The most intriguing MMO on the horizon?  To me, at least, it’s my old boss Todd Coleman’s new venture with King’s Isle, a game called Wizard 101.  Looking over the website, it’s hard to believe that this is the same mind that gave us Shadowbane, the ultimate online PvP experience.

I admit, this game wouldn’t have caught my eye if I hadn’t been prompted by coworkers to check out the movies – go to this website and check out the movie of the combat in action, and you’ll see a game that is a careful blend of Harry Potter and Pokemon.  In a landscape that is currently cluttered with MMOs aimed at the kiddy market, this one offers something that stands out – a real gameplay mechanism, without resorting to straight combat.

A lot of stars have to align for this game to hit it big, but I do predict it’s going to be a lot of fun.  Good luck to all of my former coworkers working on getting this out the door.

Original comments thread is here.