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Lego MMO Delayed
LEGO Universe, the MMOG currently under development by NetDevil, will not be coming out this year, as was previously expected. Mark Hansen, a LEGO Group exec, would not specify a new time frame, and attributed the delay to avoiding competition between some of their other upcoming products. Hansen did comment on the possibility of a console version of the game, claiming that they're just waiting for the right time. IGN did a related piece on the past and future of console MMOGs, exploring where early attempts failed and what needs to be done for them to succeed. Many game developers and publishers are still hesitant due to the massive financial investment required to get such a game up and running in a market that has yet to prove itself.
they just couldn't put it together. Maybe they need some better directions?
If the game is/will be ready, and they are delaying it for basically artificial reason, that doesn't sound like a wise strategy. They'll lose the marketing momentum of people anticipating the game, and it might mean that the game is somewhat obsolete by the time it is released. Also opens the door for competitors, which is a bad thing in a MMO environment that relies on subscribers or active players. Most people won't actively play more than a couple of MMO games, and subscribers lost to a competing MMO might be lost forever.
Of course, this could just be a smokescreen for the game not being ready, or needing more work. But MMOs tend to be works-in-progress anyway.
Personally, I subscribed to Lego Universe, and the lack of any actual activity regarding the game has made me rather disinterested. I'm not interested by "download some new concept art wallpapers," I want the game.
... and then they built the supercollider.
So, how do they imagine this will work exactly? They'll have a stereotypical Lego castle made of blocks... then what? Also, Legos are marketed towards children... children are also generally broke. Children below ten years are not a large fraction of the MMO demographic, such as WoW. Combine that with parental fears of online child-predators, etc., and you have a recipe for failure. So what are they thinking? An MMO needs an activity that is enhanced by group interaction. Simply taking the normal MMO conventions and making them blocky (and therefore Lego-like) is not going to magically translate into a popular MMO. Is this going to be a game of group block-dropping? I doubt it. It'll be more like the recent Star Wars Legos games, but without the licensed property. So, it'll be likely a medieval setting. But if making a successful child-targeted MMO was that easy someone would've achieved it already and without the purposely bad (blocky) graphics. I don't see it, someone help me out here?
"I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist"
Off topic, but I was hoping someone would know what other games might be coming along the lines of StarWars/Indiana Jones/Batman. It's a good game engine and they seem to be willing to continue it indefinitely.
They never heard of WoW? How much more proof do you need? Blizzard has been laughing their way to be bank for so long that the locals don't even look funny at them anymore. Of cours being canadian the bar is set rather high.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Who the fuck plays lego games anyway?
If they base it on one of the spoofs they have done, an mmo with lego everything would be a blast to play...might bring me back to mmo's after all these years.
In other news, water is wet and there are seven days in a week.
It would be cool if somehow it interacted with Mindstorm.
Sure people complain it will be "dumbed down to a level so that even a 2 year old can play it." I say to them this is a good thing. It will open the genre up to the masses!