by Garrett Fuller,
Industry Relations



Forget all the "look back" articles. Forget 2007. It's time to focus
our attention on what's coming our way. I wanted to jump into the
future and take a look forward, a place where many MMO fans have been
living for several years. What I mean by that is if you have been
following MMO games for the past two years, then you know what is
coming. Let's talk a little about the games that are shaping up to make
2008 an interesting year.



The games that I am going to list are in no particular order, just
games that I think the MMO market will be eager to finally play after
several years of development.

style="margin: 10px; border-collapse: collapse; float: right; width: 148px; height: 185px;"
border="1">

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/15304=""> src="/image/view/15304/preview"
width="150">

Age of Conan is
bringing brutal savagery to the MMOG market.

First is Age of Conan:
Hyborian Adventures. Set to launch in March after a long
development cycle, Age
of Conan is the first MMOG that targets a mature audience.
Worried about high schoolers messing up your guilds? Fear not! If the
ESRB has their way, the kids won’t be playing AoC. It is all
there: decapitations, nudity, and plenty of blood. Don’t
worry; it is not a bad B-Movie. The story line and unique interface in style="font-style: italic;">Age of Conan offers
a lot for players to explore. Word from early demos states that the
game is great and looks ready for its March release.



The second game that plans to rock the MMOG market in 2008 is style="font-style: italic;">Warhammer Online: Age of
Reckoning. Remember those days running around Emain in style="font-style: italic;">Dark Age of Camelot
playing 8v8 and joining Berserkers to take keeps? The atmosphere of
DAoC looks to be coming back from EA Mythic with style="font-style: italic;">Warhammer. One of
the only companies to really get PvP or RvR right in the MMOG market
hopes to bring even more to the players by utilizing the twenty five
year old Warhammer
property. The amazing thing is that style="font-style: italic;">Warhammer still
remains a hugely popular miniature gaming system all around the world.
If EA Mythic can gather the fans who wage war on the table top along
with the MMOG players excited to fight for full cities and guild
bragging rights, we could see the first game on the market that will
actually put a crushing dent in the WoW armor.

style="margin: 10px; border-collapse: collapse; float: left; width: 148px; height: 185px;"
border="1">

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/13739"> src="/image/view/13739/preview"
width="150">

The Goa'uld will be
invading MMOGs in 2008.

The third game that many people may not realize is coming - hopefully
by the end of 2008 - is Stargate
Worlds. Stargate
has been around forever, it seems. It has been on television since I
was in college (which seems like ages ago) and remains one of the most
popular sci-fi franchises in our current era. With all the staying
power of years on television is makes for a great game world. If the
newest Stargate
show follows along with the plot of the game and vice versa we could
see a new phenomenon in gaming. EVE
and Tabula Rasa
have proven that sci-fi can be done very well in an MMOG.
Let’s hope Cheyenne Mountain and MGM get this game right and
fans of Stargate
will be able to blast away at each other while they explore an endless
universe.



Number four (and by no means is it "ranked" number four) style="font-style: italic;">The Agency by Sony
Online Entertainment. The
Agency really looks like fun. Playing spies vs. mercs in
an espionage filled world with gambling, shootouts and PvP missions
sounds like an action thrill ride. Also they plan to have you get text
messages when your new car is custom built, talk about a way to
brighten your day at work! “Agent 7 your car is fully loaded
and ready for combat!” You can hear folks giggling in meeting
rooms eagerly awaiting the evening to fight it out.

style="margin: 10px; border-collapse: collapse; float: right; width: 148px; height: 185px;"
border="1">

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/11570"> src="/image/view/11570/preview"
width="200">

Warhammer Online will
be brining plenty of action and excitement to gamers the world over.

Let’s not forget Pirates
of the Burning Sea which comes out in a very short amount
of time! Pirates of the
Burning Sea has also been on the radar for some time.
Taking into account the historical aspect of piracy and adding some
very cool ship combat, Pirates will give fans a very different and
exciting MMOG world to explore. No Elves!



So did I leave anything else out? Oh! We can't forget our friends over
at Blizzard with their little expansion called style="font-style: italic;">Wrath of the Lich King.
Also keep in mind that other games are also growing and getting
stronger like Lord of
the Rings Online,
EVE Online, and Tabula
Rasa. Not only that, but there are many studios working on
MMOGs that will likely announce titles in 2008: Bioware, Red 5,
Spacetime, 38 Studios, Stray Bullet, and ZeniMax are all working on
MMOGs for the future.



So sit tight, relax and enjoy the ride in 2008. We'll have some serious
games to check out and some great choices to make with our game time.
See you all in 2008!    

---