Ramplate
06-27-2011, 02:02 PM
Finally dead. They took a perfect game, added a bad Jedi system, and tried to "fix" it - and ****ed it all up.
Star Wars Galaxies, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in the universe of the Star Wars films, is to shut down at the end of this year.
Sony, who created the game, announced via email and the game's support forum and website that the online game will be closed on 15 December. Talking to the online gaming site Massively, John Smedley, the head of Sony Online Entertainment, said that the it "[feels] like it's the right time for the game to end".
He said that the decision had come about because Sony's contract with the Star Wars franchise runs out in 2012. He denied that it was because of a drop in user numbers or the recent hacking attacks on Sony's PlayStation Network. "Populations have stayed pretty steady for a long time now," he said.
Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) was launched in 2003, and is set between the end of the first film to be released, Star Wars: A New Hope, when the Rebel Alliance destroyed the Death Star, and The Empire Strikes Back. Users could play as any one of 10 species, and could train as a Jedi or fly spaceships against each other in a vast online environment. It sold more than one million copies in its first month after release.
However, it has been losing numbers in recent years. Recent updates have reduced the complexity of the game and left long-term players unsatisfied; Sony has admitted that some of these changes were mistakes.
Mr Smedley says that the last three months of gaming will be free for users - Sony will stop billing in October.
Alec Meer, a games reviewer for the blog Rock Paper Shotgun, wrote: "Farewell then, Galaxies. You were always a bit of a mess - but you were also one of the most fascinating and ambitious MMOs there's ever been.
"It's amazing it's kept going for so long, quite frankly."
Star Wars fans can now look forward to The Old Republic, a new MMORPG set in the Star Wars universe, which will be released by Electronic Arts' subsidiary BioWare in the second half of 2011.
===========================
Eight years ago today, Star Wars Galaxies launched. The idea was to take this then-new(-ish) concept of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game apply it to George Lucas’ much-loved, highly detailed galaxy far, far away. The game never managed to achieve World of Warcraft numbers — if it had, we’d probably be singing a different tune today — but it was embraced by fans not just for the Star Wars appeal but also for offering something a little bit different. Between the non-combat classes, space combat, housing mechanics and any number of other features, this was by all accounts a very different sort of MMO. And it all comes to an end this December.
Sony Online Entertainment has confirmed that the Galaxies servers will be taken offline in December. SOE president John Smedley confirmed the news in an interview with Massively, saying that it came down to a mutual business decision with partner LucasArts. If you’re thinking that a certain other Star Wars MMO might have something to do with the decision, you’re probably right.
Smedley went on to admit that the much-complained about “New Game Enhancement” (NGE) update that launched in 2005 was a “mistake” on the company’s part. The update represented a major shift in how the game was played, with a heavy focus on simplifying the experience in the hopes of drawing in new subscribers. The reaction to NGE was so strong that many fans simply refused to participate, opting instead for privately operated servers — the sorts of avenues usually explored by people with pirated copies of an MMO — tweaked to run a pre-NGE version of the game.
The great shame is that while Galaxies tried to do things a little differently, Star Wars: The Old Republic sounds by all accounts to be a pretty standard MMO in some ways. BioWare is doing tremendous things with the story, but it’s a game that focuses on combat classes and mission-based role-playing. Make no mistake, it’s probably going to be great fun to play and plenty popular. Star Wars is so much more than lightsabers and blasters though, and Galaxies was always better off for recognizing that.
SOE is planning some big, universe-ending scenarios for the MMO’s final days, so it may be best to hang onto that account for a little while longer.
Star Wars Galaxies, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in the universe of the Star Wars films, is to shut down at the end of this year.
Sony, who created the game, announced via email and the game's support forum and website that the online game will be closed on 15 December. Talking to the online gaming site Massively, John Smedley, the head of Sony Online Entertainment, said that the it "[feels] like it's the right time for the game to end".
He said that the decision had come about because Sony's contract with the Star Wars franchise runs out in 2012. He denied that it was because of a drop in user numbers or the recent hacking attacks on Sony's PlayStation Network. "Populations have stayed pretty steady for a long time now," he said.
Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) was launched in 2003, and is set between the end of the first film to be released, Star Wars: A New Hope, when the Rebel Alliance destroyed the Death Star, and The Empire Strikes Back. Users could play as any one of 10 species, and could train as a Jedi or fly spaceships against each other in a vast online environment. It sold more than one million copies in its first month after release.
However, it has been losing numbers in recent years. Recent updates have reduced the complexity of the game and left long-term players unsatisfied; Sony has admitted that some of these changes were mistakes.
Mr Smedley says that the last three months of gaming will be free for users - Sony will stop billing in October.
Alec Meer, a games reviewer for the blog Rock Paper Shotgun, wrote: "Farewell then, Galaxies. You were always a bit of a mess - but you were also one of the most fascinating and ambitious MMOs there's ever been.
"It's amazing it's kept going for so long, quite frankly."
Star Wars fans can now look forward to The Old Republic, a new MMORPG set in the Star Wars universe, which will be released by Electronic Arts' subsidiary BioWare in the second half of 2011.
===========================
Eight years ago today, Star Wars Galaxies launched. The idea was to take this then-new(-ish) concept of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game apply it to George Lucas’ much-loved, highly detailed galaxy far, far away. The game never managed to achieve World of Warcraft numbers — if it had, we’d probably be singing a different tune today — but it was embraced by fans not just for the Star Wars appeal but also for offering something a little bit different. Between the non-combat classes, space combat, housing mechanics and any number of other features, this was by all accounts a very different sort of MMO. And it all comes to an end this December.
Sony Online Entertainment has confirmed that the Galaxies servers will be taken offline in December. SOE president John Smedley confirmed the news in an interview with Massively, saying that it came down to a mutual business decision with partner LucasArts. If you’re thinking that a certain other Star Wars MMO might have something to do with the decision, you’re probably right.
Smedley went on to admit that the much-complained about “New Game Enhancement” (NGE) update that launched in 2005 was a “mistake” on the company’s part. The update represented a major shift in how the game was played, with a heavy focus on simplifying the experience in the hopes of drawing in new subscribers. The reaction to NGE was so strong that many fans simply refused to participate, opting instead for privately operated servers — the sorts of avenues usually explored by people with pirated copies of an MMO — tweaked to run a pre-NGE version of the game.
The great shame is that while Galaxies tried to do things a little differently, Star Wars: The Old Republic sounds by all accounts to be a pretty standard MMO in some ways. BioWare is doing tremendous things with the story, but it’s a game that focuses on combat classes and mission-based role-playing. Make no mistake, it’s probably going to be great fun to play and plenty popular. Star Wars is so much more than lightsabers and blasters though, and Galaxies was always better off for recognizing that.
SOE is planning some big, universe-ending scenarios for the MMO’s final days, so it may be best to hang onto that account for a little while longer.