shadow-war
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Massively's Defiance launch week diary: Day three
You know what? Defiance's PvP is pretty enjoyable. Most of that enjoyment stems from my ability to actually kill people, contrary to typical MMO themeparks where I stand no chance against gear grinders and theorycrafters who have bested me before I even manage to tab target them. Here you have to aim, dodge, roll, reload, and do all that crazy skill-based stuff that shooters make you do, and while my K/D ratio is reminding me of the fact that I'm getting old and slow, it's still been a blast. Last night I dipped my toes into something called Shadow War, which is Defiance's answer to open world PvP.
'Shadow War' PvP is the star of new Defiance gameplay trailer
Come April, players won't just be facing the likes of giant mutated bugs and partially sentient robots in Defiance, they will also have the chance to face off against each other. Dubbed Shadow War, the open world competitive multiplayer combat system is the star of the show in the latest gameplay video from Trion. The PvP-focused Shadow War is fully integrated into the game's co-op experience, "giving players a choice to participate on their own terms, and allowing progression between co-op and competitive gameplay to be the same." Check out some of the alien technology-infused vehicle and infantry battles in the clip after the cut. [Source: Trion press release]
Defiance takes the lid off of its open world PvP
"Player vs. player in Defiance is like nothing console players have ever seen," promises Trion Worlds Creative Lead Bill Trost. "Everything's different, everything's fresh, every time you play." Thus begins Trion's latest Defiance dev diary, this one focusing on the game's open world PvP system. The team has dubbed this system the Shadow War and said that it is integrated fully with the game's PvE experience. Players have a choice whether to participate in it or not, but the action will be happening across a shared landscape. Why is it this way? The devs say that they didn't want a typical FPS experience, in which players went through a solo campaign and then hit the reset button for multiplayer. The progression between PvE and PvP is the same, although there are special outfits for hardcore PvPers. We've got the full dev diary for you after the break, so don't be shy!
MAG resuscitates their medic class with update, prepares to launch stats on MAG.com
Medics of the Shadow War, unite! MAG's latest patch did many favors for you, and even those who aren't of the resuscitation persuasion will find some tasty benefits in their latest version, patch 1.02. The last patch has cleaned up the field support's HUD by removing resuscitation icons from those players who can't be resuscitated, resulting in a much cleaner field of view for medics. Downed players who can be brought back to life also now carry a distance indicator icon on their body, so now you too can GPS your way to help a teammate. The same tracking system has also been given to players who have equipped explosive detectors, pointing out the location of mines. Lastly, medic icons will only be given to soldiers carrying defibulators, so those only holding a healing gun will no longer be medics. The patch has also improved server performance, resulting in reduced lag during high-end matches, and has made a change to the statistics system to prepare it for integration into MAG.com. So, if you're going to be jumping into the medic class after this patch, MAG's art director Steve Suhy has some tips for you when playing support. We've got the video embedded for your viewing pleasure right after the break.
First Impressions: MAG
It's a technical marvel, really, to be able to shoot at 256 people at once. Very few games have been able to get this many players into one enclosed space, and even fewer have been able to do it without having everything lock down in lag. But Zipper Interactive's MAG is taking the bull by the horns and is following in the footsteps of games like PlanetSide to deliver a true "war" experience to the PS3. With the impending release of MAG to the shelves of stores everywhere, my editor wanted me to get down to the front lines of combat and find out what the fuss was all about. To that end, I've joined up with Shadow Raven Industries to get a taste of the combat that MAG has to offer. Follow after the break, and let's break down how this "Massive Action Game" plays out.
