We will not really know about any of these until they are out and playable. Look at how much we looked forward to Vanguard, only to find out it was a pile of horse dung under those beautiful graphics.
Vanguard has huge potential. It took the devs about a year to get EQ2 right, I just hope Vanguard takes a page out of that book.
_____________________________ SWG- (retired) 2 year vet. WoW- (retired) 3 year vet. EQ2- (retired) 1.5 year vet
Considering that the genre has shown that we need evolutionary advances rather than revolutionary ones, I think that The Chronicles of Spellborn is the only game on that list that seeks to go back to the genre's roots, find the base, build on the mistakes and successes of second generation games and come out with something evolutionary and fresh. Here's to hoping.
Everyone has their own definition on what will be the next generation game. You are entitled to your opinion.
actually, there are certain guidelines to what dictates a 3rd gen MMO....not really a matter of opinion.
So where are those guidelines then?
Shit, Im not gonna tell you or anyone else.
I currently have those guidelines and Im not gonna share em with anyone. You see, Im making my very own MMO!! And only I have these guidelines, I will surely prevail!
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Everyone has their own definition on what will be the next generation game. You are entitled to your opinion.
actually, there are certain guidelines to what dictates a 3rd gen MMO....not really a matter of opinion.
So where are those guidelines then?
Shit, Im not gonna tell you or anyone else.
I currently have those guidelines and Im not gonna share em with anyone. You see, Im making my very own MMO!! And only I have these guidelines, I will surely prevail!
Enigma, are you an (ex) Sony Employee who used to work on Sony Playstation 3?
"The next generation doesn't start untill we say it does!"
If EverQuest's generation was the first and Dark Age of Camelot's generation was the second, I don't see how Vanguard isn't third-generation. Works for me.
It is difficult for me to take Gods and Heroes, Spellborn, Tabula Rasa, or SUN seriously.
Following Vanguard, I consider the next great titles to be: Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, and Warhammer Online, though I consider the latter to be lagging back in the second generation.
Favorites: EQ, EVE | Playing: None. Mostly VR and strategy | Anticipating: CU, Pantheon
SEED is a whole nother category of mmo concentrating on non-combat. Games of this type usually are builders like, The Sims Online, THERE, Second Life, and A Tale in the Desert. When compared with these games it is safely in the realm of 2nd gen, maybe even 1st gen.
The 3rd-Generation will begin when MMORPGs do something truly genre-defying and stop copying other MMOs. It'll be an MMO that takes risks, but pulls them off with style. I don't know what that MMORPG will be yet. All MMOs promise to be different, but it's usually just marketing babble.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
If you think 3rd gen stands for new type of games then i'd say take LOTR and Age of Conan out.Allthough they have some new implements i still see too many things linking to the "excisting" standard mmorpgs.Same goesfor chronicles of spellborn in my opinion.
Gods and heroes is the only one in fact i find really putting a lot new things to the genre.And IF a 3rd gen is really adding a new feel and style to a game why isn't pirates of the burning sea in it then?Now there is a game wich seperates itself from the mainstream mmorpgs.So i think it depends on what you would call a 3rd gen.As for me like i stated i am waiting for POTBS for a year or so now just because it's something else for a change.
And a small edit: I see many define 1st gen as UO...2nd gen is DAOC ,WOW etc...so where does that leave eve online then?It stands out a lot of the previous ones.Come to think of it i allmost can't think of any thing that is the same in eve online as the defined 1st and 2nd gen.
Or what about second life , not my kind of mmorpg but it IS different in a way that you are able to create a "life-like" atmosphere wich 1st and 2nd according to the defination of many did not have in any way.You are able to make stuff ingame and sell it for reall money , buy yourself land and sellit later on for more reall cash , that is just what "we" used to say years ago when the first mmorpgs came out.One day we will get a game that is allmost life-like..well it's here and i'd call it a 3rd gen for sure..
I can't forsee any '3rd Generation' MMOs happening until the WoW effect wears thin.
You might be able to call Gods and Heroes a 3rd Gen MMO, and as Flakey says, Pirates of the Burning Seas. It will depend on whether they can garner some success and not simply be a momentary blip in history.
There's a very wide 2nd gen envelope however, stretching from SWG peaking with WoW and perhaps ending with the last spate of Fantasy MMOs.
_____________________________ Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
In my opinion the third generation will be defined by a change in scale and expectations rather than gameplay.
The games that will be released this year have enjoyed a substantial part of their development in the wake of the success of second generation games such as Warcraft, Guild Wars and Lineage II.
They have learnt lessons from the second generation, but more importantly the second generations success will make it easier for third generation game developers to obtain funding, partner with major companies, obtain shelf space in stores and publicize their efforts. In order to be successful, they must put this extra money to good use. They must launch with much higher production values, including better graphics, more content and higher stability. Any third generation game that fails to meet these values (e.g. vanguard) will quickly be swept aside as further games are released in it's wake.
By this definition I would say that both LotRO and Granada Espanada are quite clearly third generation games.
Details are still too unclear to properly judge other third generation contenders, such as Age of Conan, Gods and Heroes, Spellborn, PotBS or Warhammer.
First off I do not believe we have even gone through the 2nd gen yet... I do not think we are actually even in the 2nd gen as far as mmo's go. Sure graphics and sound have gotten purtier but the gameplay hasn't changed for squat.
We are doing the same quests we have been doing for a decade (even longer if you want to count RPG's in general), and the gameplay mechanics for the most part are the exact same, with minor variations on a theme, since UO/EQ days.
Storylines are generic, npc's are generic, the mobs we kill from level 1 til whatever (though having different skins) are still not very different from one level to the next. Someone last year said it perfect: They are just bags of experience sitting around waiting for someone to come and bash em open.
Will we see a true next gen game this year? Maybe.. perhaps Richard Garriott will actually bring us npc's that are able to react in a more organic way with Tabula Rasa and bring in some of the moral/ethical dilemna for players to play through so there is always something new waiting. It will be an interesting year to say the least. There are a good number of A+ developers working on the next big thing, but how much of it ends up being prettier fancier EQ's and UO's... well... we will just have to see.
Have to agree with most people here that we are still in the high peak of 2nd generation.
LotR has thrown everything it found together into one game with a strong Lore. There is nothing original there but it took all the nice things available and does that pretty well.
Vanguard is going for size but fails to deliver just yet. It is not 3rd generation, just a really (potentially) huge and complete 2nd generation with some new (Diplomacy) and some old features in purrdy 3D (housing/guild halls/player run towns/ships etc.).
Granado Espadon (sp?) is a simple grinder with a nice party feature. While i think the mini party system is nice and the graphics are unique and visually well done, it boils down to a simple grinding game with not much depth. Some Quests are very well done, i give it that.
PotBS, G&H, AoC are not finished yet and we can't comment due to NDA's. They are certainly not 3rd generation though. Just the Peak of 2nd generation with new settings as everyone was getting bored with elves and dwarfs. This happens in every genre, Shooters usually start out in a SciFi setting before they eventually peak in more realistic settings.
I did not vote as i don't see any 3rd generation yet or i don't have the information to make a guess.
"Give players systems and tools instead of rails and rules"
Alot of people on this forum are saying that because many of the new games still feature a fantasy setting and a traditional quest structure then they are still second generation.
None of these posters has taken the time to properly think through these ideas to their logical conclusion. For surely the above would make them first generation MMOs?
Personally I'm sticking with my earlier claim. These are, broadly speaking third generation games. Just because you personally don't like the direction MMOs are evolving in does not change the fact that they are evolving (towards bigger budgets, better graphics and more stability). That is enough to distinguish them as a new generation.
"I believe that 20 years from now people who track the industry will lump everything so far in the same bucket. Generational references are marketing fluff so far. There can be no third generation MMOs coming soon because the second generation has not yet arrived. Generations are not marked by incremental feature changes, they are marked by paradigm shifts."
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Where is this definition of a 3rd generation MMO? I am sure its just marketing rubbish that each and every new MMO has jumped on in order to claim their MMO is better. IMO everything from UO and EQ through to the MMOs that are currently in development is the exact same thing, just a few new ideas get introducted each year.
For me, the first generation of online gaming was MUDs and online games like Diablo 2 or NWN, the second generation is MMOs and the third generation will be fully dynamic online universes with the following features at a very minimum: -
1) Single server architecture. By this I mean one logical server where all occupants of that online world exist, where it is possible to meet any other player of that game.
2) A universe that appears seamless. By this I mean no loading screens other than when you launch the game, all cluster changes should be dealt with behind the scenes, if you cross a boundry line between clusters in the server architecture then you should not notice it. It is fine for these lines to be hidden away in fitting game mechanics like jump gates, portals or other such things.
3) No instancing. The real world isnt instanced, so why should a virtual world be? Its just lazy content creation.
4) Fully dynamic world, where every player follows a different path through the game, where NPCs dont constantly give out the same quests to each and every player. i.e. Farmer X wants you protect his animals by killing a certain number of monster Y, once all of monster Y have been wiped out then the farmer no longer gives a quest to kill them. Dynamic ecosystems, kill too many of one clan of orcs and they move away, ally with a neighbouring clan or maybe some other clan finishes the job the players started and wipes them out completely.
5) No artificial barriers to doing things, instead have every action have a consequence (goes hand in hand with point 4). Perform a hostile act (theft, murder, arson, etc) on another player or NPC and your faction standings shift. Standings drop too much and you become outlawed by that faction, they issue bounties on you, send out hunting parties, give other players quests to kill you, etc.
Anyway, I am sure you get the picture. As for current MMOs and those I have seen in development, none come close to moving to this next stage of evolution.
Gah, yet another bit of gross misinformation. AoC having a single player portion at the very beginning is not at all the same as it being a single player game up till max level.
AoC pros also include a never before seen magic corruption and spellweaving system, mounted and/or formation combat with fully functional collision detection, city sieges, and a clone of the best CS program ever to exist in any MMO.
AoC cons potentially include lag playing hell with the combat system and high system requirements.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. Hemingway
Mr Nagle was the first patient to trial the device
A sensor implanted in a paralysed man's brain has enabled him to control objects by using his thoughts alone.
The experimental set-up allowed the man, who has no limb movement at all, to open e-mail, play a computer game, and pinch a prosthetic hand's fingers.
The US team behind the sensor hopes its technology can one day be incorporated into the body to restore the movement of paralysed limbs themselves.
The Massachusetts-based team's study is published in the journal Nature.
It's just wild
Matthew Nagle
Matthew Nagle, 25 at the time of the trial, was left paralysed from the neck down and confined to a wheelchair after a knife attack in 2001. He was the first patient to try out the brain sensor.
A team of scientists inserted the device, called a neuromotor prosthesis (NMP), into an area of the brain known as the motor cortex, which is responsible for voluntary movement.
The NMP comprises an internal sensor that detects brain cell activity, and external processors that convert the activity into signals that can be recognised by a computer.
Although the patient's spinal cord had been severed for three years by the time of the trial, the scientists found that brain cell activity - or neural firing patterns - persisted in the patient's motor cortex.
The electrodes in the NMP were able to record this activity and send it to a computer. The computer then translated the firing patterns into movement commands which could drive computer controls or artificial limbs.
Regained independence
Using the device, Mr Nagle was able to move a computer cursor to open an e-mail, play simple computer games, open and close a prosthetic hand, and use a robot limb to grasp and move objects.
Mr Nagle said the sensor had restored some of his independence by allowing him to carry out a number of tasks - such as turning the lights on - that a nurse would normally do for him.
He told the BBC: "I can't put it into words. It's just wild."
Lead researcher Dr Leigh Hochberg, a neurologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital, said: "One of the exciting results from the trial is that this part of the brain, the motor cortex, could still be activated voluntarily by this gentleman with spinal cord injury.
"The fact that this activity was still there, despite the injury that had occurred several years ago, is very encouraging for our potential ability to harness those signals to control an external device."
Co-author Professor John Donoghue is director of the brain science programme at Brown University and chief scientific officer of Cyberkinetics, the company that created and trialled the sensor.
He said: "The results hold promise to one day being able to activate limb muscles with these brain signals, effectively restoring brain-to-muscle control via a physical nervous system."
The sensor is inserted directly into the brain
The team also looked at a second, 55-year-old patient, but said technical issues meant the sensor could not record brain activity.
Professor Stephen Scott, from Queen's University, Ontario, Canada, said in a related article: "This research suggests that implanted prosthetics are a viable approach for assisting severely impaired individuals to communicate and interact with the environment."
But he warned that considerable problems needed to be overcome before this technology could be put into regular use.
He said problems such as the device's longevity, infection risks, and data transfer methods needed to be looked at.
Tested too early?
Professor Igor Aleksander, an expert in neural systems engineering at Imperial College London, UK, said: "I think this is enormously important stuff because there is real potential for helping people that have had severe neural disabilities."
But Professor Miguel Nicolelis, a neurobiologist from Duke University, was critical of the research.
He told the BBC's Science in Action programme that although some positive signs had been seen for one patient, the paper showed that the technology did not work in the second, older patient.
He said: "When you decide, like this company did, to go into clinical trials for an invasive technique the stakes are very high.
"They should have demonstrated something that lasts for a long period of time, that it is reliable and safe, and that it can restore much more elaborate functions. I don't think that this paper shows that.
"I think it was too early to use this kind of technology in this kind of clinical trial."
Matthew Nagle's story was featured in a BBC Radio 4 Frontiers programme last year. Wednesday's announcement represents the formal publication of the research in a scientific journal.
Comments
Mafia Boss going to be 3rd gen mmo. Kiss the Don's ring... OR DIE!!!
_____________________________
SWG- (retired) 2 year vet.
WoW- (retired) 3 year vet.
EQ2- (retired) 1.5 year vet
Waiting for:
AoC // WAR // Darkfall
To hell with the generations!
Hah. Our new innovative feature can be getting rid of generational monikers.
actually, there are certain guidelines to what dictates a 3rd gen MMO....not really a matter of opinion.So where are those guidelines then?
Shit, Im not gonna tell you or anyone else.
I currently have those guidelines and Im not gonna share em with anyone. You see, Im making my very own MMO!! And only I have these guidelines, I will surely prevail!
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
So where are those guidelines then?
Shit, Im not gonna tell you or anyone else.
I currently have those guidelines and Im not gonna share em with anyone. You see, Im making my very own MMO!! And only I have these guidelines, I will surely prevail!
Enigma, are you an (ex) Sony Employee who used to work on Sony Playstation 3?"The next generation doesn't start untill we say it does!"
If EverQuest's generation was the first and Dark Age of Camelot's generation was the second, I don't see how Vanguard isn't third-generation. Works for me.
It is difficult for me to take Gods and Heroes, Spellborn, Tabula Rasa, or SUN seriously.
Following Vanguard, I consider the next great titles to be: Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, and Warhammer Online, though I consider the latter to be lagging back in the second generation.
IMO Poor dead SEED was the first true and only to this date 3rd gen MMO.
The concept was truly different and unique and its a damn shame it didnt manage to get the funding it deserved.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
If you think 3rd gen stands for new type of games then i'd say take LOTR and Age of Conan out.Allthough they have some new implements i still see too many things linking to the "excisting" standard mmorpgs.Same goesfor chronicles of spellborn in my opinion.
Gods and heroes is the only one in fact i find really putting a lot new things to the genre.And IF a 3rd gen is really adding a new feel and style to a game why isn't pirates of the burning sea in it then?Now there is a game wich seperates itself from the mainstream mmorpgs.So i think it depends on what you would call a 3rd gen.As for me like i stated i am waiting for POTBS for a year or so now just because it's something else for a change.
And a small edit: I see many define 1st gen as UO...2nd gen is DAOC ,WOW etc...so where does that leave eve online then?It stands out a lot of the previous ones.Come to think of it i allmost can't think of any thing that is the same in eve online as the defined 1st and 2nd gen.
Or what about second life , not my kind of mmorpg but it IS different in a way that you are able to create a "life-like" atmosphere wich 1st and 2nd according to the defination of many did not have in any way.You are able to make stuff ingame and sell it for reall money , buy yourself land and sellit later on for more reall cash , that is just what "we" used to say years ago when the first mmorpgs came out.One day we will get a game that is allmost life-like..well it's here and i'd call it a 3rd gen for sure..
I can't forsee any '3rd Generation' MMOs happening until the WoW effect wears thin.
You might be able to call Gods and Heroes a 3rd Gen MMO, and as Flakey says, Pirates of the Burning Seas. It will depend on whether they can garner some success and not simply be a momentary blip in history.
There's a very wide 2nd gen envelope however, stretching from SWG peaking with WoW and perhaps ending with the last spate of Fantasy MMOs.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
The games that will be released this year have enjoyed a substantial part of their development in the wake of the success of second generation games such as Warcraft, Guild Wars and Lineage II.
They have learnt lessons from the second generation, but more importantly the second generations success will make it easier for third generation game developers to obtain funding, partner with major companies, obtain shelf space in stores and publicize their efforts. In order to be successful, they must put this extra money to good use. They must launch with much higher production values, including better graphics, more content and higher stability. Any third generation game that fails to meet these values (e.g. vanguard) will quickly be swept aside as further games are released in it's wake.
By this definition I would say that both LotRO and Granada Espanada are quite clearly third generation games.
Details are still too unclear to properly judge other third generation contenders, such as Age of Conan, Gods and Heroes, Spellborn, PotBS or Warhammer.
D&D Home Page - What Class Are You? - Build A Character - D&D Compendium
_____________________________
SWG- (retired) 2 year vet.
WoW- (retired) 3 year vet.
EQ2- (retired) 1.5 year vet
Waiting for:
AoC // WAR // Darkfall
First off I do not believe we have even gone through the 2nd gen yet... I do not think we are actually even in the 2nd gen as far as mmo's go. Sure graphics and sound have gotten purtier but the gameplay hasn't changed for squat.
We are doing the same quests we have been doing for a decade (even longer if you want to count RPG's in general), and the gameplay mechanics for the most part are the exact same, with minor variations on a theme, since UO/EQ days.
Storylines are generic, npc's are generic, the mobs we kill from level 1 til whatever (though having different skins) are still not very different from one level to the next. Someone last year said it perfect: They are just bags of experience sitting around waiting for someone to come and bash em open.
Will we see a true next gen game this year? Maybe.. perhaps Richard Garriott will actually bring us npc's that are able to react in a more organic way with Tabula Rasa and bring in some of the moral/ethical dilemna for players to play through so there is always something new waiting. It will be an interesting year to say the least. There are a good number of A+ developers working on the next big thing, but how much of it ends up being prettier fancier EQ's and UO's... well... we will just have to see.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
Have to agree with most people here that we are still in the high peak of 2nd generation.
LotR has thrown everything it found together into one game with a strong Lore. There is nothing original there but it took all the nice things available and does that pretty well.
Vanguard is going for size but fails to deliver just yet. It is not 3rd generation, just a really (potentially) huge and complete 2nd generation with some new (Diplomacy) and some old features in purrdy 3D (housing/guild halls/player run towns/ships etc.).
Granado Espadon (sp?) is a simple grinder with a nice party feature. While i think the mini party system is nice and the graphics are unique and visually well done, it boils down to a simple grinding game with not much depth. Some Quests are very well done, i give it that.
PotBS, G&H, AoC are not finished yet and we can't comment due to NDA's. They are certainly not 3rd generation though. Just the Peak of 2nd generation with new settings as everyone was getting bored with elves and dwarfs. This happens in every genre, Shooters usually start out in a SciFi setting before they eventually peak in more realistic settings.
I did not vote as i don't see any 3rd generation yet or i don't have the information to make a guess.
None of these posters has taken the time to properly think through these ideas to their logical conclusion. For surely the above would make them first generation MMOs?
Personally I'm sticking with my earlier claim. These are, broadly speaking third generation games. Just because you personally don't like the direction MMOs are evolving in does not change the fact that they are evolving (towards bigger budgets, better graphics and more stability). That is enough to distinguish them as a new generation.
D&D Home Page - What Class Are You? - Build A Character - D&D Compendium
D&D Home Page - What Class Are You? - Build A Character - D&D Compendium
This gentleman feels we're all still in the first generation.... and has some good thoughts on EvE and some of the other points raised here....
http://tagn.wordpress.com/2007/01/22/third-generation-was-there-a-second/
But his summary is pretty good....
"I believe that 20 years from now people who track the industry will lump everything so far in the same bucket. Generational references are marketing fluff so far. There can be no third generation MMOs coming soon because the second generation has not yet arrived. Generations are not marked by incremental feature changes, they are marked by paradigm shifts."
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Where is this definition of a 3rd generation MMO? I am sure its just marketing rubbish that each and every new MMO has jumped on in order to claim their MMO is better. IMO everything from UO and EQ through to the MMOs that are currently in development is the exact same thing, just a few new ideas get introducted each year.
For me, the first generation of online gaming was MUDs and online games like Diablo 2 or NWN, the second generation is MMOs and the third generation will be fully dynamic online universes with the following features at a very minimum: -
1) Single server architecture. By this I mean one logical server where all occupants of that online world exist, where it is possible to meet any other player of that game.
2) A universe that appears seamless. By this I mean no loading screens other than when you launch the game, all cluster changes should be dealt with behind the scenes, if you cross a boundry line between clusters in the server architecture then you should not notice it. It is fine for these lines to be hidden away in fitting game mechanics like jump gates, portals or other such things.
3) No instancing. The real world isnt instanced, so why should a virtual world be? Its just lazy content creation.
4) Fully dynamic world, where every player follows a different path through the game, where NPCs dont constantly give out the same quests to each and every player. i.e. Farmer X wants you protect his animals by killing a certain number of monster Y, once all of monster Y have been wiped out then the farmer no longer gives a quest to kill them. Dynamic ecosystems, kill too many of one clan of orcs and they move away, ally with a neighbouring clan or maybe some other clan finishes the job the players started and wipes them out completely.
5) No artificial barriers to doing things, instead have every action have a consequence (goes hand in hand with point 4). Perform a hostile act (theft, murder, arson, etc) on another player or NPC and your faction standings shift. Standings drop too much and you become outlawed by that faction, they issue bounties on you, send out hunting parties, give other players quests to kill you, etc.
Anyway, I am sure you get the picture. As for current MMOs and those I have seen in development, none come close to moving to this next stage of evolution.
AoC pros also include a never before seen magic corruption and spellweaving system, mounted and/or formation combat with fully functional collision detection, city sieges, and a clone of the best CS program ever to exist in any MMO.
AoC cons potentially include lag playing hell with the combat system and high system requirements.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Hemingway
Generations make me think about kinship studies, world views and car body styles.
Generation 1: You have the people who started out at the dawn of MMOs (old style diablo, EQ, ect)
Generation 2: You have WOW bringing MMOs to the masses (aka new generation of "players")
Generation 3: Mix of the oldies and the WOW kids all trying not to kill one another in new MMOs
So unfortunately my former statement still holds pretty true as freaky as that is...
Screw 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Im ready for 5th gen..
Mr Nagle was the first patient to trial the device
The experimental set-up allowed the man, who has no limb movement at all, to open e-mail, play a computer game, and pinch a prosthetic hand's fingers.
The US team behind the sensor hopes its technology can one day be incorporated into the body to restore the movement of paralysed limbs themselves.
The Massachusetts-based team's study is published in the journal Nature.
Matthew Nagle, 25 at the time of the trial, was left paralysed from the neck down and confined to a wheelchair after a knife attack in 2001. He was the first patient to try out the brain sensor.
A team of scientists inserted the device, called a neuromotor prosthesis (NMP), into an area of the brain known as the motor cortex, which is responsible for voluntary movement.
The NMP comprises an internal sensor that detects brain cell activity, and external processors that convert the activity into signals that can be recognised by a computer.
Although the patient's spinal cord had been severed for three years by the time of the trial, the scientists found that brain cell activity - or neural firing patterns - persisted in the patient's motor cortex.
The electrodes in the NMP were able to record this activity and send it to a computer. The computer then translated the firing patterns into movement commands which could drive computer controls or artificial limbs.
Regained independence
Using the device, Mr Nagle was able to move a computer cursor to open an e-mail, play simple computer games, open and close a prosthetic hand, and use a robot limb to grasp and move objects.
Mr Nagle said the sensor had restored some of his independence by allowing him to carry out a number of tasks - such as turning the lights on - that a nurse would normally do for him.
He told the BBC: "I can't put it into words. It's just wild."
Lead researcher Dr Leigh Hochberg, a neurologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital, said: "One of the exciting results from the trial is that this part of the brain, the motor cortex, could still be activated voluntarily by this gentleman with spinal cord injury.
"The fact that this activity was still there, despite the injury that had occurred several years ago, is very encouraging for our potential ability to harness those signals to control an external device."
Co-author Professor John Donoghue is director of the brain science programme at Brown University and chief scientific officer of Cyberkinetics, the company that created and trialled the sensor.
He said: "The results hold promise to one day being able to activate limb muscles with these brain signals, effectively restoring brain-to-muscle control via a physical nervous system."
Professor Stephen Scott, from Queen's University, Ontario, Canada, said in a related article: "This research suggests that implanted prosthetics are a viable approach for assisting severely impaired individuals to communicate and interact with the environment."
But he warned that considerable problems needed to be overcome before this technology could be put into regular use.
He said problems such as the device's longevity, infection risks, and data transfer methods needed to be looked at.
Tested too early?
Professor Igor Aleksander, an expert in neural systems engineering at Imperial College London, UK, said: "I think this is enormously important stuff because there is real potential for helping people that have had severe neural disabilities."
But Professor Miguel Nicolelis, a neurobiologist from Duke University, was critical of the research.
He told the BBC's Science in Action programme that although some positive signs had been seen for one patient, the paper showed that the technology did not work in the second, older patient.
He said: "When you decide, like this company did, to go into clinical trials for an invasive technique the stakes are very high.
"They should have demonstrated something that lasts for a long period of time, that it is reliable and safe, and that it can restore much more elaborate functions. I don't think that this paper shows that.
"I think it was too early to use this kind of technology in this kind of clinical trial."
Matthew Nagle's story was featured in a BBC Radio 4 Frontiers programme last year. Wednesday's announcement represents the formal publication of the research in a scientific journal.
The brain implant in action
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