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Bioware Developing an MMOG
Gamasutra reports that Canadian developer Bioware has opened a studio in Austin, Texas. The new studio will be the base of operations for development of an as yet unnamed MMORPG. From the article: "Joining the Austin team as lead designer is James Ohlen, BioWare's creative director, whose previous credits include lead or co-lead design roles on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II. Also leading the BioWare Austin team are MMO veterans Richard Vogel and Gordon Walton." That's some serious firepower. Can't wait to hear what that's about.
With the advent of the massive multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG, a crossroads has been reached in regards to relations between the developing company and the customer. Specifically, the controversy centers around the companies Sony Online Entertainment and Lucasarts, and their online world of "Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided." In the fabled saga of the "Star Wars" Universe, there exists an evil Empire bent on oppressing the free denizens of the galaxy through the means of cruelty, totalitarianism, and sheer force. The only people standing in their way are the Rebellion, a small group of intrepid freedom fighters who battle on against seemingly insurmountable odds. When Sony Online Entertainment, "a recognized worldwide leader in MMO games," purchased a smaller company, Verant, it also acquired the project to bring this saga to life in the form of SWG (Business 2). Originally launched with great promise, though lacking in many of the features that were advertised for launch, SWG held the title of the fastest growing MMORPG to date. Then, rival company Blizzard released World of Warcraft, which quickly rocketed to five million subscriptions. That, coupled with the added pressure of gradually declining subscriptions, other competing games, and severe problems with the in-game mechanics led to both companies feeling pressed for success. SOE/LA decided to revamp SWG, first through the Combat Upgrade (CU), then through the New Game Enhancements (NGE). SOE/LA specifically misled their online community throughout the launch, Combat Upgrade, and New Game Enhancements to Star Wars Galaxies, leading to a breach of contract between the customer and the corporation.
One of the major problems with SWG since its inception has been that it was released early, when it was not ready. Initially, customers were promised space travel, battlefields, player vehicles, and player cities, amongst other things. It is important to note that SOE/LA did not deliver these things as promised when the game was launched, and even charged customers to pay for an expansion for space travel, when it was promised as a feature at the outset. When SWG went live, it included only the battlefields, which were disabled shortly thereafter due to technical problems, and were never reactivated again. Other aspects like space travel were added later in SWG's first year. Another blatant lie to customers was that they would be able to begin the path to becoming a Jedi Knight, the fabled protectors of the galaxy, at launch. Jedi in the game were an Alpha-class character, meaning that they were superior to other characters in their skills. Balance was achieved by making the path to the class secret, making it extremely difficult to become. However, after months of people searching for the path to become a Jedi, SOE/LA announced that they had not included Jedi in the original launch and were doing so in the next scheduled publish. SOE/LA left out an important advertised feature and misled their customers into thinking that it did exist. Also, a monthly story arc that promised customer's participation in the fate of the galaxy was also advertised as one of the game's features, and it did indeed run for several months. But, SOE/LA decided to suspend the story arc, and have not reinstituted it since.
Despite all these issues, Star Wars Galaxies was initially a success, and attracted large amounts of customers to its' unique style of gameplay, coupled with the experience of being part of the Star Wars saga. Business Wire wrote that "Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided quickly became the fastest growing MMORPG in North America" (Business 1). The players of the game were especially devoted to it, defending it against it's early critics. The initial success of SWG was due largely in part to three things.
The first was that the game was extremely unique and complicated in its mechanics. Seth Schiesel of the New York Times wrote that "Previously [before the subsequent changes], the game was unabashedly complicated, appealing to mature, refle
But anyone else think this is what they're going to do witht he Fallout franchise? I don't know whether to be scared or ecstatic...
What does this have to do with the Playstation 3 delay? And if the answer is nothing, then why is it on /. games. There is no real information, just an announcement that an MMORPG is in development and nothing is known about it.