Disclaimer: The views of the writer in no way match the views of rest of the Lore Hound crew. In fact, they are just as disturbed by this post as you are.

People like to dabble in role-playing, right? We automatically assume certain roles in our day-to-day interactions, we occasionally imagine ourselves as different characters living in fictional universes, we role-play during sex… and where was I? Oh yes, role-playing.

Today, I’m going to role-play an armchair game designer. And not just any game designer, but a jaded, angry, border-line maniacal fellow who wants to bludgeon you with a vicious-ass trout. Get ready because this is going to be a rant of sorts, and boy, do I have an axe to grind.

Recently, a number of gaming-related portals have posted PvP Impressions for Star Wars: the Old Republic. Turns out, the new mechanics in the game allow fights to last longer due to a lack of burst damage at mid-levels, an anti-crowd control measure for each class and an unusual approach to tanking. With regards to the latter, in most MMORPGs, the various taunts and aggro-related skills for tanks only work in PvE, with no consequence for enemy players. However, SW:TOR’s PvP mechanics make active use of those skills by having a slightly different effect. A taunted player, for example, will do -50% less damage to everyone besides the person who put the effect on him. Another example is the guard ability, which will allow tanks to take damage instead of enemies.

SWTOR seems to be taking a page from Warhammer Online, which has made use of some of the mentioned tanking mechanics for PvP. There is ‘nothing’ wrong in borrowing good ideas from other sources, provided they can be implemented into your game, right? Right. What really strikes me as odd are the people writing about their SW:TOR experience and commenting how fresh these mechanics felt. Come again? Continue Reading

Here’s the transcript from iTZKooPA’s liveblog coverage of the Diablo III gameplay panel at BlizzCon 2010.

12:32 Hey Lore Hounds. Sorry we’re starting this late. The convention doesn’t have wireless so had to run upstairs.

12:33 Kevin Martens is up discussing the class mechanics. The first topic is the skill user interface.

12:33 The UI shown last year was considered “unwieldy and overwhelming.”

12:34 The designers tried a tabbed approach, as seen in WoW.

12:34 Unfortunately, they found that a lot of people didn’t realize there are other tabs, so in came the list.

12:35 The current UI is a modification of the list, smaller, more compact and “more straightforward.”

12:35 At a glance you know what to do.”

12:37 We’re on to new class skills.

12:37 Meteor is back, and far more powerful if some runes are spent in it.

12:37 Spirit Walk is one of the movement abilities that they have added. The With Dr can basically go incorporeal and walk around.

12:38 Monk receives the Wave of Light, combing mystic arts and martial arts. Continue Reading

There are a lot of games being made out there. In fact there are so many being made across all platforms (Wii, PC, 360, PS3, DS, PSP, PS2, etc etc) that there are bound to be at least one or two titles that could very easily be made into an MMORPG given the story, world, or just playstyle. Some games, developer’s and publisher’s permiting, were made to be an MMORPG, and I have my personal picks right here. Enjoy.

1. Mario. I know what you are thinking: “how can you possibly make an MMO out of a platforming game such as Mario?” Well that is left up to the developers. You see, what makes Mario such a great idea for an MMORPG isn’t the gameplay mechanics but the world. Like it or not the Mushroom Kingdom is an awesome world and one that is ripe for exploration and dungeons. The setting already has numerous enemies, towns, and a very large world. I’m not saying you would play as Mario, himself, but rather an anonymous person within the world. Perhaps they could even throw in some RvR gameplay mechanics and allow people to be on the “evil” side. I would totally rock a Goomba. Any naysayers need just look at what Square and Nintendo did with Mario RPG, the game was amazing.
2. Zelda. You knew this one was coming. Seriously, Hyrule is one of the most epic kingdoms in any game anywhere. Again, Nintendo has set the stage with a huge world filled with multiple towns and a very real “bad guy”. I am, however, thinking this game could follow a more “Guild Wars”-esque style of [M]MORPG as opposed to a fully blown out WoW-styled MMORPG. The game could be more story-centric and provide some awesome side-games/quests. Zelda is known for its awesome extras.
3. Pokemon. Nintendo serves up yet another awesome MMORPG idea. This is the last one, I promise. Pokemon started out way back when in the hayday of the Gameboy and was an instant success. The whole idea of capturing monsters and fighting other people with em is already an MMO unto itself, it is just lacking the other players. Although for those interested you can find a neat freebie Pokemon MMORPG here.
4. Elder Scrolls: Any of them. Bethesda has created some awesome games, most notably Morrowind and Oblivion their perspective action-RPG games. The worlds are huge and incorporate a number of awesome skills combined with a near flawless FPS-type gameplay. This game/world is a PVPers wet dream and could be incorporated in nearly every aspect of the world. Of course, with this type of system, it is obvious that the people with better computers will be better players. Thats how these types of games work, I’m afraid. Still a good idea though, in my opinion, and with the opening of a new online studio this could very well become a reality.
5. Knights of the Old Republic. Everybody knew this one was coming. In fact, I’d have feared for my life if I didn’t include this game. People are fanatical about it becoming an MMORPG and with good reason; the game is a masterpiece. BioWare created an awesome story for their version of the Star Wars empire and it only further proves as to what good story-telling can do. With this game set as a base for the background story the MMORPG could sweep in and play off of that. Of course with the recent revealing of a LucasArts and Bioware deal many hopefuls are already expecting the game to be in development. Unfortunately, we have our doubts.

Those are my top 5 picks for games that could/should be amde into an MMORPG. A lot of people will disagree with my choices, and some will probably have very good reasons. There are problems when making each one into an MMORPG as MMORPGs play very differently than most other types of games. However, given the time and work, any one of these games could be made into a stellar success. Is there any particular non-MMORPG game you’d like to see become an MMO? Tomorrow I’ll be listing my top 5 games that should NOT be an MMORPG, ever. Ever ever ever. No matter what.