Jess Lebow's MMO Story Hour: Top 5 Exciting Things From E3
Jess takes to the countdowns in his new column, where he looks at the top five things that got him excited at E3.
Bottom line: E3 was approaching its greatness of years past. It was good to see. I had been sad for a couple of years by its demise. But while it’s still not back up to speed entirely, I’d say it’s reached about 60% of its former glory. Not bad for a reunion tour.
But down to business.
#1: Star Wars: The Old Republic
As if I needed another reason to be excited by a Bioware MMO—SWTOR is going to be fully voiced. Some of you may be saying, “Yeah, so what?” I’ll tell you what. Having a fully voiced MMO brings the genre one step closer to complete immersion. Sure, there have been a lot of badly voiced games, but have faith. This is Bioware we’re talking about.
There are two things that I know when I buy a Bioware game—I’m going to get a polished, well-developed gaming experience, and there is going to be a focus on good storytelling. Add that to one of my favorite IPs of all time, include the knowledge that they are going to take it to the next level by making it fully voiced, and I think we’re talking about a winner here. As someone who has spent days upon days in the recording studio, listening to actors read lines from a script, let me tell you, this represents a massive commitment on the part of the developer. That level of dedication to a property is certainly the first big step toward making a good game. And I’m excited about it.
#2: Final Fantasy 14 – Online
I played Finally Fantasy 11. It hurt me. To the core. Real bad.
But I’m still a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series. They have done some really fun stuff, and told some pretty engaging stories along the way. They do a great job giving players a world they can explore at their own pace and in their own way but still manage to create experiences that convey their conflict in an enjoyable way. And I’m talking about the console games now. Given what I’m sure they’ve learned from FFXI, I suspect we’re about to be given a rip roaring good RPG adventure with 14.
#3: Lego Rock Band
Dude. I was such a huge Space Lego freak when I was a kid. I had these bookshelves in my room, and I covered them with space bases. There was a landing pad for all the cool cruisers I invented (never mind that none of them would have realistically flown—even in space), living quarters for the space marines, and a command center where all of the action happened. I had this huge collection of Lego men. The Space Lego guys with the black face shields were so awesome—and only a little cheesy when you lifted up the visor to see that eternally smiling happy face.
So, add one of the greatest social game ideas of all time to my childhood addiction to Legos, and you’ve got me hooked. I’m so going to rock their blocks off.
#4: Wii Sports Resort
Let me tell you about my Wii.
When the Wii came out, I, like every other gamer, got very excited about it. And I put my name on the list at Amazon.com to buy one. I wasn’t guaranteed to get one, I was just entered into a drawing that gave me a chance to buy one when they were released. At the same time, I ordered Red Steel. In the event that I got the system, I was going to need a game to play, and what better way to try out the motion controls than a samurai shooter, right? Wrong.
Red Steel showed up nearly two months before I actually got my Wii (because I didn’t win the purchasing sweepstakes and had to wait until my lottery number was finally pulled). When I did finally get to play it, I was massively under whelmed. I took the title back to the Game Stop and traded it in for a copy of Zelda, Twilight Princess.
It was a Zelda game. How could I go wrong? I know I’m going to get blasted for this, but it just didn’t do it for me. I’m a huge fan of the Zelda franchise. I’m embarrassed to admit how many hours I’ve spent with titles in this series. But Twilight Princess just wasn’t my Zelda. Sure it was still true to the spirit of the game, and I’ll admit pieces of it were fun, but somehow it just didn’t feel right, and I got stuck on several of the puzzles, so I got frustrated and lost interest.
With the minor exception of the few weeks I spent playing Raymond Raving Rabbids, my Wii is now used exclusively for Wii Sports (which, sadly, I think is a very common thing for the consol). We play at parties, and I’ve even tried to indoctrinate my parents into the gaming world (which, for the record, didn’t really work). So, when I stood in line to watch people throw Frisbees for their Wii-style beach dogs, I was floored. How much fun is that? I could even do it with a martini in one hand. Score!
#5: League of Legends
If you’ve played DotA, then you’ve probably already heard about this game. I’m not a big Warcraft player, and in fact, I’m not even a huge PVP guy. But with their new matchmaking system, even the twitch-impaired (like me) will have a fighting chance at having a good time.
The basic premise is five-on-five PVP. Capture/destroy the enemy base, and you win. There is a lot of strategy involved in how you build your character (kind of like building a deck in Magic: The Gathering—which, admittedly has a lot of appeal for me) and in setting up your team. Fun at the meta-game level as well as during the matches.
Okay, so yes, I did some writing for this game, and yes, it’s a little bit of poor form to be metaphorically tooting my own horn, but I gotta tell you, this is a fun game. I’ve had the snot kicked out of me by some of the game’s developers and still had a good time. If I can lose and still have fun, I’m on board.
In the end, it looks like for me, E3 was about the social aspects of gaming. Be it MMOs with good stories, or just great games I can plug in at a party, I guess I just like playing with other people. If you’re like me, then I can say happily that we’re in for a good year. If you don’t like social gaming, well, then I guess you’re just not invited to the party.
More Jess Lebow's MMO Story Hour Features:
More Columns:
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"There are two things that I know when I buy a Bioware game—I’m going to get a polished, well-developed gaming experience, and there is going to be a focus on good storytelling."
This sounds a lot like a company I use to know by the name of Blizzard. I hope Bioware never lets success go to their head like Blizzard did. They've since let the polished part go to heck with their increasingly horrible and too widely spread out expansion packs, and they have dropped giving a crud about the incredible stories of the Warcraft RTS series.
Its so fashionable to take shots at Blizzard and Warcraft and accuse them of being less than spectacular, but the fact that so many people play WoW speaks volumes. And I've played just about every MMO out there and while WoW might not have every single thing right in a virtual world I want to live in, their game sure hasn't feel like its "gone to heck" to me. It remains one of the most enjoyable MMOs that FEELS like an MMO, and not some single player instance fest, or thrown together world from some indie company that only gets attention because its an under dog and people looooove to bash the people on top.
But, just an opinion. I've been wrong before.
As for the E3 thing, I was excited for KotOR, but the more I read on it the more I fear its going to be some kind of linear online RPG, something akin to Gears of War (playable with friends, awesome game, but lacking any kind of social aspect) as opposed to a full fledged MASSIVE world.
"Okay, so yes, I did some writing for this game, and yes, it’s a little bit of poor form to be metaphorically tooting my own horn, but I gotta tell you, this is a fun game."
Credibility...fading...
Full disclosure increases credibilty.
Honestly TOR only looks a bit interesting, Global Agenda is the step I want to see MMOs take. When the world is fully dynamic and depends on players while characters themselves have variable in terms of specialization and class doesn't automatically mean your destined for a single role.
Also Lebow's The Fighters book was amazing. 3:
"If you don’t like social gaming, well, then I guess you’re just not invited to the party."
Funny coming from a guy who list SW:ToR as his number one pick.
Full disclosure increases credibilty.
Proper disclosure is done in a separated notion from the body of an article. Half hiding the the disclosure is improper.
Proper disclosure is done in a separated notion from the body of an article. Half hiding the the disclosure is improper.
It's an editorial. If this had been a review or something, I'd agree with you, but by defnition this is all fully his opinion. I don't think we need to post disclaimers.
With the number of jobs people have these days, especially those who dabble in freelance, the entire site would have to be a disclaimer. Everyone's worked with someone somewhere it seems.
The author obviously knew they had to disclose the information and did so, but poorly. For some odd reason internet journalism seems to have taken on a double standard compared to other mediums. As a for profit company publishing editorials and articles the responsibility falls onto MMORPG.com.
Perhaps all editorials should have a generic and proper disclaimer. It may seems like playing overly safe, but without it is looks as though MMORPG is willing to publish anything without verification or other efforts. We might as well jsut read press releases then and not exect any real thrid party information, just advertising.
Without disclosure of at least covering you bum the wrong positive article about a flop of a game and all credibility might slip away.
Edit: these forums do not play well with Chrome.
I'm sorry to throw in a bit more negativity into the thread (and trying to actually comment on the article instead of discussing the job history of the author), but I personally find nothing to be over excited about if this is the best that was observed from E3.
1. SW-TOR:
I am way, way, WAY immune to being sucked into overly hyped games anymore. WAR, AOC, Tabula Rasa, Pirates of the Burning Sea and many others from recent history have cured me of that. Add to that, something that anything George Lucas is associated with, and you get a huge question mark from me. You can thank that opinion to any part of his career starting with the re-released Original Star Wars trilogy and forward (Indiana Jones 4 anyone…need I say more). Besides, even if I were head over heels in love with what little there is to know about this game, I don’t think we’re going to see this released until 2012. So, see you in 3+ years.
2. Final Fantasy 14
Never was into anything Final Fantasy. Don’t like games with an “eastern” flavor. Never have, never will (sorry Aion). I know many do, I just don’t, sorry.
3. Lego Rock Band
Don’t really know how to comment on this. Kiddie games are good for a good chuckle and a diversion (I even played Wizard101 for a bit, pretty fun), but were there any “real” games that got you excited while strolling the kiosks? Also, last I checked, this site was called MMOrpg. Is there anything “M” (the first M) about this game that may get the rest of us excited as well?
4. Wii Sports Resort
Oh and again, anything “M” about this game?
Never was into consoles. The only two I ever owned were an Atari2600 and ColecoVision. How’s that for dating myself? Besides, a Wii can be a deadly projectile if it slips out of your hand.
5. League of Legends
I actually had to look up what this was because I never even heard of it until now. Wonderful, more WarCraft. Guess there isn’t enough of that already. Also, OK, I have to say it yet again…anything “M” about this game either?
So these are the items that got you the most excited...the highlights, the things to watch, the things that stood out most in your mind, games that when released, we are going say “OH MY GOD, HOW AWESOME! I NEVER WANT TO SEE SUNLIGHT AGAIN!”
I’m very sorry to report that the present is dismal and the future looks questionable for MMOs. Real shame.
nice editorial.
but THAT yellow font with that white background on the teaser image on the front page is inducing me to kick puppies.
I thought E3 in general was rather bland. The only thing I was intrested in was SW:TOR. Too many game companies skipped out.
Huh, League of Legends. I'll have to look into that; i've spent more time playing DotA than WC3 itself.
The point is, that he is right.
What is left of the once so great Blizzard... is now a mere shadow. They do have turned into a money hungry giant, bleeding their customers dry to the last cent, by giving them the absolute minimum as possible for maximum profit.
Seriously,
With their amount of subscribers, the raking in such a mindboggling amount of money each month on subs alone, it's not even funny.
Allocating resources to updates and expansion packs shouldn't be an issue at all at Blizzard HQ.
They could have completely oblitterated the competition by launching true mindblowing free updates and expansion packs!
- Player Housing could have been in the game by now.
- A lot lot more character customisation could have been in the game by now.
- They could have easily added at least 2 or 3 more Hero Classes with the latest expansion cap, so they didn't have to murder their own lore and having the servers being overrun by thousands of Death Knights!
Just some examples out of the top of my head.
Instead, Blizzard just allocates the minimum amount of resources, takes TWICE as long to launch an expansion pack and then delivers the minimum as possible for maximum profit.
Blizzard feels they are in a comfortable position, comfortable enough to exploit their position to the maximum.
Fact is, that they turned themselves into a ticking Time Bomb and the bomb will go off the moment a credible developer finally releases a MMO of enough quality that's finally going to make a serious dent!
And frankly, I cannot wait for this to happen. As after all the dumbed down pieces of crap that have been launched lately, I am just dying to see Blizzard finally go FLAT on their faces!
It's time for some true innovation in this genre!
E3 must have been a boring event judging from this editorial.
I'd say E3 was bland in the sense of MMORPGs this year. I was kind of surprised that Square-Enix was doing another FF Online. I just kind of feel like now no one will want to play the old one and it will become completely forgotten. I just put all that time into that game and now a new FF Online comes out! But in a way I'm kind of happy because if they really do make it a lot more casual and not as party strict as FF11 was than great. But I don't want it to be watered down hand holding.
As far as MMOs this year I'm really not looking at too much, a lot of stuff coming out is very over hyped. And although I want to play ToR, I can't help but be cautious because a lot of games I thought were going to be golden, have been huge let downs. MMOs need to break the mold already, I think we're all getting tired of the same game in a different box.
Other than that, E3 this year did have some nice console news, but a lot of it was games I already knew a lot about that are coming out soon. But I'd say that the biggest things of E3 for me, were the 2 new mario games coming out, Castlevania, maybe the new metroid (kinda iffy on that one), and I dunno about the new Zelda game... just seems like Miyamoto is losing his mind in his aging, or he's just trying too hard to make something different. The new full body sensor camera for the 360 was cool though. It's a step towards the future of gaming. I just can't wait for Ghostbusters next week XD
Ahh come on! Give me a break. Sure if you have that many subs, it's not hard to sell a high volume of expansion boxes. But when you look at the number of subs they claim to have and the amount of expansion boxes they have sold. Then it's less then 25% of their subscribers that ever bothered to buy one of their expansions. Not that of a success at all, compaired to other MMO's, where the percentage ratio is much much higher!
And when you trully look at the amount of money and resources Blizzard has available, then you darn well know they can do a lot better then what they are doing now.
And the expansions weren't all that polished at all. They came with plenty enough issues that needed (hot)fixing after each expansion launch. Nothing different then with other MMO's. Like LOTRO's Mines of Moria, wich kicked Blizzard's teeth in when it comes to being awarded for best expansion 2008!
And what priorities?? They have added the same old same old with each of their two expansions.
I mean... with the amount of money and resources they have. How hard is it to add some more faces and hair options to the game?? So there aren't a ton of other clones of you running around on the same server. After more then 4 years they have done jack sjit when it comes to that! While people have been complaining about that asking for more customisation since the game launched!
Just as an example tho.
And the only reason why I want to see WoW going down, is because it's NEEDED to get the MMO genre to move forward!
Cheers
#4: Wii Sports Resort, I am doing 15 years of atletics now on top lvl, and I really hate to see this. It gives the people a false impression that they actually are doing somthing on sports, yet like many researches have proved you are doing just nothing... its like sitting and eating watching tv.
meh just wanted to drop these 2 cents :p
How did Final Fantasy XI hurt you to the core?
And E3 failed because the company behind E3 got greedy and charged way too much money.
Greed isn't always good.
Only one MMO got Jess excited? What about Heroes of Telara with dynamic on the fly server content changes? Or APB a GTA like MMO with beyond awesome character customization options?
What about other BioWare games like Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age? BioWare's trifecta (ME2, DA:O, Sw:TOR) is going to elevate this studio to a serious Blizzard ass kicker and that's the most clear message i got from this year's E3.
Are we talking about Obsidiam here? the authors of KOTOR2?
BioWare is the author of the 20 hours long "pseudo-Star Wars" Mass Effect, and the dumbed down for consoles clone of system shock called "Bioshock". The Bioware guys are very good developers, but his games are more about combat, and a good engine, than writting. We will probably get polish, that is the next best thing as good writting.
I was wondering the same thing. When one of the greatest mmo's ever made (at the very least in terms of story and community) hurts you to the core its hard to take the rest of what you say too seriously. Maybe your looking for more of a single player game that you can chat with other people on?
This, definately this.
I hope you got paid to go - because if I came away from trade show and that was all I had to be "excited" about, I'd be pretty sure I wasted my weekend.
I really hope there was better out there and the author just missed it or overlooked it, otherwise the great MMO slump will continue.
Are we talking about Obsidiam here? the authors of KOTOR2?
BioWare is the author of the 20 hours long "pseudo-Star Wars" Mass Effect, and the dumbed down for consoles clone of system shock called "Bioshock". The Bioware guys are very good developers, but his games are more about combat, and a good engine, than writting. We will probably get polish, that is the next best thing as good writting.
No we arent talking about Obsidian, the creators of KOTOR 2, we are talking about Bioware, who created KOTOR 1, you know the RPG that was game of the year when it came out?
Also Bioware has nothing to do with "Bioshock" they were in no way involved with its deveolpment, just because they both have "Bio" in their names doesnt mean they are connected.
Also what are you talking about, have you ever played KOTOR 1? That has some of the best writing ever, the whole story arc was written by "Drew K." The Author of the critically acclaimed "Darth Bane" Novels which were new york times best sellers. So no we will get story first, not last.
-Jive
Yes, I have. The part of Tantoine was interesting, and the part on Dantoine. It was a damn good game at the time.
I think very few people would agree with wii resort and especially lego rockband as being the top five things shown from E3. I don't buy this article at all. Would have been more interested to read about top five mmo news from E3 as this is mmorpg.com
Are we talking about Obsidiam here? the authors of KOTOR2?
BioWare is the author of the 20 hours long "pseudo-Star Wars" Mass Effect, and the dumbed down for consoles clone of system shock called "Bioshock". The Bioware guys are very good developers, but his games are more about combat, and a good engine, than writting. We will probably get polish, that is the next best thing as good writting.
# Baldur's Gate (1998)
# Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999)
# Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
# Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001)
# Neverwinter Nights (2002)
# Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide (2003)
# Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark (2003)
# Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker (2005)
# Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003)
# Jade Empire (2005)
# Mass Effect (2007)
# Dragon Age: Origins (in-development) (2009)
# Mass Effect 2 (in-development) (Spring 2010)
# Mass Effect 3 (pre-development)
Yeah I agree, Bioware definitely can't get good writers. /sarcasm
So, have any of the E3 attendees learned anything about what actual multiplayer aspects there are to SW:Tor? I haven't found much info on this. So far it sounds like one of their previous single player games.
There wasn't a lot of new info at this year's E3. SWTOR being fully voiced, and the announcement of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition and Tales of Monkey Island were the most interesting bits of news to me.
So in essence there was nothing of consequence for MMOs at E3.....
This is not a good article. First off, for anyone who wants to play a DoTA like game, Demigod is the way to go. This other guy's game has terrible graphics based on screenshots and I never even heard of it, but Demigod is a game from the publishers of Sins of a Solar Empire, and it rocks the socks off competitors, trust me.
Secondly, Lego Rock Band? #5 is some game that HE worked on? What about Beatles Rock Band? For that matter, where are the MMO's APB and The Agency? They surely excited way more people than any of the last three games on your list. If you aren't doing MMO's only, where is Mass Effect 3, Milo, Assassin's Creed 2, Dante's Inferno, God of War 3, Brutal Legend, the new Mario for the Wii, Mafia 2, or Bioshock 2? I understand that this list is your opinion, but I don't think that it is really looking at the entire spectrum. And I don't think anything bugs me more than saying that a game that is generally regarded as a pretty good game in Final Fantasy Online actually "hurt" to play "to the core." No it didn't. What a bogus statement.
Overall, I give everything but the first two games a huge thumbs down, plus those two really did not have any information released about them that we didn't already know. I understand being excited for them, but at E3 the show was APB's in terms of MMO games as well as The Agency's, with SWTOR and Final Fantasy still being unkown for the most part, and a plethora of good single player games that beat all of them out.
We're getting there :)
VIdeo issues, but our coverage, while delayed will be quite in depth =)
*cough* Sorry!
if you pay attention to The interviews with the devs they are trying to sell the story. And yes they talk alot about your class story but that class story is just inside the game It still has the empire vs republic RVR that is going to be going on all the quests taht go along with that story also. But besides the stories you get in other mmo's you also get your personal char story. This is what makes them different and that is why this is what they talk about the most.
If you check out the interviews from E3 there is going to be crafting, PVP, Raiding dungeons open world quests that you can collect. But all that stuff is done by every other mmo and is expected in an mmo so they mostly talk about the Char story and the choices Because that is what sets them a part.
And i agree with the top two as big news. A fully voiced mmo is huge news. Now they aren't talking about just the main quest line voiced they are talking about You go to a vendor to sell some trash and he is voiced over. Every thing That is amazing. That is so much time and money invested in just that.
I'm also excited about FFxiv I love final fantasy series and I loved FFXI back in the day probably the mmo i played the longest out of all the ones I have played.
But after that this list just goes south to me.
Left 4 Dead 2 had me excited when I saw that trailer pop up.
I loved seeing the new gameplay footage for The Agency. I'm excited about this game also.
Abp or apb was pretty exciting news. Dragon age origins got me excited so didn't mass effect 2.
And I would say Rock Band Beatels was much bigger news than the lego one.
# Baldur's Gate (1998)
# Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999)
# Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
# Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001)
# Neverwinter Nights (2002)
# Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide (2003)
# Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark (2003)
# Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker (2005)
# Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003)
# Jade Empire (2005)
# Mass Effect (2007)
# Dragon Age: Origins (in-development) (2009)
# Mass Effect 2 (in-development) (Spring 2010)
# Mass Effect 3 (pre-development)
Yeah I agree, Bioware definitely can't get good writers. /sarcasm
The Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and their expansions were created by Black Isle Studios and not by BioWare and I think that Black Isle Studios also created the first Neverwinter Nights game.
Mass Effect is a bugridden game that many people can't even get to work properly.
I strongly believe that Mass Effect marked the decline of BioWare.
# Baldur's Gate (1998)
# Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999)
# Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
# Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001)
# Neverwinter Nights (2002)
# Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide (2003)
# Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark (2003)
# Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker (2005)
# Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003)
# Jade Empire (2005)
# Mass Effect (2007)
# Dragon Age: Origins (in-development) (2009)
# Mass Effect 2 (in-development) (Spring 2010)
# Mass Effect 3 (pre-development)
Yeah I agree, Bioware definitely can't get good writers. /sarcasm
The Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and their expansions were created by Black Isle Studios and not by BioWare and I think that Black Isle Studios also created the first Neverwinter Nights game.
Mass Effect is a bugridden game that many people can't even get to work properly.
I strongly believe that Mass Effect marked the decline of BioWare.
Nah. Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 were developed by Bioware and Published by Black Isle Studios & Interplay. Icewind Dale 1 and 2 were developed fully by Black Isle. Black Isle had nothing to do with Neverwinter Nights. The lead designer of the original Baldur's Gate was Ray Muzyka who is currently Bioware's CEO.
This has to get a great big WTF from me. Mass Effect is, right around, one of the best RPGs I've played. I got it off Steam - rendering it free of SecuROM malware - and had exactly zero, zilch, niente in the way of bugs. I did try out a pirated version to see if it really -was- worth buying, and there, lo and behold, bugs aplenty. Including a few gamebreakers. I took a leap of faith and bought it, and no bugs. Not one. Not a single bug, even though I played it on a machine too old to carry it. Think about that for a sec.
Again, another glowing report about the new Star Wars game. Sorry to break your bubble, but it has a huge hurdle to overcome in that Bioware can't seem to break away from restrictive classes and levels. We can only wait and see if Bioware can come up with a solution none of the others have found. We are probably looking at another attempt to out Wow, Wow and we all know that everyone else has come up on the losing side of that. Don't know why Bioware thinks it can use the same format and beat them.
So I suggest taking a wait and see attitude on this game because I think most of you are setting yourselves up for major disappointment.
Agreed. Not a single item on that list seems even remotely interesting to me.
@centhan: That's why there is a STRAP to put around your wrist on the Wii remote. That's why the console alerts you to that fact during just about every screen change. If you don't use it, you deserve what you get ;-)
What is it about classes and levels that is so dirty? It's an RPG. Almost every RPG with a few exceptions has classes and levels. Maybe they should eliminate races and genders too and anything else that makes characters different from each other, and we can all go through the game as monochromatic carbon copies of each other.