"Misconception" that MMOs must look naff

By Robert Purchese Published 19 June, 2008

APB looks as good as any, says boss.

Realtime Worlds boss Colin MacDonald has said there is a "misconception" that MMOs are not as good-looking as single-player games.

"There's a misconception among MMOs that they don't need to look as good as other games," said MacDonald.

"We think that when people look at a screenshot of APB they won't think, 'It's not so good, it must be an online game' - they won't know."

MacDonald was speaking at the GameHorizon conference yesterday, watched by GamesIndustry.biz, and demonstrating character customisation in the game.

All Points Bulletin is a modern, urban MMO for the PC and Xbox 360 (and maybe PS3), where you choose between being a law-breaker or a law-enforcer.

Developer Realtime Worlds, the brain behind Crackdown, used its recently-earned USD 50 million in funding to buy back the rights to the game from Webzen and go it alone.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • muscleblade #1 4 years ago

    APB has potential to be the best MMO ever made.

  • Eraysor #2 4 years ago

    I think WoW has pretty good graphics despite its age. Its strength lies in its art style.

  • muftak #3 4 years ago

    its just a real day city of heros and villains clone will be very very bad

  • monkie_king #4 4 years ago

    It's more like "GTA: Online" from what they've shown. Not unlike GTA4's multiplayer, but really well executed.

  • Kanselier #5 4 years ago

    @muftak

    I had to read your reply four times before I had a clue of what you are talking about.

  • Agent_Orange #6 4 years ago

    Hah! So they are working on graphics, huh? Does this mean the will neglect the gameplay? A friend of mine loves to see games with great graphics. Shame he plays them for about an hour before putting it away for good.

  • iWolf #7 4 years ago

    Would be nice if they could back up these comments with some screenshots/ trailers...

  • the_dudefather #8 4 years ago

    there are a few videos from GDC, nothing that isn't shakey cam yet though

  • IAmBatman #9 4 years ago

    > So they are working on graphics, huh? Does this mean the will neglect the gameplay?

    I heard that some developers employ artists and designers. Imagine that!

  • glaeken #10 4 years ago

    Such a shame I have no interest in MMO's.

    Hurry up and finish this thing so you can start work on Crackdown 2

  • DFawkes #11 4 years ago

    With MMOs, the lower the minimum specs the more people can play, and when people are literally paying you to play the game you don't want to force them to get a behemoth rig to play. I think the misconception is they don't have to look good, when they can. I agree with Eraysor that the art style of WoW has kept it from ageing too badly, and it's fantastically scaleable - from my sisters onboard graphics to my fairly basic whelp of a machine, up to NASA Supercomputers, it'll be playable.

    Having the option to crank it up is the problem I've had with MMOs, as if being able to lower the options means everyone will.

  • Jigglybean #12 4 years ago

    *yawns*

  • Orange #13 4 years ago

    I am looking forward to this game a lot. It is new territory for them but their track record is so strong, can't see it being anything less than fun to play.

  • itamae #14 4 years ago

    What a strange comment from that MacDonald man. Hasn't he seen Guild Wars or any other recent Korean MMORPGs that look ace even on modest machines?

  • Bennicus #15 4 years ago

    > A friend of mine loves to see games with great graphics. Shame he plays them for about an hour before putting it away for good.

    As long as the devs get their money I don't think they'll mind how long he plays it for :)
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/08 @ 21:01

  • The-Bodybuilder #16 4 years ago

    The only MMO that's tempting me.

  • YourMessageHere #17 4 years ago

    Surely the nicer something looks the more network overhead it uses? Make it pretty all you like, but unless you either have a very static pretty world or lots of what you see is clientside, you'll have an awful lot of netcode flying around. Also, just as there's nothing wrong with making something look really good on maxed out graphics options, it's also a good idea to make sure it doesn't look dreadful on lower end machines. I'd far rather have something be fun and well balanced while simply being acceptable graphically than look amazing and play merely OK or badly.

  • anomagnus #18 4 years ago

    yea, but mr fancy pants, APB might look sweet now, but in three years it won't

    the reason most mmo's don't look like gears on crack is that the developers know it wont matter in a few years how much effort they put in

  • kingdumpalot #19 4 years ago

    Actually, Bennicus, a lot of developers really do care about how people enjoy their game, and how long they play it for. Not everyone's solely motivated by money.