Recently I read an article that wanted more truly adult movies. Not adult in the “more swearing, more boobs, more close-up shots of exit wounds in slo-mo”, but adult in the sense that they require some maturity and engagement to understand, adult in that they aren’t scared in the use of silence. I thought of … Continue reading
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Five Reasons Why SWOR Is A High Risk MMO: #3 The Subscription Fee Model Is Falling From Grace
Star Wars: The Old Republic is a high risk title because it is being developed for some good and bad reasons, and will cost too much… and because its core way of collecting revenue is currently on the downhill slide. Although BioWare has been coy about its revenue model, EA management is talking subscription fees. … 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
No More Heroes (Or Villains)
Having followed City of Heroes since about September 2001 when it was first announced, through the Great Forum Communication Blackout of 2003, through CoH’s beta and launch in 2004, through City of Villains’ launch in 2006, through multiple free issues, through multiple paid booster packs, through 75 months worth of veteran badges, through a change … Continue reading
DCUO: All Quiet On The Beta Front
DC Universe Online is set for a November 2 2010 launch date – exactly two months from today. Although you’ve been able to pre-order the game for a few weeks now, there is still no announcement of when any kind of public beta will be starting. Although it is concerning that some kind of public … Continue reading
The Downward Life Spiral of the Mainly PvP MMO
(Apologies for the resolution at this size – click on the images to see things a bit more clearly.)
How Many Players Does Aion Have Anyway?
As a point of comparison to CoH/V the other day, Aion earned 89 846 million Won in Q4 2009. Doing the same kind of calculation – converting Won to $US ($76.9m) using an end-of-period exchange rate, dividing that number by $15 a month x 3 for the quarter (so $45) – you end up with … Continue reading
The Failure of Beta – Testing and Marketing
The whole alpha / beta situation around MMOs is an interesting one. It’s a critical area of both testing and marketing for any MMO which is a curious place to be since ‘testing’ and ‘marketing’ are really at opposites ends of a gaming scale – testing is about fixing bugs and dealing with a rough … Continue reading
World Class Villains 