Otherland MMO Announced 142
Eurogamer breaks news that German games publisher DTP Entertainment will be making an MMORPG based on Tad Williams' Otherland series of books. As anyone who has read the books will know, this could be an interesting new spin on virtual worlds. Quoting:
"For want of a better soundbite, let's call it the first cyberpunk MMO: a virtual world about virtual worlds, in which your avatar is an avatar, the NPCs play NPCs, and you explore a multiverse in which you might be in realistic historical surroundings one minute, and cartoon fantasy ones the next. Everything changes, even your own appearance, and nothing is even pretending to be real. ... You start the game as one of those consciousnesses in a place called the Land of the Lost, a nightmare scenario which you're trying to escape. You'll run, be killed, and reborn in a 'baby' state as a simple, low-rent sim (though we suspect the game won't be using that term, for obvious reasons) - a blank, featureless avatar that can be male, female or even neither."
OMG! (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh my GOD, that is the most awesome news I've heard all week!
No, wait, the other thing. Yet another MMO, cause, you know. There's totally not enough of those around.
Wake me up when... eh, I'll wake up when I'm ready.
Re:But will it be a WoW killer!?!?!? (Score:3, Insightful)
You forgot to answer the most important question.
No, I think the summary answered that already. It implied that this should be sufficiently different enough from WoW that I could enjoy both games.
I played LotRO and it was feeling too much like WoW so I quit. Same with Warhammer. Buggier versions of WoW. I have high hopes for this as it sounds like the concept, classes & lore will be far enough away from WoW to provide me with entertainment.
This is going to shock and appall you but there can be multiple successful MMOs. You might think you need to invest all your time in one but I have often played multiple and enjoyed them.
You don't need to kill WoW to be successful, just try being original and a lot can happen! I only hope they don't cash out, release early, screw the users and just let it die after they've doubled production costs like so many others.
It was a decent story (Score:5, Insightful)
Those were some good books, but the "it's all a dream" aspect of the setting can lead authors into self-indulgences. Essentially, there are no rules for the world. That was the major problem with it. Also, since "it's all a dream", a lot of the drama seemed false. The real characters were interesting but most of the time spent with the dream characters is just that many more pages of inconsequential stuff.
The "no rules for the world" quality would destroy an MMO. You can't just change the rules all the time or all the players will just hang out in the part with the most advantageous rules.
Re:OMG! (Score:3, Insightful)
MMOs were supposed to be The Future of The Internet 15 years ago. I am personally somewhat tired of them. And of hearing about a new one about to come out and how great it'll be, etc. It's kind of old news by now.
Ugh... (Score:4, Insightful)
I think I "will be making" the first Super Mario FPS. Maybe I should create and post an announcement so I can get on the front page of slashdot?
Re:Brainstorming session gone wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
Yet Another Windows-Only Title? (Score:2, Insightful)
Given the fast raise of OS X marketshare in colleges and universities, where the actual gamers are, I still find it incredibly short-sighted that companies continue to insist on making Windows-only games.
Dual-booting is not an option since Macs don't come pre-installed with Windows, and people don't want to pay for yet another OS, split their hard drive in two partitions, etc. We buy Macs to use OS X, there's no actual need to buy a "gaming OS" on top of all that.
Does Windows has a higher total marketshare? Yes, of course, but that also includes all the corporate desktops which will never be used for gaming.
no joke? (Score:2, Insightful)
what it must have is some aspect of a hidden "otherland" built into it... but not mentioned or even hinted at by the makers.
Re:Sounds interesting... (Score:3, Insightful)
Be prepared to spend the next several months or possibly years on it. I read all the books back to back and found them in dire need of editing. Some posters will probably jump on me and claim it was all about depth, but there was quite a bit of fat in every one of those books. Things that took far too long to develop and had an insane level of verbosity. Just like this post is getting to be...
The Books... (Score:3, Insightful)
like many other SF/Fantasy series, Otherland started strong, but it became obvious in the second volume that the author hadn't thought it all through and just started making it up as he went along (ala George Lucas).
there should be an exception to copyright rules that would let someone step in under these circumstances and write the sequel that the initial story deserves.
as for the online game aspect, why should we expect it to be anything other than one more level grinding bore with pretty graphics? when it's gotten to where character classes have generic descriptions (tank, etc.) no matter what they are supposed to represent, all that's left is changing the pictures.
MMOs have become a lazy way to make games.