The expectation for online services has risen significantly in the past decade according to Canessa. Many of the things that customers expect and want from a gaming platform including rewards and microtransactions, are completely different than the past 10 years. In addition, the launch of the service is only the beginning. Team members at Blizzard has many exciting new features in the pipeline to be added for Starcraft II WoW cataclysm Gold and is working on roadmaps that include features that will be available for WoW Cataclysm Classic.
Quote "We already have 10 years of features on a plan for the features we'd like to bring to Battle.net." --Canessa
The lesson at the risk of overstating the situation it's not a simple task to build a brand new online platform for a highly anticipated game with a global simultaneous launch and seamlessly incorporate the existing community of over 12 million users into the service, while finding the right people to make the game possible.
Storytelling for spin-offs
Who were in attendance: 38 Studios creative director Steve Danuser, Blizzard tainment senior story developer James Waugh, THQ executive vice chief of games core Danny Bilson, and Smoking Gun Interactive creative director John Johnson.
THQ is going full-on into trans-media through Red Faction.
The topics they discussed were: Bilson started the session by discussing the upcoming Red Faction: Origins TV pilot that will air via the SyFy Channel in conjunction with the launch in March of Red Faction: Armageddon. Bilson stressed the need to be able to guarantee absolute authenticity when working with trans-media because any fractures to the cannon can cause everything to fail for the fans. Actually, Bilson said he's about to submit his script notes to the screenwriter who wrote Red Faction: Origins, and he's especially concerned about the liberties that the screenwriter took with terms like the name for the various factions as well as the way that terraforming in The Red Faction universe works.
Johnson declared that trans-media projects were among the main motivations for the creators Smoking Gun. Smoking Gun. When converting the company's efforts to create printed comics Smoking Gun still aims to make it as interactive as possible. Instead of simply being set in the same game universe like the game comic, it can also be used to unlock items within the game.
Waugh stated that he sees Blizzard as an incubator for intellectual property and added that the expansion of Blizzard properties into new media have forced Blizzard's creators in more terms about how their universes operate.
Danuser is currently working on a hugely-multiplayer online games codenamed Copernicus as well as the recently unveiled Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning that are currently being developed to help support trans-media projects like television shows, books, and more. Danuser discussed the way that 38 Studios takes to trans-media storytelling, saying that there has to be beyond creating a comic or website that exploits the assets.
"The media pieces really have to be able to connect with each together to create a greater story...By going through each of these pieces you will be able to understand how they connect."
Danuser stated that every movie or book needs to remain true to its medium and stand on its own however, it should also inform the reading of its companions. Johnson was in agreement, adding that it's all about creating an omnipresent experience through understanding the various kinds of media that the audience is interested in.
Waugh spoke about the cheap Cataclysm Classic Gold negative stigma associated with licensed games and also stressed the fact that trans-media is a viable option only if you are as much about the spin-off content as you do about the players who play the game.
"We won't ever invent the game," Waugh said. "We'll never duplicate something that you've played before. It's not trans-media, it's an unnecessary wasted time."
