I'm really not into MMORPGs (read: does not play well with others), but a friend of mine posed a question to me, and I honestly did not have an answer for them. The question:

"Why are there not more MMORPGs on consoles?"

Hmm. I cannot see any logical reason why they are not out on consoles.

Let's break it down: two out of the three major consoles (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) have hard drives, the ability to type text via keyboard/keyboard attachment, voice chat, and internet access. Xbox Live and PlayStation Network have infrastructures (in various degrees of quality) to make these games work. People are already paying monthly fees for things like Xbox Live, so another monthly fee isn't really that big of a deal for a console gamer. Heck, we already patch and provide updates for games, so I do not know why a game like World of Warcraft is not on the Xbox 360.

And don't tell me a company like Blizzard doesn't have the resources to produce a console version of their game. They make a hojillion dollars a month off World of Warcraft subscription fees, so they can definitely afford the production costs and hire enough people to make it happen. If anything it will increase their already large revenue stream.

Well, that's Blizzard though.

Other companies (e.g., NCSoft, ArenaNet) may not have the bandwidth to produce console ports of MMORPGs, but with a decline in PC game sales (or so I have heard), it makes sense for companies to seek out other lines of revenue. I mean, Square Enix did it with Final Fantasy XI (it's got to be making some money for them as they come out with an expansion pack every couple of months).

So, I pose the question to the masses: Why are there not more MMORPGs on consoles?

I told you I would have a real introduction.

I am a hardcore/old school/import gamer. I do a video game podcast with three friends of mine every two weeks and we make fun of people who liked Weaponlord.

I've been playing games since video game consoles were made with wood trim. I've played the bad, the mediocre, and the great. For those who need more detailed information, here you go:

I own 26 game systems (3DO, CDX, Dreamcast, DS Lite, Twin Famicom, Gameboy Advance SP, 2 Gamecubes (one US, one Japanese), JVC X'Eye (Genesis with CD Drive), GameGear, Lynx, Nintendo 64, NES, Neo Geo CD, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Nomad, PlayStation, 2 PlayStation 2s (one US, one Japanese), PlayStation Portable, Saturn, SNES, Turbo Duo, Wii, Xbox, and Xbox 360). As for games, well, it was over 800 games the last time I updated the Excel spreadsheet I use to keep track of all this stuff.

I will play pretty much anything except for sports games and games published by EA. I have an unhealthy love for certain publishers/developers, so do not be surprised by posts involving the following companies: Cave, Raizing, SNK, Treasure, Konami, Technosoft, Psikyo, Taito.

I also have way too much experience with the retail side of video games. I did that for five years, and thankfully I no longer work at a video game store.

A note on my video game review style: I'll tell it like it is and to the point. Listen, I really do not have time to write "New Games Journalism" style reviews that are twenty pages long and don't talk about the actual game.

Okay now that that's out of the way. Let the froth commence.

Proper introduction to this coming very soon.