MMORPG.com put up a quick video discussing the upcoming Xbox 360 edition of Age of Conan with Funcom’s Jorgen Tharaldsen.
Nothing new was really mentioned. The 360 edition will not be a port; the PC and 360 games are being developed by two different teams, etc. The MMORPG GUI needs a total re-thinking when brought to a console, etc. Console gamers prefer more direct interaction than PC gamers… huh? Here I thought we simply preferred good games, regardless of platform and level of interaction. Plenty of card games, turn-based games, etc. being played on consoles, they’re not exclusively shooters. I mentioned previously that AoC’s combat is button-mashing of a variety I haven’t seen since back when fighting games were popular. Seriously, I feel like I’ve pressed 1,2,3 more in the past month in AoC than in every other game I’ve played in the past 3 months combined. And I’m still in Tortage with only 3-step combos so far…
I still haven’t put my finger exactly on the reason why this is, but I still get the feeling from the movement (when I’m not getting stuck on terrain for no apparent reason) in AoC that it would make a good console RPG. My initial comparison to Two Worlds stays, though more from the perspective of camera placement in relation to the character. One good thing about a 360 version is that it will “just work” because it’s designed specifically for the 360’s hardware. I’m still seeing performance boosts here and there in Live Test but it’s been no secret that AoC has been bringing many computers coughing and sputtering to their knees.
Communication will likely be an issue. Many people still avoid VOIP so forcing all 360 players to use it won’t work. If PC and 360 players are on the same servers (did Funcom ever officially say how this would be dealt with?) we can’t expect a text-to-voice-to-text solution. We need text chat on all platforms. We’re so accustomed to typing in chat with our keyboards. Can you imagine having a lengthy conversation using a GUI ‘keyboard’ with the default 360 controller? The good thing is that the 360 has USB ports and will accept any USB keyboard (including wireless) which will take care of that issue, although now we have a keyboard sitting in the living room floor or on the coffee table, in the way. Microsoft has their Messenger Kit with its “chat pad” accessory that snaps directly into the 360’s controller. Typing will need to be addressed in an easy and logical manner in the console edition. For that matter, chatting needs to be addressed in the PC edition, but that’s another story…
Finally, I’ve said this before that the availability of MMO’s on the 360 may finally call into question Microsoft’s membership and pricing schemes. Ok, Final Fantasy XI has a 360 version but… it’s FFXI, did anyone ever care about this? Here’s how it works: Xbox Live has two membership levels, Gold and Silver. Silver is the basic membership allowing players to have a friend list, chat with friends (text and voice), access the Marketplace for XBL Arcade games, demos, video rentals etc. and the ability to play MMOGs. Gold membership has increased friend list capabilities and the most important draw for players: the XBL multi-player match-making system. Gold members have to pay for the additional services; Silver members can’t play over XBL. MMO’s, obviously, are hosted on their respective servers which is how Silver (free) players are able to play MMO’s; the game directs them to the MMO servers, never touching XBL itself. I’d venture to say most XBL players are Gold members, though, since the multi-player match-making is the #1 feature of XBL. Players, perhaps parents especially (although AoC is rated M right? Uh huh…) may balk at spending even more money to play console games online. I’m hoping AoC is popular enough and has enough demand to maybe get Microsoft to drop or eliminate the fees for Gold membership. After all, it’s nothing more than peer-to-peer match-making, and MS has been doing that since their old Zone.com days for free on the PC. If Microsoft was actually hosting dedicated servers, etc. I could see them charging what they currently do for Gold membership. Here’s hoping, but I’m not willing to hold my breath that Microsoft will change, or even bat an eyelash.
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