Motor City Online

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Motor City Online

North American boxart
Developer(s) Electronic Arts
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release date October 10, 2001
Genre(s) MMOG/Racing
Mode(s) Multiplayer
Rating(s) Everyone: E (Everyone)
Media CD-ROM, download
System requirements PII 333 or equivalent, 64 MB RAM, 4X CD-ROM, 8 MB VRAM, 800 MB, DirectX v8.0
Input methods Keyboard, Mouse, joystick (optional), Wheel & Pedals (optional)

Motor City Online was a racing massively multiplayer online computer game released by Electronic Arts on October 10, 2001. The point of the game was to buy classic cars (mostly American muscle cars) ranging from 1930s to 1970s models, tune them up, and race them against other players. The game went offline on August 29, 2004 so EA Games could focus on their current online game at the time, The Sims Online.

Originally conceived as part of the Need for Speed series under the title Need for Speed: Motor City [1], all single player elements that may have been developed for the game were discarded in favor of an online-only model. The game featured some RPG elements, such as levelling up after completing tasks (e.g. winning races), and a functional, supply and demand economy for players to get involved in.

Aside from EA focusing on The Sims Online, another contributing factor to MCO's demise was the game's technical setup. Lag, as with most online games, was a problem, with cars acting unpredictably during times of high latency. Falling subscription rates (from an alleged peak of 36,000; this figure is disputed) and a lack of new interest in the game eventually led to its downfall. Previous Motor City Online users were offered access to The Sims Online, Ultima Online, or Earth & Beyond. [2]

Contents

[edit] Cars

The vehicles featured in Motor City Online were all American models, ranging from coupes, Coupe Utilities, sedans and station wagons of the 1930s to 1950s, to muscle cars from the 1960s and 1970s. Most of the vehicles could be modified, providing the vehicle with an additional suffix on the vehicle's name (i.e. "Ford Ranchero Chopped", "Ford Coupe Bumperless&Fenderless"). Older vehicles could also be available as convertibles, while a handful of older models were also available in the form of a body only.

[edit] Note

At the end of the run of Motor city online, two foreign cars were available. One was the 99 Mitsubishi Eclipse. The other was the 97 Toyota Supra. Both cars were unrealistically equipped with V-8 engines.

[edit] Awards

[edit] References

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Need for Speed video games
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