38 Studios Unveils its First Look at Project Copernicus

Apologies if it seems that we're turning Giant Bomb into the All 38 Studios channel lately, but the drama surrounding the studio in the wake of its recent financial troubles regarding its investment with the state of Rhode Island has been coming fast and furious of late. Understandably, many have questioned the studio's motives and competency, given the known issues and the fact that Project Copernicus, the studio's MMO which has been in development for nearly seven years now, had yet to be seen...

...until now!

Perhaps as a direct response to the criticism--I mean really, why else would this happen today of all days?--the studio today posted the above video on YouTube, which shows the world of Amalur as it looks in Copernicus. The video ultimately shows little more than world details, but it's still a hell of a lot more than we had before.

What do you think?

Arsghhhhhh Finally, the game

Time to flood the market.

Probably never see the light of day now.

Is Rich Gallup a cyborg in that video? No? Not interested.

Uh, wow. That's some pretty good looking environment stuff.

Looks like a Fantasy MMO world.

Cool?

Hard to tell if any of those environments will actually be accessible or just backdrops. I like the color and the style, even if it does look a little low poly.

I fear it wont hold up well in 2014 though.

"we really have a game, guys!"

This might be to little to late. to bad 38 studios

It sure looks purdy, but in the wake off all that's happened this is all they can show? No gameplay? No character creation? Nothing of any substance? Shit, this stuff doesn't even prove they have a game in the works.

I know this was probably hastily put together as a PR move, but it's a really bad PR move. It's been seven freakin' years. Show some gameplay.

These are pretty decent looking environments, but I wonder how they'll look in game.

I also wonder how hard people are working considering they're, you know, not getting paid right now.

totally looks like a post-WoW MMO... wonder what they'll do (if anything) to make it modern.

I really liked the look. The style made it feel original.

It doesn't look terrible but if the gameplay is just the same old same old MMO fantasy design I'm done caring

Am I crazy or was some of that environmental geometry super janky? I mean, the color palette and lighting are pretty awesome looking, but the environments just don't look good to me. Here's hoping they can announce something exciting about how it plays, 'cause with even an Elder Scrolls MMO looking dire, I can't imagine this being better received.

Looks like a standard fantasy MMO world, kind of what i expected after playing Reckoning.

so empty.

where are the monstars?!

I just dont get MMOs. But even if this looked awesome, whos gonna be in when it looks like the company could die shortly after.

38 Studios, just please... PLEASE keep the combat system from Reckoning. Fuck the standard MMO control scheme.

Looks good for what is there, but they haven't shown much. how is there not a single NPC/mob in that entire video?

Certainly pretty-looking. Detailed and with interesting design.

Hope it doesn't go to waste.

Okay, that gothic structure at 1:12 looked pretty dang cool.

It looked nice! Good art, nice colors and differing environments.

This is what they got for $15/month?

Shut it down!

Palm meet face.

so empty.

where are the monstars?!

Most top end free to play MMORPGs took 2-3 years look just as good and are out making Money, 7 years for this and still not out yet or any gameplay shown, I feel for them i do but no excuses really for this long of a development to only show a fly by of the game world.

It looks gorgeous. At least this made me interested. I hope they show something off at E3, because I really want to see more now.

Sweet, the new WoW expansion!

@supercubedude said:

Sweet, the new WoW expansion!

...

Where are the pandas?

And I heard you can't have a Deathknight Panda? In what world would that not be awesome?

A bunch of sweeping shots over meaningless landscapes and structures, accompanied by a soundtrack featuring only the most generic of fantasy soundtrack things. This is all we see of a game that's been in development for six years, and has cost an extraordinary amount of money.

...Yep, 38 Studios is doomed. Everyone pack up and go home.

Wow, that actually looks amazing. I really love the art style. Such a shame that it is an MMO though; I have no interest in playing it because of that, unless they fundamentally change the way MMOs are played. But very, very pretty nonetheless. It's a shame they didn't show any of it before they got into this financial mess.

Well, it's pretty I'll give it that, but no more impressive than some of the promotional videos I've seen of GW2 or some Korean MMOs. This thing is probably dead, but I'd love it if some publisher could take all the art assets, build a Borderlands-like co-op RPG, and release that to retail. A single-player/co-op experience; not an MMO. Otherwise it seems like such a waste, I mean beyond the tens of millions of tax-payer dollars spent on creating this albatross.

Need more then eye candy, it looks promising in terms of visuals, but no gameplay means zero interest.

I'd get that 38 Studios going under headline ready.

I really don't know what to think about this.

On one hand, I want to say "I cannot wait to play around in that world, as it looks spectacular and memorable".

On the other hand, I want to say "dood, that's all you've got to release to us after seven years and the potential that we'll never see it because of all this financial business going around?".

It's a really confusing place to be.

Will Rich Gallup be coming onto the podcast next week to discuss the game in detail? That's what will save this game for me.

If I was shown a snippet of that video out of context and told it was teasing an EverQuest II expansion pack I wouldn't have been the least bit surprised. There isn't a single unique visual element in that entire thing; it's the very definition of Keith Parkinson-ass boilerplate fantasy bullshit.

At least Reckoning had the quasi-action game thing going for it. As mentioned before, if this game is built around the same MMO combat model that we're used to (and frankly there's absolutely no reason to assume otherwise) it is going to completely tank.

mmo? don't care

looks definitely real nice, really wished amalur looked like this, as in my opinion that game looked like shit.

hopefully that world comes into some sort of game

@Jimbo said:

@bemusedchunk said:

so empty.

where are the monstars?!

Do you know how much monsters cost??

4 million bucks a month!!!!!

Well, I kinda remember some of these locales from Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.. they look a little better here. But, honestly: "Project Copernicus"? Are those guys still brainstorming the title after seven fucking years?

Thank you, people of Rhode Island, for this fantastic trailer with nothing in it. Not much to show for 7 years.

Empty. Guess it will stay that way. There are kickstarters that have shown more goods in their donate videos.

Why are they still calling this Copernicus? Can't see any reason why this shouldn't be known as Kingdoms of Amalur Online or whatever.

The art design looks fantastic and that is some damn great music. Unfortunately that's all there is to say for now. I hope 38 can make it.

Unfortunate that this had to be unveiled in such a circumstance.

@Superfriend said:

@Jimbo said:

@bemusedchunk said:

so empty.

where are the monstars?!

Do you know how much monsters cost??

4 million bucks a month!!!!!

Well, I kinda remember some of these locales from Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.. they look a little better here. But, honestly: "Project Copernicus"? Are those guys still brainstorming the title after seven fucking years?

Ease up, man, it takes time to shart out evocative titles like "Reckoning."

Well now we all know where all the money went. Now that that's settled, let us never speak of it again.

I'm sad to say, this reminds me of when Midway Newcastle put out assets for Necessary Force in a last ditch effort to garner some interest before they closed.

Seems like 38 is fishing for a publisher which if they're putting this out publicly now at the 11th hour, they must have been doing for a long time behind the scenes.

In order to make back a lot of that money, 38 will have to rely on the dinosaur model of $14.99 a month.

Att: Every MMO in development. If you do not have a free to play option from the start, you are pretty much DOA. Ask SWTOR in 6 months what their overall ROI is and how many subscribers they have then. MMOs are tough and it is a very fickle genre.

They should seriously try a Kickstarter for guranteed up front money. Otherwise, this game would have to be on the level of WoW to make anywhere near the money needed to pay back Rhode Island AND bring the studio financial riches. 379 employees AND Todd McFarlane AND R.A. Salvatore AND Rich Gallup?? That's alot of checks to write!!!

And why couldn't they reveal that sooner? Well to answer my own question, I guess maybe because they didn't want to dissapoint people, because that looks bland as hell.