Ok so we have officially set up our twitch.tv account and have a load of video equipment and new "gamer" stuff on the way to boot!
The word around here is we may quite possibly be ready to record or first live stream broadcast either this week sometime (with all of our crazy antics and personalities), or right after the next beta weekend in ToR (whenever that may be - possibly by the first week of November). No I am not saying this is when a beta weekend will be - so before anyone goes off speculating it will, I really have no clue. I am simply saying we should be ready to shoot by then.
As far as gaming content for this week - I still am somewhat disappointed about the WoW update from BlizzCon, Guild Wars 2 seems like a promising little gem (proverbial diamond in the rough stuff), Skyrim looks freaking awesome, and all of you should by now know how I feel about ToR (I will come back to that in a second)!
As far as things with Battlefield 3 go - I'll have an update about that pretty shortly from one of the other members of the team. Black Ops (for those that like FPS Titles) also looks promising, but not something I would play very long.
And of course I will come back to ToR now, as far as I am concerned this game is going to be the major trend setter in the market for YEARS to come - it is just going to take some more of a push to get the numbers into the game and playing. The Gold Master version (rumor has it) has been produced and ready for distribution, so we should see early access close to approaching (or at least another wave of huge numbers into beta). The testers who get to test this version should be testing the most recent update that will bring to head many of the patches you will have to download upon launch day. This is in fact after the internal test and code lines are looked over by man of the QA Team and then we can have a playable game by Dec 20th.
For all of you who are still in doubt about this title, do in fact give it a fair look - it would be worth the free month you get at purchase, you may even find out some things you enjoy about the game. Of course I can't say much about this as I know nothing about the end product, final copy, or even builds that are being tested. As an avid Star Wars fan, from the things I have read and seen on other sites - it could be one of those games that sticks with us for years to come, much like those of old (like EverQuest).
I am looking forward to this title the most this holiday season and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I will. Even if you do not give it a look, I'm sure we will discuss your game that you play in the future.
If you would like us to review a game for you or even give you a heads up on a certain genre - feel free to look us up on FaceBook @ www.facebook.com/tsotg or look for us on twitch.tv (we are still getting sorted),
www.twitch.tv/deeceecreator
www.twitch.tv/xenocypher
www.twitch.tv/thestateofthegame
Hope to see you all in the virtual world sometime soon. As always - keep it real, stay IMBA, and May the Force be With You!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
The State of the Game - Live Streaming from ToR (Dec 20th)
With the hit game The Old Republic right around the corner, The State of the Game has plans underway to Live Stream gameplay and weekly wrap-ups from SW:ToR come Dec 20th 2011 via twitch.tv and justin.tv . This will be a great chance for many of you to get to hear our whacky antics from a gamer perspective and also to see what we like about either ToR or the other MMO's on the market when the time comes.
Currently we have a good amoount of the back end stuff in the works - such as show content and other little niffty items so that everyone will enjoy what we are putting out on air come the release of ToR or even when early access hits us in the teeth head on and all of us are able to play.
So keep it here for upcoming information on the line-ups, who will be presenting anything on the site, and for any information pertaining to when we will start our live feed. Hopefully this will give a chance for many who have been on the fence about purchasing ToR to see it first hand and to get a look inside "a much larger world" before even having to go to their local game store and get a physical copy of the game.
As for now - I look forward to seeing you all on Dec 20th in game (whether you are Empire or Republic), and hope to meet up with as many of you as time allows. I hope you all have enjoyed the blog thus far. So keep it real, I'm sure I'll have plenty more updates about this the closer we get to the launch date!
Cheers All!
Currently we have a good amoount of the back end stuff in the works - such as show content and other little niffty items so that everyone will enjoy what we are putting out on air come the release of ToR or even when early access hits us in the teeth head on and all of us are able to play.
So keep it here for upcoming information on the line-ups, who will be presenting anything on the site, and for any information pertaining to when we will start our live feed. Hopefully this will give a chance for many who have been on the fence about purchasing ToR to see it first hand and to get a look inside "a much larger world" before even having to go to their local game store and get a physical copy of the game.
As for now - I look forward to seeing you all on Dec 20th in game (whether you are Empire or Republic), and hope to meet up with as many of you as time allows. I hope you all have enjoyed the blog thus far. So keep it real, I'm sure I'll have plenty more updates about this the closer we get to the launch date!
Cheers All!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Golden Joystick 2011 - Really League of Legends?! W.T.F?!
Ok I'm not going to rant and rave in the blog as I'm sure I will get flamed to Hell and watch myself fall into the underworld where Hello Kitty and Pengu rule the nether regions and allow for great gameplay and cinematic cutscenes with full voice over options....
But really WTF were the voters even slightly thinking at the Golden Joystick award this year!
Or should I put it into a language someone other then me will understand...
< Query: Do all forms of meatbags vote on the premise of a self deprecating relationship with other cybernetic lifeforms such as those found on the internet?>
< Statement: Absolutely Master>
With that said here are the results from the Golden Joystick Awards - now to be dubbed as the Golden Sh*t Stick Awards:
I know many of you are looking at the obvious ToR - but I'm look at the Second Column, how in God's name did FARMVILLE get a Runner Up in"Online Game of the Year" right next to Aion?! Who the Hell does the voting - everyone who works at Facebook?! I mean seriously, if only Zuck-Gee would have gotten all those homies together that he had during the making of the "Social Network" maybe Farmville could have won First Prize - a nice shiny golden dildo. Just what Mark needs - something to sit on while he is selling all of your private information to large scale corporations for BILLIONS of dollars all the while you sit at home and harvest your virtual crop of strawberries.
I'm not even going to talk about "The One to Watch Column" cause honestly (and this may see like a shock to everyone) - I truly feel Battlefield 3 should have gotten First Place in that category. I had to fall back to my roots on that one. I'm an FPS fan through and through and a huge fan of the Battlefield series of games dating back to the first one I played - 1942. So I feel like the really had gotten the short end of the "Joystick" as it were.
I know many of you probably were expecting a little more "flare" out of me in this one and a little more "ZOMG SW:ToR" but, sadly I'm kind of glad that an FPS took home the gold. Hope to catch you all on the flip on the next installment.
ShadowViper logging out.
/logoff
------------------------------------------
Source: The Golden Joystick
http://www.goldenjoystick.com/awards/about
But really WTF were the voters even slightly thinking at the Golden Joystick award this year!
Or should I put it into a language someone other then me will understand...
< Query: Do all forms of meatbags vote on the premise of a self deprecating relationship with other cybernetic lifeforms such as those found on the internet?>
< Statement: Absolutely Master>
With that said here are the results from the Golden Joystick Awards - now to be dubbed as the Golden Sh*t Stick Awards:
The One To Watch
Winner: Call of Duty: Black Ops
Runners Up: Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars: The Old Republic
Winner: Call of Duty: Black Ops
Runners Up: Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars: The Old Republic
Online Game Of The Year
Winner: League of Legends
Runners Up: Aion: The Tower Of Eternity, Farmville
Winner: League of Legends
Runners Up: Aion: The Tower Of Eternity, Farmville
I'm not even going to talk about "The One to Watch Column" cause honestly (and this may see like a shock to everyone) - I truly feel Battlefield 3 should have gotten First Place in that category. I had to fall back to my roots on that one. I'm an FPS fan through and through and a huge fan of the Battlefield series of games dating back to the first one I played - 1942. So I feel like the really had gotten the short end of the "Joystick" as it were.
I know many of you probably were expecting a little more "flare" out of me in this one and a little more "ZOMG SW:ToR" but, sadly I'm kind of glad that an FPS took home the gold. Hope to catch you all on the flip on the next installment.
ShadowViper logging out.
/logoff
------------------------------------------
Source: The Golden Joystick
http://www.goldenjoystick.com/awards/about
BlizzCon 2011 - Kung Fu Panda: The Game?!
So it seems like the much anticipated children's movie is coming to life in a video game much like Hello Kitty Online has spawned from the depths of Hell onto the internet and somehow became a fully playable world in the video game sense. Yesterday afternoon Blizzard had announced that they would be adding the much anticipated (?) Pandarian race to World of Warcraft in an upcoming expansion. And in my my fits of laughter and tears (yes I really was laughing that hard), I found out they really were serious!
In my previous write up about BlizzCon I had spoke of how I thought Blizzard would step forth into the world with some news of "great things", but really- walking, talking Pandas? Is that what you spend your multi-million dollar budget on? How hard was it to get an old model of a character and put a panda skin overlay on top of it? Oh yeah and put a voice .mp3 file in there too! Great job concept team - that must have taken you about 30 minutes to come up with and another hour to put the skin on top with how hard it is to figure out what colors BLACK and WHITE are in your code base.
I'm glad you guys have a bunch of nerf guns and XBox 360's on Campus because you all must have spent a great deal of time celebrating your new expansion and successful creation of a new player race by playing Forza 4 and doing some Multi-Player in Halo afterwards. I call this one a great success for you and the team - as well as the droves of your targeted market 9 -15. Well done, lets give you all a pat on the back once again, just like we did with Cataclysm!
And now with the annual subscription model World of Warcraft is surely looking to try and "fatten up" its figures in how many active subscriptions they have when they sucker people into they game and then when the players decide the game is crap - they still get to record those numbers for a whole year (i.e. the annual marketing report). This is undoubtedly a way to make the numbers of players look and seem like there are way more in game then there actually are. I mean - 12 million subscribers looks really darn nice when you see it on a sticker when you buy a game, it really lures you in and makes you think that there are tons of knowledgeable people playing the game right?
WRONG!
Most of these people are in fact dumb as nails or are the most obnoxious elitist trolls in any game around. And when you tell me that there are youngin's in my guild and in voice chat with me (around 10 or so) and you are in fact their PARENT and are being an obnoxious elitist tard, that some how does not instill the confidence I have in the marketing potential of said game - or even its community.
So I will let Blizzard have their Kung Fu Panda Expansion. I just hope next year that they don't come out with a Finding Nemo one.
In my previous write up about BlizzCon I had spoke of how I thought Blizzard would step forth into the world with some news of "great things", but really- walking, talking Pandas? Is that what you spend your multi-million dollar budget on? How hard was it to get an old model of a character and put a panda skin overlay on top of it? Oh yeah and put a voice .mp3 file in there too! Great job concept team - that must have taken you about 30 minutes to come up with and another hour to put the skin on top with how hard it is to figure out what colors BLACK and WHITE are in your code base.
I'm glad you guys have a bunch of nerf guns and XBox 360's on Campus because you all must have spent a great deal of time celebrating your new expansion and successful creation of a new player race by playing Forza 4 and doing some Multi-Player in Halo afterwards. I call this one a great success for you and the team - as well as the droves of your targeted market 9 -15. Well done, lets give you all a pat on the back once again, just like we did with Cataclysm!
And now with the annual subscription model World of Warcraft is surely looking to try and "fatten up" its figures in how many active subscriptions they have when they sucker people into they game and then when the players decide the game is crap - they still get to record those numbers for a whole year (i.e. the annual marketing report). This is undoubtedly a way to make the numbers of players look and seem like there are way more in game then there actually are. I mean - 12 million subscribers looks really darn nice when you see it on a sticker when you buy a game, it really lures you in and makes you think that there are tons of knowledgeable people playing the game right?
WRONG!
Most of these people are in fact dumb as nails or are the most obnoxious elitist trolls in any game around. And when you tell me that there are youngin's in my guild and in voice chat with me (around 10 or so) and you are in fact their PARENT and are being an obnoxious elitist tard, that some how does not instill the confidence I have in the marketing potential of said game - or even its community.
So I will let Blizzard have their Kung Fu Panda Expansion. I just hope next year that they don't come out with a Finding Nemo one.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Aion - My First Impressions for 2011
Ok, so I know I have never played Aion before and I know it seems a little late in the game to be posting a "review" of this sorts for a game that has been out for over a year - but I think it seems about that time to give it a go and look into it for those of us who have never given this little gem the through and through it quite well deserves.
Let me start by saying the character I played was around level 50 and the other 55 and in pretty much all top tier raid gear that was in fact best in slot for its specific class (or quite close to it), which made playing the game quite easier then the challenges most of you will face during the times you will face as you adventure through-out the world as you level. With that being said, the combat to me felt quite fluid and faced past with little to no down time what-so-ever as the animations pound on the onslaught of mobs that are on screen.
The ability to chain attacks (much like that in Age of Conan) was quite a pleasure to me as many of the abilities when they pop up (as a little highlighted toolbar icon) make the damage increase slightly and make you feel like the combat is going that much faster as well. It also allows you to be a prominent key clicker as opposed to the option of just using the number pad as per many of the other MMO's on the market that generally default to that style of play. In fact it almost felt "easier" to click the keys instead of mashing buttons (which I am accustomed to).
The other nice thing about the combat is that if and when a mob you have targeted runs out of range from you and you have queued up an ability, your avatar will run right after it and start beating on it without you needing to hit any of your movement keys to chase it down. This in itself made me scream out in joy, as I had felt many of my bonds and shackles released from past MMO's where I had to chase down runners in zones and instances.
The in game flight and travel is a great thing also - the down fall though to "popping your wings" though is the limited time span and cool down to reopen them for the most part. The character I had been playing had about 3 minutes of flight time, which to me felt short coming from a game like WoW where I could just fly to my hearts content.
The music on the other hand had a very Asian flare in most cases - which to me felt like I was play a Street Fighter arcade game and I was about to see the big bold "K.O." letters appear in the center of my screen time and time again. The good thing was I could turn the music down, or even off in some of the zone - but it tended to take away from many of the ambient features of the game that I was looking forward to.
Graphically the game is amazing and the world and character features (along with armor) look very well done, but they too have that mix of "semi-real" to "anime" like feel mixed together, which could draw some players away from even playing this game. The city scaped are very well done and for the most part look and feel very massive (some I have yet to explore fully). NPC models are just as well done as player models - but I tend to feel as if they "lack" in one department or another for what ever reason, where as "mobs" differ somehow (I just can't place why though).
All in all I feel as if this game should at least be given a try if you haven't already. I enjoy it very much!
-------------------------------------
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
Graphics: 9/10
Music: 6/10
Combat: 9/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Replay Value: 8.5/10
Let me start by saying the character I played was around level 50 and the other 55 and in pretty much all top tier raid gear that was in fact best in slot for its specific class (or quite close to it), which made playing the game quite easier then the challenges most of you will face during the times you will face as you adventure through-out the world as you level. With that being said, the combat to me felt quite fluid and faced past with little to no down time what-so-ever as the animations pound on the onslaught of mobs that are on screen.
The ability to chain attacks (much like that in Age of Conan) was quite a pleasure to me as many of the abilities when they pop up (as a little highlighted toolbar icon) make the damage increase slightly and make you feel like the combat is going that much faster as well. It also allows you to be a prominent key clicker as opposed to the option of just using the number pad as per many of the other MMO's on the market that generally default to that style of play. In fact it almost felt "easier" to click the keys instead of mashing buttons (which I am accustomed to).
The other nice thing about the combat is that if and when a mob you have targeted runs out of range from you and you have queued up an ability, your avatar will run right after it and start beating on it without you needing to hit any of your movement keys to chase it down. This in itself made me scream out in joy, as I had felt many of my bonds and shackles released from past MMO's where I had to chase down runners in zones and instances.
The in game flight and travel is a great thing also - the down fall though to "popping your wings" though is the limited time span and cool down to reopen them for the most part. The character I had been playing had about 3 minutes of flight time, which to me felt short coming from a game like WoW where I could just fly to my hearts content.
The music on the other hand had a very Asian flare in most cases - which to me felt like I was play a Street Fighter arcade game and I was about to see the big bold "K.O." letters appear in the center of my screen time and time again. The good thing was I could turn the music down, or even off in some of the zone - but it tended to take away from many of the ambient features of the game that I was looking forward to.
Graphically the game is amazing and the world and character features (along with armor) look very well done, but they too have that mix of "semi-real" to "anime" like feel mixed together, which could draw some players away from even playing this game. The city scaped are very well done and for the most part look and feel very massive (some I have yet to explore fully). NPC models are just as well done as player models - but I tend to feel as if they "lack" in one department or another for what ever reason, where as "mobs" differ somehow (I just can't place why though).
All in all I feel as if this game should at least be given a try if you haven't already. I enjoy it very much!
-------------------------------------
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
Graphics: 9/10
Music: 6/10
Combat: 9/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Replay Value: 8.5/10
SW:ToR - Hit and Miss with Pre-Order Items?
Over the years I have pre-ordered many games that have come onto the market and many of the items have ranged from the awesome to the very bleak and bland. This week though for ToR's Fan Friday they had released the specifics and details on what all of these items are and do in game, and I must say - I am not one bit impressed at all. Though if I would have paid $150 for the extravagant Collector's Edition I may have felt a slight bit better about what I was getting. So here is the break down.
First off, the Color Stone - everyone had speculated that it COULD or even WOULD change your lightsaber color to any color you had wished. On the contrary, it does not - it is simply a yellow crystal with a BLACK outer hue (Whoopdy Freaking Doo).
The STAP on the other hand from the the Digital Deluxe Edition (which I was possibly going to upgrade to), also seems like some what of a loser now as you can get your vehicle at level 25. The only major difference from the DDE vehicle and the Standard from what is posted on the ToR webpage is the "skin details", but the speeds and design are all the same. So really, what would be the point of me to upgrade to the DDE at this point in time if it is just a matter of a skin overly to make it look shiny and fancy?
Now the Major Gift - The Collector's Edition Store. This is a place where you can go (apparently only accessible to those with the CE) to buy special outfits and gear for your characters and companions that no one else in the game world will have access to. This will in my eyes lead to the ultimate case of elitism in ToR like so many other games right from day one! Which could lead to the untimely fall of The Old Republic if the "normie" player base does not have access to some form of a store of their own to get things for credits so the the people with the CE do not "segregate" them and start to troll them with their "e-peen gear".
I know many of you may believe this to be untrue for the most part, but this is what I see happening in a quick matter as the is how many in game communities react to such situations of "favoritism" to one group (such as those who have dished out the most cash, i.e. those with the Collector's Edition of the game). For BioWare to do this, it simply says they are in it for the cash and not around for the players who just want to chill and hang out (does anyone see a pairing here much like SOE/LA like before? (seeing as good old Julio Torres is on the Board for this game as well, it makes sense)).
At the end of the day - they just need to keep things equal for all players to keep them in the world of Star Wars and playing. If not it could easily lead to the games utter demise much like other games in the past that had a somewhat good launch day and then dwindled off just as fast (take a look at Tabula Rasa for an example). I personally believe keeping players happy and with all the same perks and benefits would be the best way to go - especially in the early stages of the game, after the fan base has been established, do as you will - but this early on, when the game isn't even released (like 9 weeks to go) it seems like it could hinder the game quite easily.
--------------------------------------
Source: Star Wars: The Old Republic - Official Site
http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20111021
First off, the Color Stone - everyone had speculated that it COULD or even WOULD change your lightsaber color to any color you had wished. On the contrary, it does not - it is simply a yellow crystal with a BLACK outer hue (Whoopdy Freaking Doo).
The STAP on the other hand from the the Digital Deluxe Edition (which I was possibly going to upgrade to), also seems like some what of a loser now as you can get your vehicle at level 25. The only major difference from the DDE vehicle and the Standard from what is posted on the ToR webpage is the "skin details", but the speeds and design are all the same. So really, what would be the point of me to upgrade to the DDE at this point in time if it is just a matter of a skin overly to make it look shiny and fancy?
Now the Major Gift - The Collector's Edition Store. This is a place where you can go (apparently only accessible to those with the CE) to buy special outfits and gear for your characters and companions that no one else in the game world will have access to. This will in my eyes lead to the ultimate case of elitism in ToR like so many other games right from day one! Which could lead to the untimely fall of The Old Republic if the "normie" player base does not have access to some form of a store of their own to get things for credits so the the people with the CE do not "segregate" them and start to troll them with their "e-peen gear".
I know many of you may believe this to be untrue for the most part, but this is what I see happening in a quick matter as the is how many in game communities react to such situations of "favoritism" to one group (such as those who have dished out the most cash, i.e. those with the Collector's Edition of the game). For BioWare to do this, it simply says they are in it for the cash and not around for the players who just want to chill and hang out (does anyone see a pairing here much like SOE/LA like before? (seeing as good old Julio Torres is on the Board for this game as well, it makes sense)).
At the end of the day - they just need to keep things equal for all players to keep them in the world of Star Wars and playing. If not it could easily lead to the games utter demise much like other games in the past that had a somewhat good launch day and then dwindled off just as fast (take a look at Tabula Rasa for an example). I personally believe keeping players happy and with all the same perks and benefits would be the best way to go - especially in the early stages of the game, after the fan base has been established, do as you will - but this early on, when the game isn't even released (like 9 weeks to go) it seems like it could hinder the game quite easily.
--------------------------------------
Source: Star Wars: The Old Republic - Official Site
http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20111021
BlizzCon 2011 - Blizzard, what will you do?
So it seems BlizzCon 2011 Starts later on today, and I am sure there will be many things discussed this year from the changes made in World of Warcraft with Cataclysm to all things pertaining to StarCraft II. But one things stands out in my mind as the most sought after topic of all - as Blizzard has not made mention of it for some time. What is this "Next Gen MMO" that they have planned in the works and are currently developing in their studios?
I have quite a feeling many of you do not know what I am speaking of, so I might as well direct you on over to the link to Blizzard Entertainment's career page to show you what exactly I am speaking of in the mean time.
http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/careers/directory.html#region=Americas
As you take a look at the many vacancies in the "Next Gen MMO" area right in the middle of the page - I'm sure you will wonder as I do, what could this game be? Sure it is not another expansion to World of Warcraft, but could it be something greater? Possibly the long awaited "Starcraft MMO" all of us have looked forward to in the past?
If this were true I know many of us would be quite pleased with something like that in most case, but there are quite a few people who have lost touch with the Blizzard IP in the past months and have taken on new games of choice, such as Trion World's little gem - Rift. Albeit World of Warcraft has lost some of it glitz and glam since the inception of Cataclysm with the game become almost "too user friendly" for most, but does that warrant the amount of players who seem to leave the game on a constant basis and then suddenly come back for almost no reason just to leave once more? I think not.
If Blizzard is going to start fresh with a new IP they will have to do something quite extraordinary and not stick to their guns like they have in the past or even start "dumbing down" many of the game systems to tailor to a much younger user base. Many of the players are frustrated by a sense of the game "too easy" and "fail sauce" because of how the game mechanics work, and many of the players who either quit during vanilla or during a previous expansion and have returned rarely stay for long to even try the new update to the game as they were expecting "more".
My final thought on this come the day BlizzCon kicks off in the morning is - I really would like to see more innovations from the crew at Blizzard, rather then just some CG Movies and stale gameplay videos that seem to just raise the hype of the fan base and not give much relevant information as to what the upcoming patch or nerf is truly about. More info on what is being planned for the future of the company and future releases would also be great as well, as many of us are looking for some "out" from World of Warcraft, but are just too "gun shy" to go to another game at the moment as we feel WoW is the best thing on the market.
So please Blizz give us something to look forward too - cause you know damn well, there are many games this year looking to kick you down a peg and become King of the Mountain.
I have quite a feeling many of you do not know what I am speaking of, so I might as well direct you on over to the link to Blizzard Entertainment's career page to show you what exactly I am speaking of in the mean time.
http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/careers/directory.html#region=Americas
As you take a look at the many vacancies in the "Next Gen MMO" area right in the middle of the page - I'm sure you will wonder as I do, what could this game be? Sure it is not another expansion to World of Warcraft, but could it be something greater? Possibly the long awaited "Starcraft MMO" all of us have looked forward to in the past?
If this were true I know many of us would be quite pleased with something like that in most case, but there are quite a few people who have lost touch with the Blizzard IP in the past months and have taken on new games of choice, such as Trion World's little gem - Rift. Albeit World of Warcraft has lost some of it glitz and glam since the inception of Cataclysm with the game become almost "too user friendly" for most, but does that warrant the amount of players who seem to leave the game on a constant basis and then suddenly come back for almost no reason just to leave once more? I think not.
If Blizzard is going to start fresh with a new IP they will have to do something quite extraordinary and not stick to their guns like they have in the past or even start "dumbing down" many of the game systems to tailor to a much younger user base. Many of the players are frustrated by a sense of the game "too easy" and "fail sauce" because of how the game mechanics work, and many of the players who either quit during vanilla or during a previous expansion and have returned rarely stay for long to even try the new update to the game as they were expecting "more".
My final thought on this come the day BlizzCon kicks off in the morning is - I really would like to see more innovations from the crew at Blizzard, rather then just some CG Movies and stale gameplay videos that seem to just raise the hype of the fan base and not give much relevant information as to what the upcoming patch or nerf is truly about. More info on what is being planned for the future of the company and future releases would also be great as well, as many of us are looking for some "out" from World of Warcraft, but are just too "gun shy" to go to another game at the moment as we feel WoW is the best thing on the market.
So please Blizz give us something to look forward too - cause you know damn well, there are many games this year looking to kick you down a peg and become King of the Mountain.
Why SW:ToR can Surpass WoW - The Break Down
***ToR Can Easily Surpass WoW - Simple Subscription Basics***
Ok I'm sure not all of you know my background in the MMO Genre - but I do have a nice little tidbit of info for you concerning "The Big MMO" that is out there today (since BlizzCon is looming on our doorstep).
As of 2008 Blizzard has stopped recording the numbers of EU and NA subscribers that that are receiving and losing, and have began just tallying the "Global" sales numbers. Why do you ask? For one reason - it makes the figures a little more "bloated" when you take it to a global level.
Back in 2008 (at last recording) World of Warcraft only had about 2.5M active subscribers in the NA region. For comparison SW:ToR just in the NA region currently has about 675k Pre-Orders Sold from Vendor Clients (aka Amazon, GameStop, BestBuy, etc.), those numbers do not currently include what has been ordered digitally from Origin or any other online retailer as they cannot currently be added into the mix until the point of sale takes place.
http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/WoW.png
WoW Subscription Chart
If you take a look at the big dip in the chart above there was a massive loss in the player base between 2009 and 2010, this was right around the time the the third expansion "Cataclysm" had launched and many of the players had left for other MMO's. Yet as the chart shows once again many of those players were not held for very long in the games they played and had all come back to their beloved World of Warcraft.
Currently in 2011 it seems that there is once again a slow decline in the amount of players who are currently active in WoW - but what do the trends show (most likely that many will come back).
But as for the case on ToR being able to take on the "Big Stage" and competing with WoW in the NA and EU markets - I do believe they will be able to with the current numbers and innovations the game has shown so far and have left in the dust (such as a very redundant leveling and grinding system many games have, and the introduction of interactive character stories that immerse you in the world). Many of these features should keep players playing for quite some time and enjoying the systems in place, unlike many other games in the past.
I know many of you probably will not read this due to its length, but I do think it may provide some valuable insight into the state of the gaming community and trends in the market base if you go and take a look around the blog.
http://mmodata.blogspot.com/
MMOData Blog
Cheers All - I hope I provided some useful info for you all ;)
***ADDED***
http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/PCU-1.png
Peak Current Users
World of Warcraft's Peak users Online at one time is around 2M out of the 12M Global Subscriber Base - which to me seems slightly low for a game such as WoW with 12M active Subscriptions.
But this does not take into effect multiple accounts per single user household, just the subscriptions that are active at a given time.
Ok I'm sure not all of you know my background in the MMO Genre - but I do have a nice little tidbit of info for you concerning "The Big MMO" that is out there today (since BlizzCon is looming on our doorstep).
As of 2008 Blizzard has stopped recording the numbers of EU and NA subscribers that that are receiving and losing, and have began just tallying the "Global" sales numbers. Why do you ask? For one reason - it makes the figures a little more "bloated" when you take it to a global level.
Back in 2008 (at last recording) World of Warcraft only had about 2.5M active subscribers in the NA region. For comparison SW:ToR just in the NA region currently has about 675k Pre-Orders Sold from Vendor Clients (aka Amazon, GameStop, BestBuy, etc.), those numbers do not currently include what has been ordered digitally from Origin or any other online retailer as they cannot currently be added into the mix until the point of sale takes place.
http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/WoW.png
WoW Subscription Chart
If you take a look at the big dip in the chart above there was a massive loss in the player base between 2009 and 2010, this was right around the time the the third expansion "Cataclysm" had launched and many of the players had left for other MMO's. Yet as the chart shows once again many of those players were not held for very long in the games they played and had all come back to their beloved World of Warcraft.
Currently in 2011 it seems that there is once again a slow decline in the amount of players who are currently active in WoW - but what do the trends show (most likely that many will come back).
But as for the case on ToR being able to take on the "Big Stage" and competing with WoW in the NA and EU markets - I do believe they will be able to with the current numbers and innovations the game has shown so far and have left in the dust (such as a very redundant leveling and grinding system many games have, and the introduction of interactive character stories that immerse you in the world). Many of these features should keep players playing for quite some time and enjoying the systems in place, unlike many other games in the past.
I know many of you probably will not read this due to its length, but I do think it may provide some valuable insight into the state of the gaming community and trends in the market base if you go and take a look around the blog.
http://mmodata.blogspot.com/
MMOData Blog
Cheers All - I hope I provided some useful info for you all ;)
***ADDED***
http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/PCU-1.png
Peak Current Users
World of Warcraft's Peak users Online at one time is around 2M out of the 12M Global Subscriber Base - which to me seems slightly low for a game such as WoW with 12M active Subscriptions.
But this does not take into effect multiple accounts per single user household, just the subscriptions that are active at a given time.
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