Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
General: Turbine adds Ken Rolston as Director of Design
BillMurphy
Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565
In a press release today, Turbine announced the hiring of four new key pieces of talent to help the company steer "the next generation of online gaming." One such hire is Ken Rolston, former lead designer of the Elder Scrolls series and recent designer of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
From the press release:
Ken Rolston, Director of Design – Ken brings an exceptional track record to Turbine as one of the most accomplished fantasy RPG computer and video game designers of all time, with over a decade of lead designer experience on the award-winning Elder Scrolls franchise and, most recently, he released Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning to critical acclaim. Ken will lead the vision and the implementation of all aspects of game design for Turbine.
Additionally, the studio has hired three technology oriented folks as well, perhaps hinting at what the studio's future projects might hold.
Alan Villani, Vice President, Technology – Alan joins Turbine from NetherRealm Studios, where he was responsible for driving the technology platform that supported Mortal Kombat™. Alan will be responsible for our digital technology platform that helps drive online engagement and monetization.
Jai Singh, Executive Director of Technical Operations – Jai joins Turbine from Zynga, where he managed the technology infrastructure for some of the largest social games in the world. Jai will be responsible for managing all online operations hosting & computing infrastructure, technical support and network operations.
Demetrius Comes, Executive Director of Engineering – Demetrius joins Turbine from Petroglyph Games and brings almost 20 years of technology experience spanning the video games, telecom, and computer security industries to his new role. Demetrius will oversee all engineering functions for the studios product development team including Game Platform, Release Engineering and Technical Production.
What could the future hold for Turbine's next-gen MMOs? With Ken Rolston leading the design, it definitely could be exciting.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
Comments
Sadly Turbine hasnt made anything worth noting since original Asheron's Call.
Sounds like they are getting ready to make another stab at Harry Potter on the xbox platform. I think they canned the thought of console gaming about 4 years back but it looks like with those hires that is the route they might be headed again.
Sad but true
What happens when you log off your characters????.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
Dark Age of Camelot
Well... Lord of the Rings Online is one of the most polished and succesfuls games on mmo, after a few expansions is getting better on his way to Mordor.
One of the better F2P out there, imho. You can achieve enough TP to buy on in-game store without paying a cent. So, after this few hirings it'll be for sure one of most succesful MMOs we'll see...
I'm confident on them, let's see how it goes
Why does everyone keep saying they are going to do a Harry Potter MMO? Hasn't JK Rowling stated there won't be a Harry Potter MMO? I haven't seen a single shred of evidence and I doubt they would be the ones given the license anyway. Especially not if they've had the license this long with nothing to show for it.
honestly, who even cares with turbine. They just a tenticale of wb now, and are only ever always trying to learn how to act more like 'typical' f2p games where they squeeze you for every cent, while the quality of the game they slowly rots away to nothing.
Someone above has already said it, they haven't done a single thing of worth since AC1.
Just look at what Paiz had to say about milking the customer. His point of view has given Turbine a very bad reputation these days. I can't imagine giving Turbine cash ever again.
Nonsense! Lotro is still one of the better games out there atm. Tons of content. Now it is not a sandbox, but it is not bad for a themepark. Anyone saying that Lotro was not successful is clueless.
As to Ken Rolston, Kingdoms of Amalur was not much of a hit and they bankrupted the studio in that making. None of the others they hired look particularly great either. Zynga is another shop that is dying. Like rats leaving the ship.
Personally, if they intend to go into console games, I wish them luck, any pundit will tell you consoles are on the way out and the next generation will be the last.
kingdoms of amalur was a great game imo. unfortunately it didnt equate into large sales but the game was good. ken rolston is a good hire but as far as what they are gonna do as the next gen mmos, I dont know.
their best game was AC but doesnt have a large fan base now, its dated and the graphics are bad. I always thought i could play a great game with poor graphics but I went back and played ac last year and just couldnt do it anymore.
lotro was and is a good game, its just too much like wow for my taste and while ive went back and played through moria I wont be picking it back up again because I know once i run out of the content there is nothing to do but raid.
it has been widely speculated that harry potter was in production for a while by turbine and it was widely speculated that they pulled a good number of the ac and lotro team (after release) to start work on a new mmo. Harry Potter was the speculative mmo. Personally I was hoping for a updated asherons call 3 keeping the systems from ac1 but updating graphics and some things to the current century but who knows now. I still wish Turbine good luck though, they got me into mmo gaming with asherons call and I want to see them do well even if they arent making games I can get behind right now.
With some new tech, it looks to me like Turbine wants to upgrade their rather aging engine. Good news for LOTRO fans, as that mmo is still cranking out great content and has a large and passionate fanbase.
Well for themepark mmorpg Lotro was good till Mirkwood. Freemium transition made it even worse.
Still MEO would be better than Lotro, bit of a shame.
Now it is Warner Bros-Turbine and I don't expect anythign good from them and besides they milk like hell via freemium anyway.
FINALLY SOME TURBINE NEWS!!!
Holy crap they have been silent ever since announcing a console mmo back around 2009/10.
Now hopefully this is a ramp up to a new pc based mmo. This is a company sitting on their own designed mmo engine but nothing new for years. Now to find a way to kick them in the balls in order to wake them up to the idea of a new AC game.
The new hires like that can likely only be a new project gearing up. I only want to see something new with the AC IP but sadly Turbine only seems to be interested in aquiring rights to other IPs instead of in house.
You stay sassy!
There is some nonsense in this post. Kingdoms of Amalur was one of thoes titles that should have sold more copies than it did. Look at psychonauts for another similar title. One of the problems with KOA is it was clearly intended to be a themepark MMO. The studio failed because they bit off way more than they could chew. WAY more. Kurt, while a gamer had no idea just how much money it would cost and didnt understand just how many copies a game like his would need to sell. Add to that it wasnt a AAA title and it spelled disaster. ALot of people who know the finances behind games called it long before it happened.
Zynga is a perfect example of a group that tried to get way to big way to quickly. Its not that it was terrible. It was just that girl at the dance that clearly thinks more of herself than anyone else does.
All that said. Give me Asherons Call with updated graphics and I'll give them my paycheck on a weekly basis, minus rent, internet, and ramen to eat.
FOR THE SAKE OF THE MASTERMIND TOLKIEN, this mmo should be disbanded.
Need a new mmo with the LOTR title developed by a company that actually knows what its doing, perhaps Anet or can't believe im saying this blizzard.
p.s - I haven't been following this game for a while. Does WB now own the lisence of LOTR gaming in the mmo industry, since they bought turbine?
Customer loyalty is priceless, and blizz is one of the few companies that have good customer loyalty.. For everyone that was angry at blizz for D3, 5 more fans agree with the decision they made... Crazy I know..
As such you maybe right on them seeing sandbox mmo style is the untap market, and they wanna get there project out the door before blizz, but that is going to work in blizz favor, because blizz will look where they all went wrong, make it simpler for mass acceptance and then these guys will scratch there head and say why they didn't do it like that... And of course blizz loyal fans will follow suit...
That company used to be Turbine, originally they were planning a "Middle-Earth online" a sandbox style "world" game with content creation being player-driven, then they switched to a theme-park, had they stuck to their original vision I think they would have the better game by now.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
I still have hope they may wake up to the idea again. Something is brewing but have to wait for some leaks or announcments.
You stay sassy!
Blizzard will never make a game of someone elses IP. Why share profits when you can make up your own IP and rake in the cash. ANet fancy themselves as a new Blizzard, I doubt they'd share profits either.
I believe a company could still make an MMO based on the films, but since WB owns the films I guess WB indeed has control of any LOTR MMO until Turbines license expires.
I know it's common knowledge now that Blizzard takes ideas from other devs and uses them, but I'm not so sure they can pull it off successfully a 2nd time like they did with WoW . Their last project(D3) sort of showed their age, kind of like that MMA fighter that has passed his prime.
I'm hoping Turbine will make Middle Earth Online.
Hear,hear!
a game that goes f2p isnt called succesful