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Blizzard: 'We don't have anything against consoles'

Blizzard has told VideoGamer.com that mega MMO World of Warcraft won't come to the Xbox 360 or PS3 not because it has something against consoles, but because of a "square peg round hole thing".

Blizzard's J Allen Brack said: "World of Warcraft is designed as a PC game. It's designed to have a keyboard and a mouse. So the controls and the control scheme that you have are very PC centric. If you think about mapping those controls and all those different type of buttons that you have to a console without a keyboard for chatting, it's a very challenging proposition."

Lead game designer Tom Chilton added: "It's really not that we have anything against consoles," Chilton said. "I mean we love console games also. And I'm sure there will be a successful MMO sometime on a console. So it has nothing to do with that. It's just more like a square peg round hole thing for our game. It just wasn't designed with that in mind."

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jtorry - contributor
Published: 491 days 6 hours ago | News | PlayStation 3 | Xbox 360 | Wii | PC | Dev News

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Vistrix - 491 days 6 hours ago

1 -

Is there any developer out there with the knowledge that the PS3 supports ANY mouse and keyboard...?

Its the PERFECT platform for games that are designed around a mouse and keyboard...

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lodossrage - 491 days 6 hours ago

1.1 - I don't think that's the problem

The issue might be the fact that not many people purchase the mouse and keyboard for their consoles.

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Drekken - 491 days 6 hours ago

1.2 -

Its a shame. I thought Epic implementing it in UT3 it would become more of a common thing for PS3 games. Unfortunately I dont know of another game that has done it since.

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sidar - 491 days 5 hours ago

1.3 -

The reason WoW looks so simple is just because of the fact they wanted lots of gamers to be playing WoW even if you had a crappy PC.

Now if they made one for the consoles they could optimize it and even promote Mouse and keyboard that work on consoles(in this case Ps3?).
I know it would sell since everybody seems love Blizzard( for those who dont, yeah i agree XD).

They just have to find some good marketing guys who know how to promote this sh/t and it will sell.

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Nitrowolf2 - 491 days 5 hours ago

1.4 -

why not put something on the cover that shows it needs a keyboard? or better yet release it on PSN and when your about to comfirm purshase a warng screen pops up and says something about the keyboard and mouse use

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Charmers - 491 days 5 hours ago

1.5 -

You will never see keyboard and mouse supported as standard on the consoles I am afraid, it causes too many problems for those that use a joypad which is the standard control system of a console.

To be honest this is a bit of a cop out by Blizzard. There is no reason why they cannot do an MMO with the console market in mind. I personally don't like consoles myself but I hate and detest this "can't be done" mentality companies like Blizzard and Konami keep spouting.

If there is a market for a Blizzard MMO on the consoles then find a way to do it, stop being so elitist. The more money a software company makes the better it is for everyone. A fact that seems to be lost on a great many people these days.

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GamerMan - 491 days 5 hours ago

1.6 - Exactly...

If Square can do it with FFXI a much more complicated game and have it multiplatform and cross platform. Then why can't more companies get on board. I won't have a problem using a mouse and keyboard the entire game on my console if I have to.

Personally I never got into WoW but I'm sure it would do even better if it was cross platform and multiplatform like FFXI was.

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Idonthatejustcreate - 491 days 4 hours ago

1.7 -

I think you can play wow on a PS3, you just have to install a OS on it and then wow. Well in theory it works anyhow.

But all I would want is Diablo 3 on consoles. And thru battlenet so people with PC's/PS3's/360's/Mac's can play with eatch other.

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Nevers - 491 days 4 hours ago

1.8 - @Gamerman

as I look on my keyboard (I borrowed from work *wink) that I use for FFxi on my 360, I tend to agree with your statement. Who told Blizzard consoles don't support m&k? It's the console consumers who don't tend to support what the consoles can actually do.

I would totally be down with some WoW... FFxi is just too punitive to its players.

0/15 for Leaping Boots {>.<}

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lento - 491 days 4 hours ago

1.9 -

perhaps a bundle with the game which includes a keyboard and mouse... just throwing a random idea out there lol

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GamerMan - 491 days 3 hours ago

1.10 - Nevers

been awhile since I played after beating down Tiamat as a almost 75 BLM and so high everything else. I pretty much quit after that cause at the time, it was the strongest NM to beat. I thought leaping Lizzy gave bounding boots, not leaping boots.. I think that is what you meant. Anyways .. the only NM I solo'd all the time was Valkurm Emperor for the Empress Hairpin .. My BLM could handle everything near or far that came from griefers as I worked on killing it. Thank goodness to AoE spells.

Totally agree though, they made some things way entirely to hard for FFXI especially the inflation rate and needing money and the dang campers that did it only to make real money off of you.. but yeah back on topic, I even would pick up a copy of WoW if they would cross platform and multiplatform this game.

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Nevers - 491 days 2 hours ago

1.11 - Gamerman

That sounds pretty badass dude. I just started so I'm pretty much a NOOB at this point. Haven't faced anything HUGE or EPIC yet. Finally just got some peeps to help me out with the Sandy 2-3 Dragon fight... that was pretty cool.

It's a pretty work intensive game... My highest job is a 34WAR and I gotta bunch of other's started. I haven't started camping the Valkurm Emperor cuz I don't think my War would survive yet anyway but yeah that's a hard drop to get. You're proly right between bounding and leaping tho they're both around cuz one is tradable and the other is not. A way they fought the RMT's...

...and my buddy who got me interested/addicted has just decided to quit. Don't really know how long I'll last playing it w/o him to tell me what I should be doing... so many options... too little time and everything takes FOREVER.

"Oh you want to play lvl 14's, well let me mule for an hour or two to get my gear out" lmao/weep

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Cheeseknight28 - 491 days 1 hour ago

1.12 -

Why would you play a game on a console with keyboard and mouse when you can play it on a PC? I can't really understand why people would want WoW on 360/PS3... there's nothing that they can do that a PC can't. With a PC, you can minimize to check WoW databases rather than having to get up and check one were you on a 360/PS3.

Before anyone brings up that some people have a 360/PS3 but not a good PC, WoW doesn't take much to run. You can run it on a GeForce 6600 card and a gig of RAM.

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Daishi - 491 days ago

1.13 -

Cheeseknight did you ever stop and think that some people don't have a PC or at least easy access to one. I remember before I bought my own how hard it was to get on it for more than 15 minutes in a house of 4. You have to think of every possible situation someone might be in, not just your own.

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Nevers - 491 days ago

1.14 - I'd rather not clutter my laptop, Cheese

Last time I was PC gaming (yrs ago), I had crashes and patches and crashes and patches... I'd rather keep my pertinent info on my PC (crash free) and my games on my console. That's just me though and other's are more than free to choose other routes...

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Cheeseknight28 - 491 days ago

1.15 -

"Cheeseknight did you ever stop and think that some people don't have a PC or at least easy access to one. I remember before I bought my own how hard it was to get on it for more than 15 minutes in a house of 4. You have to think of every possible situation someone might be in, not just your own."

I apologize that you seem so greatly offended by me asking a simple question, however, you can easily build a PC for the same price as buying a PS3 or 360, and if YOU paid for it, you have the right to use it whenever YOU want to. All I said was "Why would you want to?", not, "Hey, I can afford every system so I can play WoW on my PC whenever I please and you can't"

A 360 with a HD (That you would obviously need to play something akin to WoW) costs $299. Go to newegg, you can make a desktop that can play WoW for around $250 if you find the right parts.

You claim that people are in moneytight, or that they have to share PCs, situations, yet you also seem to hint at supporting WoW on 360/PS3 which would ALSO be shared in your hypothetical situation... hypocritical?

Also, I really wouldn't want to imagine having to read WoW's small text from 10-20 feet away, and if they were to enlarge it, then you wouldn't be able to see anything else on the screen (Like an alli/horde coming to gank...). Voice acting would be a solution, but I can't see Blizzard going back over every questgiver with voices.

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bunbun777 - 491 days 5 hours ago

2 - Something smells like herring....

As soon as I learned about Act and Blz joining forces a while back- I knew that WoW was coming to console- but when? I remember starting FF11- maybe I'm special super smart or something but it was a no-brainer that I had to purchase a mini usb keyboard and mouse. (Not to mention that expanded hard drive-) This is not a good reason- if they are going to bring it to the consoles it will have to be quick -as in do not expect too much warning. Possibly segregate the players into new realms to start with- then start the crossover- it would be great.

Long story short- I played WoW with my friends for 2 years- now that the PS3 is out with some good games, and now that WoW has become more routine for me leading up to WotLK, I havnt played WoW in months. Blizzard..... I would play it on the PS3. Even buy a new copy.

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Andras84 - 491 days 5 hours ago

3 - We don't have anything against consoles.....

...we are just not going to do games on them :D

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kingme71 - 491 days 5 hours ago

4 -

I just don't think it is a priority now for Blizzard. They are doing quite well with just PC's and releasing expansion packs. They aren't hurting for more customers.

MMO's and RTS's are the 2 genres that haven't translated well to the consoles yet. This year and into '09 there are attempts at bringing both. It will be interesting to see if the transition works.

BTW and this is way way off topic, but whatever happened to the trackball? Can they not add a small trackball to the console controller to get mouselike control?

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bluecapone - 491 days 5 hours ago

5 -

well i dont cares because i'm not into mmo or rts

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Denis_Dyack - 491 days 5 hours ago

6 -

Who needs WoW when you have EVE Online? A much better game anywho =]

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tda-danny - 491 days 4 hours ago

6.1 -

Ah Denis... lol

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bunbun777 - 490 days 23 hours ago

6.2 - I am such a fan of DD!

Seriously bro- you always make me smile or laugh with your comments- truly refreshing and funny.

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Diugu - 491 days 4 hours ago

7 - Just...

Put Diablo III on my PS3 and I am happy.

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DARKTRINITYxxx - 491 days 2 hours ago

8 -

I played wow for 3 years on my pc in a decent raiding guild. To see all wow has to offer teamwork and dedication within a decent guild is the key to this game. Most PS3 games online when i play no one seems to know what the word teamwork is. Couldnt see this working on consoles tbh could be wrong though. Its a very time consuming game but also a damm fine game.

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himdeel - 491 days 2 hours ago

9 - I agree with almost everyone...

...the PS360 both have mouse and keyboard support so Tom Chilton just sounds ridiculous with his, "square peg round hole" analogy.

WOW could easily run on both platforms. It probably could run on the Wii.

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thehitman - 490 days 23 hours ago

9.1 - actually

I the 360 doesnt support mouse.

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Revvin - 491 days ago

10 -

The 360 (and soon) the Ps3 have keypads that would make it ideal for WoW. I have a PC capable but I'd love to play it from the comfort of my sofa on a large screen TV. WoW will take some beating but with more and more MMORPG's being released you'd think they would want to appeal to as wide an audience as possible to mainain that top spot.

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thehitman - 490 days 22 hours ago

11 - All they have to do is..

Make half-assed controls with the controller and say mouse and keyboard required on the ps3 case say mouse and keyboard required and make it obvious. Im 100% sure that even if they made custom blizzard packages people buy it up like candy.

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Farsendor1 - 490 days 22 hours ago

12 -

i can take any keyboard and mouse that are usb and they will work on ps3 i figured a lot of people would have usb keyboards and mouse by now

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