Originally posted by Fadedbomb

NOT AN MMO <<<<<<<<<

Jesus Christ almighty, you people need to get better "reporters" who can think critically for themselves as to whether or NOT it belongs on an MMO site. For God's sake people, READ the game's description & implementation before you leap. Just because they tack "online" to the end of their title DOES NOT MEAN it belongs on an MMO site. Too many companies nowadays see this as an additional PR ploy in order to "attach" itself to other genres in order to garner a larger audiance.

Hey now, simmer down. it'd be embarassing to end up in whatever afterlife you believe in having to tell them you had a massive heart attack over something so utterly trivial.

no one said it was an MMO. It's not listed on our Game List. It's a piece of news that our news manager thought might be of interest to this site's audeince.

If you hadn't insisted in overblowing the entire thing, it would have taken you less than two seconds to dismiss the news item as something that you weren't interested in and moved on. Instead, you had to light yourself on fire and jump up and down over it. The time wasted was your own, and now a little bit of mine.

Originally posted by Velnias

For an article titled "DC Universe Online: Character Creation and More" I was anticipating focus on the actual character creation process, which did not happen here in any notable way.  The aforementioned character creation videos on gametrailers.com have actual steps and details, but leave many unanswered questions.  At the very least you need to watch those videos, gather a list of questions to elaborate on the character creation process, and then set up an interview with DCUO staff to report on details. 

 

So the whole part about the article being a report on the DCUO panel for New York Comic Con slipped past you? It's odd to expect the author to include information in his report from the panel that wasn't covered in the panel.

If you haven't yet, please take a look at the following article: http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/4585/Reading-Comprehension.html

Originally posted by SaintViktor

Permadeath being considered ? Just ewww! Come on CCP do not screw up your mmo!

 

link: http://www.massively.com/2010/09/30/permadeath-considered-for-world-of-darkness-mmo/

 

Honest question here but did you even read the article you're commenting on where it specifically mentions that the title in your linked article is highly misleading, or did you just see the topic of the post and respond without reading?

MMORPG.com's Mike Bitton recently had the opportunity to sit down and get some eyes-on time with the upcoming NetDevil MMORPG, LEGO Universe.

I recently traveled into the city here in New York to check out a demonstration of NetDevil's upcoming family-oriented MMORPG LEGO Universe. As you might guess, LEGO Universe is a game based on the LEGO building blocks many of us grew up with and love to this day.

Ryan Seabury, the Creative Director at NetDevil, took us through the demo which attempted to compress the game's many features into a roughly hour long event. Ryan kicked the demo off by taking us through the login screen and commenting on how even something as simple as the logging in process takes into account the team's emphasis on playfulness, as the UI featured a very "bouncy" presentation and Ryan demonstrated the interactivity by toying with the LEGO mini-fig on the screen who attempted to snatch his mouse pointer as he dragged it near him. NetDevil is also taking child safety very seriously (we'll talk more about that later) and even the login screen itself reflected this. As Ryan typed in his password, the LEGO mini-fig at the screen covered his eyes, which is a subtle thing they put in to remind kids that their passwords should be a secret!

Check out the article, here.

Originally posted by cyress8

WHAAATT!! Time to hound the hell of him. I still wonder to this day why in the hell they decided to close the doors while in beta. The game was freaking awesome! I loved those GM Events. I still remember when one of them interviewed me after a goblins raided the starter town. I was awed when they had quoted what I said and put it in the in-game newspaper. BRING IT BACK!!

LOL, yeah, that was almost definately me interviewing you. Half of my job was doing the in-game newspaper. Amusing.

Over a year ago, I wrote one of the first ever MMORPG.com lists on the subject of the shortest lived MMOs. In it, we covered the top four titles  with the shortest time between release and cancellation. Normally, we don’t resurrect articles but after today’s events, there is a fifth to not only add to the list, but to add to the top of that list: APB.

First, the original article:

Last week, we examined five games that died on the cutting room floor. This week, we look at four games that made it to launch, but died within 18 months.

They’re presented in a countdown, from the game that lasted the longest to the fastest live MMO shut down in history.

Sadly, in recent years, MMO shutdowns have become much more common and the corporate leashes a lot shorter. Older games like Asheron’s Call 2 and Earth and Beyond aren’t on the list. The sad truth is, not everyone gets cancelled as quickly as these four. Earth and Beyond ran for 729 days, while Asheron’s Call 2 survived a whopping 1,134 days.

Read Shortest Lived MMOs: Revisited.

Today, we learned that Realtime Worlds’ first foray into the world of MMOs will be closing down. All Points Bulletin, better known in the gaming community as APB, has, according to the game;’s website, “come to a premature end.”

This announcement comes despite the game;’s original plans to launch update 1.4.2 today, having released patch notes as recently as yesterday.

We wish APB, the staff a Realtime Worlds and the game’s player base the best of luck in whatever comes next.

Here is the official announcement:

APB has been a fantastic journey, but unfortunately that journey has come to a premature end. Today we are sad to announce that despite everyone's best efforts to keep the service running; APB is coming to a close. It's been a pleasure working on APB and with all its players. Together we were building an absolutely amazing game, and for that, we thank you. You guys are awesome! From all of the Realtime World staff we thank you for your continued support. The servers are still up, so join the party and say goodbye!

Originally posted by Gyrus

I thought MMORPG.com wasn't covering this game anymore?

 

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/544/feature/4478/page/1

*Editor’s Note: As a result of Bill’s assessment, we will likely be removing the game from our list within the next few days.

- August 19th.

 

 

So, why continue running articles on it?  Change of heart?  Change of policy?  Re-assessment?

Confusion?

 

How about an update from the editor on this?

That would be interesting.

Edit: is this (continuing to cover this game) somehow related to the 'OMG'?

 

Actually, after speaking with the game's devs, we've decided to take a wait and see stance with this game. We are told that while not currently active, there are a number of systems in place that address the original author's concerns.

Originally posted by Hathi

Wouldn't it be interesting to have a nostaglic thread with this topic? It could include days when MMOs were released or shut down, big name developers sign on or are canned. It could have memorable news stories pertaining to MMOs. Memorable expansion launches, abyssmal failures, MMO legal cases (like the most recent WoW one, or the more faded memory of where Mythic sued over the Realm versus Realm trademark). Maybe memorable events from conventions...

Just thinking out loud and wanted to share..

This is an interesting idea. I'll look into it. Thanks!

Originally posted by Terikan3

I'm glad to hear that.  I prepurchased when it first became available for demons and dual pistols, and will be resubbing to try out GR in full when I get back from a concert on thursday. 

Despite it having a softlaunch, it would be nice to see some coverage from mmo news outlets, since it's one of the most relevant MMOs currently.

Yup, We've got a Q&A going up about it today.

Originally posted by eburn

Tens of thousands? Hyperbole is cool for those 'heat'em up' political sites, but for journalism it always seems a bit off.

Now protect your decisions how so ever you wish, but exaggeration rarely ever helped a cause.

 

Yes, actually, tens of thousands. No hyperbole. Many of the articles being criticized receive tens of thousands of views.

Originally posted by GrayGhost79

Originally posted by elocke

Not an MMO, yet...newsworthy?  Really?

They've been doing that and it gets annoying lol. That time could have been spent doing interviews and writing up an article on an MMO. Having 3 news pieces on the front page talking about non MMO's gets aggravating, if I wanted info on SC, Dragon Age, or 38 Studios PC RPG (The non MMO) I can check any number of other sites or even simply look in my email lol. If MMORPG.com wants to focus on non MMO's there becomes less of a reason for me to stop by this site lol. 

 

And yeah, I understand Stradden. But seriously there are news articles about 3 non MMO's on the front. 3 out of 8 on your little highlight reel lol. 2 are discussing random crud that most people already know such as why MMO's take so long and people already have their opinions about whats so good and bad about hardcore. Which leaves you with 3 relevant pieces lol. 

 

3 actual MMO News related articles. GW2, Tera and SW:TOR. There are plenty of MMO's that could have been reviewed and plenty of interviews that could have been done. There are actually changes and upcoming changes that could have been talked about. 

 

Unless your wallets hurting there's no reason to pump out non mmo news, interviews, reviews and such that bumps, replaces or comes at the cost of some MMO related piece. 

 

You guys actually really got me disappointed with the 38 Studious: Reckoning piece. I was all hyped until it turned out to be just an RPG for the PC and not an MMO. Yet, there is almost no info about the MMO lol. Bring us news on the Offline PC RPG and still leave us high and dry on the MMO. Seems off doesn't it lol. 

ok, wow.

First of all, the Starcraft featurette very clearly states that it's pointing to an article on our sister site, another site in this network, for which it is relevant. Next, if you can't see the point of talking about the 38 Studios RPG in the context of the fact that it is set in the same world as their MMO, thus giving us a deeper understanding of what the MMO is about, I can't help you. We didn't CHOOSE not to talk more about the MMO. That information simply isn't available at this time, so we present what we have.

As for the editorials... We've been doing those for a long time. They're very popular and very relevant. We're not going to stop producing them. If you don't like them, don't read them. We also have plenty of game specific articles, they just aren't necessarily in the featurette slider. Try checking out the rest of the page before telling us that you have all of the answers.

So no, it doesn't seem "off" to me, nor to the tens of thousands of people who read the articles that you've decided shouldn't be here. Though I have to say that I really do appreciate your insights into how to do a job that I've been doing for quite some time now. It's always good to hear from someone more knowledgeable and with more experience.

Originally posted by elocke

Not an MMO, yet...newsworthy?  Really?

Yeah, you're right, covering one of the most popular RPGs released in recent memory probably isn't worth mentioning here, even if Dragon Age WAS a genre defining title and even if the company that made it has a major MMO in the works. I don't know why anyone would be interested in this.

We don't list the game, we just occasionally and rarely write about it. Simmer down.

Originally posted by punchrx

I just lost IQ points reading this dribble, there are so many holes you could shoot a shotgun at it from 50 feet away and not notice any new ones and not to mention the obvious but unless the servers arent on earth, they arent hundreds of thousands of miles away its impossible.

 

Missed the hyperbole, did you?

I'm also curious what "holes" you see here, being that you are, I would assume, an expert in video game development.

Originally posted by Kwansei

Gotta say I agree here, And please MMORPG.com staff.. no more of these silly lists. I know the journalistic pickins' are bad with the MMO dorught and all but please, rehashing forums discussion into some sort of top 3/5/10 good/bad list is just lazy. And please dont tell me the top 5 reasons why we should play in beta is the next article. . .

Well, there are thousands of people who read these lists on a weekly basis who would disagree with your opinion, so I don't think we're going to stop writing them any time soon. The have been and continue to be a well performing weekly feature, intended to be read for fun and entertainment.

Seriously, if you don't like them for whatever reason, don't read them. You're not obligated to click on the links, and they are very clearly labelled as "The List". 

At least some of the waiting is over for fans of 38 Studios (the company founded by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling with fantasy author R.A. Salvatore and comic legend Todd McFarlane) as Marketwatch.com has announced the title of the company’s first game: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

Check out the official site, here and read a bit of commentary by MMORPG.com's Jon Wood.

Don't put words in my mouth Bob, I said that people should be prepared to walk away and to write a well thought out letter or email about it. I never said don't tell them why you're leaving, i said don't be loud and rude and fly off the handle.

Sometimes I wonder if you purposely take what I say out of context.

Originally posted by itbewilly

No way.....I wouldnt have known that had i not read the other 2 or 3 threads already made.Do some damn research and stop posting the same stuff someone else already beat you to.

 

Hm, well, since those are forum posts and not news posts, I'd say there's a pretty distinct difference there. It's not a race for information. Nobody's shouting "first". Consider simmering down a little bit.

To complement last week's column, Richard Aihoshi turns his attention to the current status of the F2P revenue model, which seems to be in good shape.

Free to play isn't dying.

 

While there's a sometimes highly vocal portion of the MMO gamer audience that fervently wishes it would, it's not happening and not going to, at least not unless we see some pretty dramatic changes in the market. 

 

As I noted last time, the space isn't a binary proposition where either model can basically only grow at the expense of the other.  This type of competitive situation isn't uncommon.  As a somewhat simplified real world example, if we consider the two most familiar regular colas, Coke and Pepsi, any actions that cause the sales volume of one to increase will probably lead to a decline in the other's.  It's possible for both to rise or fall at the same time, but largely because the total market size is relatively fixed, that's not nearly as likely to happen.

 

This isn't the case with MMOGs.  The subscription and F2P segments can both grow at the same time, at least in terms of player numbers and total revenues.  So, just as there are strong indications the former is healthy, there are reasons to believe the latter is and will continue to be strong.

Read Three Reasons Free To Play Isn't Dying Either.

In one of the strangest developer journals we've seen in quite some time, Hero: 108 develeoper CremeBrulee pens his thoughts on user friendliness and what it means to the devs of Hero: 108.

CremeBrulee here from Gamania Digital Entertainment (US), what’s up? 

 

So we’ve got this little game called Hero: 108 Online ready to burst through the gates and onto your computer screens.  Well, it’s not really little.  It’s been in development for a few years, even before that crazy Hero: 108 cartoon hit your television screens.  What?!  You haven’t seen it yet?!  What’s wrong with you?!  Fail.

 

If you want to be one of the cool kids, head on over to http://www.hero108online.com to learn more about the game.  If you have a hankerin’ to find out what everyone’s raving about, namely the cartoon, check out http://www.hero108.tv.

Read User Friendliness... What Does it Mean?