a new Web Based MMO WWII strategy game

[FatJoe]

I recently discovered a game being worked on by a Finnish Game development company, Sauma Technologies, which has a development branch here in Iceland. Due to the nature of the game I thought some of you might find it quite interesting.

This game, Hours of War, is a browser based Massively Multiplayer Online War Strategy Game set in the Second World War. And to qoute their webpage, "In Hours of War, you build your career as a military commander, and battle alongside and against your friends in epic World War II battles." The game features battles like Allied landing in Normandy 1944, the Battle of the Bulge along with many other of Western Europe.

They plan on adding more content and scenarios in the future, including the Soviet mass offensive against Finland at Tali-Ihantala during the Continuation War, in 1944. Also interesting is that they also plan to link their scenarios together, to form longer campaigns.

Like many other web based MMO games, it's tick-based, meaning you have certain ammount of moves per certain ammount of time. With these moves you command your units as a Battalion Commander while higher ranking commanders will command other players, giving direction with mail or chat and explaining the plan with drawing tools. Meanwhile you build your career as a commander, gaining points and medals.

It's still in development.

There will be a monthly subscription fee. What the exact fee will be, will be announced later.

Check their webpage for more info

And here are some screenshots:








I'm looking forward to this one. :O

What do you think?

[Ionizer]

Looks neat.  Will it be free?

EDIT:  From their FAQ:

Q10: How much will the game cost/ What is the revenue model?

There will be a monthly subscription fee. We will announce later what the exact fee will be.

[FatJoe]

oh wow, what a crucial info to miss out, Thanks Ionizer! ^^

Uh no, but I have no idea how much it will cost per month.
this on the other hand is interesting - http://hoursofwar.com/products
but otherwise I don't know.. I might snoop around and find a rough number, tomorrow.. Now, I'm off to sleep

[Tedacious]

I was overjoyed by this, I've been wishing for a game like this and were looking forward to it the more I read through your post.. until I read this:

There will be a monthly subscription fee. What the exact fee will be, will be announced later.

I hate monthly fees. I will not buy it.

[Dukat]

Funny. Few days ago I was just thinking that I'd like to see some hexagon strategy in the style of Panzer General again. Unfortunately it is "pay for play".

[FatJoe]

I hate monthly fees. I will not buy it.

yeah, you're not alone on that opinion. However I'm going to give it a chance, see how much exactly it will cost per month.

[DLFReporter]

I wonder how it will work when people aren't online 24/7.

[von.small]

when the first MMO - FPS WWII game comes out (star wars Lucasarts are doing something like this [obviosuly not wwII] WAW meets star wars), then I might play.  I'm not a stratedgy fan at all, even though I consider myself a starcraft l33t, my ability to command a battle from an overhead based on statistical data digest is very poor.

pwease can i keep my thompson...

[Biiviz]

when the first MMO - FPS WWII game comes out (star wars Lucasarts are doing something like this [obviosuly not wwII] WAW meets star wars), then I might play.

You mean like WWII: Online (aka Battleground Europe) which has been out for 8 years already?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_Online

[Thorondor123]

If I like a game, I would rather pay to play it than play it with masses of idiots. Even a small fee will cut away 99,9% of the assholes.

[Ionizer]

After searching around their forum and looking at other stuff, it seems like they've more or less decided on 10 Euroes a month.  Also, it's said that there will be a "penalty" for night time operations, to dissuade people from playing 24/7.  Scenarios are Tick-based, and could take up to a month of real time to complete, depending on who set up the server and the tick-measurement.  Players will command other players according to some kind of rank system.  In their Normandy campaign, they project having 350 different units, compared to 250 in Tali-Inhantala.

You can get bits and pieces of more info by reading through their forums and FAQ.  It's an ambitious project, to be sure.  And browser based  MMOs have been shown to work.  I don't know if I could afford paying (or be willing to pay) every month for this, though.  Maybe once it comes out and there are more reviews or something.

[Flippy Warbear]

Lets see how they will display Tali-Ihantala in that game... My flamethrower is hungry.

[Lightning]

If they're going to charge people money to play they should have gone through the effort of using accurate maps. Carentan on their map is obviously the size of the modern Carentan, in 1944 the town was twice as small... 

[Tedacious]

If they're going to charge people money to play they should have gone through the effort of using accurate maps. Carentan on their map is obviously the size of the modern Carentan, in 1944 the town was twice as small... 

This made me think. first tought was "perhaps they just took a satellite picture of carentan and used it".
Then it developed, and I would love a game like this in modern time, where they use the world as it looks today (satellite pictures for example) with the whole world as an arena

[Fuchs]

Haha, Lightning hops in again on the maps part 

I found out about this game some while ago, wanted to post it when they released their beta (this autumn) but FatJoe wasted that. Anyway, their devs are really nice people, they even send me a t-shirt because I simply was active on their forums. Fits really good.