Starcraft 2 sells well, but not as well as WoW
The SC2 numbers are in and they’re good. Blizzard claims best selling PC Game of 2010 with over 1 milion copies sold within the first 24 hours. Kotaku compare this number with WoW expansions, and finds that both TBC and Wrath sold over twice as well in their first 24 hours of release.
I’m dubious as to how much weight to put on the first 24 hour sales with this game, since it’s expected to have a very long tail indeed if it follows after the example of its predecessor.
SC2 fans will probably also enjoy this article by Sirlin about the game’s online ranking mechanism.
In other Blizzard news, the developer has announced intentions to try to police roleplay on one of the US RP servers. Apparently Moonguard US has zones which are notorious for people cybering in public and some hapless GM/s have been assigned the least enviable job in the community management arena by being told to go in and stop people doing it.
So good luck with that then. And in Activision’s Q2 investor call it was confirmed that Blizzard is working on a new MMO with a new IP. (I’m not sure if this is news, I had thought they already said as much but it’s official now.)
Torchlight 2 announced! Not a MMO but will include multiplayer
Runic Games announced this week that they plan to release a sequel to fan favourite Diablo-alike Torchlight, to be released around March 2011. Torchlight 2 will include multiplayer functionality so you can adventure with your friends, and they also intend to offer a free peer-to-peer matchmaking system.
Also overland areas, more classes, more customisation … and so on. We still have no dates for Diablo 3 so this might well beat it to market. I am curious to hear more from Blizzard on how they’re going to differentiate D3 from the increasingly slick looking competition.
Gameforge buys Frogster
Frogster, best known in the MMO community for distributing Runes of Magic is now majority owned by Gameforge. Massively have some comments on Gameforge’s current portfolio and where this purchase fits in.
Also in commercial news this week, Google picks up social gaming app/ widget maker Slide. There’s no doubt that they intend to be a major player in the social gaming field, I can’t wait to hear more about their plans.
And in the same week, they announced the demise of the much hyped Google Wave.
So farewell, Google Wave understood by no one. You failed to make waves.
‘Never seen that before’ MMO news
- EQ2 plans flying mounts for next expansion
- Guild Wars 2 to feature fully voiced NPCs
Welcome to Spinksville! 
A bit of a shame about Google Wave. The thing holding me back is I use a very non-standard browser, and they didn’t support it. I could read waves, but not participate. Kind of defeats the purpose that way.
Is it also true that SOE just announced they’re working on EQ3, titled EverQuest Next? Least that’s what I got the gist over from Massively:
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/07/fan-faire-2010-john-smedley-and-the-soe-crew-talk-everquest-nex/
Yup, just they had the bad manners to do it on a weekend I was away. I have a few links and comments on that for tomorrow.
Tried the demo of Torchlight and already I have a list of things I want to see in the sequel. I’ll spare you the list but one thing I’d love to see is an option to play a female character that is wearing more clothes than the standard bikini-wear from the Torchlight 1 starting screen.
I don’t know that being a GM told to go in and stop cybering people is an unenviable job. It’d be quite funny to go in there and tell them to stop doing it or they’ll be banned. you’d be able to have a bit of a chuckle, as well as feel pretty good about yourself, knowing that no matter how low your life sinks, at least you won’t be them.
Unenviable because you have to read the badly written, sometimes cringeworthy cybering text. Plus people will hate you for spoiling their fun, plus you know it’s pointless because they’ll just go somewhere else or take it to whispers until you are gone.
Yes, I’m sure there have been vague rumblings of a new mmo with new ip for a long time.
I’m neutral on Google Wave, I never found it very compelling. Buzz however is a different story. I love being able to share and discuss interesting news stories from my rss feed with friends (and that’s just one way to use it)
I couldn’t see any point to Google Wave, so I can’t say I’m sad to see it go. But then I never saw any point in Twitter or Facebook, (still don’t) so I clearly don’t have much of a track record in predicting what people will find useful.
Isn’t that the same unnamed new-IP MMO Blizzard has been working on since before they merged with the Borg… er, Activision?