Are MMOs Sony's trump card?
Category: PlayStation 3, Posted: 05/14/2008 at 06:56PM CDT by Tim Mellish, Staff Writer
Consoles are known for the genre they do the best at. Currently, the Xbox 360 could be considered the shooter console, while it wouldn't be a stretch to call the Nintendo Wii the party platform. The PlayStation 3, like the PlayStation 2, has it the best since there is no definite genre the console excels at.
In reality it has or will have good games across all genres. This is something both Microsoft and Nintendo wish they had, and the only reason the PlayStation 3 is sitting in such a nice spot is thanks to the immense success of the PlayStation 2.
The president of Sony Online Entertainment, John Smedley, would like the PlayStation 3 to be known specifically for MMOs. Like anyone these days, thanks to World of Warcraft, the MMO market is opening up, and Mr. Smedley believes the PS3 sits in the best position to capitalize on the growing sensation. One game touted for the PS3 is The Agency, an exclusive to the PS3, and a big selling point in Smedley's eyes.
I'm not going to be the negative naysayer and disagree with this opinion, but I won't agree either. The MMO market has typically only worked on the PC platform, mostly in part to the ease of use with the mouse and keyboard. Yes, I know the PlayStation 3 has the ability to use these, but the experience just isn't the same. The MMO landscape is a much more mature playing field and the typical online persona on the console end of things won't fit snuggly into this tight group of players.
Basically, MMOs could take off with consoles but they have numerous cultural gaps to jump.
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Yeah, the MMO market is so tied to PC gaming. I know you can play FFXI on the PS2 and such but its home is on the PC. Even look at Age of Conan, it comes out for the PC before its released for consoles.
You folks may say this now, but the same was said about first person shooters until Halo came out. Then every developer said, "oh look you can do FPS on a console properly."
We all might hate halo now but back when the first game came out it shattered preconceptions about FPS on consoles.
Same story here. It will only take that ONE mmog to prove it can be done on consoles as well as the PC.