Blizzard says MMOs might work on consoles, but not WoW
by Mike Schramm 
Aug 21st 2008 at 4:30PM
Here's one more interview with the folks at Blizzard from Leipzig today -- play.tm sat down with J. Allen Brack and Tom Chilton during their interview marathon to chat more about Wrath of the Lich King and our favorite game. Unfortunately, with all the talking they've been doing lately, there's a little reptition -- we hear again that the game will provide content for both hardcore and casual players, and they mention a possible graphical overhaul again.Their answers about the "biggest advancement" in Wrath are interesting though -- Brack says that he thinks the fact that they're introducing a new class to the game for the first time has been the biggest design challenge so far. Chilton is excited about the achievements (as am I) -- they should provide a lot of new ways for players to extend their gameplay and get rewarded for new accomplishments.
They also talk about a few things players don't usually associate with MMOs: social networks and consoles. Brack says that both are possibilities for Blizzard, though consoles wouldn't really work with World of Warcraft as we know it. Any MMO, they say, for consoles would have to be designed from the ground up to work with the hardware, and that's not something (including the next-gen MMO, we assume) that Blizzard is working on at the moment.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Expansions, Leveling, Interviews, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Paedolos Aug 21st 2008 4:43PM
I have not much experience with consoles, but I find it hard to imagine how one could control his MMO toon with so little buttons.
I mean, I have over 30 keybound abilities, and I don't think keypads can reach so much options.
Moreover, targeting with no mouse must be a nightmare.
Unless they connect those to the console? But then it'll just be like another PC :)
Malkeior Aug 21st 2008 4:49PM
That and the fact that consoles aren't near as powerful as PC's
Maz Aug 21st 2008 4:53PM
It wouldn't be hard to simply create a console with a USB interface, to be honest.
Metal_Gear Aug 21st 2008 5:22PM
1. You have been able to connect Mice and Keyboards to game consoles for years (I had a Mouse for my PS1), all Blizz would have to do is supply them or put a big 'K&M required to play!' sticker on the box.
2. Games consoles are powerful enough to play all current games and are a damn sight cheaper than PCs and MACs at the same power. And WoW could be played on a PS2, let alone a PS3 or 360, power isn't a problem by todays standards.
Mats Aug 21st 2008 6:44PM
@Metal_Gear
The only console you can connect keyboard and mouse to is the PS3 an Wii of the current gen consoles, neither of these have the minimum memoryrequirement of wow.
Secondly, Current gen consoles cannot run "every current gen game" This comes down to, again and again, the lack of RAM put into consoles compaird to PCs. And the PS2 would have had no chance of running wow, simply on the fact that it would not be able to handle the amount of data used for the open areas that wow uses. The PS2 only have 32mb of RAM and 4mb of VRAM, where as the min req for wow is 512mb of RAM and 32mb of VRAM.
shinoko Aug 21st 2008 7:06PM
Mats, the 360 can use a keyboard and mouse too.
Also those minimum system requirements are generally based on the Windows(or linux) OS, which has a pretty big footprint.
Eternalpayn Aug 21st 2008 7:16PM
Metal gear:
I had a mouse for my SNES. Mario Paint FTW.
Metal_Gear Aug 21st 2008 7:25PM
@ Mats
GTA: San Andreas could play perfectly on a PS2 which as you say only has 32mb RAM. Yet the PC version of San Andreas has a 256mb RAM minimum requirement.
Dont tell me the PC version was 8 times better looking that the PS2 version ¬_¬
asgaroth Oct 11th 2008 4:04AM
Keyboards and mice are made for "today's" consoles now. You could use them to play wow.
Maz Aug 21st 2008 4:50PM
Which is unfortunate.
The whole reason consoles have been whittling away at PC gaming has been the fact that you're developing to make something run on -one- set of hardware specs.
I long ago gave up trying to play games like Crysis or anything else rather intensive. It wasn't worth the money to keep upgrading my system. I find consoles a better investment overall. The only reason I PC game anymore is MMOs and Champions Online, an MMO I'm excited about, is suppose to run on the X-Box 360.
Braundo Aug 21st 2008 5:04PM
Of course MMOs can work on consoles; Final Fantasy XI has been doing it for years.
skynes Aug 21st 2008 6:58PM
Blizz didn't say MMO's couldnt work on consoles. They said WOW couldn't work on a console.
jbodar Aug 21st 2008 7:13PM
And on PS2 to boot. You can't compare sysreqs directly. The game still needs to be ported over.
jbodar Aug 21st 2008 7:22PM
@skynes
"Blizzard says MMOs might work on consoles, but not WoW" -- Article title
"Might" implies uncertainty. This may just be a case of misinterpreting what Blizzard said. The article says that they'd have to be designed with the console hardware in mind. Everquest was ported to PS2 and that didn't go so well, whereas IIRC FFXI was specifically intended to go to PS2.
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/everquestonlineadventures/index.html
CJRush Aug 22nd 2008 4:16AM
IF I remember correctly a guy wrote a program to play WoW on his Wii I'll link it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkX1oQsvNe0
so It can be possible, but the wiimote sorta replaces a mouse and equates to a keyboard with very very few keys
Brasco Aug 21st 2008 6:58PM
At #3 and #5.
Ill try to not make this into a flaming but to correct you both, the 360 has USB ports on it and you can connect a keyboard to it for sure. I use it for typing my messages on there instead of using the controller.
Aigarius Aug 23rd 2008 6:09PM
WoW could work perfectly with a PS3, you just would require a mouse and a keyboard to play it. XBox360 or Wii might not be powerfull enough for WoW and do not guarantee the availability of the hard drive for the cache, version updates and the mods.