(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
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The Very, Very Late 2010 MMO Recap (Part 2)
Part 1 is here, including a note about why April is the best time to review what happened about 16 months ago. July: Star Trek Online Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich leaves both the title and Cryptic Studios. Capcom’s Xbox Japan- and Xbox 360-only MMO Monster Hunter Frontier Online tops the sales charts in Japan. Activision … Continue reading
The Very, Very Late 2010 MMO Recap (Part 1)
A Note of Explanation At the end of 2010, I wrote up a recap of the year’s MMO-related events for a particular site, as I’ve done for a few years. Given that it’s now almost May, I don’t think that site is going to use it, but I’m really loathe to throw out all the … Continue reading
DCUO: Then and Now
What Was Said About DCUO’s Content Updates Prior To Launch “And you get a lot more content than you do with a standard game where you might get DLC once or twice a year. You’re going to be getting things every single month, and major content updates.” (SOE President John Smedley in an interview with … Continue reading
Duke Nukem Forever: Respect Yo’ Momma, Slap The Rest
Part of me is dreading the launch of Duke Nukem Forever. As a horribly misogynistic, outdated franchise that is more remembered for containing pixellated boobs and ripping off Bruce Campbell than great gameplay (and for a game development cycle from hell) it is something that should have died off long ago. Sadly, no – Gearbox … Continue reading
DCUO: Economics Trumps Cosmetics
A lot of MMO developers don’t get in-game economies. They put them in the game, sure, but they don’t seem to spend a lot of time thinking about what that in-game impact is going to be. This is probably because: Doing in-game economies properly is hard, where most MMOs implement in-game economic frameworks like auction … Continue reading
Five Reasons Why SWOR Is A High Risk MMO: #5 BioWare Doesn’t Do Great Game Mechanics
It was announced recently that Eric Brown, EA’s CFO, finds that blogs about the cost of Star Wars: The Old Republic “bring a chuckle” to his day. Glad to bring a smile to your face, Eric – here’s hoping the following brings some belly laughs. Back when I started this series, I said there were … Continue reading
Marvel Universe Online: A Gazillion to One Shot?
In my previous post on Gazillion’s Marvel Universe Online, I ended with the comment “… if it comes out.” In my opinion, there is still a strong chance MUO isn’t going to appear for the fourth time, with the one reason being Disney and the other reason being Gazillion. My Superpower is Cynicism As a … Continue reading
DCUO: Untested Love
DC Universe Online’s first full content patch is due out very soon. In some ways it typifies Sony Online Entertainment’s issues with DCUO: It was originally scheduled for February 15 2011 and was marketed as such. But then it was delayed, with the explanation that “a date was put on a trailer that shouldn’t have … Continue reading
How Many Players Does CoH/V Have In Q4 2010?
NCsoft’s Q4 2010 results are out and the result isn’t great for City of Heroes / Villains. As I discussed a few days ago, CoH/V saw a big Q3 2010 release with Going Rogue, its second paid box expansion (City of Villains being the first, back in 2005). GoRo saw a large jump in revenue … Continue reading
World Class Villains 