First of which, pointed out to me on the boards, is the two brand new websites for two MMOGs being heavily flogged this year. EverQuest II and City of Villains. Not only that Guildwars has officially started their public E3 Alpha-Let's-Generate-An-Ass-Load-Of-Hype test. So far, I haven't heard the best things about it, but then, it's certainly worth checking out.
As for the EFocus party, which, I don't really know exactly what it's for. Just kind of something to do the first night you get here. It was interesting. I already got to make pot shots at both Horizons and The Phantom.
So, while it's not really MMOG related, let's set the stage for the Phantom (ooOooOooOOO) gaming console. There are a zillion media all hosed stumbling about (myself included) and then there's a booth set up with Phantom PR Reps. There is a Phantom on display.
I look at it.
Oh, so this is the Phantom.
"Well, you know, this is a development kit for it. Not necessarily the final design."
To which I was all: "Right because, like, errrr, some people, not myself of course, never myself, would perhaps make the comment that it looks like, uhhh, a big ass waffle iron." And not just a waffle iron. A really big one. Like, if it could cook waffles, it could cook waffles, it could cook sixteen at a time or something.
In fact, dare I say, it would perhaps be the greatest waffle iron ever? I don't know, maybe I'm just hungry.
The conversation continued. I said: "Seriously man, why will gamers buy this. Seems to me it's another problem in an already crowded market."
"Look," he says, "I'll be honest with you, I don't know if it'll sell really well..."
Wow. I mean. There you go people. You have it. Honesty, from the greatest waffle making company ever, millions of dollars on an appliance that their own people aren't too sure about. That said, their strategy is basically this, make a PC for console users who are too dumb to turn on a computer.
They want to play the computer games (Baldur's Gate, etc) but they really don't feel comfortable with, you know, installing games... because, it's like, hard... and you know. Hard. Hey screw you! It's hard!
Seriously though, it's not a totally bad idea. There is merit too it and I do suspect that in the future the major players Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, will figure some way of combining PC and console. Unfortunately, the reality is, there is a long way to go from where we are now and that.
The Phantom Waffle Iron Co. would care to disagree with me. They think the Phantom is the solution. I think they need to stop snorting coke off hookers. And so on.
At the EFocus party the Phantom wasn't actually running anything, but truthfully, even if it was, it's not exactly like I'd be nicer. It's a bunch of computer components in a big shiny white box with a fancy interface. So what if they actually manage to get it to play a game, what's in it is not what will decide its future.
This isn't about a gaming console that plays games, this is about an industry and a market, primarily one that is impossibly hard to break into (just ask Microsoft who has done an excellent job at it in the last few years).
Either way, more mocking took place and then I went to the Horizons booth...
Ahhhh. Horizons. The game that basically drove me to shattering my Horizons CD and stabbing myself in the eye with its bitter, bitter, shards... unfortunately. Media briefing is going on, so time to run. More on me getting into it hard and heavy (no we're not talking about a porno here) with David Bowman, and his ideas on the MMOG industry, how Horizons is doing and more.
Catch you guys later.