Auto Assault is done!

[Gutboy Barrelhouse]

NOTICE: Today NCsoft is announcing that it will be closing down service for Auto Assault at the end of the summer. The service will close at midnight on August 31, 2007. As of today, any player currently in the service with an active billed account will not be billed again. If players have previously purchased time via multi-month billing or time cards that extends their service past the July 31 date, NCsoft will reconcile these accounts appropriately. There will be more announcements coming soon regarding the shut down of Auto Assault and its impact on current accounts. Please check back at www.autoassault.com for more information.

[schild]

open source downloadable servers yesterday plz

[Xerapis]

It's Dead, Jim.   

[Furiously]

Well, that is nice they are giving a free month to the 12 active players.

[LK]

So that's two vehicular-based MMOGs that have shut down while every other kind remains active?

Earth and Beyond
Auto Assault
Next?

[Furiously]

I think it's three - you left off Motor City Online.

[Krakrok]

Fuck. What a bunch of wasted effort.

[WayAbvPar]

Now someone competent can come in and make a decent car combat game.

Hint-

[Nonentity]

So, there are a very limited amount of MMOs that were actually completely shut down - IE Asheron's Call 2, Motor City Online, etc.

Does this one win for shortest time between Retail and turning the lights off?

[Rasix]

I don't predict a rosy future for this title. The servers (all four of them) were either at very low or low population. The most cars I ran across at the same time playing was three in one area and at most you'll see five or ten people in town. The game does feature instancing technology similar to City of Heroes so perhaps this is intentional, but in this situation I think it's just an effect of the game garnering very few subscriptions. If this game wasn't made on the cheap and can't subsist on extreme niche level subscription revenue, expect it to fold within a year.

Well, I was close.  Of course, that wasn't exactly a bold prediction.

[Secundo]

Well these days, even the Somalians know that putting a gun on a car is crappy idea. The only place it almost worked was in Hollywood.
To be honest though, I actually thought there would be enough American car/gun fetischists to make it work as a niche product but no..

.

[Murgos]

Well these days, even the Somalians know that putting a gun on a car is crappy idea. The only place it almost worked was in Hollywood.
To be honest though, I actually thought there would be enough American car/gun fetischists to make it work as a niche product but no..

.

Guns on cars actually work fairly well in real life...

[sam, an eggplant]

This is absolutely unprecedented. Auto assault must have done worse than anyone imagined for it to be shutdown cold like this.

[Strazos]

Isn't the same dev team working on another project currently?

[UnSub]

Netdevil is doing the Lego MMO as well as Warmonger (an original IP) and rehashing Jumpgate (which already nearly died once, I believe).

[Signe]

I hope they do better than AA this time! 

[Margalis]

I wouldn't read too much into the "vehicle MMOs being shut down" thing - those MMOs all sucked ass.

However I do think there is one takeaway - people who play vehicle games have certain expectations. People who play RPGs are used to die-roll mechanics; people who play driving games are not. I could not get into E&B for that reason - all the space games I've played have been dogfight style, not die-roll.

AA looks a lot like a Twisted Metal style game. So make it play like one.

[UnSub]

My local EB has a Collector's Edition of AA on the shelf... as well as a boxed copy of Earth and Beyond.

No point to this post other than wondering where the boxes of dead MMOs end up.

[Venkman]

They usually end up under the counter. I've had to be the one to tell the clerk to take a few off the shelves. They've tried to argue too: "dude, we got no notice from the publisher". Nice thing about websites...

Anyway, in this post-UO world, I think the following are the only titles that actually launched, collected subscriptions and shut down (we don't need to include those that died in testing):

E&B
MCO
AC2
AA

There's not enough here to trend. In an age when DnL and Planetside are still active (and we can guess why on the latter), all bets are off.

[Tannhauser]

Now someone competent can come in and make a decent car combat game.

Hint-

I like where your heads at!

[WindupAtheist]

What was funny was the thread on the AA forums where some guy was forlornly hoping SOE would come along and adopt it ala Matrix or Vanguard.

SOE, the halfway house for wayward MMOs.

[Sky]

Well these days, even the Somalians know that putting a gun on a car is crappy idea. The only place it almost worked was in Hollywood.
To be honest though, I actually thought there would be enough American car/gun fetischists to make it work as a niche product but no..

You need a time-out for stupid talk.

[Nonentity]

What was funny was the thread on the AA forums where some guy was forlornly hoping SOE would come along and adopt it ala Matrix or Vanguard.

SOE, the halfway house for wayward MMOs.

A 'Station Vagrant Pass' would be awesome.

Earth and Beyond, Asheron's Call 2, Motor City Online, and Auto Assault.

And Matrix Online, because it SHOULD be on there.

[Jamiko]

My local EB has a Collector's Edition of AA on the shelf... as well as a boxed copy of Earth and Beyond.

No point to this post other than wondering where the boxes of dead MMOs end up.

The local used game stores are always filled with games like Asheron's Call 2, the AC2 expansion, Earth & Beyond, and Motor City Online. Not to mention the fact that most any MMO in a used video game bin is not worth much as far as the subscription key goes.

[Stormwaltz]

E&B
MCO
AC2
AA

Does Majestic count?

[schild]

E&B
MCO
AC2
AA

Does Majestic count?

Majestic was one goddamn ring to rule them all. I was fanboi++ for the life-invasive concepts of that game. Knowing full well it would never work out, so no, it doesn't count. None of the above games sounded fun - ever.


 

[Nonentity]

E&B
MCO
AC2
AA

Does Majestic count?

Majestic was one goddamn ring to rule them all. I was fanboi++ for the life-invasive concepts of that game. Knowing full well it would never work out, so no, it doesn't count. None of the above games sounded fun - ever.


 

I can pay a guy to sit outside your house with binoculars - you down?

[d4rkj3di]

I'm sure glad I don't have a clue where AA is at right now financially. Look for Netdevil to continue running it after NCsoft reverts publishing rights.

[Furiously]

Majestic was one goddamn ring to rule them all. I was fanboi++ for the life-invasive concepts of that game. Knowing full well it would never work out, so no, it doesn't count. None of the above games sounded fun - ever.

I think majestic could work now days with a different pay scheme. Maybe something like text "66453" to XXX-XXX-XXXX...

Hell I'd pay something to have Samuel Jackson tell me to watch snakes on the plane every week.

[Yegolev]

Without verifying, I am pretty sure AutoAssault lasted longer than Seed.

What, you don't remember Seed?

[schild]

Without verifying, I am pretty sure AutoAssault lasted longer than Seed.

What, you don't remember Seed?

Seed is made of crushed up childhood dreams.

[Yegolev]

Without verifying, I am pretty sure AutoAssault lasted longer than Seed.

What, you don't remember Seed?

Seed is made of crushed up childhood dreams.

New avatar, then.

[Modern Angel]

Now someone competent can come in and make a decent car combat game.

Hint-

I like where your heads at!

I repeat: Dark Wind

[Modern Angel]

Hahaha! WTB delusions! From their boards:

"Jesus H Christ on a pogo stick.


ENOUGH with the [censored] doom and gloom "The sky is falling!" already!!

Not only is a gift horse being looked in the mouth with this Sept thing, its being given a full body cavity search just prior to being cut up and dissected.

Look.

If it was 'the end' does it make any sense to make something free? NC/ND are like any other company--if they can squeeze money out of something, they will. Its business.

Giving players that much free time before pulling the plug makes no frikkin sense whatsoever.

Instead, giving players that much free time sounds more likely as an attempt to get people to stay on and see new content, to perhaps change their minds about cancelling. I'm not sure if whats on pts is ENOUGH to satisfy anyone, so its either that, or something we dont know about yet.

Or, as others have said, maybe its when NC and ND part ways. *shrugs*

In that case, is it over? I'm going to say not. Look how long they held onto Jumpgate, another not-so-succssful mmo, and now its going to get relaunched.

Oh let's not mince words here. This game is not exactly in the best of health, and hasnt been in quite some time. But it only makes sense to end it when the costs of maintaining it outweigh the income it brings in.

When/if that happens, the end will come like a mob hit--you wont see it coming, like Tony Soprano.

Til then...its $15 a month. Cheap. I spend more on beer without even thinking about it.

I think some perspective may be called for, here.

Most of us still enjoy playing it, and this AA community is probably the best MMO community out there in SPITE of its tendency to devour itself with all of this pissing and moaning.

Those of you who have left the game , and only stay on these boards to continue the endless arguing, whining, etc?

[censored] off and leave already.

Dont let the door hit you on the [censored] on the way out. Take that bitterness and spite and go play soemthing with frikkin elves or something. "

[LK]