Dopass.com

SOE to report to Sony Computer Entertainment - Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that
SonyOnline Entertainment will now report to Kazuo Hirai under
a newcompany structure designed to address the growth of the
onlinegaming market [GamesIndustry.biz news]

I wonder how stoked they are on the SOE side... SOE is a strange beast to me. I don't claim, to be clear, to know anything about how SOE works on the business side, but as a player the place seemed to me to be schizophrenic... I can't see this making things better.

I mean, on the SOE side alone, it always felt like they couldn't decide if they were a publisher with a huge stable of titles that offered a massive variety (a "Cable television model") or a single game company. When EQ2 came out, support dwindled and died for other games... Then when Vanguard came out, same thing...

So, what's being controlled by the guys that did the same thing to the PS2 - one of the best selling consoles of the current generation - going to do for that? Will SOE stop supporting their old, unprofitable MMOs all together, now? Will they suffer along as they have in the past - with too little support to thrive and too much support to die? Or, will this really be a good thing where we see a new revitalization of the stable of products SOE offers?

I really don't know, but my gut tells me this isn't going to be a good thing for what we currently think of as SOE. As a gamer, I'm already finding myself justifying my station pass subscription with rationale and flat out delusion, somehow I suspect that in the coming year, I won't even have enough fuel to do that.

Besides, I don't own a PS3 - and I've yet to see a reason why I'd want one. I'm pretty sure I'm not SCE's intended market. Chances are, they'll drive me out of their piece of the market entirely, sooner or later.

Damn, but I hope I'm wrong.

- Snipehunter

Rumour: Perpetual out as Star Trek MMO
developer - P2 Entertainment, formerly known as
PerpetualEntertainment, has ceased development on Star Trek
Online accordingto multiple sources [GamesIndustry.biz news]

Well, that just sort of sucks, doesn't it? One more nail in the coffin for sci-fi mmos?

On a, only vaguely, related note - I ran across this blog recently. It's an interesting observation, though my personal experience differs somewhat - and I worked on one of those games he mentions. Still, his observations are an interesting read (And it's short).

I ran across an interesting article today, by way of Massively.com. Apparently, Chris Klug of Cheyenne Mountain (They're making Stargate Worlds, which I am avidly awaiting) has been posting Dev diaries up. In his latest one he discusses moral choices in his MMO...

Last night was the end of Auto Assault, the end of a game that hoped to break the mold, push the envelope and bring something truly innovative to the MMO world. Did we succeed? Well, certainly not in making a popular game. ;) I wish we had, but the truth is the game we were making wasn't really a game a lot of people wanted... Still, when one considers "did we bring something new to the table?" the answer, I'm sure you'll agree, is most assuredly, yes.

The end is coming for Auto Assault... in a just a few short weeks. Obviously this isn't news in and of itself, but I wanted to say that, barring any unforeseen issues, the folks here at Dopass.com will begin a weekly feature on 09/01 where we discuss aspects of the story and world of Auto Assault. So keep watching this space, any of you players who haunt this site!

It's our way of saying goodbye to our little problem child; we hope you'll enjoy it.

- Snipehunter

NCsoft to close Auto Assault MMO - NCsoft is to close down vehicle combat MMO Auto
Assault at the end of August [GamesIndustry.biz news]

Bah!

Not that it wasn't pretty obvious it was coming, but still. All I got to say about that is: Boo! That's bad form.

I'm annoyed. I'm irritated. I'm angry... and I'm sad. There was a lot of potential in Auto Assault. Much of it went untapped, but the potential was there. I won't sit here and play "if only" by expounding on each of the places where things could have changed if we'd done something different, but I will say there were a lot of "if onlys" on that project.

A friend of mine pointed me to this thread on the AA forums. Sort of interesting stuff. As a dev, I found some of the responses telling, but I'm not sure I should be specific as to why - I don't want to reveal any intentions that the dev team still has, inadvertently. Still, it's a quick read - if you're a player, give it a look...

But something was bugging me today. I have a very dear friend who I met when I worked in Colorado for a company known as VR-1. I taught him how to write and since then, he's gone on to publish a number of short stories and the like, all to realize his dream of being an author. I'm glad I know him and I'm glad that I was able help him realize his ambition. Thanks to him I'm a better writer, myself. He really is a good friend, but some times even good friends can go too far. Like I said, he's a really good dude and I'm glad I know him, but he takes things personally when bad things happen to his friends... and that can make you do stupid things.

The guys at work will make fun of me if they read this, but I'm a RUSH fan. I saw them on R30, Test for Echo, Counterparts, Roll the Bones and even on the Presto tour. I've been a fan of theirs since I was in high school. I admit it.

So why am I flying my old nerd flag so proudly? Because as I was listening to some Rush today I started laughing at the lyrics to a particular song. Neal wrote my MMO anthem, and even named it appropriately. It's The Enemy Within from their Grace Under Pressure album.

Check out this lyric:
I'm not giving in, to security under pressure.
I'm not missing out on the promise of adventure.
I'm not giving up on impossible dreams; experience to extremes.
Experience to extremes.

That's how I play MMOs. Let me explain: