Former WoW and EverQuest programmers working on sci-fi MMOG
by John Bardinelli 
{ May 1st 2007 at 8:58AM }
Colony's aim is to "not be afraid to take chances outside the normal MMO design", and with experience on their side, they could be on the fast-track to MMO fame. They could also be on the fast-track to "here's a load of hype, hope you guys get excited enough to pay attention to what turns out to be a mediocre game".
IGN's RPG Vault has a full interview with Colony CEO Mike Wallis, who we assure you isn't Mike Wallace.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rallion @ May 1st 2007 9:08AM
Man, they're gonna be pissed if Blizzard announces Worlds of Starcraft.
Especially since Blizzard has (unfortunately, I think) proved that the majority of players really just want more of the same.
Buckshot @ May 1st 2007 9:11AM
Vanguard is where it's at, best MMO in a long time. Been seeing a lot of the mature WoW players crossing over lately.
Jecrell @ May 1st 2007 9:35AM
World of Warcraft has a shitload of ex-programmers --
Jonathan Tran @ May 1st 2007 9:44AM
well there's been a long running joke that the next Guild Wars would be GW: Tyrians in Space...
Kazi @ May 1st 2007 10:27AM
Sweet, that means we're gonna get yet ANOTHER rehash of the crappiest elements of MMOs. More instances, levels, gear and fed-ex/collection quests please.
Adam Chance @ May 1st 2007 1:01PM
I hope there is PVE. I HATE PVP in MMO's.
If I wanted to do PVP I would play battlefield!
Oh, and Vanguard is AWFUL, for all the high end req's it has alot of missing animations..
Aberu @ Jun 5th 2007 5:29PM
@2: Mature WoW players? You mean the 24/7 raiders that debated over lore till their face got red?
Isn't every damn MMO either publicized as, or IS, "a dynamic, living world that will allow players to log on and react to a constantly changing world"?
How is this really making them sound any different at all. Constantly changing world? That's Saga of Ryzom if you guys care about that. The point of an MMO is being fun. For it to be successful it has to be fun. That's it. Just like any game. This whole idea that people love MMO's for the ability to be immersed in this "second-life" fever is ignorant. Just make it fun, and we will play.
Buckshot @ May 1st 2007 1:09PM
Figures a pve wuss would not like vanguard, ask mommy fo a new pc, it plays great.
Zsavior @ May 1st 2007 1:34PM
I really want to see what Blizzard creates with out any of its old talent there. Seeing how WOW has been going down the tubes lately I just can't wait to see this explosion of innovation and ideas they are working with. HA!
BLizzard Employee: Hey guys for new armor, lets just paint old armor PURPLE!
Blizzard Boss: BRILLANT! and for the new dungeons we will make them harder yet, make the rewards worse! Oh OH OH, and now make these players grind hours just to hope to see the front DOOR of an high end instance.
Blizz developer: NERF EVERYTHING BUFF NOTHING! THIS IS WARCRAFT!
Blizzard is screwed. At least if any other of these guys can come out on time and create something worth while, and Vanguard is not it! Blizzard is not doing well it is just that their competition is not doing anything to non- freaking existent. Kind like the Bulls when they had BJ Armstrong and Horace Grant. Yeah they were a great team, but the real reason they won was, because the Pistons were old, and nobody else out there was at their caliber.
Aberu @ May 1st 2007 1:38PM
If Vanguard is so great why does it not have 8 million subscribers? Oh that's right better games are played by fewer people right?
Aberu @ May 1st 2007 1:41PM
"NERF EVERYTHING BUFF NOTHING! THIS IS WARCRAFT!"
Wow that is so inaccurate. One of the time-honored games of all time is Ultima Online in this genre correct? No one doubts it was the grandfather of modern MMO's being popular and all. Well THAT game was all nerfs and no buffs my friend. And every update is just that. Omgz this class is too buff, nerf. So every class in UO now feels nerfed to hell. WoW is nowhere near what you are claiming it is in that area.
Every patch has every class getting both nerfs and buffs. They have to balance it somehow. I never heard someone complaining about frequent updates that are in league with complaints from customers being a bad thing. Wake up buddy.
Sintax @ May 1st 2007 1:43PM
WoW only has 8 kazillion subscribers because its such an easy game any noob can play it.
wackychan @ May 1st 2007 1:49PM
I never caught on to WoW. The quests are boring and grinding is boring. ZZZzzz
Tom @ May 1st 2007 5:04PM
Somebody should make an MMORPG set in the wild west... unfortunately that's just too original; developers are only allowed to set MMORPGs in a medievel magic-elf-wizard world OR a futurustic sci-fi world. Damn cliches...
syco @ May 1st 2007 5:18PM
Sintax, if you think WoW is an easy game... I don't understand how you can even make a statement like that. First of all, You can't even win it. It's an unwinnable game, the game is as hard as you make it. Secondly, I've been playing for almost two years and I just now have reached 60. (but they moved the last level to 70, and I don't have any 70's, so...) The point being it is, at the very least, a very long game. I've also died WAY more than I do in most games.
WoW is actually a very difficult game.
fmj @ May 1st 2007 6:01PM
Eve Online is the future of MMO. It is completely different from every other MMO and no its not easy. I've played Ultima Online, FFXI, WoW, and Guild Wars; to name a few and Eve Online has so far been the best MMO I've played since I started with Ultima Online. It has a very different leveling system, balanced PVP and a whole fricken universe. Eve Online is also one of the most beautiful MMOs out there and will be upgrading its graphics engine to a brand new one based on Direct X 10 - which is a separate and optional client in the same universe.
In Eve you can create your own player stations, like houses in Ultima, you can join 1000+ member strong alliances made up of real people and lots more.
The thing about Eve, unlike all the other MMOs, is that it has a FUTURE. CCP will be adding walk in station and planets in the next two years or so. Not just flying around in space but crashing into planets and getting out of your ship. Eve will be here for a long time, and has recently merged with White Wolf. Better get on it now!
Decadre @ May 2nd 2007 9:37AM
Irregardless of whether the games are great or not, Subs are always to be somewhat questioned when Asian subs are part of the count.
Reaon being Asian subs work differently in that monthly time isn't bought but rather playing time is bought. So a player may buy 25 hours of game time, log in for just 15 mins for the month of May, and be counted as a sub for the month of May.
With that said, anywhere for 50% and up of WoW subs are thought to be Asian market subs. Lineage II claims anywhere near 14 million subs.
Just think what the sub rates would be for US market games if the sub system worked here like that. I'd probably have game time for at least 3-4 games, instead of just 1.
herrojima @ May 2nd 2007 10:13AM
WoW isn't an easy game, it isn't a hard game either, it's kind of in the middle there. but what i think me meant was that, it's easy to get used to the controls, and figure out basic game mechanics, which is the sole floating factor of the game, towards none gamers (i.e. the people you meet over 30y/o). it WAS one of the best engineered MMOs ever, and with missing it's core designers, it's going down the tubes.
Vanguard is sucking because it looks horrible to the people that are attracted to MMOs the most, younger crowds and older crowds, which, apparently like too see happy cartoonish looking characters and such, and to see it look half decent on a lower end machine, not going at 5 FPS, but look really detailed, they DON'T CARE about looks in that respect.
People play MMOs for one reason, to play with other people, it doesn't have to look like FEAR or Oblivion, with high end graphics, it just has to look appealing, easy controls and the ability to meet and hang out with people. those three elements give you an MMO of epic proportions.
skippy7721 @ May 3rd 2007 8:01PM
Yeah I don't know if you guys saw the EVE comment, but he's right. I have played just about every MMO on the market and EVE is the only one that looks like it has a future. The potential of that game is scary. The one thing about EVE that you might not be used to is there are no levels, no grinding....just lots and lots of patience
t_m @ May 2nd 2007 12:27PM
"warfare, PvP combat, character advancement, and territory control"
wow.. thats sounds sooo totally outside the box for a MMORPG.. not. And a sci-fi one.. gosh, totally radical idea there.. its kinda like sci-fi, but a little less played out.
Here's a radical idea: how about a NON-RPG MMO?? What about a skateboard MMO, or a MMORTS, or a MMO adventure game.
Or if it has to be another frickin MMORPG, what about a samurai one, or a western one, or a film noir one, or a golf one, or SOMETHING mildly original.. please... *sobs*
and please.. no levels!!!
Laurens Holst @ May 2nd 2007 2:33PM
"1. Man, they're gonna be pissed if Blizzard announces Worlds of Starcraft."
Actually, they already did, in 2005 as an April fool’s joke :).
I wonder how much this game is going to resemble EVE Online…
~Grauw
RaXha @ May 2nd 2007 4:20PM
@15."Eve Online is also one of the most beautiful MMOs out there and will be upgrading its graphics engine to a brand new one based on Direct X 10 - which is a separate and optional client in the same universe."
Yes, and of course all updates (read: expansions) are free :P EVE 4TW! :P
I'm not gonna say I'm some kind of expert when it comes to MMO's, but i can say that wow really isn't that fun, i think that the only reason they have as many players as they do is that it's very easy to get into and very good marketing..
I will keep an eye out for this game though, they've got some good people working on it it seems.. :)
Toliman @ May 3rd 2007 10:43AM
yes, it's major hype but its not trying to be everything.
re: landscapes and settings for MMO's like hacknslash, Diablo2, starcraft, space trading, knights and medieval fantasy, it's all about the variety of random encounters and all those animals to kill/asteroids to mine/tiberium to mine, etc..
you need that in an MMO to police resources and trading, prevent rabid exploitation by goldfarmers and other entrepreneurs. so, maybe linden had the right idea, charge for everything, charge for nothing.
but the other things is realism, or the natural order of things, i.e. instances, social groups, guild mechanics, how much power you really get, the challenge or satisfaction from gameplay in early/mid/high/endgame, etc. how to get around and visit places, trade with people, find social groups and actually work together to do things, etc.
you also need zombie like NPC guides to sell your crap to, and to generally cause a nuisance/general chaos. e.g. in EQ, NPC's would pull & chase players across entire maps for factional reasons, which was also entertaining for it's own reasons. in space, you get robots, also entertaining.
i don't think a western would work, there's nothing to do in a western except farm, shoot predators, and go into town to get drunk and whore yourself (equal opportunity exploitation, naturally). hmm... maybe there is a possibility in that.
i like the possibility of EVE online, but the horror stories are a little unsettling of spending up for months on a ship and then getting ganked by war, industrial espionage or pirates, no insurance, no recall, nothing. sure, if you put up enough idiots in any environment, the rules change to favour the powerful rather than any merit or skills, so you end up with cartels and little reason to get out of bed, unless you work for them. economy is a good reason to play, but it shouldnt be the only reason.
heh, maybe they should make an MMO game where you don't even need a 3D client, for those blackberry email users to keep up when not in the game, farming/skilling/trading while AFK.
i.e. get those millions of users/gfarmers currently running macros/autoIT bot's, playing away for small-time game benefits, i.e what seti@home/BOINC/folding does, put that kind of time committment into an economy, i.e. the guild you farm/AFK for and the guild you play for.. it's perfect for integrating wireless clients + home/desktop MMO game experience.
still though, would that be useful ?
slybri @ May 3rd 2007 2:49PM
I played WoW for 2 years and kinda got burned out on it. The thing I really love about Blizzard's games is the sense of humor and character they put into them. All the voice emotes and jokes and pop culture references make the game fun. No other game even tries to do that. Plus, Warcraft's setting is pretty unlimited. They have robots and dinosaurs and ghosts and gyrocopters, whatever the hell they want to put in there.
I tried out that LOTR online game last night. It's WOW, but replace all the humor and fun with Tolkein references and make the classes really basic and boring. That's LOTRO. It feels like WOWs mechanics and Guildwars graphics stuck in Tolkein's lore. LIke WOW, but not as fun, unless you are a Tolkein nut.
I just wish they would hire some company to make a GOOD Star Wars MMO. SWG was the bottom of the barrel. Well..okay..maybe the Matrix MMO was the worst. But SWG is down there with it!