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APB Reloaded keeps us up to date on development
It's always good to see a games company keep the lines of communication open in regard to an upcoming title. It's especially nice to see those frequent morsels of communication presented in an open and downright amusing fashion! The team behind All Points Bulletin: Reloaded is certainly managing to do just that, as we can see in its most recent update. According to none other than the COO/CTO for GamersFirst, Bjorn "TechMech" Book-Larsson, the team currently working on ABP: Reloaded has made a huge find in terms of server bugs. Apparently, the way the current in-game death camera is coded, the entire sector hits a lag spike -- or as he puts it, "take[s] a brief 100ms moment of silence" when a player is killed. This, in turn, causes a lot of the rubberbanding that players see on their end. Finding this bug means that the team is now hard at work on a fix, and Book-Larsson is hopeful that we may even see it released to closed beta players within a matter of days. If you're curious about the progress GamersFirst is making on APB: Reloaded, then be sure to head over and check out the newest blog post or go get signed up for closed beta! [Thanks, Connor!]
Check out APB: Reloaded with our closed beta key giveaway! [Updated]
Are you ready to see San Paro for yourself? The APB:Reloaded closed beta test is proceeding, the fixes are coming quickly, and GamersFirst is handing out more beta keys. More to the point, GamersFirst has given us 100 keys to hand out to our readers! Simply visit our beta key giveaway page to pick up your key, then sign up for a GamersFirst account or log in to your existing one. From there, enter your key on the beta application page and follow the instructions. Best of luck! [Update: GamersFirst has clarified that these keys are not closed beta keys but rather "keys to enter beta on the next wave which is coming here very, very, very soon." We ran out of the keys in less than two minutes (you guys are fast!) and GamersFirst has promised us another batch, so stay tuned!]
GDC 2011: Impressions of the conference and what 2011 will bring
The 2011 Game Developer's Conference is behind us, and as we all recover from sleep deprivation and carpal tunnel syndrome, we can't help but reflect on our overall impressions of the event. This year saw a more efficient conference with the show floor consolidated into one hall and the usual Career Pavillion, Game Career Seminar and Game Connection events set up to help job-seekers find their dream careers in game development. But for the games press, most of the action happens off-site, where studios and publishers rent conference rooms and hotel suites to show off their latest game demos and conduct interviews. So while GDC is nothing like your E3s and PAXes, it is a place to gather info and get a feel for what to expect in the coming year. Follow along after the jump to see what I thought of this year's MMO offerings.
GamersFirst shows off new APB Reloaded driving footage
News of San Paro is coming at a fast and furious clip now that APB Reloaded is officially toodling around in closed beta mode. Last week we hung out with GamersFirst at GDC and got the low-down on how the team is overhauling APB for its new free-to-play incarnation. Over the weekend, GamersFirst uploaded a new gameplay video to its YouTube portal, and the footage offers a glimpse of the driving tweaks that producer Jon-Enee Merriex told us about at GDC. The footage focuses on the Macchina Calabria vehicle in a hair-raising romp through the streets of San Paro. While this is still a beta build, APB's driving controls already seem to be quite a bit more refined than they were at release, and there's also the requisite mayhem on display in the form of collisions (both vehicle and pedestrian) and a tiny bit of shooting at the clip's conclusion. Check it out after the break and let us know what you think in the comments. [Thanks to Connor for the tip!]
GamersFirst looking to expand APB Reloaded closed beta
Things are ramping up in APB-land, and it's not just because GamersFirst has released its second dev blog of the week (as opposed to its traditional one-entry-per-week modus operandi over the past few months). Bjorn Book-Larsson writes that another 2500 souls have been admitted into the ongoing closed beta test, and thus far the GamersFirst hardware is holding its own under the new player onslaught. The beta test was approaching 1000 concurrent users as of Thursday afternoon, and though a few server restarts were required, the engineers have since nailed down a stable configuration that seems to be lag-free (aside from distance-related issues). Book-Larsson says that if all goes as planned, Friday evening will see another batch of invites, so keep an eye on your inboxes if you're itching to get back to San Paro. While you're waiting, check out our exclusive APB Reloaded GDC coverage or the recently released Vehicle Showcase video here or behind the cut.
GDC 2011: GamersFirst on resurrecting San Paro with APB Reloaded
It's not often that interesting game concepts are given a second chance after an ugly crash and burn, so naturally we jumped at the opportunity to talk to GamersFirst about its APB Reloaded reclamation project. If you're new to the MMO scene, or simply haven't been paying attention over the past year: Realtime Worlds' All Points Bulletin looked poised to bring a gritty, ultra-customizable cops-and-robbers shooter to MMO players everywhere. To say that a lot of people were looking forward to APB is something of an understatement (Massively even heralded it as our most anticipated title of 2010). The reality of the game was something of a downer, though, and while our own first impressions were disappointedly optimistic, other reviewers weren't as kind as the game went belly up along with its parent studio. Enter GamersFirst, a free-to-play outfit bent on salvaging the considerable potential of San Paro and transforming it from a buggy mess into a playable AAA MMO. Join us after the cut as we talk with producer Jon-Enee Merriex at GDC 2011 regarding the challenges inherent in the resurrection as well as some of the new (and newly functional) features APB fans can expect.
APB Reloaded welcomes first 2500 beta testers
The APB Reloaded blog has updated and there's good news in store for anxious fans looking to dive back into the city of San Paro. The initial wave of beta invites has officially been sent, and GamersFirst's Bjorn Book-Larsson informs us that the first batch was targeted at American players (primarily on the west coast) who met certain minimum requirements. Book-Larsson also notes a memory allocation issue that cropped up after the influx of players (approximately 2500 in this wave), but says that as long as the system remains reasonably stable, GamersFirst will begin inviting new players on a daily basis. "The current plan is to slowly increase the CCU count (simultaneously connected players) from a few hundred (what it is now) to just over 2,000 simultaneous players this week -- which means close to 20,000 actual invitees," Book-Larsson says.
APB: Reloaded closed beta application keys received a get-out-of-jail-free card
San Paro may be waiting for you again! The free-to-play publisher GamersFirst has sent out application keys for the forthcoming third-person shooter MMO APB: Reloaded. Fans have been anxiously awaiting the reopening of the game's crime-ridden streets since Realtime Worlds walled off the city. Yesterday, email messages poured into many an inbox asking players to fork over their computer specs for a chance to enter the closed beta. Check your email -- you may have one of the invitations waiting for you. Although there is a key to be redeemed, you will not qualify for an actual beta invite until the GamersFirst development team has had a chance to review and accept your application. If your inbox is like many gamers' inboxes, you will want to sift through every piece of mail you received yesterday and look for the one titled "Your Key to San Paro inside." You may even have to dig through your spam box. If you have not signed up for beta testing yet, jack a car and speed over to the Gamersfirst website now, yo! [Thank you tipsters for letting us know!]
APB blog talks beta applications, information security
Welcome back to the weekly APB Reloaded update. This time around, GamersFirst has a followup to last week's beta application deadline announcement. APB's beta application process is a bit different than the norm, and GamersFirst producer Jon "Neume" Merriex has penned a lengthy blog entry that aims to fill in the gaps. In addition to reviewing the game's beta key redemption process, the entry touches on the time-honored tradition of fudging your beta app in the hope of presenting a more appealing tester profile (and thus increasing your selection chances). "In the end, if you do fill out the form accurately and completely, we expect that the vast majority of beta applicants will in fact get closed beta access well before the roll out of the open beta," Merriex writes. Finally, this week's post spends a bit of time on your personal information, and more specifically, the sharing of it with third parties. In a nutshell, GamersFirst pledges to keep your email address, phone number, credit card number, and other valuable bits of data both secret and safe. Information sharing from beta participants "is always aggregated, such as '85% of our players are male between the ages of 18 and 25,'" Merriex says. Head to the official APB Reloaded blog for more specifics.
APB Reloaded beta gets over 100K registrations
GamersFirst says that more than 100,000 people have registered to play in the APB Reloaded beta, the reboot of the ill-fated Realtime Worlds MMO crime shooter from last year. That's not bad at all -- at its height, APB was hosting 130,000 registered users, and that was after its release and the press that came along with it. Of course, those 130K weren't able to keep the game or the studio afloat, but with nearly as many players eager for the beta as played the original game, it looks like there's some solid interest in the title returning. Of course, GamersFirst's version of the game will be free-to-play, and those games tend to out-populate their paid competition by leaps and bounds. Reloaded Productions, which is running the game for GamersFirst, says the beta registrations "far exceed the number of people [we] actually expected or even needed for the first Closed Beta," but says that only about half of the registrations will actually get into the beta, which will start at the end of this month.
APB Reloaded closed beta applications due by February 15th
The APB Reloaded blog has been a treasure trove of information and lengthy developer diatribes of late. We've gotten so used to the fact that Sundays normally bring a giant post from the guys at GamersFirst that it was something of a shock to see this week's relatively tiny entry. Said entry still contains important news though, particularly for those of you interested in jumping aboard the APB Reloaded closed beta train. According to the blog, you've got until midnight PST on Tuesday, February 15th to submit your application. The beta will be rolled out to three different regions: US-West, US-East, and Europe, each with "slightly different times." GamersFirst has tentatively scheduled the initial beta salvo for the week of February 28th, and has also reported that the number of registrants "will far exceed the number of people we actually expected or even needed for the first closed beta."
The Game Archaeologist goes PlanetSide: The highlights
Unlike fantasy, the sci-fi genre has had a rocky relationship with MMORPGs. While studios have tried just as hard to make and promote them, there seems to be a curse that hovers over most of these games. From the canceled (Earth & Beyond, The Matrix Online, Tabula Rasa) to the radically retinkered (Star Wars Galaxies) to the relatively niche (Anarchy Online, Star Trek Online), sci-fi struggles to be seen as relevant and embraced as its bigger brother. That isn't to say that these games or the genre is worthless, just that it's a harder sell to both investors and players to throw players into the future than the mythical past. Fortunately, the industry hasn't given up on these games, and some of these titles -- such as EVE Online -- have proven that they're worth pursuing. And if science fiction is a difficult sell, first-person shooters are doubly difficult in the MMO space. After all, it's not as though the world is suffering a shortage of FPS titles that can be played without a monthly subscription. To convince players to part with a monthly payment, the studio has to make a powerful, compelling case as to why its MMOFPS is worthy of that premium price. Enter PlanetSide, circa 2003. While sci-fi MMOs, multi-faction PvP and online shooters had been done separately at that point, PlanetSide stepped up to the plate to combine all three into a persistent war on an alien planet. Due to popular demand, this month we'll be setting our sights to the far reaches of the galaxy and beyond as we explore one of the more unique MMOs in existence. Today let's take a look at what made PlanetSide a unique twinkle in SOE's eyes by counting down the highlights of this futuristic war.
APB blog update outlines extensive game changes, new Asylum district
This week's APB Reloaded blog update is a big one, so big in fact that it required two devs to write it. GamersFirst CEO Bjorn Book-Larsson kicks things off with a look at the Asylum, a new area currently under development and slated to become San Paro's third play district. The Asylum will contain a variety of new game modes, and while the article is light on those particular details, it does feature a handful of screenshots showing off the locale's creepy confines. The meat of the blog entry comes courtesy of GamersFirst designer Zak "Qwentle" Littwin, who pens a lengthy missive focused on the major problems with APB's original incarnation (and consequently the major priorities for GamersFirst going forward). Littwin spends a good amount of time going over everything from the new mission and witnessing structure to changes involving APB's matchmaking and scoring systems. "While you can work out why you got what you did at the end of a mission, it's rather confusing. We want to make this score visible to players and highlight the amount of score you get when doing certain activities. We can then also increase the amount of benefit that score gives," Littwin says. Check out the full text at the APB Reloaded blog and have a look at the Asylum shots in our gallery below. %Gallery-115829%
GamersFirst talks APB core game changes
Fans of All Points Bulletin are in for a treat this week as GamersFirst has dropped a ton of new info about the game in its latest APB Reloaded blog entry. Zak "Qwentle" Littwin (former QA Lead at Realtime Worlds and current designer at GamersFirst) devotes a lot of virtual ink to APB's closed beta tweaks, and also hints at "much more extensive changes" in store for the game's open beta and release clients. Littwin teases a new game mode called Turf Wars as well as APB's first proper expansion which will feature a new district for the city of San Paro. First things first though; the meat of the blog entry concerns core gameplay adjustments that GamersFirst wishes to test in the closed beta. These include cheat detection (via Punkbuster as discussed last week), weapon modifications, and sweeping changes to the old game's progression curve. A few of the game's vehicles have also been modified. The original version of APB received a fair bit of criticism related to its driving mechanics, and GamersFirst is looking to rectify this in part by "giv[ing] each vehicle a lot of individual personality and specialisation and unique benefits, rather than everyone rushing straight to the Cisco/Bishada/Jericho/T25." Finally, Littwin touches on premium accounts and the challenge inherent in differentiating them from free-to-play services without unbalancing the game. Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and read all about it at the official APB Reloaded blog.
The MMO Report: Good to the last drop edition
It's time once again for another freshly-brewed episode of the MMO report, where we can expect that the week's news will be roasted to a tasty, yet full-bodied finish. This week finds Casey Schreiner and the crew at G4TV touching on some of the most important -- and strangest -- news from the MMO world, as well as getting their caffeine on in Uncle Casey's Mailbag. First up, Casey reminds us why lawsuits are very silly things, and gives voice to the one thing we suspect many people fear about the legal bickering between Bethesda and Interplay over the Fallout MMO. Up next, the Blood Lord's rampage in Vindictus is on the radar (with a shout out to us here at Massively -- thanks!), proving you can't have slaughter without laughter. From there, it's on to Champions Online, and its move to free-to-play starting on January 25th, as well as news from APB's continuing free-to-play conversion. (We'd have something witty to say about those two, but we keep getting distracted by character creation. The next thing you know, hours have passed.) Finally, Casey rounds out this week's episode with a one-two punch of some truly weird news coupled with the usual dose of insanity in Uncle Casey's Mailbag, aided now with large amounts of caffeine. So grab your coffee cup, and join us behind the jump for all the best (and some of the worst) in this week's MMO Report. You can also catch it every Thursday on G4TV.
GamersFirst to preserve old APB customizations
Good news is in the offing for APB fans, above and beyond the fact that their favorite game is rising from the dead. GamersFirst CEO Bjorn Book-Larsson has checked in with his weekly APB Reloaded blog entry, and while the piece is shorter than what we've become accustomed to over the last couple of months, the discussion is quite interesting. First up is an official confirmation of the fact that the new version of APB will let players keep all of their customizations from the Realtime Worlds version of the game. Book-Larsson acknowledges the fact that this might lead to some weird pairings (i.e., players may have items that fall outside of the new progression systems), but he supposes that most veterans will be OK with that. "You will basically be unique thanks to you having played the game "back in the day," and our goal is to make sure your many gazillion hours of investment do not go to waste," he writes. The second item up for discussion is endgame PvP. Book-Larsson indicates that this is an ongoing challenge for the GamersFirst devs, and as such, the new system(s) probably won't show up in the closed beta. The goal is to give high-level players something to do after they've survived the grind and to eventually turn APB Reloaded "in to a platform for many different unique experiences."
APB Reloaded beta signups detailed
If you've been wondering how to sign up for APB Reloaded's upcoming closed beta, you'll want to check out GamersFirst CEO Bjorn Book-Larsson's latest blog post. For now, the process is pretty straight-forward, and basically entails registering with your preferred email address and creating a GamersFirst account. As the beta date draws nearer (currently the devs are eyeballing the first week in February), you'll receive an email asking for your DxDiag and personal info. Book-Larsson says that after the data has been verified, you'll receive a beta key. He also mentions that approximately 20,000 people have registered thus far, and GamersFirst expects to make use of 6,000 to 8,000 closed beta testers (with 800 online during peak hours). Finally, Book-Larsson hints at a unique beta tester reward as well as the fact that no pre-existing characters or accounts from the Realtime Worlds version of APB will be carried over to the beta. Hit up the official APB Reloaded blog for all of the details.
There's a conspiracy afoot: Funcom and EA co-publishing The Secret World
The Secret World went dark a few months ago -- no doubt to hatch nefarious, world-ending plots that involve brain leeches and alien zombies -- so it's good to see Funcom's sinister child poke its head up for some solid news. It turns out that Funcom's been involved in a conspiracy of sorts: The company has signed a pact with EA Partners to co-publish The Secret World. EA Partners is a division of Electronic Arts that co-publishes third-party games such as Crysis and APB's first incarnation. Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas sees this as a way to propel the company's MMO to world domination: "We are tremendously excited to be working with what is undoubtedly the world-leading games publisher for the past decade, and it is also a great testament to the fantastic work of our development team. The experience and the knowledge that Electronic Arts brings to the table will be instrumental in allowing us to realize the full potential of The Secret World." Funcom's had a rocky few years with its finances, which is why some doubted if The Secret World would ever make it to launch. Fortunately, this co-publishing deal seems to ensure that TSW will go the distance with two companies supporting it. We still have no word on the beta or release date, but this is at least a step toward the MMO seeing the light of day -- or the gloom of the night.
This week on The MMO Report
This week on The MMO Report, intrepid host Casey Schreiner kicks things off with a bit about Duncan Jones' take on the World of Warcraft film, a story we mentioned earlier this week here on Massively. He also takes a look at the final class roster video for BioWare's Star Wars The Old Republic. The clip focuses on the trooper class, and Casey can't help but mention the "blaster inaccuracy and downright buffoonery" associated with the iconic white armor thanks to the original trilogy. Next up is a blurb about GamersFirst's plans for APB Reloaded, followed by a look at RIFT's release date and subscription options. Casey also touts the indie smash Minecraft as showing the world that "the MMO community is begging for a new kind of game experience" and asks developers to take note of what one man (Minecraft designer Markus Persson) managed to do sans a multi-million dollar budget. Finally, in the absence of reader mail, Casey turns the requisite mailbag segment on its head by reading his own personal letter to the audience. Check out all the shenanigans after the cut, and be sure to catch The MMO Report every Thursday on G4TV.
APB Reloaded closed beta to start in February
The official Twitter account for APB Reloaded, the free-to-play relaunch of the troubled MMO shooter by GamersFirst, says that the closed beta of the new version will begin as soon as next month. Information will reportedly be sent out to interested parties (presumably including former APB players, though you can sign up on the official site as well) this week. Then, in February, closed beta servers will come back online as the game gets its second chance to succeed. GamersFirst told Joystiq recently that its first priority is to "get the game up and live again" and then drop an unreleased patch, open up some of the zones originally locked to free players and, finally, institute microtransaction plans and offerings like premium accounts. The company also plans to target new markets with the game, specifically Brazil and South America. Here's hoping the second go-round turns out better than the first one did.
