Guild Wars - Potentially the perfect Console MMO?

I was thinking about it the other day. And it seems like out of all the MMOs on the market, GW seems to be uniquely positioned to be able to tap the vast untapped market of console gamers.

For 3 reasons:

1. Elegant Simplicity - in GW, unlike some other MMOs (coughtWoWcough) you only have 8 skills on your bar at anytime which would be pretty easy to map to a controller. For example on a XBoX xontroller, A,B,Y,X could be skills 1-4. Right trigger + A,B,Y,X could be skills 4-8. Targeting could easly be handled with the rest. Most other controls, like inventory, are only needed outside of combat so can afford to be cumbersome. The main problem is Monking, I don't see how you could handle it with a controller, but the GW team has handled similar challenges in the past so I don't doubt they would be able to find an acceptable solution.

2. Free Play - This appeals to the market for two reasons. The first is that many gamers are already paying per-month for thier console's online gaming service. I doubt that many would be willing to shell out money for internet connection + online gaming service + MMO fees. Also consider that consoles have a younger market, and in more instances the parents are paying for thier children's hobby. "I'm already paying 15 bucks per month for your service! You want another 15 dollars per month for what?!?" ---- Compared to free-play with GW.

3. CORPG concept - The focus on PvP would probaly appeal heavily to the console market who are primarily used to competitive online experiences already.

There's some hurdles though which surround communication, I think there is two things that would be needed.

In-Game Voice Support - It's something that we have been clamoring for for ages, and probaly be a requirment for anyone playing through console. Even if a console keyboard was made, most people don't want to sit with one on thier lap.

Better Party Forming Interface - Even if we had voice support, it would be a stupid idea to give voice access to the "All" channel, and I doubt that most console players would want to use a cumbersome typing system to "LFG" over and over again.


So what do you think, is it feasible? Would console gamers be good for GW?

I'm sorry, but I really don't think that there are enough buttons to play Guild Wars on a console without it feeling awkward. Guild Wars has pretty low requirements though so most people who have computers can run it if they really want to.

^_^

It can be the done. The question is.....why?

It would be fine on the console level, I suppose. However, there's no denying that the players with a keyboard and mouse would simply be better all around, since those are the controls the game was made for. In my opinion, adding consoles to the mix would be like adding many, many of the newbish assassins we see today, but in the guise of players that are actually helpful, like monks or necros. Theres also the problem of party member selection, on which many monks rely very heavily.

As an xbox360 owner and player I would say NO to a console version of GW. Why? It would melt my console the amount of time I'm online playing GW!

The other side is, it is bad enough with kids running around in GW and spamming text crap all over. Try Halo and you hear them speaking their crap, I tell you listening is much worse than the reading!

Personally, I don't think any game can be "perfect". What may be perfect to one person may not be for the next. Besides, there's always room for improvement.

I agree, the one thing we need in GW are MORE 12 year olds screaming in falsetto over voice chat, just like in Halo 2.

yea, drawing on the map would be impossible, selecting party members and selecting enemy would be difficult... moving around the map while doing all this..

yea, it would be hard to manage for the average console user,.. however, maybe a guildwars style game with its instancing could be devised! but certainly not GW as-is.

I have that
cost me 80$ to get it just for PSO on GC

Considering Guild Wars isnt even an MMO, your wrong. Now is it the perfect Console CORPG? Yes!

that thing is real... whoa that is like.. pretty unweildy it would seem

It can be like FFXI on PS2/Xbox360 (at least in the controller department) and pretty much require a keyboard to play the game.

PS2/PS3/Xbox360 should support a mouse too.

Not a bad idea at all if the Dev cost vs returns makes sense for GW.
Or they could make a console version of GW that's not connected to main GW that could run without hvy use of keyboard mouse (simplfy game controls and system mechanics).

Yes, it can be done. Sell a keyboard for the console with the game with a mouse adapter, probably feasible. The controller itself you could then set aside. But this would be an expensive setup overall, and updates and new chapters would be a nightmare, with versions necessary for all the different platforms. Look at how much trouble it was to port Halo from a console to a PC and think of how much more trouble it would be to port in the other direction.

Voice communication is not going to happen. GW and WoW have kept text mode communication for a good reason. While primary voice mode would be popular with a few, the many would find it so annoying they would leave the game.

I thought PSO is the perfect Console MMO? Its like Guild Wars except it based on sci-fi environment and it cost $14 or $15 dollars a month to play it.

PSO Ver 1 was free to play. PSO Ver 2 added stuff and costed a fee.
PSO lives on as a PSO Blue Shift (PC MMORPH - fee based) and a port over to Xbox (played over live).

PSO (and Dreamcast for that matter) was so far ahead of it's time and that is a perfect example of a great console (controller based) on-line / offline game.

Eh, it's possible but not likely. Keep it to the PC IMO.

Although I would personally hate for this to happen, as it would inevitably lead to the PC version being pushed to the background, I utterly and completely agree that whomever gets the first big MMO to a console will make it very, very, big, and that GW, through its no-fees business model and relative simplicity, could be well positioned to be that MMO.

The big problem isn't the controls - I'm pretty sure GW could be controlled with gamepad - but the fact that consoles have pretty sucky connectivity & can not really be upgraded.

I really like this paragraph O.o makes you think of how they could.

Like 'v' and 'c' are target closest friend and target closest enemy?... Rbutton and Lbutton :P

I win?

I think I need more hands.

"Sucky connectivity" is in the past. Though, "Cannot be really Upgraded" doesn't apply to GW since they kept the same game engine.

The PROBLEM with GW on a console is the streaming updates. The game changes alot and console Hard Drives might not be able to handle the file weight and have other things on it as well. Unless you change the HDs out just for GW. And the only console fit for that is the Xbox360.

The PC version wouldn't be just pushed out because its the premier platform for the game. Just take a look at Valve, if you have a PC then you can take advantage of many more options and features then their console cousins of the games.

meh. consoles are a thing of the past. just look how worthless the new xbox is.

Besides, at 350 bucks you can easily build a computer or upgrade yours to be at an optimum Guild Wars Machine.

For those with PCI slots only- upgrade your motherboard for 80 bucks
For those with less than 64mb cards- upgrade to an ATI x1600pro 512mb for 125 bucks
RAM? Thats dirt cheap, especially considering the GW Req's.

I vote you all sell your dusty consoles and upgrade your computers... itll be a learning/enriching experience.

I don't really agree with that. XBox 360 is still pretty limited; I don't know what the PS3 has, though.

On my HD with factions plus prophecies GW weighs in at 2.6GB; that's all the files there are. The XBox 360 HD is 20 gigs. I don't know how big an average xbox game is, but it seems there should be space enoughfor GW.

What happens (and we've seen this MANY times, with every developer who starts co-developing for PC and console) is that the PC version suffers and becomes secondary. Controls, graphics, and gameplay are simplified; mature content removed; color-schemes "brightened up" - all to run on the weaker hardware of consoles, and appeal to the (perceived) younger audience playing on console.

This wouldn't really affect GW's first three chapters, but if there's ever a GW2, it likely would.

Oblivion is an example of what a good developer can create when developing for PC and console simultaneously. Neither one really suffers (although if any version did, it was the PC one because of the rather inefficient UI).

With the cursor ability that the Wii controller is capable of, the mouse's purpose is accounted for. All that is missing is the keyboard, for chatting.

The Nintendo Wii will be ideal for this sort of stuff. And I agree with Sciros that the only thing that's keeping it from being able to do it is a keyboard. Now granted they could make one you could buy but than wouldn't having a keyboard and a controller that acts as a mouse be just like having a computer? ...yes :P The only way we can put an MMORPG or CORPG on a console is if we make a console with all the necessities of a computer...

Speech-to-text technology, once it matures even more, may be a viable alternative to chatting via keyboard.

Suppose for argument's sake that it works well and it's available. Then instead of selecting "guild chat" and typing, just press "up" on the Wii remote's control pad (which will be mapped to "guild chat") and say something, then release it and what you said will be posted ^_^.

With that sort of technology, playing an MMORPG on console could be a very unique and cool experience.

Of course if we have proper speech recognition implemented in middleware for games, I can barely fathom the possiblities this would have for squad-based tactical shooters, RTS games, etc. :drools:

Not perfect + graphics are outdated.

More like worst console game due to frequent updates.

As long as the console has a hard drive that should not be an issue. FFXI push there bi-monthly changes and everyone usually can't play on "patch" day depending on server load, how big was the update.