Rumor: Dungeons and Dragons Online coming to consoles

by Mike Schramm Jun 10th 2008 at 7:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Forums, MMO industry, Consoles, Rumors

Our good friend reader Schad sent us a tip that rings strangely true, as weird as may sound: Turbine may be releasing Dungeons and Dragons Online for the Xbox 360 and/or PS3 consoles. The game is riding high after their big Module 7 release last week, and connecting the dots on this just might mean DDO is console-bound.

Before you try to throw the case out of court, hear out the evidence first:

Schad notes that Turbine's careers page calls for a console engineer, and if you read the description of what they're looking for, phrases like "extend the functionality" and "updating Turbine's MMOG engine" point directly to a console port kind of situation.
And the DDO team specifically has just recently announced that big changes are in the air over there -- they've suspended the "Weekly Dev activities" alert, saying that what they're working on is under wraps, and that the Turbine PR team is giving them more focus.

Which is exactly what you'd expect from a console port. Doesn't sound as strange after that, does it? And after thinking about it, DDO's "real-time" control scheme does lend itself very well to console controls, and the ongoing rumors that the game is going free-to-play would also make things easier for a console version. It's still a rumor for now, but all the signs we can see point to a possible console-based Stormreach in the future.

Tags: breaking, careers, console, ddo, ddo-module-7, dungeons-and-dragons-online, rumor, schad, speculation, stormreach, turbine, tweet-this, xbox-360

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Bam! said on 8:00AM 6-10-2008

NOTE: This is Schad, I used the password (finally) insteady of the new user field and for some reason my name changed.

Not so much "evidence", but one of the DDO tips in the loading screen has mentioned use of PC controllers for a long time as substitute for keyboard and mouse, so controller development isn't out of the loop.

In terms of whether the whole idea is viable, I don't think any MMO could translate to console better. One could easily associate DDO with Neverwinter Nights crossed with Tomb Raider. Each quest is self contained, which creates a (outside of favor) grind free experience. (Of course the problem with saying that is new folk often don't run all around city sections to find outdoor areas and low level quests and pigeon hole themselves in the first chunk of the harbor, Something to fix eh turbine?) Finally, the instanced nature, along with the concise city sections make this game very friendly for system requirements, while having about 90% of the prettyness that comes with LoTRO. Certainly console friendly.

Now assumptions: Assuming this is true->
How much do you charge for a game that's been out nearly 3 years? Will consoles have their own servers?

Alarie said on 8:41AM 6-10-2008

Would love to see DDO on the console, hopefully for both PS3 and Xbox 360 so not to leave anyone out. I don't think the Wii counts.

Ryuuku said on 5:30AM 8-03-2008

Hell yes the Wii counts. Number one console out there now. How do you just ignore it?

I used to play DDO years ago. Very enjoyable game. Especially the fighting scheme. I would be interested in picking it up again if it hit a console or two! As for now, I'm still into Turbine's other venture, Lord of the Rings Online.

cyriana said on 10:41AM 6-10-2008

Yesterday I found this in an article on mmorpg.com. Maybe it helps to belive in a Console-DDO:

"In their original press release, Turbine said that they would “change the future of online entertainment”. This being a rather bold assertion, I asked Crowley if he could give us an idea of what exactly that means.
First, he told me that Turbine is investigating the world of cross-platform games, meaning consoles. “These worlds are so rich and robust, we do want them to be shared across platforms, both for existing and future worlds,” Crowley said. We should expect more details on the how and when “later on in the year”. He did make a point of clarifying that Turbine will remain dedicated to the PC, but want to make sure that people who want to enjoy the games (present and future) on the console will be able to do that."

to read th hole Article go to: http://www.mmorpg-x.com/content/turbine-ceo-jim-crowley-on-new-investors

cyriana

admin of: ddo.onlinewelten.com

NekoAli said on 12:10PM 6-10-2008

The problem with porting DDO to consoles is the same as the vast majority of other MMOs, the control scheme. DDO is based on using the keyboard and mouse, and a game controller just can't replace that. Sure, you can move and control camera with the joysticks, and use buttons for attack and blocking. But there are all the special abilities, which take either clicks on action bars and button presses.

In fact DDO recently expanded the number of supported action bars from 10 to 20 because people were using so many abilities and gear swapping at high levels that 100 bar slots were not enough. There's no way to replicate that quickly or easily with a console controller, and most people still don't have keyboards and mice setups for their consoles.

Bam! said on 12:23PM 6-10-2008

100% agree. They would have to revamp the spell interface. I would imagine the 360 keyboard thing would be required, with the ability to fast scroll through lists of hotbars.