Sometimes in life, events just converge into a small time window that leaves you reeling from so MUCH happening over a tiny era. I call these “nexus points”, for lack of a non-scifi-sounding term, but whether they’re a bunch of good events or bad, it’s always noteworthy when it happens.
I guess it’s just settling in that this September is going to be a very, very good month for MMO gamers. It isn’t just that we’re seeing three new MMOs launch and one re-launch, but that *all* four of these titles have been garnering some great buzz lately. Aion, of course, is seen as polished, WoW-like, and as smooth as butter to play; Champions is winning a lot of folks over with its just-plain-fun attitude and character creator; DDO is experiencing somewhat of a renaissance as the free to play program is giving it lots of publicity; and Fallen Earth, much to my surprise, is getting a lot of kudos (and sales!) as a potentially solid sandbox post-apocalyptic title.
Now, you may think one or more of these titles is absolute crap, and have no interest in playing any of them, which is fine. But I just think it’s pretty cool that there’s a lot of great excitement and anticipation over four titles when we’re usually hard-pressed to see this much activity on one. September is shaping up to be a mighty fine month, indeed.
Bio Break 
I am definitely anticipating the release of Aion. I played 1 of the earlier CB events and didn’t think much of it, but actually sunk 5+ hours into the last one and it was enough to convince me to make it my main MMO.
Champions online is still one I am looking at, though. I had a decent time in the OB but I am not sure if I want to juggle both that and Aion at the same time.
Fallen Earth I did try the open beta for, and it was a cool game but it didn’t really grab me the way the other two did. Maybe I’ll try it out for a month if the other two don’t keep my attention.
I hope they ALL do well — meaning that they’re profitable for the people making them, so they can continue running them. Not everything has to be a WoW-killer.
More MMOs = more choice. How can this be bad?
Nothing really floating my boat there except perhaps a return to DDO just for old times sake. Still paying Blizzard their monthly paycheck until something astounding shows up but with only the new FF MMO and perhaps GW 2 on my radar, that might be a while.
@ Ysharros – It can’t be bad! I was just doing the MMO timeline the other day and it hit me that this upcoming month might well be one of the most prolific months in terms of MMOs being released… and that is cool.
I agree, I just wish I was “REALLY” excited about any one of them, as opposed to just kinda interested in all 4.
I’m going to play all of them, but I keep trying to push off the feeling that none of them are gonna stick around on my PC for months and months.
I think it’s gonna be a fun month, but I’m a bit apprehensive that come Thanksgiving I’m still looking for a “main” MMO… I kinda miss having one.
I am excited that finally it looks like we have some games that aren’t releasing as complete FLOPS… we all know what games I’m talking about.
I don’t know much about Fallen Earth. The premise is very interesting, but the implementation (judging by videos) is not grabbing my interest. Perhaps I just saw some old or bad videos… I’m going to look into reviews of this when I get home today.
Champions Online – great, fun game. I felt like CoH had a lot missing… and Champions delivered most of it… enough to play if I wasn’t such a PvP meathead (and I didn’t care for the pvp I participated in). Great ideas behind it, just felt empty. The PvE side of the game is great right now, and my comp won’t run it good. I get the feeling it doesn’t have a focus on interesting end-game.. but it is awesome while leveling, which is rare! If the PvP were better, it ran smoother on my comp, and Aion didn’t grab me… I’d probably play it. i.e. I might play it a year later.
Aion – this is my next big game, I can already feel it. It’s beautiful, runs smoothly, the combo system is very simple but fun, polished, has flight combat, a CHALLENGE (rare), focus on RvR with PvE involved in it (great idea to keep players engaged), many instances throughout all levels (also rare), good enough customization of character/gear/skills, very immersive, and most importantly: AMAZING support from NCSOFT! I haven’t seen a game so well implemented and supported by a Developer since… dare I say it… Blizzard! The amount of content, polish, changes to adapt to the Western audience, & balance that has been implemented since Korean 1.0 is OUTSTANDING. I went from *eh, this game might last me a couple months until the next decent MMO..* to *wow, these guys have set some high standards and goals… I’m ordering the CE upgrade.*
DDO looks fun, and I’ll probably play the free verison until I get my hands on Aion… but it doesn’t look like a long-term game for me.
As someone who wants to play with others, I’m being pulled in all different directions this September with regards to those releases. Time will tell what I ultimately decide to do, but honestly, every MMO that succeeds and stays in the market (and all but two have done so) is definitely a good thing.
@Kevin – arguably, none of the MMOs in the last year or two have released as flops – they’ve all had fairly smooth launches, just a decline over time as people become disinterested/bored/frustrated. Said MMOs are still in business and probably will be for the forseeable future.
Tabula Rasa and Hellgate London simply got creamed for more than just player disinterest.
I really dislike MMO tourism and hope these titles get the fair shot they deserve.