CNN: 'Rift' Takes on 'World of Warcraft'

Yep, still remember the "Rift" ad: "We're not in Azeroth anymore"? It is obviously that "Rift" takes jab at "World of Warcraft". Then, players and mass medium would like to make a comparison between them. This time, CNN is included. You can find the article titled "Rift Takes on World of Warcraft" shown on the CNN Gaming and Gadgets.

According to the article, Trion executive producer Scott Hartsman said the initial idea of Rift was not to create a new MMORPG, but to create a new gaming technology that would allow Trion to build games in different ways.

When talking about the jab at Blizzard in their advertising, Trion believes there is room for two successful MMORPGs. "Ten years ago, people were comparing everything to 'Everquest.' This year, people are comparing everything to 'World of Warcraft,'" Hartsman said. He said talk about comparing "Rift" with "WoW" is more about gamer culture than direct competition.

As mentioned the unique tech of Rift, Hartsman shows Trion servers are broken down by function, unlike other games in which servers are devoted to particular locations in the game. For example, they use a set of servers to handle non-player character functions in the world, a different set of servers to handle encounters with "bosses," and another set that handles functions directly involving the players' characters.

The technology in "Rift" is designed to be flexible enough to handle traffic without crashing and still be expandable