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Acclaim Back From the Dead
GameDailyBiz reports that Acclaim is back from the dead (again), and this time it's a MMOG publisher. From the article: "Acclaim's first title will be BOTS, a multiplayer online robot fighting game that is completely free to play. 'The game is designed with accessibility and a positive community experience in mind. A sports-like ranking system allows players to challenge themselves against their friends in a cleanly rendered, safe and youth friendly environment as they develop their skills and evolve their own personalized BOT,' says Acclaim." They're also planning a more traditional MMOG called 9Dragons.
Thank you for your wonderful offer. However, I feel that I must in good conscience, decline. I will not rename myself or my first born son to "BOTS", nor will I chisel the tagline of your new game "9Dragons" onto my great grandfather's tombstone. In fact, many of my collegues find your practices quite reprehensible, and will not support your company if you continue them. Thank you for your interest, and I hope that we won't do business again in the future.
Sincerely,
Your Customers
Reference 1
Reference 2
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Back from the dead and offering a free-to-play MMO? I don't really get how that's going to solve their financial woes.
image word: nipple. interesting.
http://www.bots2.net/ or they'll have some serious copyright issues on their hands.
Um, how is this different than Bots 2?
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
DO NOT WANT
Rob
Will they be rebooting the Valiant comic universe yet again? This time Magnus Robot Fighter is set in umm..2006! And he's a girl! Sure! And she magically transforms when she plays B.O.T.S! Why not!
Apparently, Acclaim does not quite grasp the concept that you need to charge money for your products if you do not want to hemerage money. Of course, that only works if the products you publish are worth paying money for.
You know, I would have like to have seen what bots was about. But the acclaim website is the graphically loudest website I've seen in years. Enough flashing on random animations to give you a seizure. The bots homepage is even worse. I had to shut it off without reading for the sake of my sanity.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
from the mmmmm-mmmmm-oooooo-gggggg-sssss dept.
I think BRRAAAAIINNNS would be far more fitting.
The idea behind having a big name doesn't work if the name isn't associated with anything. Irnfrogramresr buying "Atari" makes sense -- there's Pong, that whole old-school feeling, the funky "A" logo. Activision buying "Acclaim" is... Well, I'm trying to come up with an association here, and "Turok" isn't registering on the ol' 'leet-o-meter.
If Activision couldn't buy a bigger name, seems they're better off creating a new brand of their own, a la Toyota's creation of Lexus and Scion.
Outside of their wrestling games and Wizards and Warriors on the NES was pretty good, I thought their games overall sucked. Any sports game was absolutely horrible!
It will be interesting to see how they are now and in the immediate future.
For a moment I thought this was article was Atari back from the dead. I guess the French haven't finished killing it off yet.
No, Wizards and Warriors sucked too. I think it took me something like 2 hours to win it. Maybe I died once or twice, but it seemed like an incredibly easy Ghosts and Goblins rip-off to me.
These guys are like pubic lice! You can douse your crotch with battery acid and they'll still come back.
I was actually kind of hoping that TFA would announce that they'd signed up as publishers for the Infinium Phantom. That would be about on the same level as their other business decisions!
You must think in Russian.
Maybe if this goes over well, we'll get that Turok MMORPG we've been waiting for. Or maybe some deathmatch BMX XXX.
Sorry, no offense to Acclaim, but...wait a minute, what am I saying?
The game they'd developed based on the Red Star comic series was practically ready to go out the door when they'd folded; a fact which disappointed me greatly. Whether or not the paralell world of that comic is a good basis for an MMOG is an excercise I leave to you fine chaps, but I hope their notional resurrection means they'll at the very least find someone to hand it off to.
- White Knight of the Order of Mihoshi Enthusiasts
Wouldn't You Like To Be A Pepper Too?
One of your former colleagues, Number Five, has separated itself from its owner's commands and controls, and is now lurking somewhere in the countryside. The last known transmission from Number Five was "Wouldn't You Like To Be A Pepper Too?".
Find it right now, [generic fighting robot name], and eliminate!
Quest Objectives: Find the location of the rogue Number Five and exterminate.
Quest Rewards: [Improved Firing Laser]
Maybe it is scarlet letter A for adultry. [grin]
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
*horrified victim in a zombie movie* NO! Noooo! Nooooo! *runs away, but not quickly enough. . . Dead.*
I've always hated Acclaim's games and marketing strategies (but especially the games). Some of the really old stuff was good, but they just turned into an uncreative, "bottom-line" company that wasn't afraid to release horrific games that tarnish the reputation of the licenses they use. ECW Hardcore Revolution anyone?
The last great game they published IMO was Aggresive Inline. A lot of the good features in THPS4 were on Aggressive Inline first. Plus, they started the Burnout series too, but those games were buried under all their bad games. Now that Acclaim has been "resurrected", let's hope they have good management and publish good games 8)
"When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
According to TFA: The new Acclaim, based in Beverly Hills, California, will not only offer free online games, but it also will incorporate multiple business models such as in-game advertising and the option for gamers to purchase in-game items.
I have doubts about the business plan described in the article. Games cost money to develop, and MMOGs cost even more due to hosting costs, maintenance, expansion, etc. I find it very hard to believe that companies will pay Acclaim enough money to pay for employees, servers, bandwidth, and ongoing development. The in-game purchases might bring in some money, but I think many people will either feel cheated or somehow wronged by the game/company if someone with a large amount of money in real life beats them because that person could afford to pay more.
Maybe I'm incorrect, and maybe advertisers are clamoring to give Acclaim money for what is essentially product placement in an unproven game. And who knows what the "multiple business models" actually consist of. Anyway, it's something to think about...
-William Brendel
Acclaim didn't "turn into" a greedy, uncreative publisher, they just used to hide that fact better. (Well, not the uncreative part, just the greedy part.) Remember LJN? Those guys who released aggressively bad NES games like Back to the Future, Jaws, and Marvel's X-Men that relied entirely on their big-name licenses? That was an Acclaim subsidiary.
Rob
Magnus, Robot Fighter was one of my favorite books, though it went to hell after the end of the Malev War. The reboot sucked...the less said about "Slagger, Robot Fighter" the better.
A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men... --Willy Wonka