Spacetime Studios Teams Up With Garriott Brothers (March 9, 2006)

ChrisReid

ChrisReid

Super Soaker Collector / Administrator
Ed Filho noticed that NCSoft has inked a publishing deal with Spacetime Studios. NCSoft's North American operations are run in Austin by Origin co-founders Robert and Richard Garriott, and Spacetime was recently founded by a number of former Wing Commander developers. They are currently working on an unannounced massively multiplayer title. A space themed MMO game would both fill in a critical gap in NCSoft's lineup and take advantage of Spacetime's particular experience. I'm sure we'll be hearing quite a bit more about them in the future.
AUSTIN, Texas, March 8, 2006—NCsoft® Corporation (KSE:036570.KS), the world’s leading developer and publisher of online computer games, announced today its latest partnership with a new company in Austin. Spacetime Studios™, composed of a core team with previous leadership roles on successful franchises such as Privateer, Wing Commander and Star Wars Galaxies, will publish its next game under the NCsoft brand.
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Original update published on March 9, 2006
 
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A space MMORPG would be amaaaazing. I doubt it would be as successful as the major titles such as Warcrack, but if it has a niche fanbase such as City of Heroes/Villains, then that would still be a few thousand players. Awesome!
 
Well, hopefully Prophecy 2, but then they'd have some fun explaining why everyone looks like they've aged a good 5-6 years ;)

But here's to hoping! My guess is it will probably be out next year, and they haven't announced whether it'll be a space title, but they'd be stupid not to!
 
cyberkitten01 said:
Well, hopefully Prophecy 2, but then they'd have some fun explaining why everyone looks like they've aged a good 5-6 years ;)
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As opposed to the 10 years later at the begining of WC2?
 
it really wouldn't be that hard to do a fast forward.. since the advance force was largely crunched.. That'd give the Confed and the Kilrathi a 10 year window to build up forces for the mass-arrival of the Nephilim fleet.

I have had dreams of that very kind of scenario.

Another really neat thing to do would be to revisit the Kilrathi war following a different carrier and crew.. It would allow for hiring new actors.
 
cyberkitten01 said:
A space MMORPG would be amaaaazing. I doubt it would be as successful as the major titles such as Warcrack, but if it has a niche fanbase such as City of Heroes/Villains, then that would still be a few thousand players. Awesome!
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There are space mmos right now. Eve Online, Vendetta Online, Star Wars Galaxies Jump to Lightspeed, etc. EA even had its own, Earth & Beyond, which edged out a Wing Commander mmo half a dozen years ago. It wasn't a big success and was shut down after two years.

NinjaLA said:
it really wouldn't be that hard to do a fast forward.. since the advance force was largely crunched.. That'd give the Confed and the Kilrathi a 10 year window to build up forces for the mass-arrival of the Nephilim fleet.

Another really neat thing to do would be to revisit the Kilrathi war following a different carrier and crew.. It would allow for hiring new actors.
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Yeah, as several people have said, time advances are minor issue. It also shouldn't be an automatic conclusion that the next WC game will include live actor FMV. The cost of a film shoot versus the quality of computer rendered actors has made that mostly obsolete. And only four Wing Commander games have relied on live actors to present their story. It's definitely not necessary for a Wing Commander game to have this. CGI or engine-rendered scenes also enable you to easily move backwards in time and get something wonderful like the Academy tv show with Hamill, Wilson and McDowell voicing their WC3-P characters in the WC1 timeframe.
 
I agree. Ever since I downloade the Academy episodes..I have seen nothing but potential for a cell shaded wing commander game :D
 
ChrisReid said:
There are space mmos right now. Eve Online, Vendetta Online, Star Wars Galaxies Jump to Lightspeed, etc. EA even had its own, Earth & Beyond, which edged out a Wing Commander mmo half a dozen years ago. It wasn't a big success and was shut down after two years
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I've only played EVE out of those 3, but I didn't really like it. If they did an MMO with the style of a Wing Commander/Privateer game, then I'd be more happy. I loved how Freelancer played once I got into it, so something like that would be great
 
I'd be into an MMO if it was a twitch fighter game.. especially if it was a "Die and Stay Dead" server. you'd be able to make a new character.. but if Ralph "bluehair" Machio dies.. he stays dead, and if he does well.. he becomes a hero :p

The fly-by-mouse or RPG style space games just don't appeal to my desire for an adrenaline rush.
 
cyberkitten01 said:
I've only played EVE out of those 3, but I didn't really like it. If they did an MMO with the style of a Wing Commander/Privateer game, then I'd be more happy. I loved how Freelancer played once I got into it, so something like that would be great
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So long as it doesn't get as repetitive as Freelancer got, I'm ok with that.
 
If there was permadeath where you lose your character for goods, I would go back to Jumpgate.

When it comes to a space trading game, people always have to mention EVE online because virtually it is the only space trading themed game that is popular that exist at the moment and does not have twitch based controls either.

Eventhough Jumpgate and Vendetta has joystick controls, I woulden't count those game as real mmo because of their online numbers.

I wish that company good luck for that space themed mmo they are making. As long as the gameplay is not like being stuck to a single pilot space craft, that would be nice.

p.s. Would you accept to have AI wingman fly with you in a multiplayer universe?
 
really though, in a war flight sim? I wouldn't think it'd be so much of a problem for permadeath to happen, especially in WC where characters do die.

I'd be much more upset if it was an RPG, the amount of time spent building a character is insane. But a flight sim? would you really feel that bad if your pilot dies.. it'd be little different than competing in a universe full of people for a high score :D\

*Edit: If the AI was compitent then I certainly would accept an AI wingman. Especially with all the maniac wannabe pilots who'd just jet and go kill hunting (moreso if there was no penalty for dying or staying dead)
 
I think permadeath would mean a quick death for the game, since a lot of players tend to throw their toys out of their pram and delete their accounts and uninstall the game if something really bad happens. Dozens of people have done that with Warcrack, most have gone back though, but some people just can't handle defeat
 
good point. I guess the best option would be to have both worlds... a war server where people die, and a MMO server where it is the everlasting deathmatch :p
 
Well it depends. In a first person shooter game deathmatch, you die, respawen and you are instantly back in the game.

In a space flight trading mmo type game, it depends on what the death system is. If death does not mean anything as in your ship blows up, you magically respawn back at the station, you are insured for everything including the equipment your ship has in the station, then sure I can say it's deathmatch or counterstrike in space.

But if the deathsystem is harsh as in losing a ship and equipment is not insured, it might be quite challanging and more risky. It beats perma death.
 
I guess it could be something as simple as death affects you on the ace board.. you lose 10 kills or something like that for every death you die in your scoreboard rank or somesuch thing..

not that any of this is likely, just fun to speculate on :D
 
One of the Diablo games (2, I think) does have a multiplayer server option for "hardcore", where the rewards are greater, but death isn't just "respawn and jump back in" as it is on the non-hardcore servers.

Personally, if Jumpgate had permadeath, I know I wouldn't be playing it, nor would a lot of other people. Given how JG doesn't have a monster subscription base like point-and-click MMORPGs (AO, EQ, UO, WoW, etc) to start with, I doubt it could afford to be even more marginalized than space sim games (multiplayer or not) are nowadays.
 
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