|
Title: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Hutch on October 25, 2007, 01:57:15 PM Quote from: schild (original quote from a locked thread in a galaxy far, far away) (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=6346.msg170474#msg170474) Budgets. Budgets that don't support a MMOG. Budgets that won't for a long time until a big company (EA, UBISoft, Take Two, ZeniMax, SCEA/J/E) says they've got a blank checkbook to make this game. Hmmmmm (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=16004) I found this in the Warcry newsfeed. The article is on Gamasutra. Zenimax received 300 million USD "to fund future growth, ramp up publishing and development, facilitate acquisitions, and finance MMOGs." The Aperture Enrichment Center wants to remind you to speculate in an environment of extreme pessimism. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: schild on October 25, 2007, 02:00:32 PM Didn't they buy the Fallout MMOG or did what's it called keep that part of the license?
Also, Elder Scrolls MMO on consoles in 2010-2012, you heard it here first. It will still be ugly as fuck. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Hutch on October 25, 2007, 02:09:38 PM Well, if they were going to take that $300M (or a high percentage of it, anyway) and simultaneously build an MMOG and an MMOG toolkit with it, they might have something. A game to finance future development, and a toolkit to build it with.
That's a pretty big if, though. I reckon they'll end up diverting the largest share of that pie into "facilitate acquisitions". Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Phred on October 25, 2007, 02:12:26 PM Didn't they buy the Fallout MMOG or did what's it called keep that part of the license? Also, Elder Scrolls MMO on consoles in 2010-2012, you heard it here first. It will still be ugly as fuck. Correction to original post. Bethesda bought all rights to Fallout including the right to make a MMOG, but the deal is that Interplay gets to keep those for another year or so and Bethesda has the right to approve the quality of any Fallout MMO before it goes to market. No one expects Interplay to actually dig up enough money to actually finance it though so what's a good lead time to start building up cash? Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Ragnoros on October 25, 2007, 08:40:06 PM The way I understand it Bethesda now owns the fallout IP period. However Interplay is allowed (likely under past agreements) to make a Fallout MMOG IF they start within the next two years (more like one and a half now) AND finish in six. However if they fail to do so (the way I understood it) Bethesda is free to make their own and/or license it to someone else or whatever the fuck they like.
Heres the post from No Mutants Allowed (http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35621) Also Gamespot's news item explains it well. (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6168988.html) Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Yegolev on October 26, 2007, 07:19:44 AM Also, Elder Scrolls MMO on consoles in 2010-2012, you heard it here first. It will still be ugly as fuck. If TES MOG ends up being only ugly as fuck, we're getting off easy. How about: nothing like any TES game, boring and buggy? Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Arrrgh on October 26, 2007, 07:56:37 AM This is good news. Eventually it will be like the infinite number of monkeys on typewriters and we'll have an infinite number of devs cranking out MMOs. I suspect this is the only way I'll ever see a fun new MMO.
Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: CharlieMopps on October 26, 2007, 11:51:36 AM The only way I see a "Fun new MMO" being made is if some hardcore mmo junky wins the powerball and starts his own company just for fun and never thinks about profit.
Everyone buy lottery tickets and mail them to me... quick! Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Salamok on October 26, 2007, 12:03:24 PM The only way I see a "Fun new MMO" being made is if some hardcore mmo junky wins the powerball and starts his own company just for fun and never thinks about profit. Already in the works. Think about a few years down the road. The game devs that ended up with a money hat and want to continue working in a field they are passionate about. Everyone seems to be mourning the death of the indy mmog but I think it will experience a glorious rebirth sometime in the next 5 years. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Furiously on October 26, 2007, 09:56:13 PM The only way I see a "Fun new MMO" being made is if some hardcore mmo junky wins the powerball and starts his own company just for fun and never thinks about profit. Already in the works. Think about a few years down the road. The game devs that ended up with a money hat and want to continue working in a field they are passionate about. Everyone seems to be mourning the death of the indy mmog but I think it will experience a glorious rebirth sometime in the next 5 years. You mean people like Richard Garriot and Brad McQuaid? Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: UnSub on October 27, 2007, 10:03:28 AM The only way I see a "Fun new MMO" being made is if some hardcore mmo junky wins the powerball and starts his own company just for fun and never thinks about profit. Everyone buy lottery tickets and mail them to me... quick! You could buy Darkfall and finally release the perfect MMO. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: CharlieMopps on October 28, 2007, 05:21:36 AM You could buy Darkfall and finally release the perfect MMO. uh... no... More like I'd use Torque to build it, so it could be ported anywhere... then I'd develop content in 2 directions. Fantasy and Sci-fi. I'd make the client open source, but the servers... oh the servers would be my money hat. You can change the mmo all you want... have whatever rules you want... But all your players gots to pay me $15.99/month. Maybe we'd throw in bonuses to the server admins that attracted the most accounts. There would be a minimal fee to start a server... just enough to pay for the hard disk space and backups. The clients subscription fees would pay for bandwidth... and my ferrari. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Salamok on October 28, 2007, 12:17:05 PM The only way I see a "Fun new MMO" being made is if some hardcore mmo junky wins the powerball and starts his own company just for fun and never thinks about profit. Already in the works. Think about a few years down the road. The game devs that ended up with a money hat and want to continue working in a field they are passionate about. Everyone seems to be mourning the death of the indy mmog but I think it will experience a glorious rebirth sometime in the next 5 years. You mean people like Richard Garriot and Brad McQuaid? sort of, you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs. I was thinking more along the lines of flagship studios. You could even say that Raph/meatplace is a product of this as well. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: rk47 on November 04, 2007, 06:59:27 PM I like where this one's going :awesome_for_real:
(http://screenshots.filesnetwork.com/95/potd/1134695493_73.jpg) not. :uhrr: Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: HaemishM on November 05, 2007, 09:24:52 AM Is that armor made of LEAVES?
Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: stu on November 05, 2007, 09:56:01 AM Those sure look like leaves...
(http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff26/stuabrtow/triumph_tn2.gif) Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: CharlieMopps on November 05, 2007, 12:18:36 PM No, thats a screenshot of Morrowind, and the green stuff is the glass armor. I'm assuming this is some sort of online co-op mod of the game.
Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Murgos on November 05, 2007, 01:32:32 PM No, thats a screenshot of Morrowind, and the green stuff is the glass armor. I'm assuming this is some sort of online co-op mod of the game. That's quite an assumption. I assumed it was a photshop. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Murgos on November 05, 2007, 06:24:48 PM Also, Elder Scrolls MMO on consoles in 2010-2012, you heard it here first. "ZeniMax Buys 'Elder Scrolls Online' Domain" (http://pc.ign.com/articles/832/832355p1.html) Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Miasma on November 05, 2007, 08:11:48 PM Eeep, I love the elder scrolls but they aren't going to be able to make a good MMO. I can't imagine the number of bugs either :uhrr:.
Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: schild on November 06, 2007, 06:40:48 AM Also, Elder Scrolls MMO on consoles in 2010-2012, you heard it here first. "ZeniMax Buys 'Elder Scrolls Online' Domain" (http://pc.ign.com/articles/832/832355p1.html) >_< was hoping I was wrong. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: CharlieMopps on November 07, 2007, 10:36:22 AM Makes sense to me... Since Daggerfall they have been producing games filled with boring computer generated quests. How people can stand to play the same quest over and over is beyond me... Usually even the art looks identical... each temple looks the same... each cave the same... etc...
But it would all lend itself to an MMO well. Oblivion was so much like an mmo already, all it needs is a server. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: raydeen on November 07, 2007, 02:45:32 PM If they make the leveling mechanic similar to what they initiated in Daggerfall/Morrowind/Oblivion, I will come. (in more ways than one probably). Let me level by doing what my class demands, not by whacking foozles. I know I'm going to get flamed for that because of a comment I made in the FFXI thread about only wanting to whack foozles, but in the context of the Elder Scrolls games, I would glady deal with leveling based on performing my major and minor skills. I loved that in Daggerfall. Forced me to roleplay that character as God intended. I'm guessing it's a similar concept to UO's levelilng, but not positive about that. I couldn't get into the UO love.
But holy hell yes, bring on TES:Online. But only if it works the way I want and has daedra boobies. :inluv: MIght even get my wife to play. Arena was her favorite game back in the day. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: rk47 on November 08, 2007, 10:16:35 AM raydeen, it's called ultima online. Can you imagine all those crazy max-monkeys running against the walls and bunny hopping all the place just level up their char? No. Just no >_<
Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Yegolev on November 08, 2007, 11:44:23 AM What rk47 said. Be careful what you wish for, and people who don't know history, and whatnot.
Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: raydeen on November 08, 2007, 12:03:02 PM raydeen, it's called ultima online. Can you imagine all those crazy max-monkeys running against the walls and bunny hopping all the place just level up their char? No. Just no >_< Yeah, I see where you're coming from. Is it any worse than what we have right now though? It's just a different kind of grind. Although I can see where it would be criminally easy to level some classes and hard as fuck for others. I ran into that with Daggerfall. Some classes couldn't level to save their lives, others would get you levels all day. In the end, it would take too much thought to implement and balance and wouldn't be worth the time and money for the company. It's sad. One possible way of making it work would be for a check to be in place that the action being taken actually was warranted. Say I'm firing off flame bolts at a monster. If one lands, I get exp or skill increase. If I'm just firing off into mid-air (which I used to do in DF), I should get nothing if the bolt fizzles out without making contact with a mob. I should just pack in the whole MMOG deal and buy an old Pentium for $50 and reload DF and Arena. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Yegolev on November 08, 2007, 01:18:04 PM You can run those in DOSBox.
History can teach us about disparate level gains. Nevermind the class-balance flag that people trot around for a minute and let's remember Horizons. I can't remember exactly which of the hundred classes was the Easy Mode one, but once the first guy hit level cap, the combat rework began. Things just went downhill from there. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: MrHat on November 08, 2007, 03:38:00 PM lol elderscrollsonline.com
Registrant: ZeniMax Media Inc IT Department 1370 Piccard Drive Suite 120 Rockville, MD 20850 US +1.3019632000 Fax: +1.3019632000 Domain Name: ELDERSCROLLSONLINE.COM Registrar of Record: Corporate Domains, Inc. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: schild on November 08, 2007, 11:01:35 PM Fail (also, that's a few days old).
Of course, it will be a console MMOG. 2 Million Users + within the first few months. I'm calling it. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Rendakor on November 09, 2007, 03:20:46 AM No way its console exclusive, unless M$ gives them moneyhats for exclusivity, which would put it on 360 and "Games for Windows(tm)". Though honestly I dont see them keeping it off the PS3...
Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Simond on November 09, 2007, 08:00:28 AM It'll be on all three (with the PC version being gimped to fit), and it'll be moneyhats all around.
Hell, you could take Oblivion, rip out the 'main' storyline, add multiplayer and charge $10/m for it right now and you'd still end up with half a million subs. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: schild on November 09, 2007, 08:21:48 AM No way its console exclusive, unless M$ gives them moneyhats for exclusivity, which would put it on 360 and "Games for Windows(tm)". Though honestly I dont see them keeping it off the PS3... WHY HELLO, I NEVER SAID EXCLUSIVE. Of course there will be a PC version. I'm just saying it'll be on consoles. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Rendakor on November 09, 2007, 09:18:51 AM Im sorry, but "console MMOG" implies "not on PC."
Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: schild on November 09, 2007, 09:24:12 AM Im sorry, but "console MMOG" implies "not on PC." Oblivion was a console RPG that was on the PC. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Rendakor on November 09, 2007, 09:37:39 AM TES has always been a PC RPG series. The fact that the two most recent iterations have also been released on consoles does not change that fact.
Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: schild on November 09, 2007, 10:05:22 AM Quote TES has always been a PC RPG series. The fact that the two most recent iterations have also been released on consoles does not change that fact. Ok. Split hairs. If you don't think that Oblivion was designed from the ground up for console play, you're just crazy. It's not like some sort of opinion thing. Bethsoft said it, Zenimax said it, Microsoft said it, and we had threads and threads here and there are more all around the web complaining about a lot of shit due to said consolization (well that, AND all the fucking silly bullshit design decisions made in the game). Basically, Oblivion was ALSO released on PC. It wasn't also released on Console, the 360 was the lead platform for it. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Rendakor on November 09, 2007, 10:20:21 AM Fair enough. Guess I'm just hoping for the best. FFXI was worse on PC than PS2, but I'm not up for playing an MMO on a console.
Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: shiznitz on November 09, 2007, 11:10:23 AM If you don't think that Oblivion was designed from the ground up for console play, you're just crazy. Agreed. I don't consider it debateable. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Hutch on November 26, 2007, 08:34:10 AM Bump (http://hj.warcry.com/news/view/79277)
Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: UnSub on November 26, 2007, 05:01:42 PM Bump (http://hj.warcry.com/news/view/79277) I find it hugely ironic that developers keep licensing third-party MMO engines (such as the HeroEngine here) long before the flagship game of said engine ever makes an appearance. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: schild on November 26, 2007, 05:12:46 PM Isn't it more dramatic when said game gets canceled a a much bigger profile studio buys something from that thing though?
Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: UnSub on November 26, 2007, 05:19:11 PM Isn't it more dramatic when said game gets canceled a a much bigger profile studio buys something from that thing though? I remember visiting the Citizen Zero forums on numerous occasions over the years. That was a sad and desparate place. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: KallDrexx on November 26, 2007, 11:11:58 PM I find it hugely ironic that developers keep licensing third-party MMO engines (such as the HeroEngine here) long before the flagship game of said engine ever makes an appearance. Wasn't there an argument on here not too long ago about how developers should focus on either the middleware or the game, but not both? Figuring how long we've heard about their flagship product and how much we've heard recently about the game (not much that I"ve seen at least) I assume that the MMO is just something to show the tech off, with development more focused on te middleware then the game itself. I dont' see that as a bad thing then from the viewpoint of wanting to license the enigne. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: ajax34i on November 27, 2007, 05:55:40 AM Simutronics is running a couple pay-to-play MUDs too, and one of them that I checked out (Dragon Realms) has 500 concurrent users (although only a fraction of that are past the free trial stage, I'd say). I don't know if that's indicative of their size. Looking at the state of the websites, I got the impression that they stopped developing their MUDs in 2001 or so to focus on Hero's Journey, which currently looks abandoned in favor of enhancing the Hero Engine. This (http://www.heroengine.com/) seems to say "get the engine and we'll throw in the source code for the game for free."
Eh, good for them, I wish them luck and hope things pan out and they make it big. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: schild on November 27, 2007, 06:00:45 AM So, basically, Bioware is using the world engine from one canceled MMOG and the chat/user engine of another one.
Surely, this says nothing. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: MrHat on November 27, 2007, 06:06:58 AM Best of both worlds?
:awesome_for_real: Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: schild on November 27, 2007, 06:11:53 AM Simutronics may have built a good engine. Who knows.
Perpetual may have built a decent chat engine. Who knows. All I know is we're talking about Bioware. A company that has built it's own engines (that are still in use today). Yes, yes, I know Bioware Austin. And yes, yes, I know I'm normally the first one to point this out. But have you ever wondered what cutting corners smelled like. This is it. I'm hoping I'm wrong. I'm hoping this thing turns out OK. I'm hoping it's not crap on arrival. But hey, it only takes one game to screw up a reputation. And MMOGs seem to fit that profile these days. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: ajax34i on November 27, 2007, 06:29:21 AM So, basically, Bioware is using the world engine from one canceled MMOG and the chat/user engine of another one. Is that a "world engine"? I guess... They call it "engine" but it looks more like a development kit / project management stuff to me. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: schild on November 27, 2007, 06:34:50 AM Funny, because it looked more like Fisher Price My First MMOG to me. But hell, maybe it does streamline the shit out of everything.
Place land here. Terraform. Place Quest Giver. Wait, slow down, let's randomize that quest giver's face. HIYAH! Alright! Type text. Type result. Win. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Hutch on May 15, 2009, 10:45:04 PM NECROOOOOOOOOOO
I considered starting a new topic. Schick says he's going to work on an "unannounced" game for Zenimax, so maybe when they get around to announcing it, we can have a new topic. Until then ... An Interview with Lawrence Schick (http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/05/interview-with-lawrence-schick.html) Quote 6. You left the roleplaying world professionally many years ago. Are you still involved in the hobby? My role-playing résumé is long and varied, and continues to this day. Here are the highlights: <snip> - 2009: I have accepted an offer from ZeniMax Online Studio to be their Lead Content Designer on an unannounced MMO RPG, and will be starting there in two weeks. Elsewhere in the linked article, we are reminded that Lawrence Schick worked on some early first edition AD&D materials, including the DMG and the module White Plume Mountain. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Yegolev on May 19, 2009, 11:28:37 AM I believe this means we can safely ignore Bethesda for at least two years.
Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Soln on January 20, 2010, 10:56:09 AM ARISE AND BE GLAD!
via Massively, Court documents say Bethesda's MMO already under dev, rumor says it's Elder Scrolls (http://www.massively.com/2010/01/20/court-documents-show-bethesdas-mmo-already-underdev-rumor-says/) Quote In this most recent round of court scuffles between Interplay and Bethesda over the Fallout MMO rights, it would seem that some details are coming to light about what's going on at Bethesda's MMO "branch", Zenimax Media. According to filings, the word is that there are close to 100 people working on an MMO that costs "tens and tens of millions of dollars" and has been under development since late 2006. Apparently these same filings claim that the title is a "World of Warcraft" type MMO. Of course, considering World of Warcraft is about as equal to McDonalds in terms of brand recognition with its millions and millions served, saying something is like World of Warcraft could mean anything from 'it's a DIKU-based, kill-ten-rats, FedEx, fantasy MMO that looks rather a lot like WoW' on up to 'it's somewhere in the general MMO neighborhood.' Now, to follow this interesting tidbit up, the word is that Bethesda is moving to have this particular chunk of testimony censored to protect trade secrets. To stir the pot a bit further on why they might be scrambling to block it, VG247 have a source they claim is reliable confirming this is the often-rumored Elder Scrolls MMO. What's more, their source says the Elder Scrolls MMO should have been announced last year. Title: Re: Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow? Post by: Draegan on January 20, 2010, 11:29:57 AM Yeah I read that somewhere else. Nothing really new here.
|