Why is everyone hung up on KotOR? What makes anyone think that the aspects of the game that made it a great/fun/duck single player game would translate well, if at all, to an MMO format?
Or is it some naive belief that, despite a decade of evidence to the contrary, Bioware will suddenly be the devs that magically do everything right?
M'kay where to start...
People are hung up on KOTOR because the first game by BioWare (second one is not BioWare, but Obsidian Entertainment) is possibly the best Star Wars story ever written having sold I think over 3 million copies and was praised by pretty much everyone.
Why would it translate well to MMO? Because KOTOR is not a game or a story, it is an ERA. A time period in the Star Wars universe. 'Knights of the Old Republic' is a HUGE and largely unexplored area in Star Wars lore/history allowing developers a LOT more freedom of creativity than SWG did which was set in a 'set in stone/this already happened' period where the end result was known to everyone. During the KOTOR timeline, there is literally a universe of troubles, adventures and options.
And I have no bloody clue what you mean by "some naive belief that, despite a decade of evidence to the contrary, Bioware will suddenly be the devs that magically do everything right?" because BioWare are most possibly THE finest RPG Developers in the industry... worth almost a Billion dollars it would seem.
Hope that helped.
As for naivity, you illustrate my point perfectly. Just because Bioware made a couple of solid single player RPGs doesn't mean that they will be able to make a good MMO. Yet people seem to insist that because it's Bioware, the game will not suffer from all the other myriad problems all the other MMOs before it suffered. And all the technical limitations as well.
Uhh... Bioware is the Blizzard of single-player cRPGs (unfortunately Black Isle is no longer with us, may god rest their soul). Bioware has just as much experience making online games as Blizzard did before World of Warcraft (compare Neverwinter Nights to Battle.net).
I think Blizzard has shown that non-MMO developers are capable of completely dominating the market from companies that are supposed to be all about MMOs (SOE, Turbine, Mythic, etc.)
Basically...you could replace Bioware with Blizzard in your paragraph and it would show you how ridiculous your sentiments are.
Of course...that all ignores the potential for EA to royally screw up Bioware's level of quality, but we'll just hope that doesn't happen.
Of course...that all ignores the potential for EA to royally screw up Bioware's level of quality, but we'll just hope that doesn't happen.
Let's just pray that they won't meddle. Luckily there is evidence that they may have actually learned a thing or two; when EA bought out Mythic they actually gave them additional TIME and MONEY to make the game better.
This also kind of gives a bit of support to the KOTOR theory. Why would EA buy a company out for almost a billion dollars if they were making another fantasy based MMO to compete with their own fantasy based MMO?
Of course...that all ignores the potential for EA to royally screw up Bioware's level of quality, but we'll just hope that doesn't happen.
Let's just pray that they won't meddle. Luckily there is evidence that they may have actually learned a thing or two; when EA bought out Mythic they actually gave them additional TIME and MONEY to make the game better.
This also kind of gives a bit of support to the KOTOR theory. Why would EA buy a company out for almost a billion dollars if they were making another fantasy based MMO to compete with their own fantasy based MMO?
true, it realy seems like every evidence we find majority of them lead to a kotor mmo.
It won't be Forgotten Realms, or any of the other old D&D campaign settings, as WotC have a hardon for their new setting that they forced on DDO. Plus, I don't see them allowing competing D&D MMOs. Same thing goes for Star Wars. Also in response to the Bioware bumpfuzzle festival: Lucas Arts. Say it in the dark five times, and you'll get hit in the head with a crappy game. I doubt it's Mass Effect, as tieing your MMO to an unproven IP from an unreleased game would be the acme of foolishness. Being that we're talking about an MMO development, though, that also makes it the most likely... Could be the Fallout MMO, I suppose. Who knows, it could be some Barbie Dressup gamespace weirdness like Raph is saying is the future...
Actually, Turbine has only licensed Eberron and Forgotten Realms is the official campaign for DnD 4.0 (just like Eberron was the official campaign for DnD 3.5 and Greyhawk was for 3.0). Eberrron was an attempt at WotC to make more money as everyone was simply self-converting all their old FR material. It failed and they are now admitting it by going back to FR.
As for SW, LA controls the license and retains an enormously tight iron grip on it. I am certain they only licensed the Galactic Civil War period for an MMO to SOE.
Regarding your comments on Mass Effect, they make no sense. At the time the MMO was announced Bioware was indenpendent and why not make their IP into an MMO. They could tell the ground swell of excitement that has been building so it would be a safe bet for them.
Not going to be Fallout as Bethesda now owns those rights.
Barbie Dressup could be the dark horse here, that must be it!
As for the sum of all your posts in this thread it seems more like you are trying to either stir controversy or discussion. My guess is you're just trolling.
Regardless of what theme they go with, I am quite convinced that EA is after a piece of the WoW pie and will consequently push for yet another shallow, anti-social, itemized grindfest game that we have seen for the past several years.
anyone else thinks that all these little rumors and sudden unknown sources are a planned publicity stunt on the internet by bioware to hype it up even more? If it is from what it looks like on this site they are doing a good job so far.
Bioware have been known to make awesome, AWESOME, RPG's. The fact that they are making a new MMORPG is enough to build up hype. The fact that they have managed to keep it so secret for so long is just adding fuel to the fire.
All I want at this point in time is an announcement and an official community forum to text-cry tears of joy with other Bioware fans.
Not going to be Fallout as Bethesda now owns those rights.
Technically Interplay owns the MMORPG Fallout rights, but with heavy oversight from Bethesda. So in theory they could get Bioware to make the Fallout MMO. However, afaik Interplay is still looking for even start-up funding from investors (not to mention the deal in which Bethesda outright bought the Fallout rights only happened recently, long after Bioware announced their MMO).
Bethesda will get the rights back if Interplay fails to find funding by 2009 or something like that (don't remember the exact details).
What we heard: In March 2006, veteran Canadian developer BioWare announced it was opening a satellite studio in Austin, Texas to prep a mysterious massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Within minutes of the announcement, rumors were already flying that the top-secret project was the third installment in the award-winning Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series.
Such speculation was fueled further by the fact lead designer James Ohlen performed the same duties on the original KOTOR and several senior members of the studio worked on the Star Wars MMORPG Star Wars: Galaxies. Also, right around the time of the BioWare announcement, Star Wars license holder LucasArts confirmed that it was approached by developers about working an all-new Star Wars MMORPG, but declined to elaborate.
However, rumors of a KOTOR MMORPG petered out, thanks to BioWare's successful attempts to keep virtually every detail about the game under wraps. Now though, they are back, thanks to Primotechnology's claims--which are the first to directly cite a source with knowledge of BioWare Austin's inner workings.
"A source close to BioWare confirmed to us today that the studio's upcoming untitled massively-multiplayer online RPG will be centered around the Star Wars universe, specifically that of Knights of the Old Republic, which the developer released in 2003," read the report. Primotechnology went on to point out the popularity of Star Wars: Galaxies--which was released in 2003 and drastically revised in 2005--is waning. "It's estimated that the game now has fewer than 100,000 subscribers and less than 20,000 active players," said the site without sourcing the numbers.
The official story: In a recent interview, BioWare co-CEOs Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk steadfastly refused to comment on their MMORPG's subject matter (although they did say it was already in playable form). LucasArts followed suit. "LucasArts doesn't comment on rumors or speculation," said the PR rep tasked with handling the publisher's MMORPG efforts.
Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus that anything's been officially confirmed. And with only Primotechnology's word to go on, there's not enough for a concrete call either way. One thing is for certain, though: A KOTOR MMORPG would be huge. Besides being the stuff of nerd fantasies, the game would have a good chance of stealing away weary World of Warcraft players by offering both a sci-fi MMORPG alternative and BioWare's impeccable pedigree.
It's also worth noting that when Electronic Arts bought BioWare/Pandemic for $860 million earlier this month, it cited the BioWare MMORPG as one of the three main motivators for the deal. Ironically, such an arrangement could see EA developing a game for sometime-rival LucasArts--which it dwarfs in size--to publish.
Doesn't it seem a little odd to anyone that Lucas Arts does not outright DENY and DESTROY this rumor? You would think they would want to 'assure' the people, both those currently playing SWG and those who could be waiting for a better option that may not exist yet, that their partnership with SONY is still stong and SWG 'IS THE SW MMORPG. PERIOD.' [So play that and quit the rumor nonsense!]..... yet they DON'T stand up for SWG, Sony or the future of Star Wars mmorpg. Hmmm.... could just be me!
Why do I write, create, fantasize, dream and daydream about other worlds? Because I hate what humanity does with this one.
Uhh... Bioware is the Blizzard of single-player cRPGs (unfortunately Black Isle is no longer with us, may god rest their soul). Bioware has just as much experience making online games as Blizzard did before World of Warcraft (compare Neverwinter Nights to Battle.net).
I think Blizzard has shown that non-MMO developers are capable of completely dominating the market from companies that are supposed to be all about MMOs (SOE, Turbine, Mythic, etc.) Basically...you could replace Bioware with Blizzard in your paragraph and it would show you how ridiculous your sentiments are. Of course...that all ignores the potential for EA to royally screw up Bioware's level of quality, but we'll just hope that doesn't happen.
You're missing the point. Bioware makes great games, yes. And KOTOR is an amazing game. However, just because it's Bioware doesn't mean that their MMO will deliver the same amount of character and plot driven depth that their single-player experiences do. Rest assured they'll try--but there is no guarantee how well it will pan out.
Stop for a second and think about every feature you like about KOTOR--what makes it great as a game. Now, take each one of those features, and try to puzzle out how they would work in a multiplayer environment.
There is a good chance that a KOTOR MMO might not turn out to have many similarities to the single player game that everyone loves. To use Blizzard as an example--the gameplay of WoW doesn't really resemble the RTS Warcraft games at all.
Uhh... Bioware is the Blizzard of single-player cRPGs (unfortunately Black Isle is no longer with us, may god rest their soul). Bioware has just as much experience making online games as Blizzard did before World of Warcraft (compare Neverwinter Nights to Battle.net).
I think Blizzard has shown that non-MMO developers are capable of completely dominating the market from companies that are supposed to be all about MMOs (SOE, Turbine, Mythic, etc.) Basically...you could replace Bioware with Blizzard in your paragraph and it would show you how ridiculous your sentiments are. Of course...that all ignores the potential for EA to royally screw up Bioware's level of quality, but we'll just hope that doesn't happen.
You're missing the point. Bioware makes great games, yes. And KOTOR is an amazing game. However, just because it's Bioware doesn't mean that their MMO will deliver the same amount of character and plot driven depth that their single-player experiences do. Rest assured they'll try--but there is no guarantee how well it will pan out.
Stop for a second and think about every feature you like about KOTOR--what makes it great as a game. Now, take each one of those features, and try to puzzle out how they would work in a multiplayer environment.
There is a good chance that a KOTOR MMO might not turn out to have many similarities to the single player game that everyone loves. To use Blizzard as an example--the gameplay of WoW doesn't really resemble the RTS Warcraft games at all.
Just playing devil's advocate.
I dont think has to be about the gameplay, but the lore and universe is whats important just as warcraft turned into WoW.
Originally posted by thepatriotOriginally posted by Coldmeat It won't be Forgotten Realms, or any of the other old D&D campaign settings, as WotC have a hardon for their new setting that they forced on DDO. Plus, I don't see them allowing competing D&D MMOs. Same thing goes for Star Wars. Also in response to the Bioware bumpfuzzle festival: Lucas Arts. Say it in the dark five times, and you'll get hit in the head with a crappy game. I doubt it's Mass Effect, as tieing your MMO to an unproven IP from an unreleased game would be the acme of foolishness. Being that we're talking about an MMO development, though, that also makes it the most likely... Could be the Fallout MMO, I suppose. Who knows, it could be some Barbie Dressup gamespace weirdness like Raph is saying is the future...
Actually, Turbine has only licensed Eberron and Forgotten Realms is the official campaign for DnD 4.0 (just like Eberron was the official campaign for DnD 3.5 and Greyhawk was for 3.0). Eberrron was an attempt at WotC to make more money as everyone was simply self-converting all their old FR material. It failed and they are now admitting it by going back to FR. As for SW, LA controls the license and retains an enormously tight iron grip on it. I am certain they only licensed the Galactic Civil War period for an MMO to SOE. Regarding your comments on Mass Effect, they make no sense. At the time the MMO was announced Bioware was indenpendent and why not make their IP into an MMO. They could tell the ground swell of excitement that has been building so it would be a safe bet for them. Not going to be Fallout as Bethesda now owns those rights. Barbie Dressup could be the dark horse here, that must be it! As for the sum of all your posts in this thread it seems more like you are trying to either stir controversy or discussion. My guess is you're just trolling.
Disagreement with the herd is now trolling. Awesome. My fault, I suppose, for expecting an actual thought out response beyond the usual insults, and smartass replies from fanboy types.
As for Mass Effect. If it tanks, why make an MMO using the same setting? If it'd already been released, and been a huge hit, then yes, I could see dropping an MMO shortly after to take advantage of it's popularity. But given the cost of making a modern MMO, that's one hell of a big risk to take on an unreleased game.
I don't follow D&D anymore, so didn't know they were heading back to FR. While that would make it a bit more likely, I still doubt that it'd be a D&D based MMO, as Bioware seems to want to get away from the D&D license and do their own thing what with Dragon Ages and all. Not sure how it would pan out legally with Turbine having the license to Eberron, and whatever else for DDO. Depends on the wording of Turbines license, I guess.
Actually, Turbine has only licensed Eberron and Forgotten Realms is the official campaign for DnD 4.0 (just like Eberron was the official campaign for DnD 3.5 and Greyhawk was for 3.0). Eberrron was an attempt at WotC to make more money as everyone was simply self-converting all their old FR material. It failed and they are now admitting it by going back to FR.
Oh...I was sure it was a NEW FR, not FR. Much more dragons (to please DragonLance fans) and some stuff from old GH...so a new FR, rather then FR per say (Solamnic Knights and DragonLance in FR?).
At any rate, I will prolly buy 4.0 in may, as I didn't buy much of the 3.0 and 3.5 yet! Some of my friends did buy much of these...
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
I know we've all seen crazy rumors before, but I don't ever recall a rumor about a game getting this much crazy press. The fact that big sites like IGN and GameSpot are picking up on it gives it a tad more weight in my book.
I'm not saying it's a sure thing, just saying I've never seen the rumor mill spin like this.
I have to ask. Why is everyone hung up on KotOR? What makes anyone think that the aspects of the game that made it a great/fun/duck single player game would translate well, if at all, to an MMO format? Or is it some naive belief that, despite a decade of evidence to the contrary, Bioware will suddenly be the devs that magically do everything right?
M'kay where to start...
People are hung up on KOTOR because the first game by BioWare (second one is not BioWare, but Obsidian Entertainment) is possibly the best Star Wars story ever written having sold I think over 3 million copies and was praised by pretty much everyone.
Why would it translate well to MMO? Because KOTOR is not a game or a story, it is an ERA. A time period in the Star Wars universe. 'Knights of the Old Republic' is a HUGE and largely unexplored area in Star Wars lore/history allowing developers a LOT more freedom of creativity than SWG did which was set in a 'set in stone/this already happened' period where the end result was known to everyone. During the KOTOR timeline, there is literally a universe of troubles, adventures and options.
And I have no bloody clue what you mean by "some naive belief that, despite a decade of evidence to the contrary, Bioware will suddenly be the devs that magically do everything right?" because BioWare are most possibly THE finest RPG Developers in the industry... worth almost a Billion dollars it would seem.
Hope that helped.
Not to burst your bubble or anything, but MMO and RPG are two different kinds of games. I'm looking forward to their MMO, but I am not holding my breath.
I dont think has to be about the gameplay, but the lore and universe is whats important just as warcraft turned into WoW.
For you maybe, but the biggest reason KOTOR was a success, and why so many love it, is due to the well developed characters, branching dialogue and involving story. Stuff that just doesn't make its way into MMORPGs.
Mark my words, if the MMO is only KOTOR in name, with WoW and LotRO gameplay except with lightsabers attached, it will not go over well. Not that I'm thinking this is how it will turn out, but still.
You can't just take the KOTOR setting and expect it to be a runaway hit. You have to consider the gameplay elements that made it (as well as every BioWare game) popular.
SWG is a perfect example of what happens when you try to just rely on the setting to get you by.
I dont think has to be about the gameplay, but the lore and universe is whats important just as warcraft turned into WoW.
For you maybe, but the biggest reason KOTOR was a success, and why so many love it, is due to the well developed characters, branching dialogue and involving story. Stuff that just doesn't make its way into MMORPGs.
Mark my words, if the MMO is only KOTOR in name, with WoW and LotRO gameplay except with lightsabers attached, it will not go over well. Not that I'm thinking this is how it will turn out, but still.
You can't just take the KOTOR setting and expect it to be a runaway hit. You have to consider the gameplay elements that made it (as well as every BioWare game) popular.
SWG is a perfect example of what happens when you try to just rely on the setting to get you by.
Well said.
I think it's a must for the next Star Wars MMO to focus on creating a Star Wars feel to the game. They had aspects of it in SWG, but there were little things that really ruined it.
- Not making the Civil War count for something until 2 years into the game. They base the game at the height of the Civil War and yet you could really care less about being a Rebel or Imp.
- Why were the most powerful people in a Star Wars game those that had batons or staffs? I mean seriously, it's like in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. The guy is going all crazy with the two swords and how fancy he looks, and Indy just pulls out his gun and shoots him without really thinking about it.
- Jedi, Jedi, everywhere jedi. You know, for Darth and Palaptine to have wiped out all of the Jedi...you sure see a lot of people running around with lightsabers. This isn't KOTOR, there aren't hundreds....there isn't even 10, Jedi running around. They picked that era of Star Wars to develop a game around, they need to stick to the story line. If they wanted Jedi, they should have picked the KOTOR era.
It doesnt mean the story will not be good. And I am pretty sure bioware is going to do whatever takes to keep the fighting and such real time just like the original game and hopefuly improve it even more. I hate the fact that for some people its impossible for them to think of it as a mmo. And I heard somewhere but dont remember where that this is going to take place 1000 years before the movies which is around Darth Banes time who was the one started the whole take down the republic scheme.
To me the best way to tell a story was the way Final Fantasy 11 did it. The Main Missions were seperated from the normal quest and had cutscenes, and each expansion had its own story kind of like sequels or not related at all from the last but in the same world and the storys were great. I hope if they are making kotor, bioware does something similiar to that or something better.
Comments
People are hung up on KOTOR because the first game by BioWare (second one is not BioWare, but Obsidian Entertainment) is possibly the best Star Wars story ever written having sold I think over 3 million copies and was praised by pretty much everyone.
Why would it translate well to MMO? Because KOTOR is not a game or a story, it is an ERA. A time period in the Star Wars universe. 'Knights of the Old Republic' is a HUGE and largely unexplored area in Star Wars lore/history allowing developers a LOT more freedom of creativity than SWG did which was set in a 'set in stone/this already happened' period where the end result was known to everyone. During the KOTOR timeline, there is literally a universe of troubles, adventures and options.
And I have no bloody clue what you mean by "some naive belief that, despite a decade of evidence to the contrary, Bioware will suddenly be the devs that magically do everything right?" because BioWare are most possibly THE finest RPG Developers in the industry... worth almost a Billion dollars it would seem.
Hope that helped.
As for naivity, you illustrate my point perfectly. Just because Bioware made a couple of solid single player RPGs doesn't mean that they will be able to make a good MMO. Yet people seem to insist that because it's Bioware, the game will not suffer from all the other myriad problems all the other MMOs before it suffered. And all the technical limitations as well.
Uhh... Bioware is the Blizzard of single-player cRPGs (unfortunately Black Isle is no longer with us, may god rest their soul). Bioware has just as much experience making online games as Blizzard did before World of Warcraft (compare Neverwinter Nights to Battle.net).
I think Blizzard has shown that non-MMO developers are capable of completely dominating the market from companies that are supposed to be all about MMOs (SOE, Turbine, Mythic, etc.)
Basically...you could replace Bioware with Blizzard in your paragraph and it would show you how ridiculous your sentiments are.
Of course...that all ignores the potential for EA to royally screw up Bioware's level of quality, but we'll just hope that doesn't happen.
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Life sucks, buy a helmet.
Let's just pray that they won't meddle. Luckily there is evidence that they may have actually learned a thing or two; when EA bought out Mythic they actually gave them additional TIME and MONEY to make the game better.
This also kind of gives a bit of support to the KOTOR theory. Why would EA buy a company out for almost a billion dollars if they were making another fantasy based MMO to compete with their own fantasy based MMO?
If KOTOR a huge ass RPG universe cant turn into an MMO then how did blizzard make the most popular mmo in history from a Real-Time Strategy game.
this was on a different thread but thought it would be more useful here about kotor mmo.
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/49557
Let's just pray that they won't meddle. Luckily there is evidence that they may have actually learned a thing or two; when EA bought out Mythic they actually gave them additional TIME and MONEY to make the game better.
This also kind of gives a bit of support to the KOTOR theory. Why would EA buy a company out for almost a billion dollars if they were making another fantasy based MMO to compete with their own fantasy based MMO?
true, it realy seems like every evidence we find majority of them lead to a kotor mmo.
Actually, Turbine has only licensed Eberron and Forgotten Realms is the official campaign for DnD 4.0 (just like Eberron was the official campaign for DnD 3.5 and Greyhawk was for 3.0). Eberrron was an attempt at WotC to make more money as everyone was simply self-converting all their old FR material. It failed and they are now admitting it by going back to FR.
As for SW, LA controls the license and retains an enormously tight iron grip on it. I am certain they only licensed the Galactic Civil War period for an MMO to SOE.
Regarding your comments on Mass Effect, they make no sense. At the time the MMO was announced Bioware was indenpendent and why not make their IP into an MMO. They could tell the ground swell of excitement that has been building so it would be a safe bet for them.
Not going to be Fallout as Bethesda now owns those rights.
Barbie Dressup could be the dark horse here, that must be it!
As for the sum of all your posts in this thread it seems more like you are trying to either stir controversy or discussion. My guess is you're just trolling.
Regardless of what theme they go with, I am quite convinced that EA is after a piece of the WoW pie and will consequently push for yet another shallow, anti-social, itemized grindfest game that we have seen for the past several years.
anyone else thinks that all these little rumors and sudden unknown sources are a planned publicity stunt on the internet by bioware to hype it up even more? If it is from what it looks like on this site they are doing a good job so far.
Bioware have been known to make awesome, AWESOME, RPG's. The fact that they are making a new MMORPG is enough to build up hype. The fact that they have managed to keep it so secret for so long is just adding fuel to the fire.
All I want at this point in time is an announcement and an official community forum to text-cry tears of joy with other Bioware fans.
Not going to be Fallout as Bethesda now owns those rights.
Technically Interplay owns the MMORPG Fallout rights, but with heavy oversight from Bethesda. So in theory they could get Bioware to make the Fallout MMO. However, afaik Interplay is still looking for even start-up funding from investors (not to mention the deal in which Bethesda outright bought the Fallout rights only happened recently, long after Bioware announced their MMO).Bethesda will get the rights back if Interplay fails to find funding by 2009 or something like that (don't remember the exact details).
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Life sucks, buy a helmet.
BioWare MMORPG confirmed as KOTOR 3?
Source: Little-known game-news site Primotechnology.com.
What we heard: In March 2006, veteran Canadian developer BioWare announced it was opening a satellite studio in Austin, Texas to prep a mysterious massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Within minutes of the announcement, rumors were already flying that the top-secret project was the third installment in the award-winning Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series.
Such speculation was fueled further by the fact lead designer James Ohlen performed the same duties on the original KOTOR and several senior members of the studio worked on the Star Wars MMORPG Star Wars: Galaxies. Also, right around the time of the BioWare announcement, Star Wars license holder LucasArts confirmed that it was approached by developers about working an all-new Star Wars MMORPG, but declined to elaborate.
However, rumors of a KOTOR MMORPG petered out, thanks to BioWare's successful attempts to keep virtually every detail about the game under wraps. Now though, they are back, thanks to Primotechnology's claims--which are the first to directly cite a source with knowledge of BioWare Austin's inner workings.
"A source close to BioWare confirmed to us today that the studio's upcoming untitled massively-multiplayer online RPG will be centered around the Star Wars universe, specifically that of Knights of the Old Republic, which the developer released in 2003," read the report. Primotechnology went on to point out the popularity of Star Wars: Galaxies--which was released in 2003 and drastically revised in 2005--is waning. "It's estimated that the game now has fewer than 100,000 subscribers and less than 20,000 active players," said the site without sourcing the numbers.
The official story: In a recent interview, BioWare co-CEOs Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk steadfastly refused to comment on their MMORPG's subject matter (although they did say it was already in playable form). LucasArts followed suit. "LucasArts doesn't comment on rumors or speculation," said the PR rep tasked with handling the publisher's MMORPG efforts.
Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus that anything's been officially confirmed. And with only Primotechnology's word to go on, there's not enough for a concrete call either way. One thing is for certain, though: A KOTOR MMORPG would be huge. Besides being the stuff of nerd fantasies, the game would have a good chance of stealing away weary World of Warcraft players by offering both a sci-fi MMORPG alternative and BioWare's impeccable pedigree.
It's also worth noting that when Electronic Arts bought BioWare/Pandemic for $860 million earlier this month, it cited the BioWare MMORPG as one of the three main motivators for the deal. Ironically, such an arrangement could see EA developing a game for sometime-rival LucasArts--which it dwarfs in size--to publish.
SOURCE: http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=25996562&sid=6181506
Doesn't it seem a little odd to anyone that Lucas Arts does not outright DENY and DESTROY this rumor? You would think they would want to 'assure' the people, both those currently playing SWG and those who could be waiting for a better option that may not exist yet, that their partnership with SONY is still stong and SWG 'IS THE SW MMORPG. PERIOD.' [So play that and quit the rumor nonsense!]..... yet they DON'T stand up for SWG, Sony or the future of Star Wars mmorpg. Hmmm.... could just be me!
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
still neither confirms or deny from LA
this MMO is %99 KOTOR ONLINE for me.
Stop for a second and think about every feature you like about KOTOR--what makes it great as a game. Now, take each one of those features, and try to puzzle out how they would work in a multiplayer environment.
There is a good chance that a KOTOR MMO might not turn out to have many similarities to the single player game that everyone loves. To use Blizzard as an example--the gameplay of WoW doesn't really resemble the RTS Warcraft games at all.
Just playing devil's advocate.
Stop for a second and think about every feature you like about KOTOR--what makes it great as a game. Now, take each one of those features, and try to puzzle out how they would work in a multiplayer environment.
There is a good chance that a KOTOR MMO might not turn out to have many similarities to the single player game that everyone loves. To use Blizzard as an example--the gameplay of WoW doesn't really resemble the RTS Warcraft games at all.
Just playing devil's advocate.
I dont think has to be about the gameplay, but the lore and universe is whats important just as warcraft turned into WoW.
Disagreement with the herd is now trolling. Awesome.
My fault, I suppose, for expecting an actual thought out response beyond the usual insults, and smartass replies from fanboy types.
As for Mass Effect. If it tanks, why make an MMO using the same setting? If it'd already been released, and been a huge hit, then yes, I could see dropping an MMO shortly after to take advantage of it's popularity. But given the cost of making a modern MMO, that's one hell of a big risk to take on an unreleased game.
I don't follow D&D anymore, so didn't know they were heading back to FR. While that would make it a bit more likely, I still doubt that it'd be a D&D based MMO, as Bioware seems to want to get away from the D&D license and do their own thing what with Dragon Ages and all. Not sure how it would pan out legally with Turbine having the license to Eberron, and whatever else for DDO. Depends on the wording of Turbines license, I guess.
Dragon Age?
I hope it is FR myself.
But whatever happen...
In BioWare we trust, all other pay cash!
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Oh...I was sure it was a NEW FR, not FR. Much more dragons (to please DragonLance fans) and some stuff from old GH...so a new FR, rather then FR per say (Solamnic Knights and DragonLance in FR?).
At any rate, I will prolly buy 4.0 in may, as I didn't buy much of the 3.0 and 3.5 yet! Some of my friends did buy much of these...
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Dragon Age
there will be no problem about jedis or anything..
just pay to bioware
and leave them everything else.
KOTOR was in EGMs rumor section and the rumors they put out are usualy right and they are a good source.
I know we've all seen crazy rumors before, but I don't ever recall a rumor about a game getting this much crazy press. The fact that big sites like IGN and GameSpot are picking up on it gives it a tad more weight in my book.
I'm not saying it's a sure thing, just saying I've never seen the rumor mill spin like this.
People are hung up on KOTOR because the first game by BioWare (second one is not BioWare, but Obsidian Entertainment) is possibly the best Star Wars story ever written having sold I think over 3 million copies and was praised by pretty much everyone.
Why would it translate well to MMO? Because KOTOR is not a game or a story, it is an ERA. A time period in the Star Wars universe. 'Knights of the Old Republic' is a HUGE and largely unexplored area in Star Wars lore/history allowing developers a LOT more freedom of creativity than SWG did which was set in a 'set in stone/this already happened' period where the end result was known to everyone. During the KOTOR timeline, there is literally a universe of troubles, adventures and options.
And I have no bloody clue what you mean by "some naive belief that, despite a decade of evidence to the contrary, Bioware will suddenly be the devs that magically do everything right?" because BioWare are most possibly THE finest RPG Developers in the industry... worth almost a Billion dollars it would seem.
Hope that helped.
Not to burst your bubble or anything, but MMO and RPG are two different kinds of games. I'm looking forward to their MMO, but I am not holding my breath.
Mark my words, if the MMO is only KOTOR in name, with WoW and LotRO gameplay except with lightsabers attached, it will not go over well. Not that I'm thinking this is how it will turn out, but still.
You can't just take the KOTOR setting and expect it to be a runaway hit. You have to consider the gameplay elements that made it (as well as every BioWare game) popular.
SWG is a perfect example of what happens when you try to just rely on the setting to get you by.
Mark my words, if the MMO is only KOTOR in name, with WoW and LotRO gameplay except with lightsabers attached, it will not go over well. Not that I'm thinking this is how it will turn out, but still.
You can't just take the KOTOR setting and expect it to be a runaway hit. You have to consider the gameplay elements that made it (as well as every BioWare game) popular.
SWG is a perfect example of what happens when you try to just rely on the setting to get you by.
Well said.
I think it's a must for the next Star Wars MMO to focus on creating a Star Wars feel to the game. They had aspects of it in SWG, but there were little things that really ruined it.
- Not making the Civil War count for something until 2 years into the game. They base the game at the height of the Civil War and yet you could really care less about being a Rebel or Imp.
- Why were the most powerful people in a Star Wars game those that had batons or staffs? I mean seriously, it's like in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. The guy is going all crazy with the two swords and how fancy he looks, and Indy just pulls out his gun and shoots him without really thinking about it.
- Jedi, Jedi, everywhere jedi. You know, for Darth and Palaptine to have wiped out all of the Jedi...you sure see a lot of people running around with lightsabers. This isn't KOTOR, there aren't hundreds....there isn't even 10, Jedi running around. They picked that era of Star Wars to develop a game around, they need to stick to the story line. If they wanted Jedi, they should have picked the KOTOR era.
It doesnt mean the story will not be good. And I am pretty sure bioware is going to do whatever takes to keep the fighting and such real time just like the original game and hopefuly improve it even more. I hate the fact that for some people its impossible for them to think of it as a mmo. And I heard somewhere but dont remember where that this is going to take place 1000 years before the movies which is around Darth Banes time who was the one started the whole take down the republic scheme.
To me the best way to tell a story was the way Final Fantasy 11 did it. The Main Missions were seperated from the normal quest and had cutscenes, and each expansion had its own story kind of like sequels or not related at all from the last but in the same world and the storys were great. I hope if they are making kotor, bioware does something similiar to that or something better.