Valve Wants To Make Kids Games, MMORPG

[Hard core Rikki]

Valve Wants To Make Kids Games, MMORPG news from 1UP.com

Wii owners shouldn't be expecting Half-Life 2 on their favorite console anytime soon. But if HL2 developer Valve does begin a Wii project, expect something geared a little more toward the kiddies.

Speaking with Computer and Video Games, Valve's Doug Lombardi said that quite a few parents on the Valve team would love to make a game for kids. "We all play the Wii a lot and we think that the proper way for Valve to approach the Wii would be to make something cool designed specifically for it," Lombardi said.

Valve has been traditionally known for popular first-person shooters such Half-Life and Team Fortress 2, but have also shown the ability to feature much smaller, more unique guns with their recent breakout hit Portal.

In addition to potential Wii development, Lombardi said that co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell would also like to develop an MMORPG, but considers it a big risk. "I think at some point you'll see us move a little further out of our comfort zone than Portal was," Lombardi said. "But it's not going to be this year or next."

Whatever project Valve decides to take on next, expect it to be met with much fanfare considering their recent success.

[Dennemark]

ARGH !!!!! I HATE MMORPG'S !!!!!!!!

uh, why would the be an mmo on the wii since mmo's are clearly for graphicswhores and other people who like graphics and since the wii lacks both and good graphics it would be a no-go ?

[Thanakil]

Originally Posted by Dennemark

ARGH !!!!! I HATE MMORPG'S !!!!!!!!

uh, why would the be an mmo on the wii since mmo's are clearly for graphicswhores and other people who like graphics and since the wii lacks both and good graphics it would be a no-go ?

Huh? MMO are so not made for graphics-whores -_-.
Hell, the most popular MMO (WoW) is very "average"/medium as far as GFX go, and that's one of the thing that appealed a lot of people. The game was never meant for high-end hardware, it was always pretty easy to run. So people with average/low end computers could still play the game fine.

When I play a MMO Beta I often see people with high-end gfx cards, that's for sure.
But when I play the same MMO in retail version, the vast majority of players use average cards, even if the MMO offers some great gfx.

The explanation is pretty easy, hardcore gamers will make the game launch, but casual gamers will make the game fly. It's casual gamers in the end who bring the most money for developers.



And really, the point of a MMO is playing in a huge world, it's the social aspect of playing with thousands of other players, of having team-play (either in a team of 5 to 8, or in a raid).
It's being in a world that constantly grow, with the updates that are being added with time. If you just look at "ZOMG TEH PRETTY GFX" you'll stop playing sooner or later because you'll get bored.
LOTRO and AoC are nice because they look great (LOTRO has some of the best textures I've seen, and both games uses DX10 to add some eye-candy, which AoC does better) but playing only for the gfx is stupid since it's not like they'll matter once you end up actually PLAYING the game.
Both games still focus more on the gameplay and the content than anything else.

LOTRO adds more and more stuff at every updates, which actually impresses me because they actually listen to what players ask and add quite a bit of stuff. Only ONE updates from the game was to upgrade gfx tho, and it was only to add DX10, which only served to improves shadows (a lot, I must admit), make water look better, and something else that almost no-one manages to see.

Then you got AoC who has some pretty nice gfx, but if you think you'll be looking at the gfx in a siege battle, you're KIDDING YOURSELF.
Even someone with a kickass graphic card will have to reduce the gfx when in a siege battle, because of the huge number of peoples that will be present and because of everything that will be going on.

GFX is definitely not the most important point of a MMO, go with FPS for that.

[skoreanime]

Ummm, yeah, like Thanakil said, MMORPGs aren't just about the graphics... True, that might have been the case when FFXI came out, but WoW smashed that idea when it started rolling out the beta. It proved a game could be fun without the fancy graphics and "cool" styling.

MMORPGs are for people who like to interact, play with others and generally have a good time. And there's alway the flip side of course. The addicts as we call them .

Still, Valve and a MMORPG? Those two words in the same sentence is odd...but interesting nonetheless. Lets see what they come up with

[CKemu]

MMO's can't be about the graphics when you have potentially thousands of "real" and NPC characters running around, they've always been about social questing...okay, I couldn't say that without a smirk on my face,..lets re-try:

MMO's are not about graphics, they're about grinding over and over again for socially retarded people who have nothing better in their lives and need to escape their pitifull existance. (Sorry, but I've got alot of WoW, GW, and Korean Generic MMO hate )

That said a kids MMO from Valve would be an interesting, though somehow I'd imagine it to be sick and twisted in an alice and wonderland kind of way, or atleast with some dark adult humour in it, I can't see Valve pulling off "cutesy-wootsy aww"!

[Thanakil]

Originally Posted by CKemu

MMO's are not about graphics, they're about grinding over and over again for socially retarded people who have nothing better in their lives and need to escape their pitifull existance. (Sorry, but I've got alot of WoW, GW, and Korean Generic MMO hate )

WoW is misleading .
They lure you in with nice quests (especially 60-70) and fun PvP.
And then once you get to the end-game, they replace it with grinding and grinding and grinding .
Bad Blizzard.

They could replace things like this with more interesting stuff if they let players fight each other for stuff that was worth it, instead of simply "rewards". But meh, they don't wanna go too hard on the PvP, there's already too many people crying over PvP as it is.

[skoreanime]

There are plenty of kidish MMORPGS (just think of all the half ass ones that spew out from Korea every year ) but they never succeed because of CKs point. They're just grind fests. Valve probably already knows that's the reason why those ones never succeed and are probably looking at WoW to set an example for their game

[Thanakil]

I'm definitely hopeful considering it's Valve. They're more likely to make the world a "living" one where people can do many things, instead of being pigeon-holed into grinding.

I'm just wondering tho if they're talking about a "kiddie MMO" in a "we'll have a PG-rated universe" or in a "we'll target kids, quite simply".

If it's the second one, then they may actually go with a very simple concept that won't really bring anything new, which would be lame.
If it's the first one, they can still do good things. The visual aspect of the game won't hinder the possibilities of gameplay.

[skoreanime]

This talk has reminded me on Spore...hopefully that game can live up to its hype and ingenuity.

[Hard core Rikki]

MMO = easy cash cow.
Subscriptions = easy money
One release, perpetually on sale (no sequels needed)