Thursday, January 8, 2009

Todays tidbits

Of interest...

Did you know Square Enix has been working away at a new MMO, and may plan to show it at this years E3?
What is more interesting is they plan to NOT use the Final Fantasy license, and it supposedly is a whole new IP? Or if not a new IP, a different IP...

Fascinating.

Did you know the rumor mill hit full steam this past month over the fact that Turbine is working on RMT (really now...who isn't recently) for an MMO.
The LOTRO kids went insane, but luckily it seems to be a NEW MMO. 

Now, if it is free, I would actually play it...

Whatever happened to Webzen? This company had a supposed 3 major MMO's that were up and coming..then it is like they vanished.
Microsoft had their hands in one title, which was to be the first MMOFPS for the 360. Called Huxley.
Well, it seems Webzen was going to call it quits, and all development stopped.
Out of the blue, it seems news has arisen of a relaunch, and a rename for Huxley as well to Huxley:Dystopia.

Some good video of the game at the link above...make sure to check it out.

On the same site, there is a poll, with the most anticipated upcoming MMO's. What struck me as odd is that Blade and Soul, so far a Korean only NCSoft game, is beating Aion (whicha happens to be in the #2 spot though) for most popular. Aion is released in Korea, and is coming to North America SOON (trademark that word people....).

Like we seem to always say, no one is ever happy with what they have, and are always looking for the next thing.

Finally....does anyone really think Darkfall will launch on the 22nd of January? Does anyone really believe that there are "code" issues with Acclaims copy of Spellborn in regards to the anti hack cheat guard?
Will the US audience buy into Aion? Will WoW's playerbase decline below 10 million this year?

Stay tuned...

6 comments:

Bildo said...

I think Aion could do pretty well here if it plays more like a Western MMO and less like an Eastern one.

I mean, playing L2 and playing CoH (two NCsoft properties, developed across the Pacific from each other) is like playing two entirely different kinds of game. But the word is that Aion is developed with the Western market in mind when it comes to the UI and such. More specifically, they took a look at how games like WoW and EQ2, LotRO etc play and tried to replicate that.

If that's true... despite the fact that the Fantasy market is crowded I think Aion could do well. It's different enough with the flying, visual aesthetic, and PvEvP thing that it could grab some folks' attention.

I'll try it, simple because I'll try anything... :)

Historian said...

I assure you that the issue was GameGuard, it would be really silly to sit on a game that is so anticipated.

That said we should have some good news very very soon.

Danshir said...

"Did you know the rumor mill hit full steam this past month over the fact that Turbine is working on RMT (really now...who isn't recently) for an MMO."

My "prophecy" will come true. The West will get hit, and hard, with this. On a side note, I'm personally looking forward to TRYING Blade & Soul more so than Aion.

As for the WoW playerbase, I wouldn't be surprised if it went below 10 million.

Lars said...

@Bildo - I'll try it too, as I try every major MMO. But from what I've read from beta testers, it just sounds like a Lineage 2 bot-filled grind fest with wings.

Zeebrat said...

It's been taking so long for a decent new MMO to come out that I went back to EQ2. They sped up the leveling between levels 20-70 significantly. It's much more tolerable to play now.

I hope that AION is smart and tries to westernize their gameplay. People just aren't going to pay for a Korean grinder here. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

Blade and Soul looks so cool, but from the looks of it, not many people will have the comp to run it.

Elementalistly said...

@Lars
Just as I was afraid of. And no matter how much they "Westernize" it, leave that large of a discrepancy in your XP vs Quest ratios, and prepare to die off.

Cheers and thanks for the link