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Future Sony MMOs Will Be On Consoles
Posted by
Soulskill
on Fri Oct 03, 2008 07:42 PM
from the raiding-from-your-couch dept.
from the raiding-from-your-couch dept.
The MTV Multiplayer Blog interviewed John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment, about the future of MMOs. He discusses some of SOE's current projects and comments that they'll be focusing on consoles for all of their upcoming MMOs. "I would say that we would be one of the early adopters on [bringing MMOs to consoles], and we plan on becoming one of the dominant players in the MMO space on consoles." Sony's plans may include games for their hand-held console, the PSP. Smedley goes on to talk about bringing existing, popular franchises into MMO development, and remarks, "It's pretty safe to say that 'EverQuest' has not seen its last game."
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Everquest 3? (Score:4, Interesting)
I worry though about console MMOs. MMOs focus a lot on communication between people for grouping/raiding. Unless the console this is being written for supports headsets for a Teamspeak-like interface, communicating on a raid will be very difficult, especially with a game controller.
EQOA is a good MMO, but its almost empty of population.
Maybe the best compromise would be allowing both PCs and PS/3s to both play.
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Also introduced voicechat into Everquest recently. EQ2 = EQ1, why'd you guys ever leave?
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Everquest 2 is a well rounded MMO. I just wish more people played it. Its a great place for almost anyone except the hardcore PvP-er who wants battlegrounds 24/7. You can advance a character is a lot of ways, either by crafting (adventure level and crafting level are two distinct things -- you can be a level 80 crafter and a level 1 adventurer), running quests for AA (similar to talent points in WoW), raiding (downed named mobs give you status to buy items, as well as guild status), and good ol' mob grin
Who cares and good riddance. (Score:5, Insightful)
See these charts:
http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html [mmogchart.com]
http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart2.html [mmogchart.com]
Notice the arcs of SOE's products. This company is washed out. And no wonder; the way they jerk their players around is unbelievable. This company is run by sociopaths.
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i agree with you about Sony (it's not just limited to their game publishing arm), but those charts show that all MMOs (and probably all games) follow an arcing popularity curve.
a few games like WOW and Tibia seem to have longer popularity arcs than usual, but they will still wane in popularity eventually. and FF XI actually seems to be doing better than a lot of other games.
their anti-consumer business model/attitude, and incompetent corporate leadership, etc. have resulted in many mismanaged products. but
Console controllers for long-term playing? (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe it's just me, but for something that I'll be playing even for more than half an hour, I really prefer a PC mouse/keyboard (and sometimes joystick) to a console controller. Since these MMOs tend to focus on people who are going to be playing for a long time very frequently, I hope they've considered that effect. I'd get very uncomfortable with any of the popular console controls (Wii/Xbox) and just don't find them particularly effective. Additionally, text chat seems to be an important part of MMOs.
This isn't a show-stopper, as I'm sure they could adapt conventional PC controls, but I'm still not sure if it's a step in the right direction or not.
Re:Console controllers for long-term playing? (Score:4, Insightful)
I think it is a showstopper. MMO requires keyboard/mouse - period. Or at least, a standard console controller won't cut it.
Parent
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FFXI not real MMO. Go look at e.g. WoW, AoC, Warhammer, etc... Not playable with console scheme. They'd have to be way dumbed down.
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FFXI not real MMO.
Ummm.. lol? Exactly how is it not an MMO?
Go look at e.g. WoW, AoC, Warhammer, etc... Not playable with console scheme.
In what way? All you would do is have macros set to key combos to do things just like the vast majority of people do in other mmos on PCs.
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It is not about playability, as that is nothing more than what accessories are available ie. remote keyboard and mouse. What it is about is an alternate sales scheme for game consoles. Join an MMO, sign a long term contract, pay the subscription fee and get a free game console as part of the package.
This creates an opportunity to create a major MMO whilst also providing an opportunity for additional sales and licence revenues. The only question is whether it would work or not and how many failed rental c
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Who says that an MMO has to be extremely difficult/complicated?
I think the defining characteristics of an MMO are 1) large, online playerbase (it's in the name, after all) and 2) persistence.
It doesn't have to be an RPG, it doesn't have to be centered around questing/raiding.
Though I agree that for the current model of MMO, a keyboard/mouse combo is really the only way to go. However, this can be addressed on consoles via peripherals.
The main weakness of a console-based MMO, I think, would be a lack of use
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Where have you been for the past 8 years. What does EVERY PS2 have on the front of it? 2 USB ports. And what could people plug into them? Keyboards for text chatting in the two PS2 MMORPGs, EQOA and FFXI.
What does a PS3 have on the front of it? 2 or 4 USB ports. And what can people plug into them? Just about anything, but personally I always have a keyboard and mouse plugged into my PS3.
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The consoles have absorbed enough PC that
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FPS is pretty bad,
And yet apparently 10s of millions of people seem to manage playing them just fine on consoles. I think the issue is a personal failing on your own part in light of this. BTW I play FPS on both PCs and consoles and have no issues with either and never understand when people complain about this.
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but I will note that autoaim is considered a cheat on the PC, and a feature on the console. Go figure.
And I will note that I've not seen any serious console player ever use autoaim if it even exists in the game, which is almost never.
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It's because you are special, with double jointed fingers able to wrap around a tiny controller and manipulate 2 joysticks simultaneously while pressing left+triangle+B. Just because I can't do it doesn't mean I'm lame, and just because you can do it doesn't mean everyone else can.
Consoles have a completely different viewpoint from PCs. On my PC I am currently playing a game that is more than ten years old. Is anyone on an XBox pulling out dusty boxes from their closets to replay them? Anyone on a conso
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It's possible, Runescape does run on Firefox under Yellow Dog 6 on the PS3.
I actually have my consoles on a computer desk, connected to a 19" HDTV. It's a useful setup for me because I run Linux on my consoles, currently a PS3, but I've done it on a PS2 as well.
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FPSes on Consoles are quite different then on console. Most FPS on consoles are at ranges that would have already been decided and done for on the PC. Most FPSes on Consoles feel like knife fights with guns.
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Re:Console controllers for long-term playing? (Score:5, Interesting)
As another user already pointed out: consoles today are often connected to HDTV's that rival computer monitors in display resolution. Most have hard drives. If you add a keyboard and mouse, and the ability to check email, surf the web, etc, then the whole idea of a "console" is gone. It's just become another PC platform that happens to have good game support.
Parent
Smedley and the rest of SOE haven't a clue (Score:5, Insightful)
SOE is one of those companies that bought their way into a market, lost the people who could produce quality products, and now flounder about trying to find relevance. Their games completely miss the point in that they don't give gamers today what they're looking for. EverQuest 2 was a product that would have been rather successful if it had come years earlier. SWG was a product that, while having its own problems, originally delivered what gamers were looking for. What did they do? They patched the game until there were no remnants of the original game and lo and behold, the player base evaporated. Vanguard is a joke; who the hell wants MORE of a grind in MMORPGs?
SOE is irrelevant as a gaming company. Maybe they can push some shovelware on the PSP and PS3 and earn themselves some income, but some serious changes would need to happen in order for them to ever produce a game that can affect a market the way EverQuest did.
The hurdles, they be many (Score:5, Insightful)
- Modding community ... can they exist w/consoles?
- Alt-tab to a helpful wiki-based site for game
help? Can it be done on consoles?
- Game forums, still computer based? I guess that's ok...
- I assume communication will be done via voice? I shudder at the thought of hearing 11 year old immature idiots on the /trade channels. Keyboards and text chat had better be an option or I /quit.
- Can the consoles handle 50 people in the same scene at once all casting spells and generally being insane fucks? If not, give up until they can, because I don't want to see my FPS drop right when I get into the thick of things.
- My PS3 controller has ten buttons. That should be plenty to create a deep control scheme, if done right. That's the hurdle here: doing it right.
if they address this stuff I think it could be pretty sweet to be able to sit on my comfortable couch and play a MMO on my PS3. (yea yea I know, I can play an mmo on my big screen right now by using a computer anyway, but shush, we're not talking to you computer owning types here ;P)
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- Modding community ... can they exist w/consoles?
- Alt-tab to a helpful wiki-based site for game
help? Can it be done on consoles?
- Game forums, still computer based? I guess that's ok...
- I assume communication will be done via voice? I shudder at the thought of hearing 11 year old immature idiots on the /trade channels. Keyboards and text chat had better be an option or I /quit.
- Can the consoles handle 50 people in the same scene at once all casting spells and generally being insane fucks? If not, give up until they can, because I don't want to see my FPS drop right when I get into the thick of things.
- My PS3 controller has ten buttons. That should be plenty to create a deep control scheme, if done right. That's the hurdle here: doing it right.
if they address this stuff I think it could be pretty sweet to be able to sit on my comfortable couch and play a MMO on my PS3. (yea yea I know, I can play an mmo on my big screen right now by using a computer anyway, but shush, we're not talking to you computer owning types here ;P)
Modding community? Yes. Sony can set up a website and software that uploads. So it still requires a computer and all but they don't have to worry about the game runs. Instead they just have to worry about the creation software running on most people's computers. If Sony decides not to, then I suppose those who care will wait till PS3 is hacked to run Homebrew and 'backups' and hope that this works.
I think the second is definitely possible as long as you have a keyboard connected to your PS3.
Why not do commu
SWG was the start. (Score:4, Insightful)
The MMO business model is not sustainable (Score:5, Insightful)
You cannot grow and sustain the MMO business model in a free market without an economy. An MMO typically requires a continuous subscription, or allows free play for a one-time fee but then puts the financial burden on the service provider. As more MMOs enter the market, more avenues for paying out money become open to the player; this means more $30/mo bills (or however much, $10 even), and thus less interest in joining more MMOs (hmm I've got WoW, everquest, UO, FFXI, etc etc etc... 15 MMOs I'm paying $450/mo total wow! I'm tapped!)
Somehow SecondLife manages on one-time membership fees, I'm unsure exactly how they keep a revenue stream. What I am sure of is that they do need a constant revenue stream, which means a constant influx of new players or a way to get money from current players or someone else; so does everyone else. This means, as far as pay-per-month subscriptions go, creating an endless stream of independent MMOs will not scale, and eventually the worlds will be mostly empty save for a few popular ones and thus only a few can make money.
Seriously, $50/month, I can buy a whole new Wii or Gamecube game each month. Why do I want to spend $150/mo to have FFXI, WoW, UO, Matrix Online, Pirates Online, whatever the hell else? And then see a new one I want too, and join that? Eventually I have to leave one game, or stop joining new games!
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Somehow SecondLife manages on one-time membership fees, I'm unsure exactly how they keep a revenue stream.
Second Life has monthly subscriptions that give you some perks and stuff. There are also "tier fees" for virtual land (own X m^2 of virtual land, pay USD $Y).
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Waitwaitwait... SecondLife is a game now? When did this happen?!
I thought it was a place for furies, virtualized company storefronts, and flying digital penises.
And more MMOs to fail... (Score:2)
They really think they have a shot at time-intensive games on the _console_, that has its primary business in fast-paced games you can play quickly, without learning much, when you have a bit of time? Have they lost their mind?
Incdentially, this will accelerate the already in-progress demise of Sony.
Looks like I won't be... (Score:2)
getting any of Sony's rootkits...
I mean...I mean playing any of Sony's roo^H^H^H^Massively Multiplayer Online games.
Not that I'd consider any of their crap anyhow.
Console MMO = good times for 14 year olds (Score:5, Interesting)
Consoles appeal to:
1.) "Hardcore" gamers -- primarily 14 year old homophobic racists
2.) Adult gamers -- 30-something PS3 owners who play after work and on weekends
3.) "Casual" gamers -- mainly Wiinies, young kids, women, senior citizens
Out of these, the only ones serious enough about gaming to put the time and energy into grinding would be the "hardcore" gamers. Great just what we need, MORE unsupervised kids running around in a persistent virtual environment yelling racial homophobic epithets while teabagging every other player they just teamkilled on a quest. This should make Sony lots of money!
Yet another sign of just how out-of-touch Sony is with its consumers.
So what? (Score:2)
Every game Sony touches turns to shit. They can take a good game and stop people from playing it, they're even good enough at it that they can make the game free and still have nobody play it.
Moving to consoles isn't going to help them, but at least pc gamers won't have to watch them ruin more games.
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Yep it's not like anyone played FFXI or anything.
Ya, that's about right [mmogchart.com]
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And where would it be if they had made that a PC game? Right. Much higher and more profitable.
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http://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-XI-Online-Pc/dp/B0000E2OBD [amazon.com]
Did you even spend the 2 seconds it would have taken to find that out?
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Ok, so how many of those subscribers on that chart were from consoles then?
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grasping at straws to avoid admitting you were wrong is a bit immature don't you think? maybe you should do a little more research yourself before making wild assumptions without any supporting evidence.
if FPS and RTS games can be made to work on consoles, then MMOs can surely be migrated to consoles. most MMOs are MMORPGs--which are just regular RPGs with a social element derived from the online multiplayer gameplay. and there have been RPGs on consoles since the days of the Atari 2600 (Dragonstomper). i d
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Yeah, but what most people forget about is that the keyboard+mouse combo has an implied third component.
A desk.
You gonna put your console in the office, now?
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Card tables, laptop tables, tv trays, writing type lapboards. It's not rocket science. You can even put the keyboard on your lap and an optical mouse beside you on the couch.
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Did you forget about the PS2's network adapter? Plenty of games built around that, and it wasn't bundled for a couple of years.
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Yes, Sony Online Entertainment with Everquest Online Adventures (Frontiers) I personally met a few players of PC EQ who preferred the gameplay of EQOA. They mostly complained that PC EQ was more tedius, and complained about corpse runs, game balance issues, and the lack of contiguous zones.
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That sort of thing makes Blizzard assholes, since their first game ever was a SNES game with much better graphics than that and they know it. And some of their later games like Warcraft II and Diablo got ported to the PSone. Now they're just another bunch of PC only snob developers. They should know better, but they don't. And now there's dev houses doing Diablo clones on the PS2/PS3 that look better than anything Blizzard has done. Diablo 3 is nothing, it looks like an enhanced Snowblind engine game.
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Ha ha, on EQOA on the PS2 was pretty much like that. Trying to remember if there were Crushbone orcs, I remember Hatebone's.