There’s no question that the hottest talk in the gaming scene right now is regarding the PlayStation Vita and it’s launch on February 22nd (February 15th for the first edition bundle). It’s an incredibly well made piece of tech, offering graphical powers unseen on a handheld before now, rivaling current generation console hardware. When it comes to MMO’s, the Vita is the first handheld that can truly play them in a way that works, due to the physical controls for movement and the touchscreen and rear-touch panel offering mouse-like interaction for menu overlays. Add the 3G online to that and you have an always-connected MMO world with you everywhere you go!
So what this means is that we have a chance at seeing some quality, mobile MMORPG’s! Here’s my top 5 list in no particular order for what I wanna see and why.
5. Lord of the Rings Online
Turbine’s been the talk of the town with their free-to-play change making things very good for new players. LotRO is an amazingly fun game and is very well done for a licenced property (due in part largely to the huge world Tolkien has painted in his literary works). LotRO-to-Go would be a tremendous hit.
4. Guild Wars 2
The upcoming Guild Wars sequel would truly make some waves if a Vita port was announced, say, at E3 2012. The Guild Wars series’ free-to-play nature makes it very appealing to the Vita crowd that may not know MMORPG’s that well. What better way to introduce them?
3. World of WarCraft
Here’s where the fanboys go crazy. A WoW port to a mobile device would be such a tremendous success, it could make the PlayStation Vita print money. WoW is absolutely perfect for a handheld like the Vita with it’s mod-able UI (I can visualize a handheld port’s UI in my head already of the infamous WoW HUD) and already massive player base.
2. EVE Online
DUST 514 is one of my huge to-get-on-midnight-launch games for 2012 and it’s Vita release (the game is exclusive to PS3 and Vita) is the one I’ll be getting, if not both. EVE Online is still a PC and Mac exclusive, but a Vita release would be really cool to play, even if it was slightly different than it’s complex PC father.
1. Star Wars: The Old Republic
While many WoW die-hards will disagree, I REALLY love SWTOR to the point that I’d go as far as to say it’s the best MMORPG ever made. Sure, it has it’s little differences, but I love the voice acting, character choice dialogue, and the high-quality graphics. It just runs well. On the Vita, it would be a tremendous experience.
So are you lining up to get a Vita? What MMO’s would you wanna play? Leave some comments and start a conversation!