I won't participate in the poll as I think it is totally incomplete. There are a few other really good MMOs coming soon that were not on that list. As far as the list is concerned, only one of those is even appealling to me (and I won't say which one).
Thereis nothing that says Cryptic (or any other MMO provider) could not offer "game effect" items at any time. If they can have MTs they can sell ANYTHING. It does not matter what someone representing the company says today because policy can change on a dime (pun intended). Even though it was not envolving MTs, does anyone remember SOE and the Star Wars Galaxies fiasco? And you want to trust these people why? Frankly, I will not pay for the boxed game; pay a subscription and then turn around and have MTs thrown in my face. I don't care how "good" the game might be. My guess is that some OTHER company will see this as an opprotunity to offer a similar game and use the fact that they do not offer MTs as one of many positive selling points.
I would have to state...it depends upon your definition of immersive. For me, it is a game that lets me loose myself in story while experiencing the gameplay. For me that would only be EVE Online at the moment and LOTRO. Out of the dozen or so MMO's I have played only those seem to keep me interested. However, I also know that I don't like playing ANY MMO if I can't do it with friends at least some of the time. While I can be a loner most of the time I really like sharing with friends. Take friends out of the equation then no amount of "immersion" is going to keep me in an MMO long.
I am one of those that liked KOTOR but not nearly as much as the hype. I found the story the most compelling but the gameplay was just frustrating. I hate turn based combat. My opinion. Bioware did a good job with tellling a story that was more then passible in a Star Wars setting. If the gameplay would have been better I would have rated it far higher.
The first Flashpoint was good. Arma (after being patched) was also pretty good. Since the second Flashpoint is not going to have the same "freedom" of the first, I will probably not be as excited to get this game. Also, since this Flashpoint is going the "dual release" mode (PC and Console), I don't think it will be anywhere as detailed (eye candy does not count). At this point, I am holding out for Arma 2 but not by much as it too is going the dual release mode of both platforms. Guess we will just have to wait and see.
I am sorry but I DID Beta testing on this game and it is not going to be anywhere near as good as the hype. Maybe it will get better after six months or so but I really think the game is unfinished and full of bugs that will kill a lot of enjoyment from the get go. As the reviewer in the article mentioned, you had better make sure you have ALL the system requirements just to run the game. If you don't, you had better hold off on this one until you get a better setup. My biggest "gripe" with this game is that it just is not much fun in the early levels. The controls are weaks. The graphics are only so so. But, if you don't want to take my word for it, go ahead and put up the money and try it. Or, hold off and read some of the reviews from other players after the first month and let them spend the money first.
There have also been some issues with EA's Master Servers during the last few weeks. The EA BF2142 forums have been rather full of people complaining about the random kicks and so-on.
I haven't priced a 360 since I bought mine 3 years ago but seems it cost something on the order of $500. For about $550, I could build my own computer that would surpass the 360. MS sells their XBOX for a loss atm. Companies that are only providing games via the console do so because they are the lowest common denominator when it comes to cost of developement. As to the statement that the systems in Star Wars: Force unleased would not run on anything less then a $4000 computer, that is very far from the truth. The 360 is acutally far less advanced then the low end computers of today. Therefore, SW:FU would run just fine on about any computer with a descent vid card. By the way, the console is still not the dominate gaming platform. According to NPD, the PC is still the most used platform for gaming. What that sales numbers have not shown the last few years is that fact that more PC users download their games or play MMO's today then the console. One MMO alone pulls in subscription numbers of 500,000 a month....month after month. That is just one MMO. PC are alive and kicking. Companies that fail to develop for them are the ones losing out in making money on them.
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