RIP APB
by Ron Keith
'Tis a sad day, fellow gamers. It is a sad day whenever any MMO passes. We are gathered here, today, to pay our final respects to the short-lived, somewhat promising, but ultimately disappointing MMO, All Points Bulletin, aka APB.
Birthed into our world of MMOs on June 29, barely three months ago, APB has announced it's rolling up the sidewalks of San Paro. On September 16, the somewhat smallish APB community was greeted with this announcement: “Today we are sad to announce that despite everyone's best efforts to keep the service running; APB is coming to a close.” (This announcement was posted under the probably unintentionally ironic heading, “End of an Era”. Three months. That's not even an era in the life of a fruit fly!)
It's an awful harsh world. It must be to snatch one so full of promise from us so soon. The blood and tears of Grand-Theft Auto (GTA) flagellants stains our halls. The wails of grieving shooter fans echo throughout our halls. Well, three or four of them, anyway. Yes, we hear the cries of the few, the very few, who bemoan the passing of APB.
But let us be frank, though it might mean speaking ill of the dead, APB offered little more than promise. You might have dreamed APB would be the first truly great shooter MMO, the one that would finally lift shooters from the multiplayer environs of Counter-Strike and Call of Duty to the persistent, explorable world of an MMO. (Why should RPG gamers have all the fun?) You might have dreamed the fast-paced, GTA-style setting would set MMOs on their ear.
APB gave you plenty of reasons to dream: Dave Jones, the creator of GTA, was onboard; RealTime Worlds spent 5 years – 5 years! – developing the game; and the word was they spent $100 million on the effort. Dave Jones, years of development, and tons of cash... Why wouldn't you expect a killer game?
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