This is Curt Schilling’s bloody sock from Game 2 of the 2004 World Series and it is the most powerful weapon in the universe…in Curt Schilling’s video game world he is creating. We’ve all known for awhile that Schilling has been busy working with his company 38 studios (formerly Green Monster Games) on a new MMORPG that was supposed to be like the Everquest world that he loves so much and now it has a name, Copernicus, and the sock is apparently the biggest baddest weapon you can get in the game.
Not much else is known about this game, other than Todd McFarlane of Spawn and McFarlane Toys fame is the art director and sci-fi writer R. A. Salvatore is the creative director and it’s due to be released sometime in 2010. Here’s a video that goes into a bit more of Schilling’s want to achieve “World Domination Through Gaming“.
I dunno, sure it’s neat that an ex athlete has a unique, albeit nerdy, career goal after sports…but would it not have been a lot cooler if the guy made a game that was about sports? Like any dork playing his fantasy game will have any idea what this sock is all about in the first place.
A few month’s back I did a post on the growing world of the Sports MMORPG, well a new game has emerged and seems to be somewhat interesting. Its called Goal Line Blitz and if you hadn’t guessed from the name, its an American football simulation.
There are a couple ways you can actually play this. One way is that you can create your own player, stick him at any position, adjust his stats and add gear to him to make him better. Then, you sign with a team that gives you a contract offer (computer or user controlled) and then…well you sit back and watch your player accumulate stats.
I made a character for this simulation last week, LB Rocko Bronkowski who plays for the Spokane Angry Pirates…ARRRGH in the Canadian AAA Conference. So far, he’s played in 2 games and has 15 tackles, so i’m happy about that. The sucky thing is that you have to wait 2 days for a game to be simulated…the rest of the time, you pretty much dont do anything. Makes it a bit boring i think, but i’m gonna see what happens.
The other way to play is that you buy a team, then you can run the team like any owner, setting prices for tickets and concessions, building your stadium, signing and releasing and trading players. That to me seems a bit more fun, but I haven’t pony’ed up the cash to get it going. Yes, as with any good MMORPG you gotta spend some cash to have the real fun, but you can do it mostly for free..
If you want to sign up and check it out, you can use my referral link here or if you dont want to use me as a referer go ahead and use this link. It’l be interesting to see what features they add to the game as it is just in Beta form (as you can tell from the slow server speed) but I’ll keep an eye on it and see if it is something us sports freaks actually want to play.
In the realm of the interactive sports experience there are many options a fan can choose to feel more immersed in a sport or league that they are not actually a part of. There are fantasy sports full of keeper leagues and auction based player selection, all of which allows a fan to “own” their team and guide it to victory in their leagues. The leagues themselves are fun and allow for a lot of social interaction between members with drafting, trading, smack talking, etc, taking place even when its the off-season.
In video games, you have team manager simulation software which allow you to play GM and team owner doing all the necessary things behind the scenes to allow your team success on the field. For those who actually like to play the game, like in the wildly popular Madden series, there is the franchise mode (adding a team manager simulation to actual game play), the superstar mode (allowing a player to control and guide an athlete throughout his playing career, even importing players from the college video game) and even a life simulation game unto itself with the NBA Ballers world of playing the game to accumulate as much stuff as possible. There is even a social aspect to the games with video game leagues, tournaments and online game play growing larger and larger amongst gamers.
It is obvious that sports fans like the interactivity of playing owner, general manager, coach, and/or the players themselves in a variety of formats as well as the enjoyment of the social interaction between other sports fans who participate in the same activities. If anything, look at the sports blogging community for further proof of the latter point.
So after all this comes my question…when is the sports MMOG going to become a reality and if its done correctly, will it be the next big thing in sports fan/gamer community?
The massive success of the World of Warcraft MMORPG has spawned millions copycats, it is only a matter of time before someone sees how much money is being spent and made on fantasy sports, sports video games, and even sports blogging and sees the massive potential for the sports MMOG.
In poking around on the internet, I found there are a few companies who are vying to be the first to successfully market this idea. Before I continue though, you should know I’ve never actually played Warcraft or Second Life or any MMOG so take my opinions with a grain of salt.
Football Superstars: A soccer MMOG which allows its players to create a soccer player, control that player from his perspective, start out training and playing soccer with friends in a park and eventually become good enough to play professionally, earning money “with which you could buy the best that life can offer. Lead the life of a football superstar in a Utopian world…”.
Basically, instead of experience points you earn money, instead of those guilds of online warriors, the players form teams. So this is more of a “Warcraftian” approach at the sports MMOG, only without the missions and tasks I would assume. Seems kind of limited, but for those who cannot play soccer in real life, I guess it could be fun. Kinda like you could go outside and have a real life, but instead you play the Sims.
Football Manager Live: Taking the popular Football Manager series and turning it into a MMOG. It seems to be a mix of the original Football Manager game, fantasy sports, and auction leagues all in one. You start a club from scratch, set-up mini-leagues, bid in player auctions and compete in live matches while controlling the tactics of games in real time, balancing finances, customizing your club and stadium and buying and selling players, auction style.
This seems to be a different approach to the MMOG. Looks to be more like a fake fantasy league, which can be fun, but ultimately appears to be missing the point of the MMOG.
Empire of Sports: Finally, not a soccer MMOG. This game encompasses the entire world of sports. You create your character and develop their skills playing in a variety of games including basketball, tennis, skiing and a series of gym and fitness games, with more to be added. They make a point of saying these are not mini-games, but fully interactive and simulated versions of these sporting events. You then can travel around to a bunch of different “city centers” with facilities and services to help develop your character’s athletic talents.
This game seems to be more of a Second Life/Sims way of going about things, in that it is more of a social experience but still has its own way of providing a “leveling up” experience. You don’t seem to be a part of any team here, just one person going about the business of becoming very good in the virtual world of sport. They don’t make reference to any sort of money or anything, so I wonder what you can do other than develop your character’s body by playing games and get good at them, all while meeting and talking to people online. Seems like it needs to be a bit more massive to be a MMOG.
Shot Online: A golf MMOG. You develop your golfing character to become a golf pro. If you practice every day and compete against players with different skills your character can to “level-up” their abilities. There are team matches to get money, tournaments, the ability to just purchase in game money, realistic and rare items to find and purchase in their mall, clothes to purchase, quests (to get those items I presume) and item exchanging with other gamers in the virtual world.
All in all, this one seems to be the most complete MMOG out there…probably b/c its one of the few that is actually active. It has all the basic components of any MMOG out there. Seems like it wouldn’t be bad if the golfing was actually good…which I have no idea b/c I didn’t download it.
Ultimate Baseball Online: A baseball MMOG which allows a player to build their own character or become part of the community by creating teams, joining leagues, playing in tournaments, becoming a reporter(?), or managing the game as a GM (Game Master). If create your own team you make a team name, hometown, team motto, and preferred game times so that players can see what your team is all about. Then, you must recruit players (other gamers in the virtual world) and improving your team page with a team logo and news for people to read. Once the team is done, you can join a league for league play and play against people of similar skill levels. You can also develop your player’s skills through practice, pick up games, and joining a team and playing in league games.
My first impressions are that this doesn’t seem as involved as the golf game and appears to be more like an online version of any baseball game you can play on an Xbox or PS3 only with a bit more control over things. Far less social as well I would think.
That’s all I could find, anyone else have any out there (text-based games excluded)? Is anyone going to come out with a football or basketball game out there that would take over the market? We have many successful versions of the parts of what goes into a successful MMOG, but will someone put them all together for a genre changing sports MMOG? If the Warcraft, fantasy sports and sports video game market is any indication, surely the interest is there…its only a matter of time. Better yet, when it does happen…who will be the sports MMOG Leroy Jenkins (see below)?
This is Curt Schilling’s bloody sock from Game 2 of the 2004 World Series and it is the most powerful weapon in the universe…in Curt Schilling’s video game world he is creating. We’ve all known for awhile that Schilling has been busy working with his company 38 studios (formerly Green Monster Games) on a new MMORPG that was supposed to be like the Everquest world that he loves so much and now it has a name, Copernicus, and the sock is apparently the biggest baddest weapon you can get in the game.
