Console MMOs: Can they get up off the ground?

I think the biggest problem we're looking at with a console MMO is interaction with the community. Built in keyboards are clumsy for consoles, and even on a nice big HDTV having to constantly read small type can be a strain.

Voice chat is the obvious solution, except that with the general console market (just look at HOME here for an example) we have a solution that doesn't seem so ideal, especially when it comes to situations outside of a group or a raid.


A lot of other issues can be circumvented. The issue of hotkey's is pretty easy by allowing multiple button presses. When you look at a standard 360 controller you have the option of:

A/B/X/Y
L + A/B/X/Y
R + A/B/X/Y
LB + A/B/X/Y
RB + A/B/X/Y

Which gives a good total of 20 unique hotkeys that are easily available to a player.

A UI can easily be delt with as well, and the customization could be a lot like the way warhammer online handled it (Everything movable and scalable).


And, of course, with consoles having hard drives now (except the Wii) persistent and new content won't be a large problem either.

I think it would be cool to game with people on consoles. FFXI does (or did, I haven't kept up) offer cross platform play, and I played with some guys who used a PS2, while I used a PC.

What about Everquest Online Adventures for the PS2. Or did that finally die out? I played it before I played FFXI... and now SOE is talking about a 'new' EQ for Consoles...

DO-NOT forget some of the mmo'esque type games that have been released that ARE hits.

PSO Series

Monster Hunter Series

___________________Series
^insert your game here

I've been playing MMOs for about a decade, but the days of playing games hunched over in front of the computer are winding down, especially when most of my old online pals are on Xbox Live and I finally splurged for the crazy-ass-big television.

I think that console MMOs have a chance, but they'll be a much simpler, different beast than their PC counterparts.

For example, Tabula Rasa, (flaws aside) would have made for a good console MMO becuase the hotkeys were really simple, and didn't require extra levels of button bars that would throw off a console control. Whereas, I couldn't even play WoW with the Xbox controll mod that came out...was just too many button combinations to keep track of.

Voice chat will take care of some of the communication problems, and even though it's not the easiest thing to use, the Xbox messenger chatpad could be a quick way to fire off additional spells or type out random junk in the game lobby or city marketplace.

The subscription model needs to be worked out, or maybe console games run on micro-transactions (which would well on Live). Also, hard drives, patching, and updates need to be handled really well, or it could be a nightmare.

I can't wait to see where it goes. I tried playing Final Fantasy on the Xbox and it just wasn't there yet. It's definitely a crappily ported PC game.

Phantasy Star Universe is a console/PC MMO. PC and PS2 users share a server, while the xbox360 crowd plays on their own server.

Phantasy Star Universe is a console and PC MMO. Massively has reported on it before >_>