Huxley, Huxley 360, and Advertising.

[Boomer]

I have a prediction. By marketing HUXLEY to the console gaming community, you are creating a list of challenges for yourself, especially when adressing the need for advertising and new players.

• HUXLEY would be the first MMOFPS on the Xbox 360 (If I am not mistaken). Because of this, it will have to be thoroughly advertised as something greater than the other genres. You will literally set the standard to beat, so the task at hand would be to convice the potential players that HUXLEY will be the only good MMOFPS experience on the 360 for a while to come.
  
• You will be competing with some of the BEST games ever engineered. Halo 2; Call of Duty 2; Splinter Cell... among others. There will be the huge task of attracting players from these games, one that is not as much of a problem for the said PC release, because most players will be coming from Planetside and other MMO's.
  
• XBOX LIVE players do not like Pay to Play in the first place... and I'm not sure how the Pay to Play plan will work in the Xbox version, but it will need to correspond equally with the PC version, or else you'll lose your PC playerbase.
  
• Again, i'm unaware of the terms under which you are working with Microsoft Games, but based on the different limitations Microsoft places on you, HUXLEY may be forced to be altered in ways that it would not have in a PC circumstance.
  
• If HUXLEY is going to be a Multi-platform game, then it will have to be the same game on each platform. This means, as I have stated somewhat above, that there will need to be ABSOLUTE balance between the two versions. This can mean several things, good and bad. For example, if the Xbox 360 playerbase is thriving and growing at a substantial rate, while the PC playerbase is not, the need may occur to expand some city, zone, or something to make room for all the expansion on the 360 title. Because both titles have to be balanced, the expansion would also have to occur on the PC version. In this particular example, the PC players would find themselves running around in even more emptiness, where as only the 360 players are satisfied (I'm sorry I could not think of a better example, but the concept is the same).
  
• A multi-platform production is a BIG ASS PRODUCTION. Keeping this in mind... MMO's have to be maintained. Therefore, HUXLEY will be a BIG ASS MAINTAINENCE ISSUE. This costs money, resources, time, and is a commitment that lasts forever! By making the game on two platforms, you only double the work, cost, and commitment. Talk about the need for ALOT of manpower, right? Sort of. In order for the games to be the same on both platforms, you will actually have to have the same team working on new content, for both games. Though, it will be harder to manage the other teams working on things like technical issues, system problems, customer support.. etc. Again, these are two separate tasks only realated to each other by the game that the belong to.
  
• Eventually, you will have to deal with the shutdown of one of the platforms (I predict M$ will shut it down first, but again I am unfamiliar with how the system will work). If Balance between the platforms is the objective, then when one shuts down... so will the other.

Thats my 2 cents. I hope you've got it all covered though. Keep in mind that while I post this.. I have little knowlege of any of the circumstances between HUXLEY and its Affiliates. These were just a few issues that came to mind when looking into the game.

[LimpJedi]

Huxley will fail on the xbox. It will live on the PC for a very very long time. The xbox community is just too small for a mmo to survive on it. If you go on Unreal Championship (one of the games that were released the day xbox live was released on the original xbox) you will be lucky to even see one other player playing. However if you go on Unreal Tournament (the first UT game made which is on the pc) you will see tons of players still playing. This could also relate to CS which has been out for well before xbox live was relased and thousands still play.

I have a very big feeling that the Huxley xbox community just wont survive long enough. I know when I played on xbox live for the first 2 years of its relase each time a new game was released a huge portion of the entire community would leave behind their current game and go for the new one. As soon as another mmo or even Halo 3 is relased on the xbox live I know the same will happen with the Huxley Xbox community leaving it to rot and going for the new.

The PC community is just too huge for the game to be shut down anytime soon. I know for a fact one server would be enough for the entire xbox live player base to play on. I doubt there would even be enough players to fill up one server. Where as the PC will have alot of servers.

To sum it all up. Don't waste your time with Huxley on the xbox. As soon as a new game is released everyone will ditch Huxley and go onto the new game. Huxley will die on the xbox very fast. It will not die on the PC.

(Lastly, sorry if this doesnt even relate to your post I think I kinda just went way off topic but oh well)

[Boomer]

Nah, that is exactly what I was going for.

Basically, I was implying that it is a stupid idea to try and release it on Xbox 360. I predict it will fail, but I hope it will not have an effect on the PC version.

Really, I think you should just stop wasting time on the Xbox version, and concentrate on the PC version to get it done faster!

[LimpJedi]

I highly doubt it will affect the PC version. If the servers are in fact going to be connected between the Xbox and PC the Xbox playerbase will probably be a very small percentage of the community on each server. Which means them leaving (which im sure they will all leave very fast when they notice they can't hang with the PC users in combat) wont effect the game at all. It would be like 1 out of every 10 guys leaving the game.

[Boomer]

10% is a lot, especially in a small / new game.

But I get what you are saying.

But PLEASE, oh godly makers of Huxley. DO NOT do what SOE (Planetside) had decided to do, and be silent about the game.

ADVERTISE. ADVERTISE. ADVERTISE!

That was one of the problems with Planetside. Dont let it be so for Huxley, especially if it goes Console.

[Spartan]

I agree with Limp, allthough it can seem large the xbox live community is relatively small in comparison to the PC community. You wind up running into the same players/clans a lot if you play enough via xbl, and the populace for any given game will die out quickly if a bigger title is released. It's just a matter of time, maybe in the area of a year, after huxley's release that most of the console users leave.

[Boomer]

That's why one of my points said that Huxley needs to be identified as THE BEST game to come FOREVER. Otherwise it will be like everything else.

[KingGryphon]

I would have to disagree on the utter failure of Huxley on 360. Currently and in the works, there are no other games like Huxley for th 360. Also, I think the Xbox community is waiting for a MMO because many of them cannot afford a good computer and therefore cannot play good MMO. Although I do realize that once new game comes out people will shift to that game, but that happens on all sytems. However, if Huxley keeps people interested and entertained they will keep the attention of much of the community.

[LimpJedi]

Originally Posted by KingGryphon

I would have to disagree on the utter failure of Huxley on 360. Currently and in the works, there are no other games like Huxley for th 360. Also, I think the Xbox community is waiting for a MMO because many of them cannot afford a good computer and therefore cannot play good MMO. Although I do realize that once new game comes out people will shift to that game, but that happens on all sytems. However, if Huxley keeps people interested and entertained they will keep the attention of much of the community.

It doesn't happen on the PC. Sure some leave but our player base is so huge that there will always be someone playing. Huxley will fail on the xbox.

[KingGryphon]

First of all, it seems like you (LimpJedi) have not played on Xbox live or the 360 lately. (Please correct me if Im wrong.) The popularity and the player base has become very large for a console and I believe taht nice sized base will be created. Secondly, you referrenced a game that came out in the very beginning, 4 or 5 years ago. Of course the game will not stay that popular if better games come out, especially sequals to the game itself. Lastly, we dont know if a link between the PC and Xbox will be established, but so then there should be no reason for failure on either console.

[Boomer]

Regardless... I'd rather Webzen just focus on the PC version. Gimme Huxley!

If the title's between the systems will be different (as suggested on gamespy) then it will take even longer to produce. But things will still take just as long to be updated, maintained, and fixed on each version when the game goes live. It will only mean that WebZen is now not working on one game on two platforms.. but two games on two platforms.

To me, with the limited intel I have... Huxley 360's future does not look bright.


Surprise me.

[LimpJedi]

Originally Posted by KingGryphon

First of all, it seems like you (LimpJedi) have not played on Xbox live or the 360 lately. (Please correct me if Im wrong.) The popularity and the player base has become very large for a console and I believe taht nice sized base will be created. Secondly, you referrenced a game that came out in the very beginning, 4 or 5 years ago. Of course the game will not stay that popular if better games come out, especially sequals to the game itself. Lastly, we dont know if a link between the PC and Xbox will be established, but so then there should be no reason for failure on either console.

I was a beta tester for the original xbox live when it was released. This was well before I got into PC gaming, atleast hardcore. I played on the xbox live for the first 2 years or so. About a month or so after counter-strike had been released on the xbox. From those 2 years of xbox live gaming everytime a new fps was released everyone left their current one and went to the new one.

All I played were fps games on the xbox. Started off with UC until everyone left for RTCW or SOF2. I played some RTCW but than left for SOF2. Counter-Strike was than released and everyone from both of those games went onto Counter-Strike. Halo 2 was than released and everyone went on to Halo 2. As you can see there is a pattern here. The entire FPS community just jumping from game to game.

To answer your question, no I have not played on the xbox live recently. I have not been on the xbox live since about 2 weeks after Halo 2 was relased. I still strongly believe it will still be the same today as it was a few years back. And for the player base of the 360 being very large.. You only think it's large. It really isn't and you will soon find out that because of all these things Huxley will also fail on the xbox live.

[KingGryphon]

You seem to have no optimism and almost a hatred of Xbox live. You could possibly be right, but you could be wrong. I think it would be best to see the outcome when the game is really introduced to the public.

[LimpJedi]

Originally Posted by KingGryphon

You seem to have no optimism and almost a hatred of Xbox live. You could possibly be right, but you could be wrong. I think it would be best to see the outcome when the game is really introduced to the public.

I have no hatred for the xbox live. I miss the good old xbox live days its what actually introduced me to online gaming and online communication at the same time. Other than starcraft I had no other online experience. You can just say I sort of saw the "light" when I switched over to the PC. It is so much better than the xbox live in every way.

[Staydown]

My first post /applaud .
Ok, it's very obvious to me that the majority of you dont play MMORPGs. I have been playing World of Warcraft for several months now, about 11 I think, in those 11 months as a hardcore gamer I have spent 64 days playing, as in over 1500 hours! In that much time I still haven't seen all of the end game content. This is why I continue to play, an not only play, I pay $17 a month to do so. It's still fun and new and I see new content. I would rather pay $17 a month and keep having fun and building on something rather than buy a new PC game every month. Now why do i bring this up? Huxley will allow you to see new content and provide new challenges the higher level you get. It will hold a persons interest for a long time not just for that reason, but also because the more time you invest the more you feel like you would be losing if you left the game. You won't be able to buy the game and be equal to someone who has played 3 months. This is why Huxley will survive on a console and PC provided the game isn't a sack of shit. /coughSWGsneeze

[LimpJedi]

Originally Posted by Staydown

My first post /applaud .
Ok, it's very obvious to me that the majority of you dont play MMORPGs. I have been playing World of Warcraft for several months now, about 11 I think, in those 11 months as a hardcore gamer I have spent 64 days playing, as in over 1500 hours! In that much time I still haven't seen all of the end game content. This is why I continue to play, an not only play, I pay $17 a month to do so. It's still fun and new and I see new content. I would rather pay $17 a month and keep having fun and building on something rather than buy a new PC game every month. Now why do i bring this up? Huxley will allow you to see new content and provide new challenges the higher level you get. It will hold a persons interest for a long time not just for that reason, but also because the more time you invest the more you feel like you would be losing if you left the game. You won't be able to buy the game and be equal to someone who has played 3 months. This is why Huxley will survive on a console and PC provided the game isn't a sack of *CENSORED*. /coughSWGsneeze

Obviously you are too much in the WoW mentality. Huxley is nothing like WoW it is a FPS. The devs have also stated that a level 1 in Huxley could easily defeat a level 50 (or whatever he said) with pure skill alone. Being higher level in Huxley is not like being higher level in WoW. So saying that in Huxley someone who just bought the game wont be as good as someone who has been playing for 3 months is completely wrong.

[Zero]

Wouldn?t it be funny if the Xbox 360 version of it survived and the pc died.

Im tired of everyone saying that Xbox live gamers don?t like mmorpgs.

I ask you go to a few games online and ask the opinion of other gamers ask about Huxley a lot of people are going to play the 360 one. I just wished that more people had some more optisim on the subject.

[LimpJedi]

Originally Posted by Zero