Turbine Unveiling Console MMOs Next Year

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Lord of the Rings Online (PC) developer Turbine is known to be working on console MMOs, but fans will likely have to wait to next year to get details on what the company has up its sleeve.

"I would guess by early next year we'll be able to be much more specific about what we're doing with console," said LOTRO executive producer Jeff Steefel to VG247, who dodged questions about whether Lord of the Rings Online was itself headed to consoles.

Mines of Moria, the Lord of the Rings Online expansion due November 18

"What we're doing now is the early development work and the work with the hardware manufacturers to understand where they're heading in the online space, where the connectivity between the console and internet is really headed," explained Steefel.

"That's everything from how the games really need to behave to the relationship between the hardware manufacturers and the developers to the publishing model, to the consumer business model," he elaborated.

In October, Turbine opened a west coast studio to support its development effort, picking up a number of Hellgate: London alumni along the way from now-defunct developer Flagship Studios.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    November 6, 2008 12:05 PM

    MMO on console?!?!? HAHAHHA it's impossible.

    • reply
      November 6, 2008 12:42 PM

      Nah, nothing's impossible. WoW on a 360 -- yes. City of Villains? Would totally work.

      I agree that there are some big hurdles like getting so many people to work on servers with consoles. Huge persistent worlds, stuff like that. But if you design it right and put the right tech on it, it'd totally work.

      Turbine is smart . I think this can be cool.

      • reply
        November 6, 2008 4:47 PM

        Yeah, it'd work, but for an MMO that's been designed with the PC's peripherals in mind - WoW for example - it'd feel like a step down playing it with anything else.

        It'd be much more likely to feel comfortable if designed as a multiplatform game from the beginning, but then the PC crowd would find it watered down - which would probably be true if the game was trying to resemble current MMORPGs.


        In short, I'd much prefer if they just kept the platforms separate, or they'll start fiddling with trying for it to fit on them all. Well, unless they have a concept that really makes sense that way, which I think would be Blizzard's philosophy on the subject - for now at least.

        Anyway, I'm rambling as so often. All said, I guess a console port wouldn't hurt, and only benefit those interested. I just don't want what seems to be the PC's last stronghold to fall; and I definitely don't want what little it has left to be further simplified through multiplatform-releases.

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