What If Mmo's Could Have Babies?

By Author: Chris Coker
Total Articles: 18
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Now hold on, we haven't lost the plot, hear us out. What if massively multiplayer online games could have babies? What if we could take features, story and gameplay elements from our favorite single and multiplayer games, and somehow merge them with our favorite MMO's?

Delightful thought isn't it?

World of ZeldaCraft:

Newsflash: World of Warcraft is super duper popular, so is Nintendo's genre defining action adventure game, The Legend of Zelda.

What if we could somehow take the idea of that massive, sprawling, incredibly detailed world of Azeroth, and apply that to Link's land of Hyrule? What if action adventuring wasn't the only thing we could get up to in a Zelda game? What if we could earn the equivalent of WoW gold, go on multiple quests (instead of just one big one), meet hundreds of NPC's. What if we could engage in that same action adventure combat we've come to know and love in the Zelda games, what if we could do this all... with our friends in tow?

Can you imagine the immense popularity of a massively multiplayer online Zelda game with the kind of scale we enjoy in World of Warcraft? ...
... The stuff of dreams.

Will we ever get something like it? Don't put WoW gold down on it happening. It's very unlikely. Nintendo have been very slow on the uptake when it comes to online gaming and making it easier for folks to play together. That said, the door isn't as tightly shut as you might imagine, titles like Zelda: Four Swords show that the Big N is at least not averse to the idea of creating a multiplayer Zelda game... that's something, right?

Age of War:

If you've ever had the good fortune of playing one of the God of War games, you'll know that series protagonist Kratos is, to put it rather midly, smoldering with rage. Fans of the books, games, and MMO will know that Robert E Howard's Cimmerian barbarian, Conan, is cut from the same cloth.

Really, that should be all you need to know about the potential behind a game billed as God of War meets Age of Conan, but why stop there?

The God of War games, epic as they are, still have relatively limited levels and level designs. Imagine if, as in Age of Conan, we could plonk down some AoC gold on upgrading our Kratos' armor, defeat enemies and quest to gain XP in order to raise our characters level.

Will we ever get something like it? Before God of War III was released, rumors were rife that Sony was exploring the possibility of adding some sort of multiplayer component to the series. It appears however, that these rumors were wide of the mark. It's possible that at some point in the far future we might get an MMO set in the God of War-verse, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Call of DutyHammer 40K:

Any good table top gamer worth his salt will tell you, Colonial Marines kick butt. Forget Master Chief, nothing can stand against a well armored 40K colonial marine. And then there's the overwhelming, insane popularity of Activision's Call of Duty franchise.

Will we ever get to see something like it? Yes! Hard as it is to believe, this one's actually (sort of) happening, in no less than two ways. Darksiders developer, Vigil Games, have teamed up with license holder Games Workshop, and publisher THQ to create a massively multiplayer online game based on the Warhammer 40K license.

In addition to this, Activision head honcho, Bobby Kotick, has gone on record several times to hint heavily that his greatest dream is to create a subscription based online Call of Duty game. You can bet Aion Kinah that just such a game is already in the works.

Mass Effect + Eve Online:

Alright, we've obviously run out of cool ways to merge game names, so let's get right down to it. Lots of folks love Eve Online, they love the ships, the go anywhere, do anything nature of the game, they love the economy, they love the mining, they love being masters of their own fates.

Even more people Mass Effect, Bioware and EA's super-stylish first person shooter/RPG hybrid. Great dialogue, massive action, slick graphics, player choice and morality... what's not to like, right?

And yet, if we could somehow take the free-roaming, wide open universe of Eve Online, and somehow merge it with the tremendous work Bioware has done with third person exploration, character interaction and combat... well, that would just be the P, B and J wouldn't it?

Will we ever get something like it? Sooner than you might think. Currently in development, and scheduled for release early next year, is Bioware's most ambitious project, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

You'll have all the freedom and character interaction of a game like Mass Effect, but you'll also be able to acquire and pilot your own ship all around the galaxy. That's the stuff of geek dreams right there.

Chris Coker is a freelance writer and avid gamer. He has written on all aspects of the MMO industry, focusing on his latest favorite, Star Trek Online. Check out some of his posts where he dishes out everything from ship interiors to energy credits to good old-fashioned grinding.