Mech Warfare

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  • Insert Coin: Help some dudes make a robot fighting ring

    by 
    Brian Heater
    Brian Heater
    03.15.2012

    In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. The fine folks at Mech Warfare have a problem: their robots are a little too awesome. The housing tents made from PVC pipes and canvas just aren't cutting it. The crew needs a cool $6,000 to provide their 'bots with the modular lexan & aluminum-armored arena they deserve -- because the last thing you want to do is upset a team of weaponized fighting robots, right? Mech Warfare has promised to offer up the plans for the arena online, while using any extra money for networking equipment, so that you can enjoy the inalienable human right that is robot fighting from the comfort of your own home. Pledge $10 or more, and you'll get your name on the Sponsors page -- pledge more than $5,000, and the crew will help coach you in designing a battling 'bot of your very own. Check out some sweet robot fighting action in the video after the break.

  • GDC 2012: Locking on to MechWarrior Online

    by 
    Justin Olivetti
    Justin Olivetti
    03.08.2012

    The notion of strapping oneself into a massive battle robot chassis and duking it out with other 'Mechs appeals to the inner child in all of us (or it should), so it's hard not to feel a tingle of excitement when the makers of MechWarrior Online promise that we'll soon be able to do just that. We caught up with the Piranha Games crew at GDC to become one of the very first non-studio witnesses of MWO's in-game footage and to hear why this is a title that should be on all of our radars. The team is filled with huge fans of the MechWarrior and BattleTech franchises, so the devs were eager to construct a proper MechWarrior title when Piranha got ahold of the license this year. The studio seized upon the free-to-play model early on as the best way to draw in as many potential 'Mech pilots as possible. It also snagged the CryEngine 3 to provide the best possible graphical fidelity for its product. Unfortunately, it's going to be hard to categorize MWO as "massively," as its non-persistent arena maps will host up to only 24 players in 12v12 fights. Setting-wise, MechWarrior Online begins in 3049, but that date will keep tempo with the real-world calendar (so tomorrow it'll be March 9th, 3049, and so on). As events happen in the story according to the game's canon, the game will change to reflect that in real-time. Read on to hear what the devs had to say about two of the game's four pillars: mech warfare and role warfare.