Gaff

I've always found it quite easy to figure out whether a game is "just" a shooter or is a true MMOFPS.

Firstly, and most important, the "massively". This means hundreds of players duking it out at the same time, in the same game space (i.e. no sideways instancing). This excludes games like Global Agenda.

Secondly, persistence. When you are logged out, the game should continue as if you were there, but with other people taking your place. This excludes shooters such as Battlefield, Modern Warfare and Team Fortress 2, which essentially "reset" as soon as you logout.

Thirdly, minimal / no PvE content. No NPCs, no quests. MMOFPS games are 100% PvP.

PlanetSide for me is the one, true MMOFPS. Certainly there are others with an arguable claim (ironically, one of the best of these is MAG on the PS3), but they are usually not "epic" enough in scale (see Global Agendal) or do not have offline persistance.

As for PlanetSide being excluded for not having headshots, I have never heard that before today and it sounds like absolute nonsense. Essentially, where PlanetSide led, other games followed. I can only hope that Sony don't mess up PlanetSide 2 because as things look now, it could well be the Next Big Thing that we are all still playing in five years time.

A "frustratingly vague release date?"

One of the worst-kept secrets in the gaming industry right now is that TOR will be released in November. I am 95% confident in that, based on all I have read.

@Unit 23

Came here to say this exact thing.

It was one of PlanetSide's better features (that anyone could go toe-to-toe with anyone else, regardless of level).

@aurickle Not really true.

From Smedley's twitter on 3/30:

"Lots of work going on. A lot of new team members going onto it helping out."

I believe that SOE examined the situation and decided that two MMOFPS games scheduled to come out around the same time would not work, and would likely just cannibalize players from each other. They had to choose which one to keep and which one to can, and decided to throw their weight behind PSN.

Extra resources (including manpower and cood, hard cash) are now being funnelled from The Agency to PSN as a result.

Meridian 59 was actually the first 3D MMO, pre-dating UO by almost two years.

@ToolroomKnight

Was about to post that here myself. Demiurge's port of ME1 to the PC was masterly, and should be the gold standard of how ports are done (i.e. optimising it for the *strengths* of the target system, instead of just reusing as much code as you can from the original without it breaking).

They were definitely a big part of helping ME1 become a big success on the PC.

@Grumms

John Smedley did say we'd hear something in March, and GDC and PAX East are the only shows happening in March so I am hopefully there will be some PSN at either one or both.

Either that or there will be some random announcement from SoE regarding PSN.

I've talked both on this site and others about how amazing a game PlanetSide was, how original in its thinking, how light years ahead of its time it truly was.

Unfortunately, it was doomed to failure by Sony's sub-par management and release of a poor expansion (Core Combat) that seemed rushed and uninteresting to many players. In many ways it actually *detracted* from the original game, which is a crime tantamount to high treason for an expansion pack.

Even with its technical issues and game imbalance (hello BFRs) this, for me, is still the greatest game of all time, and certainly the best MMO I have ever played. With literally dozens of vehicles and certifications in gear and equipment available, you could truly mold your character into something unique. And hey, if you didn't like it then unlearn your certs and start fresh.

I remember truly pitched battles, hundreds vs. hundreds vs. hundreds, on Amerish, Searhus and everywhere else, besides.

I was an AMS (Advanced Mobile Station - essentially a mobile respawn point that could cloak) driver predominantly, and was known for having a squad or even a platoon bind to my AMS, thendriving it somewhere out of the way behind the enemy's front lines, and everyone would spawn through it and we'd have a heavily-armed recon squad where they did not expect us to be.

From what John Smedley has been saying it seems that SOE have really started to understand what they did wrong with the first game and will hopefully not make those mistakes in the sequel.

I maintain that PlanetSide was the most fun that you could have with your clothes on.

I used to be WNxGaff on Markov (CR5) for anyone who remembers.

Bring on PlanetSide Next!

@(Unverified)

Core Combat was the name of the expansion; Aftershock was just what they called the bundle of the original PlanetSide + Core Combat.

Unfortunately, Hellgate suffered from trying to be too many things.

It wanted to be an FPS, an RPG, an MMO, a single-player game and a multi-player gamer, all at once. None of the aspects were strong enough to be able to carry the game over the mediocrity of the others, and so it tanked as a result.

I have never been so disappointed with any game as I was when I fired up the Hellgate beta for the first time and realised that there was, quite literally, very little there.

I was even more astounded when Cryptic hired Bill Roper to work on Champions Online a couple of years after that.