Actually, there are MMOs which have launched using middleware.

Dark Age of Camelot used Renderware

Warhammer Online used Gamebryo

Vanguard used Unreal

Darkfall used Bigworld (ha!)

and I'm sure there are others as well.  Yes, the codebases were modified from the originals, but nevertheless, each game still used middleware.

A Thundercats MMO would be a furries wet dream.

Oh wait... there's already Second Life.

This game is dead before it even started.  By the very fact that it is being published by Acclaim diminishes the game's credibility to nil.  Sorry, thanks for trying.

Is this game even released yet?

I saw on their webpage there's a link to download the client, but at 3gigs I don't just want a beta version.  Is it the full game?

Having Acclaim attached to this does not give me much faith in the product...

The article is complete BS and is written by a WoW fanboi who is afraid AOC's large subscriber numbers will force the inevitable WoW server consolidation sooner rather than later.

I love the little pie chart!  In case you didn't know, 80% of all statistics are made up right on the spot.

That should tell you something.

Originally posted by Darth_Pete

It's THAT far away? So 2-3 years more waiting?

Of course!  Development is being headed up by Gordon Walton and Rich Vogel, two guys notorious for delayed production.

EQ still supposedly has a few hundred thousand subscribers--they aren't going to be close it down.

SWG will be closed at some point, especially as LucasArts ramps up their new Star Wars MMO.  When they close SWG is still a mystery, however.  Probably at the end of 2008 or 2009 at the latest.

I don't get them closing Matrix Online or Planetside either, because it goes completely against their Premium Subscription model for the Sony Station.  It behooves SOE to have as many games as possible, thereby giving their premium subscribers more choices.

Supermax wins the award for refusing to call a spade a spade.

Grats!

When you have a game that is not making any money, rarely updates content, and has hardly any subscribers, that's a failure.  I don't care how loyal those 49 people are who play the game.

Let's call a failure a failure, and Jumpgate (however you want to sugarcoat it) was a failure.  I don't care if it was NetDevil's first game.  Their second game, where they SHOULD have learned from Jumpgate's failure, also tanked.  Are you going to blame NC Soft for that one?

What a winning combination:

NetDevil:  Auto Assault (failure), Jumpgate (failure)

Codemasters:  ArchLord (failure), RF Online (failure), Dungeons & Dragons Online (failure)

Things are looking good...

...for another failure

It was rumored that Robert would be booted if TR failed.  The poster who said they are putting him on a lease is so correct.

But NC Soft does see Robert's worth, they just don't want him overseeing ANY development.  To be fair though, Robert has never been a product guy.  He's always been more comfortable managing the business, operations, and finances of a company, rather than the actual product development work.

Richard, there's an enigma.  So successful with the Ultima series and UO, but such a miserable failure with Tabula Rasa.  Maybe he should just retire?  Or go back to designing single player RPG's that he was so successful with in the 80's and early 90's.

Honestly, Net Devil is out of chances. 

The first Jumpgate sucked.  Graphics, technology, and design all failed to deliver.

Auto Assault was a miserable failure (as evidenced by it being shut down by NC Soft a year after release!!).  They had some nice graphics, but the design was a complete failure (hello PvP!?!??!??) and the technology underwhelmed.

Why should I give them another chance with JG: Evolution?  Well, I'm not.  I'll stick with EVE Online, thank you.

To Net Devil:  stick with Legos and Flash development.  You might actually be able to succeed.

 This sounds like a very innovative game concept using something familiar to all us EVE players.  I love it and look forward to seeing more! 

Looks like there's some game development threads on the fansite:

http://www.blackknightprod.com/modules/news/

Apparently some of the devs post over there answering questions about the game.

LOL

Nearly 2 years late they finally decide to cancel this game.  I was saying this concept was flawed from the beginning, as they were trying to be different just for the sake of being different.  Too bad it took them $30m and over 5 wasted years to come to the same conclusion.

STO is already dead.  They should just give up already.

I'm definitely watching this one!

I predicted this would happen, even before DDO launched.  The game was never an MMO.  It was only a failure.

For me, I've been playing Vanguard since release.  Because I don't have much time to play, and don't like soloing, I end up playing only a few hours a week with friends.  Therefore I have two sub-15 characters, unfortunately.  Would like to play more, but just don't have the time. 

I have a pretty beefy system and Vanguard really blows chunks on it.  15-20fps is just wrong--especially when there's hardly anything around to limit the performance!

I do like the large world and the quest system.  The quest system is very group friendly.  Finally, I like the EQ-style feel to the game.

Lord of the Rings Online, however, I've been in since the alpha test.  The graphics are fantastic and very high quality--the game has no problem running on my system.  Unfortunately, that's about where the praise ends.

The quests are WoW-ish me too quests.  There's very little original thought that went into them.  Everything from the interface to the dialogue system to the quest system stinks of World of Warcraft.  If I wanted to play WoW, then I will play WoW!  Not play a WoW clone with a Lord of the Rings skin on it.

It's a shame too, since I was looking forward to this game.  Sadly, I won't buy it--maybe I'll reactivate my WoW account instead.

Forget it.  This game has already jumped the shark.

The NDA has been lifted... as of today, Feb. 12.