The “fly-through” video shows no gameplay, but the world of Amalur sure looks purty.
You may have been following the massive pile of poo former Red Sox pitcher Curt Shilling and his games company has been wading through the last week. Quick recap: 38 Studios received a massive $75 million loan from the state of Rhode Island to move main studio to Providence. Last week, the company of 379 full-time employees defaulted on its first loan payment of $1.125 million and Governor Chafee swooped in to see what was rotten in the state of Schilling. Despite a moderate success with the single-player RPG Kingdoms of Amalur, 38 Studios is out of money, and given that the next planned release is an MMO called “Project Copernicus” which won’t come out till summer 2013 – the date leaked by Chafee – Rhode Island taxpayers are concerned state officials made a bad call backing Schilling’s company. Perhaps to alleviate some of concern, 38 Studios quietly rolled out a “trailer” showing off the landscape of “Project Copernicus”.
What’s evident in the video is a far cry from a real trailer displaying what will set the “Copernicus” MMO apart in a tough market. Granted, the beautiful vistas designed by Spawn-creator Todd MacFarlane look just as superb as they did in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
But a pretty face doesn’t always mean there’s a great personality behind it. There’s no hint of how the combat works or any neat world-building details. “Copernicus” will have a difficult time finding subscribers in a world where an MMO with a great license and an experienced studio behind it struggle to keep population numbers up. The Old Republic anyone?
Sadly, with 38 Studios’ financial woes, this trailer might be the only thing we see of the MMO version of Amalur. I wanted to explore that world further, and bask in the weird fantasy dreamed up by R.A. Salvatore. Here’s hoping Rhode Island and Schilling get everything sorted out and “Copernicus” gets finished.
Source: YouTube
