We gathered the Ten Ton Hammer editors to take a look at four once-
promising MMOGs that now seem to be disappearing from gamers' radars. If
you've begun to lose faith in The Agency, The Secret World, Jumpgate:
Evolution and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning you'll want to
see how the developers of these titles responded (or didn't) to our
challenge to defend their games. Some of the responses are encouraging, and some of the silences less so, but you won't want to miss any of them. Read on!
THE AGENCY
Agency is the old-timer on our contender versus pretender
list. Arriving on the shortly before E3 2007, it (rather than DC
Universe Online) was to be SOEs first
href="http://ps3.ign.com/articles/804/804427p1.html">PlayStation
3 showpiece.
Unfortunately, its also been the slowest developing title in SOEs post
EverQuest 2 lineup so much so that SOE has been forced to href="http://www.vg247.com/2009/09/16/soe-says-cancellation-rumors-for-
the-agency-are-rubbish/">routinely squash rumors of its cancellation.
Several shakeups over the years have brought those rumors
back like a nasty staph infection. The first salvo came when console
game rental company Gamefly sent out notices in November 2008 that The
Agency would be removed from the queue amid rumors of the games
cancellation. The rumors turned out to be false, but six months later
another event again stoked the cancellation gossip embers. While Lead
Designer Rory McGuire has staid the course, The Agency has saw a
number of
href="http://www.gamespot.com/news/6214601.html">defections
in the summer of
2009. Figurehead
Matt Wilson, John
Smith, and Art Director Corey Dangel left SOE Seattle to form mobile
games-focused Detenator
Games (on
Independence Day nonetheless, as if their feelings werent apparent
enough).
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A mini-game will challenge players of
The Agency to diffuse a bomb. Figuratively speaking, we're challenging
SOEto the same.
In the wake of the executive exodus,
SOE Seattle vowed their
steadfast determination to launch The Agency. But
an implied
2008 release date
slipped to 2010,
and most
recently we were told that
href="http://www.cinemablend.com/games/agency-delayed-late-2011-
28650.html">late
2011 is the soonest were going to see this spy vs. spy shoot
em up. And now
that the game is reportedly
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/agency/interviews/mcguire-aug-
2010">feature
complete, 2011 seems much more tenable.
While launch delays are the expensive
addiction of the MMO
industry in general and SOE in particular (John Smedley recently told
href="http://kotaku.com/5707624/is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-massive-and-
online">Kotaku
that DC Universe Online was held back for a year and a half), what
might
relegate The Agency to pretender status is the lack of any
coherent
MMOG
framework were left with for the game in nearly four years of
marketing. We dont
yet see why or how The Agency needs a
persistent world or massively multiplayer concurrency to achieve its
single shooter-centric
ends. Small-scale encounters that had us sneaking and shooting our way
around
casinos, sophisticated cars built by a virtual Q while your offline,
text
messages to alert you when its done - these features, while cool,
didnt
exactly scream: "I need a vibrant online community around me to enjoy
this!
Thats not to say that The Agency
wouldnt make for an
awesome single-player shooter with optional co-op elements, a sort-of
love
child between Borderlands, Goldeneye, and Team Fortress 2. At
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/agency-interview">E3
2010,
Rory McGuire demoed some of the class choice and visual innovations of
The
Agency things like the gear you equip always shows up on your
character model,
and then at
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/fanfaire2010/agency/la-signora-
video">SOE
Fan Faire 2010 we saw an impressive look at the La Signora
Grande, an
archetypical casino environment being developed for the game.
So, MMOG pretender versus contender? Everything depends on how
The Agency ties together the compartmentalized demo coolness weve
seen with some kind of need for other players, other than the obvious need
to have them in your ironsights or, conversely, shooting in the same
direction. McGuire href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/agency/interviews/mcguire-aug-
2010">promised just this sort of info this year, discussing the large-
scale PvE environments, possibly some territory control aspects, and in
general how everything ties together. But as for the here and now, were
saying pretender. A pretender, that is, given the information we have in
terms of The Agency being an MMOG shooter a definite contender
SOE Seattle Responds
"Its not a secret that the games business is a tough one its a lot
like making an airplane while you are also trying to fly it. For The
Agency we are blending two genres which happen to have the most heated
competition in the industry right now. A massively multiplayer world
combined with the fidelity of a classical first person shooter all wrapped
up in living the life of an elite agent. To really deliver on this promise
puts us on the cutting edge of both genres. If we allow ourselves to get
out of date, lose sight of our target or simply deliver an inferior product
- the game will not last long at all...and that is not what we are shooting
for.
get out of date, lose sight of our target or simply deliver an inferior
product - the game will not last long at all...and that is not what we are
shooting for. "
"We have flown under the radar a bit but thats the spy thing to do.
We havent shown the player moving across Venice, running along the Grand
Canal, snapping photos of intelligence, or donning an alias and
infiltrating into an enemy area. Our goal for last years E3 was to show
the improvements that we had made to the look and feel of the game. Our
next goal is to show the complete scope of what The Agency has to offer as
a playable massively multiplayer game which also happens to be a first
person shooter.
"Earlier today I did a level review with one of the designers in the
office. We grouped up on the Rialto Bridge in Venice and worked out which
roles we were going to play, did the necessary mission setup of acquiring
some intel and then headed off to our location. Part way through the
mission I gained a level, and I needed to acquire some new gear. I left
him to his own devices and went through one of the more hostile spaces
where a few other designers were trying to get through an alias area
together. Since I had already infiltrated the organization in question, I
donned my alias, helped them out for a bit and ran off to my vendor.
"We will be showing these elements resonating off of each other, not
just the shooter aspects, in the very near future. Keep an eye out!"
-Rory McGuire, Lead Designer, The Agency, SOE Seattle
THE SECRET WORLD
Theres much to look forward to with Funcoms
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/265">The Secret World
magic, monsters and mayhem. That aspect alone makes TSW notable a game
set in modern times in a world replete with things like demons, zombies and
even some Lovecraftian references? Count us in. And The Secret
World will divide players among secret societies, each with their own
base location in the world. Sure, its just another take on factions and
starting areas, but the twist makes the game appear fresher than some of
the same ol same high fantasy titles rolling down the virtual assembly
line.
Funcom employed some creative and highly effective marketing tactics
early on, unveiling the games website under the ominous URL
href="http://darkdaysarecoming.com/">darkdaysarecoming.com
released a series of eye-popping CGI videos (followed by a somewhat
anticlimactic glimpse of gameplay footage). They also played on the idea of
conspiracy theories, slowly revealing more about the game by
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/92636">providing clues
and social network feeds that lead players to sites filled with cryptic
information and hints at lore and game content. Funcom has left finding and
decoding these messages entirely in the communitys hands and the
information rollout has provided a sort of game before the game for TSW
fans.
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SGMZ (Single Green Male Zombie) seeks
SGFZ for long moonlight strolls, fine brain dining and more. Totally
ripped...in more ways than one! Nice teeth for a zombie. Respond to mailbox
#1337.
But new information on The Secret World has dwindled over the
past several months. Based on posts were seeing in our own forums and
others we can surmise that players are beginning to lose faith given
Funcoms apparent loss of momentum. Gamers can feed off hype for quite a
long time, but their allegiances tend to wander when developers fall
silent. Not to mention, earlier last year Funcom began promoting a free-
to-play PVP arena game,
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2792">Bloodline Champions
TSW front quiet, the newly launched free-to-play has gamers wondering if
Funcom had lost focus where their mysterious world of demons, zombies and
other mythical creatures was concerned.
If Funcom can rejuvenate its substantial hype machine and then pull off
a game with an intriguing story, fun gameplay mechanics, and visual eye
candy while employing lessons learned from the launch of
href="http://tentonhammer.com/aoc">Age of Conan
will plow through your 20 levels of amazing content to your remaining
levels of mediocre content pretty quickly, so beef up the mid-game pre-
launch) The Secret World could be a winner. Right now, though,
its still a little too secret.
- Karen "shayalyn" Hertzberg
Funcom Responds...
"We have only done a few reveals of The Secret World since we
announced the game back in 2007, and many of those reveals have been
intentionally disguised and shrouded in mystery. All of our significant
reveals have been focused around large trade shows such as GamesCom, with
very few actual gameplay reveals outside of those. This has been according
to our plan: we wanted to show the world that we're working on something
amazing, but we haven't really felt ready to show-and-tell. Until now.
our plan: we wanted to show the world that we're working on something
amazing, but we haven't really felt ready to show-and-tell. Until now.
"
"In the coming months gamers can look forward to getting in-depth
reveals of core gameplay mechanics and content. We're lifting the veil,
we're going into a new phase for the project. We're working on several
videos that will go live in the coming months (starting in February), and
we're getting ready to reveal everything from substantial details on our
unique progression system (no levels, no classes!) to all-new PvP
mechanics. We're also preparing a new website to usher in this new phase
for the game. It's very exciting.
"You have probably also heard that we have signed a co-publishing deal
with Electronic Arts, and we're looking forward to working with them as
well on future marketing and other co-publishing activities.
- Erling Ellingsen, Director of Communications, Funcom
JUMPGATE EVOLUTION
Two years ago I penned a short-lived weekly sci-fi feature here on Ten
Ton Hammer titled MMOs, the Final Fontier. At the time, the future was looking
increadibly bright for fans of the genre.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor">Star Wars: The Old Republic
expectations for Star Trek
Online, and a number of other promising sci-fi games were
generating quite a buzz such as
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/806">Earthrise
due out next month. Barring the gargantuan hype surrounding The Old
Repubic, one title in particular had MMOG communities buzzing so loud you'd
have thought wearing bee's nests on your head had replaced the more
traditional tinfoil hats in vogue at the time. I'm speaking, of course,
about NetDevil's
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/306">Jumpgate: Evolution
While I was (and still am) incredibly excited for the pending launch or
J:GE back in January 2009, it wasn't until getting my hands on the game
later that year at PAX
that I felt certain that the game was worthy of every last bit of hype. But
soon after, much like a full solar eclipse at noon in the middle of summer,
things grew eerily dark and silent.
At first, fans were a bit disappointed by he lack of new info from
NetDevil about the game, but most remained optomistic that the silence
would soon give way to the typical pre-launch marketing machine's beeping
and blooping. Then the information blackout persisted for most of the next
year, and optomism soon gave way to skepticism that the game would ever see
the light of day. Had I not played the game myself I might have even begun
to believe there was some truth to the forumite belief that JG:E was
potentially just vaporware.
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Will the once-promising Jumpgate
Evolution ever see the light of day?
As E3 2010 rolled around, I was pleasently surprised to see that not
only was NetDevil attending, but during the presentation and hands-on
session for JGE at the show we were assured that, now that they had brought
the game back out into the public,
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/jumpgate- evolution/e310/interviews/steve-garvin">they intended to stay
However, that hasn't proven to be the case, as the only signs of life
from NetDevil were the massive promotional pushes for last fall's
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/170">LEGO Universe
naturally prioritized for such a high profile IP and game release, by now
most fans of the game wonder if JGE will ever finally emerge from the
blackness of space. In the meantime, Black Prophecy is inching ever closer
towards launch, and has calimed the lion's share of attention from former
JGE entusiasts.
So is Jumpgate: Evolution slated to become the Duke Nukem
Forever of sci-fi MMOGs? I certainly hope not, but only time will tell.
While the window of opportunity will never fully close for the game, it's
currently in the position of really needing to redefine the space combat
genre in some meaningful ways, or else it will have already faded into
obscurity long before ever getting the chance to taste the success I still
believe the game deserves.
Adding another variable into the mix, last month Codemasters filed suit
against NetDevil for breach of contract. While I find it highly suspect
that Codemasters would have waited nearly two years to take issue with the
game not being released by the February 2009 release date initially
expected, either way this suit could very well have a direct impact on
whether JGE sees a release anytime soon, or whether it ends up being put on
indefinite hold. I certainly hope that doesn't prove to be the case, but in
the meantime this one-time contender slips further towards the pretenders
list of upcoming MMOGs.
- Reuben "Sardu" Waters
NetDevil Responds
"Due to the current situation with Codemasters, we are unable to comment
at this time."
- Keith Mutzman, PR Manager
KINGDOMS OF AMALUR: RECKONING
For several years now, we've been hypnotized by 38 Studios and their
claims of making an incredible online universe for us to enjoy. No other
company has been able to gain such excitement without actually ever
speaking of the game they're making. They've kept
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2454">Kingdoms of Amalur
incredible allure. They've drawn many icons of pop culture to the
development of the game and have an all-star team. Best-selling author R.A.
Salvatore and "Spawn" creator Todd McFarlane are just two of the designers
on former Boston Red Sox pitcher, Curt Schilling's team. Not only that, but
dozens of other top designers from
href="http://tentonhammer.com/wow">World of Warcraft
legendary MMO games have dropped their former projects to move to the East
Coast and join the studio.
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It looks cool, sounds even cooler, and
has an all-star development cast but we remain uncertain about the future
of Kingdoms of Amalur.
We know there's talent. We know the Studio has a passion for gaming. We
think they can make some real magic. But... it's time to show the
cards. Keeping the interest of gamers is tough enough. Keeping the interest
of online gamers without talking about an actual game is madness. It simply
can't happen for long. 38 Studios has achieved a commendable accomplishment
in being able to pull it off as long as they have, but even now gamers are
growing restless.
Fortunately, we have heard tales that 38 Studios will be at GDC this
year. What will be shown? It remains to be seen, but it's one of the titles
we're very interested in here at Ten Ton Hammer. It has an original IP, one
hell of a design team and enough indication on the type of game 38 Studios
wants to make that, if achieved, it may very well make a huge splash in the
MMOG market that hasn't been seen in years.
But will we hear and see more of the game, or will there simply be more
gaming theory and design talk? Not that we don't love to talk games, but we
really want to see it now.
- Benjamin de la Durantaye
38 Studios Responds
Unfortunately, 38 Studios' response to our challenge was a lack
thereof--they simply didn't answer within the 7-day window we provided
them. Could this be because they have nothing they're prepared to announce
right now? Or maybe it's because the development process has them heads-
down and unable to respond to our requests? Alas, we just don't know.
Will the developers we've called out, and the titles they're
championing, rise to the challenge to become great games in the future, or
will they continue to keep us waiting? Although we're encouraged by the
responses from some of the developers we spoke to, and perhaps discouraged
by the lack of response from others, for now only time will provide the
answers.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our The Secret World Game Page.