posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 1:30 AM by Endie

Bioware to put the RPG in MMO

Abalieno/HRose informs us that Bioware are to make a virtual world.  Well, he actually says that they're giving us a fantasy MMO, but I can hope that that translates into a virtual world.  Bioware, after all, are the people who gave us, arguably, too much world in Knights of the Old Republic, and gifted us the surrealistically huge playspace of Baldur's Gate.  Surely, I whisper to my precious, they will give us player houses and cities and all sorts of Raph Koster-ish delights.  Surely?  After all, project lead appears to be James Ohlen, who was involved in all those great Bioware RPG titles.

But I'm less certain than I might be.  Here's why: World of Warcraft.

WoW will suggest a certain approach: do the basics, do it well, and release a limited feature set when balanced.  This is a danger, but I hope that Bioware are canny enough to know that they cannot produce yet another diku and hope to just steal the game away from Blizzard.

What interests me are two other names that have been hired for the task: Richard Vogel and Gordon Walton.  Vogel was senior prducer at Origin on Ultima Online, which was, 7 or 8 years ago, already more of a world than Blizzard have yet created.  A world of gankage, but still a world.  He worked there with sandbox-Tsar Koster, and both went to SOE, not that we should judge them for that: I suspect that the influence of each was visible in the high targets of Star Wars Galaxies.  In any case, I hope that he'll pick up where UO and SWG left off: a world with games.

Gordon Walton has been at both EA and SOE, and as a result I loath his prior affiliations, but he's a creative type, and once again someone deeply involved with the SWG experiment.  So long as he and Vogel didn't get too badly burned by that episode, then hopefully they'll be capable of coming up with a real treat.  And I trust Bioware to just as great a degree as I distrust SOE.

Comments

# re: Bioware to put the RPG in MMO

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 10:29 AM by Mark
I confess that despite not having an interest in World Of Warcraft, I am interested to see what BioWare produce. I believe I'm in the minority within our Xbox Live group/clan whereby I actually enjoyed and completed both of their Knights Of The Old Republic titles as well as Jade Empire.

Mosgail (Dennis) in particular became tired of the whole "go into room, open all the crates, get items. Go into next room" construction of the game. I on the other hand, was hooked. Many the night went by where I'd intend on just spending an hour in any of those games, to look around at the clock and realise I only had two hours of sleep in front of me before I had to get up for work.

Roll up my sleeve, tap the vein and spike me.

# re: Bioware to put the RPG in MMO

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 2:29 PM by Endie
Given the fact that this is just public and no real product-specific announcements have been made yet, I guess that you still have a good 18 months to 2 years before it impinges on your valuable playing time.

However, yes, Bioware + Traditionally Addictive Game Genre + Substantially Bigger Worldspace than KOTOR = Worrisome Potential for Time-Devouring

# re: Bioware to put the RPG in MMO

Thursday, March 16, 2006 6:47 PM by jed
Yeah. What he said.

I realize saying hello has nothing to do with Bioware.

Sorry. But I have had a rough morning.

# re: Bioware to put the RPG in MMO

Friday, March 17, 2006 2:18 PM by Tom
What Bioware might bring to the MMO world is actual roleplay - the ability to make choices and be affected by those decisions. That coupled with the extensive experience garnered from the NWN community who have long been hankering for a persistent world that they can mould themselves could indicate good things.

What it might offer over WoW is some of the complexity and individuality that pre-NGE SWG offered. Then again, I might be dreaming and need to wake up.

# re: Bioware to put the RPG in MMO

Saturday, March 18, 2006 12:12 AM by Endie
You're right, Tom: I can't help but hope that Bioware will add levels of immersion, of storyline and of consequences to the genre. They have the budget and the experience to move things forward, and these are experimental, creative individuals with a track-record of pushing the technical boundaries. But I also feel the same reluctance to get too optimistic that you suggest: we've been kicked by SOE and Turbine and Mythic so very, very often!

# re: Bioware to put the RPG in MMO

Tuesday, March 21, 2006 3:25 PM by Tom
Get the latest rumour: http://vnboards.ign.com/swg_general_discussion/b5184/95747078/p1/?6

Bioware to take on development of SWG? I find this improbable but would welcome the news if it proved to be true.

# re: Bioware to put the RPG in MMO

Tuesday, March 21, 2006 3:37 PM by Endie
Oh, that's a doozie. You're right that it is a long shot, but I'd be extremely excited about the results if it proved true...

That said, would LA want all these ex-SOE/SWG types involved if they re-licensed the game to Bioware? Probably the best people to avoid the mistakes of the past, but that sort of wisdom is rare in the games industry...

# re: Bioware to put the RPG in MMO

Tuesday, March 21, 2006 5:40 PM by Tom
That depends on whether the people who they're recruiting designed it or programmed it. If they recruit the same people who thought the NGE was a Good Idea (tm) then it's time to order an orbital strike on Austin.

# re: Bioware to put the RPG in MMO

Wednesday, March 22, 2006 10:05 AM by Endie
Nah, these are the people who came up with the original sandbox. Scuttlebutt is that quite a few of the devs from that phase are on board as well.

I doubt if it is anything to do with SWG itself, but I'm definitely intrigued what Bioware+Sandbox-Worldy MMO team come up with...

# re: Bioware to put the RPG in MMO

Thursday, March 30, 2006 4:00 PM by Endie
Despite my scepticism, Tom, your post about Bioware, SWG and SOE does seem to have some momentum behind it...

http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=24466266