Hopefully it’s not an April Fool’s Day confirmation that SoE has cancelled the Agency. Honestly, it never looked that good. I saw it firsthand at E3 and other events and could never wrap my head around the concept.  I’m happy that SoE has said they’re going to focus their efforts and resources on developing Planetside and EverQuest titles. Those titles have worked for SoE -and- have benefited the industry.
Will they be true to their namesakes, I don’t know. EQ Next is already on the edge of something horrific with the Free Realms model being a temptation. I tend to think that Planetside is a lot harder to mess up, but we haven’t seen anyone else try. Maybe it’ll be easier to screw up than we think.
Bottom line, regardless of whether or not they screw up these titles, it’s the right choice.
I’d actually really like a modernized Planetside. Regarding the graphics mostly.
No one likes to make games “Just like that old one” though. Must be some strange taboo devs know about that we don’t 🙁
I won’t hold me breath with this. I have more hope in the guys doing Tribes and pulling a “Rift” than SOE getting Planetside all figured out. But who knows…
After a glut of Planetside Next vehicle pics all seems to have gone quiet there too which is pretty odd since at one point it was “only a few months from release”.
@ Silvertemplar
Same here and I doubt they can still make a real good MMO anymore because SoE has been having its nose deep in console games for too long 🙁
On one hand, I would agree. On the other hand they have to be aware of Project 1999 and the classic EQ server popularities. There is a market for a more classic style of MMO, now if they capitalize on that or not… well I doubt it.
I really really really hope that they do EQ Next justice and don’t just release it as a Free Realms clone. I will be so unhappy if they do 🙁
@Gordon: Where does this assumption that it’s going to be like Free Realms come from? I’m kind of excited for EQ:N despite never playing EQ1, and, well, if there’s been any indication from SOE that it’ll be like Free Realms that’d be a major blow. All I’d heard from SOE was that it would, essentially, be EQ1 brought into the current century in terms of graphics and quality of life stuff.
Couldn’t you consider Global Agenda (AvA) or even the update to EVE (and Dust 512) to be a modernized Planetside? At this point it almost seems that SoE has to rework their model and you may lose more of the original game (Planetside) than you’d like.
@Peter: In no way shape or form is Global Agender close to or even resembling Planetside. It was misrepresented in the marketing and advertising of the game to be similar, but in practice its closer to Team Fortress 2.
I don’t know enough about Dust 512, nor does anyone else beyond what devs have said, to comment at this time.
Keen, off topic, but are you doing anything special for the official launch of Allods Online?
“Official” launch? I read that headline somewhere and thought it was a joke.
That company never knew what hit them. It had good buzz, then the cash store fiasco. People deserted that game quicker than the Titanic. I think Tabula Rasa still has more North American players now.
If “Planetside Next” can be screwed up $OE is more than capable of doing it.
So who is worse then… EA or SOE. I left the SOE MMO world a long time ago but not because I hate them, just other games drew me away. I always thought they were a decent company, all this hate is news to me.
EA is worse. There have been numerous SoE MMO’s that I have spent months to years in and I can not say the same for EA. EA also has a reputation for killing things it touches, whereas SoE is more of a kill’em from conception or kill’em down the road.
Problem is Planetside Next’s days are numbered by Blizzard’s Titan. I can’t see SOE being unaware of this.
I would have liked to see the Agency release just because at least they tried to make a different concept than SF or Fantasy.
@Dblade If Titan is a Sci-Fi Shooter (as most of us assume it to be) then you are basically correct but we don’t know for sure how similar it will be.
Also with PN due out soon it will have a good few years to make a profit before Titan which we can’t realistically expect before 2014.
@keen:
If you are talking about the standard PvP, yes it plays like TF2. However the AvA portion of the game is what I was referencing, not necessarily the 1-on-1 combat. Just Agencies fighting over control of different areas on the map, dropping in various ships and ground troops to expand their Agencies control.
As far as Dust 512 goes, there are a number of vids up that show you what the game play is going to look like but it’s the syncing between EVE and Dust that LOOK to bring it closer to Planetside.
@Intruder
You make a good point. Titan is so far out it’s not really an issue yet. There will be alot of buzz just after Blizzcon this year when the details are released but the game is so far off it doesn’t make sense for other developers to worry about it.
@Peter: The idea behind AvA of taking territory is the same, but the actual gameplay and how it actually plays out are quite different. They wanted it to be like Planetside, even disguised it to try and be like Planetside, but never accomplished that in actual gameplay.
As for Dust 512, it’s all conceptual. Videos of what they want it to look like are wishes that may not come true. I’ll wait for actual videos and even then won’t hold my breath until I get the true picture — same deal with Global Agenda.