With the announcement that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be released sometime after April 2011…I’m thinking, “Ut oh. Here we go again!” Instead of a somewhat steady stream of major titles being released the last couple years, it looks like they’ll all be released within months of each other in 2011. You might have your favorites and be able to pick one. But for me, it’s going to be overwhelming and expensive. And I’m looking forward to it…
I’ve been a huge fan of Star Wars since I could say, “Stah Waws!” My favorite character still to this day is Boba Fett. I remember eating more Cheerios than I could handle when I was six years old so I could mail in box tops to get the limited edition, mail-order-only Boba Fett action figure.
I was ecstatic when I found out I could roam around the Star Wars Universe with the advent of SWG. Sure, I was let down when the NGE hit, but it was never really about the game to me. It was about the virtual world. It was about the player associations I had built.
But I’m older and a lot less naive about MMOs now…so I’m a bit cautious as to what BioWare will be serving up in TOR. I’m expecting a few bells and whistles with combat, but what I’m really looking forward to are the crew skills. Another game coming out with similar systems is The Agency. Basically, you’ll be able to send crew members off to do different types of missions while you do your own thing. Supposedly it will feel like your birthday every time your crew members come back with surprises or craft an item for you. I hope it’s an integral part of game play and not just a distraction.
Another game I’m anticipating to launch in the first half of 2011 is Rift: Planes of Telara. The first beta event for the game is this weekend and all I can say with a wink, wink and nudge, nudge is, “Woooooo!” I’m really interested to see what the Trion devs have done with the dynamic events, or Rifts. These are the backbone of the game. As I’ve said, I believe dynamic content, when done right, can add a lot to an MMO environment. But all we have at this point is some in-game footage and dev chatter barely scratching the surface of these systems. I need some hands on!
And yet a third game I’m looking forward to is not an MMO but a single-player game that is a prequel to an MMO…I hope. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is scheduled for release in Fall 2011. We don’t know much about the game play at this point, but I’m not really worried about that. I just want to see what R.A. Salvatore, Todd McFarlane and Ken Rolston can put together with the dev team over Big Huge Games. This will be our first glimpse at a living Amalur, the world in which 38 Studios’ MMO Codename Copernicus will be set.
All of this and I’m not even mentioning games like DC Universe Online, Forsaken World, EverQuest II: Destiny of Velious expansion, Jumpgate: Evolution, Final Fantasy XIV, PlanetSide 2, Guild Wars 2, and tons more. It’s going to be a very, very busy 2011.
MMO Overload in 2011 is a post from: Kill Ten Rats
