The goal of Warhammer is to "keep the momentum going,"
DateTime:7/8/2009 5:21:12 PM

Especially with the busy holiday season and a much-anticipated "WoW" expansion coming up. "We stay on top of what's going on, and we're going to keep expanding," Hickman said. "We care about what the players are saying. Our first two patches were about making players happy - within reason."Creative director Paul Barnett said "Warhammer" is more than a computer game, it's a hobby. "And at 50 cents a day," he added, "it's the most cost-effective hobby in the digital age."

The latest challenger is determined to avoid such issues. "Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning," the sword-and-sorcery fantasy developed by Mythic Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, has already attracted 750,000 subscribers since its September debut. But Mythic co-founder Mark Jacobs said: "The launch is just the beginning. Even the first year is only a step.""No MMORPG is ever ready to go out," Jacobs said. "These games are so complicated, you can never get it 100 per cent right." For a new online game to succeed, he said, players have to be "able to do everything it says on the box."