Still half-asleep and thinking quite strongly about coffee, I stumbled across a YouTube video this morning that-well-got me to thinking about the future of gaming instead, and how awesome it's going to be. Take a look.
Pretty, isn't it? That seems to be the theme for 2009. Making things pretty. And not just graphically either, as it's not only the visuals that make a thing pretty. It's a lot to do with the way it flows, too. The smooth animations, side-rolls, jumps and flips; the elegant swishing of sword through the air, and the pretty colours that follow its trail.
I'm not going to delve too deeply into the credibility of the video here, as I know that quite a lot of it isn't correct. "Diablo 3," for instance, isn't an MMORPG -- not by the gamer's definition anyway. And I don't think "Kingdom Under Fire 2" is, either. The maker of this video doesn't seem to be in the know when it comes to gaming terminology, but he's compiled for us a wonderful look at some of the treats 2009 intends to offer, and we should be grateful nonetheless.
Had you heard of those games before? I'd seen a few of them floating around, but not all of them, and not "Mabinogi Heroes," that's for sure. "Blade and Soul," "Aion," "Diablo 3" -- we've all heard of these guys before, and we're all eagerly awaiting them, I would assume. But what about "Lineage 3"? I didn't even know it was being developed, let alone established enough to release a video. And what about this "Continent of the Ninth" business? Never heard of it before in my life, but damn, I can't wait to play it! I'd be interested to learn a bit more about "Silkroad Online 2," and "Red Stone 2," too. At the very least, the video's got me thinking.
Well, it's got me wondering more than thinking, really. Wondering about the quality of these games, and about the direction they'll be taking in their design. They're all strikingly pretty; we've covered that already. But what about the content? Are we destined to complete mundane "fed-ex" quests and samey PvP battles from now unto the end of time? Or do our faithful developers have something more in store for us? "Blade and Soul" seems to be winning that race at the moment, as by the looks of things we can be expecting some pretty intense wall-running action and destructible environments. That'll spice things up a little, no doubt, but what about the rest?
"Aion" has its flying, but I can see that getting old in a hurry. And "Lineage 3" will no doubt follow in a similar direction to its predecessor. Something along the lines of killing an assortment of enemies without rest for the next 7 years of your life in hopes for a spot in the next castle siege. "Diablo 3's" been a long time coming, but I can't see it changing its design, either. Blizzard is smarter than that, they know the power of their fans; change the "Diablo" formula too much and they'll be looking at the next World War.
No, it's the others that I'm more interested in. The "Mabinogi Heroes's," and "Continents of the Ninth's." These guys still have an element of unknown floating gracefully above their heads. There doesn't seem to be a lot of information about them yet, either, so for all we know they could simply be the same repetitive nonsense, too. But maybe, just maybe, one of them will be different. It might contain some unknown feature that changes the way we play MMO games forever. I know, I know. Wishful thinking, right? Well, we'll find out soon enough.
(And if I'm right, you owe me fifty bucks.)
Posted by Cody Hargreaves
April 3rd, 2009
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