“But my focus was on MMOGs; specifically, the no less than 25 new MMOGs in development that will be coming to market over the next 2 years. In this report, I will summarize my impressions of the upcoming titles, including both gameplay and commercial expectations.”

E3 2005 MMOG Report

NCsoft reactivated my City of Heroes account for five days in an attempt to tempt me back:

The recent arrival of Issue #4 and PvP marks a milestone in the history of City of Heroes and we’re celebrating by granting you 5 FREE days of game play! There’s no better time to check out the multitude of new features and updated game content the streets of Paragon City™ have to offer.

From the innovative Costume options of Issue 4, to the Epic Archetypes and Zone Events of Issue 3, to the exciting Zones/Villain Groups/Trials of Issue 2...there’s something new for everyone to enjoy!

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I finally got around to playing the demo of Psychonauts I downloaded a little while back, and liked it so much I considered purchasing it.

However, it doesn't seem to be on the release schedules - at least, not the PC version anyway. Amazon.co.uk has the Xbox version, but no listing for the PC. Given it's been released in the US since April, this seems odd...

Update - reply from Amazon:

At the moment we do not have any plans to release the PC version of “Psychonauts”. However this may change in future and we would advise you to keep checking on the website.

Update 2 - from Majesco (the publisher), who seemed unconcerned:

The game is very big and will take some time to localize so it will be awhile before it hits your area (and when it does it will be on Xbox, PS2 and PC). It probably won't be sooner than fourth quarter but that's still to be determined. We'll keep you updated as it comes
together.

I mused on why they needed to localise a game in English for the UK...

It's being localized for several territories and must launch at the same time. PC will be included but as I said, it will be a long time. You could always order the US version from a US retailer and have them ship it to you though. EBGames.com and GameStop.com both sell it. DoubleFine.com does too.

I ended up ordering from Doublefine (since they're the developer) - even with the £ dropping a touch, it's only £27 including shipping.

With news like this:

“Mythic Entertainment announced they've acquired the license and are developing a massively multiplayer version [of Warhammer] planned for release in 2007.”

PC Games: E3 2005: Warhammer Online

Came the complaints like this:

“Why aren't they making a 40k MMORPG! It would make more sense to have a game in a time period that hasn't been exploited to the fullest by other game companies. Being a space marine in the grim future where there is only war would be TIGHT!”

Mythic Acquires MMORPG Warhammer Rights

Whereas I would suggest this is the only option...

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Couple of things from Gamespy's early preview of Turbine's renamed Lord of the Rings Online (née Middle-Earth Online) struck me.

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There's apparently some fuss over in Star Wars Galaxies resulting from a recent overhaul of the combat system. SOE's El Presidente John “Smed” Smedly arose from his dark chamber to opine:

“Please understand that we love this game too.. our goal wasn't to upset the existing userbase.. but we do recognize that changing a game does inherently mean some people aren't going to like that change. What we're trying to do is to insure that we can accomplish a lot of what you've all been asking us to do (things like Galactic Civil War) in really cool and meaningul ways.. and frankly speaking, we just couldn't do that with the old combat system in place.”

Combat Upgrade - General Game Discussion - Star Wars Galaxies Official Forums

Now, I've never played SWG so I can't say whether the new system is so much worse than the old or it's your usual generic “we phear change” MMOG whining. But, if it does suck so much, you'd have to say of all the films to base a game on, with this one they really should have been aware that just because you created something and love it doesn't mean your follow-up ideas don't blow goats.

My earlier issue with The Matrix Online has been solved. However I can't seem to build up any enthusiasm for playing it. Maybe I'm too jaded with MMOGs or, coming on top of the highly derivative WoW, it's just not different enough from what's gone before to pique any interest.

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