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The Firing Line: Newsplosion edition
Holy carp there was a lot going on in shooter circles this week! Between the news blurbs, videos, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. memories (yes, I said S.T.A.L.K.E.R, and damn that takes a long time to type), there was nearly enough information for two editions of The Firing Line. Luckily for you (and for my overworked editor), I managed to keep the word count down. Let's not kid ourselves, though; there's plenty of interesting stuff after the cut. Join me for the latest on dueling World War II aviation MMOs, a new free-to-play shooter from Crytek, the requisite PlanetSide 2 lovefest, and some official dev answers to last week's Taikodom question.
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.
