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E3 2012: Origins of Malu brings player-created factions, housing, and exploration to the sandbox
It's hard to remain completely objective about Origins of Malu. The sci-fantasy title from Burning Dog Media is a project I've been watching personally for quite a while now, both because of its ambitious design goals and because of the sandbox affinity displayed by the dev team. At this week's E3, I finally got to put names with faces when I met with senior developer Jason Mitchell and programmer Chris Shaw. The pair had plenty of interesting tidbits to share, and despite the fact that I haven't put my hands on an Origins build yet, it remains very near the top of my most-anticipated-MMOs list. Join me after the cut for some chit-chat about action combat, player-created factions, PvP (yes there are safe zones), and more.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Online footage sighted in the wild
Fans of GSC Gameworld's S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series got a tad bit excited this morning as new gameplay footage from the IP surfaced on YouTube. As it turns out, the video is from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Online (yes, really), which is an MMO being developed by CyberTime Systems using its proprietary BigWorld game engine. Apparently the title has been in the works for a while, and an ongoing open beta phase is currently available in Russia. VG24/7 reports that there is a multi-language pack in the works, but until it's ready you'll need to bone up on your language skills if you want to participate. For the uninitiated, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a series of post-apocalyptic single-player titles that mix first-person shooter action with sandbox RPG elements. Head past the break to check out the gameplay footage.
