Matrix MMORPG

An anonymous reader writes "As linked to in this post, Matrix: Online has been announced. The official site for the game describes it as a MMORPG of epic proportions as people will get to feel what it's like to be a part of the matrix realm. Although the details list lots of interesting information, the most important piece I found was in the FAQ section... where they state that the game takes place after Matrix Revolutions... Are they trying to hint at something?"

Comments

Matrix: great movie, not so great MMORPG?

[Traderdot]

MMORPGs like Ultima Online and Everquest have people roleplaying, honing their crafts, building things to earn money, etc. In the Matrix there's no need to do any of that. Want money? Want a car? Need weapons? Call the operator!

I'm presuming you'd be playing a rebel. The rebels don't really spend much time in the Matrix. They go in, do what they need to do and get out. They don't wander around much because once the agents find out where they are, it just becomes a chase since since no-one except Neo can out-fight them.

Great movies but I have my doubts about its viability as a MMORPG.

I saw this at E3.

[Samurai Cat!]

I know the publisher's community guy who's now on the TMO project. Managed to get a private demo of the game while at E3 a couple of weeks ago.

Some of the neat stuff:
* The game world will be freaking HUGE. They illustrated this by pointing at a piece of the wall in the demo room, which was a bunch of square pieces, each about... hmm, 1.5 ft on each side. "This is the size of the game world." Then the fellow uses his finger and draws off one corner of the square wall piece, and says "This is the size of Sydney." i.e. game world city will be at least 20x the square footage of Sydney, Australia.
* "Bullet Time" is in - and beyond that, the multiple-blurry effect as well (i.e. when an agent dodges the gunshots on the roof of the first movie, or when Neo/Smith are fighting). How they'll keep the time continuity between the two chars (the target will experience Bullet Time, the attacking character won't), I'm not sure yet.
* Every damn building in the game world will (so they say) be fully accessable - not just empty boxes for looks. 80-story buildings you see across town will have 80 floors, that you can get up into, rooms, "desks with Coke cans", etc.

How much of all of this they can pull off, we'll see.

Re:I saw this at E3.

[Shanoyu]

You'll have to see clonish behavior. The sheer amount of man hours it takes to design just one building will inevitably lead to cloned buildings or set-piece designs. Morrowind is huge, and even though each one of the ancestral tombs is 'individual' they all feel the same. Pulling off unique buildings for an area that large is, simply put, impossible given limited time and resources.