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Shane Kim wants MMOs on Xbox 360 News
Xbox 360 News by Robert Purchese
Microsoft Game Studios boss Shane Kim is working hard to make Xbox 360 an alluring platform for MMO developers.
He canned Cryptic Studios' PC and Xbox 360 online game, Marvel Universe, earlier this year, but says first-party failure needn't hold the genre back from blooming on the console.
"I'll admit MGS has not had success in the MMO space, and that happened under my leadership, so I take full responsibility. It's a tough and challenging space that's evolving all the time - a lot of shifting sands," Kim told Edge. "We haven't been able to crack the code.
"I think we've made the right decision not to proceed with those things like the Marvel MMO. And that's tough, both for customers looking forward to it and teams working on it. That said, we haven't been successful, but there's nothing to say those titles can't be successful on 360."
Shane Kim said he sympathises with third-party frustration caused by lack of a default hard drive and an enclosed online environment - but promises MGS is working hard to find a solution.
"I know that our third-party folks want to enable all kinds of content and we work very hard to create a stable and secure environment on Xbox 360 and that's where you see that [third-party] tension," said Kim.
"I'm sure we can solve that problem though in a way that is good for MMO developers and customers because we want that content: and we're getting very close. But we're late with that, and we feel bad about that."
Cryptic Studios is now hard at work on Champions Online, which also happens to be a superhero MMO for PC and Xbox 360 - as well as PS3. The difference is that Cryptic, and not Microsoft, owns the IP.
Head over to our E3 preview of Champions Online to find out more.
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Comments: 1-23 of 23 in total
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seasidebaz
29/07/08 @ 14:12
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Oh well, DC Universe Online will be better anyway. So will The Agency. And the NCSoft ones that are going to come out (eventually)...
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Metal Gear Solid hasn't had success in the MMO space? Did it not run at enough first-person shooters/frames per second/firey pig suits?
Still, if I'm paying the live sub, I want MMOs as a part of that. But I'm not. So I don't. But I think generally speaking people that want to play MMOs will already be doing so on PC or FFXI, so any 360 MMO will have to be free, really good, or just give in and make WoW. Go on, you know you want to. |
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Yeah, right let's release lots of MMO games for a console that (a) has a base model that lacks a hard drive; and (b) has a popular model with a measly 20 GB HDD of which only 13 GB is actually free for use! LOL
Sure Microsoft are releasing a 60 GB HDD model to replace the 20 GB HDD but that's coming almost three years into the life of the 360 and the 120 GB HDD is horrendously overpriced so it's hardly a must-have upgrade for most people. |
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Another area Microsoft needs to address if they intend pushing MMOs on the 360 is allowing Silver users to play them without paying for the Gold subscription. If you're paying £9 per month to play an MMO online, surely it should be accessible to Silver users as well instead of asking them to pay another £30-£40 per year for LIVE on top? After all doesn't that £9 MMO subscription fee include support and maintenance of the game servers, which may not be run by Microsoft?
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@DFawkes & bad09
Yeah, it seems a bit rich to me that they'd expect to be able to layer another subscription on top of the existing payment cake. First, you pay your ISP, then you pay for Live, then you pay for the game. Hmmm. No thanks. (Although that mini-rant goes out the window if Silver subs allow you to play MMOs online). Add pay DLC to that and you've just shot yourself in the foot. Also the Xboxs apparent allergy to keyboard and mouse would make most "traditional" MMOs unfeasible. I couldn't imagine trying to heal in a WoW raid using an Xbox controller, for example. |
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makeamazing
29/07/08 @ 17:59
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If they were going to be fair, really the mmo should cost say £30, and then its free with your Xbox live accounts. They shouldnt charge you twice.
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ChrisBravoTown
29/07/08 @ 21:28
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I played FFXI when I was on a Silver account so you can forget the "charging twice" argument. You do not have to be a Gold subscriber to play MMORPG's on Xbox 360.
Edited 3 times,
most recently on 29/07/08 @ 22:29
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kangarootoo
30/07/08 @ 06:46
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All this talk of charging you twice really just boils down to the numbers.
XBLive Gold membership costs what, £3 a month or something? And what does WoW cost per month, £9? So even if you paid an extra £5 to play an mmo over XBLive, it would still be cheaper than WoW. It doesn't really matter how many individual payments you make for something, all that matters is what it actually costs. |
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kangarootoo
30/07/08 @ 08:35
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Not really. If you are a gold subscriber you aren't paying just to play an mmo, you are playing for everything that a gold subscription gives you. You aren't paying twice for the same thing, you are paying for two different things.
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@kangarootoo
"XBLive Gold membership costs what, £3 a month or something? And what does WoW cost per month, £9? So even if you paid an extra £5 to play an mmo over XBLive, it would still be cheaper than WoW." Well, of course, I think that's obvious to everyone here, but why would an MMO company reduce their prices to sell their games to the Xbox crowd? I mean, why would they charge less just because gold subscribers already pay a separate fee? They have their own expenses and frankly the fact that a player may or may not have additional expenses is irrelevant to them. You don't get a discount from WoW because your ISP, phone-line or electricity has become more expensive. It's not their problem. Also as these are just random figures it's also pretty meaningless; you may as well say that if they paid you a tenner a month to play you'd actually be making £7 a month for playing. (Edit: I mean, the fiver a month is random) But so long as you don't need a gold subscription to play any potential future MMO then it's all good.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 30/07/08 @ 10:32
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Also, why are some of you moaning about paying for gold & an mmo game subscription. They are two totally seperate things. Gold allows online play via xbox live & all the perks therein for 12 months.
Your mmo game subscription pays for the maintenance & upkeep of the games servers. You wouldn't have to be a gold member to play an MMO on the 360. You don't have to with FF, or PSO, & you didn't back on the xbox with PS either. Unless all console MMOs went the Guild Wars path (which are free to play), but some argue guild wars isn't a "true" mmo. Personally i think its they way it should go :) |
Comments: 1-23 of 23 in total
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