What’s the hottest new MMORPG? Could be Lineage II? Guild Wars? The World of Warcraft? Yes? No? ToonTown you say? From Sony and Disney. Wow. This could be something keen. It’s family friendly AND it’s only $20. I may need to check this out.
Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games are all the rage in games right now. It’s becoming a multibillion-dollar-a-year industry and Disney obviously saw the figures from China from last year. At this point, pretty much all the games are aimed at teenagers or older. But the multimedia monster called Disney has gotten something a little more family oriented, Disney’s ToonTown Online. Disney got with Sony software publishing division and now they’re bringing it to stores.
The game should hit stores in the fall and is the first MMORPG aimed at a family experience. The price is more than reasonable at $19.99 that covers a two month subscription to the game service. Sony’s software publisher Platform Publishing also said this game will eventually be available for game consoles (yep, could quite well see them on the PS3 in hi-def).
“Platform Publishing is working with Disney Online to make Toontown available in the places where families usually shop,” said John Needham, chief financial officer and senior vice president of business development, Sony Online Entertainment.
“Toontown is a breakthrough game that has introduced MMOs to the online family audience. Now we will be introducing the game to a whole new audience who may not have downloaded it in the past. Additionally, we will begin working with Disney on the potential to create Toontown versions for online-enabled game consoles.”
“This is a great opportunity for us to partner with Sony Online Entertainment, a leader in the retail MMO space,” stated Steve Parkis, vice president of premium products, Disney Online. “We feel that our trusted brand and unique game offering that appeals to the entire family is a natural fit for the retail marketplace. And as the connected console marketplace develops, we want to be among the first MMO family titles made available.”
Players in the game create their own Toons and interact with other Toons to save the world from the Cogs, called “humorless, business robots” who steal the colorful happy world of Toontown and turn it inot a dark, colorless metropolis of “corporate monotony.”
Users can already go to Disney’s site and play around with the game. There’s a three-day trial version folks can play with. According to the press release, feedback says that many people are playing the game with their families. The game is aimed for ages 8-12. The subscription fee is $9.95. The game is rated E for Everyone.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
