Top 10 MMOs we want to see on PS Vita

It’s been almost four months since the release of the 3DS, and apart from a certain remake of a 13-year-old game (albeit the best game of all time) the range of titles available has been decidedly underwhelming.

Couple that with the debates over the recent massive price drop and you've got yourself a dodgy launch.

As we come closer to the release of another groundbreaking handheld, it’s time to start our anticipation engines in preparation for the late 2011/early 2012 launch of the PS Vita.

We all know by now that ‘Vita’ means ‘life’, but with last month's news that Final Fanasy XI might be gracing the PS Vita with its presence we’re starting to think that a 'life' is exactly the thing we're not going to have in the months following the launch (weak - ed).

On which note, here's a list of the top ten life-robbing PC MMOs that we would like to see on the PS Vita.

Known in some circles as Microsoft Excel: the Game, EVE Online is Reykjavik-based developer CCP’s attempt to destroy your social life with outer space.

Upon creating a 2D portrait of your avatar you're thrust into a huge galaxy full of over 7,500 star systems (or ‘Secs’). Once there you can upgrade your ships, start an in-game business, become CEO, and rule a small (or large) Sec all of your own.

This is why we’d like to see EVE Online on PS Vita. While it may prove to be the single most mind-numbing, patience-testing game of all time due to its horrific skill learning system, it also comes with some enthralling controversy.

Due to the nature of the in-game economy, what would be considered ‘griefing’ (bullying) in other MMOs is allowed in EVE. This means stealing, space piracy, lying, and cheating are all part of the in game economy.

In fact, one player cleverly joined another rival corporation and worked inside it for a whole year, before assassinating the CEO and rejoining his original Corps with a fanfare (and a cargo hold full of ISK, the in-game currency).

Perhaps one of the most player-vs-player-focused MMOs out there, Warhammer Online could take its battlefields onto PS Vita with aplomb.

With your class alliance chosen at the start, you jump straight into traditional multiplayer battles like Capture the Flag or King of the Hill all with a small painterly leaden figure twist.

Should this title force its way onto the PS Vita it’s easy to imagine the handheld’s social platform Near being utilised outside the game to find people to play with or bludgeon (in-game) locally.

The Hobbit movie will be hitting cinemas soon, and what better way to rejoin the epic fantasy world of Tolkien than to jump into an MMORPG?

Lord of the Rings: Online (or LotRO) was released in 2007, and since then it's made the switch to a subscription-based, micro-transaction fed, Free-to-Play world.

On PS Vita you can imagine revisiting key locations from the books or movies with your mates anywhere: on your lunch break at work, in the beer garden of the Green Dragon, or even on your own Middle-Earth style quest for good (i.e. snacks).

Though PC gamers are still told by Washington based Arenasoft that Guild Wars 2 will arrive ‘when it’s ready’, that doesn’t mean that we can't envision a day when we can play this subscription free MMO convention-breaker on the PS Vita.

In Guild Wars 2 there will be no Tanks, Healers, or DPS classes. If you don’t know what these things are, that means you don’t know what it’s like to spend two hours forming a party while you wait for that one extra person to arrive capable of fulfilling a specific role in your group.

In Guild Wars 2, players fulfil all roles at all times, meaning group battle tactics - and not initial choices, grinding, or high levels - are the mainstay of the game.

Throw in the fact that the PS Vita's rear touch panel could be utilised easily for the nicely contained skill bar, which at all times never exceeds ten usable skills, and you could have a tight, story-driven, tactical MMO in your hands.

ArenaNet has even stated that it has a "very small team" assessing the possibility of console releases. Could FFXI be the spark on the brush?

Where there are gaming platforms there will always be Star Wars.

The PC community is rightly getting excited by The Old Republic, which is being put together by BioWare - the studio that so successfully developed home console hits Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

The game aims to warp jump forward from the previous Star Wars MMO Galaxies to tickle your story receptors. With multiple choice ‘Flashpoints’ which determine how the plot strands weave together, this will be an interesting take on the tried-and-tested MMO formula.

And it will have lightsabers. On PS Vita, please.

Perhaps the most salient aspect of Rift is that it's a carbon copy of a certain other uber popular MMO which may or may not feature further down this list.

But in the case of Rift and its tight PvP combat this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

If Rift came to PS Vita it would give handheld gamers a chance to sample its dynamic content. Massive Monster Openings (MMOs?) or ‘rifts’ appear randomly in the game world, and epic fantasy battles are the only way to close them.

The only issue with bringing a game like this to PS Vita would be the incredible number of skills that are available at any one time. Would the the touchscreen, rear touch panel, buttons, and gyroscope be enough?

One of the guilty pleasures in MMOs is the simple sense of achievement you get from ticking off boxes. Kill ten crabs? Check. Gather five copper ore? Check? Paid subscription fee? Hold the phone.

Allods Online is another free-to-play MMO, this time from Russia. Mixing the pointy-eared tradition of World of Warcraft with a side order of space opera lore, Allods's extensive number of quests is breathtaking considering the game is totally free.

The first time I played City of Heroes I spent about two hours simply creating a superhero avatar to adventure around the open world city with.

Instead of telling you about the game, I think it would better illustrate the simple fun to be had in City of Heroes by just reproducing my character bio here:

Robo-Puma. - A Harvard professor who rebuilt his damaged body with bits of cyborg and puma after a plane crash in the mountain ranges of Afghanistan, now using his awesome speed and strength for the power of good.

Needless to say, having access to a superhero alter ego on the go would be brilliant.

Though it's been seven years since EverQuest 2 first crept from the caves of Sony Online Entertainment, the game still supports a tight-knit community of players.

Whilst it's not everybody’s mug of mead, this fantasy land is very much an MMO gamer's game, with PA (that's 'Pointless Acronyms') and terminology seeping out of every pore.

If nothing else, on PS Vita it’ll give the truly hardcore MMO players a chance to get some fresh air.

If you haven’t heard of World of Warcraft, well done. Really. I don’t know how you managed it, but well done.

The game is a mix or player vs player and player vs environment within the huge fantasy world of Azeroth populated by a massive 12 million players (mostly whiny 11-year-olds who are better than you).

Though the game is starting to look a little dated, the bustling community and regular updates ensure that if this giant of an MMO came to PS Vita the streets would run red with the blood of the Horde (read: "would be filled with kids playing WoW").