Joystiq and Massively are cross-posting a piece I wrote up on The Agency, one of the two darlings of SOE’s hotel suite at CES. Basically the idea was that everyone had already seen the video and such by the time we’d already got back. So I took the audio from a chat Chris Grant and Barb Dybwad did with the devs + the one I and Dan O’Halloran had, and I diffed between the three sources of information. The result is what you see at the site.

Some of the most interesting tidbits the developers were willing to discuss that day weren’t on the guided tour. Lead Designer Hal Milton and Design Director Matt Wilson were willing and able to discuss several aspects of the project still in the development stages with us and our friends at Massively; we were able to pick their brains on the game’s business model, the fantastic world they’re creating, character advancement, future content additions, and the numerous challenges of creating a game that straddles two platforms.

Because it’s all informational, there’s no real room for me to include my opinion of the game in there. That’s what this place is for. To put a point on it: The Agency is my new ‘game of the future’. Since I started digging on these games back in the day I’ve always had some game or another to look forward to, a game to keep me enthusiastically reading sites like Lum the Mad back in the day. The period I remember most vividly with ‘future games’ was the time early in my post-college working period where SWG and WoW were both in-development. I spent endless lunch hours pining for those games, looking forward to their release. I read every update, every piece of information, every dev blog … it was a good time. Over 2007 I spent much of the year looking forward to Warhammer Online, and now the launch of the greenskins is fast approaching.

So, I need a new star on the horizon. The Agency has definitely stepped up. Sitting and listening to Hal Milton do his thing is inspiring. He and Matt Wilson are so obviously smart, so obviously ‘getting’ what it is that they need to do in order to make this game a success, that it’s fun just to watch them expound. If The Agency fails, it’s not going to be because of a lack of courage, or because of a lack of good ideas. And in fact, the game is showing signs of being one of the biggest sure-fire successes SOE has ever done. Already a solid play experience (apparently) in a Pre-alpha state, the team plans on having their featureset frozen by the time they leave alpha. This means the Beta phase will be nothing but iterating on content, getting the polish right. IE: just what everyone has been saying since Blizzard’s game released.

I can’t wait to get my hands on the controls of this game. Just watching the video was inspiring. It’s great … fantastic even … to feel this way about a game again. The Agency looks like it’s more than just a breath of fresh air’ or ‘new paint’, but a fundamentally different way to play with my friends in a MMOG.

Here’s hoping their efforts bear the variety of fruit they’re reaching so far out on that limb to grab.

It’s becoming a running trend for me not to note MMOG Nation’s birthday (Jan 9th) as it goes past. I was either sick or on the road in early 2007, and this year I was both. I have had the creeping crud lodged in my chest since I got back from CES, regrettably. That’s been really good for MMOG playing, and really bad for things like working. Which, as you may have noticed, is something I enjoy doing.

In any case, to commemorate the site’s second anniversary I thought I’d drop a headpat on few personal favorites things from the past year. I’m not going to even tongue-in-cheek call them ‘awards’ like I did last year; these are just the things that made me well pleased in the past twelve months.

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It’s been an amazing year in MMOGs. I think 2008 is going to be just as big a deal, though … and in some ways maybe even bigger. As I did last year (relatively well, I might add) I’m going to try to call some shots. Again, I’m just a guy and this is all in good fun. But I’ll keep myself honest: we’ll see how I did this time next year.

So then:

1. Is It Cold In Here or Is It Just Me? - Wrath of the Lich King won’t come out in 2008. We’ll have a firm release date (of early 2009) for the expansion by late summer, and there are as-yet-unannounced features slated for the content update. Blizzard has Hydralisks to fry this year.
2. Nickel and Dime - The concept of RMT and microtransactions will continue to gain acceptance with North American gamers. This will be reflected commercially by further successes for MapleStory and Nexon’s other games in the US. Other companies will begin to consider alternatives to the flat subscription fee, even if outright RMT/microtransactions aren’t yet on the table. At least one newly announced game this year will feature a non-subscription schema.
3. Call Me Agent Smith - The Agency is going to go over like gangbusters. A flat box fee with only microtransactions for further goodies is going to make a big impression … if it can make it out this year. Sometime mid-to-late summer would be perfect. This could even be one of the killer apps for the PS3 this year. Which is good, because it needs it. FreeRealms, on the other hand, is going to have a rough go of it. Without clear player understanding of what exactly this humor/fantasy MMOG thingie is, it’s going to take some time for it to take off.
4. WAAAAUGH For the Win - Warhammer is also going to be a big hit … though it perhaps won’t be everything that EA is hoping for. Long-term MMOG fans are going to fall in love all over again just the same. By the end of the year the house that Jacobs built is going to be very happy for all the extra hard work they put in. Conan will be a much less resounding success. It’s not going to fail, but Funcom is going to end 2008 more than a little bit frustrated.
5. Sunglasses At Night - The CCP/White Wolf game is going to be big news this year, as they announce the scope of the world. It’s not going to be everything that World of Darkness fans would have hoped for, but there will still be a lot of happy gothsicles.
6. Out of Left Field - One of the newbie studios (Carbine, Red 5) is going to announce a project that will really excite and surprise Massive fans. 38 Studios will announce what they’re doing, and it won’t surprise anyone … but it will be somewhat interesting.
7. Pushback - There’s going to be yet another major AAA title whose release date is pushed back to late in the year. One of the big games that we think is going to come out in 2008, won’t.
8. The Age Gets Darker - WAR’s release will be a very dark day for the already dimly-lit Ages of Camelot. Their emulation of Mythic’s older game’s defining feature, coupled with a better PvE experience in essentially every way, will see a lot of players heading for the hills.
9. The Legacy of McQuaid - At some point, Vanguard players are going to get tired of waiting around for ‘the good’ to show up in their game. Expect to see some of Vanguard’s best features showing up in EverQuest 2.
10. With the Brim Pulled Way Down Low - We’re going to see another live game close up shop this year, and an in-development title will slip into the unseen depths as well.
11. Way To Cast - Another MMO dev or publisher will join Blizzard and SOE in making an official podcast.
12. Coming of Age - Tabula Rasa is going to maintain a steady playerbase throughout the year as folks enjoy the new and exciting flavour. Turbine will continue to not report LOTRO’s subscription numbers, for a reason.
13. Okay For Serious This Time - BioWare will announce what they’re making in Austin. For reals, guys. C’mon! :)

2008’s Winners: Warhammer Online, The Agency, MapleStory, New Studios

2008’s Losers: Dark Age of Camelot, Vanguard, Age of Conan

Almost exactly a year ago I put down some predictions for the year in Massive games. It’d be cheating if I didn’t grade myself, so that’s what I’m going to do here, looking back at my 2006 MMOGnostications. This will be a pass/fail test, class … pens at the ready!

Burning Problems - The launch of the expansion to World of Warcraft is going to cause Blizzard bigtime headaches.

Buzz! Bigtime wrong. The launch went almost flawlessly, and despite the huge impact it has had on the life of raiders WoW rolls along unbowed and unbroken. I always thought the expansion was going to be good, but I expected Blizzard to have problems similar to the game’s initial launch. Instead, big blue learned its lessons and scored a customer relations coup.

That Not So Fresh Feeling - At least one of the MMOGs slated to launch this year is going to end up being kind of a stinker.

Ding! This was kind of one of my ’safety’ options, but it came very much true nonetheless. Vanguard was a huge letdown for expectant fans, and the SOE team is still doing overtime work to make the ship sail in a straight line.

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Over at Gamasutra you may have seen the rest of the interview I did with John Smedley back at SOE’s Gamers Day. People seemed to enjoy the first one, and I’ve seen this one mentioned all over as well.

Probably because of stuff like this:

“Those games don’t have that kind of mass level of accessibility, I think, even World of Warcraft notwithstanding. We’re not aiming for those kinds of numbers with FreeRealms, we’re aiming for a lot bigger. I think that bringing something that I can play with my kids to the market is a big deal.”

I don’t think FreeRealms is going to be my thing; indeed, it’s not “for” me. Just the same, it’s crazy interesting to see the company hanging its hat on something so completely different. Add The Agency into the mix, and you’ve got a lot of newness.

In celebration of the Agency’s coming out party, I’ve changed my banner. Something about that piece of concept art really gets to me. The seekrit reason? The Agency is the closest thing to a Shadowrun MMOG I’m going to get for a very, very long time. I’ll tell you right now: assuming I can get some friends to pony up with me, I am going to play the crap out of that game. Both UNITE and PARAGON sound like a kick in the pants, though I’m probably more of a tux-and-silencer type.