This Game is About to Go Supernova

[Marsgrim]

I have to say I am genuinely delighted and surprised! Having been an SOE customer from EQ and the original PS launches, I've lived through quite a few SOE games and it has always struck me that the company could produce fnatastic games and visions that then got neglected via poor marketing and communication and sometimes worse decisions.

However, looking at the output from E3 on the varios sites (linked by Figgy and others), I have to say that SOE may finally have got their strategy right and I think are about to take the gaming world by surprise.

The feedback from Gamebreaker, Gamespot and others who seemed to have missed, or rather not been too focused, on Planetside2 has been significantly positive and favourable, and I suspect the online hype is about to hit massive levels.

This is incredibly heartening for those of us who remember community trailers for PS, talking to friends and trying to promote the game externally and internally to SOE because of the potential the game had - the scale and the possibility unmatched by anything else. That undescribable experience/moment where something utterly epic happens - and frustratingly trying to communicate it to somebody that hadn't played the game.

Anyway, I suspect that the game is about to go absolutely huge on the hype scales. I hope SOE keep doing what they are doing in listening to community feedback - even if they disagree - because the blend looks like it is making something that is blowing everyone at E3 away.

I still reserve the right to be a monaing bastard on the forums for proper strategic purpose on the world map though.

[Ieyasu]

you think the game is going to blow up and die and seed several smaller games?

[CuddlyChud]

I don't think the game will really blow up until it goes into open beta. Its just one of those games you really need to try for yourself in a real game play setting. I think SOE should definitely make its big marketing push during open beta so people can actually just jump on and play.

[Marsgrim]

Originally Posted by Ieyasu

you think the game is going to blow up and die and seed several smaller games?

I was relying on the audience to recognise the commonly used metaphor without descending into a physics lesson in an attempt to prove who is smarter.

[lolroflroflcake]

Exactly such a competition is pointless when I'm around :P

[Marsgrim]

Originally Posted by CuddlyChud

I don't think the game will really blow up until it goes into open beta. Its just one of those games you really need to try for yourself in a real game play setting. I think SOE should definitely make its big marketing push during open beta so people can actually just jump on and play.

E3 is really the start of this, however beta is not what gets you players - most of the people who apply to beta already have an interest in the game, hence the application.

The exposure comes through E3 and gaming sites, and word of mouth. The hype for massive selling games such as Diablo 3 or Guild Wars 2 comes from the first product and marketting exposure. PS2 has little publicity to rely on from the first game because it was such a niche game.

Where I think SOE have done remarkably well is in getting exposure from sites and reporters that were not really interested in PS2 before going to E3. This means that the booth, marketing and more importantly the gameplay are so good that it's grabbing attention from journalists when competing against every other game at the expo. Bear in mind, this is not a Tomb Raider or Halo series game, the exposure is coming from the game not the legacy.

[Saifoda]

Originally Posted by Marsgrim

I was relying on the audience to recognise the commonly used metaphor without descending into a physics lesson in an attempt to prove who is smarter.

Well I hope at least it won't take hundreds of millions of years for the smaller games to form.

[TacosWLove]

Agreed. They have certainly upped the ante since the last launches ive seen. I mean just look at this forum. Went from regularly having 20-30 people viewing topics to now its over 200. thats 10 fold increase in a few months! Very nice

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by Saifoda

Well I hope at least it won't take hundreds of millions of years for the smaller games to form.

Maybe it will turn into a blackhole instead and suck in all other FPS's and consume them for millions of years.

[ikon]

Originally Posted by Thomas

Maybe it will turn into a blackhole instead and suck in all other FPS's and consume them for millions of years.

makes sense as most of the other fps's are falling off hard.

[Figment]

While browsing for news, was looking through some other forums, where particularly MMORPG forums picked up on PS2.


Was also funny to see "John Smedley" with SOE logo post on the EA's closing BF3 forums (apparently they move everything to twitter and facebook? lolwut?) suggesting to move to PSU. >.>

*click and scroll to bottom for surprise-EA-playerbase-nabbing-by-Potential-Smedlonius-or-Pretender-Smedlonius*

[The Kush]

Originally Posted by Marsgrim

I have to say I am genuinely delighted and surprised! Having been an SOE customer from EQ and the original PS launches, I've lived through quite a few SOE games and it has always struck me that the company could produce fnatastic games and visions that then got neglected via poor marketing and communication and sometimes worse decisions.

However, looking at the output from E3 on the varios sites (linked by Figgy and others), I have to say that SOE may finally have got their strategy right and I think are about to take the gaming world by surprise.

The feedback from Gamebreaker, Gamespot and others who seemed to have missed, or rather not been too focused, on Planetside2 has been significantly positive and favourable, and I suspect the online hype is about to hit massive levels.

This is incredibly heartening for those of us who remember community trailers for PS, talking to friends and trying to promote the game externally and internally to SOE because of the potential the game had - the scale and the possibility unmatched by anything else. That undescribable experience/moment where something utterly epic happens - and frustratingly trying to communicate it to somebody that hadn't played the game.

Anyway, I suspect that the game is about to go absolutely huge on the hype scales. I hope SOE keep doing what they are doing in listening to community feedback - even if they disagree - because the blend looks like it is making something that is blowing everyone at E3 away.

I still reserve the right to be a monaing bastard on the forums for proper strategic purpose on the world map though.

Agreed we have made huge strides since the PS1 days. I remember how pissed everyone was for awhile with the lack of advertising on their end. Now we have a game that can steal the market, and they are making the effort to spread the word.

[Ieyasu]

Originally Posted by Marsgrim

I was relying on the audience to recognise the commonly used metaphor without descending into a physics lesson in an attempt to prove who is smarter.

I was trying to prove my immaturity...

[TeaReks]

The game being accessible to the masses will make it huge. PS1 always suffered from a poorly optimized engine and may have been the first game around to show that the subscription model wasn't for everything. I mean at the time no other FPS had a subscription and in 2003 you could count on your hands how many other games did.

Had PS1 launched with a cash shop I think it would have changed PC gaming forever back in 2003. Hind sight is 20/20 though.

[Attackmack]

Originally Posted by ikon

makes sense as most of the other fps's are falling off hard.

PS2 has an event horizon?

Oh dear...