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- thebusdriver, on 10/12/2007, -0/+40Starcraft? CounterStrike? Both huge games globally. WoW, schmow.
- NarmaK, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21Pac-Man is Japanese.
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18And ironically, all their other games (Diablo, Starcraft) charge for the *box* and give away online service for free.
Actually, in Asia, there is no box cost for WoW. It really *is* subscription only over there.
And the article *is* specifically talking about Asia, in this case:
"One of the main reasons Western software companies of all kinds have had difficulty in Asia is that piracy is still rampant across the region. Games like World of Warcraft circumvent that problem by giving the software away free and then charging for the game service, either hourly or monthly."
So in all honesty, the article is 100% correct. - EpicSA, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17In the article they state (in reference to piracy): "Games like World of Warcraft circumvent that problem by giving the software away free and then charging for the game service, either hourly or monthly."
This is not true, they give a free trial away but you must purchase the game for a full account. - muaddib420, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16the koreans have lots of experience with MMORPGs like WoW.
thank god i decided to quit my level 60 character, that game is just too addicting. - riplikethat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Nah, we are more interested in making sure your job get's outsourced here than playing/making games :P
- justinjacobs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I think I'm the only person left on earth that hasn't played WoW.
- NtHammer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11ya its great that everyone can play counterstrike gobally too, you dont need to learn a new language to know whats going on.
except that lag factor over seas :( - reddevil3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I think Counterstrike is the biggest game in the world. Even in third-world countries like Pakistan everybody plays Counterstrike.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8It has been 4 months since my last WOW experience, on my honor, or I may be chopped up and made into fish food.
- maize, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I agree, whoever wrote this has to do some more research.
Blizzard Entertainment, wasting students times since, well, a long time ago.
There games ARE fun to play though, usually. - foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"/1 I agree I sometimes feel like I should quit but I don't drink anymore really and my grades have gnome up alot. The cool part is I play w/ my RL friends all the time, so its all good.
It would be cool though if blizz would drop the price because they are doing so well then more people would join."
"Gnome up a lot.
Someone has been playing too much WoW..... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5It's the fact that it makes so much money (unlike Countrike) which has got the attention of publications like this
- vbsurfer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I recently quit 5 months ago. My college grades, work, and relationships has greatly improved. Yet, interpretation of productivity from one person to the next differs.
- AXNJAXN, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8I don't think that was the point.
Although, to be fairly honest, I do think the pac-man bit was a little misplaced there. - mike_p, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Seriously... enough people don't realize it. I'm off to sell my wares in the auction house now. I need more gold!
- gardnert1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Counter-Strike was the most popular game in the world in its time. Ahhhh.... those were the good ole days!
/nostalgia - jgtg32a, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3/1 I agree I sometimes feel like I should quit but I don't drink anymore really and my grades have gnome up alot. The cool part is I play w/ my RL friends all the time, so its all good.
It would be cool though if blizz would drop the price because they are doing so well then more people would join. - riplikethat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Don't bother... but if you DO, then create a female character. Only way to get all those 'pros' and noobs helping you, just make sure they believe you are a female in RL too. It won't be nice, you will have to do things you never would have before, but it's worth it.
- scott1, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Pong is U.S. which started video games!
But Tetris is a Russian game. - a3r0, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5"One of the main reasons Western software companies of all kinds have had difficulty in Asia is that piracy is still rampant across the region. Games like World of Warcraft circumvent that problem by giving the software away free and then charging for the game service, either hourly or monthly."
Since when has WoW been free? - raj3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5True, a lot of the big competetive games are from the US, Quake, Unreal, CS, Starcraft, Warcraft. These are some of the most "global" games of all, to the point where people from all over the world compete in them together and get broadcasted on TV overseas.
Online multplayer is where the US shines - Mirag3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah many US games are really popular in Asia. In fact, I haven't heard of any really big non-US games in Asia, except for the few cult Japanese games. I mean, the biggest game in South Korea is Starcraft, made by Blizzard. I'm betting that what they're really saying is that, as a country that doesn't give a ***** about US copyright law, the only way US companies are going to make money by selling their games is by requiring a subscription. Btw I pirate stuff too, but I ask all pirates out there, 1) Do you own a game? Like actually own. Bought with your own money. One. I'm betting you do. Just because many Americans pirate things doesn't mean we don't buy things too. I don't know about you, but only 1/8, if that, of my 1000+ song iTunes library is pirated. 2) If you have the money to spare and like the game, will you buy it? For me the answer is yes. I don't know how many games I have pirated, then deleted, then bought because I liked the game. For the most part I look at piracy as a trial, not full fledged theft. On the other hand, the widespread copyright /rape/ and cloning of US goods seems kind of repulsive to me. I pirate, I don't take a company's idea, found an exact replica selling the same product, then push that original company out of the market.
- NtHammer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i havent, i just played it at my friends house up to like lvl 3 or something, wasnt entertaining at all.
im def going to by buying vanguard though. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Raj, any games from India? Just cruious.
- bmcnally, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Huh, they didn't post all of the pictures from the article. If you pick up a hardcopy of the NYT, there is a screenshot of Starcraft in its own frame with a caption about WoW, showing that reporters are idiots.
- EpicSA, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@ merreborn
I did not know that. Thank you for the information. - combatchuck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I prefer Guild Wars. The closest they come to a subscription fee is buying new chapters. If you don't want to buy a new chapter, you don't have to, but you don't lose your ability to play. Now if they could just take some of the tediousness out of the PvE stuff, I'd be satisfied.
- raj3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2how the hell did we go from online gaming to a thread of flaming and racism?
only on digg... - betterth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2CS is still very popular. CS:S and 1.6 both have very large communities.
- sloc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Unlike in the US and Europe, The game is free in Asia but requires a monthly fee like everywhere else. Some places even allow for pay by hour play.
- Philbert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2As I read the headline I thought to myself "what is this a NYTimes article?". On a more serious note I interviewed with Blizzard a few months back, unfortunately the switch to next-gen pushed back the hiring for that position and I think I got lost in the shuffle. Great studio though I'd gladly do another interview any time.
- The_Dark_Titan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yea, CounterStrike, C&C, & StarCraft have totally been huge global games even though this is talking about MMORPGS.
- capajc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2EQ might be a lesser game, but it was/is certainly global.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Geek_U.S.A.(+[_]::) says Counter-Strike: Source will headshot WoW anytime. The game is cool and all, but no. It's not as exciting as hunting an enemy down, and shooting him in the face for that extra sense of superiority. It's this sorta thing where you just get a kick out of getting a "boom, headshot!". OMFG, can you say PWNED?
- foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Thats true....
- foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You are wrong. 0.00116% (repeating on the 6) of the world's population plays WoW. Thats a hell of a lot of people.
- vince1731, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This site is just complete and utter spam/a way to make a quick buck. Anyone who has followed MMORPGs in any degree knows that this article is logical and pointless.
- generalleoff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Most online games are USA made. PC games in general are USA dominated. With the exception of that Final Fantasy game (also a console game) I know of no major PC online games that are not from the USA. The whole "USA made games don't do well in Asia" thing is and always has been for consoles only.
It's just a fact. The USA owns the PC and Japan owns the consoles and I'm going back to playing Mario Kart DS. - darinjohnson435, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@CitizenKamb
Actually, in the US at least, there's a $40 upgrade fee to a full account, if you upgrade online. However, I got the box version at Walmart for $30, so maybe people aren't idiots, it's just cheaper to buy the box version, which comes with the install cds and the manual.
The online upgrade comes with nothing other than your status being changed from "Trial" to "Full" - Runesabre, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This week will mark the 9th anniversary when I walked into Babbage's to pick up my copy of Ultima Online. What a (literally) life changing experience that has been!
I hope UO's new caretakers (EA/Mythic) treat it well. - JimMacFly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ merreborn
True, and pretty logic: MMORPG was popular in Asia way before it was in Europe or in US and major hits in Asia like Lineage 1 is based on this system: download the game and pay the subscritpion only. It would have been a commercial mistake to make people buy the box in these countries. - bluemech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They're talking about games made big globally. Plenty fo games have made it big in the US. Not just EQ and WoW.
- sw96, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You know, if there were 4-5 million players in workshops farming WoW gold and items I think the ingame economy would be a lot more ***** up than it is presently.
2 million people playing an MMO in the US? That still has to be a record. - rinkjustice, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah, we're all impressed. Now let's focus on other issues, topics or (God forbid) someone else's game for a change.
Face it, 99.99999% of the world population doesn't care about WoW. - gmillerd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Thats taking the Massive out of MMORPG pretty much.
- CaughtThinking, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1marked innaccurate for this reason. silly nytimes.
- Hugues, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Lineage 1 and 2 were on that market with millions of users worlwide way ahead of WoW.
L1 peaked at 3.2 million users worldwide while L2 saw its momentum at 2.5mils...
One could have hoped for a better piece of info from that Times' author.
I've seen more subtle advertisement....
Read http://www.mmogchart.com/ for further analysis. - bluemech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@datastorageguy
I'm sure "they're" all bad at those things as a race. That would also have nothing to do with language barriers. - OmegaNine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14 500 000 players * 15 buck = $67 500 000/m
This down from the 5.5 mil people at peak. I dont think they are going to lower the price. -
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