1419509
story
learithe writes
"A new Middle Earth MMORPG,
Middle Earth Online, has just
been announced by Turbine, who produced Asheron's Call 1 and
2 with
Microsoft. It
looks to be just as pretty and cpu/graphics card intensive as
AC2. More
(flash-free) information can be found at
IGN and
Gamespy."
Damnit (Score:5, Funny)
Now they have both a Star Wars and a Middle Earth MMORPG. I hope I have some personal and sick days left in a couple of months, I'm gonna need them. All they need now is a "You get to bone Britney Spears in real life" *game* and I would instantly reach a state of Heavenly Nirvana and transcend to the plane of eternal bliss. Well, a "You get to bone Jolene Blalock in real life" game would work too.
Re:Damnit (Score:2, Funny)
(Hey, at least its a video game reference
Re:Damnit (Score:3, Funny)
Or not...
Looking Bad for My Real Job (Score:1)
-A.M.
Re:Looking Bad for My Real Job (Score:3, Funny)
Here's hoping (Score:5, Interesting)
So with that history, I hope Turbine pulls off the game we ("we tolkien fanatics") want to see, but I'm not making any bets on it.
Re:Here's hoping (Score:2, Funny)
Here's hoping, I got excited the first time it was announced!
Re:Here's hoping (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, making a PD game requires planning it from the start, making every features in a way that PD is possible for everyone to ENJOY. There are lot of problems to solve, and those are solvable on paper, and probably in practice. I just wish one publisher had the balls to really do it.
I wouldn't bet that Turbine will keep the PD, I'm sure they won't. This sucks. I just wish there were still risky companies around like Looking Glass were. Ion Storm isn't bad with Deus Ex and now the sequel, although they used Looking Glass' legacy to build Deus Ex on... While you can be successful and make great games without being overly original and risky(Blizzard), we still need risky ventures to revolutionize and advance toward new and greener pastures.
Oh well, don't mind me, the old skeptic gamer, but I'm sure the new middle earth will just be a 'standard' MMORPG with some new and unrisky features and the same old gameplay, with some tweak here and there, and more importantly, the Tolkien world! Wow, quite a change of setting...
Please, someone, bring Permanent Death and more risky idea to the world of MMORPG and then, maybe, maybe I'll actually play one.
Re:Here's hoping (Score:5, Insightful)
If Lord of the Rings had been an MMORPG with permanent death, then Frodo would have died from the wraith's wound before reaching Rivendell and the whole story would have ended right there. The "he almost died but barely pulled through" story element that happens a lot in Tolkien wouldn't work if a computer was calling the shots.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Here's hoping (Score:3, Insightful)
Frodo pulled through, beside his very mortal constitution, because of the application of what you might call magic.
Yes, but put it in terms of a computer game with hit points or some other such damage mechanism. To make Frodo's player really *feel* that notion that Frodo almost died, Frodo has to be down to scant hit points left. And then the difference between him dying and him living is a mere matter of typing speed and how on-the-ball the players of the elves at Rivendell are. "Oh, darn, I made a t
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Here's hoping (Score:2)
I thought the same as you (and have argued vehemently that there were two Glorfindels) but I happen to be reading The History of Middle Earth, Vol. XII at the moment. To wit...
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Here's hoping (Score:2)
Frodo and co. would have died (or worse) by the hand of Old Man Willow, before the Deus Ex Machina of Tom Bombadil happened to jog along at just the right moment.
If you have permanent death in a game, you just make it harder to die. That, or make it easy to start over. Look at nethack, it's one of the most popular games in history, and it not only includes permanent character death, but also includes all sorts of nasty and insidious ways to instantly die ("
Re:Here's hoping (Score:2)
When they port it to the X-BOX (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Here's hoping (Score:2)
I think this could be addressed in a different way. The main problem is that resurrection is so close as to be impossible in Middle Earth, so allowing it in-game would be disappointing. So, what you need is a more appropriate solution to dying. What happens in the books? A heavy-hitting NPC swoops in and saves the hero. Bombadil, Aragorn, Glorfindel, Treebeard, all turn up in the
Re:Here's hoping (Score:5, Insightful)
However, for that, people must lose they preconceived ideas about permanent-death. I think I'll start the PDAA (PD Awareness Association). =)
Re:Here's hoping (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Here's hoping (Score:5, Interesting)
Like I said before, the idea is to solve the problems of PD(death by lags and glitches for example) and not just whine about them, but actually try to solve them. It's easy to say PD won't work because of X or Y, but it's harder and more rewarding, I think, to try to actually solve those problems. These new ideas might revitalize the MMORPG market, EVEN if the game fails, the ideas and new features because of PD might be really useful even for other games.
Check a discussion I'm having on BluesNews about PD, posts #11 and up.
MEO Discussion on BluesNews [bluesnews.com]
I remember that #1 reason/poll I read on PD (Score:2)
#1: No more having to see naked people running around yellling "has anyone seen my body?"
Re:Here's hoping (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, in a PD game, you MUST remove all(or a vas
Re:Here's hoping (Score:2)
The goal is really to strike a balance between a lot of factor and GIVE incentives and things to do for every character type. Loners would have a
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Here's hoping (Score:4, Insightful)
Too bad they're dumbing down the game in order to appeal to the masses. It'll be just like every other game out there, only with Official Middle-Earth Theme[tm].
Re:Here's hoping (Score:2)
Re:Here's hoping (Score:2, Insightful)
First few days: At first it'll be great. You'll die a couple of times at lower levels figuring out the game, but that's the learning curve.
First week: Your level 10 Super Shadow Slayer thingie dies. You actually put REAL hours into this character. You curse that class and pick anoth
Re:Here's hoping (Score:2, Interesting)
You raise many valid possible problems but I think there is a solution. Every character ages and dies naturally or by combat. This game would not be popular with people who enjoy raising stats and skills as quickly as possible so they can lord over the land with their god like powers. I think it would be popular with others who enjoy the process of building a character more than the eventual result (weekend warriors). We have many examples of the former and few or the latter.
It will still suck big time wh
Doh! Must spend more money... (Score:2, Insightful)
This sounds neat that not only will you have more character classes, but actually have different races in an RPG with building of race-specific buildings and stuff.
Kudos!
ikeya
Re:Doh! Must spend more money... (Score:2)
Re:Doh! Must spend more money... (Score:2)
Will they double charge? (Score:5, Interesting)
Jason
ProfQuotes [profquotes.com]
of course they will (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:of course they will (Score:5, Funny)
or their target market's parents...
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:5, Insightful)
I've bought all 3 WarCraft games and StarCraft, and they're my favourite games since the Sierra adventure games. WoW looks like it will be the best one yet, but I refuse to buy into that model on principle, and I am definately their target audience, I still spend about 10 hours/week playing WC3.
Jason
ProfQuotes [profquotes.com]
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:2)
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:3, Insightful)
It costs a lot more to build a cellular phone network than make a video game, and yet the cell companies will allow me to connect to their net
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:2)
Basic internet service is a different sector of the market. Historically, there's been no signup fee, only monthly fees. Part of the reason is that internet service is basically a commodity -- totally interchangeable. MMOs are not a commodity; EQ is not interchangeable with DAOC, Star Wars Galaxies, or The Sims Online.
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:3, Interesting)
My first internet account in 1993 charged a sign-up fee, and then when I switched to high-speed in 1997, there was an other sign-up fee. It's only more recently that customers have smartened up and will refuse to pay it. It's too bad they're still making the same stupid mistake again. I will never pay another activation fee. I don't have a land-line because my phone company does have a fee. They also offer satellite TV, high-speed internet,
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:2)
There hasn't been a sign-up fee for the overwhelming majority of dialup accounts since around 1994 or 95. The "sign-up fee" for the high-speed access in 1997 sounds more like it was paying for the service of setting it up. My DSL had a $200 setup fee when I got it in 1999, and a $150 DSL modem. (They waived the setup fee; I got to keep the DSL modem.) But even had I
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:2)
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:2)
I meant, on THIS page, [rackshack.net] at the bottom it says $1.50 per additional gig of transfer. Heh.
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:2)
In 1999, AOL had a larger market capitalization than GM and Ford combined. When they merged with Time Warner, the AOL division was on the books of the combined company as having that large value. When the dotcom bubble burst, the market value of AOL plunged. The $99 billion was a write-down of the value of the AOL division as the stocks dropped. Their core operations are still making money, and they can't be blam
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:2)
I still don't think they care about losing a few customers that don't want the box. It seems from reading other threads and having played MMOGs for a while that you are in the minority and will probably not be catered to.
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:2)
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:2)
Crack Marketing 101 (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Crack Marketing 101 (Score:2)
Two words: Anarchy Online [anarchy-online.com].
Re:Crack Marketing 101 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Crack Marketing 101 (Score:2)
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:2)
Re:Will they double charge? (Score:2)
But will they invest the time needed? (Score:3, Informative)
I never played AC1 but from what I played in AC2 it was lakely alot of content. It is one of the thing that makes MMORPG sucessful. AC2 had the gameplay and the beautiful graphics part of it right but it lacked the content and was unfinished at release. Which is way AC2 is a virtual desert nowadays.
Let's Hope Turbine can do it right this time instead of rushing it out the door like they've had in the past.
Oh jeez... (Score:5, Funny)
Aarragone says out of character 'Ranger and Rogue group needs Wiz for Ring Quest.'
Hobbitbone_05 says out of character 'Not another 'Fellowship' group. L4m3rs!'
(Actually, I wrote a while back for an EQ website. [crgaming.com]
mod parent up (Score:2)
Re:Oh jeez... (Score:2)
Thanks man, that is great.
Oh! Hey! (Score:3, Funny)
+5 whip of flame (Score:2, Interesting)
already been done (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, that's okay... (Score:3, Funny)
The first words you'll hear Frodo say... (Score:5, Funny)
"d00d! I 0wn0rz3d y00!!!!! LMAO!!!!"
*cringe*
I'm not looking forward to hearing those words from a hobbit...
I think I need to go reread LoTRs just to get that picture out of my head.
You think that's bad (Score:2)
I'd hate to be this guy [bash.org].
I want to be an Uruk-Hai! (Score:2)
Re:I want to be an Uruk-Hai! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I want to be an Uruk-Hai! (Score:2, Insightful)
that was one of the things I found completely stupid in the second movie btw... millions or gazillions of uruk-hai (u couldn't even see the end of them), all of them with super-human/super-elf strength and smarter than orc, and faster, and shoot stinging foam from their eyes (ok, ok, I'll get to the point)... against 100 or so elfs with bows! Gimli who is too fat to even pick up an Axe, JUMPS (or gets tossed) into the middle of all those uruk-hai (did I mention they had weapons too?) and
How can the game mirror the book? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:How can the game mirror the book? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How can the game mirror the book? (Score:2)
Re:How can the game mirror the book? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:How can the game mirror the book? (Score:2)
Well, seeing as players can be a Jedi in SWG, it might be time to rethink your theory.
Re:How can the game mirror the book? (Score:2)
For the less combative folks, MUME also had things such as herblore skills where you needed to find rare herbs to use and quests to find rare items and you could even fish! 8^)
Re:How can the game mirror the book? (Score:2)
Driven by MASSIVE (Score:3, Funny)
There are three main problems with MS/Turbine game (Score:4, Interesting)
#1) Lag, Sweet Horrible LAG!!!
Wanna go PvP on a Player Killer Only Server? Well good luck having huge battles between clans, having more than 50 people in a single area will cause your ping to skyrocket!
Non Player Killer servers suffer from the same thing, which are gathering places where "carebears" hang out for hours on end chatting. Log on or travel to a main hub or spot and get massive lag, sometimes these people create lag on purpose casting excessive spells which slow down your video rendering or spam your chat box with scripted responces.
No matter how fast your Broadband connection is, you will never get a ping under 100ms.
#2) Rules that MS/Turbine dont bother to enforce.
They hire 10 admins to enforce the rules governing 500,000 players and it just doesnt work. People cheat, hack, exploit and even if theyre caught doing it, even if they admit to doing it and tell others how, they wont get punished. Massive item duplication sprees that as an end result cause gaming servers to CRASH!! Holy Crap MS! They are crashing your servers and you dont even give them so much as a slap on the wrists!
#3) Scripted/Macros.
Since MS heavily relies on scripts to test almost all their products including their games, this latest game will be prone to macros. Its a shake n bake on AC1. You dont even have to do anything, people level for you by passing up Experience Points (The Vassal/Patron system) through an XP chain. Scripts are created to not only level, but for skills and trades. The products of these skills can be sold, so no need to go hunting for cash.
Of course the more MS/Turbine forbids the use of Macros, the more people do it. Its crazy right now, and the new rules strictly stating that macros are against the TOS have had the opposite effect. People macro more than ever.
PS
Their support is horrible.
Re:There are three main problems with MS/Turbine g (Score:3, Informative)
WHy this will suck (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:WHy this will suck (Score:2)
A question on their "marketing" (Score:3, Insightful)
Even after that, there are many MMOPG games in production. I don't think they will be too many successful ones because a gamer has only so much money to spend on monthly fees, but more important time. A single MMOPG can consume much of your free time.
So I really doubt the success of Middle Earth Online.
Middle Earth Warcry (Score:3, Informative)
Find it @ http://me.warcry.com
Something I never can understand.. (Score:4, Interesting)
A big unifying conflict can be good...and bad. Part of the attraction of a MMORPG is that it never ends...Or at least lasts a long time. If they start right before war breaks out with Sauron, the game won't last that long...
Here we go (Score:2, Troll)
hobbit1:"No way, l4mer5"
hobbit2:"No again old man"
orc143:"errr Me Hobbit, me take quest"
orc424:"me too"
orc532:"me too"
noruas:"me too"
What we have is a game thats going to piss off middle earth fans. You know how THEY can be. This means they need to catter to regular fantasy fans. so it will be like every other fantasy game. Why bother buying the rights?
OTOH I might sign up just to get a classin tolkien name, and then sell on ebay!
Suck the life right out of Middle Earth (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Suck the life right out of Middle Earth (Score:2)
I want to be Sauron (Score:2)
What an evil thrill that would be in an online game.
An added bonus would be warping the minds of weak willed hobbits.
Finally, I get to play my favorite character! (Score:2, Funny)
LotR and DAoC (Score:2, Funny)
Turbine Engine (Score:5, Insightful)
When Turbine demo'ed thier Turbine Game Engine, they demonstrated how flexible it was to script and how dynamic they could make the games.
They came up with an example set of inputs to thier engine and called it Asheron's Call 2. Thier engine is beautiful, thier game design is shit.
So, what people should be hoping is that thier game designers (and artists) [where is devilmouse?] don't drop the ball and make a game worth playing. It *could* give EQ2 a run for its money.
The One Ring (Score:4, Insightful)
Do you think there's any chance of the ring's destruction in Mount Doom?
Turbine's Last Stand (Score:2, Insightful)
Of course this game is not published by MS, so if it turns out well I guess it is proof that MS was at fault for AC2 being crap like it is now.
What does any of this have to do with Shadowbane? (Score:2)
Re:Any chance of a multi-platform release? (Score:2)
convince them that there is money to be made by either producing a client or
that, given a published API, that a sourceforge project can make a working client.
there may even be a code-for-play-time business model here: free software game, contributors play at will, non-contributors cough up a few quid...
I've never played one of these MUD things, but this could coax me out. Are they going to make it immersive, and do a lot of dwarvish and elvish
Re:WineX our only hope of playing this game in Lin (Score:5, Insightful)
a) not develop for Linux, pocket the savings, sell a million games.
b) incur the expense of developing/testing/supporting for Linux and sell...zero additional units.
At least doing a Mac port involves getting sales that you flatly would not otherwise have gotten. Mac users are not dual booting Windows for the purposes of playing games. You don't make a mac version, you don't sell to the Mac user. Simple.
But now that Mac OS X is Unix-based... (Score:2)
Or, write the game using SDL and have it run on all three platforms.
Or, release the source (but not the graphics, sounds, music and levels) under the GPL and have the community do all the work of porting, tracking down bugs, adding new features &c.
Re:WineX our only hope of playing this game in Lin (Score:2)
Or dual boots to OS X, but I digress.
If the cost of porting is low enough, though (as it would be for OpenGL games), it might become handy to cultivate Linux gamers by releasing a Linux port. It does not even have to be concurrent - look at Neverwinter Nights.
A side effect might be maintaining portability; the platform-specific parts of the code would have to be clearly delineated, which is good engineering practice.
Re:WineX our only hope of playing this game in Lin (Score:2)
Porting to linux opens up the market of those people who run linux but do not run windows, and who also don't have a philosophical objection to closed source software. Those users are so few that it simply isn't financially worthwhile (unless you are writting a portable
Re:BUT (Score:2)
I do agree, however, that DirectX is evil. But I don't want to see DirectX on Linux o
Re:I keep up with CMMORPG's... (Score:2)
As to whether you're supposed to pay for the software to be frustrated, have you ever considered that MMORPGs are not the game for you? Now bear with me on this, bec
Re:I keep up with CMMORPG's... (Score:2)