Signal Eleven is in TITAN mode!

2013 looks as though it will be a big year for video games, and we’re expecting that one of the biggest news stories of the year will be the announcement of Blizzard’s upcoming MMO, codenamed Titan.

Signal Eleven is back, and we’ll be focused on the Titan rumor mill, pulling together all the information and trying to weed out the speculation from the facts. If you’re excited about Titan, check back often! There’s sure to be a great deal of Titan-related information that will be released over the coming months. You’ll still find information pertinent to other games here, but it won’t have nearly the same focus. We’re excited to learn more about Destiny, even if it probably isn’t anything related to Titan.

We at Signal Eleven feel it is highly probable that the BlizzCon 2013 stage will be set for the official Titan announcement, its actual title (if not Titan) and introduction to core game mechanics, storyline, setting, engine, artwork and feel. And we’re hoping to be there!

Destiny Revealed; No Hints for Titan

Destiny was announced a couple of hours ago via Bungie’s Destiny Facebook page.

It looks like a really exciting new game. Knowing that Bungie were the ones behind Halo, and that this is their followup, makes this more appealing to me than any other FPS on the market. Is it an MMOFPS? The best answer is… maybe. It has a single player campaign mode, and the whole multiplayer aspect seems like it’s meant to seemlessly integrate with your friends. So, I guess picture Diablo 3 multiplayer, but on a possibly larger scale. It is console only, requires an internet connection to play, and has no subscription fee.

The biggest thing about this announcement from our Titan-centric perspective is that unfortunately, I don’t see it as ruling out an MMOFPS franchise from Blizzard. I don’t think Titan will be an MMOFPS – that seems like a bit too much saturation for Activision, going from no MMOFPS titles to two. But, if there is distinction between console and PC, I definitely believe they could work simultaneously.

Sadly, it seems that the Destiny revelations have not given the level of closure we expected. Titan could still be an MMOFPS.

Destiny updates could shed light on Titan

On Monday, development studio Bungie announced that information about their Activision-partnered project Destiny will be unveiled soon.

In a matter of days, we’re going to give you your first glimpse into the vision and ambition that’s driving the creation of our brave new world.

Since details of the upcoming title (previously codenamed Tiger) were leaked following a court case, there has been a great deal of speculation about Titan and Destiny perhaps being one and the same. Destiny was originally touted by Bungie as bring a sci-fi themed MMOFPS, and these statements together with the Activision connection are where a lot of the rumours of Titan being an MMOFPS originated.

The logo for Destiny has been unveiled on Bungie’s website and on Facebook.

If Bungie makes their full announcement for an MMOFPS independent of Blizzard, it could put the whole idea of Titan and Destiny being the same project to bed. It would certainly seem a strange decision for Activision to contract Bungie for the development of a game to directly rival their child-company Blizzard’s.

If you’d like to read more about the Bungie contract saga, or you’re interested to find out more about the game, check out this article from DigitalTrends.

 

Feb 14 Update: Looks like the reveal is going to happen on or around the 17th/18th depending on your time zone

 

Bungie’s Destiny Facebook has provided an announcement date.

 

Activision Blizzard Q4 2012 Earnings Report

On February 7, Activision released it’s earnings report for the final quarter of 2012. Blizzard had no notable releases during this quarter, although the Heart of the Swarm beta did kick off. The quarter immediately proceeds the release of World of Warcraft expansion Mists of Pandaria in the previous quarter, and the release of Diablo 3 in Q2.

 

“New MMO” is probably not going to be the title that Titan is released under.

 

Kotick added, “As we look to 2013, we will continue to invest in our established
franchises, as well as several new properties. We expect these investments to drive our growth
over the long term and to enable us to deliver superior returns to our shareholders in the years
to come. In the short-term, we expect to continue delivering strong profitability, but below our
record setting 2012 performance, due to a challenged global economy, the ongoing console
transition and a difficult year-over-year comparison because of Blizzard’s record-shattering
Diablo® III success in 2012.”

-Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard CEO

 

Investment in New IP, territories, platforms, partners and business models are a key priority for both sides of the Activision Blizzard partnership.

 

Read more for yourself:

Investor Summary

Press Release

 

alphaNoid the Prophet?

alphaNoid’s posts were originally published on TitanFocus.info on January 1 2013, and were uncovered by TitanFocus contributor Slayer, who I believe is also credited with all of the sleuthing/background checking on alphaNoid. alphaNoid’s posts fuelled a lot of Titan speculation, and particularly stand out from most other claims to privileged information in that these quotes contain actual assertions about unknown aspects of the game.

alphaNoid I will end with this tidbit though, Blizzard has been on record saying that Titan would be a new IP. Its not, its a spin off of an existing franchise … and they’re playing into that to allude to a new IP. Its going to be what Blizzard fans want.

alphaNoid All I’m going to say is Titan isn’t technically a new IP, it is.. but it isn’t. Its a spinoff of an existing Blizzard IP. Titan is the next Blizzard MMO, but its not Warcraft.

alphaNoid FYI Titan just left the framework stage not long ago. Level designers and artists just got their hands involved recently. You probably won’t see anything Titan related until closer to 2014.

alphaNoid Nobody has dev kits? Thats 100% bullshit, considering my insider at Blizzard who is working on the Titan framework has had access to a near final “next Xbox” dev kit since November. He wont tell me the details, he can’t and even eluding to the dev kit in general was a dog and pony show because he is under NDA personally signed. Next xbox dev kits are in the wild, whether or not they are final and the specs are another discussion but they are out there that I can say.

The above posts first appeared on the NeoGAF forums. Read commentary about the above posts from alphaNoid here (coming soon).

 

theNoid Also, what I’m getting at in a stealth manner is that the team working on Titan at Blizzard, the successor, the next MMORPG after WoW is now working on writing framework for the next Xbox in addition to PC. The only other thing I was told was that the SDK for the next Xbox is the best SDK they have ever worked with.

theNoid No, incorrect. Starcraft 2 was delayed because they’re reworking the code since they decided to remove LAN play. My coworker lives with one of the programmers at Blizzard, so this is legit info. Blizzard operates like a factory, step 1 in game development is the programmers coming in to build to groundwork for the game. When they’re done, artists, level designers etc.. come in next, and then those programmers are moved to the next project.

In Starcraft 2′s case, programmers were pulled from ‘other’ projects to come back to Starcraft 2 to rework the network design. Its coming Q1 2010.

theNoid I can’t go into too much detail, but a guy on my team lives with a code monkey who’s working on Project Titan at Blizzard. This is their rumored successor to WoW, and is located in the Diablo wing of the building, higher security locked doors. Think Willy Wonka level access. Nobody comes in, nobody comes out.

Anywho, apparently the majority of the underlaying ‘code’ for Diablo 3 has been done for quite some time. Blizzard runs development like a factory line, where programmers hop from project to project as soon as that portion is done. Apparently the design team is now working on Diablo 3, where many of the Diablo 3 programmers have moved into the Project Titan area to begin working there. This means (or so I’m told) that the core work is done, Blizzard is layering in the other teams to finish the game.My coworker told me about Starcraft 2 not having LAN over a year ago, and said the Diablo 3 decision was in place before the game began production. Blizzard is going to give you every excuse they can, but the bottom line is that the purposely left the feature out of the games to combat piracy and FORCE gamers to you know … buy their game.

Also, expect subscription tiers for Battle.net over the next 5 years eventually leading to no free to play model in the far future.

My sources are nothing I can directly link, so don’t believe them if you don’t want to. It doesn’t matter to me who cares, all I know is I haven’t been led incorrectly yet. I’ve met, and shaken hands with the man.

theNoid is another alphaNoid handle, used on community website HardForum. Read commentary about these posts here (coming soon).