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
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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
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
John Needham Crosses Universes: From Cryptic to Gazillion
I actually missed the first part of this story since I was travelling: fan favourite pinata Jack Emmert has become Cryptic’s new CEO after John Needham chose “to depart the company to pursue other opportunities within the games industry”. Said opportunities are becoming the CEO of Gazillion. An interesting move, and one that leaves Gazillion … 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
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
The Blue Water for Marvel Universe Online
The superhero MMO category is made up of City of Heroes / Villains, Champions Online and now DC Universe Online. Where should the next proposed contender (Super Hero Squad Online is aiming for a very different crowd), Marvel Universe Online, be looking for in terms of untapped spaces a.k.a. blue water? To do this let’s … 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
How Many Players Does CoH/V Have in Q3 2010?
With the Q4 2010 earnings release from NCsoft around the corner, now’s the time to take a look at how City of Heroes / Villains did with the launch of its first paid expansion in a long while, Going Rogue. If I wanted to hedge my bets, I should wait for the Q4 2010 release … Continue reading
World Class Villains 