Is Blizzard bringing its legendary MMO to the 360?
World of Warcraft is, without a doubt, the biggest MMO on this planet. To put it in perspective, there are over 11.5 million subscribers racking up over 16 million quests a day, which is just nuts. Blizzard is to MMOs what Bungie is to FPSs; creators of the most popular games in their respective genres. With this mind, why haven’t they brought their MMO king to consoles? Final Fantasy XI proves that such a task isn’t impossible. Even though FFXI may not be the best MMO around, it proves that MMOs can work well on consoles. With APB, Age of Conan (360), DC Universe Online, and The Agency for the PS3, more and more MMOs are gracing home consoles. Since there’s a growing market for these games, what are the chances of the biggest one coming to home consoles, and more specifically, the Xbox 360?
Naturally there have been several rumors over the years about WoW heading to consoles, but none have really held water. The sticking point here might be that a console MMO might not be WoW as we imagine it, but a new MMO designed for a controller instead of a mouse and keyboard. A while back Joystiq published a rumor about a “Next – Gen MMO” job posting at Blizzard. The interesting bit here is that Next-Gen is a term generally applied to console games, not PC games. The PC market evolves continuously, so it cannot be referred to as having “generations.” This begs the question – is this an MMO from Blizzard for Next Gen Consoles? To date we are still unsure, although back then Joystiq did say it’s more likely to be true then false. That was nearly a year ago, though, and nothing has been announced.
Next up we have vg247.com. They published an article this month with rumors concerning announcements at this year’s E3. One of these rumors happened to be a Blizzard/Microsoft megaton announcement. The subject of this announcement is anyone’s guess, but if it exists, it’s likely WoW coming to the 360. Vg247.com did dampen the flames by stating it probably won’t happen, but yet again, these rumors keep popping up. This next bit is the most interesting, as it comes from Blizzard themselves. Executive Vice President of Game Design Rob Pardo of Blizzard confirmed at GDC this last week that Blizzard has been in active talks with Microsoft regarding the Xbox 360’s successor. Wait, what?! That’s right – not the 360 but its successor. Why?
“There are so many games like we make at Blizzard that we don’t take to consoles because they don’t support the input device and you end up with crappy ports. That’s why RTS games never do well on consoles,” Pardo said. “If I was them, I’d be sitting around trying to figure out what’s a cool input device that supports all types of new kinds of games.” This is what they were apparently talking about, and why it’s very unlikely we will see WoW this generation on Xbox 360. The 360 successor is a completely different story, though.
TGR Rating: Unlikely
Sony to reveal motion controller for the PlayStation 3?
One of the main attractions to the Nintendo Wii is its uniqueness, coming in the form of a motion controller or “Nun chuck.” Consumers around the world are able to play tennis in their living rooms by swinging the remote just like they would in real life, or close enough anyway. This got people’s attention, and with great marketing by Nintendo, the Wii has become a runway success outselling both the Xbox 360 and PS3 every month since launch 2 years ago. Obviously, Sony and MS are wondering “what’s drawing people into the Wii?” By the looks of it, they seem to have found the answer. Well, Sony at least. Yes that’s right, Sony wants in on motion control.
Gaming website Kombo.com has published a rumor regarding Sony and their version of the Nun chuck. Their source, which Kombo.com claims to have a very good track record, claims that not only is Sony developing a Wii remote clone, but they have already finished it. What’s more, Sony is already reaching out to key third and first party developers and asking them to include this functionality into their upcoming games. First the sixaxis which – lets face it, sucks – and now this? We can only imagine said third party developers include Capcom, EA Sports, and Ubisoft, but how they would incorporate this into upcoming games is anyone’s guess. My best guess would be that they would rip off Wii Sports and other games around of that nature.
It has been rumored for a while now, and with a 360 third party motion controller on the way, it’s only a matter of time before Microsoft announces their own Wii remote knock-off. Could you imagine a HD version of Madworld on either PS3 or 360? Yes, please. With this rumor from Sony, such a game could very well come true. Expect an announcement from both companies at this year’s E3.
TGR Rating: Very Likely
Will Sony drop the price of the PS2?
Let’s list some PlayStation 2 facts: the PlayStation 2 is the most successful console ever, over 100 million unites sold worldwide, and it is home to some of the best games the world has ever seen. No one, not even Sony, could have foreseen the impact the PlayStation 2 had on the gaming community. Gamers considered cool to have one and was the perfect thing to whip out to impress someone. Now that its younger, better-in-every-way brother has come out many people, including me, thought the PS2’s incredible 10 years of life would finally end. Oh, how we were wrong. The PS2 has held its own ever since the PS3 has been out, which caused several to worry that consumers were still choosing the PS2 over the PS3. Price is a major factor in consumers’ decisions, and seems it’ll continue to be a factor with the new rumor of a PS2 price drop.
A source within Kmart has leaked photos showing that the PS2 will sell at $99.99 starting April 5. Joystiq.com claims that their source has been right in the past. They were right, because Sony announced today a price drop for the PlayStation 2, retailing at $99.99. Though the source was wrong about one thing – the price drop will take effect on April 1st. That’s tomorrow people! The question on everyone’s lips is “Why the hell isn’t this for the PlayStation 3?” That’s an issue for another day.
If you don’t already have a PS2, where have you been? Now is the best time to invest in one. Games such as Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, the Final Fantasy series, God of War, and Gran Turismo will keep you entertained for hours. Even though this is welcome news, it’s not quite the news for which PlayStation fans were hoping.
TGR Rating: Rumor Confirmed
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