Guild Wars – Not On Xbox 360. At Least For Now

[Phanto]

Check it out here (http://www.playfuls.com/news_4921_Guild_Wars_Not_On_Xbox_360_At_Least_For_ Now.html)

But for us, when you buy it on the shelf, that's just the beginning of our relationship with you - and we want a direct connection with our customer so that we're always giving you new content, always supporting you directly. Xbox Live just wasn't really built, from a business standpoint, to support that...
Editor's Note - Thanks to Playfuls (http://www.playfuls.com/home.html).

Interesting...

[UnderHero5]

Xbox Live was built to make as much profit as possible.

Now someone say "ALL BUSINESSES ARE OUT TO MAKE AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE, IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE RETARD!"

[The Continental]

Riiiiiiiiiiiight... If anything I'd say the success of titles on Live Arcade have proven that the exact opposite is true. Not to mention the various content packs that have been available for download for numerous games in the past. If anything it seems like Live would be a perfect fit for GW's business model. Why Arena.Net would argue to the contrary is beyond me. Curiouser and curiouser...

[fitbabits]

Xbox Live was built to make as much profit as possible.

Now someone say "ALL BUSINESSES ARE OUT TO MAKE AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE, IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE RETARD!"
ALL BUSINESSES ARE OUT TO MAKE AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE, IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE RETARD! Feel better now? :D

[Zanzibar]

EA said the same thing. Then they were able to work it out. If these guys wanted to make a deal with Microsoft, they could make it happen. I'm not sure what the problem is.

[rein]

EA said the same thing. Then they were able to work it out. If these guys wanted to make a deal with Microsoft, they could make it happen. I'm not sure what the problem is.

our relationship with you - and we want a direct connection with our customer so that we're always giving you new content, always supporting you directly.

I think they made it pretty clear.

[Watership]

Check it out here (http://www.playfuls.com/news_4921_Guild_Wars_Not_On_Xbox_360_At_Least_For_ Now.html)


Editor's Note - Thanks to Playfuls (http://www.playfuls.com/home.html).

Interesting...


We don't like Microsoft. That's what I'm reading there. Xbox live makes online gaming fun. It's easy, it's simple.. its across the board, I dont' have to remember 8 passwords for 8 games. It's stable, even with NEW games.

Can any MMORPG say that?

This sounds like "Sony gave us money."

[Megalith]

Jealousy Wars.

[Watership]

our relationship with you - and we want a direct connection with our customer so that we're always giving you new content, always supporting you directly.

I think they made it pretty clear.

EA said the same thing, and their online solution sucked.

[Demo_Boy]

Guild Wars rocks. I hope this isn't a Sony exclusive thing.

[rein]

EA said the same thing, and their online solution sucked.

Yes, EA worked it out. EA needed to work it out because they are so big. By them not having Live enabled games it made them look bad. Arena.net has proved that they are capable of running their own servers. They are also in a much different situation than EA was. IMO, the 360 needs RPG's more than Arena.net needs to be on the 360. Now, if any of those Blizzard (WoW) rumors ever turn into something look out.

[Montolio]

I agree with what was said in the interview, Microsoft will have no problem making business changes IMHO so they can meet in the middle and get this developer on 360...if they're smart. These people know their stuff - we are talking about some of the original talent from Blizzard here folks.

[GunnyMo]

EA said the same thing, and their online solution sucked.

Preach it, brutha! EA just wanted total autonomy for their online games through XBLive. If they'd simply given the reigns to MS their online games would be much better.

[thegameguru]

I think the "s" key on the keyboard of whoever runs that site must be broken...

Micro$oft

oh no wait...

[Kefkataran]

This sounds like "Sony gave us money."

Sony gave them money? For what? For staying on PC? Why would Sony give them money for that? I'm confused.

[Pumped'Up]

Don't fret 360 owners, no need for Guild Wars - Oblivion is all you need...or have that is.

[fitbabits]

Don't fret 360 owners, no need for Guild Wars - Oblivion is all you need...or have that is.
Don't fret, Pumped'Up, there will soon be another thread where you can troll. After all, it is all you seem to have.

[Frogleg Special]

PS2 - DC Comics MMO
X360 - Marvel MMO
PC - DC and Marvel MMOs, Guild Wars, etc, etc.

And finally at the end of the day, PC is still the best platform for MMO for its apparent "agnosticity" (although really its owned by Microsoft).

[bone_matrix]

I've played Guild Wars on and off since it came out, and now I just started WoW, and I find WoW to be a better game, at least for me. Just something about it that I like better. Anywho, a PC seems better suited for MMOs, just because the keyboard is right there. I don't want to hear spam in my ear for 3 hours straight, whereas it is easier to ignore if its typed. Just my 2 cents.

[Heretic Machine]

Bleh... Guild Wars was massive suckage anyway. How many 3D Diablo clones do we need?

[Red Cloak]

NCsoft signed a pretty much exclusive agreement with Sony. That is why they are bashing Xbox Live, they are in Sony's close to empty pockets.

Google it yourself, NCsoft was been hired on to make a PS3 mmorpg.

[Kefkataran]

Google it yourself, NCsoft was been hired on to make a PS3 mmorpg.

Are you kidding? With a respectable upstanding young poster like yourself, Red Cloak, I might as well just take your word for it.

I don't know what so many desperate-seeming individuals are reading into this, but the quoted section doesn't look that mean or disrespectful towards X360 or Live. All they're saying is that their goal (which includes frequent large patching) isn't what X360 was designed for, and that makes sense to me. I don't really see how Guild Wars or a game in the GW fashion could work on any console.

[TrackZero]

Possibly there's some problem with regards to server administration that Live! gets in their way for. I'm sure they COULD work around it, but there's probably no incentive (i.e. $$$). Unless of course, the 360 dominates the market and they're left with little choice with regards to console development, but we won't know if that happens until a few years down the road. ;)

But no, I wouldn't be surprised if they go with Sony for their console game instead.

Edit: Of course, reading what RedClock just pointed out, then yeah, this is all PR bullshit between business partners/competitors.

[MStiles]

Bullshit. This has nothing to do with supporting a community or giving new content or anything. Halo 2 did this in spades. You can translate his comments directly to:

"We don't want to give Microsoft a cut of our money."

[Kefkataran]

You can translate his comments directly to:

"We don't want to give Microsoft a cut of our money."

So what's so wrong with that?

[Mason]

Riiiiiiiiiiiight... If anything I'd say the success of titles on Live Arcade have proven that the exact opposite is true. Not to mention the various content packs that have been available for download for numerous games in the past. If anything it seems like Live would be a perfect fit for GW's business model. Why Arena.Net would argue to the contrary is beyond me. Curiouser and curiouser...
What? They already took the time to build what is pretty much inarguably the best game-specific content distribution system in existence. To head back in and rewrite all of that for Live would be a huge undertaking, on top of the large task of porting the game to the 360.

I don't think Arenanet is that impressed with content packs, when they've been streaming content updates to people while they're playing, completely behind the scenes. Hell, you can still go install the game from a 96kb executable if you want, and be playing as soon as you stream down the minimal subset of initial content.

[Mason]

I don't really see how Guild Wars or a game in the GW fashion could work on any console.
That's the other good point. You've got 8 command slots, default attack, plus the need for very fast and comprehensive targeting hotkeys. I don't see that working competitively on a controller. Anyone who's played a monk would see the problems here.

ANet could chop up the game for a console, probably, but that doesn't seem like their style.

[overdrivechao]

Jealousy Wars.

I sunk your battleship

<This has been an automated repose to all dumbass posts by Megalith>

[Ravenlock]

What? They already took the time to build what is pretty much inarguably the best game-specific content distribution system in existence. To head back in and rewrite all of that for Live would be a huge undertaking, on top of the large task of porting the game to the 360.

I don't think Arenanet is that impressed with content packs, when they've been streaming content updates to people while they're playing, completely behind the scenes. Hell, you can still go install the game from a 96kb executable if you want, and be playing as soon as you stream down the minimal subset of initial content.

Yeah, I'm gonna go with this answer. Whether you LIKE the actual Guild Wars game or not (I do, though I'm currently wrapped up in WoW more...) is irrelevant to the point that Arena.net's content distribution system is AMAZING. Guild Wars doesn't occasionally update with downloadable content packs, it automatically streams patches to the player with new content, new areas, bug fixes, whatever they need, every time they connect. As Mason points out, you don't even need install media, they're more than happy to stream the whole game to you. That's goddamn impressive and I doubt XBox Live is capable of that. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I'd be very surprised to see it.

Bleh... Guild Wars was massive suckage anyway. How many 3D Diablo clones do we need?

*Shrug* I like it. Like I said, WoW has my attention at the moment, but that's because I'm still levelling a character and seeing content for the first time. Once I have a character or two to 60 and have seen most of the game world, I really doubt I'm gonna want to hand over $15 / month just to get uber loot and participate in raids all day. I don't have that kind of time anyhow.

With no monthly fee, GW can sit on my HD until I feel like some PvP (which is the game's focus anyhow, unlike WoW), get some use for a couple days, and then go back into remission. Works for me. And the PvE in GW is quite good, it just doesn't last as long as WoW's.

[Yeti2005]

EA uses Xbox Live but hosts everything on their own servers. Xbox Live is just a go between in that case. Guildwars could do the same thing. It's not a technical hurdle, it's an issue of money. MS would want a cut which I'm sure NCSoft doesn't want. NCSoft should have said "We're profitable right now and we don't want to give MS a piece of the pie" instead of crap like "...Xbox Live just wasn't really built, from a business standpoint, to support that...".

[ldi222]

I dont have a problem with their decision either. I mean its not like they dont already support Microsoft's products since their only platform at the moment is Windows anyway.

[UnderHero5]

EA uses Xbox Live but hosts everything on their own servers. Xbox Live is just a go between in that case. Guildwars could do the same thing. It's not a technical hurdle, it's an issue of money. MS would want a cut which I'm sure NCSoft doesn't want. NCSoft should have said "We're profitable right now and we don't want to give MS a piece of the pie" instead of crap like "...Xbox Live just wasn't really built, from a business standpoint, to support that...".
A cut of WHAT money? GW is FREE to play online. There is no monthly fee, so what money are you talking about exactly, in regards to online play?

[Demo_Boy]

I think maybe 360 only lets you patch the exe? So you've to fit it all inside the exe if you want to update it? This would explain why the GW update model wouldnt work, because there's so many changes to the content, it would never fit inside an exe.

[Xerxes]

Sony's network solution is crappy as it ever was. So it's like what does he mean Sony reaching out to him? Basically you can charge and Sony will say nothing.

[motor]

I think maybe 360 only lets you patch the exe? So you've to fit it all inside the exe if you want to update it? This would explain why the GW update model wouldnt work, because there's so many changes to the content, it would never fit inside an exe.

I think the real answer is that Microsoft like patches or additional content to come in content packs that go through marketplace. The GW model is the AMAZING (and whoever said it was amazing before is totally correct) content updating system that patches things on the fly in a much more dynamic way then that. Most likely the conflict is over these two ways of doing things.

As for EA, that was simply about money, branding and keeping the ps2/xbox code base as close as possible, they wanted to have their own servers so that they could control everything. It was a huge fight between Microsft and EA until EA traded being on the platform for X years for their own servers (and killing MS sports).

For the devs, just as an aside, the guild wars guys wrote their content system very early on, and used it as their content control system (some people use source safe or alien brain), their art was NEVER out of sync (and their artist were down in cal while they were up in seattle), it was/is a truly awesome system.

[mister_slim]

With no monthly fee, GW can sit on my HD until I feel like some PvP (which is the game's focus anyhow, unlike WoW), get some use for a couple days, and then go back into remission. Works for me. And the PvE in GW is quite good, it just doesn't last as long as WoW's.
As a question, how big is the install? With Factions and everything? What percentage of the 360 hard drive would it take? I wonder if MS would be willing to let that much space go?

[DeadlyDonkey]

As a question, how big is the install? With Factions and everything? What percentage of the 360 hard drive would it take? I wonder if MS would be willing to let that much space go?

This is exactly the point. The initial install is 96 KB! You stream content as you play, stuff gets updated as you play, everything is done behind the scenes in very incremental updates.

People who say "they don't want microsoft to get a slice" or "they just don't understand live" are totally missing the point.

The Guild Wars system can NOT be delivered over Live. The Guild Wars team like their system, and they are saying that they can't really see the game working as a Live game, with "content packs" and having it all predownloaded on a disc.

Oh, and to answer your question, my GW folder (which is fully updated up to the factions weekend) is 969MB. Which isn't that large either.

[ldi222]

Well maybe this is Sonys opportunity to "imitate and innovate." Although I would be extremely surprised.