I’m still catching up on E3 2012 stuff. Reading a ton of posts, watching videos and drinking it all in. One interesting theme I’ve plucked out of this huge mass of content (almost all of it produced by people who write about games for a living, so keep that in mind…game journos get a lot more over-exposed to genres that we regular gamers do) is a reaction to The Elder Scrolls Online that ranges from tepid to openly hostile.

It seems (in game journalist circles anyway) that no one wants this game.

I’m not sure I want it, either, so this isn’t meant as any kind of attack on gaming journalists or on anyone. But I think it postulates an interesting question. If “we” aren’t excited about an Elder Scrolls MMO, does it mean we’re just done with MMOs?

Though at the same time my friends are SUPER excited over the upcoming Guild Wars 2 MMO.

So are we seeing the difference between gaming journalists and regular gamers? Or is it that the Elder Scrolls have such a long history of being deep single player experiences that’s putting us off TESO?

Game Informer ran a bunch of video interviews on TESO that actually piqued my interest a little bit at least. The combat actually sounds a bit GW2-ish. Instead of a bunch of skills you’ll just have a handful but all of them will be “awesome” and the goal is to have the player’s concentration focused on the game, not the UI. These are both good things in my mind.

OTOH it’s hard to get away from the “more of the same” vibe that TESO gives off, too.

So is GW2 going to be the last hurrah for AAA MMO titles? Or is TESO just something unique: a setting that none of us want to play with (lots of) others in. My feeling has always been that most Elder Scrolls players are more interested in smaller-scale multiplayer (if they want multiplayer at all) that they can experience with friends, rather then running through a world of characters named Legolaazzs and Drizzzt.

[Apologies for typos…I’m writing on the big screen TV and can’t see what I’m writing very well! LOL]