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Console MMO - the new AAA MMO scene
Duilyon
Member Posts: 326
When Square Enix, CCP and SOE release their console MMO (some exclusive!) devs will finally see the potential market that has yet to be untapped. Consoles have no need to be upgrades, and with the current consoles (ps3 at least) are able to do extradonary things. It’ll be able to appeal to the hardcore console elite that would surly love a game to indulge themselves in with evolving content and it will gain the casual market that do not enjoy the complication of having to upgrade their computers.
Final Fantasy 11 was the first (besides that EQ spin-off) to really manifest itself in the console MMO scene and it did well. Of course the PS2 limited the capabilities but still hundreds of thousands of PS2 owners played it. Also since it shared servers with the PC users the population never dwindled, allowing FFXI to live on till today.
When DC Universe and FFXIV releases it will unleash a birth of a new genre of MMOs, perhaps more action oriented to strategy, it is all the great unknown. Developers will push their innovation to match the controllers of the consoles allowing for more action (more importantly FUN) game play into the mix. It will un-stagnate this current generation of MMOs and will allow the flood gates to open to a great nirvana of gaming that can only continue on through to the next generation and maybe even translate over to the PC.
DC Universe is already showing great potential for more action oriented combat that shows huge potential for strategy, along with CCP news Dust 514 MMO. The planet side-esque gameplay will translate brilliantly onto the Console, maybe even more so then the FPS fanatics on the PC. FFXIV is showing the immense graphical power of the PS3 for an MMO, as are the other ones too.
This will be a great time to be a console owner as the MMO market will be transformed because of it 
Comments
I definitely foresee console MMOs becoming pretty huge. Not sure it'll be the type of gameplay to lure me away from being predominantly a PC gamer, but I do agree it's going to burst wide open at some point once someone discovers the right formula to make it work.
I've said in the past that I think the very act of redefining MMOs to make them work on consoles will produce games which are considerably different from existing MMOs -- and games which are considerably different are exactly what many MMO gamers want right now. (although as unhappy as these gamers are with "the same old" MMORPGs, convincing them to try something new is surprisingly hard.)
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
CCP's Dust 514 is NOT an MMO. It will be a FPS that integrates (at least that is the plan) with the PC version of EVE Online. There is no plan to make it into an MMO in its own right.
And, FPS's on console just do not play like FPS's on PC's. That is the biggest reason that console FPS's and PC FPS's are never cross playable.
Let's party like it is 1863!
Don't have any quotes on me but iirc ccp keep saying something along the lines: They will both be able to run independantly of each other, if all eve players died dust would live on, if all dust players died eve would live on.
That to me says that dust will be a mmo in it's own right.
As for console based mmo's I'm waiting to see. the console market now has to compete with a very strong mobile gaming market so I'm not sure which way it will go
Into the breach meatbags
That just tells me that even if Dust fails, Eve will move on. Nothing about Dust being an MMO. You're imagining things. Dust can be just an FPS game with the scenarios/maps drawn from Eve universe.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
Console MMOs have been around in 2000 (round about) already. Remember Phantasy Star Online for Dreamcast?
It was an MMO and the franchise is still successful enough. So it's nothing new. Just the possibilities to develop a console MMO have grown. Back in the days of good ol' dreamcast, many people had do connect via modem and that seemed to be a pretty ugly solution.
You guys enjoy your console MMO's. Hopefully that will take away all the carebears and casuals from the PC MMO Scene and we can finally get some good MMO's on PC again
Currently Playing Path of Exile
You ever see the chat in cooperative play in a console game?
Lot's of racial stuff, stuff about jews....
Prediction: console games will have the worst community ever.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
I like the idea of Dust linking with Eve - here's hoping it signals a trend towards two games (with seperate goals and play styles, but with effects seen in the other game) become a little more common. They're cheaper, and non-changing hardware and software (by and large) means developers can concentrate on the important stuff - content.
But whilst not requiring upgrades makes them a cheaper option, it also limits them. They have no-where to go, except release a new console. And, lets face it, some companies haven't been particularly great at allowing new stuff play the older generations of games. And there is a huge facet of PC play that current consoles cannot hope to match: user-created content, mods, adaptations, mic-takes and everything else that a PC user can do (given the skills and inclination).
What remains to be seen is whther this truly will make for more fun and stop the MMO genre from stagnating, as our OP hopes. My inner cynic says that developers will try to bastardise WoW into a console format, breeding yet more world of clonecrafts. I can only hope that Dust 514 does well, and finally shows people that its okay (even preferred) to be different.
We shall see...
Or it'll hasten the end of some games. Nothing worse than an under-populated MMO, especially if you're interested in PvP. Most of the really popular MMORPGs have pretty bad PvP anyway, in my opinion. And if console MMOs take off in a big way, that's where you'll find the developers who have a big bank account. I like both PvP and PvE but I haven't found a game that satisfies both interests in the same box.
Oh, you PC gamers- the "real" gamers, playing on the holy grail of platforms, the harrrdcore population with the best games available. No Wii's on your side, while every console player is a 40 year old Wii casual mom by default and every game is a Wii Babiez copy.
Oh sorry, this Demon's Souls game is actually harder than anything I've played in the last 10 years- how can something like this exist on a console for carebears and casuals?
How can the gameplay be so good even without keyboard and mouse?
As if this is a console phenomenon?
To be fair:
Have you ever seen the chat in (any given multiplayer) PC game?
Every logged into, for example, any counterstrike server... any TF2 server... WoW... IRC.. or how about the city channel in the recently released Global Agenda demo?
How dare you present him with logic! Don't you understand? He fights epic fights, in epic games, with epic toons....eats epic food and takes epic dumps! He has more e..pic..icity...ness in his little finger than you have in your whole unepic body! - ChicagoCub
Well, to be accurate, this has actually been tested by various researches in the not-so-distant-past and there is accurate evidence that Console players actually have lower IQ than PC players.
And on top of this, many famous individuals have been PC players in their youth (Obama, Churchill, Jesus and Mother Teresa) while many not so intelligent individuals have played on console instead (Bush Jr., Bin Laden, Judas Iscariot and Hitler).
In fact, if there were no consoles, wars would cease to exist and everyone would have enough food to eat.
Shame you are living in a such fantasy world. The idea of a MMO is communicating and enjoying the game with others, most consoles never get a keyboard nor a mouse attached to it. This ends up with a very dumbed down UI for playing on a console.
As many studios have found out, writing a MMO for a PC and then converting for a console is a huge undertaking so shortcuts tend to be made. What you end up with is a lesser game.
So I would not be excited about this trend.
Things might change down the road when the next generation of consoles come out, but with a good gaming PC being less than a thousand that runs rings around a console you can continue to rely on the fact that the good games will remain on the PC.
Guess what? Most computers don't come with a keyboard or mouse attached to them either.
And guess what else? Consoles can use every USB keyboard and mouse just like PC's can. You just have to buy them... just like for PC! Amazing world isn't it.
And as many people have found out, people talking out of their ass results in a stupid post with no factual information.
Shortcuts need to be made, such as better graphics when compared to PC only MMO's and just as much if not more content.
Really only a matter of time. I would imagine if it was done correctly by the right company and relased from the word go in addition to pc support a company could make a killing releasing an mmo on consoles as well as pcs.
Not an easy task though I would imagine making a game compatible for the different console systems as well as pcs though.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Nope that would be STO
Not really any different from what you see in general with games offering multiplayer anymore regardless whether it's on the pc or console.
The community as a whole has really gone downhill. Partly due to the way people treat each other in general anymore, party due to the anonymity of the internet, and partly due to most games that even bother to have gms anymore do little to monitor public channels.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
This....
Just look what happened to the FPS scene then you know what to expect.
Dust 514 is suppose to be a MMOFPS of some sorts on the consoles. It's not some sor of single player game for the console. It may end up like a MAG typ game (hopefully better).
You may think the console fanbase is a bunch of degenerates that are all bigots but I swear the PC has the same backwards people too. I guess none of you guys ever played WoW.
We will see. I bet that Square Enix and SOE will pave a way for console MMOs to be the norm. Microsoft will need to release some sort of exclusive MMO. This will lead to an influx of MMOs, hopefully, on the consoles.
MMOs on the console is a nobrainer because it is an untapped market and from a developers standpoint it is much easier to develope on the console. Sadly other than Square Enix noone has been able to convince Microsoft to let them put it on the console.
Problem is...how many console gamers WANT to use a keyboard and mouse? Wouldn't they already be gaming on a PC if they did? Any MMO that has a UI that can be simplified enough to work on a controller fails before it starts.
Consoles do NOT have better graphics than PCs, and no way a console MMO is going to have more content. XBox/PS3 specs can't compare to an average gaming rig. PCs are just superior machines.
Part of the reason some newer MMOs are crap is because of compromises made to allow them to be ported to consoles. Most companies aren't going to make console versions of MMOs because MS and SOE want a cut of those monthly fees, and because of the hassle of getting every patch approved.
I prefer consoles to PCs. I don't know if that makes me a "console gamer" as I still tend to play most games on PC because I also prefer keyboard/mouse to controller for genres like FPS and RPG.
I disagree that PCs are superior machines. I would say that consoles are, by far, better value for money despite the games being more expensive. My PS3 is about 3 years old, has never failed or needed to be upgraded. In that same time, I've gone through two PCs and a handful of other upgrades.
When it was launched, my PS3s graphics rivalled the top of the line PCs of the day. They're lagging behind a little now, but the PS4 will likely be out in a couple of years and will level the playing field.
I'm also confident that the PS4 will support keyboard and mouse, either via USB or Bluetooth.
I'm a little confused by your last statement. You say that newer MMOs are crap because of compromises made to allow them to be ported to consoles, but I'm not aware of ANY MMOs having been ported to consoles in the past few years. I don't believe that developers would spend time accounting for a console port that isn't planned to happen anyway.
These claims about MMOs being crap because of consoles is getting tiresome. It is an unfounded argument.I have yet to see any actualy evidence for these claims and it probably has more to do with elitism than anything else.
The average PC game does not look better than the average console game and how many mmorpgs actually designed for high end pcs? Not that many.