I hope its U.K retail presence is put out of its goddamn misery. Of course the job losses will be terrible for the staff involved, but GAME has always taken the p*ss with their instore prices. It's time the greedy and unwieldy GAME.group consolidates (as sister companies gameplay and gamestation are doing with their web presence) - get back to basics and make an effort to be competitive again.
City of Heroes II will-never-happen. Champions Online will grow to become everything CoH couldn't do.
The best City of Heroes can do is do an extensive engine re-write to get rid of the mitten-hands and allow better events and powers-gfx. The best they can do is do what they did with DA and revamp each zone one-by-one to be more visually stunning, be a better design (god i can't believe Steel Canyon still hasn't had it's big-city make-over and be got away from that terribly dated grid and block design) and have better functionality for zone events. I also don't know why they haven't put a block power in for each powerset, it wouldn't be hard to do.
City of Heroes is simply too big and unwieldy after 7 years to think about a sequel, and I say that with reverse psychology in mind as I'd love them to prove me wrong.
I'm of the opinion that it is (and always was) Bioware's intention to hand-over to LucasArts at some point. Bioware is on record as saying "when we have finished with The Old Republic..."
Everyone knows you are never FINISHED with an MMO, it is always evolving. That statement from them cemented for me the suspicion that thaey will hand-over at some point in the future and let LuxasArts Devs carry it forward.
I mean, for Bioware it doesn't make sense to slave away for all time on Lucas' IP when they have a new StarWars for the 21st Century in waiting in their own (100% Bioware-owned) Mass Effect IP.
I applaud it for lasting, I applaud with 7-year old elderly mitten-hands. Personally I think its freedom incarnation should drop the silly gating of the Incarnate and crafting systems. So many players would drop by and pick up where they left off (possibly buying stuff from the marketplace) but are unwilling to pay a full sub-price for the priviledge.
I think the trouble with this SOTG was that it is very matter of fact re: the core systems work currently underway and a lot of re-capping. I'm hoping a new UNTIL report when it arrives will fill the aspirational void that many were hoping this SOTG was going to fill. As it stands January's SOTG is comprehensive in explaining how the systems work they are doing now will enable good things in the future.
"Rivera was also adamant that the revenue generated by the grab bags will allow the team to put more time and money into hiring and development of more featured content that is necessary to keep players interested in the game."
If that is the general consensus of Cryptic and not just STO (and i don't see why it should be); - Why is Champions-Online not seeing any dev-hires despite the influx of grab-bags there also?.
..........
"Rivera stated that Atari "never really did understand" the MMORPG market or Cryptic's involvement in it. Since Atari was a retail box company, its executives had trouble comprehending the persistent need for money to be spent on the constant upgrade of a game that had already been released. Finally, when Atari announced it would be divesting itself of Cryptic, Cryptic essentially "went dark." No money went into Cryptic at all. A hiring freeze was put into place, and it was hinted that the staff, which at one time had a roster in the mid-30s, fell to about 20 people. Those people continued to work on placing what content they could get into the game while they all struggled with yet another change of ownership". Rivera stated unequivocally that Perfect World Entertainment understands the game's potential and has a much firmer grasp on what an MMORPG actually is. PWE has a proven track record of making money using a free-to-play format.
First off - un-fricken-believable. Atari are just a joke. Secondly; looking forward to seeing dev-hires ACROSS THE BOARD FOR ALL THE CRYPTIC TITLES NOT JUST STO. Thankyou PWE!
BioWare done with Dragon Age 2, fully moving on to next phase
Mar 20th 2012 9:54PM (Joystiq)GAME weighs final options before point of no return
Mar 20th 2012 9:45PM (Joystiq)Of course the job losses will be terrible for the staff involved, but GAME has always taken the p*ss with their instore prices. It's time the greedy and unwieldy GAME.group consolidates (as sister companies gameplay and gamestation are doing with their web presence) - get back to basics and make an effort to be competitive again.
BioWare: There is another (free TOR weekend trial)
Mar 20th 2012 4:52PM (Massively)FIX MASS EFFECT 3 ! - then we'll talk your other titles EA/Bioware!.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: City of Heroes 2
Mar 1st 2012 6:14AM (Massively)Champions Online will grow to become everything CoH couldn't do.
The best City of Heroes can do is do an extensive engine re-write to get rid of the mitten-hands and allow better events and powers-gfx.
The best they can do is do what they did with DA and revamp each zone one-by-one to be more visually stunning, be a better design (god i can't believe Steel Canyon still hasn't had it's big-city make-over and be got away from that terribly dated grid and block design) and have better functionality for zone events.
I also don't know why they haven't put a block power in for each powerset, it wouldn't be hard to do.
City of Heroes is simply too big and unwieldy after 7 years to think about a sequel, and I say that with reverse psychology in mind as I'd love them to prove me wrong.
SWTOR devs leaving BioWare to make indie game
Feb 20th 2012 3:37PM (Massively)SWTOR devs leaving BioWare to make indie game
Feb 20th 2012 3:36PM (Massively)Everyone knows you are never FINISHED with an MMO, it is always evolving. That statement from them cemented for me the suspicion that thaey will hand-over at some point in the future and let LuxasArts Devs carry it forward.
I mean, for Bioware it doesn't make sense to slave away for all time on Lucas' IP when they have a new StarWars for the 21st Century in waiting in their own (100% Bioware-owned) Mass Effect IP.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: A critical year
Feb 2nd 2012 11:53AM (Massively)Personally I think its freedom incarnation should drop the silly gating of the Incarnate and crafting systems. So many players would drop by and pick up where they left off (possibly buying stuff from the marketplace) but are unwilling to pay a full sub-price for the priviledge.
Champions Online looks back to look forward in January State of the Game
Jan 23rd 2012 7:08PM (Massively)I'm hoping a new UNTIL report when it arrives will fill the aspirational void that many were hoping this SOTG was going to fill.
As it stands January's SOTG is comprehensive in explaining how the systems work they are doing now will enable good things in the future.
Feel-good Sunday post: 11-year-old makes games for cancer patients, charity
Jan 22nd 2012 9:42PM (Joystiq)Captain's Log: Cryptic's Lead Designer responds to questions
Jan 21st 2012 4:19PM (Massively)If that is the general consensus of Cryptic and not just STO (and i don't see why it should be); - Why is Champions-Online not seeing any dev-hires despite the influx of grab-bags there also?.
..........
"Rivera stated that Atari "never really did understand" the MMORPG market or Cryptic's involvement in it. Since Atari was a retail box company, its executives had trouble comprehending the persistent need for money to be spent on the constant upgrade of a game that had already been released. Finally, when Atari announced it would be divesting itself of Cryptic, Cryptic essentially "went dark."
No money went into Cryptic at all. A hiring freeze was put into place, and it was hinted that the staff, which at one time had a roster in the mid-30s, fell to about 20 people. Those people continued to work on placing what content they could get into the game while they all struggled with yet another change of ownership".
Rivera stated unequivocally that Perfect World Entertainment understands the game's potential and has a much firmer grasp on what an MMORPG actually is. PWE has a proven track record of making money using a free-to-play format.
First off - un-fricken-believable. Atari are just a joke.
Secondly; looking forward to seeing dev-hires ACROSS THE BOARD FOR ALL THE CRYPTIC TITLES NOT JUST STO. Thankyou PWE!