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Edain Shadowstar
Senior Scribe
  
USA
455 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2003 : 04:53:05
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From the Turbine Entertainment Software website (http://www.turbinegames.com/):
quote: ATARI PARTNERS WITH TURBINE TO DEVELOP DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE Companies to Usher in New Era of Massively Multiplayer Gaming in 2005
LOS ANGELES - May 15, 2003 - At the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Atari (Nasdaq: ATAR) and Turbine today jointly announced plans to bring Wizards of the Coast's incredibly popular gaming universe, Dungeons & Dragons® (D&D®), to the world of massively multiplayer games with Dungeons & Dragons® Online. This innovative online role-playing game will be the first project developed, funded and run by Turbine Entertainment, creators of the critically acclaimed Asheron's Call and Asheron's Call 2. Dungeons & Dragons Online will provide players with the definitive online Dungeons & Dragons experience, complete with dramatic dungeon crawling, terrifying monster combat and challenging puzzles, character advancement and guild-based power struggles.
"We've been looking for perfect opportunities to enter into the world of massively multiplayer online gaming and there is no fantasy gaming brand with more recognition than Dungeons & Dragons," said Bruno Bonnell, chairman and CEO of Atari. "The key to a productive business model for online gaming is having quality content that consumers will pay for. Dungeons & Dragons Online will build on the huge amount of established content in the D&D worlds. It has the potential to be that killer online app…that breakthrough title that sets a new standard for the medium."
Slated for release in 2005, Dungeons & Dragons Online is centered on robust character advancement, challenging dungeon combat, meaningful guild politics and territorial control over major portions of the game world. Players choose and develop a character based on some of the iconic races associated with D&D, including Humans, Elves and Halflings, as well as classes such as Fighters, Clerics, Rogues, and Wizards - after which they can socialize, find quests, group together and equip themselves for future battles.
"Dungeons & Dragons is the ultimate fantasy role-playing game. It has introduced more people to game playing than any other title and has spawned hosts of imitators and admirers," said Jeffrey Anderson, president and CEO, Turbine Entertainment. "The social backbone of D&D gaming -- groups of friends creating adventures and worlds to explore together -- along with its rich fiction, immense monster bestiary, and complex character development make it a natural for the next generation of massively multiplayer game."
Dungeons & Dragons Online will let players travel alone or in parties as they explore the seemingly endless dungeon complexes found beneath the world. Through the dungeons, players will engage in physical and magical combat with hideous foes straight from the pages of the Monster Manual™ rulebook. Battle will be challenging, fast-paced, and easy to control with a wealth of unique weapon effects and character movements, as well as specific monster behaviors designed to keep combat both tactical and action packed.
About Turbine Entertainment Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. is a leading provider of online subscription entertainment. Both a creative and technological innovator, Turbine is revolutionizing how stories are told and engaging players within a central role-playing experience. The company's proprietary engine, TTE™, has produced some of the most sophisticated 3D graphics available in the world, creating such memorable titles as Asheron's Call, Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty, and Asheron's Call 2. Formed in 1994 and employing over a hundred employees, Turbine is the largest and oldest online studio in New England. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.turbinegames.com.
About Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS), is the worldwide market share leader in the trading card game and tabletop roleplaying game categories. A leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products, the company holds an exclusive patent on the method of playing trading card games (TCGs) and produces the world's best-selling Pokémon® and Magic: The Gathering® TCGs. Publisher of adventure games, family card and board games and electronic media products, Wizards of the Coast is also one of the world's premiere book publishers of fantasy series fiction. For more information, visit the Wizards of the Coast® website at wizards.com.
Pokémon is a registered trademark of Nintendo. Wizards of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, and Monster Manual are trademarks or registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast Inc. ©2003 Wizards.
About Atari New York-based Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) develops interactive games for all platforms and is one of the largest third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Company's 1,000+ titles include hard-core, genre-defining games such as Driver™, Enter the Matrix™, Neverwinter Nights™, Stuntman™, Test Drive®, Unreal® Tournament 2003, and Unreal® Championship; and mass-market and children's games such as Backyard Sports™, Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues™ and Dora the Explorer™, Civilization®, Dragon Ball Z® and RollerCoaster Tycoon®. Atari, Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext 5257), the largest interactive games publisher in Europe. For more information, visit www.atari.com.
All I can say is: WHY GOD? WHY??? I'm sorry, but nothing but bad things can come from this. Talk about taking a great game and defiling it in a way I wouldn't wish upon Stalin. Now remember, Turbine Entertainment claims responsiblility for such 'great' games as Asheron's Call and Asheron's Call 2. I would say more but this just boggles the mind. I seriously hope this project gets cancelled before it can come to fruition.
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Edain Shadowstar Archwizard of Rel Astra and Waterdeep
"Mmm…pie…" - Gaius Solarian, Captain General |
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Mournblade
Master of Realmslore
   
USA
1288 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2003 : 19:30:06
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Hmmm...
I have never been a fan of online roleplaying games. INfact I really never even played BG or anything as multiplayer (except for generating my own party of six characters.)
Leave the online gaming to Everquest, it has been established and IS what it IS. I just hope this does not mess up Black Isles gaming liscence.
Asheron's call? Who REALLY plays that game anyway????
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A wizard is Never late Frodo Baggins. Nor is he Early. A wizard arrives precisely when he means to... |
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Edain Shadowstar
Senior Scribe
  
USA
455 Posts |
Posted - 18 May 2003 : 01:43:52
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| Enough people for them to make Asheron's Call 2. |
Edain Shadowstar Archwizard of Rel Astra and Waterdeep
"Mmm…pie…" - Gaius Solarian, Captain General |
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Yasraena
Senior Scribe
  
USA
388 Posts |
Posted - 18 May 2003 : 20:26:53
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| MMORPG's are just ridiculous. There is NO WAY I'm going to pay the $40-$50 for the game itself, and then pay an additional $10-$20 a month to be able to play it. I don't care how cool the gameplay or graphics are. |
"Nindyn vel'uss malar verin z'klaen tlu kyone ulu naut doera nindel vel'bolen nind malar." Yasraena T'Sarran Harper of Silverymoon |
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Lord Rad
Great Reader
    
United Kingdom
2080 Posts |
Posted - 18 May 2003 : 21:23:31
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quote: Originally posted by Yasraena
MMORPG's are just ridiculous. There is NO WAY I'm going to pay the $40-$50 for the game itself, and then pay an additional $10-$20 a month to be able to play it. I don't care how cool the gameplay or graphics are.
I totally agree Yasraena. Monthly subscription charges are ridiculous. Buying the game itself should be enough payment. Im not a fan of online gaming, not that i have anything against it, I have never actually played online, purely due to time restrictions. Im sure its all very enjoyable, but I doubt its worth a subscription charge. |
Lord Rad
"What? No, I wasn't reading your module. I was just looking at the pictures"
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branmakmuffin
Senior Scribe
  
USA
428 Posts |
Posted - 19 May 2003 : 18:12:17
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Agreed, Yasraena and Rad. Why would anyone bother paying to play D&D online when they can play NwN for free?
The only appeal (not to me, however) I could see is the "massive" part. However, we all know there are too many 15-year old wannabe Conans with enough of mommy and daddy's money to spend to make the thing work.
Marketing gimmickry makes me barf. |
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Edain Shadowstar
Senior Scribe
  
USA
455 Posts |
Posted - 20 May 2003 : 01:42:17
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FYI, just to illustrate how much I dislike Turbine right now, look what else they are planning to make:
quote: The Lord of the Rings: Middle-Earth Online (sometimes abbreviated to Middle-Earth Online or MEO) will be the ultimate Online Role Playing Experience. Fans of Tolkien, and of fantasy in general, will be immersed in the epic conflict of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Players will be adventurers, fighting against or with the forces of evil, all across the lands featured in the books; explorers, charting new domains and unexplored depths, or master craftsmen, serving the towns or cities of Middle-earth. They will be able to own homes in signature locations like Bree, The Shire, or the deep woods near Elrond's realm of Rivendell. MEO will also provide an opportunity for fans to experience the story of the Fellowship from a powerful new perspective -- that of the peoples of Middle-earth. They will witness and participate in the tumultuous impact of the War of the Ring on the lands and feel the chaos stirred by the passage of the Fellowship. As citizens of Middle-earth, they will be called upon to choose a side, and in so doing, forge their own destiny.
That's right folks, Turbine is also going to try and make The Lord of the Rings into a MMORPG. Another legend defiled by a foolish corporation. Another Why God? Why??? moment. |
Edain Shadowstar Archwizard of Rel Astra and Waterdeep
"Mmm…pie…" - Gaius Solarian, Captain General |
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Mournblade
Master of Realmslore
   
USA
1288 Posts |
Posted - 20 May 2003 : 02:15:56
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I just got into an Argument about the Middle earth with my friend. I think it is a TERRIBLE idea!!!! Imagine if the y include D&D type spells like Fireball!!! It will ruin the idea of middle earth. Marketers just RAVAGE intellectual property!
They always try to disguise the marketing with cool gimmics, but remember POOP spelled backwards is still only ****E!!!
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A wizard is Never late Frodo Baggins. Nor is he Early. A wizard arrives precisely when he means to... |
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