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MMORPG.COM News: New Stargate MMORPG Announced
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
Following the lead of Star Trek Online, another popular television science-fiction is going to be making it into the MMORPG genre. MGM Interacitve and Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment have announced their intentions to make an MMORPG based on the Stargate franchise. The name? Stargate Worlds. They have a product website up and active, which you cn check out here.
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PHOENIX, Jan. 31 /CNW/ -- MGM Interactive and Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment today formally announced their agreement to develop Stargate Worlds, an MMO-RPG (Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game) based on the popular science-fiction television series, Stargate SG-1. Cheyenne and MGM Interactive entered into a licensing agreement to develop Stargate Worlds in September 2005 and Cheyenne has quickly built a very talented development team and created some impressive initial art and technology assets. Cheyenne is excited to partner with world-renowned MGM Studios, and is proud to be entrusted with the popular Stargate SG-1 franchise. The Cheyenne staff is comprised of a veteran management team that has shipped more than 80 world-class titles, and boasts extensive MMO development experience. Joe Ybarra, Vice President of Product Development for Cheyenne, stated that "Today's MMO market challenges developers in many ways. Creating a product that separates itself from the pack requires a unique combination of two elements: a superior game concept implemented by a superior development team. Partnering with MGM Interactive and the Stargate creative team gives us the first, and our team's experience and depth ensures the second. Together we look forward to creating the world's best MMO-RPG." Travis Rutherford, Executive Vice President of MGM Interactive, added, "We chose to entrust the franchise to Cheyenne because we are confident in their ability to create a triple A Stargate MMO. Together we can give both the Stargate fans and gaming enthusiasts what they want by combining a strong brand, cutting edge technology, exceptional art, usability, and a fantastic game playing experience." Stargate Worlds is an MMO that provides players with a form of exploration, adventure and ranged combat set in worlds of historical human time periods, alien environments, and outer space locations. Players will travel through the Stargate as a team of soldiers and scientists where they can forge alliances, establish trade, investigate ancient mysteries, and defend Earth from such hostile forces as the Goa'uld and the Ori in an immense multiplayer universe. About MGM Interactive MGM Interactive, a unit of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., manages business development and production of interactive products for a variety of multimedia platforms, as well as talent and developer relationships. For more information, visit www.mgm.com. About Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment(TM) was founded with the goal of becoming a leading developer of entertainment software products. Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment's first product is a MMO-RPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) based on the popular science fiction television series, Stargate(TM) SG-1 and Stargate(TM) Atlantis. For more information, visit the company's website at www.cheyenneme.com. Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment(TM) is a trademark or registered trademark of Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Stargate SG-1 TM and (C) 1997-2006 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks or tradenames are the property of their respective owners. Statements herein concerning future events and developments and the Company's expectations, beliefs, plans and estimates constitute forward-looking information that involves risks and uncertainties. Cheyenne's actual results could differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking information. |
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
Ha! I just emailed support a link like 5 minutes before this posted!!
Can't wait to see it, hopefully it'll fair better then SG1: Alliances, or whatever the failed FPS was called.
Been waiting years for someone to make a MMORPG on stargate, hope they make it work.
I hate to say it, But I doubt it'll get all the way through.
The shows fan base alone wont be enough, and with the death of SG1:Alliances (the FPS), the majority of the gaming community wont really see it. As much as I love SG1, and would love to see it's success, it's either going to be vaporware, or a cheap flop.
I tend to disagree.
I dont think just the existing fan base will be attracted to Stargate Worlds, i honestly think that if they pull off MMO squad based adventure there will be plenty of interest out there beyond the TV show. Infact i would go as far as to say that with the support of the TV show, possible movies being made and all the respective marketing that goes hand in hand with these mediums, the game will have lots of shout about it come launch.
The TV shows are such a powerful reasource to call upon that if done right and linked in a great way Stargate Worlds could be very popular indeed. There isnt a major liscenced mmo out there that has the opportunity to seamlessly launch game content and tv episodes side by side combining both TV and entertain medium in one.
Imagine watching the first episode of the newest season of SG-1. You love it and something incredible happens that you would love to get involved in. You then fire up your PC and the next day that episode content is triggered allowing you to participate in various aspects that happened in that episode. You can actually work alongside what the team has done in that episode. You can complete quests that ultimatly aid the team in doing whatever they did in the show. It doesnt even have to tie hand in hand with the show, you can back track and go through previous season episodes but having a big link between the show and the game linking in episodic triggered content would be a new and extremely unique feature to the current crop of mmos.
Talk about epic stories? Imagine downloading a patch every few weeks during the show being aired that means every week something else happens in game. In x series there is an invasion one week and blah blah blah happens, the content would then be triggered at a time either before (so you can participate in the run up to the event) or prior (so you can follow it up and find out what happened as a result etc). Now that would be great letting players ingage not only in the current story but the back story to other massive events.
I think there is still an empty part to the market that one day i hope is filled. This part of the market is linked mmo content. Using tv/film and videogame mediums simulatiously to really engage the customers could be a massive opportunity for companies as it allows both mediums to promote each other and benefit from each other's success. Personally i would definally be playing my stargate world account the night the season endings are triggered. I would not only want to play in the stargate universe but get my character involved in what happens in the episodes and franchise. You cant get more authentic stargate stories than those.
I'll agree that the possibilities are there. But my fear is they won't draw an audience. Face, Sci-Fi mmo's are not the most popular games out there (though there aren't many to choose from.) While SG1 is an awesome show, and the universe could make it a really fun game, I still come back to the target audience.
Is the game really meant for everyone? Would it draw people away from WoW? Honestly, if you think about it, maybe it could. Tons of people were really looking forward to The Matrix Online, the universe was already there, the story was brilliant (for a game), and it had the potential to draw a large portion of the Movies fan base.
Hopefully you're right, if they do it right then the name won't mean as much as the gameplay and it'll draw people that have never heard of it and keep people that have been asking for it for the past few years.
Yeah i know what you mean, it will all depend on how they go about making the game.
If they are simply going to follow some past liscenced mmos and develop a game based purly on the name of the liscence without acutally being creative, unique and capturing the spirit of the liscence (a la Star Wars Galaxies) then it wont be successful. Unlike SWG, Stargate Worlds will not be able to count on the brand name to keep new players to the franchise playing a bad game. They need a combination of great story telling and great gameplay mechanics but also something unique. I think (and i believe we agree here) that linking in the show and more inportantly drawing upon the events of the show and expanding them, backtracking and (going forward) combining them would be one of the things that could truly set this game apart from the rest.
It will be fun to get involved in the official forums once they open about various gameplay mechanics and feature possibilities.
I can't imagine how you can have a persistant world that shares it's 'reality' with an ongoing TV series and not incorporate the two.
When something big happens, you've got to be able to include it in the game (which means the storyline is driven by some very talented writers!). But, they are already hinting towards that (they mention the Ori in the dev page), how could you fight a war with the Ori in a game with no way of fighting them? The game has to follow behind the series, but it doesn't need to update each week (there are plenty of filler episodes that do not progress the overall storyline).
Certainly looking forward to it, but the big question: Will they still be fighting the same enemies when this game goes gold?
Oh dont get me wrong, the comment about updating weekly was simply to emphasise the point about linking in the stories. Like you said it wouldnt have to update weekly, the key and arc'd story would suffice indeed.
The big hitting episodes would certainly be a basis for excellent and well promoted content triggers.
On the point of the Ori, yes by the time the game goes live we will most likey have moved on somewhat but if we were still at war with the Ori i would expect it to be like the shows. Not where your team faces off against scores of Ori but rather you would face off and negotiate/adventure/explore interacting with the people the Ori have been preaching to rather than always the Ori themselves. Infact most combat related to the Ori will most likely be with their followers rather than themselves. Raid content and group content would definatly be orientated around this im sure.
It would be a great twist for the game to follow the events of the series (or franchise) from start to finish. As in you participate in missions and events that have happened over the various series in a row. Oh well thats another discussion point
I think WoW proved how much something as simple as using a well known name can make ANYTHING into a popular game.
The question lies in can these people make a MMORPG that is unique and interesting enough to go beyond the initial sales & actually retain customers. They really need to look at Asheron's Call 1 to see just how well an open ended skills system could work for them in my opinion. If nothing else, then simply to set them apart from EVERY OTHER SINGLE FRAKING SKILL TREE BASED MMORPG OUT THERE... which is a lot needless to say.
Bottom line, its got a chance if they don't just try to imitate every other "successful" mmo thats on the market.
_______________________________
If I wanted your opinion, hell would freeze over.
"In time, all your questions will be answered.
Not what you hoped for, not what you dreamed.
All preconceptions crumble!"
-Dark Tranquillity - Format C: For Cortex
Have A Nice Day!
I totally agree with you, I think looking at some aspects of AC1 would benefit them. I have played UO,AC,AC2,EQ2,SWG,GW,DAOC,WOW and at the moment SOG/Dnl. But only yesterday I reactivated my AC1 account because I love going back to the Skill and loot systems as they have so much diversity.
Looking at the stargate website it seems they have some good people onboard so thats a good start, But looking for some new ideas not the same ole skill trees and same cookie cutter templates would be a good start.
lets just see how they get on with things and hope they get a forum up soon.
If you're on VT hit me up, Coeus Darksoul.
On subject though, I've been posting on the SG1 boards trying to get a feel for the people there and of the few gamers that I've seen post, most seem to be solitary diehard FPS/Action fanbois (though honestly, if you just wanna shoot Jaffa, play Halo or Counter Strike & use your imagination :P)
And yes, the best thing to do is to get in early with the dev team and push them towards a more open ended skills system instead of the class/skill tree route that will sell big for a month or two & then die slowly, painfully, and horribly.
_______________________________
If I wanted your opinion, hell would freeze over.
"In time, all your questions will be answered.
Not what you hoped for, not what you dreamed.
All preconceptions crumble!"
-Dark Tranquillity - Format C: For Cortex
Have A Nice Day!
In my opinion, I do not believe WoW became vastly popular simply because of its name. Sure its name had a huge factor in attracting the fanbase in the beginning, but if it was not such a widely addicting game that appealed to MMORPG players, it would be dead (Similar to AC2)
Possibly, but from my experience there there are three factors that made WoW a stunning success. 1) No bugs, as per Blizzard's motto - sacrafice originality & gameplay to deliver a glitch-free game. 2) Insane marketing & advertisement, which supplied the initial draw. 3) Massive populations. The last one is the self-sustaining reason for WoW's continued rabid fanbase - they play because EVERYONE else plays. This is the single most self destructive element of MMORPGs the "I play because so & so plays" along with "I don't play, but I might if so many people played."
_______________________________
If I wanted your opinion, hell would freeze over.
"In time, all your questions will be answered.
Not what you hoped for, not what you dreamed.
All preconceptions crumble!"
-Dark Tranquillity - Format C: For Cortex
Have A Nice Day!
Hi All,
Wasn't there a recent "Stargate" single player game that flopped? This kinda feels like another TV port to the MMO game market ala "Highlander" that never got off the ground from a French game developer.
Cheyenne Mountain seems like a MGM Hollywood Studio attempt to break into the game development business. Sure they can attract talent from existing game dev firms. But can they deliver to the retail market much less the gamers.
There doesn't seem to be that neccessary 2nd party independence in this game developer. It's more a puppet of the whims of MGM.
Time will tell that they have the "right stuff" and be able to earn their claims.
----------------------
The Older Gamers
SWG is still alive in spite of the gamers getting a kicking month on month by Sony. EvE is the second biggest game after WoW; there is not a market for sci-fi? Squad based games won't work; D&D & RFOnline got released and I missed it? I am confused how people are confusing opinion with facts in their arguments. 'I do not like the idea of...' is not the same 'as it will...'.
I do like the idea but hope they can mix it up a little so there is a persistent warworld that squads can be puddle-jumped around to allow for more interaction that just 5-man instance squads (competing raids rushing for objectives anyone?) and also see a difference through our actions in an updateable environment that current instancing precludes.
I also hope there will be 3 races giving people the option to go melee fantasy with the Jafa or vulnerably techie with the Tokra and good old humes mising it up with med tech innovation but we'll see. As others wiser than me have already said, 'early days'.
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Well, I honoestly think that if this game is done correctly it will have a pull from WoW players... I play WoW on a regular basis, but I garuntee you that when this game hits stores I will be playing it and that will take away at WoW game play. If it is a great success then I will continue playing it, probably more and more, taking away at more WoW play. I don't know about everyone else on here that plays WoW, but lately the game has gotten over repedative. I often find myself bored and going back to older games to play (ie UT: GOTY, great FPS game and still has an attraction to me, though very simple, it's very addicting. along with the fast pase of the game, which helps rid me of bordem ((play online))) Anyway... my room mate is the biggest WoW fan I know... he's been playing it since its release. But lately he has just gotten so bored on there. He has gone back to playing Kya (ps2 game). So I think it is absolutly possible that this game will be able to take fans from huge games such as WoW.
Now when Blizz releases the WoW expansion... depending on how they go about it (what they add to gameplay) then any new MMO will have a very hard chance to survive, esp. if they release is soon after or just before the release of the WoW expansion. I KNOW that even people who have stopped playing WoW for awhile will go back to play the new stuff the expansion adds.
To end, I am deffinatly looking forward to this game and I hope that it is as good a success as WoW or EvE if not better.