Up-Coming Sci-Fi MMO's To Watch For

Since the market has become virtually flooded with fantasy MMO's, the focus of the gaming community is beginning to move towards the sci-fi end of the spectrum. For years, EVE Online has dominated the sci-fi MMO market, remaining viable for years with a growing loyal fan-base while other aspiring sci-fi MMO's flared briefly before fading away.

However, EVE Online is not a game for everyone, heavily featuring PvP action. I've personally tried playing twice only to have the experience ruined by bored griefers with too much virtual artillery. As a result, I have been on the watch for something new to play, specifically in this genre.

Reviewing the unreleased games that are anticipated, I have selected three that appear to be worth investing some time in, once they are available.

After the jump, I will cover the primary features of interest for each game, detailing exactly why it is worth looking into. In expected order of release, they are Jumpgate Evolution, Earthrise and Infinity.

Jumpgate Evolution promises to be very similar to EVE Online, going after many of the same features that are available. However, there is one important caveat: combat will all be twitch-based, meaning that your skill as a player will mean much more than your character's skillset. Otherwise, I anticipate a similar experience to EVE Online, which is definitely NOT a bad thing, other than the PvP ganking.

Earthrise offers, for the first time in my experience, an MMO where each character can make use of customizable powered-armor and mobile suits. I do not know how extensive this feature will be implemented, but the possibility of creating my own Masamune Shirow inspired armor suits is incredibly tantalizing, to say the very least.

Infinity is another space combat game, but with it's own distinct difference. The feature of note in this case is procedural programming. This is a new buzzword in the industry that indicates the gaming world is not pre-established. If you travel to the edge of the map/world/universe, the system uses algorhithms to generate more of it on the spot for you to investigate. It effectively expands infinitely, without requiring independent content generation and programming.

All of these games are expected to come out later this year, but we all know how fickle release schedules are for new media. Know of a new sci-fi MMO that is coming out and includes notable features that raise the bar? Let me know!