No console WoW a 'square peg round hole thing'.
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".
Speculation that Blizzard would eventually port World of Warcraft to console has maintained a healthy level ever since the original game was released in February 2005, despite the developer constantly maintaining its desire to keep the game PC exclusive.
Blizzard's unwavering commitment to the PC has disappointed many console gamers who would love to see its popular games, including Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft, on either the Xbox 360, PS3 or Nintendo Wii.
AdvertisementBlizzard executive vice president of product development and co-founder Frank Pearce told us in an interview published last week that the chances of upcoming RTS StarCraft 2 coming to console are "very close to zero".
Speaking to VideoGamer.com at Leipzig Games Convention last week Blizzard's J Allen Brack, production director of Wrath of the Lich King, suggested a similar chance of World of Warcraft coming to console, citing the control scheme as the primary factor.
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."
In the same interview lead game designer Tom Chilton insisted that the developer had nothing against games consoles.
"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."
Be sure to check our Wrath of the Lich King game page for the latest on one of the most anticipated game expansions in history or head straight to the full interview.
LordRaoh wrote at 15:05 on 27 August 2008
Why not just make it keyboard and mouse only and sell with the game? I use keyboard and mouse for my ps3 when in linux and used it from time to time in unreal tournament 3.
a keyboard/game bundle for consoles would sell IMO.
izikavazo wrote at 17:24 on 27 August 2008
Or just require the keyboard accessory that the 360 and the PS3 now both have Then you only have to map a few controls to the controller. (I think this would give the 360 players an advantage simply because the 360 keypad fits a lot better than the PS3 version.)
I bet that Microsoft would have little bit of a problem with that requirement but I bet they'd give some leniance in order to get WOW.
- Izi
"ID10T wrote at 00:17 on 28 August 2008
The game released November of 2004.... Biggest MMO of all time and the date listed is incorrect. Skipping rest of article cause I'm sure an assumption would be more correct then a fact.
wyp100 wrote at 08:25 on 28 August 2008
@ "ID10T
The game was released in February 2005 in the UK. This is a UK website.
Tahiri wrote at 17:22 on 28 August 2008
WoW would be perfect for PS3/360 since you can use mice/keyboards on them.
THEWISE wrote at 12:49 on 08 September 2008
surely with the ability of USB Keyboards and mice WoW could easily be converted to the likes of the Xbox360 the hardware of the system is more capable of dealing with WoW so the whole Square Peg Round Hole is ridicules
Shweet G-zus wrote at 19:01 on 04 October 2008
I was more than excited when i found out D3 was in the making but then my heart sank just as i read they won't be making it for my brand new Xbox because of the whole no keyboard and mouse BS. The reason why i think its BS is cause i play Final Fantesy 11 online with a keyboard and everything and now their trying to say that they wont be able to map out the controls B S! Make it a freakin requirement. And take that Square peg round hole and shove it, you all know its going to sell like a motha. So why not...
dreamhunk wrote at 20:37 on 04 October 2008
all those games will be too maxed out on a console, Blizzard is working with amd!