Curse

Bryant Again · Nov 26, 2007, 03:54 AM // 03:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antheus

This is why GW2 will do much better than GW.

Truth!

12 char

unienaule · Nov 26, 2007, 04:46 AM // 04:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by that site

Well...when you make games like Auto Assualt, this will happen.

That guy has a point.

Crom The Pale · Nov 26, 2007, 05:00 AM // 05:00

GW is a social network, I mean how many of us actually play the game rather than sit in a town and chat with people ????

Omniclasm · Nov 26, 2007, 05:12 AM // 05:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crom The Pale

GW is a social network, I mean how many of us actually play the game rather than sit in a town and chat with people ????

That is actually all I do : /

Zeek Aran · Nov 26, 2007, 05:13 AM // 05:13

...Lawl.

What's up with people making jokes or typos, then someone making a thread about it?

Brianna · Nov 26, 2007, 05:29 AM // 05:29

Life goes on, and I'm sure A-Net can manage something.

Redfeather1975 · Nov 26, 2007, 06:29 AM // 06:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryant Again

Truth!

12 char

I think so too.
I sometimes think that GW's direction in the past year may have been influenced by some corporate execs at NCsoft making suggestions to Anet on how to improve the game.
Sometimes publishers urge developers into changing things without realizing how gawd awful their suggestions are.
I remember seeing a special on Star Wars where corporate execs insisted on so many stupid suggestions, that the producer walked out of the meeting in disgust and they decided to finish the movie on their own.

Buster · Nov 26, 2007, 06:34 AM // 06:34

Way to early to say what is going to happen but it is quite interesting to say the least.

Kashrlyyk · Nov 26, 2007, 06:40 AM // 06:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaucE

They are only the publishers. I am sure ArenaNet can find another publisher if need be.

No, NCsoft OWNS ANet.

Redfeather1975 · Nov 26, 2007, 06:45 AM // 06:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kashrlyyk

No, NCsoft OWNS ANet.

Eeep. I just read the wiki and saw that.
I didn't know until now. I also thought NCsoft were just the publishers.

-Sonata- · Nov 26, 2007, 06:59 AM // 06:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by from the article

The Korea Times reports on one of NCsoft's new directions.......

I find nothing alarming in this article at all. It's not the first time a business has decided to branch out & tap into another market. Need examples? There was a time some critics thought the simplicity of Google would die as they ventured into new markets (Gmail, Docs, IM). How can google, who keeps it so simple, start getting so complicated by branching out? It will be their doom. From simple search engine to the addiction of you tube.

How many times did "critics" press the panic button on Nintendo after such failures as the Virtua-Boy?

Or how about Sony making a video game system? The what? A "Play station??". How silly. They make TV's and VCR's. A Gaming console? That will ruin their company. Sony has no business being in the Video Game market. They can never contend with the likes of Nintendo and Sega.

Microsoft? They have no business being in there either. Xbox? Pfft. Noone will buy a gaming console from the creators of the Blue Screen of Death. They will never give Sony a battle for market domination.

Yes, companies branching out always means the end of the world.

I'm sorry, but all I see is a lot of people yelling "Fire!", without actually seeing a blaze. I saw someone mention Auto Assault. I agree, that was bad, but I like looking at the big picture. Even the biggest gaming franchises in the world have had their bad releases. Mario had its bad releases. Zelda - remember the CD-ROM releases? Even the gamecube version had its split. You either liked it, or you didn't.

Many argue that Final Fantasy will never be the same again until they remove the "real time" battle system. XII wasn't exactly the glory days of the game series either.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be concern sometimes. None of us like big changes when we're in a comfort zone. Hell, if you went through the Star Wars Galaxies crisis like I did, that's enough to shake your confidence for life.

However, whether we like it, or not, social networking in relation to gaming is a huge market. See Xbox live for a great example of how it has proven successful. Actually, look right here at this very site. It might not be myspace, but forums, BBS services, profiles, and message centers just like Guru are the easiest and earliest examples of socialized networking. Sometimes the simplist answers are right under our noses.

If NCSoft wants to branch into that field and toy around with some new projects there, well, big whoop. I fail to see why this should be taken as an urgent alarm.

What does it mean for GW2? Last I checked, nothing.

By the way, what do we really know about GW2 and what it will actually be like to play it? Practically nothing. We have some quotes; mostly obscure ones at that. Some hunches, some assumptions, a few conception pieces of art, some articles with Jeff rambling about certain aspects, but nothing that gives away what it will actually be like when you play it. No demos, no videos (that I'm aware of), etc.

Still more than a year away from GW2. I'd like to say, "Please stay calm. Please type in an orderly fashion. There is no need to panic". Yet, it seems, a lot are content in waving their End of the World picket signs all while yelling that we're all going to die.

arcanemacabre · Nov 26, 2007, 07:08 AM // 07:08

Sonata, while you are correct about the benefits of expanding the brand, there is a difference between 'branching out' and a change in direction. It entirely depends on what NCSoft really wants to do, and the concern is that they aren't simply adding social networking to their game network, but shifting the entire company to focus only on that. If it's the former, then cool deal, good luck guys. If it's the latter, we might be looking at all their games up for bids, including GW, of course.

pamelf · Nov 26, 2007, 08:14 AM // 08:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crom The Pale

GW is a social network, I mean how many of us actually play the game rather than sit in a town and chat with people ????

Wow, i can think of nothing worse than sitting in towns and outposts, chatting to most of the braindead losers that hang there.

-Pluto- · Nov 26, 2007, 08:25 AM // 08:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryant Again

Another person who shares my exact same view.

In terms of a game, 3.5 million copies is good! That's a lot of dough. But in terms of an MMO it's barely above being a failure.

Compared to what? WoW? Last I checked, most MMOs don't scratch that number.

Faer · Nov 26, 2007, 08:47 AM // 08:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by -Pluto-

Last I checked, most MMOs don't scratch that number.

Last I checked, most MMOs are failures.

GhostRaptor · Nov 26, 2007, 08:49 AM // 08:49

Talk about missing the big picture... The article conveniently forgets that NC Europe and the various NC offices in the US are separate companies (owned by Korea, but still separate), and that there have been recent announcements relating to PS3 development. Purchasing the CoX IP isn't the sort of thing you'd expect from a company looking to offload gaming, either.

NC Europe is known to be building a dev studio currently, and known to have plans for at least one PS3 title. NC US has multiple first party and third party studios working on new and existing IP.

NC Korea could quite easily focus more of their efforts on new areas while leaving their US and Europe subsidiaries to continue doing what they currently do.

My interpretation from the sidelines: the article is speculation at best, and poorly constructed speculation at that.

arcanemacabre · Nov 26, 2007, 09:13 AM // 09:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by GhostRaptor

Talk about missing the big picture... The article conveniently forgets that NC Europe and the various NC offices in the US are separate companies (owned by Korea, but still separate), and that there have been recent announcements relating to PS3 development. Purchasing the CoX IP isn't the sort of thing you'd expect from a company looking to offload gaming, either.

NC Europe is known to be building a dev studio currently, and known to have plans for at least one PS3 title. NC US has multiple first party and third party studios working on new and existing IP.

NC Korea could quite easily focus more of their efforts on new areas while leaving their US and Europe subsidiaries to continue doing what they currently do.

My interpretation from the sidelines: the article is speculation at best, and poorly constructed speculation at that.

Well that's good, then. That tells me NCSoft is trying to 'expand' rather than changing industries entirely. That is a trait of a quality company, honestly, and if it really is what they are doing, I expect to hear more about NC in the future.

BTW: How ya been, Alex?

Dev121 · Nov 26, 2007, 09:46 AM // 09:46

Wait for community people to come and tell you loads of lies about everything is ok, then youll all be happy.

If they ever shut servers down we'd all be entitled to a full refund right? I mean we paid for a game and we should be able to play it whenever we want. Right.

arsie · Nov 26, 2007, 10:03 AM // 10:03

I think the most worrying bit is how their shares have halved in value. That means less cash to to play with.

I reckon this is probably more about future investments than existing ones. GW has an established name, so NCsoft is more likely to sell it off than to stop funding GW2, if it ever came to that.

Red Sonya · Nov 26, 2007, 10:38 AM // 10:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaucE

They are only the publishers. I am sure ArenaNet can find another publisher if need be.

I'm sure Sony would love to buy them out and start charging $15 a month to play GW hahahaha.

I sort of saw this coming though after the shutdown of "Auto Assault" that's bad bad bad business practice to just shut down a game after so many people paid out their hard earned dollars for it. Tabula Rasa is being a flop as well and that was one of the games they expected to fly on. You have to face it GWs is only popular because it has no monthly fee. Add a fee to GWs and you wouldn't have a 10th of the players playing it as you do now. Probably not 1/100th even. It's just not all that and that no monthly fee is the only thing keeping it alive.

Now wouldn't it suk if they released GW2 and then shut their doors on games. Hahah so many would be ripped off and since they are in Korea there's nothing you could do about it. lol