Okay. It all falls into place. Surfer Girl’s latest ‘Wars rumor had me thinking that the new MMOG was going to be based in the timeframe of the liveaction show. Today’s announcement of the full scope of the Clone Wars animated series, though, has it all coming into focus.

Produced by Lucasfilm Animation, Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes audiences on incredible new Star Wars adventures, combining the legendary storytelling of Lucasfilm with an eye-popping, signature animation style. Star Wars: The Clone Wars will open in North American theaters Friday, August 15. International release dates will be announced soon. The theatrical debut of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is only the beginning of all-new Star Wars adventures that continue in the fall when the long-awaited television series premieres on Cartoon Network, followed by airings on TNT. Details regarding international broadcasts will be announced shortly. Star Wars: The Clone Wars showcases an entirely new look and feel to the galaxy far, far away — combining the expansive scope of the Star Wars Saga with state-of-the-art computer-generated animation. Each week, viewers will see a thrilling, 30-minute “mini-movie” created by the talented artists at Lucasfilm Animation.

This is way, waaaay bigger a project than I thought it was. I had assumed the live-action show was the main thrust of their creative campaign, with the Clone series just a way to make side-money. This makes me think it’s t’otherwayround. Looking at the images from the animated series, it’s like looking at a really nice videogame. So why not make it a videogame? The Clone Wars era is actually the *perfect* time to set a game like this. It’s got the appeal of some later era components in the background, while still having plenty of room for Jedi to participate. It’s also right there in the movies, making it more appealing to folks who may have never heard of Knights of the Old Republic.

With her earlier statements taken into account, this paints a fascinating future for the MMO industry. If BioWare’s game really is a fantasy title, what the hell is it? A D&D game that tries to grab mindshare where DDO didn’t? That’s the implication of her statement that their game “has a fantasy setting akin to the company’s previous fantasy role playing games.” A title set in their Dragon Age world maybe?

So, out past the WAR/AoC fight this year, we have highlights like these:

• BioWare’s Fantasy Title
• The Agency
• DC Universe
• The Clone Wars MMO
• StarGate Worlds
• Secret World
• Lego Universe
• World of Darkness

Only one fantasy title! And it’s BioWare! Sniffle. I think I just learned how to love again.

I have to say: I partially hope this is wrong. I want a KOTORO MMOG. But, could I live with this? Heck yeah.

So here’s the deal: I’m a godless, soulless, technocratic transhumanist. Comments I’ve made in previous posts may have hinted at my love for technology. I like fantasy fine, yeah. It’d double coded, magic is all wonderful; I love World of Warcraft. All these things are fine.

Ultimately, though, my love has been for science fiction since I was a wee tot. Heinlein, Aasimov, Clarke, Stephenson, Gibson … these are the folks that I think of when I go to my happy reading place. As has been noted many times by NPD sales, developers, and money-men, I’m in the minority. Apparently the idea of surgically implanting a stainless steel port into your skull, in order more easily connect with a computer, is something not everyone enjoys. In space no one can hear you scream, and it’s hard to love a robot.

I’m tired of it. The Sci-fi ‘niche’ is a fantastic venue for creative thinking, and it’s an incredibly evocative milieu for gaming. Here are my five reasons why science fiction makes for a better setting than fantasy …

Update: Welcome io9 readers! Make sure to check out Grimwell’s fantasy-oriented response to this post, and my podcast followup to get the full discussion.

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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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It’s now well over a month since I attended Austin Games Conference. One of the highlights of that trip was the opportunity to meet with some of the minds behind Star Wars Galaxies at the SOE-Austin studio. It was a very informal thing, something that John Blakely had mentioned as a possibility when I had the chance to talk with him at SOE Gamers Day early this year. Schedules and stars aligned, thankfully, and I made the trek out to their offices for a few hours with the game’s creative leads. So why hasn’t it shown up on the site until now? I blame illness and brain worms. Hopefully my memories here aren’t so stale as to be useless. I’ll try to give an overview of the experience and the topics we touched upon, which ranged from the SWG development process all the way to the role of bloggers and podcasters in MMOG communities. The latter conversation was, admittedly, as much friendly conversation as idea exploration for my panel session that Thursday.

The big picture: SWG is still not a game that I (personally) want to play every day, but you really have to hand it to those guys for the passion and persistence they’ve displayed in keeping that ship afloat. Also, DCUO concept art is gorgeous.
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The theme for this week’s Escapist is gaming oopsies. I’ve got an article in it, with boobs!

The Breasts That Broke the Game

Halfway through 2006, a huge story went unnoticed by game journalists. Barely a cursory glance or raised eyebrow marked its passage. Early in May the Entertainment Software Rating Board quietly changed Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’s rating from “T” to “M,” forcing a recall and re-labeling of the game, and costing Bethesda a fortune. The problem? Bethesda had nothing to do with it.

Much more interesting? A great loaded look by Allen Varney at one of the biggest debacles in MMOGdom: The SWG NGE.

As WoW barreled toward 5 million subscribers, SOE launched SWG’s Publish 25. The NGE replaced the combat system with a shooter-style twitch game, reduced the value of crafting and entertaining, and collapsed 34 professions into nine classes. Jedi Knight powers, once obtained only after torturous grinding, were now widely available. Creature Handlers and Bio-Engineers, previously stunted by the CU, vanished.

The launch, like the original game’s, went horribly: awful bugs, broken quests, lag. But these paled beside the main problem. For an unexpectedly huge number of players, the issue - the overriding issue that has burned in their heart down to, lo, this day and hour - was betrayal.

edit: After reading some comments by Raph over on his site, I went back and read to the end of Varney’s piece more carefully. He starts off fairly strong, but strays into the realm of fantasy. Smed’s apologized about a billion times for the NGE, for starters. Bad play, Varney.

edit2: And again, they still will not let it go. Sorry Jeff. “Flunky”? You should complain. I’ve got email addresses if you want em’.

The official patch notes for the Chapter publish are on the SWG site, and today would be a really great day to hop in. Not only do you get your Chapter gift, as well as the 30th anniversary poster, but the anniversary bash stuff at Nym’s is kicking off today. Good times. If you’re going to be on Starsider make sure and give Amakdes a ping.

I was on last night very briefly before I went to bed, and I have a few quick impressions to related:

• The prep materials they put out made it really easy to understand what do to. Sampling DNA, getting incubator materials, etc, all very straightforward.
• The Storyteller stuff is just as awesome as I’d hoped. As an old-school player I have a ton of money hanging around, and this now essentially means I can add ‘Star-Warsyness’ to the game in any old manner I see fit. As a wealthy fish, I plan on having Super Battle Droids guarding my home from now on. Beware!
• There are definite signs of life on the server. I didn’t make it to Eisely, which is (I assume) where everyone was last night, but even in Theed there were hints that there will be at least a short-term uptick in players online. One of the surest signs: I got really really bad rubberbanding working my way across town after resetting my expertise. Takes me right back to the old days … though I could have done without it.

If there are any Starsider crafters reading this … WTB incubator? PST? ;)

It’s so nice to be able to talk about good Galaxies news again. A bunch of things today:

• A State of the Game Address for this month, an exclusive over at SWG Warcry. Dolled out by Jake Neri (Producer, LEC) and Thomas Blair (Lead Designer, SOE), it talks over the Beast Mastery points again, and a few hints about things to come. “Combat will have new features, both PVE and PVP will be enhanced by the Beast Master, and groups will now have a new class of player that they can include and use to their advantage. We are looking forward to seeing the system grow over time and we will look for ways to leverage it later on in development. With Heroic Mobs being on the drawing board for sometime this year, perhaps we’ll even see some new creatures introduced to the game that we will bring into the system. As always, we’ll be watching our players to see just what we can do to make sure people are having a great time in-game.”
• As part of the 30th anniversary stuff, they’re doing in-game tie-ins with SWG. It’s also just about Galaxies’ fourth year anniversary (which means I’m getting oldish), and they’re rolling out the four-year veteran rewards. Excellent. “Nym is throwing a party and everyone is invited! Join the festivities at Nym’s Stronghold from May 23 to June 25. Dance the night away to the melodies of Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes band, socialize with friends, and browse the complimentary wares of Nym’s Anniversary Quartermaster. No party is complete without punch and cake, so visit the Quartermaster to take a swig of Lokkian Booster Blast, taste the sweet Anniversary Cake, set off gigantic fireworks, and more! The Quartermaster also offers a rare painting commissioned to mark this historic occasion. Hang this one-of-a-kind painting in your house to let everyone know that you attended the party of a lifetime. You can find Nym’s Anniversary Quartermaster in Nym’s Stronghold on Lok, the Restuss Starport on Rori, the Coronet Starport on Corellia, the Theed Starport on Naboo, and the Mos Eisley Starport on Tatooine. A unique badge will also be given to all players who attend Nym’s Anniversary Bash, so be sure to stop by the social event of the galaxy. ”
  
• Speaking of Beast Mastery, the state of the game letter links to a Comprehensive Guide on the new system. Nice work, KrackenOne.