Warhammer Online still on course

By Oli Welsh Published 21 February, 2008

Second-quarter release hasn't slipped.

Following reports that WOW-baiting MMO Warhammer Online had disappeared from EA's release schedule, Eurogamer has learned that the game is still on course to be released in the second quarter of this year.

Developer EA Mythic announced a delay from the first to the second quarter of this year back in November. According to GOA, which is taking publishing duties off EA's hands in Europe, this position hasn't changed.

"Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is still planned for a Q2 2008 release," European product manager Rahim Attaba told us. "The beta is doing well, and the feedback we have from the testers is really good," he added.

A spring release would put Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (or WAR for short) in a head-to-head fantasy MMO clash with Funcom's Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, due on May 20th.

Just between us, we wouldn't be surprised if WAR's release does eventually slip into the summer or even beyond. But for now, "Q2" remains the official line.

Excitable creative director Paul Barnett recently described Warhammer Online as Led Zeppelin to World of Warcraft's The Beatles.

"In our market, the MMO fantasy market, there is an enormously popular game. They're basically like the Beatles," he told GameSpot in a recent video interview. "They came along and revolutionised MMOs, and it'll never be the same again. We basically had to go, huh, you can't be the Beatles. So we're going to be Led Zeppelin. The cooler, rockier, heavier band. We're going to stick to something that we do really well. For us, that's realm versus realm play, or as I like to call it, beating the living snot out of other people."

We're finally going to get our hands on Warhammer Online in a few weeks time, so expect to read out impressions on Eurogamer's MMO channel, which launches soon.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • orakio #1 4 years ago

    amen!

  • agparrot #2 4 years ago

    Warhammer is beard-enhancingly hardcore, I suppose... I sort of get the Zep reference in that regard, but why not just go straight for the 40K MMO and bollocks to attempting to beat the beatles.
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/08 @ 13:32

  • Immitator #3 4 years ago

    Im sceptical. Too much hype, way too much for my liking. Concept seems solid but why the hell this insane amount of hype.
    Either the game is gonna blow your socks off OR like with 99% of hyped games its just gonna blow.

  • M83J01P97 #4 4 years ago

    The player response to the beta has so far been very positive indeed. WAR apparently takes everything that is good about MMO's and add's an extra level of greatness on top for good measure.

  • Gurgeh #5 4 years ago

    "The player response to the beta has so far been very positive indeed. WAR apparently takes everything that is good about MMO's and add's an extra level of greatness on top for good measure. "

    That must be a different beta then.

    Here are some vids:

    [link url=http://www.games pot.com/video/520538/6186164/warhammer-online-age-of-reckoni ng-gameplay-movie-16
    ]http://ww w.gamespot.com/video/520538/618...[/link]

    [link url=http://www.games pot.com/video/520538/6186165/warhammer-online-age-of-reckoni ng-gameplay-movie-17
    ]http://ww w.gamespot.com/video/520538/618...[/link]

    [link url=http://www.games pot.com/video/520538/6186166/warhammer-online-age-of-reckoni ng-gameplay-movie-18
    ]http://ww w.gamespot.com/video/520538/618...[/link]

  • Mox #6 4 years ago

    Ironically, yes it is a different beta : )

  • El_MUERkO #7 4 years ago

    mmo channel?

  • Dafridge #8 4 years ago

    The 40K MMO would have made more sense! More squad based than army based.

  • M83J01P97 #9 4 years ago

    Last time I checked RvR was still not part of the Public Beta, and those videos are RvR.

  • Danoxth #10 4 years ago

    RvR has arrived to the beta...apparently, according to their website.

  • M83J01P97 #11 4 years ago

    Public Beta?

    There are two, a closed beta (people in the industry, invited individuals etc) and the public beta which is always the most up to date version of the game.

  • Immitator #12 4 years ago

    Whatever the case about closed and public beta...too much hype is a bad thing. Only a few have played this game so far and all we have to go on is the developers "beatles /led zeppelin" sayings. Worrying.

  • Gurgeh #13 4 years ago

    "Ironically, yes it is a different beta : ) "
    "Last time I checked RvR was still not part of the Public Beta, and those videos are RvR"

    Sorry for the conusion. Those videos were released by Mythic and Gamespot a few days ago to show RvR which was not in beta, however they at least give an idea of what the game looks like.

    If you want a simple idea of what WAR is turning out to be, think Shadowbane 2.The combat system is slow and unresponsive. On some peoples systems the framerate is below 10 fps, which might explain why the graphics in the Gamespot videos are now lower resolution.

    As they said over on te Foh boards:

    "Only one thing awaits you in the Warhammer beta.

    Disappointment. "




  • Squire #14 4 years ago

    That sounds exactly like the AoC beta too. Sad times.

  • Huddy #15 4 years ago

    It would seem 2008's MMO releases stand a very good chance of being poop.

    Still I guess we'll have to wait and see....

    No MMO has replaced pre cu SWG for me to date.

  • Gaol #16 4 years ago

    Got an invite yesterday /flex

  • Res #17 4 years ago

    "No MMO has replaced pre cu SWG for me to date."

    Same for me, especially with all the space combat they added as well. In fact post-nge SWG is much better than it used to be (now they have added in most of the things they removed), its a shame all the players left though.
    I say that but it is probably still quite a popular game, they just have way too many servers.

    Those RvR Warhammer videos look very disappointing, hopefully polishing the graphics/animations hasn't started yet. They still have quite a few months of development time so it is entirely possible... At least I hope that is the case. Those graphics do not even look very stylized like WoW for instance, they are just rubbish.
    Animation is also very important in an MMO considering you tend to be focusing on your character a lot when all you have to do is press some numbers.
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/08 @ 16:49

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #18 4 years ago

    The 40k licence is in THQ's hands, a MMO is (not being done by Relic) planned however it's not until like 2012 ill we see in for sale.

    As for the videos, most are demo vids for suits or alpha stage ones and will no way be the same in looks by time release comes, take LOTRO for example it's alpha videos made it look just as blocky as WAR is now however it's got one of the most impressive graphical engines to date, so until we're seeing an open beta 2 weeks before release all bets are still off.

    As for the gameplay ideas there is some very nice ideas comming thru with WAR, pre-questing is one of them (where you gain the quest item and/or before you pick up the quest in the area) so no more grinding thru mobs to find you could have killed them later, plus the Public Quest system makes raiding far more friendly and requires less of these tactical force/bussness type uber guilds that we currently have, those ideas are what I'm backing the game for I want devs to take note and get there heads from out of their arses and realise that content grinds are a easy way out and not what the actal MMO players want

  • Res #19 4 years ago

    "As for the videos, most are demo vids for suits or alpha stage ones and will no way be the same in looks by time release comes, take LOTRO for example it's alpha videos made it look just as blocky as WAR is now however it's got one of the most impressive graphical engines to date, so until we're seeing an open beta 2 weeks before release all bets are still off."


    This is almost a year before release and it looks no where near as bad as those Warhammer clips.

  • Krun #20 4 years ago

    I agree Dafridge. Why wasn't it 40K? why do fantasy when WOW already stole the world from them? Especially as Warhammer fantasy Roleplay was dead years ago and 40K is Warhammers main product.

    All I can see from this is disappointment, and a WoW clone.

  • Stargazers #21 4 years ago

    I played the beta half year ago, lost all the hope after 3 day's play. I feel I was playing wow under a different name. Pretty much everything is the same or revised from wow. Even the hotkey settings are excatly the same as wow!! What's the point? There are things that's better or improved than wow but the fundamental of the gameplay is the same as wow.

    I am not looking forward to this game and I don't think this game will be a wow killer. It is a refined wow at best.

  • MGG #22 4 years ago

    Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is dead? Why was I not informed! Ahh, the kids of today don't know what they're missing. Sniff. No imagination some people.

    And 40k was ok as a battle game, but as a RPG? Would be interesting if anyone got that right, but how would they avoid any claims of being "like Star Wars/Alien"?



    And I hate WoW. No originality at all, and a license to print money to boot. Gahh, no justice.

  • Rico #23 4 years ago

    Last time I checked RvR was still not part of the Public Beta

    Check again.

  • madiusmax #24 4 years ago

    Though the videos from gamestop were posted recently they are not a good perspective of what the actual graphics of the game will be. They are there strictly to give a very general idea of what the RVR will be like, which to say, isn't entirely shown well in the videos.

    http://youtube .com/watch?v=F33H9QPRH_U

    watch that video which was recorded last november. It in no way is the stage of the graphics now or how they will look when the game is finished. I think it shows alot of promise for the game.

    For everyone who "hears" bad things about the game in beta, it is called beta testing for a reason. Alot can change from month to month while a game is in development. Overall the game seems to be getting great reviews, this is what is building the hype. Hype can be good or bad, we will have to wait and really see if EA Mythic can pull through and make it worthwhile.

    Sorry for the rambling, just remember you can say how much you are or are not looking forward to this game, but in the end no one will care if you personally will play it or not, there is enough talk and excitement to make the game already successful.