SOE new MMORPG, smedley involved

[Modelworks]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-b..._index.php?story=14275

After the vanguard fiasco, you would think sony would take a break from the whole mmorpg genre.

"FreeRealms is going to be different. It?s got to be done virally and much more online-only."


Using the term "virally" to describe software may not be the best idea.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

This looks interesting. It really does.

 

[Schadenfroh]

After the vanguard fiasco, you would think sony would take a break from the whole mmorpg genre.

Or focus on improving what they have rather than back burning it and starting on something new.... unless they think that it cant be salvaged.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: tenshodo13
This looks interesting. It really does.

It'll never work because it sounds stupid as hell. You can't fracture the audience to this point and expect to have any kind of community or feeling to the game.

 

[Looney]

What do you mean 'Vanguard fiasco'? Vanguard was ENTIRELY Sigil doing. Heck, SOE wasn't even involved (and only as co-publisher) until about 6 months before release.

Using the term "virally" to describe software may not be the best idea.

He was talking about marketing... and to gamasutra. Generally the readers of gamasutra are quite aware of these buzzwords and vernacular.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: Looney
What do you mean 'Vanguard fiasco'? Vanguard was ENTIRELY Sigil doing. Heck, SOE wasn't even involved (and only as co-publisher) until about 6 months before release.

You say soe wasn't involved then you say until 6 months before release.

He was talking about marketing... and to gamasutra. Generally the readers of gamasutra are quite aware of these buzzwords and vernacular.

The word "virally" is not an industry buzzword, not one you want to have associated with your product anyway.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: Looney
What do you mean 'Vanguard fiasco'? Vanguard was ENTIRELY Sigil doing. Heck, SOE wasn't even involved (and only as co-publisher) until about 6 months before release.

You say soe wasn't involved then you say until 6 months before release.

He was talking about marketing... and to gamasutra. Generally the readers of gamasutra are quite aware of these buzzwords and vernacular.

The word "virally" is not an industry buzzword, not one you want to have associated with your product anyway.

Actually they sold their souls to the devil in May '05, almost two years before release. I remember making a sad post on the forums about it. I suspect Sony had a lot more to do with things than they let on. And it was a foregone conclusion that they'd end up taking over.

 

[Vonkhan]

After SWG, I'm not touching anything that's linked to SOE

 

[jdport]

Why can't anybody ever just talk about the OP without SOE bashing? We get it already, you hate SOE. We know SWG sucked... but news flash, it sucked right from the get go... the game didn't work, move on.

For the OP... this is interesting and all, but... this is different from "second life" how?
Oh, the part about killing trolls... I don't think anybody kills trolls in Second Life... or maybe they do. I never actually go in second life, but what I know about it sounds pretty much like what Smedley is talking about...

 

[Mem]

We know SWG sucked... but news flash, it sucked right from the get go... the game didn't work, move on.

Actually SWG Pre CU was an awesome game,anybody that has played it through Pre CU to NGE knows what I'm talking about,probably the best MMORPG ever in my experience until NGE came along and ruined it,as to their new MMORPG I don't think its going to be that great,personally I'm waiting for Warhammer Online.

 

[hooflung]

Originally posted by: jdport
Why can't anybody ever just talk about the OP without SOE bashing? We get it already, you hate SOE. We know SWG sucked... but news flash, it sucked right from the get go... the game didn't work, move on.

For the OP... this is interesting and all, but... this is different from "second life" how?
Oh, the part about killing trolls... I don't think anybody kills trolls in Second Life... or maybe they do. I never actually go in second life, but what I know about it sounds pretty much like what Smedley is talking about...

I am sorry but you are wrong. SWG was a the defining experience for a robust world where PVE and PVP could coexist and wrap itself around a franchise.

SoE couldn't get it right because when they did do something right it was only half done and buggy. Then they would fire the people who did it because of something or other, and they would hire people who couldn't fix what was right. Then they would repeat the process again.

Whether this was SoE or Lucas Arts ( because of trying to get EP 3 content in on time to sell more copies and expansions ) is up in the air. Had they fixed the game and fulfilled their promises the game would have been an epic success.

It had the graphics, the gameplay, the PVP potential, a reconstruction of Xwing vs Tie Fighter that was pretty fun and plenty of mundane stuff that was neat.

So don't try to say SWG sucked. Smedley didn't listen to the people, or atleast didn't fight for the player base if it wasn't his fault. And in the end he was 'The Man' and all the employee turnarounds the company did that led up to the crap game SWG is now... he is worthy of the blame.

 

[Vonkhan]

SWG preCU was decent, esp. for PvP

They mucked it up with CU and then the f'n NGE

 

[coloumb]

Originally posted by: hooflung
Smedley didn't listen to the people, or atleast didn't fight for the player base if it wasn't his fault. And in the end he was 'The Man' and all the employee turnarounds the company did that led up to the crap game SWG is now... he is worthy of the blame.

Anything Smedley touches turns into a pile of rancor dung. Why companies/people continue to support him and his ideas is a mystery...

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: coloumb

Originally posted by: hooflung
Smedley didn't listen to the people, or atleast didn't fight for the player base if it wasn't his fault. And in the end he was 'The Man' and all the employee turnarounds the company did that led up to the crap game SWG is now... he is worthy of the blame.

Anything Smedley touches turns into a pile of rancor dung. Why companies/people continue to support him and his ideas is a mystery...

You're being kind, the man is a walking pile of sh!t.

 

[jdport]

I didn't play SWG so I only go by 3rd party info but I never heard anybody other than you that thought SWG was so hot. There were aspects of it that were good.... but the class balance was all fubar'd, and there were jedi's running everywhere...

I don't know. The point is, yea SOE screwed it up... but that has been covered to death in every single post where SOE was mentioned ever since then... so maybe it's time to just talk about the actual subject of the thread

The game talked about in the original post didn't sound that great to me... not like something I'd actually play.. it sounded like an SOE version of Second Life... they probably looked at the revenue that "world" generates and decided they wanted to tap into that. It did make me curious though to hear more about it.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-b..._index.php?story=14275

After the vanguard fiasco, you would think sony would take a break from the whole mmorpg genre.

"FreeRealms is going to be different. It?s got to be done virally and much more online-only."


Using the term "virally" to describe software may not be the best idea.

Ummmm considering that VG was a Sigil turd and not a SOE one I don't see the connection. Vanguard was squirted out of Brad McQuaid a-hole not SOE's.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: Looney
What do you mean 'Vanguard fiasco'? Vanguard was ENTIRELY Sigil doing. Heck, SOE wasn't even involved (and only as co-publisher) until about 6 months before release.

You say soe wasn't involved then you say until 6 months before release.

When he says that he means in a minimal role as in late in the game development cycle as a publisher. There is a difference between a publisher who is brought in by the lead game designer to publish the game extremely late into a project's development cycle and a publisher who is there from the beginning and funding the project from the get go. You want to know why Sigil went to SOE as a publisher ?? It was because they were dumped by Microsoft because Brad and the gang could never meet their deadlines and Microsoft wanted the game shipped as of last year. According to several ex-employees of Sigil it seems Brad would use tech demos and pass them off as signs of progress when in reality they were very much behind and over budget. In the end by the time SOE came into the picture as publisher it seems Brad was no where to be seen around the Sigil offices and Sigil as a whole had already farted away 30 FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS!!

Say it with me now....30 FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS !!!

Yes that was before SOE even came into the picture!

When you piss away that much money and spend around 5 years developing a title you better have something to show for it big time. Truthfully SOE should of just let Brad and Sigil sink like the HMS Titanic. I guess Brad was very lucky that he was/is still very good friends with Smedley because anyone else would of never of gone near Sigil, Brad McQuaid and the money hole they were making called Vangaurd.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: Drift3r

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: Looney
What do you mean 'Vanguard fiasco'? Vanguard was ENTIRELY Sigil doing. Heck, SOE wasn't even involved (and only as co-publisher) until about 6 months before release.

You say soe wasn't involved then you say until 6 months before release.

When he says that he means in a minimal role as in late in the game development cycle as a publisher. There is a difference between a publisher who is brought in by the lead game designer to publish the game extremely late into a project's development cycle and a publisher who is there from the beginning and funding the project from the get go. You want to know why Sigil went to SOE as a publisher ?? It was because they were dumped by Microsoft because Brad and the gang could never meet their deadlines and Microsoft wanted the game shipped as of last year. According to several ex-employees of Sigil it seems Brad would use tech demos and pass them off as signs of progress when in reality they were very much behind and over budget. In the end by the time SOE came into the picture as publisher it seems Brad was no where to be seen around the Sigil offices and Sigil as a whole had already farted away 30 FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS!!

Say it with me now....30 FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS !!!

Yes that was before SOE even came into the picture!

When you piss away that much money and spend around 5 years developing a title you better have something to show for it big time. Truthfully SOE should of just let Brad and Sigil sink like the HMS Titanic. I guess Brad was very lucky that he was/is still very good friends with Smedley because anyone else would of never of gone near Sigil, Brad McQuaid and the money hole they were making called Vangaurd.

Think you got it pretty much backwards. Brad is quality goods, he developed the premiere MMORPG before WoW. Look at the way it sank when he left to form Sigil and SOE took over development. I was there and saw them murder EQ firsthand. Plummeting subscription numbers after the pile of refuse Planes of Power, the first fully-SOE expansion, back me up on that.

The problem is VG wasn't going to appeal to WoW kiddies. No offense to anyone, I play WoW and I'm old enough to see my hair migrating from my head to my back, but I have to admit I'm the exception - most players seem about 12 and at least mildly retarded.

Microsoft saw this and said no way. They wanted a sure thing, and WoW is the best example of that the computer gaming world has seen. SOE saw this and said sure, even a niche market MMORPG would do better than anything those clowns could come up with. They'd be happy to get EVE ffs.

But everything SOE touches turns to sh!t. They can't see the forest due to the trees blocking their view. They routinely shoot themselves in the foot, driven by boundless greed and unending incompetence, the way a dog strangles itself on its leash. Brad's story about SOE not being involved was just that - a story. I'm sure they were heavily involved with VG, pushing its non-ready release and strongarming changes they felt would make it more popular, all the while cutting corners to save a few cents at the expense of a fun game in the way only SOE can manage. What we have before us is their fault, not Brad's.

But that, in turn, is most likely to their parent company being Sony. The devil's children are molded in his image, as some saying goes.

 

[waggy]

after the crap that was SWG and EQ2 i will pass.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: CKent

Originally posted by: Drift3r

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: Looney
What do you mean 'Vanguard fiasco'? Vanguard was ENTIRELY Sigil doing. Heck, SOE wasn't even involved (and only as co-publisher) until about 6 months before release.

You say soe wasn't involved then you say until 6 months before release.

When he says that he means in a minimal role as in late in the game development cycle as a publisher. There is a difference between a publisher who is brought in by the lead game designer to publish the game extremely late into a project's development cycle and a publisher who is there from the beginning and funding the project from the get go. You want to know why Sigil went to SOE as a publisher ?? It was because they were dumped by Microsoft because Brad and the gang could never meet their deadlines and Microsoft wanted the game shipped as of last year. According to several ex-employees of Sigil it seems Brad would use tech demos and pass them off as signs of progress when in reality they were very much behind and over budget. In the end by the time SOE came into the picture as publisher it seems Brad was no where to be seen around the Sigil offices and Sigil as a whole had already farted away 30 FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS!!

Say it with me now....30 FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS !!!

Yes that was before SOE even came into the picture!

When you piss away that much money and spend around 5 years developing a title you better have something to show for it big time. Truthfully SOE should of just let Brad and Sigil sink like the HMS Titanic. I guess Brad was very lucky that he was/is still very good friends with Smedley because anyone else would of never of gone near Sigil, Brad McQuaid and the money hole they were making called Vangaurd.

Think you got it pretty much backwards. Brad is quality goods, he developed the premiere MMORPG before WoW. Look at the way it sank when he left to form Sigil and SOE took over development. I was there and saw them murder EQ firsthand. Plummeting subscription numbers after the pile of refuse Planes of Power, the first fully-SOE expansion, back me up on that.

The problem is VG wasn't going to appeal to WoW kiddies. No offense to anyone, I play WoW and I'm old enough to see my hair migrating from my head to my back, but I have to admit I'm the exception - most players seem about 12 and at least mildly retarded.

Microsoft saw this and said no way. They wanted a sure thing, and WoW is the best example of that the computer gaming world has seen. SOE saw this and said sure, even a niche market MMORPG would do better than anything those clowns could come up with. They'd be happy to get EVE ffs.

But everything SOE touches turns to sh!t. They can't see the forest due to the trees blocking their view. They routinely shoot themselves in the foot, driven by boundless greed and unending incompetence, the way a dog strangles itself on its leash. Brad's story about SOE not being involved was just that - a story. I'm sure they were heavily involved with VG, pushing its non-ready release and strongarming changes they felt would make it more popular, all the while cutting corners to save a few cents at the expense of a fun game in the way only SOE can manage. What we have before us is their fault, not Brad's.

But that, in turn, is most likely to their parent company being Sony. The devil's children are molded in his image, as some saying goes.

I got it backwards ? Brad freaking bailed on his development team after the second phase of beta testing and was MIA for the entire process and launch ( save for press events where he was just going through the motions ) as stated by Jeff Butler in a Silky Venom interview and later reported on the FoH forums. Other ex-Sigil developers also stated the real reason they were dumped by Microsoft as I explained in my first post. Sigil and Brad were over budget and did not meet their deadlines. It had nothing to do with Microsoft trying force them to make the next WoW as much as Microsoft wanted results but Brad and company were not producing anything of value besides tech demos.

This is a well known fact as many of these posts explaining what happened were made by ex-Sigil staff members in the "ub3r l337" Fires of Heaven guild forums including Brad's famous "It was not my fault but in fact all your fault people!!" post in which he blamed gamers for not wanting to fork over the extra cash to upgrade their rigs just to play his unfinished game. Hell he wasn't even around to talk to the 50 people who got the famous "Parking lot speech and pink slip." at the end.

You'd think that as the person who created the "Vision" he would of had the wherewithal to explain to his 50 ex-Sigil employees as to why they were getting fired, why the "Vision" tanked, and why Brad himself walked away with a sweet monetary deal and a phony position with SOE as a "Vangaurd Game Advisor" that morning in the Sigil parking lot.


P.S. SISA ( Sony Interactive Studios America ) was the pre-runner of SoE. SISA formed into 989 Studios but as 989 Studies shifted into the playstation development front they spun off a new separate company called Verant Interactive ( orginally called RedEye Interactive ) to focus soley on PC and online games. Verant Interactive which brough EQ1 to the market was later brought back into the fold along with 989 studies under a newly reformed corporate entity which encompassed both companies which we now know as SoE today. So to make a long story short -> Verant was alway a part of SoE and Sony.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verant_Interactive

 

[natep]

I'm convinced not to touch any game that has the names of former EQ devs, or SOE devs. I once was swayed to these games because I wanted a similar experience to EQ, but it isn't coming from these turds.

The only MMO dev who can use his name as credibility, to me, is Richard Garriot. I'm really looking forward to Tabula Rasa.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: Drift3r

Originally posted by: CKent

Originally posted by: Drift3r

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: Looney
What do you mean 'Vanguard fiasco'? Vanguard was ENTIRELY Sigil doing. Heck, SOE wasn't even involved (and only as co-publisher) until about 6 months before release.

You say soe wasn't involved then you say until 6 months before release.

When he says that he means in a minimal role as in late in the game development cycle as a publisher. There is a difference between a publisher who is brought in by the lead game designer to publish the game extremely late into a project's development cycle and a publisher who is there from the beginning and funding the project from the get go. You want to know why Sigil went to SOE as a publisher ?? It was because they were dumped by Microsoft because Brad and the gang could never meet their deadlines and Microsoft wanted the game shipped as of last year. According to several ex-employees of Sigil it seems Brad would use tech demos and pass them off as signs of progress when in reality they were very much behind and over budget. In the end by the time SOE came into the picture as publisher it seems Brad was no where to be seen around the Sigil offices and Sigil as a whole had already farted away 30 FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS!!

Say it with me now....30 FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS !!!

Yes that was before SOE even came into the picture!

When you piss away that much money and spend around 5 years developing a title you better have something to show for it big time. Truthfully SOE should of just let Brad and Sigil sink like the HMS Titanic. I guess Brad was very lucky that he was/is still very good friends with Smedley because anyone else would of never of gone near Sigil, Brad McQuaid and the money hole they were making called Vangaurd.

Think you got it pretty much backwards. Brad is quality goods, he developed the premiere MMORPG before WoW. Look at the way it sank when he left to form Sigil and SOE took over development. I was there and saw them murder EQ firsthand. Plummeting subscription numbers after the pile of refuse Planes of Power, the first fully-SOE expansion, back me up on that.

The problem is VG wasn't going to appeal to WoW kiddies. No offense to anyone, I play WoW and I'm old enough to see my hair migrating from my head to my back, but I have to admit I'm the exception - most players seem about 12 and at least mildly retarded.

Microsoft saw this and said no way. They wanted a sure thing, and WoW is the best example of that the computer gaming world has seen. SOE saw this and said sure, even a niche market MMORPG would do better than anything those clowns could come up with. They'd be happy to get EVE ffs.

But everything SOE touches turns to sh!t. They can't see the forest due to the trees blocking their view. They routinely shoot themselves in the foot, driven by boundless greed and unending incompetence, the way a dog strangles itself on its leash. Brad's story about SOE not being involved was just that - a story. I'm sure they were heavily involved with VG, pushing its non-ready release and strongarming changes they felt would make it more popular, all the while cutting corners to save a few cents at the expense of a fun game in the way only SOE can manage. What we have before us is their fault, not Brad's.

But that, in turn, is most likely to their parent company being Sony. The devil's children are molded in his image, as some saying goes.

I got it backwards ? Brad freaking bailed on his development team after the second phase of beta testing and was MIA for the entire process and launch ( save for press events where he was just going through the motions ) as stated by Jeff Butler in a Silky Venom interview and later reported on the FoH forums. Other ex-Sigil developers also stated the real reason they were dumped by Microsoft as I explained in my first post. Sigil and Brad were over budget and did not meet their deadlines. It had nothing to do with Microsoft trying force them to make the next WoW as much as Microsoft wanted results but Brad and company were not producing anything of value besides tech demos.

This is a well known fact as many of these posts explaining what happened were made by ex-Sigil staff members in the "ub3r l337" Fires of Heaven guild forums including Brad's famous "It was not my fault but in fact all your fault people!!" post in which he blamed gamers for not wanting to fork over the extra cash to upgrade their rigs just to play his unfinished game. Hell he wasn't even around to talk to the 50 people who got the famous "Parking lot speech and pink slip." at the end.

You'd think that as the person who created the "Vision" he would of had the wherewithal to explain to his 50 ex-Sigil employees as to why they were getting fired, why the "Vision" tanked, and why Brad himself walked away with a sweet monetary deal and a phony position with SOE as a "Vangaurd Game Advisor" that morning in the Sigil parking lot.


P.S. SISA ( Sony Interactive Studios America ) was the pre-runner of SoE. SISA formed into 989 Studios but as 989 Studies shifted into the playstation development front they spun off a new separate company called Verant Interactive ( orginally called RedEye Interactive ) to focus soley on PC and online games. Verant Interactive which brough EQ1 to the market was later brought back into the fold along with 989 studies under a newly reformed corporate entity which encompassed both companies which we now know as SoE today. So to make a long story short -> Verant was alway a part of SoE and Sony.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verant_Interactive

Lol, right. Brad's an evil person who was in it for the money all along, poor innnocent Sony, of rootkit fame and who ruined games Brad had nothing to do with, is merely his victim.

Hahahahahaha

The game tanked because of Sony, plain and simple.

PS - I know they owned Verant, but it wasn't very high on the company radar back then. Something with a few hundred k subscribers in a genre which wasn't yet a household term had no reason to be. It wasn't until Sony opened up their eyes to what they had that they really started to ruin it by milking cash.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: CKent

Originally posted by: Drift3r

Originally posted by: CKent

Originally posted by: Drift3r

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: Looney
What do you mean 'Vanguard fiasco'? Vanguard was ENTIRELY Sigil doing. Heck, SOE wasn't even involved (and only as co-publisher) until about 6 months before release.

You say soe wasn't involved then you say until 6 months before release.

When he says that he means in a minimal role as in late in the game development cycle as a publisher. There is a difference between a publisher who is brought in by the lead game designer to publish the game extremely late into a project's development cycle and a publisher who is there from the beginning and funding the project from the get go. You want to know why Sigil went to SOE as a publisher ?? It was because they were dumped by Microsoft because Brad and the gang could never meet their deadlines and Microsoft wanted the game shipped as of last year. According to several ex-employees of Sigil it seems Brad would use tech demos and pass them off as signs of progress when in reality they were very much behind and over budget. In the end by the time SOE came into the picture as publisher it seems Brad was no where to be seen around the Sigil offices and Sigil as a whole had already farted away 30 FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS!!

Say it with me now....30 FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS !!!

Yes that was before SOE even came into the picture!

When you piss away that much money and spend around 5 years developing a title you better have something to show for it big time. Truthfully SOE should of just let Brad and Sigil sink like the HMS Titanic. I guess Brad was very lucky that he was/is still very good friends with Smedley because anyone else would of never of gone near Sigil, Brad McQuaid and the money hole they were making called Vangaurd.

Think you got it pretty much backwards. Brad is quality goods, he developed the premiere MMORPG before WoW. Look at the way it sank when he left to form Sigil and SOE took over development. I was there and saw them murder EQ firsthand. Plummeting subscription numbers after the pile of refuse Planes of Power, the first fully-SOE expansion, back me up on that.

The problem is VG wasn't going to appeal to WoW kiddies. No offense to anyone, I play WoW and I'm old enough to see my hair migrating from my head to my back, but I have to admit I'm the exception - most players seem about 12 and at least mildly retarded.

Microsoft saw this and said no way. They wanted a sure thing, and WoW is the best example of that the computer gaming world has seen. SOE saw this and said sure, even a niche market MMORPG would do better than anything those clowns could come up with. They'd be happy to get EVE ffs.

But everything SOE touches turns to sh!t. They can't see the forest due to the trees blocking their view. They routinely shoot themselves in the foot, driven by boundless greed and unending incompetence, the way a dog strangles itself on its leash. Brad's story about SOE not being involved was just that - a story. I'm sure they were heavily involved with VG, pushing its non-ready release and strongarming changes they felt would make it more popular, all the while cutting corners to save a few cents at the expense of a fun game in the way only SOE can manage. What we have before us is their fault, not Brad's.

But that, in turn, is most likely to their parent company being Sony. The devil's children are molded in his image, as some saying goes.

I got it backwards ? Brad freaking bailed on his development team after the second phase of beta testing and was MIA for the entire process and launch ( save for press events where he was just going through the motions ) as stated by Jeff Butler in a Silky Venom interview and later reported on the FoH forums. Other ex-Sigil developers also stated the real reason they were dumped by Microsoft as I explained in my first post. Sigil and Brad were over budget and did not meet their deadlines. It had nothing to do with Microsoft trying force them to make the next WoW as much as Microsoft wanted results but Brad and company were not producing anything of value besides tech demos.

This is a well known fact as many of these posts explaining what happened were made by ex-Sigil staff members in the "ub3r l337" Fires of Heaven guild forums including Brad's famous "It was not my fault but in fact all your fault people!!" post in which he blamed gamers for not wanting to fork over the extra cash to upgrade their rigs just to play his unfinished game. Hell he wasn't even around to talk to the 50 people who got the famous "Parking lot speech and pink slip." at the end.

You'd think that as the person who created the "Vision" he would of had the wherewithal to explain to his 50 ex-Sigil employees as to why they were getting fired, why the "Vision" tanked, and why Brad himself walked away with a sweet monetary deal and a phony position with SOE as a "Vangaurd Game Advisor" that morning in the Sigil parking lot.


P.S. SISA ( Sony Interactive Studios America ) was the pre-runner of SoE. SISA formed into 989 Studios but as 989 Studies shifted into the playstation development front they spun off a new separate company called Verant Interactive ( orginally called RedEye Interactive ) to focus soley on PC and online games. Verant Interactive which brough EQ1 to the market was later brought back into the fold along with 989 studies under a newly reformed corporate entity which encompassed both companies which we now know as SoE today. So to make a long story short -> Verant was alway a part of SoE and Sony.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verant_Interactive

Lol, right. Brad's an evil person who was in it for the money all along, poor innnocent Sony, of rootkit fame and who ruined games Brad had nothing to do with, is merely his victim.

Hahahahahaha

The game tanked because of Sony, plain and simple.

PS - I know they owned Verant, but it wasn't very high on the company radar back then. Something with a few hundred k subscribers in a genre which wasn't yet a household term had no reason to be. It wasn't until Sony opened up their eyes to what they had that they really started to ruin it by milking cash.

There is more then enough ample evidence from ex-Sigil devs who gave interviews and FoH forum postings from Brad and other devs that prove that Sigil and namely Brad badly mis-managed Vanguard into the ground. I'll stick to the facts on this one but if you want to stick to what seems to me like your emotional based hatred of all things SoE that's okay with me. To a non-bias person the facts clearly show that SoE was not in the wrong when it comes to Vanguard and that they had very little to do with Brad and Sigil screwing up of Vangaurd.

 

[coloumb]

Originally posted by: jdport
I didn't play SWG so I only go by 3rd party info but I never heard anybody other than you that thought SWG was so hot. There were aspects of it that were good.... but the class balance was all fubar'd, and there were jedi's running everywhere...

I don't know. The point is, yea SOE screwed it up... but that has been covered to death in every single post where SOE was mentioned ever since then... so maybe it's time to just talk about the actual subject of the thread

The game talked about in the original post didn't sound that great to me... not like something I'd actually play.. it sounded like an SOE version of Second Life... they probably looked at the revenue that "world" generates and decided they wanted to tap into that. It did make me curious though to hear more about it.

SWG pre-jedi [the day before SOE announced players would be able to play jedi] was sort of a toned down version of second life. Sure, combat class balancing was a constant nightmare - but there was so much else to do in the game - even more so when JTL [jump to lightspeed] was released.

But to get back on topic - it sounds like Sony/SOE has taken serious look at the success of 2nd life and wants to see if they can "cash in" on the same genre and maybe take it a few steps further... However, with his track record, I only forsee them screwing it up somehow...

 

[novasatori]

The new "free to play" with the small catalogue of stuff to purchase with $ is the worst thing to happen to MMOs as of late - its turning the $15/mo into 10-20x this number, with some people spending up to $150 in a SINGLE DAY for items in a game, most of them required to make the game enjoyable at high levels. Thus its not really free to play but 10-20x more expensive to play.

As much as I dislike WoW - I would play it any day over games that start adopting this new method.