HellGate London To Be For-Pay Online Experience

The long-in-development HellGate: London, which finally has a release date, has been announced as a for-pay MMOG-style game. From the article: "Drawing similarities to ArenaNet's Guild Wars, Hellgate's online is heavily instanced. Group and solo PvE is the game's main focus; PvP will exist in a small scale form, but is not a major element of the initial launch. It will also feature a Hardcore mode similar to that found in Blizzard's Diablo II, a game on which many members of the Hellgate team worked. Hellgate's multiplayer will contain all of the missions and story from the single-player aspect of the game, as well as exclusive gameplay modes and content. Like the single-player game, it will be comprised of dynamically generated areas and items. Further content will be continually added over time by a dedicated Flagship team."

Comments

Re:FFS.....

[Pojut]

I can understand where you are coming from, however I think you read a bit hastily...

These multiplayer elements are IN ADDITION TO the single player game. That is still fully intact and present. They are saying instead of the typical deathmatch online play, it will be mmo-style.

To me, this is an choice which has vast potential. Implemented properly, the play style and story line and world of Hellgate could indeed prove to work well in a heavily instanced world..."safe houses" could be in the same vain as guild wars towns, while "action zones" could be instanced.

To me, this single player/mmo mixed experience sounds like a fantastic idea. If they do it right, they will definately have my money up front and monthly.

Incorrect

[TychoCelchuuu]

The ball's still in the air on whether or not it's going to be pay to play. ShackNews is wrong.

Re:Incorrect

[_xeno_]

Why is this offtopic? It's correct. The ShackNews article has been updated to include:

Update: Since posting our original news item on the matter, Shacknews has been contacted by Electronic Arts, which is co-publishing the game along with Namco Bandai. EA noted that there has not in fact been any final decision made as to Hellgate: London's online pricing model, be it subscription-based or otherwise. We respect this situation, while maintaining that have reported fairly on statements we received. A full interview is forthcoming.

The pricing model for online play isn't final yet. The details on online play are fuzzy as well.

Update...and other thoughts

[RichPowers]

"Update: Since posting our original news item on the matter, Shacknews has been contacted by Electronic Arts, which is co-publishing the game along with Namco Bandai. EA noted that there has not in fact been any final decision made as to Hellgate: London's online pricing model, be it subscription-based or otherwise. We respect this situation, while maintaining that have reported fairly on statements we received. A full interview is forthcoming."

I first thought of what Will Wright once said about his corporate bosses at EA (and I paraphrase): "if you want your project to be noticed, just tell the execs that it's like World of Warcraft."

I only bring this up because it's so typical for management to play copycat instead of trailblazer (look no further than the early 2000s deluge of crappy "Tycoon" games). And EA is among the worst when it comes to this. Perhaps this mentality - the only MMO is one like WoW - is why the market, by and large, is incapable of advancing beyond the tried-and-true "level grind/quest/exp" model.

In any event, I don't feel like paying more money just to enjoy my goddamn game. What's a gamer to do, between "booster packs," episodic content, microdownloads, and online play fees.

Re:FFS.....

[mbourgon]

One major diff - Guild Wars is a pay-once-and-play, not a pay-per-month. My interest just died, too. This is Diablo N, not Everquest or even Eve Online.