It was actually a pretty quiet week. But into the silence, I come along with my noise...
PAX = PEACE = QUIET
PAX was, in a word, "meh". Mind you, from everything I've read it was a blast to be there, with lots of smaller games and indie games and even non-computer games making good showings there.
But on the big name front, especially for MMOs, it was eerily quiet.
Mostly that's due to the fact that the big boys are already in play and so a big PAX presence filled with amazing announcements just wasn't in the cards.
TSW and GW2 have shipped (to diametrically different sales), LotRO and WoW and Rift have their expansions ready to go over the next two months, PlanetSide 2 is ramping up for their release...and it's going to be kinda quiet other than those and a raft of smaller MMOs, most of which you've never heard of and never will (seriously, check out the "Upcoming MMOs" on the front page of mmorpg.com for the list of 'huh-whuh?' games).
A few games dropped trailers, but nothing made much of a splash.
Last year Neverwinter busted out their big announcements and wowed the crowd (say that out loud! [and that too!]).
But this year...there was no Game of Show.
A bit of a let-down, but then as I said, most of the big players are already in the game.
CITY OF HEROES MEETS KRYPTONITE
In what came as something of a surprise move (perhaps even a shocking move), NCSoft is shitcanning the City of Heroes franchise. Oh, and incidentally, all of the employees and the studio.
As I understand it, the game was still profitable. So when NCSoft busts out the standard bullshit lines of "refocusing" and "re-allocating" and crap like that.
When Apple computer cancelled the much-maligned Newton (look it up!), the product was profitable. But in that case, refocusing and re-allocating makes sense because the employees were put to work on other things (like helping to dig the company out of a great big hole and become Bigger Than God [and incidentally pay for my retirement]).
But in this case NCSoft killed a studio that was profitable. So they are refocusing and re-allocating...what exactly?
At least when they did the same thing with Tabula Rasa it was explained in part because they were actively trying to save millions by screwing Richard Garriott out of his contract. But why CoH?
CoH was a terrific game. Movement and combat were so responsive it was a joy to play. I remember the first time one of my characters got super jump. It was...perfect. It worked exactly the way every comic book reader dreamed it would.
Everybody who got it for the first time...EVERYBODY...spent at least 20 minutes doing nothing but jumping around. And in that little time you could launch yourself blocks in air and stick the landing on a specific fire escape or window sill you were aiming at.
I have said, ever since CoH, that every game should have super jump. So. Much. Fun.
There also seems to be some preliminary talks going on between NCSoft and "interested parties" as to whether the game (and perhaps the studio) can be spun off and/or resurrected.
Let's hope so.
Regardless, best of luck to the team of Paragon Studios. The game was something to be proud of.
TERA'S NUMBERS AS SCANT AS THE IN-GAME CLOTHING
The guys running TERA announced that they will be merging servers down to three. Every single person I know who played the game (all briefly) responded to the news with "Wow! Already?"
That was fast. Not to toot my own horn (oh screw it, TOTALLY to toot my own horn), but I pretty much called this one. I still don't think there's much of an overlap between console-style action gamers and MMO players. And certainly in TERA's case, with the most yawnworthy boilerplate MMO trappings on their (apparently quite) compelling action gameplay, it's already circling the drain.
As a further insult to those who are still sticking around, given the 8 character per server limit, if you've created more than 8 characters on the servers getting merged you're screwed.
Pick your favorite 8 because the others are gone. Way to support the fans!
I guess including a race of adolescent slut-bunny characters doesn't guarantee success in the marketplace. Who knew?
Well, me, actually.
UBISOFT AWAKENS FROM THEIR (SELF-INDUCED) NIGHTMARE
In a fine example of corporate double-talk, after spending endless time and effort defending the necessity and utility of their always-on DRM, Ubisoft announced this week that they were dropping the whole thing, retroactively, effective immediately.
When asked about this seeming (and actual) about-face, Ubisoft responded with "What always-on DRM are you referring too? We've always had exactly this new policy in place. These aren't the droids you're looking for. Please start purchasing our games again. Please."
Allow me to point to my recent blog about Razer (http://lensonmmos.blogspot.com/2012/09/lens-on-razer-cuts-its-own-throat.html) about how this sort of cloud-based control bullshit is stupid beyond words. And in this case, after watching the customers uniformly hold up a great big middle finger, Ubisoft got the message.
And for the record, Razer has now completely removed the old manual drivers from their website, forcing people who wish to avoid using their Synapse Piece-Of-Shitware to try to track down the old drivers from the murky and dangerous depths of the Internet.
Hey Razer...take a look at the message Ubisoft just sent out...the same one Cisco sent out a few months back..."We hear you, our customers, we were wrong and we're sorry."
Actually...that's the message that Ubisoft sent out, only they sent it out by denying that always-on DRM was every a policy and if it was it wasn't a mistake.
OK...whatever helps you sleep at night Mr. Ubi.
PETER MOORE, I NOW AWAIT YOUR APOLOGY
In last week's quickies, I flamed Peter Moore's BS statement about people just loving to hate on EA (and Zynga, and Bobby Kotick) for no good reason.
I made the statement that we hate them for perfectly good reasons. Here's what I said about why we hate EA:
We hate EA because time after time they screw their customers in vast droves to try and leverage their business so that they can screw them better and more often in the future.
And if you had any doubts about me being right Mr. Moore, here's what Frank Gibeau, EA Games President, had to say this week:
"I have not green lit one game to be developed as a singleplayer experience."
Hey Frank...as a life-long gameplayer and customer of your company's products for as long as it's existed, just let me say with all warmth...
Frank Gibeau, please go fuck yourself!
Here's news...Frank...there are all kinds of gamers. A great many of them...guess what...play games singleplayer.
Yes I know you tried to cover your ass with some mealy-mouthed crap about not green-lighting "anything that doesn't have an online service", but we're back to precisely the same sort of bullshit I talked about last week.
It's them trying to leverage their business for more control. "Everything has online service" is nothing but extending control and forcing their lever down our throats, whether we want it or not, for EA's benefit. Not for better games. Not for happier customers.
So Peter...I'm waiting for your call.
Or you could fire that shithead Gibeau. I'd take that as an apology too.
AND TO CLOSE, A FEW SHORT-SHORTS...
--Blizzard has notified me that I have a free week of WoW playtime to prepare for Mists of Pandaria. And even the free doesn't interest me. "Mists of Pandering" with the new addition of pandas, and pokemon, and Farmville...no thanks guys.
--"Marvel Heroes" is nearing its beta. I believe on October 1st they'll open up registration for the website, with automatic entry into the beta pool. I'll be interested to see how the Diablo-esque gameplay will mesh with superheroes and with MMOs.
--PlanetSide 2 announced their early-bird special. $40 gets you immediate access to the beta and a whole raft of launchtime goodies. It actually looks like a pretty good deal for those interested in the game. http://www.planetside2.com/alpha-squad
--Lastly, because I am legally required to end on a sour note, Richard Garriott (aka "Lord Egoish") and Portalarium are teaming up with Zynga for a 'game' called "Ultimate Collector", intended to collect your money. If you want to see a fine definition of why so much "social gaming" is utter crap, please read Garriott's blurb (http://www.mmorpg.com/newsroom.cfm/read/25465/Richard-Garriotts-Portalarium-Partners-with-Zynga.html). It's funny, but I don't even see where what's described is a game.
When it comes to Garriott and Zynga's CEO Pincus, I picture them as two rocks on the bottom of the sea. One of them pipes up "Hey, I've got an idea...maybe if we tie ourselves together we'll float!"
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