Future Sony MMOs Will Be On Consoles 144
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."
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.
It's pretty safe to say that 'EverQuest'... (Score:1, Interesting)
Perhaps I do mean to be an ass, but has anyone actually made a decent MMORPG for a console that has a remote chance of appealing to the same crowd as the PC MMORPG player that cut their teeth on the likes of UO and EQ?
No, it's pretty obvious what Sony is doing here. WoW stole all our EQ2 customers, so we're going to the place where there is a) no competition and b) a bigger install base. Nevermind the fact that consoles, even with text-thumbpads that have been coming out lately, are completely unsuited to deep role playing.
Re:Console controllers for long-term playing? (Score:3, Interesting)
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 contracts Sony might get stuck with in these turbulent economic times but, the rental model often works better when finances are tight.
Re:The hurdles, they be many (Score:3, Interesting)
- 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 communication via voice like every other game nowadays?
As far as I know, the PS3's processor is pretty powerful and could probably handle what you are mentioning.
Not sure what they should do about PS3 controller. I think they should put some effort in it but there will a be 'true player' trend where people use keyboard and/or mouse.
The biggest thing is that PS3 can be pushed with Sony-only MMOs. PS3 has got nothing except MGS4 for right now. They do not even get Final Fantasy exclusively since Xbox 360 will get it as well from now on. Pretty much every 'produce for Sony-only' developer contract/deal has expired, such as the GTA series and other games. I guess MGS went back to Sony-only for the time being.
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.
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.
Re:Console controllers for long-term playing? (Score:3, Interesting)
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 user-interface customizability (at least to the degree seen in games like WoW). Heck, this is a showstopper for me on PC MMOs that lack interfaces that can't be extensively modified, such as EVE-Online.