As you’ve probably already seen elsewhere, SOE is announcing a new game this Friday. Smed talks it up on the Station blog:

Later this week we have SOE’s Fan Faire 2007 in Las Vegas. I’m really excited because we’re going to be doing something very different at this year’s Fan Faire. For the first time we’re going to be using Fan Faire to introduce a new game we’ve had in the works for a long while now. I can’t wait for people to get their first look at it and actually be able to play the game at Fan Faire. We’ll be revealing it in the Community Address at 5:30pm on Friday August 3rd.

I couldn’t go this year because my month is so damned busy, which is a shame. I really wanted to attend this one. I’ll still be watching on Friday, though, thanks to their streaming newsfeed. I’ll do a running commentary here on the site, so you can see what I think of Smed’s haircut and such.

Now, assuming that this isn’t the ‘public’ announcement of The Agency or FreeRealms, I’m left a bit confused about what it might be. I have the full press release below, but here’s the bit that’s got me scratching my head:

Smed will also unveil an all-new, SOE online game, which is set to formally launch in late August. Fan Faire guests will have the first chance to demo this new title throughout Fan Faire weekend, August 3-5.

They’re announcing it for the first time in the first week of the month, and then releasing it at the end of the month? Jigga wha? Thankfully, just a few days before we find out what this is all about.

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The NDA on Tabula Rasa has been lowered for press-folks when it comes to impressions. I can’t share screens or specifics on missions, but I can give you an earful on the overall experience. As always, I want to preface this with a note that this is a game still in Beta. Lots of things can change before launch, and I’m just one guy with a very particular slant on Massive gaming. Your Mileage May Vary.

In short: Tabula Rasa is a fun, fluid, and un-samey take on the Massive genre. There are a ton of familiar signposts for the Massive gamer, but they’re couched in ways that are going to feel just different ‘enough’ that people are going to take notice. As I mentioned in the VW podcast over the weekend, I have reservations about this title’s impact on the industry as a whole. I’m particularly concerned about the game from a business standpoint. Just the same, the short time I’ve had with this title has convinced me there are going to be a lot of people who will really enjoy this.

Read on for the immediate highlights and concerns brought about by a week’s worth of playing Tabula Rasa.

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I imagine you’re tired of hearing about me vs. from me, so I’m going to try to keep this to a ‘once-a-week’ kinda thing. This will especially be the case later this month as I go to conventions and write things up, etc, etc.

As an aside, though, I think there’s a lot of stuff I’ll have coming here from various events; feel the love.

I was on three separate podcast events last week:

Shut Up! We’re Talking #5 – Random ranting from a couple of bloggers. I express my man-love for Van Hemlock.

VirginWorlds Podcast #79 – ‘Top Ten Podcasts of the Future’ Part 1.
VirginWorlds Podcast #80 – ‘Top Ten Podcasts of the Future’ Part 2.

And, of course, Massive Update #11 went up last week. It’s nothing but links because I was sick most of last week, and I had to choose between sleeping and writing. Less of that this week, I hope.

Oh hell yes. Kill Ten Rats has the commentary on the … well, they say it:

Cryptic mentioned that they are looking at a potentially server-less [City of Heroes], in which you can team with anyone regardless of server. I imagine this could be done either as putting everyone on one big server or allowing teams to enter instanced missions from the doors on their respective servers. The follow-up clarified that this is a “maybe, someday” idea, not a “next issue, we promise!” idea. If they do it, not in 2007.

Tobold joked about it, and then took a more serious run at it. Now, I’d like to take a crack at it. The features of the next WoW expansion have to be well considered. BC was a lot of fun, for about two months, and then people got over it. Above and beyond that, Burning Crusade has made end-game raiders pretty unhappy. So what should the focus of the next expansion be? Tobold think it’s going to be Northrend, and he’s almost certainly right.

My inclination, though, is to make the next expansion have a more lasting impact on the game. Howabout “World of Warcraft: The Legion Invades”?

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Some of the highest praise I think a writer can give to another writer is “I wish I’d thought to write that”. Despite some minor quibbles with an article or two that he’s written, I feel the need to point out the work of a guy who’s done a ton of great stuff here on these interwebs. Simon pointed to Varney’s work as one of the strengths of The Escapist, and I couldn’t agree more. Nearly every article I’ve seen with his byline recently has had an initial shock of “he wrote what?”, followed by “neat!”.

Here’s what has had my eyebrows up of late:

• This week’s Escapist features his look at murder mystery parties. It’s like LARPing, but socially acceptable!
• The Korean Invasion touches on all those neat Eastern MMOGs making their way to our shores.
• Captain of the Burning Sea is a talk with John Tynes of Flying Lab, emphasizing the four years of development behind PotBS.
• Uwe Boll and the German Tax Code. Hehehehehehehe.
• Cthulhu – Why So Difficult, is like the article I wrote, only good.

Hats off, sir. Keep up the good work. You can see all of Allen’s Escapist stuff over on his page at the Great Games Experiment.

Why do MMOG hags wander? Whyfor is there the incessant need to flit, to flutter, from world to world? When I think about my MMOADD, I’m not thinking about the usual locust-like consumption of content that all dedicated Massive gamers do. That’s the norm: As new games come out we rise as one, swarming like the plagues of Northwestern Africa (been watching Planet Earth) into a new world to level, grind, and consume.

When I talk about MMOADD, it’s a much more serious disorder. I’ll cop to it: I’ve hit max level in precious few games. Alt-itis was the cure back in the days of EverQuest, when there weren’t really many alternatives and I couldn’t afford multiple accounts. Now, though, players have a bounty of choice. I have – no joke – 12 different Massive games installed on my machine right now. That’s not even all the games I have discs for, just the ones installed. Thanks to my somewhat laughable designation as ‘journalist’, I get to play some of those games gratis … which makes it even harder to focus on the here and now, like Yoda wants me to.

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