Amid Controversy, 38 Studios Releases "Copernicus" Trailer

[Greg Tito]

Amid Controversy, 38 Studios Releases "Copernicus" Trailer

​

The "fly-through" video shows no gameplay, but the world of Amalur sure looks purty.

You may have been following the massive pile of poo former Red Sox pitcher Curt Shilling and his games company has been wading through the last week. Quick recap: the date leaked by Chafee [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117266-Kingdoms-of-Amalur-Studio-Struggling-to-Survive] - Rhode Island taxpayers are concerned state officials made a bad call backing Schilling's company. Perhaps to alleviate some of concern, 38 Studios quietly rolled out a "trailer" showing off the landscape of "Project Copernicus".

What's evident in the video is a far cry from a real trailer displaying what will set the "Copernicus" MMO apart in a tough market. Granted, the beautiful vistas designed by Spawn-creator Todd MacFarlane look just as superb as they did in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

But a pretty face doesn't always mean there's a great personality behind it. There's no hint of how the combat works or any neat world-building details. "Copernicus" will have a difficult time finding subscribers in a world where an MMO with a great license and an experienced studio behind it struggle to keep population numbers up. The Old Republic anyone? [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117159-EA-Blames-Casuals-For-Falling-Old-Republic-Subscriber-Numbers]

Sadly, with 38 Studios' financial woes, this trailer might be the only thing we see of the MMO version of Amalur. I wanted to explore that world further, and bask in the weird fantasy dreamed up by R.A. Salvatore. Here's hoping Rhode Island and Schilling get everything sorted out and "Copernicus" gets finished.

Source: YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9nvnrP0j8U&feature=player_embedded]

Permalink

 

[Burst6]

You said it well. It looks pretty but looks only take you so far. If they make it like a standard Wow-like RPG i doubt it'll do well. Maybe if the combat is like kingdoms of amalur: reckoning.

That would be amazing. The best feature of that game was the great combat. If they can actually fit that into an MMO i think it would do well.

 

[Formica Archonis]

Wow, the air sure is thick with vapor in here.

Does Rhode Island count as a publisher at all in a case like this? Because if ever there was a time for justified executive meddling it's when a studio says "Let's make an MMO!" Or, more accurately, "Let's make an MMO in the exact same genre as WOW without even a non-fantasy theme to differentiate us!"

As much as sequels rankle some people, I think 38 should be taking the cheap (as in money-light) way out and doing something with the engine they already paid for. Or Rhode Island already paid for.

 

[Lethos]

They should use knows environments and just make a Reckoning 2 or something. Rathir looks a hell of a lot bigger in that trailer than it was in Reckoning.

 

[Something Amyss]

It's nice, but as a KOA player I feel I've seen it all before.

"Copernicus" will have a difficult time finding subscribers in a world where an MMO with a great license and an experienced studio behind it struggle to keep population numbers up. The Old Republic anyone? [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117159-EA-Blames-Casuals-For-Falling-Old-Republic-Subscriber-Numbers]

To be fair, their numbers are mostly an issue because they spent like 6 trillion dollars promoting the thing, aren't they?

They should use knows environments and just make a Reckoning 2 or something. Rathir looks a hell of a lot bigger in that trailer than it was in Reckoning.

I'd rather see Reckoning 2 than an MMO I probably won't play.

 

[Something Amyss]

A bit too geocentric for my taste.

As much as sequels rankle some people, I think 38 should be taking the cheap (as in money-light) way out and doing something with the engine they already paid for. Or Rhode Island already paid for.

Or perhaps that was just their intention from the start? Shilling made a decent game and he wanted to turn that into an MMO, like ya do.

The MMO was planned (and openly so) before KOA even was announced. It was like, the whole point here. Shilling is a huge WoW fan or something.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

So if 38 Studios is "out of money" How do they intend to even stay afloat until next summer, much less continue working on this game?

 

[weirdee]

it's ridiculous how they just blew all that cash though, it is just so much waste and it was too big a risk on behalf of the state

 

[Zhukov]

In spite of everything, those were some ridiculously gorgeous environments.

 

[Andronicus]

Was mildly intrigued, until I read MMO.

Another developer down the drain.

Back to exam study.

 

[Treblaine]

Crazy idea: instead of Making and MMORPG... just make an MORPG that can steadily and sustainably grow massive.

I don't like MMO's in their very concept: They demand a very high investment of TIME and MONEY! $10 a month is $120 per year just for subscription and with how cheeky some games charge $60 for a new PC release, that's $180 just to try it on and off for a year. And you NEED to invest a lot of time as almsot every freaking MMOP justifies its price by hours of play.

Except those hours of play inevitably are spent grinding, grinding and grinding. And the gameplay is so detached, with so little strategy or manoeuvres, Sun Tzu's art of war doesn't apply her. And then of course everything you do has zero consequence on the game world otherwise if the Lich King was killed only once then only one raiding party would ever kill it. And everyone else would be cheated out of the game.

Then there is the whole "massive" part of massively multiplayer online. What is the actual appeal of being in a server with so many other human players? Most of the interaction is with the AI controlled environment. Yes, an RPG with a large group of friends is fun but that isn't "massive".

How about this: Just as RPG where you can go on raids with friends.

 

[CUnk]

Oh hey. Until now I was under the impression that KoA was their MMO. They're in worse shape than I thought

 

[Meight08]

Crazy idea: instead of Making and MMORPG... just make an MORPG that can steadily and sustainably grow massive.

I don't like MMO's in their very concept: They demand a very high investment of TIME and MONEY! $10 a month is $120 per year just for subscription and with how cheeky some games charge $60 for a new PC release, that's $180 just to try it on and off for a year. And you NEED to invest a lot of time as almsot every freaking MMOP justifies its price by hours of play.

Except those hours of play inevitably are spent grinding, grinding and grinding. And the gameplay is so detached, with so little strategy or manoeuvres, Sun Tzu's art of war doesn't apply her. And then of course everything you do has zero consequence on the game world otherwise if the Lich King was killed only once then only one raiding party would ever kill it. And everyone else would be cheated out of the game.

Then there is the whole "massive" part of massively multiplayer online. What is the actual appeal of being in a server with so many other human players? Most of the interaction is with the AI controlled environment. Yes, an RPG with a large group of friends is fun but that isn't "massive".

How about this: Just as RPG where you can go on raids with friends.

Because every mmo is the same right?
You know i hate people like you who make assumptions about entire genre's or game series without knowing anything about them.
because if one game is like that all of them are like that ?[sarcasm]

 

[Lethos]

I'd rather see Reckoning 2 than an MMO I probably won't play.

Same. Use the environments in the trailer, improve the camera angle a bit and maybe add some new skills to the trees.

But I would imagine they are too far into the development phrase to suddenly shift it to a single player RPG now.

 

[Treblaine]

Crazy idea: instead of Making and MMORPG... just make an MORPG that can steadily and sustainably grow massive.

I don't like MMO's in their very concept: They demand a very high investment of TIME and MONEY! $10 a month is $120 per year just for subscription and with how cheeky some games charge $60 for a new PC release, that's $180 just to try it on and off for a year. And you NEED to invest a lot of time as almsot every freaking MMOP justifies its price by hours of play.

Except those hours of play inevitably are spent grinding, grinding and grinding. And the gameplay is so detached, with so little strategy or manoeuvres, Sun Tzu's art of war doesn't apply her. And then of course everything you do has zero consequence on the game world otherwise if the Lich King was killed only once then only one raiding party would ever kill it. And everyone else would be cheated out of the game.

Then there is the whole "massive" part of massively multiplayer online. What is the actual appeal of being in a server with so many other human players? Most of the interaction is with the AI controlled environment. Yes, an RPG with a large group of friends is fun but that isn't "massive".

How about this: Just as RPG where you can go on raids with friends.

Because every mmo is the same right?
You know i hate people like you who make assumptions about entire genre's or game series without knowing anything about them.
because if one game is like that all of them are like that ?[sarcasm]

OK, then please DO enlighten me to the MMO in existence where:

-your actions on the world have persistent effect
-it has deep gameplay controls (more than EVE's space sim)
-Your interaction with the millions of players online it truly significant, not just the dozen or so in your party of PvP instance.
-No subscription fee greater than $2 per month.
-No excessive grinding for progress

 

[Artemicion]

Because every mmo is the same right?
You know i hate people like you who make assumptions about entire genre's or game series without knowing anything about them.
because if one game is like that all of them are like that ?[sarcasm]

If that was sarcastic, are you agreeing with him?

Anyway. I do hope 38 pulls through, but only because if they don't it'll make this state's economy worse than it already was. The idea to get them in RI was sound enough, and it was definitely a high risk-high reward type deal.

Not that I'll feel terribly bad if 38 does plunge. They shouldn't have attempted the MMO thing this early into their life cycle. At least go for a sequel to their hit before moving on.

 

[BrotherRool]

OK, then please DO enlighten me to the MMO in existence where:

-your actions on the world have persistent effect
-it has deep gameplay controls (more than EVE's space sim)
-Your interaction with the millions of players online it truly significant, not just the dozen or so in your party of PvP instance.
-No subscription fee greater than $2 per month.
-No excessive grinding for progress[/quote]

As an nitpick your significant interactions with millions of others is almost impossible, depending how you define significant. Because if millions of people are having significant actions then, everyones actions basically have 1/1 000 000 significance, because everyone else is doing them too. I think EVE level interaction is pretty near the peak really, maybe actual worldbuilding could added but not much more without screwing over gameplay.

That's a theoretical thing though, not really commenting on your MMO thing and well naturally EVE level of interaction is possible which is pretty good, and EVE doesn't have some of the other things you mentioned. Tho I thought EVEs game controls had problems with clunkiness and lack of usability as opposed to depth

 

[Meight08]

Crazy idea: instead of Making and MMORPG... just make an MORPG that can steadily and sustainably grow massive.

I don't like MMO's in their very concept: They demand a very high investment of TIME and MONEY! $10 a month is $120 per year just for subscription and with how cheeky some games charge $60 for a new PC release, that's $180 just to try it on and off for a year. And you NEED to invest a lot of time as almsot every freaking MMOP justifies its price by hours of play.

Except those hours of play inevitably are spent grinding, grinding and grinding. And the gameplay is so detached, with so little strategy or manoeuvres, Sun Tzu's art of war doesn't apply her. And then of course everything you do has zero consequence on the game world otherwise if the Lich King was killed only once then only one raiding party would ever kill it. And everyone else would be cheated out of the game.

Then there is the whole "massive" part of massively multiplayer online. What is the actual appeal of being in a server with so many other human players? Most of the interaction is with the AI controlled environment. Yes, an RPG with a large group of friends is fun but that isn't "massive".

How about this: Just as RPG where you can go on raids with friends.

Because every mmo is the same right?
You know i hate people like you who make assumptions about entire genre's or game series without knowing anything about them.
because if one game is like that all of them are like that ?[sarcasm]

OK, then please DO enlighten me to the MMO in existence where:

-your actions on the world have persistent effect
-it has deep gameplay controls (more than EVE's space sim)
-Your interaction with the millions of players online is truly significant, not just the dozen or so in your party of PvP instance.
-No subscription fee greater than $2 per month.
-No excessive grinding for progress

A game like that is im-freaking possible what else do you want? megan fox materializing and giving you a boob job?

 

[Susurrus]

I never understood with MMOs where grinding actually became fun. I mean, repeating the same monotonous task ad nauseam is something I try and avoid in my education/working life - why would I want it in my entertainment for goodness sake?

I'm also confused - I thought KoA started out life as an MMO, then they ran out of money, so they made it an RPG. Now they're making an MMO and they ran out of money even after releasing KoA? And the MMO isn't even close to release?