Gadgets and Video Games

While expanding the unrelenting grasp of World of Warcraft to home consoles would undoubtedly net Blizzard an extra googolplex subscribers, there’s a number of hurdles keeping MMOs from succeeding on non-PC platforms — hurdles that were identified by Blizzard’s executive VP of game design, Rob Pardo, in a recent interview with IndustryGamers . Some hurdles are self-evident, such as the lack of a “keyboard and mouse” input device, and the massive amounts of storage space required for most online games ( WoW is up to 10 gigs). Some have to do with the policies of the hardware manufacturers themselves, such as Microsoft’s lengthy certification measures which would make WoW ’s frequent patches a nightmare to publish. However, according to Pardo, Microsoft has asked Blizzard for MMO advice, and has shown the company “some stuff they have in development.” Halo MMO re-confirmed ! (No, not really.) Pardo’s MMO outlook for the current generation of consoles is poor, but he thinks the next round of hardware is more likely to get it right — at which point, people will be able to play WoW on any platform they want, and pretty much everyone will stop leaving the house. Hooray

See the original post:
Blizzard still hesitant about console MMOs