Gundam Online

[mbs357]

http://www.universalcentury.net

Looks like the game is nearing completion in Japan...so I hear.

I'm also suprised I didn't find anything on it in here. D=

Hopefully it'll come stateside. Looks like it'll be my first MMORPG if it does. =D

[CID]

That game looks promising. I hope that it is buy once type, not the monthly payment type of online game.

[VF19]

JUST GET IT OUT IN THE US!

I hope its twitch gameplay.....id hotwire my steel battalion controller to it.....

[Jolly Rogers]

Considering the sad state of UC Gundam in the US, I doubt it'd come out here. They didn't even bother bringing over OYW games like Giren's Greed, which I'd expect to require less translation work involved due to the repetitive nature of the battles.

Seeing as how they crippled the Encounter in Space PS2 game's online feature for the US release - they can't even be bothered (or too cheap) to set up a server for MS skin downloads and custom pilot rankings, expect Bandai's Gundam MMORPG release in the US to be fee-based like FFXI.

Edited June 27, 2004 by Jolly Rogers

[CID]

Considering the sad state of UC Gundam in the US, I doubt it'd come out here. They didn't even bother bringing over OYW games like Giren's Greed, which I'd expect to require less translation work involved due to the repetitive nature of the battles.

Seeing as how they crippled the Encounter in Space PS2 game's online feature for the US release - they can't even be bothered (or too cheap) to set up a server for MS skin downloads and custom pilot rankings, expect Bandai's Gundam MMORPG release in the US to be fee-based like FFXI.

That would suck if they charge every month. I probably will have to miss out on this one also. Like most other great online games (Except CS), since I cannot justify spending $$$, when I play games maybe once in a blue moon.

[McKlown]

What I have always found annoying is that they put up that "We have not made any announcements about a US release." after they had already shown off an alpha build of the game at the 2003 E3.

[Capt Hungry]

There was a group working on a Gundam total conversion for Quake 3. I am not sure if they have finished or not, but at least something like that would be free.

Edit in: Gundam Universe Total Conversion

Seems that there might be a beta sometime soon.

Edited June 27, 2004 by Capt Hungry

[yellowlightman]

Considering the sad state of UC Gundam in the US, I doubt it'd come out here. They didn't even bother bringing over OYW games like Giren's Greed, which I'd expect to require less translation work involved due to the repetitive nature of the battles.

Giren's Greed came out before Gundam's US debut, so I'm not how that really applies. That said though, GG has a lot of voice work to translate and dub as well as a lot of general text and information. Not to mention the fact that more hardcore sim games don't do too well anyways...

[CID]

There was a group working on a Gundam total conversion for Quake 3. I am not sure if they have finished or not, but at least something like that would be free.

Edit in: Gundam Universe Total Conversion

Seems that there might be a beta sometime soon.

Wow, that really looks nice. I did not look at the site carefully, except the photos. hanks for the link. I guerss I just need to get Quake 3 now...

[Skull Leader]

I don't know what would make anyone think they wouldn't have to pay a subscription to play an online game. Games that play online and do not require a subscription (FPS don't count, and Ragnarok does not count as it is still in open Beta) are completely a rarity (somehow "Neverwinter Nights" managed to pull that off, but I don't know offhand of any other games of significance that have been like this.)

Bottom line: Online game of worth + no subscription = pipedream (or nearly so)

At any rate, I don't see this game getting very far.

[Mellow Yellow]

Guildwars will be a mmorpg that you won't have to pay a monthly fee for

http://www.guildwars.com/

I played on the last day of the E3 beta, and it seemed pretty cool. My group got owned by an army of invading npc beasts during a quest tho The game interface and graphics are that of a slightly more simplified Lineage II, since the game is also made by NCsoft.

Edited June 27, 2004 by Mellow Yellow

[yellowlightman]

I don't know what would make anyone think they wouldn't have to pay a subscription to play an online game. Games that play online and do not require a subscription (FPS don't count, and Ragnarok does not count as it is still in open Beta) are completely a rarity (somehow "Neverwinter Nights" managed to pull that off, but I don't know offhand of any other games of significance that have been like this.)

I thought Ragnarok Online charged per-month now?

[Skull Leader]

It's entirely propable that they do. It's been a few months since I've looked at it, don't really keep up on it!

Mellow: I was referring to games that have already been established, and I acknowledged that they DO happen, they're just really rare (to be free and actually WORTH playing)

[Skippy438]

Considering the sad state of UC Gundam in the US, I doubt it'd come out here.  They didn't even bother bringing over OYW games like Giren's Greed, which I'd expect to require less translation work involved due to the repetitive nature of the battles.

Giren's Greed came out before Gundam's US debut, so I'm not how that really applies. That said though, GG has a lot of voice work to translate and dub as well as a lot of general text and information. Not to mention the fact that more hardcore sim games don't do too well anyways...

But the PS2 version came out after Gundam's US release, and as far as I can tell was drastically updated, so Bandai could've done some simultaneous translation as they were developing it.

[McKlown]

Guildwars will be a mmorpg that you won't have to pay a monthly fee for

http://www.guildwars.com/

I played on the last day of the E3 beta, and it seemed pretty cool. My group got owned by an army of invading npc beasts during a quest tho The game interface and graphics are that of a slightly more simplified Lineage II, since the game is also made by NCsoft.

Guildwars isn't a full-on MMORPG. The devs have classified it as a CMORPG(competitive multiplayer online RPG) or somesuch, I forgot the exact term they used. The game is actually being made by Arenanet, a bunch of ex-Blizzard employees who were the creators of Battlenet and the Diablo games. NCsoft is just the publisher, so the games aren't using the same engines. L2 is using the Unreal engine of all things, and Guildwars and CoH are using their own custom built engines.

Anyway, GW won't have any monthley fees because Arenanet as managed to stream-line the network code enough that the money brought in from expansion packs will be able to cover the maintence costs.

[Mellow Yellow]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification, McKlown

[Jolly Rogers]

What I have always found annoying is that they put up that "We have not made any announcements about a US release." after they had already shown off an alpha build of the game at the 2003 E3.

They showed a trailer in an earlier Anime Expo too when demos of Fed vs Zeon DX for PS2 were on display.

"We have not made any announcements/decisions about a US release" = it won't come out, period.

There's also the PS1/DC version of Giren's Greed that's been out around the time Rise from the Ashes for DC was released in the US.

All Blizaard online games are free, no monthly fee required...

[McKlown]

All Blizaard online games are free, no monthly fee required...

Yeah, that's because until now all the games ran off player-made servers. Now that they're putting out WoW they've jumped onto the monthly fee bandwagon.

[Tekkaman Blade]

Sorry for bumping up an old topic, but I was wondering...

I checked the site recently to see how the UC: Gundam Online project was going and I noticed the english version of the site was missing.

I used to keep track of the site and check out the LIVE Model designs thing every month. Back then it had an english version.

Could someone tell me if I just happened to miss the english language button or if they actually dropped english from their site?

That would really suck. It's like a sign that they're going to release it in Japan only and don't want english so as to get our hopes up.

[Ed.Coli]

They dropped the English version of the site a while ago, back when UC.net went into their beta phase. It wasn't really much of a surprise, as they never had any solid plans for a US release anyhow. It's kind of a shame, really; it looked incredibly promising.

[Hurin]

That game looks promising.  I hope that it is buy once type, not the monthly payment type of online game.

Uh, I don't think you'll ever see a massively multiplayer online game (MMOGs) that doesn't have a monthly charge.

Exactly how do you anticipate that working? The game company must maintain the game servers, a data center, and the high bandwidth connections to them. Further, all (I believe) MMOGs feature ongoing upgrades and conent additions (a lot of it being free between expansion packs). Then you have the tech support and in-game "gamemaster" type help.

All of this has to be paid for. . .

Does anyone think that $39-59 for a retail box will pay for all of this indefinitely? After your fourth year of playing the game (yes, some people do play them that long). . . don't you think your $50 might be stretched a bit thin considering all the bandwidth and storage space you've consumed on the game servers?

And, finally, if you continue to play the game, you're probably not playing/buying other games. I barely played any other games during the two years I played Ultima Online. So, my $10.00 was actually a bargain for me because it kept me from buying another game for $50.

H

Edited March 24, 2005 by Hurin

[Jolly Rogers]

They can always sell in-game ads to help generate revenue. A lot of sports games already do that, and it's helped to push the price of these games down to $19.99.

It's not that much of a stretch to think that Coke and Pepsi will still be around even in UC 0079.

[Opus]

They can always sell in-game ads to help generate revenue. A lot of sports games already do that, and it's helped to push the price of these games down to $19.99.

It's not that much of a stretch to think that Coke and Pepsi will still be around even in UC 0079.

In the future, everything is Taco Bell.

[Tekkaman Blade]

Like the McDaniel's in Side-6. they could actually make it a McDonald's if they want to advertise in the game.

[Jolly Rogers]

They can always sell in-game ads to help generate revenue.  A lot of sports games already do that, and it's helped to push the price of these games down to $19.99.

It's not that much of a stretch to think that Coke and Pepsi will still be around even in UC 0079.

In the future, everything is Taco Bell.

Sex without swapping bodily fluids = a sucky future

[Zentrandude]

heh the five seashells (dont push the pink one)

[Lynx7725]

Uh, I don't think you'll ever see a massively multiplayer online game (MMOGs) that doesn't have a monthly charge.

Uhm, not true. VitalSign is a MMOFPS (???!?!) that is, for the casual player, practically free after the initial s/w purchase (which is about USD5~6).

The game isn't terribly good -- I've tried it, nothing really much more than a FPS with some online store to buy special equipment with virtual credits -- but you can play forever because they instituted a small daily topup of virtual credit.

(FYI, every game you play will deduct from the credit too.)

If you play beyond your credit limit, you get booted from the server.. You can add more by purchasing pre-paid card, but there's really no monthly charge AFAIK.

Frankly speaking, I don't even play that game anymore, it's just.. pointless. Lots of leet teens do play it, it's like one big IRC channel with guns to them.

[Hurin]

Uh, I don't think you'll ever see a massively multiplayer online game (MMOGs) that doesn't have a monthly charge.

Uhm, not true. VitalSign is a MMOFPS (???!?!) that is, for the casual player, practically free after the initial s/w purchase (which is about USD5~6).

Okay. . . a slight revision to "Hurin's MMOG" rule:

You are unlikely to see a full-featured, persistent world, massively-multiplayer game that is polished and something you'd actually want to play. . . without a monthly fee.

H

[Zentrandude]

how bout guild wars?