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Pirates of The Carribean MMOG in 2007

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the m-m-o-arrr-p-g dept.

Gamasutra reports on an update to the Pirates of the Carribean MMOG currently in the works at Disney. The current plan is for a 2007 release, with some teasers and information upcoming at this year's E3. From the article: "The game will allow players to interact with movie characters such as Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, as well as allowing users to create their own custom pirate avatar, form a crew and captain a ship."

64 comments

  1. Elizabeth Swann... by kentyman · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd like to plunder that booty...

    --
    You know where you are? You're in the $PATH, baby. You're gonna get executed!
    1. Re:Elizabeth Swann... by CoffeeJedi · · Score: 1

      Kiera Knightly's definitely HAWT... but, to be true to PotC:
      "We wants the redhead! Give us the redhead!"

      --
      May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage. RAmen.
  2. What about Pirates of the Burning Sea? by RobinH · · Score: 1

    Doesn't this kind of overlap with Pirates of the Burning Sea?

    --
    "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
    1. Re:What about Pirates of the Burning Sea? by cliffski · · Score: 1

      yes true, thats been in dev for about a million years. I was vaguely looking forward to it, but Im wary of ANY game that wants a monthly fee thats the same regardless of time spent playing.

      --
      DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
    2. Re:What about Pirates of the Burning Sea? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Im not aware of any online game currently that charges based on how much you play. I thought they ALL had a set monthly fee.

    3. Re:What about Pirates of the Burning Sea? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, that rules out just about every MMO in existence.

    4. Re:What about Pirates of the Burning Sea? by MBraynard · · Score: 1
      Please don't feed the retards who make posts about that EVERY FRIGGING MMO post.

      Yeah, they like to point out that one game with no hard fee - whatever it's called - but please, just ignore him. He is a CLASSIC troll.

      He's right up there with the guy who posts on a 360 thread to say he isn't buying a 360 because he dislikes MS.

    5. Re:What about Pirates of the Burning Sea? by cliffski · · Score: 1

      But why?
      its not like the tech doesnt exist to log time spent in game. If I fancy playing Eve online an hour a month its $12/ hour. If I play it 5 hours a days thats... errrunder 10 cents an hour.
      That excludes causal gamers and just appeals to the hardcore. Its a business mistake if you ask me.
      At the very least have stepped plans, a hardcore plan for $15 a month unlimited, and a casual plan for maybe 1hr/day for half the price.

      --
      DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
  3. My Question is.... by Launchpad+Mcquack · · Score: 2, Funny

    Will I be able to comprehend Sparrow in the game, or will I still understand Jack?

    --
    Ant
    Search Engine Marketing
  4. lighting a fire? by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    Hm, granted that aside from Toontown, Disney computer games (and movie computer games) generally suck, but perhaps this will light an unpleasant fire under the crew behind http://www.burningsea.com/ (Pirates of the Burning Sea) ANOTHER pirate MMOG that's been in development forever.

    Ironic, how these things with multi-year development times all seem to come out at once....WW2 games (jillions of them), Space 4x games (nothing for a long time, then GalCiv and MOO3 like the same week), now pirate games.

    --
    -Styopa
  5. Piracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ""The game will allow players to interact with movie characters such as Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, as well as allowing users to create their own custom pirate avatar, form a crew and captain a ship.""

    Ah we don't need this. We already pillage and plunder online.

  6. Arrrrrr! by BigCheese · · Score: 1

    It will never surpass Puzzle Pirates. Yarrrr!

    --
    The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer. - Edward R. Murrow
    1. Re:Arrrrrr! by Kelson · · Score: 1

      It will never surpass Puzzle Pirates. Yarrrr!

      Billions of blistering blue barnacles! What in the seven seas were they thinking!?!

  7. Isnt this going to die a quick death? by Thrymm · · Score: 1

    Look at most games from a movie franchise, outside of Star Wars and you see the games die or dont do well. Matrix is the biggest one, but even Star Trek (lack of new series/episodes). I have a feeling there may be a big interest, but once the hype is over, I see everyone going back to WoW or whatever the next WoW is.

    Anyone else have thoughts?

  8. Yay! . . . awwwwwww by Profcrab · · Score: 3, Funny

    A pirate MMO! . . . made by Disney . . . awwww crap. I suspect this game will be too PC to be enjoyable. I am thinking like Pirates of the 6th Grade School Holloween Dance.

  9. Wish it was Sid's by wannabe-retiree · · Score: 1

    I first read it as Sid Meier's Pirates and got really excited. That'd be a game worth buying.

    1. Re:Wish it was Sid's by CeramicNuts · · Score: 1

      I have been playing the new Pirates! on xbox recently, and thought an MMOG would be a great fit, where the important jobs (governor, friar, captain of the gaurd, so forth) could be held in a meaningful way by players, leading to a competetive social structure without repetetive NPCs.

      Also, being a Carribean pirate is just downright fun.

  10. No!!! by JoeLinux · · Score: 1

    One of the ONLY games I have ever walked away from was Pirates of the Caribbean. It violated almost every HSI rule out there: obtuse item manipulation tools, poor indications of possible problems, ambiguous cause/effect rules, etc.

    Terrible terrible game.

    Let's hope they learn a thing or three before this comes out.

    1. Re:No!!! by CoffeeJedi · · Score: 1

      i think i read that the PotC game that came out with the movie was just a generic pirate game that was already scheduled to come out, Disney bought it quickly as a cheap tie-in to the movie

      how would you like to be THAT developer?
      "Well guys, our budget pirate game is almost ready, we're looking at 19.99 price point with a - *RING RING* - oh, hold on.... uh-huh... yeah..... wait, who!?! WHAT! you wanna..... us?!?!?! THANKS! okay everyone, change of plans, we're now a 49.99 triple-A title with a major Disney motion picture tie in, and Wal Mart's agreed to give us prime endcap floor space! Bring out the hookers and blow!"

      --
      May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage. RAmen.
    2. Re:No!!! by Pluvius · · Score: 1

      The sad thing is that it was supposed to be the sequel to a game that was actually really good, Sea Dogs. The publisher in question is Bethesda Softworks, the guys behind that game that all of the geeks are currently jerking off over, Oblivion. So you can imagine how horribly disappointing the bug-ridden, unpolished Pirates of the Caribbean was.

      Rob

    3. Re:No!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bethesda may be the publisher for Sea Dogs and the PotC game, but they weren't the developers for them, whereas they are both publisher and devloper for the elder scrolls games(Oblivion and whatnot).

      And yes, considering how much nicer Sea Dogs was, PotC was a bit of a disapointment. Though, I can see where most of the big problems with PotC were really just magnified versions of things which were small problems with Sea Dogs... Sea Dogs didn't have the best interface, and that was one of the biggest problems with PotC. Sea Dogs had clunky controls when not in the boat... PotC had clunky controls when not in the boat, and magnified the problem by including more significant not in boat segments...

  11. New game genre by Yeechang+Lee · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hey, at least it isn't a simple World of Warcraft clone. On the contrary, this will be the first game in the nascent "MMO-Arrgh!-PG" genre.

    1. Re:New game genre by BMonger · · Score: 1

      It almost sounds like a better game to be made for single player but I guess with an MMORPG it's harder to pirate.

    2. Re:New game genre by Jerf · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nope. Second at best.

    3. Re:New game genre by Scarblac · · Score: 4, Informative

      Eh? Puzzle Pirates has been doing the MMOArrrrPG joke to death, it's been going for years... So how can the next one be the first?!

      --
      I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
    4. Re:New game genre by TimboJones · · Score: 1

      It won't even be the next. Pirates of the Burning Sea will come out before this does.

      And on top of that, PotBS will be a better game.

      The ToonTown guys are working on PotC and obviously their design will be informed by lessons learned there. But the subject matter is a little... darker. I bet PotC will be targeted at T for teen, and marketed mainly to 12-17 year olds.

  12. Fantastic. Great. Excellent. by schild · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Another MMOG based on a property that doesn't lend itself to MMOGs. AWESOME. Is Sid Meier's Pirates! that obscure that they couldn't use that property? How about this, Disney. MMOGs are not a motherfucking amusement park ride. Letting me interact with a virtual Depp or Knightly is Not Interesting. A game needs More than That.

    Hollywood should not be allowed to touch games. And if that means the loss of companies like Tigon Studios and Buena Vista, so fucking be it.

    And despite what people are saying, it probably will be a WoW Clone. With Boats.

    --
    schild
    editor, f13.net
    1. Re:Fantastic. Great. Excellent. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Letting me interact with a virtual ... Knightly is Not Interesting."

      I find your lack of imagination disturbing.

    2. Re:Fantastic. Great. Excellent. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Another MMOG based on a property that doesn't lend itself to MMOGs"

      Absolute bollocks.

    3. Re:Fantastic. Great. Excellent. by westlake · · Score: 1
      Letting me interact with a virtual Depp or Knightly is Not Interesting. A game needs More than That.

      The Mask of Zorro and Pirates of the Carribbean brought back from the dead once popular film genres that have been dormant since the 1950s.

      What Pirates brings to the table is a mix of action, comedy and black magic. I'll not complain if an on-line game has the dramatic twists and turns of the best theme park rides.

      it probably will be a WoW Clone. With Boats

      And this would be bad because...?

    4. Re:Fantastic. Great. Excellent. by NeMon'ess · · Score: 1

      WoW is based around leveling. Pirates! is not. Give me a way to test my swashbuckling skills against other people based on reflexes and strategy, not how many points I've put in minute skills and techniques.

    5. Re:Fantastic. Great. Excellent. by drsquare · · Score: 1

      Your complaints apply to ALL mmorpgs, if it works for warcraft or everquest why not pirates of the caribean?

    6. Re:Fantastic. Great. Excellent. by NeMon'ess · · Score: 1

      The point is that many people are abstaining from the current MMOs because they're too similar and not trying new systems of gameplay. The leveling treadmill is a big turnoff to many potential players. Tabula Rasa is claimed to not have one so I'm interested in seeing what it has.

  13. Late April Fools Joke? by aka_big_wurm · · Score: 1

    Lets all jump on the MMO band wagon, How about the Dr Phil MMORGP

    1. Re:Late April Fools Joke? by aesiamun · · Score: 1

      What, he yells at you till you cry then Oprah says "You're so amazing, Dr Phil"?

      No thanks..

    2. Re:Late April Fools Joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There already is a Dr. Phil MMORPG. He just signed a deal with Match.com.

  14. Yohoho Puzzle Pirates by SurfSlade · · Score: 1

    Yohoho Puzzle Pirates http://www.puzzlepirates.com/ Nothing more to say

  15. cool idea by panic911 · · Score: 1

    it seems like a game like this could be really fun if they build it properly. there aren't enough good pirate games out there. sid meiers pirates was addicting but it was kinda boring and repetetive.

  16. Hopefully better by ucaledek · · Score: 1

    Hopefully this will be better than that crap first game they did. I remember thinking, "Wow this'll be like Pirates on the Commodore with good graphics and stuff!" and afterwards thinking "Wow I wish Sid Meier would finish a new Pirates game with good graphics!" I think Bethesda did it? Not sure but I remember it was a developer I'd liked before. On a side note, I noticed the cue they're taking from the overhaul with SW:G and right now promising interaction with the main characters right away.

    1. Re:Hopefully better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's an idea: employ some real people to play the characters, at least so that they interact to some degree with the player and can recognize the people playing. A live NPC... Total interactivity...

  17. the death of single player adventure goodness... by matt328 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    These pay-per-month MMORPGs will one day kill the traditional single player adventure game. When I'm trying to lose myself in a fantasy world, I don't want to run into other characters with names like commodore burrito and the like. Such things like this and people who play the game 18 hours per day and sell real world possessions in order to buy computer world items have really turned me off from MMORPGs lately.

    Sorry for the rant, but I hate seeing so many good video game ideas turned into a pay-per-month-bleed-me-dry MMO deal. This is just my opinion, I'm wondering if anyone shares it, or if its time I just succumb to the MMO style of gaming and accept it as the way of the future.

    --
    Check out the cave on the east side of lake Hylia. Strange and wonderful things live in it.
  18. can't wait by solidtransient · · Score: 1
    allowing users to create their own custom pirate avatar

    This will make the whole game worth it.

    --
    firestream.net
  19. MMOs based on character-dependent franchises by robson · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "The game will allow players to interact with movie characters such as Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann..."

    I feel like this another indication that many of the suits don't *get* MMOs. I don't think most MMO players care about interacting with the static characters from your franchise. For passive media that's fine, tell us more about Jack blah blah. But for interactive media, I'm less interested in your characters than I am in your world. (And is the Pirates of the Carribean world rich enough to support the demands of an MMO? I dunno.)

    I feel like the City of Heroes folks have made some similar mistakes. They spend (what seems to be) a lot of time and energy documenting the ongoing activities of the main good guys (Statesman, Positron, Synapse, etc.) and the main bad guys (Lord Recluse, etc), but I don't care. In an MMO, if it's not interactive, I don't really care about it. (That's not to say that it's not important to provide a rich history for the locations in an MMO; but that history needs to be reflected in the interactive present to really have any meaning for players.)

    1. Re:MMOs based on character-dependent franchises by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 1
      And is the Pirates of the Carribean world rich enough to support the demands of an MMO? I dunno.

      Should be. If you stretch from lower US Eastern seaboard down to, let's say, the Brazil Coastline, that's a hell of a lot of territory. The Bahamas alone boasts of over 700 islands and cays. Not to mention a quick glance at the relevant history yields dozens of famous pirates, hundreds of offical ships, towns and ports galore, not to mention a plethora of history, even if you're willing to slice it thin (say, a 100-year span).

      --
      Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
  20. yea sounds great by way2trivial · · Score: 2, Funny

    can they trade files through the game?????

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  21. A game for pirates? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Wow, a game entirely for a pirate audience... How are they going to make money out of that? Shouldn't they actually market games to people who PAY? Oh wait, not THOSE pirates...

  22. never going to launch by Tachikoma · · Score: 2, Funny

    Once the RIAA and MPAA find out Disney is sanctioning piracy -- it's game over

    --
    i don't care
    1. Re:never going to launch by IgLou · · Score: 1

      Cool, that could be a expansion pack! Pirates of the Info Highway!

      --

      Oops, how did this get here?
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
  23. Yes, but... by menace3society · · Score: 1

    Where has all the rum gone?

  24. Re:the death of single player adventure goodness.. by Korben+Dallas · · Score: 1

    Words which have been uttered since Ultima Online, and yet we still keep finding Elder Scrolls, Sieging Dungeons, and wandering the Forgotten Realms...

  25. What I'm left wondering is.. by KyolFrilander · · Score: 1

    Will this be an MMOarrrrrrrPG?

    --
    Buddha says, "Shut your karma hole."
  26. Re:the death of single player adventure goodness.. by capedgirardeau · · Score: 1


    At least try Guild Wars, no monthly fee and dramatically reduced requirements for re-rolling characters.

    Those two mix well with me.

    Regards

    --
    Wax on, wax off baby!
  27. Pirates! by shadwwulf · · Score: 1

    This actually could be really cool.

    I remember spending hour after hour playing the old game "Pirates!" on my Tandy 1000EX with a whopping 256k of system memory.

    If they adapted a like game model with modern graphics and multiplayer game play I would be very interested.

    Hopefully they don't screw it up.

    1. Re:Pirates! by jon1986 · · Score: 0

      Sid Mieir remade that game. I haven't played the original one but i have quite a lot of fun playing the new one.

  28. I wonder which might be better... by Jugalator · · Score: 1

    Pirates of the Burning Sea or this one.
    I think I'm placing my bets on the former just because movie licenses don't tend to end well.

    --
    Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
  29. Rape, Pillage and Plunder with Disney by Thedeviluno · · Score: 1

    Somehow I dont see Disney making a hardcore gaming experience.

  30. Or some elements like Battlefield Pirates. by antdude · · Score: 1

    Battlefield Pirates mod for Battlefield 1942 was fun when it lasted. I would like to see some of its action elements in this MMOG. I can't wait for BF2 mod port.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  31. Off topic but relevant by Jakuta · · Score: 1

    "But when the Pirates of the Carribean brakes down the Pirates don't eat the passengers" Jurrasic Park

  32. Too many MMORPGs? by VGfort · · Score: 1

    I think so. The number of people that will shell out money to play a game monthly can only be split so many times.

    1. Re:Too many MMORPGs? by Bieeanda · · Score: 1
      That's what they said before World of Warcraft came out. It's got over five million accounts, and hasn't particularly affected the subscription rates of other games in the genre.

      It's not like this is Yet Another Fantasy MMOG-- its gimmick hasn't been attempted before, save by Puzzle Pirates (which really can't be compared outside of the similarities in theme) and Pirates of the Burning Seas (which is still in development Hell). It will sink or swim on its own merits, not because of market oversaturation.

  33. Avast ye butt pirates! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I bet gaymers will flock to this one. the looooove boat.....

  34. Jack Sparow? by Kaziel · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one who, upon seeing this, got a mental image of this comic from CAD, only with dozens of Jack Sparrows instead of dozens of Neos?

    1. Re:Jack Sparow? by Kaziel · · Score: 1

      Go me... pressed the submit button by accident. Anyways, was trying to link to: http://www.cad-comic.com/comic.php?d=20040521

  35. Re:the death of single player adventure goodness.. by drsquare · · Score: 1

    Yeah, and TV will kill the radio, computers will kill books and newspapers, and cars will kill walking.

    The sky is falling!