Winter Is Coming... Eventually: Neverwinter Delayed
I came here to tell you about something pertaining to Cryptic's Neverwinter MMO-that-nearly-wasn't, but then - at the 11th hour - my post got delayed into 2013. The news is, of course, disappointing for many of you, but we're confident that we can use the extra development time to bring you a more polished, visceral post with double the number of guns and sextuple the number of puns. In the meantime, though, I can discuss the delay of another, entirely unrelated game. Let's call it Neverminter. And imagine that the N is upside-down.
So Neverminter's been pushed from late 2012 to "early 2013" - which is, admittedly, pretty vague. Once upon a time, it was a smaller-scale co-op-focused to-do, but then Smurfect World snatched it up and expanded it out into a full, allegedly action-based MMO. As consolation for the slippage, here's a trailer full of small skeleton men and large skeleton men that appear to be made up of small skeleton men.
So that looks fairly cinematic. Perhaps Neverminter will spin some solid yarns, at least? Beyond that, unfortunately, I'm not seeing much else here that really makes this one stand out. There will be quests, dungeons, and (presumably) dragons, but even action-centric combat isn't super rare in MMOs anymore.
That said, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. People pour thousands of hours of their lives into creating these things, and no one goes into a commitment like that saying, "Oh man, guys, I can't wait to spend my best years making something totally derivative." But it's nigh-impossible to start out three or four years ahead of the rest of the pack, so - inevitably - many MMOs emerge fresh from the factory looking decidedly rusty. And that's a damn shame. So best of luck, Neverw-- er, minter. Also, remember that the N is upside-down.