Interviews

Lord of the Rings Online will launch its first expansion pack in the coming months and they're starting big in the Mines of Moria. We spoke to Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel about this expansion in the first half of an epic interview, which we have now transcribed for your pleasure.

Check back tomorrow for Book 13 and general updates.

WarCry: Talking about the actual zone of Moria, how do you plan to differentiate sub-zones within the Mines to give players a sense of variety?

Jeffrey Steefel: This is where we get into that "we're still a long way away from launch," and we don't want to let all the cats out of the bag at the same time, so we're obviously going to be talking about all the different zones and how to differentiate them from each other. But what I can say is that you're spot on. We're creating a deep, giant, huge underground environment ... and one of the things we've talked about is how are [players] not going to feel like they've been treading through rock, you know, forever ... treading through dark passages and rock. As cool as Moria is, that would get kind of boring. And the truth is that Moria wasn't like that; Moria was an entire world underground, so there will be different biomes - "biome" is what we use to describe a type of environment in the world, so like "forest" is a biome, or "swamp" is a biome, or, you know, "snowy, icy" ... the Misty Mountains is a biome. There will be many biomes inside of Moria that are being being created as new that are very specific to Moria, and very distinct from each other.

Read it all after the leap.

Warhammer Online has been delayed from Q2 of this year until the fall. We had a chance to interview EA Mythic General Manager Mark Jacobs about the delay, the reasons for it and what that means for the future of WAR.

"If we had tried to force the game out in the 2nd Quarter, as we had originally planned to release it," said Jacobs. "We could have but it would have meant pretty much no time for polishing the game. The decision was to continue to iterate and reserve polish time."

The main area that requires further attention, according to Jacobs, is class balance. He explained how the classes of Warhammer Online do not necessarily fall into specific boxes as they do in many MMOs. Most classes are multi-faceted hybrids of several traditional RPG classes and this means they need to rethink some of the conventions of MMO balance. "If you don't release it right from the beginning with classes at least pretty much balanced, where they're all fun, you're not going to be in good shape in an [Realm vs. Realm] game."

Read more after the jump.

CCP's Pétur Óskarsson recently spoke to WarCry about EVE Online's experiment in game development democracy, the Council of Stellar Management. In this interview, we talk about the genesis of the idea, timing, scope and more.

WarCry: Are there any limits to how many times a player can be on the Council?

Pétur Óskarsson: Yes, everyone is limited to two terms of six months each. This can be concurrent terms or two terms in total over their lifetime. We want to keep the program a bit more inline with most Democratic states.

As I said before, the first year is going to be hard but we still believe it's worth the effort and worth the time. We really want EVE to become better and hopefully this council will become an essential part of EVE in the future. We're really kind of flying blind here and don't really know what to expect but no guts, no glory.

Read it all after the jump.

Our Jordan Deam recently spoke to The Matrix Online Producer Dan Myers about the movie-inspired MMO that recently turned three. After a shaky start, MxO was snapped up by SOE and has since gone on to carve out its own niche as part of the larger SOE family of MMOs. We find out how they've found their footing and where they're headed in this update.

Unlike most MMOs, The Matrix Online has primarily been about linear story development rather than providing a sandbox-style environment for unlimited player choice. The game picks up where the movies left off, and the developers are very serious about preserving that continuity while giving players an opportunity to keep the plot moving in new and interesting directions. When I slipped up and mentioned Neo in passing to Myers, he was quick to admonish me.

Read more after the jump.

At GDC 2008, we spoke to David Perry about Top Secret, the community driven and developed MMO project he's directing for Acclaim. He brings us up to date on the competition:

The game revolves around beast racing as an MMO. Players ride a variety of creatures in competitive online races as they advance their characters. It is a rather unique but scalable idea, which is good for a small MMO. At times, Perry mentioned, the design would just get too big, and they had to work hard to make sure the community stuck to the core themes.

Originally, they had simply hoped to hire a development team to produce the final design document, but the idea became so unique that they felt it just wouldn't work.

Read more after the jump.

Earlier today, Sony announced that SOE would move under the Sony Computer Entertainment (aka their game division) corporate banner. We wanted to find out what, if anything, that meant to SOE. So, we got on the horn and got some reaction from SOE President John Smedley. Here is what we learned:

"Nothing has changed inside SOE at all," Smedley said. "It's nice to be part of the Playstation group; we're excited about it."

Practically speaking, this is apparently a simple change in who Smedley calls boss. Previously, SOE had been under the Sony Pictures corporate umbrella and its President Yair Landau. Now, SOE is under the SCEI group, which is the corporate name for the Playstation or gaming division, and its President Kazuo Hirai.

Read more after the jump.

At GDC 08, we met with SOE Seattle Senior Designer Kevin O'Hara to get his thoughts on their upcoming MMOFPS The Agency. The spy themed MMO will be on both the PC and Playstation 3 and we got his perspective on where its headed.

O'Hara is part of a team of roughly 70 people at the SOE Seattle office, a group whose core has a lot of experience, if not a lot of games on the market. In early 2004, this was the same core group that was let go by Microsoft when the axe fell on the Norse mythology-based MMO Mythica. The cancellation was a harsh reality, but after some time in the wilderness of independent development, they reemerged as a team under the SOE banner and got to work on The Agency.

Read more after the jump.

At GDC we met with Nexon America CEO John Chi and Community Relations Manager Joseph Wreggelsworth to talk about Maginobi, the next MMO on the way from the same people who brought MapleStory to these shores. They talk about their new game, how they got to where they are and the importance of quality in the import MMO genre.

In most games, the day/night cycle is simply there to break up the mood. Occasionally, it might impact the spawns, but that was always the core difference between the virtual world game and the modern theme park-style MMO, which are clearly quite fun, but also simplified in many respects. In Mabinogi, there is a full in-game calendar, and depending on the time of year there are bonuses associated with it. This acts as a global mechanism that nudges - if not fully directs - players around the world, and should create more variety in where people play and hunt.

The very time of day also has a measured impact. At night there are different creatures to hunt and bonuses than in the day. This extends right down to weather. For example, in a rainstorm, players who rely on fire attacks will find themselves a bit less effective. At the same time, though, that rainstorm may be the key to some neat loot.

Read more after the jump.

Some of the most impressive and innovative developers at GDC do not directly make MMOs, but instead operate behind the scenes to make games better. Every year, these companies seem to fill two booths for every one that has a game in it. This year, we took the time to see a few of these companies and present a round-up of some of the more noteworthy stories we heard.

In the first part, we look at VOIP providers Vivox, MMO importers CDC Games, the novel PlayXpert and a riddle from Scott Foe of Nokia:

PlayXpert is a non-obtrusive user interface overlay that can be used in any PC game to control essential windows programs without changing screens. That's a fancy way of saying it lets people bring their instant messengers, media players, web browsers and other key programs into their favorite MMO. And, of course, they have a deal with Vivox to be their default VOIP provider.

According to CEO Charles Manning, PlayXpert has been carefully designed to play well with both in-game EULAs and system resources. While the explanation got quite technical, the basic idea is that the program insinuates itself over the game at such an early level that game operators do not mind and PlayXpert have worked with developers to make sure all is on the level.

Read more after the jump.

At the Game Developers Conference, WarCry had the chance to sit down and talk with SOE CEO John Smedley. The conversation revolved around their deal with Vivox and what it could do to the way gamers VOIP, as well as some tidbits on business models, DC Universe and The Agency.

SOE's software will support huge numbers of people in a single channel and frills like telephone call-in support (which likely won't incur long distance thanks to a network of local call-in numbers), and voice fonts. It will not require a fee, nor any bulky hosting software and it will be high quality Vivox sound.

SOE has not worked out all the details that hardcore VOIP gamers will need to know, but if they keep on their current path, this has the potential to be an extremely user friendly, multi-game application that could put a serious dent in Ventrilo's business. The win for SOE is that every user will be a single click away from any of SOE's many games, which reduces the barrier to entry and potentially makes them more money.

Read more after the jump.

Earlier today, news broke that SOE had partnered with Live Gamer to replace their existing Station Exchange service in EverQuest II. This company specializes in a platform that facilitates the exchange of virtual items for real world currency.

In this article, we hear from SOE CEO John Smedley on what this deal does for their gold farming, fraud and secondary market problems and from Live Gamer President Andrew Schneider on what their service provides.

What's more, as these claims accumulate, the company must pay penalties. "We have been fined; just the fines alone are over a million dollars, and a lot of those are from Station Exchange," said Smedley.

In response to these problems, SOE announced today that they have partnered with Live Gamer, a company that specializes in the integration of secondary market solutions into existing MMOs. The company, founded by veterans of gaming and financial services, operates a single platform, which they hope will extend across multiple games and companies.

Read more after the leap.

In our latest Warhammer Online Q&A, we talk to Joshua Drescher, Adam Gershowitz and James Nichols of EA Mythic about preparation for the latest Beta phase, whether they'll shut down again, careers and - of course - RvR.

WarCry: When you sack an enemy city, what type of bonuses and rewards will you get for doing so, and are these only for those who sacked the city?

EA Mythic: To get to the benefits of capturing an enemy city requires a tremendous effort from your entire Realm. We're still working on the exact rewards you get for capturing an enemy city, but expect to see buffs and items you can only get through siege and events that help to encourage Realm pride in all players.

Read it all after the jump.

Masthead Studios announced Earthrise earlier this week, a skill-based, PvP focused science-fiction MMO slated for launch in 2009. We spoke to CEO Atanas Atanasov about the game, why he believes they'll deliver on their ambitious design and more.

WarCry: For those unfamiliar with the project, give us a basic overview of who you are, the origins of Masthead and what Earthrise is all about.

Atanas Atanasov: Masthead Studios was founded in 2005 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Our goal was to create a top quality game development studio, consisting of the best graphic artists and programmers in our region. There are a lot of IT specialists and graphic artists in our country who are involved in outsourcing; all we had to do was to pick the right people for the right job.

Being a MMORPG fan since Ultima Online and knowing that virtual worlds are the future of PC gaming, it was an easy decision for us to focus on the realization of Masthead's first project - Earthrise.

Read more after the jump.

Joshua Drescher, Adam Gershowitz and James Nichols of EA Mythic team up to answer the latest set of questions on Warhammer Online: age of Reckoning. Population balance, respecs and other topics get their attention in this twice-a-month series.

WarCry: What tools will be available to help guilds manage their teams?

EA Mythic: We have an extremely robust set of Guild tools that will allow leaders and officers to efficiently manage and coordinate their members. These tools include a Calendar system, news feed, and an in-depth roster feature. These, plus the addition of the living guild system (your guild actually gains levels and benefits), make guilds an integral and rewarding part of the game.

Read more after the click.

Recently, WarCry took the chance to interview the people behind the Dragonlance animated movie, which comes to DVD on January 15th. The interview gave us the chance to hear from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the famed authors and creators of the Dragonlance series. We also heard from the film's Co-Executive Producer John Frank Rosenblum and Paramount Pictures Product Manager Chris Dreyer.

In addition, we also have an exclusive clip from the film that features Sturm Brightblade.

WarCry: You two did not directly write the script, but as the authors of the original works can you talk a bit about how it turned out and why you believe it is a good representation of your work?

Tracy Hickman: Adaptation of a novel into a screenplay is a tough act especially when you're dealing with fans of a well-know work. It isn't a question of simply portraying scenes from the novel - as I think most people assume - but rather of capturing the emotional core of the original work and being able to portray that in a new medium. Both Margaret and I were granted an unprecedented level of input on the script but in the end it was hardly needed: George Strayton's magnificent screenplay captured the essence of our vision beautifully realized in a new medium.

Read it all and check out a short trailer after the jump.