Anyone under the impression that Bioware will just go on business as usual has absolutely no idea of EA's history. Particularly comments like "they wouldn't kill the goose that laid the golden egg" are...well...ridiculous.
EA has been gobbling up good developers and then spitting them out as garbage for years. They buy into a successful franchise, crank out a couple crappy titles under a name that they know will sell, then can all the developers for having a failed game. Ultima would be a great example, with the 2 games put out after EA bought Origin. When EA bought Origin, Westwood, and others...most of the development team from those previously successful companies simply quit.
EA has simply decided to no longer provide support for games previously operated by companies they buy out, and hasn't even successfully maintained their servers for freaking XBox games and shut them down.
Warhammer Online will be a huge test, and one that I believe will fail miserably under the "new guidance" of EA.
But make no mistake, Bioware just stopped making Bioware style games. Period.
Atari will [i]definitely[/i] not let their D&D license anywhere near EA, and I'd be very surprised if Lucasarts would let their Star Wars license near them.
You'll be lucky if the new Bioware MMO doesn't become Madden Football Online.
Anyone under the impression that Bioware will just go on business as usual has absolutely no idea of EA's history. Particularly comments like "they wouldn't kill the goose that laid the golden egg" are...well...ridiculous.
GameSpot:: Right, but you guys were always an icon of independent development, and were even more so after the deal with Pandemic...
Greg Zeschuk: Well, to be blunt, I don't really see ourselves as not being independent anymore. We've got a goal of making great BioWare games, and we believe in [EA CEO] John [Riccitiello]'s vision--we can't overemphasize that. We've worked with John for years, and we're looking forward to keep doing what we're doing and doing it well.
GS: You said you still think of yourself as being independent, even though you're now owned by EA. So what exactly, besides the fact you're obviously wealthier, has changed under the deal? Will day-to-day operations at BioWare change at all?
Ray Myzuka: Well, we can achieve more. We've got more opportunities, more resources for the great development and marketing teams here to take advantage of. We're also a lot more direct to the consumer now, since we're part of the publisher. It's going to allow us to fulfill our mission statement of making the best story-driven games in the world, even better than before. Nothing's going to change about that, since we're really passionate about that, and that's in line with what we've heard from John in the values and mission he's expressed.
GS: So is the name going to still be BioWare or is going to become "EA BioWare"?
GZ: Well we're still BioWare...
RM: BioWare is a name that's associated with some really positive things. The fans like the brand, it's a consumer-facing brand, so we're not going anywhere with it.
Go read that interview. This is the guy who IS Lord British, who launched Ultima Online, and who is one of the most respected game developers in history.
Here's a highlight for you
But even today, I wish that things had worked out better with Electronic Arts. It's ironic that the top selling online product at EA, even today, is Ultima Online. We constantly tried to tell them that we understood the online game business and give advice, but the company had a very different agenda. Even the four or five other massively multiplayer games they've launched have flopped compared to Ultima Online.
Here's another
The interesting thing is I left on April 1st. And literally one year later, my non-compete ran out. The very next day, April 2nd, EA decided to adopt another substantial shift in their online games strategy, and basically shut down all other online games in Origin besides Ultima Online. They also decided to move out of Austin a great deal of support services such as marketing, quality assurance, and customer support. They basically laid off all the great team members I'd been working with to not only create, but support the style of online games that I believe are the future of online gaming.
But yeah, it'll be different this time...cause it's Bioware...who's former CEO is now the CEO of EA btw...
What I'd love to find, and may search later, is one of the probably dozen interviews he did right when the merger took place...cause I bet he sounded exactly like those Bioware guys.
What I'd love to find, and may search later, is one of the probably dozen interviews he did right when the merger took place...cause I bet he sounded exactly like those Bioware guys.
Spector: "For the first couple of years, EA's acquisition of Origin changed the place for the better in nearly every way. EA brought some much needed structure to our product greenlight and development processes. And we certainly got bigger budgets! We were able to do more and cooler things than we'd been able to do before. In most ways, though, EA gave us a lot of rope - enough to hang ourselves, as it turned out!"
Some trivia:
Privateer Online: cancelled in 2000 to avoid competition with EA's big bet, Earth and Beyond. The core PO team moved to Verant (later Sony Online Entertainment) and created Star Wars Galaxies.
And that is why...
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
You know I just love how this rumor which I hope its not get so much attention lol. I bet if SOE came out today and said hey were rolling back sorry it would be thats nice anyways I want to be a sith in KOTOR online what are u going to be aaaaw hahaha.Whoever started this can u start these more on days where SOE is trying to sell a bs chapter or spamming donations to offset there f%ck up. You know even if this a rumor I hope bioware/Ea are taking notice i typed in kotor mmo in google and this has really picked up rumor or not
*Games on our site will be treated just as we treat people. Unsubstantiated comments about specific or general games will be penalized in nearly the same way attacks against people will. The exception is that you can say mean things about games provided you back it up with reasons. Example: "Game X sucks." is not a legitimate comment. "Game X sucks, because..." is acceptable.
Given the lack of calibre of the dev team team of bioware austin whatever game comes out its going to be shaky
Which planet are you living in?
they are BIOWARE, and also there are a bunch of old SWG Pre-Cu devs and KOTOR single player devs who carrying this MMO on.
They are NOT bioware..they are bioware AUSTIN a bunch of devs scraped together by bioware in the hope of making some money..for example the combat designer at bioware AUSTIN made contributions to such stellar titles as shadowbane and the sims online..be afraid be very afraid.
Given the lack of calibre of the dev team team of bioware austin whatever game comes out its going to be shaky
Which planet are you living in?
they are BIOWARE, and also there are a bunch of old SWG Pre-Cu devs and KOTOR single player devs who carrying this MMO on.
They are NOT bioware..they are bioware AUSTIN a bunch of devs scraped together by bioware in the hope of making some money..for example the combat designer at bioware AUSTIN made contributions to such stellar titles as shadowbane and the sims online..be afraid be very afraid.
Given the lack of calibre of the dev team team of bioware austin whatever game comes out its going to be shaky
Which planet are you living in?
they are BIOWARE, and also there are a bunch of old SWG Pre-Cu devs and KOTOR single player devs who carrying this MMO on.
They are NOT bioware..they are bioware AUSTIN a bunch of devs scraped together by bioware in the hope of making some money..for example the combat designer at bioware AUSTIN made contributions to such stellar titles as shadowbane and the sims online..be afraid be very afraid.
How do you guys even know this shit?
A friend of a friend of the janitor's brother told them.
Given the lack of calibre of the dev team team of bioware austin whatever game comes out its going to be shaky
Which planet are you living in?
they are BIOWARE, and also there are a bunch of old SWG Pre-Cu devs and KOTOR single player devs who carrying this MMO on.
They are NOT bioware..they are bioware AUSTIN a bunch of devs scraped together by bioware in the hope of making some money..for example the combat designer at bioware AUSTIN made contributions to such stellar titles as shadowbane and the sims online..be afraid be very afraid.
How do you guys even know this shit?
A friend of a friend of the janitor's brother told them.
No Google told me you see i go looking for informed info unlike many others on this forum
It is not a KOTOR mmorpg. It is a fantasy mmorpg based on the Fire and Ice from what I have heard- but dear Lord- I wish it was true. I hate what SOE has done to SWG, Vanguard and the gaming community. And with Bioware selling to EA...I have no hope for a Star Wars MORPG under Lucas Arts belt or EA's- no offense anyone. But if anyone can pull it off then it has to be worth 860 million.....
"Fire and Ice"
where did you hear that
i would prefer that over star wars bigtime
well, if we are talking the same thing - george rr martin that is
Woah.
Is that what was meant by "Fire & Ice"....a MMO based on GRRM's "A Song of Ice & Fire" books? That'd be fantastic! Those books are outstanding. Hell, I've read that HBO is currently working on adapting the first book into a series. I wonder how that factors in? It'd certainly help with marketing the MMO.
That'd be wwaayy better than some sort of Star Wars Jedi Bonanza.
Whats needed at thos stage is a completly different IP in the MMO genre not going back to tired old ideas..somehow though i dont see the moneymen of EA letting them go for it tbh
Whats needed at thos stage is a completly different IP in the MMO genre not going back to tired old ideas..somehow though i dont see the moneymen of EA letting them go for it tbh
As bad as I want KOTOR...I could live with Mass Effect.
I think now EA owns Bioware they will release this information, if only to quiet down the hatred they get from being EA , and from laying people off to help offset Bioware's big price tag.
I'm hoping that Bioware is making the Kotor mmo. I think now EA owns Bioware they will release this information, if only to quiet down the hatred they get from being EA , and from laying people off to help offset Bioware's big price tag. *poof* instant Good Guys.
I think it's important to point out nothing is in stone........yet
sigh... I know it's all just a rumor and just speculation. But I sure hope it's true. I've been searchign around for another MMO as I'm starting to get tired of WoW but to be honest there doesn't seem to be anything out there like SWG. For one thing, I'm REALLY tired of seeing nothing but fantasy/medieval MMO's. That was one of the things that REALLY set SWG apart. No more orcs, no more dwarfs, no more elfs. Now it's humans and aliens in a sci fi environment instead of your stereotypical fantasy forest / town / kingdom / cave filled with gnome headed dragons.
The other things being of course the system itself. No more overrated, outdated leveling system, no armor limitations. I was a TK/Swordsman master with some ranger that traveled around with a brown duster and a rifle to match that "outlaw" look. Now, you have to wear the armor "appropriate" to your profession if you plan on surviving. Not an issue back then. The skill tree system was/still is the best one I've ever seen because it doesn't alienate players when looking for groups, as in "Oh sorry, but we're going to X planet and you need to be X level to get loot and/or survive"
Then of course there was/is housing and ship building, guild cities, guild multi passanger ships ... sigh ... oh well. As I stated before, I honestly hope that, even though it's all just rumor and speculation, that Bioware DOES come out with an SW MMO and hopefully bring back some of these things back, instead of catering to the kiddies that need a simplified WoW UI otherwise they'll start crying because they'll have to actually use their brains for once. Yes, I hope that, if they do, and they did decide to include Jedi, that you actually have to WORK for it and work REALLY hard just like how it was with the Village in SWG. Jedi shouldn't be for everyone, it should be for those that REALLY want it.
Better yet, I remember someone in a forum once suggesting that it be set in "Legacy" (I guess it was something from the EU books) where there were 3 different "jedi" factions, Jedi, Sith and the Empire Knights (basically, Jedi that only use the force for the citizens and the government, so not really good or evil so much as drones/soldiers with force powers) and of course there were the other professions from SWG as well. I thought this would've been an interesting concept. But then again, KOTOR DOES have the Mandalorian wars, and from what I saw of them in KOTOR 2, I liked their way of thinking/fighting a heck of a lot better than the Jedis. But then again, if it was in a KOTOR timeline we wouldn't be able to fly X Wings, TIE Fighters, Millenium Falcons, A Wings (my personal favorite) etc. To be honest I didn't like the models of some of the ships in KOTOR.
Since some of you were on the topic of KOTOR images on their sigs, can anyone please let me know how I can do this as well? I can only do text sigs and I'd like to toss my own image into my sig. Thanks
Speculations or not, Lucas or Bioware would be stupid not to create this game. The supporting community alone would bring in the money to make it go around.
Comments
Well I'm hoping the people at Penny Arcade have some inside information cause I love todays comic.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/10/24
Edt: Just noticed it says My Dearest Wish at the top... oh well.
There is no proof to support another star-wars MMO, accept it and move on.
"Don't hold breath about another KOTOR game coming from Bioware" - Chris Preistly
"Bioware is more intrested in pursueing development of it's own Intellectual properties"
- James Henly
Anyone under the impression that Bioware will just go on business as usual has absolutely no idea of EA's history. Particularly comments like "they wouldn't kill the goose that laid the golden egg" are...well...ridiculous.
EA has been gobbling up good developers and then spitting them out as garbage for years. They buy into a successful franchise, crank out a couple crappy titles under a name that they know will sell, then can all the developers for having a failed game. Ultima would be a great example, with the 2 games put out after EA bought Origin. When EA bought Origin, Westwood, and others...most of the development team from those previously successful companies simply quit.
EA has simply decided to no longer provide support for games previously operated by companies they buy out, and hasn't even successfully maintained their servers for freaking XBox games and shut them down.
Warhammer Online will be a huge test, and one that I believe will fail miserably under the "new guidance" of EA.
But make no mistake, Bioware just stopped making Bioware style games. Period.
Atari will [i]definitely[/i] not let their D&D license anywhere near EA, and I'd be very surprised if Lucasarts would let their Star Wars license near them.
You'll be lucky if the new Bioware MMO doesn't become Madden Football Online.
GameSpot:: Right, but you guys were always an icon of independent development, and were even more so after the deal with Pandemic...
Greg Zeschuk: Well, to be blunt, I don't really see ourselves as not being independent anymore. We've got a goal of making great BioWare games, and we believe in [EA CEO] John [Riccitiello]'s vision--we can't overemphasize that. We've worked with John for years, and we're looking forward to keep doing what we're doing and doing it well.
GS: You said you still think of yourself as being independent, even though you're now owned by EA. So what exactly, besides the fact you're obviously wealthier, has changed under the deal? Will day-to-day operations at BioWare change at all?
Ray Myzuka: Well, we can achieve more. We've got more opportunities, more resources for the great development and marketing teams here to take advantage of. We're also a lot more direct to the consumer now, since we're part of the publisher. It's going to allow us to fulfill our mission statement of making the best story-driven games in the world, even better than before. Nothing's going to change about that, since we're really passionate about that, and that's in line with what we've heard from John in the values and mission he's expressed.
GS: So is the name going to still be BioWare or is going to become "EA BioWare"?
GZ: Well we're still BioWare...
RM: BioWare is a name that's associated with some really positive things. The fans like the brand, it's a consumer-facing brand, so we're not going anywhere with it.
www.gamespot.com/news/6180866.html
quick...turn on the TV...President Bush says we're winning the war and he was right all along...
it must be true...
come on man.
if you know bioware, you should know they dont talk trash.
they are not Mythic or westwood or Bush
Mark this words: this will be KOTOR MMO.
http://archive.gamespy.com/interviews/february03/british/
Go read that interview. This is the guy who IS Lord British, who launched Ultima Online, and who is one of the most respected game developers in history.
Here's a highlight for you
But even today, I wish that things had worked out better with Electronic Arts. It's ironic that the top selling online product at EA, even today, is Ultima Online. We constantly tried to tell them that we understood the online game business and give advice, but the company had a very different agenda. Even the four or five other massively multiplayer games they've launched have flopped compared to Ultima Online.
Here's another
The interesting thing is I left on April 1st. And literally one year later, my non-compete ran out. The very next day, April 2nd, EA decided to adopt another substantial shift in their online games strategy, and basically shut down all other online games in Origin besides Ultima Online. They also decided to move out of Austin a great deal of support services such as marketing, quality assurance, and customer support. They basically laid off all the great team members I'd been working with to not only create, but support the style of online games that I believe are the future of online gaming.
But yeah, it'll be different this time...cause it's Bioware...who's former CEO is now the CEO of EA btw...
What I'd love to find, and may search later, is one of the probably dozen interviews he did right when the merger took place...cause I bet he sounded exactly like those Bioware guys.
Just go log back on to SWG and let the adults discuss the things that matter young one.
The Conquest of Origin
Page 2 is mostly were it begins with EA.
Spector: "For the first couple of years, EA's acquisition of Origin changed the place for the better in nearly every way. EA brought some much needed structure to our product greenlight and development processes. And we certainly got bigger budgets! We were able to do more and cooler things than we'd been able to do before. In most ways, though, EA gave us a lot of rope - enough to hang ourselves, as it turned out!"
Some trivia:
Privateer Online: cancelled in 2000 to avoid competition with EA's big bet, Earth and Beyond. The core PO team moved to Verant (later Sony Online Entertainment) and created Star Wars Galaxies.
And that is why...
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
You know I just love how this rumor which I hope its not get so much attention lol. I bet if SOE came out today and said hey were rolling back sorry it would be thats nice anyways I want to be a sith in KOTOR online what are u going to be aaaaw hahaha.Whoever started this can u start these more on days where SOE is trying to sell a bs chapter or spamming donations to offset there f%ck up. You know even if this a rumor I hope bioware/Ea are taking notice i typed in kotor mmo in google and this has really picked up rumor or not
*Games on our site will be treated just as we treat people. Unsubstantiated comments about specific or general games will be penalized in nearly the same way attacks against people will. The exception is that you can say mean things about games provided you back it up with reasons.
Example: "Game X sucks." is not a legitimate comment. "Game X sucks, because..." is acceptable.
Thank you,
The Staff
MMORPG.COM
they are BIOWARE, and also there are a bunch of old SWG Pre-Cu devs and KOTOR single player devs who carrying this MMO on.
They are NOT bioware..they are bioware AUSTIN a bunch of devs scraped together by bioware in the hope of making some money..for example the combat designer at bioware AUSTIN made contributions to such stellar titles as shadowbane and the sims online..be afraid be very afraid.
they are BIOWARE, and also there are a bunch of old SWG Pre-Cu devs and KOTOR single player devs who carrying this MMO on.
They are NOT bioware..they are bioware AUSTIN a bunch of devs scraped together by bioware in the hope of making some money..for example the combat designer at bioware AUSTIN made contributions to such stellar titles as shadowbane and the sims online..be afraid be very afraid.
How do you guys even know this shit?
Freaking sweet. SOE is going to LOVE this one...lol. GO BIOWARE!!!!!
Total time played: 9125 Days, 21 Hours, 29 Minutes, 27 Seconds
Time played this level: 39 Days, 1 Hour, 24 Minutes, 5 Seconds
they are BIOWARE, and also there are a bunch of old SWG Pre-Cu devs and KOTOR single player devs who carrying this MMO on.
They are NOT bioware..they are bioware AUSTIN a bunch of devs scraped together by bioware in the hope of making some money..for example the combat designer at bioware AUSTIN made contributions to such stellar titles as shadowbane and the sims online..be afraid be very afraid.
How do you guys even know this shit?
A friend of a friend of the janitor's brother told them.
Which planet are you living in?they are BIOWARE, and also there are a bunch of old SWG Pre-Cu devs and KOTOR single player devs who carrying this MMO on.
They are NOT bioware..they are bioware AUSTIN a bunch of devs scraped together by bioware in the hope of making some money..for example the combat designer at bioware AUSTIN made contributions to such stellar titles as shadowbane and the sims online..be afraid be very afraid.
How do you guys even know this shit?
A friend of a friend of the janitor's brother told them.
No Google told me you see i go looking for informed info unlike many others on this forum
www.showinitiative.com/media/7-5-2006.html
His name and job title are down on the list somewhere
www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,41468/
His website
where did you hear that
i would prefer that over star wars bigtime
well, if we are talking the same thing - george rr martin that is
Woah.
Is that what was meant by "Fire & Ice"....a MMO based on GRRM's "A Song of Ice & Fire" books? That'd be fantastic! Those books are outstanding. Hell, I've read that HBO is currently working on adapting the first book into a series. I wonder how that factors in? It'd certainly help with marketing the MMO.
That'd be wwaayy better than some sort of Star Wars Jedi Bonanza.
Whats needed at thos stage is a completly different IP in the MMO genre not going back to tired old ideas..somehow though i dont see the moneymen of EA letting them go for it tbh
As bad as I want KOTOR...I could live with Mass Effect.
I'm hoping that Bioware is making the Kotor mmo.
I think now EA owns Bioware they will release this information, if only to quiet down the hatred they get from being EA , and from laying people off to help offset Bioware's big price tag.
*poof* instant Good Guys.
I think it's important to point out nothing is in stone........yet
sigh... I know it's all just a rumor and just speculation. But I sure hope it's true. I've been searchign around for another MMO as I'm starting to get tired of WoW but to be honest there doesn't seem to be anything out there like SWG. For one thing, I'm REALLY tired of seeing nothing but fantasy/medieval MMO's. That was one of the things that REALLY set SWG apart. No more orcs, no more dwarfs, no more elfs. Now it's humans and aliens in a sci fi environment instead of your stereotypical fantasy forest / town / kingdom / cave filled with gnome headed dragons.
The other things being of course the system itself. No more overrated, outdated leveling system, no armor limitations. I was a TK/Swordsman master with some ranger that traveled around with a brown duster and a rifle to match that "outlaw" look. Now, you have to wear the armor "appropriate" to your profession if you plan on surviving. Not an issue back then. The skill tree system was/still is the best one I've ever seen because it doesn't alienate players when looking for groups, as in "Oh sorry, but we're going to X planet and you need to be X level to get loot and/or survive"
Then of course there was/is housing and ship building, guild cities, guild multi passanger ships ... sigh ... oh well. As I stated before, I honestly hope that, even though it's all just rumor and speculation, that Bioware DOES come out with an SW MMO and hopefully bring back some of these things back, instead of catering to the kiddies that need a simplified WoW UI otherwise they'll start crying because they'll have to actually use their brains for once. Yes, I hope that, if they do, and they did decide to include Jedi, that you actually have to WORK for it and work REALLY hard just like how it was with the Village in SWG. Jedi shouldn't be for everyone, it should be for those that REALLY want it.
Better yet, I remember someone in a forum once suggesting that it be set in "Legacy" (I guess it was something from the EU books) where there were 3 different "jedi" factions, Jedi, Sith and the Empire Knights (basically, Jedi that only use the force for the citizens and the government, so not really good or evil so much as drones/soldiers with force powers) and of course there were the other professions from SWG as well. I thought this would've been an interesting concept. But then again, KOTOR DOES have the Mandalorian wars, and from what I saw of them in KOTOR 2, I liked their way of thinking/fighting a heck of a lot better than the Jedis. But then again, if it was in a KOTOR timeline we wouldn't be able to fly X Wings, TIE Fighters, Millenium Falcons, A Wings (my personal favorite) etc. To be honest I didn't like the models of some of the ships in KOTOR.
Since some of you were on the topic of KOTOR images on their sigs, can anyone please let me know how I can do this as well? I can only do text sigs and I'd like to toss my own image into my sig. Thanks
Speculations or not, Lucas or Bioware would be stupid not to create this game. The supporting community alone would bring in the money to make it go around.
Fact: SOE is Evil impersonated.
Does ea-games own bio-ware? If so this scares me as much as if soe did, they screwed me on my first mmo earth and beyond.
playing eq2 and two worlds