Titles that Make me Giddy

Van Hemlock posted his podcast question earlier today for their next recording session, it is as follows:

"Lot of Grump on the Blogoweb of late. Help cheer me up! What's the most positive thing thats happened to you this month?"

I would assume he means mmo bloggers are being their usual dour selves...but lets take a short look at a few reasons (games) to not be grumpy! These are the upcoming titles - excluding expansions - that I am most looking forward to, which will, *fingers crossed* be coming out within a year.

New IPs:

Gatheryn - Lets just be honest, it looks like crap. However, this is the only non-Asian, steam punk mmo coming out and that alone should be justification to anticipate it. The steam punk genre is morbidly under represented in video games these days. What interests me most about this game is its focus on community and games, rather than combat. My hope for this game is that it gives us something of a Free Realms-esq experience: collecting, exploration, medium to large community (hey, it will be free to play, so I can dream, can't I?), while milking steam punk imagery for all its worth. Oh, and did I mention it will be free? AND have player housing? It is currently in open beta and I've been teetering on the edge of checking it out, bugs and all. But, I think I'll wait until the kinks have been worked out, so as to get the best possible first impression. Regardless, it is one to watch!

Fallen Earth - Even though I'm a fan of post-apocalyptic storytelling and a ton of the things I have heard lately about this game sound incredible (the crafting, virus instead of nukes, the location), I probably won't ever have the chance to play it. Alas, my computer. That being said, I'm still excited for it. We have yet to see a good PA mmo and despite the inevitable Fallout comparisons that will come in a few weeks when it launches, this game will definitely fill a niche. Hopefully, it does well in its own right and paves the way for an actual Fallout mmo. These days you can never have enough online games that aren't fantasy rpgs.

Sequels or Old IPs:

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Seriously, how can you not be at least somewhat excited for this game? Maybe the hype switch in the back of my neck is just set opposite of everyone else's, but every piece of information on this game that comes to light manages to make me even more excited for it! Now there is even a rumor of player housing! After that four part video that came out this week everyone was complaining that, "oh combat looks so boring." Well, it doesn't look any more "boring" that combat in WoW and I happen to enjoy killing things in that game, I mean, that's what it's all about.... However, I do think combat in SWTOR will be more involved and probably more like AOC than WoW. And have you heard about the story? Or the full voice acting (which was admitedly a little wonky in the latest video)? The only concern I have for this game is how massively multiplayer it will actually end up being. To have as deep a story as Bioware claims to have, it would seem that they would need to lean heavily on instancing, but they are Bioware, so maybe they found a workaround.

Lego Universe - When I heard that they were making a Lego mmo my childhood came flooding back to me in a pile of multicolored, interconnecting blocks. I only want two things out of this game: 1.) For it to be free to play. 2.) To be able to build just about anything my mind can think up. It wouldn't truly be Lego, unless you could literally build whatever you wanted. Here is a recent article from Wired that I admit I have not had the chance to fully peruse. Also, the logo is totally awesome.

Dungeons and Dragons Online Unlimited - While this is not exactly a new game, the coming version of it will certainly be new enough to those that have never played it before. When I first started playing mmos I shopped around before settling on WoW and one of the games I read up on was DDO. I thought, "Dungeons and Dragons, the original role playing game, how can I go wrong?" I didn't end up buying then, but as soon as Turbine releases their free to play client they can count me in as a subscriber. Yes, I'm one of those folks who thought it looked interesting, would liked to have played the game, but could never justify shelling out $15 a month for something that didn't get totally solid reviews. (Not to mention, their free trial wanted your credit card. Nuh, uh.) But, when this game relaunches in early September, I will be there!

Guild Wars 2 - Even though I have played and enjoyed Nightfall, this game was no where on my radar, because up until last week no one knew anything about it. Of course that all changed, when ArenaNet put out a darn good trailer. Hopefully the trickle of info on this game will become steadier now that hype is starting to build. To be honest, I think NC Soft needs something to bring them out of the fall they are in (Aion won't be it) and this is the best chance they've got. Fortunately, it's an extremely good chance. Also, I should say that there is absolutely no reason to believe that this game will come out within a year from now (like I stipulated above), other than my own wishful thinking. :)

Jumpgate Evolution - The only thing I know about this game is that you fly a space ship and things go KABOOM...and it's not Eve. That works for me. The launch was recently delayed so that they could change the economy to be player driven, not unlike another space ship mmo. I hope that they aren't trying to directly challenge Eve, though, because from what little I know about both games, they seem to be operating on entirely different levels. One is about charts and mining and large groups of players fighting other large groups of players. While the other one is not about charts, or mining, just shooting things and watching the beautiful space scenery. Jumpgate may or may not involve large scale battles, I could not tell ya. For my money though, that is the one idea they should borrow from Eve.

Hello Kitty Online - Juuuuuuuuuuuuuust kidding!! But really, wouldn't we all rather play Hello Kitty Island Adventure?

Well folks, that is it on the games I'm most excited for (and reasons to not be a grumpy blogger bump on a log). Hopefully they all come out sooner rather than later and completed rather than crap.

-Max

I love this song and I love this video. They just look so happy!
Matt & Kim "Daylight"