Future Sony MMOs Will Be On Consoles

The MTV Multiplayer Blog interviewed John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment, about the future of MMOs. He discusses some of SOE's current projects and comments that they'll be focusing on consoles for all of their upcoming MMOs. "I would say that we would be one of the early adopters on [bringing MMOs to consoles], and we plan on becoming one of the dominant players in the MMO space on consoles." Sony's plans may include games for their hand-held console, the PSP. Smedley goes on to talk about bringing existing, popular franchises into MMO development, and remarks, "It's pretty safe to say that 'EverQuest' has not seen its last game."

Comments

Holly EQ flashback - its Fippy Darkpaw time again!

[GlobalColding]

I can't wait *twitch* to grind Everquest levels all over again, but this time on a PSP! "WTB SoW and a port to North Karana" "Who KSed my Queen Kliknik?!" "I am so powwah, Qeynos am teh suxx0r!" "WTB Crushbone belts" "TRAIN TO THE BB ZONELINE!" zOMGZ *eye twitch*

Re:Frist post

[lysergic.acid]

i don't think bringing MMOs to the PS3 will be much of a challenge. current gen. consoles are pretty much just compact computers. the PS3 has mouse & keyboard peripherals, and internet connectivity is pretty much standard. there's really no reason for MMOs to not go to consoles.

i think the harder task to accomplish is trying to bring MMOs to the PSP. and i'm not talking about controls here. people said the PSP could never support a decent shooter, yet many successful implementations have graced the system, including:

• Star Wars: Battle Front II & Star Wars Battlefront: Rogue Squadron
• Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror & Logan's Shadow
• Splinter Cell: Essentials
• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
• SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo & FTB 2
• Medal of Honor Heroes & Medal of Honor Heroes 2
• Syphon Filter: Combat Ops
• Chili Con Carnage
• Gun Showdown

clearly, if a developer is creative enough, they can still manage to design a robust & intuitive control scheme for the handheld, even for FPS or RTS games. and with Monster Hunter Freedom, Valhalla Knights, and Bounty Hounds, there are already many examples of how this can be achieved for an RPG.

i think the bigger issue for portable MMOs is the subscription model. i don't think gamers will want to pay a monthly subscription for a portable MMO.

it's a shame that Sony never launched an Xbox-Live-like service for the PSP. it would have been great to be able to connect to your friends via the PSP--check if they're online, send them messages, see what games they're playing, invite them to a game, etc. i'm sure most PSP owners wouldn't mind paying a monthly subscription for an all-inclusive service that allowed them to play all of their PSP games online.

as of now, the PSP's wi-fi connectivity is completely underutilized. hardly any games support infrastructure multiplayer, and the few that do have sparse online players. a cohesive network connecting all PSP systems at all times would have made developing online multiplayer easier for developers, and would also make online gaming a more integral part of the PSP. not connecting the PSP to the Playstation Network was Sony's major mistake.

Re:Everquest 3?

[electrictroy]

>>>Sony's plans may include games for their hand-held portable, the PSP. >/b>

Question: My PSP has stopped working. I was playing Patapon when suddenly the thing just shutoff.

Now if I move the power-switch, then greenlight blinks for a second and then shutsoff. Even when I plugin my AC adapter, it only turns yellow and refuses to turn-on. I've charged it overnight and it's still the same results. Any idea what has happened to my PSP and how to fix it? Bad fuse perhaps?