Zenimax (Bethesda's parent) receives cash infusion. MMOGs to follow?

[schild]

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.

[Rendakor]

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.

[shiznitz]

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.

[Hutch]

Bump

[UnSub]

Bump

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.

[schild]

Isn't it more dramatic when said game gets canceled a a much bigger profile studio buys something from that thing though?

[UnSub]

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.

[KallDrexx]

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.

[ajax34i]

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 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.

[schild]

So, basically, Bioware is using the world engine from one canceled MMOG and the chat/user engine of another one.

Surely, this says nothing.

[MrHat]

Best of both worlds?

 

[schild]

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.

[ajax34i]

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.

[schild]

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.

[Hutch]

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

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.

[Yegolev]

I believe this means we can safely ignore Bethesda for at least two years.

[Soln]

ARISE AND BE GLAD!


via Massively, Court documents say Bethesda's MMO already under dev, rumor says it's Elder Scrolls

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.

[Draegan]

Yeah I read that somewhere else.  Nothing really new here.