So I'm not going to lie here. I played World of Warcraft, for probably...3 or 4 years, I think. I can't remember if I started up in '04 or '05 (I stopped playing May of '08). Regardless, MMO's became a hugely distracting part of my life, to the extent that things were excluded because of it. But that's not the point of this. Recently, Bioware has been working on an MMORPG based on their Star Wars Old Republic universe (I say theirs, because they essentially created the time frame with Knights of the Old Republic). This presents a two-fold problem for me. One, I'm a huge fan of Star Wars, I read the extended universe, I play Star Wars video games, I read Wookiepedia when I'm bored...you get the point. Second, I'm a huge fan of Bioware. They've reached the same esteem with which I've held Blizzard in ever since Warcraft II - specifically when I see they're making a new game, I no longer question if it will be good or bad, I just buy the game and blindly hand over my cash. So you can see why this new game is a particularly potent kind of poison.

On the one hand, I do not particularly want to get back into an MMO, as I said; WoW was a...problem...for me. For my personality that game was essentially like crack, I was addicted to it, I will not lie. So you can understand me when I say I'm hesitant to pursue another game of the same genre. However, as I said above, it's Bioware, and it's Star Wars; metaphorically, the check has already been written.

But I must question how well the game will end up doing. A large part of the success from WoW comes from the fact that there is just so much to do in terms of endgame. There are countless instances to troll for new gear, dozens upon dozens of daily quests that can be repeated every day you log in, and factions with reputation you can grind to acquire new things with which to brag about. Blizzard rightly so has said not to try and copy them, because, simply put, you can't. They've been perfecting their "dangling carrot" strategy for 5 years, there is literally no way you can compete with them on their turf. To compete, you must innovate and pursue either an entirely different market segment or do something Blizzard doesn't.

This is what Bioware has done, really. In effect they've created Knights of the Old Republic 3 [Online]. Each of the 8 different classes gets their own storyline that is supposed to carry them from level 1 to level...whatever [the level cap is]. They will be fully voice acted and the player will have the option of "choosing their own adventure" that has become all the rage with RPG's lately in terms of dialogue choices. This is something Blizzard cannot compete with. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the mythos of their games as much as the next person, probably more. I'm a self-professed lore-whore. But Chris Metzen is a hack. I will not equivocate on this point, and as long as he's in charge of world building, Blizzard won't be able to hold a candle to Bioware. And Bioware is taking full advantage of that fact.

What time will show, however, is how well the game can stand after you've hit their level cap. In WoW I was a priest. There was no other class that brought me the same level of enjoyment, thus leveling 8 other alts really had little appeal to me. The same is going to be very true in this game. While technically there are only 4 classes (2 factions, 4 classes for each, just named different) there are supposed to be 8 origin stories, but am I going to have the same enjoyment level playing through as a Jedi as I would playing through as a smuggler? Am I going to want to play through it 8 different times? Am I going to like being a Sith Warrior more or less than a Jedi Knight even though they're essentially the same class? There is a lot of game out there.

Assume for a moment that I can't stand playing through as anything other than a Jedi Knight. I've invested probably dozens of hours playing through my individual storyline and now I want to go kick some Sith ass! Am I going to have the option of doing so? What if I suck at PVP (cuz I'm a n00b)? Am I going to have instanced options available to me? What about raids? Is my guild K|\|16ht5 going to be able to go take down some star destroyer (or whatever the Sith have)? Is the game going to go the cheap route and do the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" path and suddenly make Jedi and Sith fight together to save the universe from Generic Evil™? These are all very pressing questions.

Or are they even going to matter with this game? Has our - or perhaps must mine - collective conception of an MMO been so shaped by what has come before that we are unable to reconcile with this new idea? I admit that my exposure to MMO's has been limited primarily to Guild Wars and WoW, and thus isn't very expansive, but even those 2 followed very similar paths and ideas. Perhaps the game's biggest success will come primarily from the fact that it simply is KOTOR3[O] with some nice co-op features and that will be enough. Maybe Bioware isn't expecting huge monthly revenues from the game. Whether that's wise in itself is something different entirely.

So I suppose we're back where we started. Will the game really succeed? And will I be able to resist blindly buying it? Perhaps these are questions for a different time. Of course Bioware could just invite me into their closed beta whenever it starts. *wink*wink*

So...

Word has come through the interwebs that FF13 will not be released until 2010 stateside. This makes me angry on many levels.

As I am a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series, I have come to accept that Square will release their games when they will and wherever they want to (read: first NES, then SNES, then PSX, &c). I was quite surprised, however, to learn that FF13 will see a dual release, coming out on both the 360 and the PS3 in the US. Granted this is all old news, but the stage must be set.

The interesting thing to note here is that FF13 will not be showing up on the PS3 in Japan. This means that Square has to effectively build the game from the ground up, meaning they have to not only localize the PS3 version but build and localize (debatable if that's the proper term here as it's being built straight for US shores) the 360 version. Granted the English will already be translated, but regardless, they still have to code the game.

I was originally excited to see the departure to the 360. It's a wise business decision for Square, the 360 doesn't sell well in Japan but elsewhere, it sells quite well. So Square is simply following the market.

I was OK with this UNTIL THEY SAID I HAVE TO WAIT FOR MY FF13 UNTIL APRIL OF NEXT YEAR!!!!!

I hereby rescind my approval of Square's decision to release FF13 on the 360 and the PS3 and demand that it be released just on the PS3 so I can play it sooner. I have no shame in saying that part of my decision to purchase of PS3 was in anticipation of FF13; I just need my game!

So I have a theory

It's safe to say, at this point anyway, that the Wii is the current winner of the "current-gen" group of consoles. I realize it's the least powerful and doesn't have many of the same features as say the Xbox360 or the PS3, but in terms of sheer market penetration, it's the clear winner.

That being said it's always interesting to follow the trends of video games in terms of which console, specifically, developers produce for. If you follow any of the video game blog/websites (Kotaku, 1Up, IGN, etc) then you know that while the Wii has a very high console sale rate, it doesn't have the same attach rate as the Xbox 360. Moreover, if you look at the #1 sales for each console, the #1 sellers on the Wii are predominately Nintendo made products as made very evident by the fact that Wii Sports has sold approximately 80 bazillion copies world wide. What this all indicates is that 3rd party software developers aren't taking full advantage of the large population base available with the Wii.

I wonder why that is?

I have a few theories.

First, it's not a very powerful system. You could easily joke that the Wii is just 2 Gamecubes taped together. Nintendo never set out with creating the most powerful system when they made the Wii. They wanted a console that made money and was inexpensive so they could reach the largest population possible. When the 3 systems initially came out, the 360 was either $299.99 or $399.99. But the 299 version was crap, it basically came with nothing except a plug in controller, which pretty much meant nobody would buy it. Meanwhile, the Ps3 was so expensive I expect only people who sold their souls were able to afford one. At $499.99 or $599.99, the PS3 was out of a lot of people's budgets. The Wii rather had an unfair advantage over the competition.

All this, I must add, despite the fact that it's barely an upgrade of Nintendo's last gen outing in terms of sheer power.

Apparently, the Wiimote really is that fun to waggle

Ok, so you have a pretty wimpy system, developers seem to think people like pretty graphics, I don't have any demographics to prove that, but I'm sure somebody somewhere has analyzed this more in depth than I'm willing to do.

Secondly, the Wiimote is silly. Sure, it's fun to waggle around, but from my own experience, very few titles seem able to get it right. It's as if they add it on more as a gimmick. Nintendo on the other hand develops entire experiences around the Wiimote. Just look at Wii Sports, Wii Music, or Wii Play. Like or hate them, the entire experience is based upon and around the Wiimote, not the other way around.

Now I wonder whether Nintendo forces the use of motion control or if the developer feels they have to include it in order for the product to sell, regardless many games end up failing, I feel, because the control scheme is just crap, and perhaps this hurdle is just so high that developers don't bother and just stick with what they know.

It could be argued that the inclusion of a more standard controller could improve sales, or the removal of requirements (should any exist) regarding motion control could help, but I really don't think so. If anything they could do the same with just a few extra buttons (remember the PS3 and 360 have 8 buttons, the Wii on it’s best day has 6, and try using 2 of them mid-frantic combat). I think much of Nintendo's success is its own downfall (in that it caters more to a casual gamer than a hardcore gamer) because it has produced an image it has to live up to. I sometimes get the feeling that should something like Gears of War come out on the Wii the parents would be up in arms about how their child is going to be playing all these violent video games.

There is also the whole lack of network infrastructure with the Wii. You have to trade these ungodly large friend codes with people, AND there's no "network" that connects everybody for ease of interaction. I believe that much of Xbox's success in the realms of multi-player comes from its strong Xbox live infrastructure. Nintendo has NOTHING at all like that. Even Super Smash Brothers required you to trade large codes with friends so you could play with them, and then even with their match making service, and there was no voice chat. Granted I don't relish the idea of being called various racial slurs on any more networks than I already am, but seriously, it's only NOW with Animal Crossing that we're getting a voice chat capable Nintendo channel, but even then it's just a big mic, no headset, because, god forbid, children hear naughty words via a headset [as opposed to say, TV, movies, and who knows how many OTHER video games].

What am I getting at? Probably a couple of things.

First, Nintendo needs to implement some sort of "incentive" for the 3rd party developers out there. This means enticing them. Give them a few more buttons on the Wiimote, give them some kind of network infrastructure, anything, make your platform seem acceptable. Secondly, 3rd party developers need to just develop games for the Wii and say screw all to the others. Put out an RPG that isn't an "after thought" on the Wii. What would happen if you put out an exclusive RPG on the Wii that everybody wanted?
Look at SquareEnix with Dragon Quest 9 coming exclusively to the DS. They did it because the market penetration is HUGE. Who cares if the screen is a bit smaller or the graphics aren't as good as you can get on the 360/PS3. SquareEnix went after the device that most people own. And with the announcement of DQ10 coming EXCLUSIVELY to Wii, they're doing it again! They're saying FUCK ALL to the other consoles because simply put, THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE WITH A WII THAN THE OTHER CONSOLES.

Other developers need to do the same.

Screw graphics, screw whatever else, the audience is so fucking huge on the Wii you're being idiotic to ignore it and then turn around and say you're "catering to the hardcore" player. THE HARD CORE PLAYER HAS A WII TOO.