can probably figure out the subject matter of the website....

Stargate Worlds Youtube Channel

Massively notes the existence of a YouTube channel from Firesky devoted to Stargate Worlds.

Stargate Worlds' AI

I've read multiple places now that the makers of Stargate Worlds hope to have a fairly complex battle AI. These plans were reiterated most recently in an interview. I've played a number of first person shooters, and to be honest I've never survived long enough to evaluate the AI. Of course, this will be different, as you'll see things from a different perspective, so maybe I'll live long enough to do better. I do know that I always found the WoW AI to be frustrating - if I set off an alarm, I expect the whole base to come get me, not just the one guy in my aggro radius. We'll see what they do, as this would be quite tough if you have 700 people running the instance at once....

slowly, slowly

Well, it's looking to be a long, slow end to 2008. I'm excited about stargate, in a general sort of way, and I'm eyeing eve, but for the most part, I'm waiting on what's next. Maybe WAR will be all that and a bag of chips, but I doubt it.

Taking a look at mmorpg.com, I see the upcoming releases list on their site as follows:

* Requiem ( Q2 2008 )
* Wonderland Online ( Q2 2008 )
* Zu Online ( Q2 2008 )
* Godswar Online ( Q2 2008 )
* The Chronicles of Spellborn ( Q3 2008 )
* Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning ( Q4 2008 )
* Aion ( 2008 )
* Stargate Worlds ( Q4 2008 )
* Huxley ( 2008 )
* Darkfall ( 2008 )
* Earthrise ( 2009 )

I doubt the 2008 release dates for Stargate, and Aion sounds... not my style. I'll have to check out some of these others, though, in hopes something catches my attention.

One that does sound interesting is Earthrise - back before Star Wars fell so far down, I thought it was great that you could be on one side or the other, or you could be neutral. Earthrise sounds like it may have that option, though it's a shame that one side is clearly supposed to be evil. We'll see.

Another trickle from Cheyenne Mountain

Massively alerted me to a story on MPOGD which has a few more tidbits about Stargate Worlds. To sum up a short article, there will be no player controlled vehicles, and the content will be soloable. It never occurred to me, frankly, that anyone would try to make a non-soloable game, but there you go. Now head on over to the story and ogle the pretty pictures.

Stargate Worlds comedy

Massively has pointed out that the Stargate Worlds comedy video contest has closed, and you can see all the videos on youtube.

Bug reporting

The forum for Stargate Worlds has an interesting thread about best practices for reporting bugs in a game beta. References are made to other tools people have seen, different ways of entering data, etc. One point that comes up repeatedly is that the beta testers really want to give the best possible reports, but they also want to know they are being heard. It's crazy how much free labor MMOs get from their fan base, in exchange for very little in return. But in the end a good beta makes a good game, and that makes everyone happy.

Stargate Worlds

Well, West Karana may not believe in Stargate Worlds (or Stargate at all, apparently), but The Common Sense Gamer certainly does!

Stargate: SG-1 [...] lasted 10 seasons and is probably THE longest running sci-fi series in television history. I’m going to tell you… we have nine of those seasons (…don’t think that season ten is out yet…) and each one is very solid. The series itself is very well written with a deep story line with lots of "meaning of life" stuff in it. The characters, although a bit weak to start, really, really grow on you….especially Jack O'Niell.

I do think the IP is very strong. The game? We'll see.

Someone else likes Stargate

I was really pleased to see I'm not the only one waiting for Stargate to release, as Keen notes "If you’re as much a Stargate fan as I am" while posting about the contest to become a character in the game. At least now I know there's one other person!

More Pirates, but different

Tobold and others have pointed out that Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean MMO is out today. This is an interesting form of in-game advertising, in that the game itself is an advertisement. Like Stargate Worlds, I'm not sure whether the brand can support a game. On the other hand, if the game itself is good enough, the game could be self-sustaining, and thus drive additional products. I am personally attracted to this model because I hate the monthly fee model (or more precisely, I hate paying for things). I suspect, however, that the annoyance of other models would make me happy to pay a fee instead.

Stargate Worlds release date announced

Ten Ton Hammer has noted that Stargate Worlds now has a release date: the end of 2008. I really can't decide what to do with this one - it seems like it could easily be a Tabula Rasa - pure shooter type game. Which didn't appeal to me at all - I tried it a couple times, but just didn't find it engaging. But I love stargate, so I really want to like the game. We'll see what they do to appeal to the non-shooter fans. With any good luck I'll be able to beta it before it comes out.