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Stargate MMO Announced
Adding to the growing list of S/F Massive titles on the market, Gamecloud reports that a studio called Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment will be attempting to bring the Stargate franchise to the Massive gaming genre. From the article: "Stargate Worlds provides players with a form of ranged combat unique to MMORPG that will take full advantage of modern and science fiction weaponry, cover, and terrain. Players will be able to form squads with their friends or use bots for players who want to go solo. Squad leaders will control maneuvers and objectives through an innovative combat control interface. Players may choose to create characters that are members of either the SGC (the Good Guys) or the System Lords (the Bad Guys). Characters are equipped with varied and mixed skills, with the choice to form such classes as Research, Combat Marine, Medical, Scientific, Diplomatic, Engineering, Archeological, and Exploration. PVP will be possible between the two alliances on many contested worlds, actually swaying the balance of power on those planets, and unlocking hidden content." No release date, and an ambitious plan. Hope it works out for them.
Players may choose to create characters that are members of either the SGC (the Good Guys) or the System Lords (the Bad Guys).
That's rather stifling, isn't it? I can understand how the game creators might want to reserve such races as the Ancients, the Asgard, the Replicators, and the Ori as NPC plot devices, but that still leaves a lot of potential races out. What about the Tok'ra? Or the Unas? How about the Nox? Or the Re'tu?
Hopefully, there will be updates and expansion packs to address this, as there have been in similar games. On the whole, it looks like this could have a lot of potential....now it has the burden of living up to that potential.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Hot on the heels (okay, not too hot) of JoWood's cancellation of Stargate SG-1: The Alliance. Excuse me if my confidence falters.
Hopefully this game will take place in both the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Personally, I love the idea of a Stargate MMO.. but am I the only one that thinks "Cheyenne Entertainment"'s website looks like a random collection of buzzwords targeting Venture Capitalists?
So far this sounds a lot like the Star Wars NGE, but hopefully done correctly. Good luck to them.
Did the creators decide that stories about 4 or 5 elite SG-1 team members were boring, but stories about 40,000 or 50,000 random grunts would be exciting?
Or did they decide that games which can be run as a standalone application sell for $50, but games which require central servers can bring in $50 + $10 per month for a year?
Now that WoW is a big hit, it seems that every fantasy or sci-fi franchise is grist for the MMO mill. We'll soon have a Firefly MMO, a Lost MMO, etc. I wonder how this will impact single player games - will publishers only want MMOs?
And then later became dissapointed?
I'd spend all my time offworld, I don't think I'd be able to maintain my sanity when every few minutes the warning klaxon would be going off and that tech guy belting "Unscheduled offworld activation!" out over the PA.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
I don't believe that stargate is that popular abroad. Also, I would much prefer having a stargate game that was solo and simply re-lived some of the better moments of SG-1 OR ... possibly fill in some extra plot leads such as Daniel's grandfather's exploration in the episode "CRYSTAL SKULL"
I seem to remember them stating that they'd be back in that episode and they've never returned... I always thought there might be a lot of story behind Daniel's grandfather.
There were several other leads for further story telling in past SG-1 episodes and I'm sure they could easily make a game that tied it all together.
This has the POTENTIAL to be a great game. The problem is, how well can Stargate as a franchise hold up to games like WoW, EQ2, Vanguard, etc.
Right after the cacellation of the Stargate Alliance game, this is announced. Apparetnly there is a big enough fan base for a Stargate game, however, I am doubtful about how well it will actually be done.
Also, with such a flaky website, that offers so little actual information (and the information that it does offer being so lack-luster), I am not going to be expecting much, if anything out of this.
As a Stargate fan, however, I hope to be proven wrong
This could be very interesting. I think there may be more "content" that can be exploited than in a lot of the current sci-fi settings. The Stargate "world" is a very rich tapestry and I am very interested in seeing where this goes.
Hey in the same spirit of Richard Dean Anderson Television Shows, how about a MaGyver MMORPG?
Selma: Richard Dean Anderson will be in my dreams tonight!
Any connection to the single player game that was supposed to be out in 2005? http://www.stargate-thealliance.com/index.php?flas h=1
In an already crowded field. I wish them a lot of luck, but that laundry list of features sounds like it'll take a whole lot of development time, and as an "also ran" MMO, they're going to have a tough time recouping it.
I wonder if it isn't time for someone to create a semi-generic "engine" for MMOs that developers could buy and modify instead of creating their own every time. Basically, a situation like the FPS market today. It would allow people to create niche games like this without breaking the bank on developing the engine/servers before they even get to the content. Then they could be released with only a small handful of servers and enjoy a modest success without needing 10,000 people a day signing up just to break even. In an environment like that, I'd be excited at the prospect of a SG1 MMO, but in the current environment I fear the game will either run out of money and not be released, or be released in some half finished state that does no justice to the series or the fans.
I read the internet for the articles.
The problem I've seen in most of the licenses franchises like this is that they tend to pick things that are too popular. For example the problem with SWG was everybody wanted to be a Jedi and everybody wanted to go whoop up on Darth Vader. The storyline is too well settled and the characters are too well ingrained in our culture. It makes it very hard to give developers some flexibility.
:)
With Stargate, yes there's a fan base, but Stargate isn't near the level of the Matrix, or Star Wars. But the universe of Stargate is quite huge and there's already an established notion that while there are many stargate teams, the show is about the SG-1 team. So you can have people play the game as SG-130494505 and still have fun and not feel like they are getting ripped off because they can't be Colonel O'neil with the +5 Vorpal Snark.
So they get name recognition, a fan base, and a good slate of material to work with, but not a lot of the overhead that comes with some of the bigger franchises. Plus I'm sure they got the rights for a lot cheaper
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I want to be the MacGyver guy. If I can't make my own Stargate with an electric fan and some PVC pipe, this game isn't for me.
I hope they don't get stuck in the old conflicts of Earth vs. Goa'uld, that conflict has sort of fizzled off with main offender now being Baal. The SG Universe has moved on, Replicators and now the Ori
I'd love to see a MMO version of SG just i hope they don't make it crash and burn by limiting the gameplay to Good Vs. Bad, Earth Vs. Goa'uld. More involvement of other races (even if they're non playable) would be good. Asguard, Nox, even the odd descended Ancient/Altera
Hell, how are they going to play Atlantis? Or are they just going to skip over that.
"What do you mean you have no ice? Do you expect me to drink this coffee hot?" - Random Customer, Clerks
You be the judge...
Their idea isn't quite the same in detail as mine... but it is roughly similar. But then again so would any MMO-Stargate. Honestly I think it would take longer than 8 days to bake this idea enough to be able to make an announcement...
On the other hand I've heard that the gaming industry is a cutthroat high speed race environment when it comes to new product development, so anything is possible...
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
And here is the obvious site for the game... ooo comming soon!
"What do you mean you have no ice? Do you expect me to drink this coffee hot?" - Random Customer, Clerks
New content is simply added as new dialing sequences they dicovered to go to a different planet
The only drawback I see would be limiting is skills, basically everybody is military infantry with a mix of some secondary skills. I wonder if they'll have a Symbiote bearing warrior style class with a power staff... heh
I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
The bottom line is MMOGS have had a lot of time to grow up. Yet most of the games coming out are fairly a like. Their are small differences in content but the gameplay is the same. This is just going to be another attempt to maximize a franchises' profits a la Star Wars Galaxies and Star Trek Online by creating a game modelled after a successful convention show/movie with an instant userbase.
While some mmogs have done more of the same "very well" (world of warcraft comes to mind) it's still not next generation. MMOGs have been around for almost 10 years now...I mean seriously, Ultima Online still holds the place as best MMOG to date IMO...
That rant aside, I'm still not sure how MMOGs could go about being radically different. I mean until I see something truely next generation I'm not going to be all that excited as I would be towards something like, say.. Fallout 3. I've heard a lot of crap about permadeath "not working" but the bottom line is until a developer with balls comes along and tries we won't know and taking the easy way out to do more of the same is lame.
I'll make you a deal. You pray to God for help and I'll stop the moment he shows up.
To keep the game interesting and the developers busy you should do it that way. I.e. Basic options to start then more as the game grows.
You could also tackle in this game some of the sticky issues not handled in SG1 or Atlantis.
I.e. Pay $1M, Sign an NDA and carry a Tocra around for a year. Get your Aids cure right here. And speaking of Aids. Remember those armbands that SG1 became immune to?
BTW: What's the gate address for earth ?
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
I just hope they pull it off right...and to do that I'll suggest a couple things.
First, the stars of the series need to be able to be interactive. Possibly even accompanying you on instanced quests. Second, offworld sites should not necessarily be instanced. Part of the fun will be when forces are trying to hold a gate position, and reinforcements come on through to turn the tide of battle.
Next....TELEPORTERS! Also, flying vehicles. The aircraft and spaceships are such an integral part of the game, they had better be player useable.
Also, the weapons and armor of the various races needs to be done as accurately as possible. The horus masks should retract, etc.
Lastly...LOTS of worlds. The magic of the Stargate universe is that there is potentially an unlimited number of worlds. Part of the fun might be trying to piece together gate codes on quests and such!
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The muses, I don't think, are mythical icons. I think there is a very real effect at play. --That there are ideas which are directed to creative types with the aim of altering the human experience en masse. It's one of the ways societal control can be affected without visible strings.
Creative people will pick up on various signals, and then depending their alignment, will choose how to implement those ideas. I can think of a dozen or so instances where I've been hit hard with exciting ideas and have seen them put into production by various other creators within the expected time-frame. Channeled sources purport that there are many individuals engaged in thought projection work at this time.
There are two basic camps in the thought-projection crowd; those who want to see humanity become enlightened and free, and those who aim to control and eat us. The messages and inspirations each send out are designed to create media which will speed us toward one of those two ends. "Baywatch", for instance, was very body-centric and materialist, which are both extremely mis-directive traits. "Stargate", by contrast, does quite the opposite. I find it interesting that the two male leads from the two shows held some animosity for one another. . .
Much about Stargate strikes me as, 'Good Guy'. --Their message, while a bit sugary and simple around the edges, definitely deals in subject matter which starts people asking important and (very) relevant questions about human history. They've come out against Terrorism. They produce the show in Canada. Their message is one of reason. --They do have a few off-notes, such as Greys being depicted as both highly intelligent and friendly, neither of which is true. But the messages behind the show are otherwise good ones to explore. --Particularly with regard to the Atlantis stuff, and the vampire alien hoards, etc.
I question why the Stargate idea I was hit with involved a lot of war and conquest. --It is one of the reasons I chose to ignore it. (Not that I'm in any position to be making and publishing video games in the first place.) But it feels rather like counter psy-ops stuff to muddy a good message with violence and selfish activity.
-FL
If I could be a Go'auld.
But more importantly, if I could change my voice to SOUND like a Go'auld. I mean, you have to have your priorities when it comes to these things, right?I'm proud of my Northern Tibetian Heritage
Yet another game that is going to try to copy the WoW properties. EVery new game out there has been close if not the same thing as WoW with a different interface. Im not looking forward to any MMO's at this point I have stopped when the community of n00bs migrated to WoW.
Why is it that the name of the company that is making the Stargate video game is also the same name of the complex in Stargate??? The whois is also a bit odd with their eimail adress.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
Nerf Priors!
Hell, I'll just buy it as soon as I can, as being a year long player on the shining turd that is Matrix Online, I'll happily drop it to play Stargate, one of my favorite Sci-Fi shows :)
As long as SOE have nothing to do with it, I'll happily pay tomorrow for a copy.
J.
Physicist, consultant, science communicator
And the real Tau'ri cried out in simultaneous orgasm, then were suddenly silenced when they saw no release date.
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
that's Entropic Cascade Failure, n00b! [not to be confused with "Resonance Cascade", of course]
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Profound? That's a matter of perspective. Accurate?
Well, I've been ahead of the curve for a few years now. The funny thing is that people don't apologize for being condescending twits when they find themselves face to face with certain realities. Or as one friend put it, "People laugh until they suddenly need your help getting rid of a terrorizing spirit. Then they believe all right."
-FL