Six Contenders for MMO Supremacy
- November 04, 2009 12:28 PM PST
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World of Warcraft may be the King of the MMO Mountain, but these six other games are still fighting for a piece of the online spotlight.
Let's get the obvious statement out of the way up front. When it comes to massively-multiplayer online RPGs, World of Warcraft is still the undisputed king. Since 2004, Blizzard Entertainment's epic game has held off competition from around the world, and still boasts a staggering 11.5 million players that pay a monthly fee to play every month. It has outlasted, outsold, and just plain bested many a strong contender over the past five years.
As we look forward into the online gaming future, there are a few tough customers gearing up to potentially lure away players from the game's fantasy world of Azeroth. Here we explore six possible contenders, and delve into what makes them special.
#6. LEGO Universe
What It's All About:
LEGO Universe can be favorably compared to Electronic Arts' life simulator Spore. With an emphasis on user-generated creativity, it offers players the chance to literally build the expansive game world that is populated by similarly customizable and adorable LEGO "mini-figures." Depending on how you like to play your MMOs, you'll either spend your time in the LEGO Universe building projects with other players, or collaboratively battling monsters in a number of themed worlds. The team at developer Net Devil has told us that one of the main objectives during the lengthy development process has been to work very closely with the community to build the game world, and to enable fans to have a noticeable impact from the day the game launches. Players will be able to potentially construct entire cities using the game's block system, and this will include both interior and exterior details. Players will also be able to decide whether construction projects are collaborative or solo efforts.
Why It's a Contender:
Aside from LEGO Universe's unique character creation system that'll let you craft anything from ninjas to Dragon Ball characters, the in-game workshop alone could have players competing to see who can build the biggest and most impressive machinery, much like we've seen in LittleBigPlanet. What we anticipate is a lot of videogame-inspired craftsmanship, from Final Fantasy-style airships to recreations of Donkey Kong levels. To help inspire the community from the very beginning, a group of adult LEGO fans (some of them professional builders that create impressive sculptures much like those found in the LEGOland theme parks) has already been selected to help build content. This team is working closely with the game's developers to construct elaborate and unique objects, buildings and environments.
#5. APB: All Points Bulletin
What It's All About:
Billed as "entirely online" and something that is "not the same as other MMOs out there," APB pits two opposing forces against each other in a battle to control territory in a modern-day fictional city. Will you take the role of the law-abiding member of Law Enforcement and put the evildoers in their place, or wreak havoc as a gang member and rule over the city with fear and mayhem? Regardless of what you choose, you'll be part of APB's never-ending and very fast-paced turf war, that has players collaborating both on foot, and in vehicles.
The game also promises to allow players a wide range of customization options, from tricking out their enforcement cruisers to designing the graffiti they can plaster throughout the world. Most important to the experience, however, is the character creation system which promises control over musculature, facial definition and even how pronounced the character's veins are. At the Game Developers Conference in 2008, developer Realtime Worlds CEO Dave Jones demonstrated the power of this function by showing remarkably realistic models of Shigeru Miyamoto, Peter Molyneux, Richard Garriott, and Warren Spector posing in the game with a variety of weapons.
Why It's a Contender:
A modern day setting with a completely new format might be exactly what the doctor ordered for MMO players. More importantly though, Jones is promising that APB will eliminate the notion of "grinding" (the repetitive process of playing through elements of the game to build experience points and boost character stats) from online gaming, and instead replace it with a skill based system that reflects the abilities of the player, rather than just the amount of time spent in the game. Realtime Worlds also promises that the game will run on fast, high quality servers that will allow you to find other players to play against with a dynamic matchmaking system that promises to eliminate the need for lobbies.
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- Oct 21 2009 at 07:03:07:PM PST
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PlasmaSnake wrote:
star wars and lego lok so awesoom!
Yea man i'm up for tryin that Lego game
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They will all fall to final fantasy 14 if Square enix did the game right this time from all the mistakes they made and slapped together the good things they did with FFXI then no other MMO will compete versus it.
well WoW I am sure but that wont count lol
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WTF! i didnt know the Agency was a PS3 exclusive?! and ive never even heard of LEGO. but Star wars, lego, apb, Agency, and DC look tight.
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KingsGambit wrote:
PlasmaSnake wrote:star wars and lego lok so awesoom!Yea man i'm up for tryin that Lego game
Yea . leggo is ones that could make me play an mmmorpg. not to hard
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This is definitely a good set of games, but I think it's time to take "MMO supremacy" beyond the traditional boundaries and consider the games played in social networks. Games such as Mafia Wars and Farmville aren's your traditional MMO's, but they are played in a social environment where you play with/against large groups of players online, so aren't they MMOs?
One could argue based on some of the reported numbers that these games have beaten WOW out by engaging an even larger audience. Maybe the best way to beat the dominant MMO was to shift the paradigm, and by playing in a social network like Facebook, top titles from Zynga (Mafia Wars, Farmville, etc), Playdom (Mobsters), and other social games are the next generation winners.
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Jim Lee's not the only big name behind DC Universe Online. There's also rising star Geoff Johns and industry legend Marv Wolfman handling the stories. You want to talk about an unbeatable package, that pretty much defines it.
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These are strong contenders for rank 1 spot if they get advertised enough.
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