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Rumor: Dungeons and Dragons Online coming to consoles

Mike Schramm — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Forums, MMO industry, Consoles, Rumors

Our good friend reader Schad sent us a tip that rings strangely true, as weird as may sound: Turbine may be releasing Dungeons and Dragons Online for the Xbox 360 and/or PS3 consoles. The game is riding high after their big Module 7 release last week, and connecting the dots on this just might mean DDO is console-bound.

Before you try to throw the case out of court, hear out the evidence first:

Schad notes that Turbine's careers page calls for a console engineer, and if you read the description of what they're looking for, phrases like "extend the functionality" and "updating Turbine's MMOG engine" point directly to a console port kind of situation.
And the DDO team specifically has just recently announced that big changes are in the air over there -- they've suspended the "Weekly Dev activities" alert, saying that what they're working on is under wraps, and that the Turbine PR team is giving them more focus.

Which is exactly what you'd expect from a console port. Doesn't sound as strange after that, does it? And after thinking about it, DDO's "real-time" control scheme does lend itself very well to console controls, and the ongoing rumors that the game is going free-to-play would also make things easier for a console version. It's still a rumor for now, but all the signs we can see point to a possible console-based Stormreach in the future.

Rumor: Dungeons and Dragons Online coming to consoles originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is the world of Harry Potter Turbine's next MMO project?

Dan O'Halloran — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Rumors

There has been a good deal of press lately about the $40 million in funding Turbine recently received. But what didn't get looked into deeply was who gave them that cash and why. If you follow the money, we think you'll find all roads lead to Hogwarts.

Turbine is a privately held gaming company that specializes in launching and maintaining games from well-known brands, Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online, specifically. Time Warner is one of the new investment partners in this latest round of financing for Turbine. They also own Warner Bros. Studios which owns not only the film rights to The Lord of the Rings (and upcoming Hobbit prequel), but also holds the video game publishing rights to the Harry Potter franchise which also just happens to be the biggest movie franchise in box office history.

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Is the world of Harry Potter Turbine's next MMO project? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively interviews Jon Van Caneghem about the SCI FI Channel MMO

Mike Schramm — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Business models, Game mechanics, Free-to-play, Massively Interviews

Trion World Network is quite a company -- without releasing a single game, they've put together millions of dollars in venture capital and compiled a staff list that's got team members from across the history of MMO games, from EverQuest and Ultima Online to World of Warcraft and City of Heroes.

This week, they sent waves through the MMO community by announcing that not only were they working on a fantasy MMO to be helmed by Jon Van Caneghem (original creator of the Might and Magic series of RPG strategy games and co-founder of the company along with Lars Buttler), but that they were forming a groundbreaking partnership with the SCI FI Channel to develop and publish and MMO to live alongside a television show. Finally, we had a small glimpse of just what Trion, with all of their money and experience, were up to.

To find out more, Massively sat down with Van Caneghem (a busy man since the news dropped on Monday) to chat about both the fantasy MMO and the SCI FI project, and what Trion's been working on since they formed. Van Caneghem told us why Trion wants to make a different kind of MMO, and how they'll balance an online game with a television series from the network that's running Battlestar Galactica. The interview starts right after you click the link below.

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Massively interviews Jon Van Caneghem about the SCI FI Channel MMO originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively previews Dungeons & Dragons Online's Module 7

Mike Schramm — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Video, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Classes, Events, in-game, Patches, Endgame, PvE, Hands-on, Massively Hands-on

Dungeons & Dragons Online continues to hold their own in a quickly-growing MMO world. When DDO first showed up as a licensed MMO of the grandaddy of roleplaying games, their main goal was just to meet expectations -- so many people have been a fan of the pen-and-paper game for so long that putting it into MMO form was no easy task. But since release, the DDO team has made improvement after improvement, and added so much content to the game that it's moved beyond the license to stand on its own as a very singular kind of MMO.

Massively got a chance to sit down with the team and take a look at the latest update, Module 7, due out on June 3, and currently in public testing. In addition to some extended playtime with the new Monk class, we got to see updates to the lower level Three Barrel Cove area, a shrine to recently passed-on D&D creator Gary Gygax, and the new raid area under the destroyed Marketplace tent, as well as a few new monsters and raid bosses that can be found down there.

To start your tour through Module 7, just roll a d20 and click on through. To jump to any section of the walkthrough (including directly to our exclusive video preview, if that's what you're looking for), hit the links after the break.

Gallery: Dungeons & Dragons Online: Module 7 Walkthrough

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Massively previews Dungeons & Dragons Online's Module 7 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 27 May 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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