Games Workshop announces Warhammer 40k MMO

You just totally made my day.
Shame its not an MMOFPS though (a la Planetside)

::edit::

Ok, your article says

Games Workshop, in conjunction with THQ, has announced that the two are working together to create an MMORPG set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

But GameSpot's says its an MMOG of an undefined genre.
Maybe it will be an MMOFPS after all. I can only hope ;)

I was actually told I had to make one of these back when I was at school and was dabbling in programming. Depending on how it turns out I may actually venture into the MMO arena.

woot, Chainsaw Maschinegun here i come!

Lets see how this turns out. Its gone be hard to compete with the overflowing MMORPG market. Its just so much out there to choose from.

I have no faith on it. There are games suited to MMOs, and others that aren't. A WHM40K MMO will fail just as the RPG did or like most novels do...there's little place for individual and minor struggles in the WHM40K universe. It's all about huge armies, Marine Chapters, Chaos Legions etc.

Individual characters only have a place as Leaders of Men,Turners of the Tide and the like, but there aren't many characters that matter by themselves and not because of the armies they lead. As a matter of fact, I can only think of 3, and one (The Emperor) is the very definition of "couch potato". The other two (Inquisitor Cervak and Cypher) are only minor characters, unknown for those who are not into the "fluff" part of WHM40K.

Originally Posted by Iago
I have no faith on it. There are games suited to MMOs, and others that aren't. A WHM40K MMO will fail just as the RPG did or like most novels do...there's little place for individual and minor struggles in the WHM40K universe. It's all about huge armies, Marine Chapters, Chaos Legions etc.

Individual characters only have a place as Leaders of Men,Turners of the Tide and the like, but there aren't many characters that matter by themselves and not because of the armies they lead. As a matter of fact, I can only think of 3, and one (The Emperor) is the very definition of "couch potato". The other two (Inquisitor Cervak and Cypher) are only minor characters, unknown for those who are not into the "fluff" part of WHM40K.

I think your forgeting about the inquisitor game a few years ago and necromunda. they were not about armies they were about gangs or groups or inquisitor would even allow one on one games.

plus doesnt the newest rules of 40k have the kill teams (ive not played since 3rd ed) which i beleve is small squads vs armies.

Since 40K is set right across a war torn galaxy, thousands of worlds, a dozen or so races, etc. they've got quite a lot of scope to come up with something that fits into an MMO format. I just hope they do a better job than the majority of the Warhammer games.

There's a lot of scope for it, lets just say that. Surely that's one of the most important things for a MMORPG? Huge universe- check, well established mythology- check, loads of different options for creating characters- check, massive fanbase already into gaming- check...

In WOW there are only two main factions, there would be about seven or eight in 40k; could be a problem. I suppose teams like the Marines and Imperial guard would be on the same side...

All it needs is a good developer to put it together with imagination and care. Also, is the other Warhammer MMORPG out yet then? Surely they should concentrate on one at a time.

This could be a really awesome game, after all, I always thought Warcraft and (to a lesser extent) Starcraft kind of ripped of Games Workshop anyway.

This has made my day, i was hoping they would bring out an WH40K MMO. my prayers have been answered :).

- Although, I'm still interested in the Warhammer: Age of Reckoning MMO. That looks pretty good as well.

Originally Posted by Skutbag

This could be a really awesome game, after all, I always thought Warcraft and (to a lesser extent) Starcraft kind of ripped of Games Workshop anyway.

Warcraft did tip off Warhammer to a very large extent but then Warhammer is based around things like the works of J.R.R Tolkien anyway.
Startcraft did rip off 40k (think Protos = Eldar) but also films like Aliens.

Originally Posted by ohdarklord
I think your forgeting about the inquisitor game a few years ago and necromunda. they were not about armies they were about gangs or groups or inquisitor would even allow one on one games.

Yeah, they reinforce my point. None of them have ever passed the "cult" or minor following status.

Furthermore, everybody + dog's favourite race (Space Marines) has 0 sense on a MMORPG. Does any WHM40K player expect Space Marines to have free, leisure time to go "wandering the galaxy"?

Originally Posted by BioSniper
You just totally made my day.
Shame its not an MMOFPS though (a la Planetside)

::edit::

Ok, your article says


But GameSpot's says its an MMOG of an undefined genre.
Maybe it will be an MMOFPS after all. I can only hope ;)

A MMOFPS would be cool for the more standard units, but I fear it wouldn't work well at all if they let you play as the more melee based classes. I wouldn't want to have crazy scrambling around trying to fight ppl like in dark messiah. It would be sweet if they let you climb up the ranks to say a chaplain, where you could beat people with your crozius arcanum, but I fear things like that wouldn't translate well to a FPS setting.

I agree with some other ppl though, a MMORPG makes more sense for fantasy warhammer imo, and I think I may rather play the Warhamemr mmorpg coming out, but time will tell.

<sarcasm>
Wooo! Roleplaying in a universe which has been in a cycle of entropy for the past 30,000 years, and everyone is a total arse, well that sounds like a fun time... </sarcasm>

<example of gameplay>"You there, Space marine! How long have you been talking to that alien heretic? Five minutes?! By order of the Inquisition I am declaring you contaminated!" BLAM!!</example of gameplay>

How exactly do you work the laziness that is the MMO respawn mechanic into 40k? How does something which reduces character death to a minor inconvenience fit into a universe which places great emphasis on death being very terminal?

While it's nice that companies are mining roleplaying and wargaming for inspiration, there are far better games to receive the Massively Multiplayer treatment. In my opinion the table top RPG which would work as an MMORPG is Paranoia, it's quest based, character driven, it has built in reasons for both character conflict and cooperation, it has a enforced separation of player from rules (it is treason for a player to display knowledge of the rules), and most usefully you have a built in mechanic for characters to respawn as all characters start with five backup clones (Not that a random and violent death is the expected end for a citizen of Alpha Complex) and more can be bought in packs of six.

Originally Posted by Iago
I have no faith on it. There are games suited to MMOs, and others that aren't. A WHM40K MMO will fail just as the RPG did or like most novels do...there's little place for individual and minor struggles in the WHM40K universe. It's all about huge armies, Marine Chapters, Chaos Legions etc.

Individual characters only have a place as Leaders of Men,Turners of the Tide and the like, but there aren't many characters that matter by themselves and not because of the armies they lead. As a matter of fact, I can only think of 3, and one (The Emperor) is the very definition of "couch potato". The other two (Inquisitor Cervak and Cypher) are only minor characters, unknown for those who are not into the "fluff" part of WHM40K.

ffs it is game after all (bearing in mind your comment later on in this post...) I think it has great potential, and the game mechanics are something that has to be worked on obviously... and how can you say there isn't much scope for characters? have you read any of the chapter astartes booklet things?! in each one there are several, sometimes 10 individual characters...

if they concentrate on making it a 'real' time universe, where if you are a space marine, your called for duty on some outer rim world, there are thousands of players there fighting away, (it can be done - the matrix online had community events - i know its not the best mmorpg whatever but hey this community events thing did work out as everyone had to be there)...

PLUS - the universe of wh40k is bloody massive! there are so many things this game could do... some will live in hope - iago you do not i guess! ah well, games like this aren't made for everyone...

Originally Posted by BioSniper
You just totally made my day.
Shame its not an MMOFPS though (a la Planetside)

you should look at huxley - UE3 engine with MMOFPS gameplay - looks interesting ;)

Originally Posted by Article
That said, we believe there is plenty of opportunity that lies ahead both in terms of developing innovative new gameplay mechanics and continuing to expand the user base.

What you mean like a good MMO - damn im looking forward to that

Originally Posted by Article
The obvious question is - when producing an MMO, how on earth do you compete with World of Warcraft?

The thing is that you don't, nothing is going to be competition for that game now, it is too big. I used to play SWG and did for quite a while and part of the things that made people leave it were due to the developers trying to compete with WOW's market instead of doing what they should have done and go for the people who aren't playing WOW.

Wh40K is a completely different setting to pretty much anything else out there and as such will draw in people who are into that sort of setting.

Originally Posted by BioSniper


But GameSpot's says its an MMOG of an undefined genre.
Maybe it will be an MMOFPS after all. I can only hope ;)

I think it would be an MMORTS

I would hope that it would be an rpg, not an rts, but not a class based WoW type rpg with an included quest grind. That wouldn't be a good fit for the 40k. I think a UO type skill-based free-for-all PvP/PvE environment would be better. I don't want strict RvR, even though that would be the predominate mode. As a Space Marine, for example, by far the vast majority of engagements would be against either Chaos or aliens, but there should be some feature that would permit guild (chapter?) wars against other Space Marine or Imperial Guard units. Perhaps humans would all start out as citizens of the Empire, but if you attack another human, that is a mark of the taint of Chaos, so you would be moved to the Chaos Faction. Eldar who attack Eldar would become Dark Eldar. Orks fight amongst each other all the time, so no distinction need be made there.

All in all, my overall comment has to be w00T!!! ;)