Both City of Heroes / Villains and LEGO Universe have announced that they are heading towards free-to-play / freemium payment models in the near future. This adds them to a list that has swelled recently to also include Age of Conan and Fallen Earth. This highlights to me perhaps an unexpected impact of the F2P … Continue reading
Filed under Launch …
Point / Counterpoint: The DC Comics Reboot Circa 2011
For those who don’t know, DC Comics is rebooting their entire universe. Again. Lots of characters are getting new costumes. Point: “I understand that there is an editorial edict for the DC Comics superlaunch that their female superheroes wear more… practical clothing. So Wonder Woman gets to keep her trousers. But the likes of Supergirl … Continue reading
Gazillion: Marvel Universe Gets Bendis; Suprise! Super Hero Squad Online Launches
Following up from a previous post, the lead writer for Gazillion’s Marvel Universe Online will be written by the prolific Brian Michael Bendis, as expected. What also came out of the event was that the game will be free-to-play, players will play as existing Marvel characters rather than building their own and players will also … Continue reading
The Very, Very Late 2010 MMO Recap: Here Comes the New Stuff, Same As the Old Stuff
(All you have is my word that I haven’t made any substantive revisions to this document since January 30, 2011. Trust me. I’m a blogger. For a point-by-point recap of 2010, see either the January to June or the July to December articles.) 2010 was an interesting year for the MMO industry in that it … Continue reading
IP Less-Than-Freely: MMOs Based on Licensed Properties
With the news that Jagex and Hasbro have signed a deal to do a Transformers MMO (guess all that Mech-based development wasn’t a waste then, Jagex) I was reminded of all the other MMOs based on popular nerd properties that have been indicated as “in development” but have had varying levels of success. And by … Continue reading
An Open Letter To WBIE re. Mortal Kombat
Dear Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment, I have noted with interest your reactions to the recent news that Mortal Kombat has been refused classification in Australia. It probably wasn’t a surprise to you in the slightest; there was a pretty high potential for a game with slo-mo bone breaking and a focus on brutal finishing moves … Continue reading
DCUO: Countdown to Crisis
I’m going to start 2011 the way I ended 2010: publicly wondering what is going on at Sony Online Entertainment with DC Universe Online. SOE looked to be in a pretty good place to develop DCUO – they had a larger IP than its competitors in City of Heroes / Villains and Champions Online, it … Continue reading
DCUO: Adding Insult To Injury For PS3 Beta Preorders
On top of the PS3 beta preorder players not getting into the PS3 beta on November 30 as assured (due start date for the PS3 beta: “soon”), those players learned today that Playstation Network Plus subscribers will also be given PS3 beta access when it launches. This will happen probably before Christmas if such an … Continue reading
DCUO PS3 Beta: A Masterclass of Marketing Mismanagement
Following on from my previous post, it turns out an Sony Online Entertainment guarantee is not a guarantee at all. The DC Universe Online PS3 beta didn’t launch on November 30 – it is still coming “soon” – and numerous PS3 players were left wondering what was going on until a very late-in-the-day Facebook post … Continue reading
Battle Royale: CoH/V vs ChampO vs DCUO vs SHSO vs Marvel MMO
Back in 2008 (sheeh, that long ago?) I wrote a piece on City of Heroes / Villains versus Champions Online versus DC Universe Online. It’s time for a review of how these direct competitors are travelling, plus the new challengers in this space. City of Heroes / Villains (Paragon Studios / NCsoft) The self-proclaimed “world’s … Continue reading
World Class Villains 