General: SOE Announces The Agency

Stradden

Staff Writer Joe Iuliani recently attended SOE Gamer Day. Most of his articles have already run, but this one was embargoed until today. Today, SOE officially announces their most recent (and until now secret) project, "The Agency", a spy-based MMORPG.

SOE previewed The Agency back on May 9th At Gamer Day 2007 New York.

It's been hard to keep it quiet since it looks so exciting. Hal Milton, Lead Designer, Sony Online Entertainment was on hand to unveil the demonstration. As the bname suggests, SOE will be making a spy-based MMORPG.

The initial demonstration was an animated sequence showing two co-working agents meeting up for a job. Showing up in your civilian attire, changing into your "work clothes", then hoping into your suped up car and heading off into Eastern Block Europe to meet with your contact. Of course, that's when all hell breaks loose, and you get to battle the up and coming European gangs.

Read the whole article here.

HensenLiros

hahahah

Supernerd

Im kinda disappointed. i was hoping for it to be a James Bond mmorpg and be called Double Agent Online or something.

I mean i think it would have been a better direction to go because everyone knows

James Bond pwns.

BadSpock

It may be interesting, though, with as much faith *cough* as I have in SOE *cough*

 

 

Mr.Wizard

ugh.. do they really have use that word 'exciting' everywhere? Personally im getting sick and tired of it. Most of the time (so far) there is nothing to be really excited about as well.

That said, i dont think i will play it but (for the love of god) when they do work it out well, it could be a very decent game and could give some hope to the future of SOE's games.

davvin

it sounds pretty interesting, if done right it could be really cool, I was just thinking the other day how cool it would be to have a MMORPG made of like "Alias" or something along those lines. hopefully SOE has learned from their previous mistakes and make this game good. always good to see more MMORPG's that aren't the normal fantasy, I'll have to keep an eye on this one.

JYCowboy

Originally posted by Supernerd

Im kinda disappointed. i was hoping for it to be a James Bond mmorpg and be called Double Agent Online or something.

I mean i think it would have been a better direction to go because everyone knows

James Bond pwns.

I would think of films such as "True Lies" and "Mission Impossible" for an MMO context.  Keep Group play in mind for this.

 

EDIT: Real Mission Impossible that was on TV, not a Tom Cruise showboat vehical. 

korvass

I'm gonna keep this short, and childish:



The Agency:

Hell.



Yes.

Myrdinn

Hrm, build one's own agency. Have npc agents. That might be interesting, on a logistical level. Heck, minigames, too; hrm. Wonder if one of those npc agents can find a stacked deck...

 

But, SOE? hrmpf. I'm still smarting over too many years of SWG... very little trust, here.

peacekraft

Sounds like a good idea, dont know how it will work group based unless players can take on more innactive logistical roles.

 

Reklaw

Does have a nice look, something does remind me of MxO and some splintercell co-op type of things but quicker. So far doesn't really look disapponted, actualy looks pretty promising, hey time will tell

http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=16057&type=mov&pl=game

 

Ciredric

Sounds like the game has prospects, but then again, SOE will find a way to screw it up.

Also dumb to put it on the playstation.  MMO's do not work well on consoles and the xbox is by far the better console.

I will wait until they break down and have a free trial, not wasting money on any game from SOE until I know it is half decent.

Supernerd

Will this game be niche?

Are they aiming for a huge huge playerbase?

The screen shot of that spygurl does look really nice but,

Arnold Schwarzenegger,Tom Cruise,and even that Alias chick, were not licensed to kill.



James Bond was. Let's see,I got my drivers license,I got my fishing license,...

oh yeah, here's my license to shoot you.

mUahahahaHaha



Let's not forget,007 was the #1 womanizor/lady's man too.



As for interdependence; they could just put Brad McQuaid on the project.

I'm sure Brad could handle a non high-fantasy type mmorpg and it would be good for everyone;

 'cause he is a creative genius and a brilliant game designer.



I hope SoE wasn't too 'cheap' to buy the Bond name.

It would have been worth it.

There's a new Bond movie coming out in a year or so and it would have been perfect,



I hope they decided to go with the generic spy theme in hopes that they will gather a bigger fan base,

But that goes against what they said they were gonna do.

Which is now, to spit out ton of niche mmorpgs and try to retake the market by sheer volume of  mmorpg games they have.



I hope they make it a part of their All Access online package.

Bountytaker

So, they demoed it on May 9th....

And there was a full page preview in PC Gamer's July edition (which came out in May)...

 

but this is news to mmorpg.com?

 

 

Not exactly up to date, wouldn't you say.

cerebrix

Originally posted by Reklaw

Does have a nice look, something does remind me of MxO and some splintercell co-op type of things but quicker. So far doesn't really look disapponted, actualy looks pretty promising, hey time will tell
http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=16057&type=mov&pl=game
 

thats because the game was done at soe seattle. home of the mxo team

Stradden

Originally posted by Bountytaker


So, they demoed it on May 9th....
And there was a full page preview in PC Gamer's July edition (which came out in May)...
 
but this is news to mmorpg.com?
 
 
Not exactly up to date, wouldn't you say.

Actually, just as a point-of-note, Joe was at Gamer Day on may 9th, as were many other members of the gaming media. SOE placed an embargo on the information until its release today.



So, yes, it is up-to-date and yes, the official announcement of a new MMORPG from a major publisher is indeed news to any gaming website.



Hope that clears things up.

cerebrix

You give mmo gamers more credit than i do. id never assume most of them know what an embargo is.

Thasri

Cheese

AutemOx

The behind the scenes video made this game look ridiculously good to the point that theres no possible way it wont disappoint me now



Did you ever realize theres no mmos at all cept for auto assault that has real cars as vehicles?    Weird huh?  It'll be nice to see it in this one.  I wonder if the cinematics we saw in that video are in game cinematics or are just lame trailer movies    They certainly arent actual game play.

Alienovrlord

Nice to see a MMORPG exploring new settings, evolution is always good.  I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

SioBabble

It's sad, but understandable, that many have commented that "SOE will find a way to screw it up".

I'm not sure how this will work out, frankly, because the problem with covert activities is that it's not very smart, realistically, for you to yell "lol I pwned u!" when trying to be stealthy.

Building a spy network could be fun, but I think that the market for people who find this to be fun is not your WoW demographic, which creates all sorts of problems for SOE, who envy Bilzzard so badly that they'll butcher any property they can get their hands on to make it more like WoW, in the hopes of getting those sweet, sweet subscription numbers.

LifePositive

As long as SOE takes something for their little "problem" with premature ejaculation and actually finishes this thing, it's probably going to be really freaking cool. I'm glad they came up with something original instead of ripping off a license from a movie... that would SUCK. This is what Microsoft's Shadowrun SHOULD have been.



And I'm really digging the slick, stylistic graphics. Reminds me of the new Team Fortress or No One Lives Forever. Nice.

goingwylde

Originally posted by JYCowboy

Originally posted by Supernerd

Im kinda disappointed. i was hoping for it to be a James Bond mmorpg and be called Double Agent Online or something.

I mean i think it would have been a better direction to go because everyone knows

James Bond pwns.

I would think of films such as "True Lies" and "Mission Impossible" for an MMO context.  Keep Group play in mind for this.

 

EDIT: Real Mission Impossible that was on TV, not a Tom Cruise showboat vehical. 

Why group play?  In the movies doesnt the super agent alwasy work alone?  Execpt for the super sexy female side-kick  I never mind teaming up with those.   Hope the gameplay is there on this one.  Id love to see soem "Tenchu"esque stealth missions, wish they had more than 2 classes though.

freethinker

nice.  cant' wait to see how it is after the New Game Enhancements. 

xPaladin

SOE's insistence on grind-based games will make this one a stinker through and through. It's not surprising that it came from the MxO team as it really sounds like a souped up (and IMHO should actually be) MxO. I'd be willing to bet it will play out almost identically.

Eridanix

     There are no elven nor kick-the-dog gnomes. Even SOE make good things sometimes.