CES 2008: NATAS honors Stormfront for original Neverwinter Nights

16 Comments by Jason Dobson Jan 10th 2008 10:30AM
Filed under: PC, RPGs, MMO

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, or NATAS for those short of breath, has given us reason to pause and wax nostalgic over our gaming past by honoring the first graphical MMO, Stormfront Studios' original Neverwinter Nights, which ran over America Online from 1991 through 1997. The game is positively archaic by today's standards, but nonetheless laid the groundwork for much of what we know as MMORPGS today, and of course went on to inspire BioWare's own Neverwinter Nights franchise as well. Bugbears, they would be proud.

The nod was made during the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards ceremony at the CES in Las Vegas, an event which also tipped its hat to Everquest's Sony Online Entertainment and World of Warcraft's Blizzard for helping to spearhead the MMO genre. Don Daglow, who led Neverwinter Nights' design, accepted the award, and commented that "these games are not just entertainment...they build new kinds of communities and create deep people-to-people relationships." Or, you know, furry-to-people, for those who swing that way.

Tags: aol, CES-2008, mmo, mmorpg, neverwinter nights, NeverwinterNights, nwn, Stormfront

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Norm: Jan 10th 2008; 10:36AM

I immediately thought of the pro skateboarder when I saw that acronym.
(Natas Kaupas)

GRANTED: Jan 10th 2008; 10:46AM

dragon and purple guy r farting lol

Mr.ESC: Jan 10th 2008; 10:48AM

"Or, you know, furry-to-people, for those who swing that way".

Lol.

I never played the original but I played Bioware NWN and I loved every second of it, in fact I played it so much that I pwned in every PvP server, Hordes of the Underdark spells were so broken.

Oh good times, well back to the generic shooters and repetitive JRPGS.

samfish: Jan 10th 2008; 10:57AM

I thought you meant the Nazi forum dwellers.

...sometimes I read their posts just for a good laugh.
And then I cry because of how shockingly mainstream some of the horrible things they say are.

samfish: Jan 10th 2008; 10:58AM

God damnit, Joystiq~!

samfish: Jan 10th 2008; 10:57AM

I thought you meant the Nazi forum dwellers.

...sometimes I read their posts just for a good laugh.
And then I cry because of how shockingly mainstream some of the horrible things they say are.

samfish: Jan 10th 2008; 10:59AM

Ditto above.

samfish: Jan 10th 2008; 10:58AM

I thought you meant the Nazi forum dwellers.

...sometimes I read their posts just for a good laugh.
And then I cry because of how shockingly mainstream some of the horrible things they say are.

LaughingTarget: Jan 10th 2008; 11:00AM

Ah NWN, the memories. KORT for the good of the realms, if anyone knows what that is. If Akumu is out there, this is Hoo_U and you still owe me that +3 plate mail.

emagius: Jan 10th 2008; 12:21PM

The sad thing is that the Gold Box engine that powered Neverwinter Nights (as well as the D&D games of the late 1980s) is substantially more powerful, capable, and deeper than the crappy Infinity Engine Bioware fostered on gamers with the dumbed-down Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, and Icewind Dale in the late 90s as well as the terribly broken Aurora engine of Neverwinter Nights (200x).

Of course, Johnny-come-lately types are impressed by BG and PS:T, but as games and game engines go, they're much inferior to the Gold Box titles of yore.

unfriendly_cat: Jan 10th 2008; 4:59PM

I disagree; I first tried the Baldur's Gate demo which came with the big Gold Box compilation, and found the Infinity Engine to be a step up. BG1&2 and Torment are still my favorite RPGs on any platform (currently replaying BG1 on Gametap).

Icewind Dale was a decent hack & slash, never liked the new NWN.

Jake: Jan 10th 2008; 12:50PM

FYI
NATAS = Satan backwards

Hmmmm...

343 Guilty Fart: Jan 10th 2008; 1:06PM

That's exactly what I thought too.

ThornedVenom: Jan 10th 2008; 3:52PM

Never forget our gamer heritage. In this case, for MMO players.

Dan: Jan 10th 2008; 4:56PM

Where have I heard of this game...

Oh yeah, it was in Don't Copy That Floppy. hey-hey.

Dirt: Jan 10th 2008; 5:12PM

I swear there was an even earlier 2D MMORPG that was graphical than this. It looked more like an oldschool dungeon crawler, like Might & Magic or Dungeon Master, but was all multiplayer and you could group up with five other people. It was really expensive is all I remember.

Anyone? Before? After? When was it? What was it?

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