More Competition for WoW from E3
by Mike D'Anna 
May 19th 2006 at 1:00PM
As you can imagine, there were a flood of new MMO titles being showcased at this year's E3, all of them hoping to get a slice of Blizzard's pie in the online gaming sweepstakes. MSNBC has an article previewing some of the upcoming challengers to the throne, including Age of Conan, Vanguard, and Richard Garriott's aforementioned Tabula Rasa.Although some of these games look quite interesting, I can't help but wonder when we're going to see someone really try and break the MMO mold, and get away from the fantasy/sci-fi rut that all the major games still seem to be stuck in. Where is our western MMO? Or a horror-themed one? Sure, Test Drive might be fun, but it sounds basically just like a GTA clone online, and the one about Ancient Rome sounds cool, but when it comes down to it, it will still just be a bunch of swords & shields. There are so many settings that would make for an amazing online gaming experience, and I don't see anything putting a real dent in WoW's population anytime soon...it's time to get creative here, folks...
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jason May 19th 2006 2:17PM
Would you count the Africa MMO (info at http://africammo.com/ and no, I'm not affiliated with them)?
Christian May 19th 2006 2:19PM
There is a zombie MMO in the works, unfortunately, very little is known about it at this time.
http://www.exanimusthegame.com/
Dustin May 19th 2006 3:18PM
I whole heartedly agree with your line of thinking. What boggles my mind is how many companies are trying to crack into the MMO business. MMO's have to more fiercely compete with each other than other forms of computer games due to their subscription fees. Generally a person is only going to give his time and money to one MMO, while he might be able to buy and play multiple FPS or single player RPG's. I know that to be my case. The examples you give in the article would provide a more unique experience, but I propose that the only truly unique massively multiplayer experience I see coming up, believe it or not, is Will Wright's Spore.
dipdudu May 19th 2006 4:04PM
StarCraft Universe.
jpc May 19th 2006 5:27PM
wow insider bloggers,
did you guys see anything at e3 about sc ghost?
That was supposed to come out like 2yrs ago or something.
I bought a ps3 a few months before sc ghost was supposed to come out, and then it never did... I should've just saved my cash. I know this is *wow*insider and not *blizz*insider, but hey! it's worth a shot right?
Lori May 19th 2006 5:55PM
I have often thought it would be cool to take a group of my alts into instances. Obviously, only one under my control. The others would need to be AI controlled.
Perhaps with a system for experience with an instance counting toward reducing the difficulty in completeing it.
Hey, could multiple characters be leveled at the same time?
A western MMO? What classes? Cowboy, Gunfighter, Faithful Indian Companion, Bad guy, Sheriff, Cuckwagon cook, Sheriff's Companion, Dance Hall Girl, Madam, Indian Chief, Warrior, Brave, Squaw, Railroad Baron, Cattle Rustler, Rancher (cattle), Rancher (sheep), Mage (to sheep the cattle ranchers cattle for the sheep rancher), Sheriffs GF.
Mercenaries might work.
CBG May 19th 2006 6:55PM
Sounds SC Ghost might have been cancelled.
http://ps2.ign.com/articles/698/698433p1.html
Grendalsh May 20th 2006 1:37AM
As a new/innovative game, Puzzle Pirates was a pretty cool MMO .. until the puzzles became tiresome. Got to the point I just wanted to sail and build a crew, not play tetris. However, some elements from PP that rocked - it had a REAL economy run by the players.. all goods were player produced. There were no powerups, so how well ye played the game was how well ye did.. no twinking.. But most importantly, a crew had to work together to be effective at pillaging.. all the duty stations tied together, and if Johnny hotstick refused to pump bilges, it slowed the whole ship down. And the officers KNEW it, and could lower his share of booty or boot him overboard. It'd be nice to see an MMO where team/crew development was almost more important than individual powering. WoW's got a bit of that in the tougher raids, based on class/role, but this would apply more to the PVP aspect..
On the Pirate tack, there are two MMO's on the horizon that aren't in the D&D/SciFi ruts.. Pirates of the Caribbean and Pirates of the Burning Coast. First is by Disney, and so will probably be family friendly, and seems character-centric. The second appears more ship-combat centric. It'll be a hard day when they release, cause while WoW rules, I love the smell of seasalt in the morning (even if it is virtual). Now.. if Blizzard came out with a naval combat expansion that made use of that ocean smack in the middle of Azeroth... Naga and Murlocs and Blacksails, oh MY!
Grendalsh, Captain of HMS Dawntreader, Silvermoon.
WTB [Alliance Frigate] Light fire and structural damage ok. PST.