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BioWare MMO FACT: NOT A RUMOR!!!
DeaconX
Member UncommonPosts: 3,062
OCTOBER 21, 2008, Historical day of...
http://www.swtor.com/index.php
JULY 17th Update
http://www.endsights.com/?p=85
BIOWARE MMORPG FACTS – UPDATED!
JULY 10. 2008
---------------------------
BREAKING NEWS:
http://www.looking4group.com/forums/showthread.php?t=322
Sean Dahlberg of Stray Bullet Games (Shadowbane) has been hired by BioWare as the community manager for the MMORPG studio in Austin, TX. With this news, we can hopefully look forward to learning much more about the game soon.
Updated: Jan.21.08:
LucasArts hiring an Executive Producesr - Online Business Unit
http://jobs.gamesondeck.com/jobseekerx/viewjobrss.asp?cjid=13777&accountno=260
"Originally posted by ssnautilus
WHO?
NEWSFLASH 30th OCTOBER:
Bioware + LucasArts sign up for "Ground-Breaking Interactive Entertainment Product":
LucasArtsBioware.com
This news is verified thru the Bioware site directly:
Bioware News
And at the LucasArts site:
LucasArts Press
"SAN FRANCISCO, CA and EDMONTON, CANADA -- October 30, 2007 -- LucasArts and BioWare Corp. today announced that they have entered into an agreement to create an interactive entertainment product. The product, details of which will be unveiled at a later date, will be developed and published by BioWare and LucasArts, and will push the boundaries of the gaming market by utilizing the strengths of both companies to deliver an innovative, high-quality experience.
"LucasArts has a deep commitment to developing compelling stories and characters for the unique medium of interactive entertainment, and we have been searching for a developer that shares this value. We found this in BioWare," said Jim Ward, president of LucasArts. "Through our previous collaborations, we know that BioWare has an impressive ability to blend gripping stories with technological advancements, and we believe that our upcoming product will deliver an experience that will span the traditional boundaries of video game entertainment."
"BioWare's mission is to deliver the best story and character-driven games in the world, delivering powerful emotional experiences to our fans." said Ray Muzyka, chief executive officer, BioWare Corp. Added Greg Zeschuk, president of BioWare Corp., "The collaboration with LucasArts allows us to combine our passion for creating high quality and innovative experiences with those of a company dedicated to bringing only the finest games to market."
Things are looking up! Still not sure whether it is a Star Wars/KotOR MMO or something along the lines of MASS EFFECT."
-On March 13, 2006, BioWare announced that they opened a new studio in Austin, Texas headed by industry veterans Gordon Walton and Richard Vogel, which is already working on developing an MMORPG.
-EA announced an agreement with Elevation Partners to acquire VG Holding Corp, owners of both BioWare and Pandemic Studios
-Licensor Liaison job was posted by BioWare Austin a while back. One of the job requirements was a strong familiarity with PC AND console markets.
-Damion Schubert is the lead combat designer for the BioWare MMO. His blog: http://www.zenofdesign.com/
Event Processing Engine Part 1 - http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199902853
The Engine - http://www.play.net/playdotnet/platform/home.asp
Prepetual's Service Backbone - http://www.perpetual.com/platform/
SPECULATION: PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
- Riccitiello used to work for EA, left and co-founded Elevation Partners, which in 2005 bought BioWare. Now, he is back at EA as the CEO and bought BioWare back from his old company. (You cant serve God and the Mammon, ahd he knows whom he serves, apparently.)
-LucasArts rep raised another interesting possibility--that another Star Wars MMORPG could be in the works. "We have had several developers approach us expressing interest in developing a future Star Wars online game," said the rep. (emphasis in the original.) However, if any such game is in the works, it will be a long time until it surfaces. "As of right now, it hasn't gone anything beyond that (that is, no conversations, no serious talks, no pitches, etc.)," assured the rep.
- (12/05) A few press releases about kotor3 were leaked and quickly dismissed by Bioware as a hoax. Not to mention an interview with the writer for the kotor comic series, John Jackson MIller, that also came out in December '05 stating: "there’s going to be another Knights of the Old Republic video game for sure."
source - last paragraph http://www.newsarama.com/DarkHorsenew/StarWars/Knights/MillerKotOR.htm
-While BioWare has made no comments about the Star Wars MMORPG rumors, neither LucasArts nor SOE have said anything to discredit it.
- Insiders knowing that Bioware being in production with another Star Wars MMO could be responsible for all the rumors flying around in early 2006 that SOE was loosing the Star Wars license, which may not be so false after all. I hate to think of SWG's player numbers in 2009. That would be 10 years since SWG started production and could also very well be the end of the SWG/SOE license contract with Lucas Arts, just in time for its replacement.
Source - http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2586&Itemid=2
Source - http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=15841
-NOT A D&D TITLE: Scott Rouse, SR. Brand Manager - Dungeons & Dragons
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On July 3rd, 2008, LucasFilm filed for trademarks for the following:
- Star Wars The Old Republic
- Star Wars Sagas
- Star Wars Legends
The trademarks have been registered for “Entertainment services provided on-line by means of global and local area networks, namely, providing interactive computer game software, interactive video game software and interactive computer games and interactive video games, all on-line by means of global and local area networks”
You can view a screenshot of the trademark for “Star Wars the Old Republic” here. It is important to note that these trademarks were registered in the same way as the trademark for “Star Wars Galaxies”. These are officially registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It appears that at least one of these titles may be used to create a new online Star Wars game. “The Old Republic” title makes me think about that KOTOR MMO everyone’s been talking about.
Credit for the screenshot and discovery of “The Old Republic” title goes to the website StarWarsUniverse.com
In an interview with Portfolio.com, EA CEO John Riccitiello confirmed that BioWare was working on a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game, and it would “certainly have a massively multiplayer online component to it.”
Riccitiello also states that the KOTOR MMO will “sidestep the consoles owned by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo,” presumably making it a PC exclusive.
To all the KOTOR fans–excited? Or would you rather have another single-player experience?
================================================
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
Comments
IMO they are going to move a lot of people over to Ultima Online Kingdom Reborn in hopes of resparking a steady amount of subsciptions for that game.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
some more facts:
- Riccitiello used to work for EA, left and co-founded Elevation Partners, which in 2005 bought BioWare. Now, he is back at EA as the CEO and bought BioWare back from his old company. (You cant serve God and the Mammon, ahd he knows whom he serves, apparently.)
- in one of the recent interviews on Gamespot with one of those responsible guys, Ray Myzuka, said, the Bioware MMO "got all the characters and story arc that BioWare is known for"
www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/masseffect/news.html
- EA has so far vaporized almost all corporations it acquired, and most game series and traditions were not taken up: Origin (Ultima, Wing Commander), Westwood (Lands of Lore, only Command & Conquer is continued), Bullfrog (Dungeon Keeoper), Maxis (Sim City and Sims all now are just "EA".)
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
What are you talking about? UO has already been handed off to Mythic. They are the ones that finished Kingdom Reborn. EA and Mythic are the ones in charge of the future development of UO.
Maxis still has there logo on the box of all Sim games they created. They just keep getting smaller and smaller. SimCity DS and MySims(Wii) are the only two Sim games not made by Maxis. And you have the current SimCity Societies being done by an outside developer.
On June 5, 2007, 1Up.com released an article stating that Tilted Mill Entertainment, creator of Caesar IV, would create SimCity Societies instead of Maxis, which has been creating all preceding titles. Rob Humble, head of the Sims Division at EA, said they had met Tilted Mill at E3. Because the ideas EA/Maxis had were too complicated to fit in their current line-up, Maxis referred to EA to solve the problem, who in turn, asked Tilted Mill to create the game instead. Will Wright said in an interview that he had to much on his plate at the moment to deal with another huge project(refering to SimCity). But he would still be in a consulting role for both Sim games. Like he was for the 2 Sim games that have been built outside the company.
Major EA Acquisitions(All are still running today)
Criterion Games (Acquired in 2004) (They were in huge debt at the time)
Digital Illusions CE (Acquired in 2004)
EA Black Box (Black Box Games) (Acquired in 2002)
EA Canada (formerly Distinctive Software)(Acquired in 1991)
EA Los Angeles (formerly DreamWorks Interactive) (Acquired in 2000)
EA Mythic (Acquired in 2006)
EA Salt Lake (Headgate Studios) (Acquired 2006 but making games for EA since 2000)
EA Tiburon (Acquired 1998)
Maxis Software (Acquired in 1997) (They were in debt at the time)
Westwood studio was merged into EA Pacific(later EALA) not closed down. Alot of the developers moved into EA Los Angeles and continued making the C&C series for EA. The others started Petroglyph. Which is great since we now get C&C and new games like Star Wars: Empire at War and there newest game Universe at War: Earth Assault(which is a blast).
Bullfrog became EA UK with some of the staff sticking around. The others formed Lionhead Studios. Which turned out to be a great thing for gamers. Lionhead brought use Black & White 2, Fable, and the upcoming Fable 2. By the way Bullfrog was in the hole finicially in 94 and EA bailed them out. The next year they bought them outright.
And I don't have much to say about Origin. Except that they were shopping themselves around and EA bought them up. What did you expect them to do? Let Sierra or one of the other Publishers buy them? And the members that didn't stay at EA went on to create new studios that had some decent games. Digital Anvil created Freelancer before Microsoft closed them down. Destination Games which I still have hope something good comes from them...not TR. And Ion Storm created Deus Ex & Thief: Deadly Shadows.
They have acquired over 24 studios since 1991. And they have only closed 8 studios since then. With most just getting absorbed into the EA family. Morale of the story if you can't bring in cash for a Publisher you will not stay around long in this industry. Its not just EA that does this look at Activision, T2, etc.
---------------
Tested over a 115+ games since 1997.
Currently Playing:
Played(Retired): AOL NWN(91-95), UO, EQ1/2, DAoC, CoX, Lineage1/2, SWG(Pre CU/NGE), Planetside, Anarchy Online, FFXI, AC, Vanguard, D&D, AoC, DCUO, Rift, Eve, others
Is there still going to be a Bioware MMO?
Thats a good question. And one I don't think anyone can really answer at this point. But I would guess if WAR is a success than the Bioware MMO could get scrapped. If EA doesn't think WAR will be the top notch MMO than I think they will let Bioware finish there MMO.
But at this point in time Bioware is going forward with there MMO. And its still to early to tell what EA will do when they have control over them.
---------------
Tested over a 115+ games since 1997.
Currently Playing:
Played(Retired): AOL NWN(91-95), UO, EQ1/2, DAoC, CoX, Lineage1/2, SWG(Pre CU/NGE), Planetside, Anarchy Online, FFXI, AC, Vanguard, D&D, AoC, DCUO, Rift, Eve, others
I think the MMO they are developing is a part of the reason EA wanted in before the game releases without them - It's apparently already at a playable level [Devs played it] so it would be a waste to cut it... PLUS if it is Star Wars / Mass Effect or any other sci-fi, they would want to keep it for people looking for a Sci-Fi mmo while WAR takes on WoW in fantasy...
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
Thats a good question. And one I don't think anyone can really answer at this point. But I would guess if WAR is a success than the Bioware MMO could get scrapped. If EA doesn't think WAR will be the top notch MMO than I think they will let Bioware finish there MMO.
But at this point in time Bioware is going forward with there MMO. And its still to early to tell what EA will do when they have control over them.
I think the MMO was the prime reason to buy Bioware. if you see they got $860 MILLION! over $600 of that in CASH, you can imagine EA expects Bioware to make a killer MMO. No mere NWN 3 or BG3 would bring back such amounts of money. One of the EA guys said they expect to get back the money in 2009-2011, and Bioware always hinted the MMO is to be released in 2009. Only a MMO can pay such money, I guess, so at least EA believes the Bioware MMO will be great, and it will be for the mass market, so not some Vanguard II or Everquest III, but something along the WOW/LOTRO lines.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
I love the idea of a Bioware Star Wars MMO.
I fear the unholy alliance that may spawn a Madden D&D Football Melee 2009.
HAHAHA thanks for that visual lol. I'm fairly confident it IS Star Wars... so confident I made this sig a good while ago as prophecy lol
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
HAHAHA thanks for that visual lol. I'm fairly confident it IS Star Wars... so confident I made this sig a good while ago as prophecy lol
SOE has the rights to a online star wars games and they have already stated it would not require a liscine which would mean no star wars. and if the lisciese had swtiched from SOE to Bioware i dont think swg would be allowed to run anymore since SOE would no longer have the rights to the star wars name.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day.
And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
HAHAHA thanks for that visual lol. I'm fairly confident it IS Star Wars... so confident I made this sig a good while ago as prophecy lol
SOE has the rights to a online star wars games and they have already stated it would not require a liscine which would mean no star wars. and if the lisciese had swtiched from SOE to Bioware i dont think swg would be allowed to run anymore since SOE would no longer have the rights to the star wars name.
No, liscences are usually given for SPECIFIC areas and timelines. For example, Bioware once got the D&D licencse for Faerun Sword Coast and nothing else, so other companies could get other parts of Faerun or other worlds of D&D.
So Lucasart CAN give SOE the rights for a MMO in the 1st movie trilogy and STILL give Bioware the lisence for a KOTOR era MMO.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
HAHAHA thanks for that visual lol. I'm fairly confident it IS Star Wars... so confident I made this sig a good while ago as prophecy lol
SOE has the rights to a online star wars games and they have already stated it would not require a liscine which would mean no star wars. and if the lisciese had swtiched from SOE to Bioware i dont think swg would be allowed to run anymore since SOE would no longer have the rights to the star wars name.
No, liscences are usually given for SPECIFIC areas and timelines. For example, Bioware once got the D&D licencse for Faerun Sword Coast and nothing else, so other companies could get other parts of Faerun or other worlds of D&D.
So Lucasart CAN give SOE the rights for a MMO in the 1st movie trilogy and STILL give Bioware the lisence for a KOTOR era MMO.
You are right and wrong at the same time. Most licenses do not just cover a specific area or timeline. Not saying that those deals are not ever made. Just that there not the normal deals you see. Remember video games companies are all about sequels or expansion packs. Kinda hard when you have a contract like you propose. You can only make so many sequels for a specific time or place. Then things begin to get stale and old.
I can not say what type of license LA gave Sony for SWG. But I would bet it was an exclusive deal or a timed contract. If it was not SOE would not of accepted it. It would be bad business for them not to get those terms into the contract. Remember MMOs cost a lot of money. I am leaning towards a timed exclusive that LA has done before. So going by that Star Wars MMO is in contract until at least 2010, probably more like 2015 though. But we can always hope its KOTOR online. But I expect it to be something in the Mass Effect universe. Thats what I would be building if I was in charge of Bioware.
You have Bioware that has said many times they will only be working on original IPs. They have said this in the past 5 months all over there forums. So going by that alone its not KOTOR or anything Star Wars. Also Bioware and LA have not been on the same page in years. There the reason Bioware enacted there original IP rule. LA is a pain to work with and Bioware knows that first hand. I don't expect they would ever work with them again.
And I will say I think your right about the main reason to buy Bioware was for the MMO. But Mass Effect and there other IPs didn't hurt them either. But that still does not mean that they will ever release the game. Looking back on old EA business its easy to visualize this scenario. Remember Ultima Worlds Online: Origin and Ultima X: Odyssey? They were scrapped cause EA feared the competition of there other MMOs. I'm going to quote myself from my earlier response.
"Thats a good question. And one I don't think anyone can really answer at this point. But I would guess if WAR is a success than the Bioware MMO could get scrapped. If EA doesn't think WAR will be the top notch MMO than I think they will let Bioware finish there MMO.
But at this point in time Bioware is going forward with there MMO. And its still to early to tell what EA will do when they have control over them."
I had a lot of other info to type. Just no time this morning. Football game to attend.
---------------
Tested over a 115+ games since 1997.
Currently Playing:
Played(Retired): AOL NWN(91-95), UO, EQ1/2, DAoC, CoX, Lineage1/2, SWG(Pre CU/NGE), Planetside, Anarchy Online, FFXI, AC, Vanguard, D&D, AoC, DCUO, Rift, Eve, others
Well, the chance of a Bioware MMO got either a lot higher, or a lot lower. EA announced they have bought Bioware. A bad day for gamers.
That's actually been mentioned since the first post and has been in discussion nearly since ;^). Read up and see where you stand.
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
My friend thinks it will be a Jade Empire MMO.../shrug.
Could be I suppose but I would much rather have it be Sci-Fi personally... JE seems too limited too... Mass Effect, you have a whole new universe ... SW whole universe with huge established following... D&D based ones........ it could be but I wouldn't really wanna see another fantasy mmo.... then again, if BioWare made one it really wouldn't be just 'another' fantasy mmo
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
ever since i read in EGM that the Bioware and LEC split was less than friendly i would be totally comfortable saying the chance of bioware making a SW mmo is zero.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
http://rlmmo.com/viewtopic.php?p=39165
IF anyone does have a link, pls post it - ty.
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
Could be I suppose but I would much rather have it be Sci-Fi personally... JE seems too limited too... Mass Effect, you have a whole new universe ... SW whole universe with huge established following... D&D based ones........ it could be but I wouldn't really wanna see another fantasy mmo.... then again, if BioWare made one it really wouldn't be just 'another' fantasy mmo
Actually, allthough a new SW MMO would be awesome, JE seems awesome. It's not nearly as limited as you would think. I'll just assume that you haven't played it, so that I can simplify my argument. The background story is epic (spanning years of conquest and politics), there's enough side lore to make an epic MMO (the northern horselord tribes, the lotus monks, Phoenix Gate, the far East, etc). They have the culture of the Jade Empire's regions really developed (You can tell that people are different by more than physical appearance). I would even that most of this is done better than Star Wars. Not to mention that having martial, weapon, support, chi, and transformation styles would make for some unique gameplay. It would make PvP awesome if it were like the Jade Empire RPG too, it would emphasize groups of up to 5 on 5 combat, which would be incredibly fun, because it would be action based. They have room for a good crafting system and Weapon Masters as a class, or they could even work out a good skill based system. By the lore it would all work. I seem to have gotten carried away. I guess I'll summarize here, SW would be sweet, but JE would be awesome.
Cool
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
Was never a fan of Jade Empire...couldnt get into it. I guess its just b/c im not a fan of Asian themes and find it hard to like them. Maybe I would like a MMO version of it...would give it a shot for sure.
So many people are gonna be sad if its not a Star Wars MMO though, will be semi funny to watch though. (myself included ^^)
http://rlmmo.com/viewtopic.php?p=39165
IF anyone does have a link, pls post it - ty.
didnt have a link had the real magazine. was the issue where JE got reviewed a few weeks before release.
the guy asked why make JE not Kotor 2 and the bioware guy said they walked away from LEC in less than friendly circumstances and that they would not be working with IP other than their own in the future.
on their own forums they claim they are not working with other companies IP's in several places ( not hard to find)
I know bioware can make a great game but i am 100% confident in my belief that there will not be a SWMMO from bioware or kotor 3 from bioware, they are done with LEC and have never even hinted that they are back on friendly terms with LEC.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
http://rlmmo.com/viewtopic.php?p=39165
IF anyone does have a link, pls post it - ty.
didnt have a link had the real magazine. was the issue where JE got reviewed a few weeks before release.
the guy asked why make JE not Kotor 2 and the bioware guy said they walked away from LEC in less than friendly circumstances and that they would not be working with IP other than their own in the future.
on their own forums they claim they are not working with other companies IP's in several places ( not hard to find)
I know bioware can make a great game but i am 100% confident in my belief that there will not be a SWMMO from bioware or kotor 3 from bioware, they are done with LEC and have never even hinted that they are back on friendly terms with LEC.
Just after it was announced they were working on an MMO, one of the developers posted on their forum that Bioware focusing only on their own IPs was no longer the case. Not that I think they are working on a Star Wars MMO, but if LEC tossed enough money their way, I have no doubt they would work with them again (though the EA deal makes that much less likely).
it is he-man.
www.youtube.com/watch
what was the sci-fi game mythic dropped to focus on conan? the romans of the future thing ...
i wouldnt mind seeing that picked up by Bw if they are indeed working on other IP's ( i did see that when i went back, you are right that the IP thing only applies to their other games not the MMO)
Tho the bw job listing for devs at the time when austin opened was for fantasy based devs ... so im guessing we are gonna see another romp thru the forest to find a cave to slay a dragon thing ... with elves.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.