2009 is only a few days away and with it, the gaming world as we know it may change forever. The idea of console MMOG's may seem ludicrous on the surface, but this week, Dalmarus discusses the very real possibility that they may arrive for the masses sooner than you might think. Just imagine all the console players in the world hopping into your favorite MMOG...
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Consoles also have an image of being "kid friendly" despite the fact that Little Johnny is swearing with his CoD4 buddies worse than a grizzled Marine that just found out his leave has been cancelled. The language spewed about in some of these channels would peel the paint off the wall of Mom and Dad’s living room.
I think when Sony Online Entertainment came under the umbrella of Sony Computer Entertainment earlier this year it was a screaming testament to the intentions of the MMOG giant.
It just seems silly not to utilize what they have at their fingertips and I see nothing but win all around. Computer gaming nabs a limited audience and I think we'd all hate to see this genre of gaming suffer because producers weren't striving to gain a wider appeal.
Plus, who wouldn't want to hang with the platform gamers? I hear they are tons of fun and super mature!
phantasy star online, phantasy star universe, FFXI, and EQ (sorta) all bridged this gap. about a decade ago for that matter. how is it any different just because turbine or SOE decides to do it again?
sacred 2 is also coming out for consoles in the next couple months (supposedly..i mean the footage exists) i don't really see the big deal.
as far as dealing with the console...people (which is incidentally why i stopped playing consoles) i figure if little johnny wants to talk like a big kid he can take the same tongue lashing as one and hopefully he will be stupid enough to put his mommy on the mic.
any parent who lets kids play online without supervision should be jailed and forbidden to breed again.
phantasy star online, phantasy star universe, FFXI, and EQ (sorta) all bridged this gap. about a decade ago for that matter. how is it any different just because turbine or SOE decides to do it again?
I think that is the real victory in this. You can count PSO and FFXI but let's be honest, those IP's were so huge they were almost guaranteed success the minute they hit shelves. EQOA was the first and still real success on the console and comparing it to the rest of the current MMOG market? It barely scratched the surface.
I'm beyond a "What's the big deal?" phase personally and more waiting for someone to actually put something out. I've been listening to companies talk about a console MMO for almost 4 years now. I haven't seen one yet.
I think that is the real victory in this. You can count PSO and FFXI but let's be honest, those IP's were so huge they were almost guaranteed success the minute they hit shelves. EQOA was the first and still real success on the console and comparing it to the rest of the current MMOG market? It barely scratched the surface.
I'm beyond a "What's the big deal?" phase personally and more waiting for someone to actually put something out. I've been listening to companies talk about a console MMO for almost 4 years now. I haven't seen one yet.
I'd argue that none of the current console MMOGs have been a success. MILLIONS of gamers have consoles, and most of these titles had a couple hundred thousand a piece. That's enough to be profitable, but not a success.
I truly wonder if EQOA is profitable at this point.
I truly wonder if EQOA is profitable at this point.
Since it's probably running on an old 233 MMX with a 900 baud modem in the building's basement, the 26 die hard subscribers should be more than enough to pay for it, LOL
I'd argue that none of the current console MMOGs have been a success. MILLIONS of gamers have consoles, and most of these titles had a couple hundred thousand a piece. That's enough to be profitable, but not a success.
I truly wonder if EQOA is profitable at this point.
It's hard to gauge the success of FFXI but in 2004, 500k subs was pretty darn good. Hard to say how many PS2's those were though. Even so...how many console MMOG's have there really been?
EQOA? It paid for it's development cost ages ago. If the subs are paying for the bandwith and server storage, they'll keep the lights on. Look at MxO and Planetside.
Funcom, Cryptic, SOE, and plenty more are talking about it. I want to see who goes first.
PSO (which i think was the first) is still running in ways i probably cant talk about here. but the fact is quite a few people still play it..all these years later. that is 1 dedicated fanbase (especially since they proceeded to trash the franchise with PSU.)
things have obviously changed since, the Dreamcast died but that title lived on, as opposed to HG:L and TR just plain dying. i think the real trick would have to be NOT porting so much as designing from scratch to make the the game playable for everyone. obviously having 10 skillbars is going to be near impossible for console gamers that are JUST using a controller. i have tried it with alot of games, going back as far as Ragnarok online up to LOTRO and controllers are just very touchy as far as moving a mouse goes (never mind only having 6 real buttons plus alt and shift on triggers and having to click etc). seems kind of like they are trying to either get console gamers to buy keyboard and mouse setups OR they want PC users to stop using them since consoles can play more games.
i don't see it as a great idea really, no-more so than releasing ALL RTS games on consoles also, just in case the people who LIKE playing RTS haven't figured out they pretty much need a PC to play those games on.
do the average console gamers out there even know what star trek is?
Consoles also have an image of being "kid friendly" despite the fact that Little Johnny is swearing with his CoD4 buddies worse than a grizzled Marine that just found out his leave has been cancelled.
As a console gamer, that one hits close to home.
Good article, though. I look forward to seeing how big name developers tackle Console MMOs, hope there will be some good ones.
Out of the few upcoming ones I mentioned, on the surface, I think DC Universe Online will be the best fit on a console. The PS3 definitely has the potential horsepower required to run those types of graphics, and from the limited footage we've seen, I think the controller will handle actions just fine.
Communication is still the big question I worry about with all of these. We'll see though. This should be an interesting year to pay attention to them though.
Consoles and the MMOG Industry
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