am sitting here in my recliner, staring at the overpowering glow of my 42" plasma in which my computer is attached to and pondering about the gaming industry. I like to do this sometimes, relax and just let my mind run away with crazy game ideas and go over what's happening in the industry and where I see it going over the next few months.

Today my thoughts are all about Multiplayer functionality in titles whether it be RTS games, FPS games or MMO's. A multiplayer capability within a title has gone well beyond a nice bonus, to an absolute necessity. Looking over the upcoming and existing MMO's as I consider which time sink to invest in next, I notice that almost every single niche market and every single universe created most likely already has or will soon have its own MMO.  Aion Timecard, Aion Powerlevel, Aion Kinah

Are the days of single player titles coming to an end? Have we become so reliant on the internet that even our gaming lives are dominated by it as well? It is great that the MMO genre is growing stronger  by the day but now it just seems to be used as a cash cow by developers. Developing your own MMO seems to be the fad of this generation; it seems if you don't have an MMO title under your belt then you're not a developer worth paying attention to. Aion Timecard, Aion Powerlevel, Aion Kinah

We can see evidence of this from the powerhouse developers. Developers who have always focused on single player titles or genres other than MMO's are now focusing all their efforts on next-gen MMO titles. There is a never-ending battle to break the market away from World of Warcraft. Has Blizzard truly created a monster?

Maybe a few years down the track there won't be a true variety of genres, it will just be titles classed along the lines of MMORPG, MMORTS, MMOFPS etc. Does anyone else see this marketing trend appearing within the industry? It kind of worries me that the day will soon come where all games will either consist of a pay-to-play subscription structure or a cash shop in which the only way to truly get ahead in the game is to pour hard earned cash into the game.  Aion Timecard, Aion Powerlevel, Aion Kinah


This also got me to wondering, what will future generations be focusing on developing? Which genre will dominate the cash flow of its gamers? The only reason this concerns me, and that I am sitting here pondering this is because I have noticed that the quality of MMO titles has degraded quite a bit lately. World of Warcraft took 4 years to develop the initial game. Now complete MMO's are being developed in an average of 1 year, and are being pushed out the door faster by the day. This may also be the reason why no other MMO title has been able to take the MMO Crown from Blizzard.Aion Timecard, Aion Powerlevel, Aion Kinah