By John Walker on April 27th, 2010 at 11:07 am.
I like playing the game: Guess The Genre From The Title. Although sometimes it’s just too easy. The freshly announced End Of Nations is an real-time strategy purely by its having three words in its title, one of them being “Of”. If it were called “Nations’ End”, then it would be a much harder round. That could be almost anything. But shock twist! It’s an MMO too. And you were so smug about it, too.
Pleasingly topical, the story is triggered by the economic collapse in the early 21st century, bearing a new organisation to rise up against the ensuing anarchy, the Order Of Nations. But they’re not very nice. Which means it’s time for revolution. And some really big tanks.
The CGI trailer below clearly doesn’t indicate any potential game content, but it does have one bloody huge tank taller than buildings. And suggests the game will take over all over the planet in real-world settings. And it’s a persistent real world, with at least 51 players all working together (apparently) on one map to defeat this evil Order, amongst thousands of players on a server. You have a Commander, build your troops, and fight the good, rebellious fight. From this it suggests an MMO where everyone is on the same side, which is a nice idea. Oh, that and it’s an RTS MMO, which is a genre blur that’s yet to be done successfully (unless I’m forgetting something obvious – like I have the faintest clue about RTS games).
The Trion Worlds game is due some time next year, published by Petroglyph. It seems Trion have been working on three MMOs at once, for four years, having raised $100m with which to do it. The other announced game is Rift: Planes Of Telara, which you’ve likely seen advertised everywhere you’ve been on the internet, with a third Syfy-related project to come.
27/04/2010 at 11:08 Ian says:
No it’s not, that’s a spoon.
Wait…. No, my bad, it is a tank.
27/04/2010 at 11:15 Rich says:
I see you’ve played knifey-spoony before.
27/04/2010 at 11:09 Jacques says:
Someone finally trumped a Baneblade.
27/04/2010 at 11:22 Man Raised By Puffins says:
Unfortunately it doesn’t look quite so awesome in-game (see about 2 minutes in).
27/04/2010 at 11:31 Rich says:
Looks a lot like CnC: Generals to me. Bigger maps and (apparently) no base building though.
The supposedly persistent world and, I guess, MMO campaign are interesting.
27/04/2010 at 11:41 user@example.com says:
It’s not a real tank unless it considers spamming nukes to be a basic close-range anti-infantry defensive technique.
27/04/2010 at 12:51 Jacques says:
That really does look sucky. Although to be fair, the baneblade in DoW was pretty pants too.
27/04/2010 at 13:23 jon_hill987 says:
It’s not a real tank unless it can make smaller tanks!
http://supcomdb.com/unit_details/r3269/uel0401
27/04/2010 at 13:38 Jacques says:
How about a tank that sucks things into the warp?
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Eldar/COBRA-TYPE-II-ELDAR-SUPER-HEAVY-GRAV-TANK.html
27/04/2010 at 15:33 Colin says:
It’s a Bolo! :-D
Bolo – A.I. tank armed with megaton fusion cannons capable of blowing up mountains,point-defence railguns and Patton-like tactics and determination. It’s a great series of books.
27/04/2010 at 16:07 Heliosicle says:
@ man raised by puffins
Yea they shouldn’t release a trailer where they can’t even get a consistent frame rate, and thats ignoring the weird look and poorish graphics.
28/04/2010 at 01:54 Stromko says:
Those Bolo’s sound sexy, though designing a tank so huge and nasty that it can defend an entire planet seems like a bad idea. Even designing a tank as big as the one in this trailer doesn’t make a great deal of sense, but I guess there are scenarios where super-massive vehicles make sense. For instance if massive fusion plants et al allow impenetrable shields, or if you can develop an armor that actually has a worthwhile weight -to- protection ratio.
Personally I’d rather have an aircraft carrier fleet. . . . Okay, flying aircraft carrier fleet. Even the devil’s advocate has to dream.
27/04/2010 at 11:20 Rich says:
Giant German tank with battleship guns!
Damn comments not having an edit function. Make me log in will ya!
27/04/2010 at 11:31 Griddle Octopus says:
Looks a bit like the grounded battleship from the cover of Use of Weapons:
http://www.alexholden.net/books/covers/Use_Of_Weapons_f.jpeg
http://www.iain-banks.net/lib/UseofWeapons.jpg
27/04/2010 at 11:44 FhnuZoag says:
Huh, makes me think of OGRE.
http://www.sjgames.com/ogre/articles/notes.html
27/04/2010 at 16:51 Torgen says:
One of my fondest nerd-dreams is a modern, computer version of Ogre/GEV. I still have both games in the little ziplock bags they came in.
28/04/2010 at 02:48 Gutter says:
I knew I’d find that here
28/04/2010 at 08:04 user@example.com says:
They’re making a new edition of the boardgame. IIRC it’ll be a deluxe edition with counters for most of the units and a slot-together 3D ogre that looks pretty awesome from the few photos shown of an early, primitive playtest version, and apparently is far better than it looks.
Sadly, the company’s non-Munchkin lines are being subsidised by Munchkin, so, well, buy Munchkin to support it. ;_; Or the Ogre Miniatures rules which they recently released an updated PDF copy of. Or anything else non-Munchkin, I guess.
27/04/2010 at 11:59 tekDragon says:
Shattered Galaxy
http://www.sgalaxy.com/
Successful MMO RTS which has both PvP and PvE elements, sometimes in the same map. Played a bunch of it many years ago when it was completely free to play.
27/04/2010 at 14:39 Tei says:
I played it too. It was good. I wonder why I stoped playing?
27/04/2010 at 18:31 tekDragon says:
I stopped playing when it went from a free to play to a pay for priviledge system. Also, they implemented a cycle where if you grind to max and reincarnate you can then get a +1 somewhere ad nauseam. That grindfest was a bit of a turnoff.
27/04/2010 at 12:08 Fod says:
er.
Call Of Duty.
27/04/2010 at 15:19 Jad says:
@Fod
Man, that was a great RTS. I loved the Captain Price hero unit.
That first Stalingrad mission was a bastard though. Suddenly none of your infantry units can shoot? What was up with that?
I also got the feeling that the AI was cheating. Seemed to have endless resources to pump out paratrooper rush after paratrooper rush.
27/04/2010 at 19:10 Jimbo says:
Medal of Honor, Call of Juarez, World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, Gears of War, Prince of Persia… :(
“Nation’s End” would be a fan-made expansion for X2: The Threat. Obviously.
27/04/2010 at 12:24 freepower says:
Speaking of co-op against giant tanks -
http://www.goliathgame.com/
27/04/2010 at 12:33 Dominic White says:
It is so sad that Goliath became an IGF winner, and then promptly stopped all development and fell off the face of the earth. Another six months and it could have been a full-length, seriously great game.
28/04/2010 at 09:00 Heliocentric says:
Did not see that post. Yes, it was truely excellent, even if i could never get the multiplayer working. Deep, asymmetrical, epic battlefield style wars. Take a jeep with an mg and swat down the recon drones while evading artillary fire or set up in a converted fire truck for counter battery fire. Epic
27/04/2010 at 12:29 Jezebeau says:
Nerf Ogres.
27/04/2010 at 12:50 GCU Speak Softly says:
And BOLOs, of course.
BOLO Info
27/04/2010 at 13:08 Simon says:
So it’s the Tribes or Battlefield of RTS games?
27/04/2010 at 13:18 Spoon says:
So Petroglyph have a publisher for their MMO, and yet they are in the position to publish other peoples’ MMOs? Interesting.
27/04/2010 at 13:24 Seraphim2150 says:
How come they have to be blowing up London with their battleship tanks? Its not that bad
27/04/2010 at 13:38 Rich says:
Because the Daleks already did for Sheffield.
29/04/2010 at 14:16 -Spooky- says:
Rebirth of Doc Who in parallel universe? doh ..
27/04/2010 at 13:42 disperse says:
I like playing Guess the Genre From the RPS Writer.
I chose Adventure Game. I lose!
27/04/2010 at 13:52 12kill4 says:
I forgot that anti-establishment rebellions are typically known for their access to highly advanced technology and that one can build and deploy city-block-sized rolling fortresses secretly…
27/04/2010 at 14:53 Rich says:
Yup, and the rolling fortresses are in no way vulnerable to cruise missiles and air attacks etc.
28/04/2010 at 08:07 user@example.com says:
Well, yeah, it’s not for nothing that battleships still rule the seas. Why not the land, as well?
(what’s that? barely anyone even has cruisers left now, and destroyers are the main surface combatants? noooooooo)
27/04/2010 at 15:40 rocketman71 says:
Meh. More MMO shit.
27/04/2010 at 15:55 Alexander Norris says:
This would be a lot more interesting if one player were a malevolent AI evolved from a GPS assistant controlling the landship in with tank/sub/boat sim controls, and everyone else were trying to stop them from destroying everything.
As it is it looks a bit rubbish. Maybe it’s just that I absolutely hate RTSes.
28/04/2010 at 08:52 Heliocentric says:
You never played the “madmax meets terminator” indie game Goliath? I’m on a mobile and can’t produce a link. It was a rather excellent student project which was rather abandoned last i checked.
27/04/2010 at 16:05 Heliosicle says:
Generals crossed with WiC?
27/04/2010 at 16:16 Durns says:
You mean Tanky-Spoony…
27/04/2010 at 16:50 Azazel says:
That top image recalls the Staberinde to my mind.
/degenerates into madness
27/04/2010 at 16:56 Dave says:
One of the artists on this project is a former coworker… and an artist behind the book My Tank Is Fight! So yeah, this is a very tanktastic game.
27/04/2010 at 17:39 Chaz says:
The bigger it is the bigger the target it makes. The reality is that these giant battleships and what not are just huge liabilities.
27/04/2010 at 17:56 Magic H8 Ball says:
See, what this needs to be is made by a more professional studio, be more grimdark and have randomly generated(but persistent once generated) maps.
27/04/2010 at 20:45 DMJ says:
@Magic H8 Ball: Persistent-destruction maps? I’d say maybe 3 hours after release every city would be rubble. After 24 hours, most of the countryside will be destroyed. After 48 hours the entire planet’s crust would begin apocalyptic upheaval by the sustained bombardment. Finally, after 52 hours the game world would be reduced to a blackened, dusty cinder the size of Milton Keynes, incapable of supporting life as we know it.
28/04/2010 at 08:09 user@example.com says:
grimdark? TITANS.
Titanicus has titan combat in, it basically is naval combat on land, and with more punching and chainfisting at close range.
Best non-Ciaphas Cain 40K book.
27/04/2010 at 18:22 bleeters says:
Those are some very angry houses.
27/04/2010 at 18:30 DuckSauce says:
Poor jeep, it’s Stealth failed. R.I.P FailStealthJeep
27/04/2010 at 19:19 Jahkaivah says:
We have to end them now? We only just got them to the Information Age!
27/04/2010 at 19:26 westyfield says:
Dammit, they made us stop on Sol IV as well. I thought this one would last longer for sure. Ah well, there’s always Europa…
28/04/2010 at 15:43 DK says:
“Oh, that and it’s an RTS MMO, which is a genre blur that’s yet to be done successfully (unless I’m forgetting something obvious – like I have the faintest clue about RTS games).”
Battleforge is appearently wildly successful and a pretty awesome game too.
29/04/2010 at 14:14 -Spooky- says:
WiC with hugh amount on more multiplay will be sweet .. EoN got some nice gameplay ideas. When it´s done!