Biowares new MMO will be....

[Lare Kikkeli]

BioWare has formed a new online team to create a Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic massively multiplayer online game, EGM reports.

 

No further details were reported in the rumour section of the US magazine but we've taped our fingers crossed. KOTOR is one of our favourite Star Wars games ever and the thoughts of an online MMO is, frankly, too

 

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=162675

 

 

Discuss.

 

 

edit: fix'd the link

Edited April 26, 2007 by Lare Kikkeli

[Zoma]

Dammit, I want KOTOR 3 instead by Obsidian. Stupid Lucas.

[Sand]

One bad idea, R-POC.

[Spider]

To me the most interesting (and most disturbing) part of the article linked was the rumor that DA will get a PS3 port. I just hope they don't sacrifice the PC interface to make it more playable on consoles.

 

Ah well, I'm sure things will be fine.

[Lyric Suite]

That's great news. If true, it probably means no Kotor3, and hopefully, no more Star Wars games by Obsidian period. That will leave them open to focus on more interesting settings...

[Lare Kikkeli]

That's great news. If true, it probably means no Kotor3, and hopefully, no more Star Wars games by Obsidian period. That will leave them open to focus on more interesting settings...

 

 

Agreed. Bioware can keep SW as far as i'm concerned.

[Spider]

Actually, if the MMORPG is a success, I think it increases the chances of a KOTOR 3. But that's just me.

[Fenghuang]

No good will come of this.

 

Except maybe KotOR3.

[Xard]

u r late

 

Heck, I could just copy my comment from there.

 

Electronic Gaming Monthly also reports about a few other rumors circulating around BioWare. One of them, for example, is that Dragon Age is under development to the Playstation 3.

 

This alone disregards whole news. Dragon Age will be PC ONLY game. PC ONLY.

 

PC ONLY.

 

PC ONLY. You got that?

 

Also, Bio has stated they'll stick with their own IP's from now on. Not a single license game coming from them. Ever again.

 

Bio IS developing MMORPG currently though

 

Unless Bio has been lying to us lately there's no way this could be more than false rumors

[Lare Kikkeli]

Dang. Too bad you can't delete or close your own topics.

[Morgoth]

A Kotor MMO is indeed a possibility. They also send the Kotor Lead Designer James Ohlen down to the Austin studio, and it could also explain why LucasArts is so hesistant to Fergs "We want to make a Kotor3" requests. They're still scratching their heads whether naming it "3" or "Kotor Online" or "Kotor: Lame subtitle". Important decisions like that take much time to make, so Obsidian has to keep waiting in the queue, unfortunately.

Edited April 26, 2007 by Morgoth

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

A kotor MMO would be terrible, since KOTOR relies so much on story, and its well known you can't fit a decent finished story into MMO's.

[Meshugger]

Well, if true.....

 

Excellent businessanalysis Lucasarts! Those suits at the marketing department must've shown excel-charts like no other! "Here a graph of people buying the KotOR games, and here's a graph of people playing MMORPG's, see the correlation? Both graphs are rising! Wanna bet what our next Star Wars project will be? You betya!"

 

 

 

 

...hurgh....

Edited April 26, 2007 by Meshugger

[Tale]

Good thing this is only a rumor. If it were true, I'd likely go mad. KOTOR is a silly franchise to make an MMO out of. A number of people are probably still bitter about SWG which may impact this Star Wars MMO unless it's the most brilliant thing on the market. Even ignoring that bit of my personal speculation, I still think KOTOR is pretty silly. It's like a Star Wars ripoff, with kolto (instead of bacta), a Yoda wannabe, and "Mandalorians" that wear armor that looks like a Gorilla in a giant condom (Obsidian's Mandalore design was just right, however), but then you realize it's actually licensed and they didn't need all this nonsensical brand sidestepping.

 

A Star Wars MMO would be better served using a new franchise. But, they'd probably be hoping the name sells it. Still, it's only a rumor and I won't believe it until it's official.

Edited April 26, 2007 by Tale

[Darth Jebus]

A kotor MMO would be terrible, since KOTOR relies so much on story, and its well known you can't fit a decent finished story into MMO's.

 

First of all, I hate my forum name because it makes me sound like a Star Wars fanboy instead of just a geek for pretty much all sci-fi and fantasy games and lore. But anyway, I digress...

 

I honestly believe that a KOTOR MMO would be...well...fantastic. Here's why: It takes place about 4,000 years before the events in the movies so this gives any development team, whether that's BioWare or Obsidian or whoever, a LOT of room to be creative. They are not so much beholden to the movies as no single character from that era is alive during the KOTOR era.

 

Second, the timeframe of the KOTOR stories is just more interesting in my opinion. They really are. Maybe because it reminds me so much of midieval tales of triumph and tragedy, high adventure and romance, and mystery and intrigue. This is the time when the Jedi numbered in the thousands and their mortal enemies, the Sith, were also numerous but hidden, ever lurking somewhere out there manipulating events to meet their agenda. And no one ever really knows what their agenda is.

 

Again, this gives any developer mucho creative space to work with. That's important. And if you say an MMO is not story driven, then you obviously have not played Lord of the Rings Online. That MMO is ALL story. Almost to a fault.

 

A KOTOR era MMO also would justify why there would be thousands of Jedi players running around the world and, I would assume, thousands of Sith players running around as opposed to SWG, which took place during the era of the movies. The lore for it is already built in. Of course they would have to address the KOTOR 2 storyline about hardly any Jedi left, but again, since this would take place so long before the movies, they could come up with a reason. The KOTOR era is still undiscovered territory, and frankly, it's an artist's dream. Any creative person should jump on an opportunity to stretch their creative legs by developing a KOTOR MMO.

 

However, all that being said, I would still like to see Obs develop their own IP, as I just think they're not the right company for a Star Wars game, but a great company for their own IP's.

[Azure79]

Well, if true.....

 

Excellent businessanalysis Lucasarts! Those suits at the marketing department must've shown excel-charts like no other! "Here a graph of people buying the KotOR games, and here's a graph of people playing MMORPG's, see the correlation? Both graphs are rising! Wanna bet what our next Star Wars project will be? You betya!"

 

 

 

 

...hurgh....

 

I get the feeling thats exactly what happened.

 

I think they should finish the Revan/Exile/True Sith story arc first and then set whatever MMORPG they make in the chaos that follows.

[Tale]

A KOTOR era MMO also would justify why there would be thousands of Jedi players running around the world and, I would assume, thousands of Sith players running around as opposed to SWG, which took place during the era of the movies. The lore for it is already built in.

1) The problem with it in SWG wasn't because of the lack of lore. That was an excuse. It's easy to overlook that kind of thing as a player, in all honesty. Suspension of disbelief and it happens everytime someone runs a game instance and things respawn. The problem, amongst others, was simply that there were a lot of Jedi and it overshadowed anything else in the game.

2) Even in the KOTOR time period there aren't thousands of Jedi. There are only ever really a relative handful, maybe around a couple hundred at most.

 

The KOTOR era is still undiscovered territory, and frankly, it's an artist's dream. Any creative person should jump on an opportunity to stretch their creative legs by developing a KOTOR MMO.

This is kind of silly. KOTOR is relatively unexplored only when compared to the movie time period. An original point in time would actually provide this a lot better because the developer could choose what parts of Star Wars to take without being constrained to the sillier interpretations of the KOTOR games.

Edited April 26, 2007 by Tale

[Jorian Drake]

...not april yes?

 

 

umm, thats not the best idea they ever had, atleast its not made by the guys who messed up SWG

Edited April 26, 2007 by Jorian Drake

[SpaceAlex]

This is a terrible idea. I hope it's not true. I hate MMO's...they take way too much of your time (you have to play reglulary if you want to compete with other players).

[Fenghuang]

...not april yes?

 

 

umm, thats not the best idea they ever had, atleast its not made by the guys who messed up SWG

 

 

Isn't quite a bit of Bioware's MMO branch composed of ex-SOE employees though?

[GreasyDogMeat]

Why is it, that every time a decent franchise comes along they find some way to ruin it.

 

I'm sure the Fallout fanbase was really looking for a console action RPG that crapped on the Fallout universe.

 

PC Call of Duty/UO fans were looking for a dumbed down consolized sequel.

 

KoTOR fans REALLY want a MMO... and not an actual KoTOR sequel.

 

 

Hopefully just a false rumor.

[Rhomal]

Bioware should stick to what it does right. pseudo-turned based, 2D or semi-3D, epic story line CRPGs.

 

I do not foresee, if this is indeed the case, them being able to pull this off to be successful enough to warrant it more then a 18months lifespan after it goes live.

 

Bioware has proven IMO it handles multi-tasking poorly. Look at BG1 vs BG2. BG1 was certainly good but BG2 was far superior on most levels. Why? Because they had to design and develop the game engine on top of producing the story/OC. When BG2 came around most all resources could easily be dropped into the game play rather then engine development

 

Same goes for nwn1. The initial game OC and engine suffered from them trying to multi-task as they did in bg1 (but with worse results). However with Xp2 they got much better as they could focus on simple story/module design as the engine was complete.

 

I feel if a franchise needs to be MMOG-morphed Shadowrun, Fallout or even V:tM are much better ideas and setting that fit into a MMO concept then SW... considering there is ALREADY a SW MMOG on the market.

 

My 2 coppers

[Musopticon?]

They are greedy, it figures.

[Lare Kikkeli]

Bioware should stick to what it does right. pseudo-turned based, 2D or semi-3D, epic story line CRPGs.

 

I do not foresee, if this is indeed the case, them being able to pull this off to be successful enough to warrant it more then a 18months lifespan after it goes live.

 

Bioware has proven IMO it handles multi-tasking poorly. Look at BG1 vs BG2. BG1 was certainly good but BG2 was far superior on most levels. Why? Because they had to design and develop the game engine on top of producing the story/OC. When BG2 came around most all resources could easily be dropped into the game play rather then engine development

 

Same goes for nwn1. The initial game OC and engine suffered from them trying to multi-task as they did in bg1 (but with worse results). However with Xp2 they got much better as they could focus on simple story/module design as the engine was complete.

 

I feel if a franchise needs to be MMOG-morphed Shadowrun, Fallout or even V:tM are much better ideas and setting that fit into a MMO concept then SW... considering there is ALREADY a SW MMOG on the market.

 

My 2 coppers

 

 

How do you know they're making a new engine for it? Also i dont get why people talk about developers like they're a single person. I don't see why bio couldnt pull a good MMO off if they hired a good team for it. It's not like the same team who did BG2 will do the MMO...

[Alvin Nelson]

I really can't be mad if its done well. I must admit, i'm a closet MMO fan...