We Fly Spitfires has posted up a list of reasons why comic book MMOs don’t work in his opinion. Sharpened by years of arguing these points on various superhero MMO sites, let’s cover them off. I Want To Be Batman This is a pretty old chestnut – the idea that it only worth being a … Continue reading
Filed under MMOs …
Super Hero Squad MMO – First Teasers
After going quiet for a bit, the first snippets of info are starting to emerge about the Marvel / Gazillion / Amazing Society MMO for Super Hero Squad. The trailer is out tomorrow, with an accompanying press release trumpeting some very broad reasons why people would want to play it. The interesting thing in the … Continue reading
Bitter Pills, Regardless of Colour: The Fall of The Matrix Online
The use of intellectual properties for MMO titles is an interesting and conflicted area. Ultima Online was the first major MMO to attract player attention, having been built on the long-standing Ultima IP, while World of Warcraft’s strength is partly built off its association with the Warcraft real time strategy franchise. However, just having an … Continue reading
Black Eyes Before Debut for Warhammer 40K
With the Warhammer 40K MMO from Vigil Games debuting at E3 this year, I’m sure that publisher THQ wanted a nice clear run at building some heat for this title. Warhammer Online from Mythic is dying a slow death – WAR is shutting down in parts of Asia and there is plenty of consolidation on … Continue reading
Ryzom Still Commercially Active But Goes Open Source Anyway
Ryzom has announced that it now open source, so feel free to take what you can use. It makes me wonder how it impacts on their commercial operation… but maybe that was the point. As a title it had some good ideas, so perhaps some interested fans can massage it into something interesting.
The Trials of UnSub: Club Penguin
When Disney bought Club Penguin in 2007 for a deal worth US$700m, a lot of MMO players were confused. Club Penguin was a kids’ game and it was really simple. Sure, the game had 12 million registered accounts at the time, but it wasn’t even a real MMO! As time has gone on, however, there … Continue reading
Following Up on Fallen Earth’s Restructuring
Releasing bad news on a Friday can be a mixed bag – it can be buried since people have better things to do on the weekend than read news articles, or it can backfire since no-one is around to deal with the speculation and issues that arise from the bad news. Because MMO players are … Continue reading
Is Naming a Studio After Mythical Example of Failure Ever A Good Idea? Icarus Studios Restructures
Icarus Studios, who is behind-but-set-Fallen-Earth-LLC-as-a-separate-entity-to-develop-Fallen-Earth, has announced a dramatic restructuring of its internal personnel. If you take Icarus’ LinkedIn as accurate, they used to have about 110 employees, which is now down to 28 core staff members plus customer service / GM staff. (Comments that “80% of staff have been laid off” often depend on … Continue reading
The Mythic Store Is Closed; Please Shop Elsewhere
Due to a business decision, the Mythic Store is now closed. For those who never went (and I didn’t), the Mythic Store sold shirts, hats and other apparel labelled with their games – Warhammer Online, Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot. It’s just another piece of evidence that Mythic is slowly being wound back … Continue reading
Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, Even If It Is Second Life
One frequent request in MMO circles is to not railroad the player into linear tasks, but to let them have greater freedom. “I’m tired of the level grind and an environment where nothing changes – let me shape the very face of the world!” is asked for at various times. In the file marked “Never … Continue reading
World Class Villains 