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Countdown to the 21st
admriker4
Member Posts: 1,070
October 21st is a day Im greatly looking forward too.
And in case you missed it, Bioware, EA, and LucasArts are jointly making the announcement we've all been waiting for....what the heck theyve been developing since December 2005.
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/07/lucasarts-bioware-unveiling-new-game-oct-21/
Of course we already know its a Star Wars themed MMO based on EA leaking the news....
http://www.massively.com/2008/07/17/kotor-mmo-confirmed-by-electronic-arts/
And of course there were rumors, mostly from inside sources such as mine that already knew a star wars themed MMO was in the works. My dumpster diving proved definitely that something with a star wars theme was in the works despite all the denials.
http://www.rlmmo.com/viewtopic.php?t=5582
So what does this new Star Wars MMO mean for Galaxies ? My opinion, it means the end of the line for the trainwreck that was Star Wars Galaxies.
Clearly the NGE was an experiment. SOE stated as such when it announced DC MMO which would have a similiar game style that the NGE has. Im betting the NGE was a way to work out the kinks and issues for the DC MMO. Galaxies was failing anyway (thanks to a CU that the players did NOT want), why not take a radical shot to get new players and if that doesnt work at least they have a means to work on things to implement in other MMO's.
There is proof this experiment was the case...many of the swg developers have moved on to work on the DC mmo project. Their NGE experience will prove to be invaluable. Why wouldnt SOE roll back to classic servers ? Simple, they were getting to beta test new code for another MMO.
Reflecting on the NGE, it was a brilliant financial move by Smedley. He in essence got thousands of players to pay to beta test a new game. Current subscribers are likely paying for development and testing of the DC MMO. And we know from the past that SOE has no issues violating the cardinal rule of MMO's by using subscription fees to develop new games (nge).
Course this makes Smedley's apology for the nge just another lie. He didnt learn any lessons honestly. This is just business as usual for SOE.
Bioware and LA were ready and waiting to see the results of the NGE. And it only took LA 3-4 weeks to decide that Galaxies was done. The NGE went live in Nov 2005, the hiring of developers for the new Austin studio (Bioware) started in December. LA had seen enough.
Obviously the new Star Wars MMO was born from the failure of Galaxies. So is there any chance that LA will allow Galaxies to exist once the new MMO launches ? I think not.
LA has shown its intentions from Dec 2005 on about SWG's fate. There would be only one good reason to keep a new star wars MMO secret and that would be to save any revenue still being made by Galaxies. Sure some players will remain in SWG till the bitter end but there are many more who cling to the life raft of classic servers or another revamp. Such an announcement would mean all hope would be lost. This isnt some new tactic by SOE either.
Lets not forget how SOE repeatedly told players about a new force ranking system or the capitol ships coming. Behind the scenes SOE knew these would never materialise as the NGE was in the works. SOE had no moral or ethical issue with lying to keep thousands of players subscribing.
I look forward to the 21st not only to see some screenshots (hopefully) of the new Star Wars MMO but also because I believe it spells the end for Galaxies. Star Wars Galaxies ultimately was the greatest MMO Ive ever played but its mere existence now hurts the industry. SOE violated the cardinal rule of MMO's by taking subscription money and using it to make an entirely new game. It should shut down.
Do we have any proof besides speculation at this point for a shutdown ? I believe we do. SOE doesnt give stuff away, yet in 2009 they will allow free character transfers. What would motivate them to allow this ? And why 2009 ?
Anyway Im counting down the days
Comments
excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin....
You can see how much SOE is worried about the announcement based on the increased viral marketing traffic in the general forum.
If it is a new Star Wars MMO, which I have every reason to beleive it is, I could deffinetely see SWG shutting down in the near future. Bioware could fart a game out better than SOEs top quality game. At least LA found out what a competent developer is.
Buh-bye litte SWG demon, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Despite it's faults, SWG was a giant leap forward in MMORPG development, prior to it's downfall brought on by SOE's money hungry actions of course. In any event, i've got the 21st marked on my calander.
-Isaiah
Well, with Bioware at the wheel, the new SW MMO will be drool-worthy and possibly the most amazing MMO to come out yet.
If they take the dynamic systems from KOTOR and expand upon it to make it more "modern" it will be a great game.
Well, all we can do is wait and hope.
RIP: Masamunex - 75PLD/37WAR Ramuh
We will rise again from the ashes. To take over Vana'Diel.
Excuse my ignorance, but what is it that BioWare has done to earn such high praise, and also, what is this state of the art engine that i've read they are developing this new mysterious MMO on?
-Isaiah
I can only speak for myself of course, but none of the BioWare games in the past have left me disappointed, in fact, all of them have lived up to my expectations and I enjoyed them immensely. Now I know an MMO is something different, but my experience so far with BioWare warrants some optimism, or at least, giving them the benefit of the doubt until the game actually releases.
But that's just speaking for me.
Oh, and this is the engine: Hero Engine
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Well, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 were possibly the best SW games ever to hit the market. Smooth animation, great story, plenty of customization... If you havent played them, you should take a look into them..
And I have no idea about the new engine they're using. I dont think they've released much on it yet.
RIP: Masamunex - 75PLD/37WAR Ramuh
We will rise again from the ashes. To take over Vana'Diel.
I've been counting down till the 21st for Fable 2, but this is even more of a reason for me to do so
~
Don't believe any spin coming from SOE or the usual fanbois.
10/21 is when we find out the latest date possible where the NGE will still exist. As I've long said, the Pre-Cu is the future of SWG, indeed, it's ONLY future, because there are many who want it brought back and revived whilst the people who actually LOVE the NGE number about... 5.
And we've got a pretty good idea that 4 of them are being paid to lie about it
The majority of the (still shrinking) NGE player base are those who still prefer the original, and/or are hanging on because it's the only Star Wars game there is. Given ANY alternative, they are gone.
Given that the game has been in development since late 2005, and that they are already using an established engine (hero) which already comes with development tools my guess is that alpha and beta are mere months away from KOTOR-O, and release less than a year. This means that in mere months there will be absolutely no reason for NGE to exist, nor even today's pathetic demand for it.
If you really want a laugh, ask Badgerbanger and other syncophants, like his fellow current and ex jerkoff "senators" (ie the bad ones who roamed the boards insulting anyone who dared disagree with any decision made by SOE) if they are going to organize a "NGE-MU"? HAR HAR HAR HAR!
This is about as likely to happen as it is about as desired as a sequel to "Gigli" or to see the Ohio State Buckeyes coast through their weak conference, end up in the national championship game and once again get utterly trashed by a SEC team
(on second thought, given that much of the NGE dev team has been chewed up and spit out into semi-unemployment or unlikely to survive startups they might be able to find idiots to work on it)
an emu for the nge? wouldn't that be like reconstituted feces?
Nope, reconstituted feces already has more subscribers than NGE has right now.
-Isaiah
I'd pay for a MMORPG bathroom simulator before the NGE.
I wouldn't even play it if it were free. I've basically ignored most of the "puhLEEZE" come back trials I've been offered.
Admriker, that does make sense that they probably were testing the NGE design for the DCU game. What I heard though is that they want DCU for the PS3 instead of the PC, I've seen gameplay videos of DCU and it looks like a fricking late 90's arcade game you played at the arcades. If it releases for the PC, I'm pretty certain Chamnpions Online will blow it out of the water.
I'm losing faith in the MMO industry, I may eventually stop playing MMO games pretty soon but I'm going to wait to see what Bioware has on their hands.
...somewhere in the bowels of Guantanamo Bay prisoners are strapped to chairs and forced to beta test the NGE MU.....
This is the engine they are using for their MMO. Click me!
Physics Server
Utilizing the NVIDIA PhysX™ SDK, the HeroEngine physics server currently represents a physical model of the entire world on both the client and server.
Physics Engine Features
Simulated rigid body dynamics
Real-time updates during the editing process
Ray casting and collision detection queries at very high speed
Physics Engine Features Under Development
Full NVIDIA PhysX™ integrated collision and character controller based collision
Advanced Constraint management
Cloth simulation
Soft body simulation
Ragdoll physics for characters
More script bindings
Fluid particle systems
Master Control Console
The Master Control Console serves as a centralized monitoring and control dashboard. Automatic systems manage distributing processes across your server clusters.
Organize your environment into separate worlds, both public and private.
A full publishing system allows for selective content migration from server world to server world.
Establish your own distribution workflow.
Publish from development servers, to staging servers, to live servers -- or anything in between
Metrics and Analytics
The Master Control console is constantly monitoring your system and alerting operators to problems. Metrics are collected and presented at this layer. Even plug in your own metric systems for custom reporting and data mining.
Live, real-time metrics and searchable logging.
Monitor your server cluster at a glance, or drill down for detailed performance and utilization metrics!
Visually analyze player and character behavior.
Repository System
The live, dynamic nature of HeroEngine is fueled by a sophisticated Repository System. All game content is placed into the Repository and is delivered on-demand to clients and servers that need it. This approach makes changes to meshes, textures, animations and more occur in real-time without having to restart HeroBlade or the player client.
On production servers, the Repository System replaces the slow and awkward patching systems that virtually all MMOs have used up until now. Deliver only the data each individual player actually needs, when they need it while maintaining control over packaging and distribution strategies.
I never liked Biowares games because every single one of them has had a crap combat system and AI. I hate how they are all zoned to fuck with loading screens every 5 paces. I wish Bethesda were making it because they do real time first person combat with seemless sandbox worlds.
Then please, by all means, go to Darkfall, Fallen Earth and/or Earthrise. Those games are probably much more to your liking.
Though then again, you have no idea what BioWare's game will be like, so I'll say what I have been saying in every second post I did in recent days: Wait till the 21st to start flaming/praising. It's only 6 days, sheesh.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
My only wish in this whole thing is that it will be a game designed around the framework of the Old Pre-CU SWG game.
That would be Badass!!!!
Thats what most of us wish for, but im afraid that will not happen. I just hope its not heavy on the WoW side. Tho I expect it will do so. Simply becouse development started in 2005 and everyone and their brother back then wanted to copy the WoW success.
Only the last year or so have devs realized that copying WoW will not grant you instant success. I think only inovation and groundbreaking consepts will have a chance at that. And of course a shit load of wompa.
Hauken Stormchaser
I want pre-CU back
Station.com : We got your game
Yeah?, Well i want it back!!!
Thats what most of us wish for, but im afraid that will not happen. I just hope its not heavy on the WoW side. Tho I expect it will do so. Simply becouse development started in 2005 and everyone and their brother back then wanted to copy the WoW success.
Only the last year or so have devs realized that copying WoW will not grant you instant success. I think only inovation and groundbreaking consepts will have a chance at that. And of course a shit load of wompa.
Agree
Until they say otherwise in about 7 days...I still have hope that LA / BW will attempt to right a wrong and bring a Pre-CU Style game back to STAR WARS. It is very possible they will and I can think of more reasons for it than against. However in the end we are at the hands of the DEVS.
It could be worse than WoW...It could be a Console Game!
Yes I am sure when they did the initial design for the game they were shooting for the 300,000 subs that was the high water mark of subs in SWG. I am sure they think that style of game is exactly what they want.
but soe is releasing the new hoth expansion for swg, so i doubt it means the end of star wars galaxies.
You think they'd be better off shooting for the 7k subs SWG has now?