Now that the pain has faded somewhat, I think it’s obvious that MUO’s death may be a good thing after all. If it was going to be a broken, license-groaning mess there was no reason for it to make it to launch. Given the rumors of confusion on the dev team about what the game was going to be like at a fundamental level, pulling support from the project seems like a no-brainer. Still, I think MUO’s death highlights Microsoft’s sordid history with Massively Multiplayer games.

If you look down the big list of cancelled or never-released Massive games, Microsoft’s name comes up a suspicious number of times. AC2 anyone? Mythica, True Fantasy Online, Vanguard, and now Marvel Universe were all dented by the Redmond giant’s deft touch. On a fundamental corporate level, I think that MS just doesn’t understand the whole MMO ‘thing’. Trash talking jock douches calling each other ‘fag’ on Xbox Live? That’s understandable. But having the patience to see something like an MMO through – not so much.

Even more than that, I think Microsoft’s stupidity when it comes to this genre has left a huge opening for Sony and the PlayStation 3. Though there are no firm plans in the public eye right now, the tide is rising for MMO experiences on Sony’s console. Has Microsoft ceded the fight without even firing a shot?
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I tend to be an empathic kind of guy. Despite my cynicism and sometimes jaded outlook, I care a lot. Especially about things in the world of MMOs. For example, I am frustrated and saddened by the passing of the Marvel MMOG.  I really wanted to see that DC/CoH/Marvel fight. (Aside: that article is really well written. Go me!) Last year I was made emo by a number of things; Vanguard’s suq, Auto Assault’s closure, Gods and Heroes’ cancellation.

There’s something ongoing in Massive games that just makes me dejected, though, and that’s ‘middle levels’. The levels past the ‘newb experience’ and before the ‘endgame’. IE: The stuff everyone mostly wants to skip. The reason: I love those levels! I think the middle levels are freaking awesome. The problem is that both the developers and the players seem to view them more as speedbumps than anything else. As a result, additions to games tend to heavily weight towards either end of the play experience. New character races introduce new newbie experience, while almost every expansion will add (or prolong) endgame content.

Meanwhile, the middlin’ levels are left lolling about wondering why they got out of bed in the morning.  I want to take a moment to pour out a metaphorical beer for my friends, the middle levels.

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I put a lot of effort into this one, and I think it turned out pretty well. The newest MMOG Nation colum at GameSetWatch is all about the CoH vs. MUO vs. DCUO. It’s not about the games, so much, as it is about what the fight means in a larger context.

Change, then, is ultimately what this fight represents. New players in the Massive space have announced themselves. Perhaps for the first time in a long while, jaded gamers can look up from the ruddy glow of Molten Core and see a light on the horizon. There will be flames on message boards, debates about design choices, and analyzing of screenshots. Most important of all, there will once again be passion in the eyes of Massive gamers tired of companies promising ‘Everquest … but different!’. In the end, what every Massive gamer wants is not a hot elf chick. It isn’t phat loots or cybering, guild drama or farmed gold. Massive gamers want to have fun. They want to feel powerful, like they have real choices to make and an impact on the virtual world around them. They want to feel like they’re part of a community. And, of course, they want to wear cool costumes.

Getting linked off of the front page of the EQPlayers site was fun, but is anyone reading these things? Is it worth the time I’m putting into them?

Because, somehow, I’d managed to miss the announcement of Marvel Universe Online prior to the X06 keynote, I had a pleasant surprise when I saw the trailer. In point of fact, my jaw dropped.

With a day’s worth of thought behind me now, I began to wonder what this would mean for Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. Comments from Positron make the whole thing out to be a great opportunity for gamers, no troubles at home at all.

We at Cryptic want to assure our loyal players that we and the good folks at our publisher, NCsoft, are fully committed to City of Heroes and City of Villains. We have a full team of programmers, artists, designers, and producers devoted to creating and maintaining the best experience in the “City of” world of games. This team is, and will remain completely separate from other teams working on other games at Cryptic. Like fantasy, sci-fi, and simulation, comic book heroes is its own genre, capable of supporting multiple titles.

It’s all well and good to say that … but, I dunno.

I’ll say it up front: I love City of Heroes/Villains. My local gaming group really got behind both games when they came out, and it was a trip to be able to save the day with folks I know IRL. That said, I fear that CoH/V will become the aging aunt in the attic when the shiny new Marvel title comes to town. Let’s keep this in perspective, too, there’s actually two Massive games coming to market wearing costumes. SOE’s collusion with DC Comics will be yet another viewpoint on the capes-and-cowls set. Though I agree the genre is ‘capable of supporting multiple titles’, I’m not sure I think that it can support three.

My two-bit, no information hope is that CoH and MUO come out the winners. Outside of the Justice League cartoon, I’ve never been a big fan of DC’s work, and in a coin-toss between Cryptic and SOE I’ll call dibs on Emmert any day of the week.

It is exciting, though. They’re definitely not going to topple WoW, of course, but we finally have what looks like a real battle brewing up in the Massive space again. Is this what all the future buzz regarding MMOGs will be like? Small operations fighting over the niches not occupied by orcs and elves? Interesting stuff, and I’m looking forward to filling out my score card.