Saturday, June 24, 2006
SubSpace: Massively multiplayer in the underground
SubSpace is apparently an underground game now. Not that it was added to the Home of the Underdogs, but it has lost virtually every public existence on the web.During the past years, there were two big SubSpace sites which held the name of the game up: SubSpace.net and SubSpaceHQ.com.
SubSpace.net was lost (expired?) some time ago but there was still SubSpaceHQ.
Not anymore.
SubSpaceHQ was captured by a Domain snapper or something as well, it is now a parking page. Now the community stands without a big game portal at all.
SubSpaceDownloads.com might be the solution.
If only TheBajan would turn it into a real portal with news and stuff. What the community really needs is a good website which existing players can show to the new kids on the block.
As it stands now, the game is virtually dead and will only be used as a chatroom with extra content in a couple of years. A shame for the best massively multiplayer game using 2d graphics.
Natural selection I guess.
*Update* subspace.net has been regained and now points to getcontinuum.com. Evolution, I guess.
30 titles for the summer of 2006
Thirty titles that could keep the cash tills ringing through the long hot months - Well, not really. Who's playing in summer, especially such a hot one as this?
Most of these titles are to be released in autumn. Makes sense from a sales point of view.
Anyway, some promising titles in the next months once again. My peek list:
Neverwinter Nights 2, THE role playing game for PC finally receives its long awaited follow-up. It's hard to imagine that this game won't be superior to anything there was on the market in the past 2-3 years. And maybe, WoW addicts will come out of their caves to play a real RPG. Ok, that's unlikely.
ET: Quake Wars, on the other hand, will prevail or fall with its multiplayer mode. It will be sold, but only if multiplayer mode shines through the great graphics, it can become a hit. At least on the PC, graphics ain't everything.
GTR2. Another "racing simulator" that tries to do the splits between appealing to the masses and being a competitive online racing simulation. Hardcore mode where hardcore is due. Besides, the graphics of this Simbin title look as great as assumed. Plus, we now have actual weather effects which even seem to have an effect on the physics engine. If the new GTR comes up with better physics and a solid multiplayer mode ("No-CD patch for dedicated servers, anybody?"), I'll buy it. Simbin or not.
And I'll have a look at Madden NFL of course, as every season.
Most of these titles are to be released in autumn. Makes sense from a sales point of view.
Anyway, some promising titles in the next months once again. My peek list:
Neverwinter Nights 2, THE role playing game for PC finally receives its long awaited follow-up. It's hard to imagine that this game won't be superior to anything there was on the market in the past 2-3 years. And maybe, WoW addicts will come out of their caves to play a real RPG. Ok, that's unlikely.
ET: Quake Wars, on the other hand, will prevail or fall with its multiplayer mode. It will be sold, but only if multiplayer mode shines through the great graphics, it can become a hit. At least on the PC, graphics ain't everything.
GTR2. Another "racing simulator" that tries to do the splits between appealing to the masses and being a competitive online racing simulation. Hardcore mode where hardcore is due. Besides, the graphics of this Simbin title look as great as assumed. Plus, we now have actual weather effects which even seem to have an effect on the physics engine. If the new GTR comes up with better physics and a solid multiplayer mode ("No-CD patch for dedicated servers, anybody?"), I'll buy it. Simbin or not.
And I'll have a look at Madden NFL of course, as every season.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
50 percent market share for World of Warcraft
MMOGCHART.com says WoW is now sitting at 50 percent market share and rising. The market? Massively multiplayer games.
Already in 2004 it was pretty clear that WoW would become the most successful MMORPG ever. "Genre gurus" didn't see the game matching its hype and predicted the WoW hype to fade out soon enough. Now, 2 years later, the number of subscriptions is still rising.
Where are these self-proclaimed gurus now? Most likely in Azeroth.
Along these lines, LineAge and LineageII is falling hard. The old design seems to be worn out by now. One of the few "non-fantasy world" MMOs, Eve Online, is doing really well thanks to massive advertising campaigns on Fileplanet and other gaming related websites.
Dungeons & Dragons Online, one of the latest MMORPGs based on the famous Dungeons and Dragons concept, seems to attract gamers really fast and will have 100,000+ subscriptions and more once the next update arrives.
Already in 2004 it was pretty clear that WoW would become the most successful MMORPG ever. "Genre gurus" didn't see the game matching its hype and predicted the WoW hype to fade out soon enough. Now, 2 years later, the number of subscriptions is still rising.
Where are these self-proclaimed gurus now? Most likely in Azeroth.
Along these lines, LineAge and LineageII is falling hard. The old design seems to be worn out by now. One of the few "non-fantasy world" MMOs, Eve Online, is doing really well thanks to massive advertising campaigns on Fileplanet and other gaming related websites.
Dungeons & Dragons Online, one of the latest MMORPGs based on the famous Dungeons and Dragons concept, seems to attract gamers really fast and will have 100,000+ subscriptions and more once the next update arrives.
