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'MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries' heads to PS5 and PS4 on September 23rd
Piranha Games is bringing MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries to Sony consoles
'MechWarrior 5' will revolve around co-op and user mods
Piranha Games is starting to open up on what MechWarrior 5: Mercernaries will entail after a year of teasing, and it's good news if you don't always want to play alone. The robot battler should launch in December 2018 with co-op play as a central feature -- up to four players can take on the game's central campaign. Your friends stand in for the AI teammates in your unit, which could be helpful when you absolutely need someone watching your back.
'MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries' revives a classic series in 2018
It's been a long, long time since there was a single-player game in the MechWarrior series -- 2002's MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries has been your only option if you didn't want to play online. Thankfully, a new wave of gamers is about to see what all the fuss was about years ago. Piranha Games (which runs MechWarrior Online) has unveiled MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, a single-player focused title that has you pursuing a career as a private robot pilot serving on behalf of the houses of the Inner Sphere.
MechWarrior Online and Penny Arcade team up for game promotion
Geek favorite webcomic Penny Arcade and developer Piranha Games have a deal for you, but be warned: Space Ostriches might be involved. Piranha announced that players now can grab a free one-day premium time upgrade for their MechWarrior Online accounts. This premium time awards players with 50% more experience and 50% more C-bills while it lasts. The Penny Arcade team penned a two-page pilot safety manual with crucial tips for the game to go with the promotion. Comic co-creator Jerry Holkins said that he took the project partially because of his lifelong interest: "I used to play BattleTech at lunch, when I was in high school. There's a lot of meat in MechWarrior Online, a lot to know, and we wanted to see if we could cover some of the basics in a way that could help people get the most out of it." [Source: Piranha Games press release]
MechWarrior Online reveals the first in-game screens of the Catapult
Battles in MechWarrior Online are not about subtlety; they are about unloading huge amounts of firepower on enemy machines as fast as possible. That is the sole purpose of the Catapult, a 'Mech loaded with long-range missiles to pummel enemy units into submission. But the Catapult has another distinction -- it's the first 'Mech to receive screenshot treatment, showing the heavy support 'Mech off in all its jumping, missile-heavy goodness. Fans familiar with previous games in the MechWarrior franchise or the BattleTech board game will know the Catapult quite well. It's just barely into the heavier weight class. sporting jump jets and medium lasers to help it move out of dangerous engagements or disable lighter units. And, of course, there are its twin missile banks, effective as a direct-fire weapon or for use as artillery with an assisting spotter unit. The game's screenshots also show off the classic variant replacing the missile banks with PPCs, high-powered energy cannons designed to fry targets at extreme range. [Source: Piranha Games press release] %Gallery-154551%
First official MechWarrior Online trailer drops into action
For some time now, the folks at Piranha Games have been teasing us with 'Mech reveals, Q&As, and steady info drips. Now, finally, we get to see those big badass 'bots in action, as the studio has just unveiled the first official trailer for MechWarrior Online. The short teaser trailer takes fans inside the cockpit of one of the game's monumental BattleMechs as its pilot prepares for an aerial drop. But you know what they say -- a picture's worth a thousand words. We're not sure what a video's worth, but we do know that we don't have that much room, so just click on past the cut and feast your eyes on MechWarrior Online's premiere trailer.
MechWarrior Online previews BattleMech upgrades and pilot skill trees
A couple of days ago, Piranha Games -- the studio behind the upcoming MechWarrior Online -- gave us a look at the role-based warfare and character progression we can expect from the robot-fighting title. As we reported last week, players in MWO will fall into of four roles: scout, assault, defense, or command. Today's update on the game's official site gives us a closer look at the various ways that players can earn XP and on what they can spend it. For instance, every 'Mech will have an upgrade tree, which is divided into tiers. Players must spend experience in order to purchase all of the upgrades on a given tier before they are able to access the subsequent tier. To get a look at the various abilities and skill trees through which players will be progressing when they finally find themselves in the cockpit, just click on through the link below to the official MechWarrior Online site.
MechWarrior Online delves into the art of role warfare
Last week, we got to take a look at MechWarrior Online's freshly introduced CN9-A Centurion BattleMech. This week, however, the folks at Piranha Games want to give you some insight on what to do once you're seated in the cockpit of your giant robot, so they've dropped a new blog post titled Role Warfare for fans' consumption. The post first introduces players to the various roles available to MechWarrior Online players: scouting, assault, defense, and command. The roles are exactly what they sound like. Scouts gather intel, while assault 'Mechs assault and defense 'Mechs defend. Command mechs, believe it or not, command their respective teams. But how do you customize your 'Mech to fill one of these roles? As players progress through their matches, the BattleMechs that they use in battle will gain XP according to their battle performance. This XP can be spent to unlock upgrades in the BattleMech's tech tree. Each BattleMech will have its own distinct tech tree, and therefore its own distinct upgrade options. At certain points within the Tech Tree, players will receive Pilot Points, which are assigned directly to the player's pilot avatar and are used to purchase pilot abilities in the Pilot Skill Tree. Finally, players can purchase BattleMech modules with their C-Bills, which allows for the final layer of specialization on the customization cake. For the full details on the game's customization and upgrade system, and to get a run down of some recommended loadouts for various roles, click on through to MWO's official site below.
Previewing the nuts and bolts of MechWarrior Online
MechWarrior Online might just be one of the most exciting titles to be announced in recent times. If you have ever played any version of the game or have ever enjoyed stomping around in the Battletech universe, you'll be happy to know that, yes, the new online game is actually being made. While the IP will soon turn 30 years old, it's still very popular. Some of us remember painting metal figures to place into our tiny lances, while others have fond memories of jumping and shooting, jumping and shooting, jumping and shooting. Massively joined the press roundtable for the game this week and snagged some juicy information. We talked with Piranha Games' President Russ Bullock and Creative Director Bryan Ekman about how the development process is going, how their philosophies influence design, and how the game will actually play. Click past the cut, and watch out for heat!
Randall Bills talks about shaping the future of MechWarrior Online
For die-hard MechWarrior fans, it must be a relief to know that the upcoming MechWarrior Online is in good hands of people connected with the board game. One pair of hands in particular belongs to Catalyst Game Labs' Randall Bills, who is deeply involved with the MechWarrior and BattleTech franchises, and he emerged to participate in a very lengthy interview about the game and his love of multi-ton mechs. Currently, Bills says that he fills two roles on the team: continuity editor and fiction content manager. In the former, he helps to inspect what the developers are working on and give them feedback and notes from his well of expert knowledge on the subject. In the latter, he's spearheading the team responsible for writing the lore behind the online game universe. So what would Bills like to see happen in MechWarrior Online? Orbital insertions ("That's a level of action and immersion that would take MechWarrior Online to a whole new level.") and physical attacks ("It shouldn't work very well and be hard to pull off... but when you do pull it off it should be a move everyone in the game talks about for some time to come."). As for what he's most excited about in the upcoming MMO, he's just glad that he'll be able to emulate the board game in a virtual environment: "To know that I can jump in a light 'Mech and do exactly what you can pull off in the board game (and just as important, what the fiction depicts for the universe) with a true melding of multiple tactics to achieve victory... that'll be a truly spectacular geek-out moment to experience." Look for our own upcoming interview with the MechWarrior Online team coming soon.
Behind the Curtain: Too much information
So, just the other day I hit level 30 on my latest World of Warcraft alt – a Dwarf Priest. I hopped on the nearest Gryphon to Ironforge to train up some skills, and noticed that I had unread mail. Skipping gaily towards the nearest mailbox, I was most surprised to find a letter from Ultham Ironhorn, the Dwarven Riding Trainer, letting me know that I was now eligible to purchase a mount from his fine establishment. For those of you unfamiliar, originally in WoW, you had to wait until you'd hit level 40 before you could buy a mount. Patch 2.4.3 changed that, and lowered the level requirement for a standard mount to level 30. I hadn't read anywhere though, that, upon reaching level 30, your character would be told about it. Back in-game, I checked with my guildies to see if they knew anything about the mail. They didn't, none of them having levelled up an alt in some time, so it was news to all of us. We all agreed that Blizzard must have implemented it to point players in the direction of a mount, when they might otherwise have missed out on the early availability. It got me thinking about information and the availability of it in game.
