The Energon Pub

News Credits: 1452 · by **Blurrz** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:28 am

Courtesy of Kotaku.com...

NetDragon, the same guys behind the curious-looking Dungeon Keeper Online, were this week revealed as the developers for a new massively-multiplayer online game based on the Transformers licence.

The game has been officially sanctioned by Hasbro, will be a role-playing game, and… will only be released (at least initially) in China, “Asia”, Russia (and CIS states), the Middle East and North Africa. No North America, no Western Europe, no Australasia.

There are no screenshots, no concept art and no further information on the game (or whether it’s based on the original series, comics, Michael Bay’s movies, whatever), so all you’ve got left to do is wildly speculate, dream and hope for the best. Who knows, it may even be good, and as Company of Heroes Online has shown, it’s not that unusual for former Asia-only games to be released in the West.

Seibertron.com - The Ultimate Transformers Resource!

News Credits: 11 · by **joevill** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 7:34 am

I wonder if it will be a pay to play.

News Credits: 2 · by **Shadowman** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:16 am

I'm taking a grain of salt on this one. A Chinese developer with nothing major under their belt announces they're working with Hasbro to make a TF MMO (By the way, can we get a press release from Hasbro on this one?) and that it will be released everywhere except North America and Europe? Am I the only one who finds this a bit sketchy?

by **WANTED WES** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:54 am

First sounded great when I read the subject. Now I am pretty skeptical. Only Asia and not North America? Company of Heroes started out released in America and Europe. Then later Relic developed an online model for China and they tested it over there as Company of Heroes online. It was successful enough they are bringing it to the states.

I'm almost positive China is a test market and like CoH online and they will release in states. How can you cut out one of the biggest consumers in the world?

News Credits: 2 · by **Darksong** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 10:53 am

This whole concept makes me tingle. I got into WoW about 2 years ago and basically the whole time have been thinking I would love a similar game based around Transformers.

You start the game as a proto-form, choosing faction/role, i.e. Autobot Medic (heals), Decepticon Seeker (range dps), etc. You complete quests to "gear" yourself, gaining armor, weapons, mini-cons (pets/minions) and eventually the ability to transform. Your gear would affect your tranformed appearance, new "shoulders" would appear as new front quarter panels or something like that.

I could spend all day typing out concepts but I'm gonna stop for now. I would certainly pay to play... bye bye to my Warlock if this were to happen. ;p

by **weirdguy** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:52 am

It could be done, but not very soon. I can't see any MMO game being slapped together in 2 years and keep people playing for years and years. I mean I bought Star Trek online, but only played to level 16 or so before setting it aside.

So far the Transformers have not really lent themselves well to video games. War for Cybertron has got people excited, so now we hear about these things. But a good game is still hard to make.

The main thing with an MMO game is that the content has to be setup to keep your interest from start to finish.

I can see a progression taking place, starting out as a small vehicle, unlocking new chassis so you can get larger as you play the game, and eventually becoming the core/leader of a combiner team.

by **SalvidonBlak** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 4:51 pm

a grain of salt is definitly sound advice...

my main question,
so high noon basicly builds cybertron - for hasbro
and then hasbro has someone Else make an MMO?

if this has any factuality then im gonna assume its earth based, or why not inculde high noon?

so right off the bat im not so interested. it makes no sense to do it on earth unless mabey its beyformers.

in which case asia and the middle east can have it.

News Credits: 2 · by **Shadowman** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 5:40 pm

SalvidonBlak wrote:a grain of salt is definitly sound advice...

my main question,
so high noon basicly builds cybertron - for hasbro
and then hasbro has someone Else make an MMO?

if this has any factuality then im gonna assume its earth based, or why not inculde high noon?

It's not unheard of. Of all the developers to make Star Wars games, BioWare, who made exactly ONE Star Wars game, (Whether it's the best or not is debatable), is now making the MMO. Not LucasArts, who made 9/10 of all Star Wars games, BioWare.

SalvidonBlak wrote:so right off the bat im not so interested. it makes no sense to do it on earth unless mabey its beyformers.

It doesn't? Every Transformers series takes place primarily on Earth. It makes more sense to set it on Earth then it does anywhere else.

News Credits: 2 · by **sabrigami** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 9:45 pm

No NA? Doesn't make sense to me but I suppose I will just have to wait and see. My biggest concern is that if this info is in fact correct and it's being developed this way, is that this game will be nothing but a grind fest. MMOs designed for Asian markets cater to a completely different mindset than US ones do. Just look at Aion. I love Transformers but I refuse to pay money for a completely boring RNG infested grind fest.

by **SalvidonBlak** » Sun Aug 08, 2010 4:26 am

Shadowman wrote:
SalvidonBlak wrote:so right off the bat im not so interested. it makes no sense to do it on earth unless mabey its beyformers.

It doesn't? Every Transformers series takes place primarily on Earth. It makes more sense to set it on Earth then it does anywhere else.

ok, well maybe i should say it makes no sense to Me
because it seems like it would be God-Awful-Boring.

i live on earth, and i try like to hell to escape.

all im saying is high noon just did a hell of a job bringin cybertron to life, why not utilize that resourse?

you make a good point with starwars, although it seems like a different situation because of bioware's name in the industry,

but im just not equipped to take on that argument.

News Credits: 2 · by **Shadowman** » Sun Aug 08, 2010 8:50 am

SalvidonBlak wrote:ok, well maybe i should say it makes no sense to Me
because it seems like it would be God-Awful-Boring.

i live on earth, and i try like to hell to escape.

And how much time do you spend on Earth as a giant transforming robot?

SalvidonBlak wrote:all im saying is high noon just did a hell of a job bringin cybertron to life, why not utilize that resourse?

They would STILL have to build 99% of Cybertron. If they used Cybertron, they could PROBABLY half-ass it and reuse models and textures from WfC, but they'd still have to design and build entirely new landscapes.