Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Coming This September

EA’s long awaited MMO is coming to stores near you on September 18th.

Press Release: 

GOA, Orange’s games unit and Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Inc. studio (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced the release date of 18th September 2008 for the eagerly awaited MMORPG, Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ (WAR), as well as confirming retail launch offerings and subscription fees.

Based on Games Workshop’s epic and longstanding tabletop fantasy war game which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning features a unique Realm vs. Realm™ (RvR) gameplay that immerses players in a world of perpetual conflict. Read more

EA’s E3 2008 Lineup Revealed

IGN has EA’s E3 2008 line-up. Many big titles including Crysis: Warhead and Mirror’s Edge will be making an appearance.

• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (PC, PS3, X360)
• Crysis Warhead (PC)
• Dead Space (PC, PS3, X360)
• Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PC, PS3, X360)
• Mirror’s Edge (PC, PS3, X360)
• Skate It (Wii)
• Spore (PC)
• The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (PC, PS3, X360)
• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Interview

Bit-tech.net got up close and personal with Josh Drescher, producer of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. The Warhammer based MMO being developed by EA Mythic. Here’s a snip from the interview:

BT: So you were specifically offered the rights to a Warhammer MMO without having to hunt it down?

JD: The head of our studio is actually very good friends with the guys at Warhammer and they’ve known each other for years. It was one of those things where we’d been offered it before, but the timing was never quite right because of this or that. Luckily though the star just aligned a few years ago and we got a chance at this idea we couldn’t say no to. Warhammer is something that everyone knows, everyone loves.

For example, every time you’ve ever seen a green Orc then that’s come from Warhammer. Traditionally Orcs weren’t green until Warhammer. So, part of our artistic approach was trying to capture that traditional feel of the franchise. We have a high level of detail and, though some proportions are exaggerated, we’re certainly less cartoony than you’ll find in some other games.

That said, we’re perhaps not as photorealistic as some other games. The whole thing is about finding the right balance and avoiding that uncanny valley where the character is looking almost too real and is weirdly abstracted as a result. We needed to find something immersive, detailed, fantastic and evocative. It helps when you have a great art director.