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MAG pre-order beta has begun, game to launch on January 26th, 2010
If you've been itching to try out your trigger finger with 127 of your friends, then your wait is pretty much at a close. MAG's public pre-order beta has gone live as of Monday and you can jump in by simply going out to your local GameStop/EB Games and pre-ordering the game.The beta will be continuing until November 20th for all of the pre-order beta players, while those who got in thanks to their Qore subscriptions will find their play time ending on November 8th.MAG has been confirmed for a release on January 26th of next year, so there will be some downtime between the beta and the release of the game for Zipper Interactive to do some bug fixing and further polishing.
The Daily Grind: What's Planetside 2 to you?
Like any newly announced game, Planetside 2 is still quite the enigma to all of us, but that doesn't mean we don't have our presumptions of what the game should be like. Even those of you who've never played the original more than likely have it in your head how an MMOFPS should play. So today we ask you: What kind of game is Planetside 2, to you?Should the combat be fast, plodding or somewhere in-between? And what about progression, world design and visual style for that matter? There's no doubt that SOE has a lot to figure out, but something tells us many of you know exactly what you want to see from the game.
Wishes do come true, Planetside 2
"X game sounds a lot like Planetside. I wish they'd make a sequel to that game." is something we've heard over the years as similar-yet-different titles have been announced and released. Well who says wishes don't come true? As it turns out, SOE is planning to "expand the Planetside universe with another game" and is asking players of the original for their input via survey. Rock Paper Shotgun picked up the scent of impending sequelosity, which is a word we've just made up that describes a sequel revelation of such ferocity that it slaps your jaw to the ground.There are a lot of games, such as MAG, that are attempting a Planetside-ish experience. However, nothing new has really attempted the scope of the game, so hearing that another is on the way infuses us with a intoxicating blend of hope and curiosity.
Redefining MMOs: The Shooter Invasion
The MMO industry is always changing, and if we're going to stay ahead of the curve, we need to re-evaluate some of our views and ingrained notions from time to time. The Redefining MMOs series at Massively is our look at the state of massively multiplayer online games as it is today, and where we see it going. This week we're going to look at how shooters have invaded the MMO space, give you a run-down of some promising MMO shooters on the horizon, and finally tackle the question of whether or not they should be covered here at Massively. Something we're seeing more and more is a blurring of the lines between formerly distinct game genres -- this is especially true of shooters and MMOs. There are a number of shooters on the horizon that fit the bill as MMOs (although not RPGs), but such games are a radical departure from the DikuMUD pedigree shared by most MMORPG titles we cover at Massively. These shooter-MMO hybrids may have quests, levels, and classes, but they cast few illusions about being true RPGs. They're shooters through and through, but have persistent settings or are massively multiplayer -- traits which catch our attention.
Duke Nukem 3D brings classic carnage to iPhone gamers
Now playing on iPhones: the first-person shooter that armed a generation, Duke Nukem 3D [iTunes link], in all its crass and pixelated glory. While it may not be the best 13-year-old game on the platform, it's bound to be one of the more popular ones; the control system has been expanded for the touchscreen and early reviews on the App Store are positive [now followed by negative reviews in our comments below, particularly critical of the controls]. Duke Nukem 3D is currently selling for $2.99, billed as a "One Day Launch Special"; no word on what the price will rise to when the sale is over. If you're hankering to do some damage, check it out. [via AppShopper]
Huxley's closed beta now open to everyone via Fileplanet
Yes, we know, that title sounded like a complete oxymoron. How can a closed beta be open to everybody? It just doesn't make any sense! We understand your confusion, but it's best not to question it. Fileplanet is giving out Huxley: The Dystopia closed beta keys to all account holders now, not just their subscribers. A couple quick button presses is now all it takes to find yourself braving the lunar apocalypse with all of your friends! A small note of instruction: if you get your beta key from Fileplanet, you will have to still make an ijji.com account for the closed beta test. You can do that right over at the Huxley closed beta page without much fuss at all. Now go forth and kick those Sapiens all the way back to the early days of evolution. Update: As so many commenters have pointed out, this offer is only available for the US and Canada. European gamers, it appears, are locked out of this promotion being offered by Fileplanet.
Metareview: The Conduit (Wii)
While you're patiently waiting for the end of the week so you can cash that paycheck and pick up High Voltage Software's The Conduit for your Nintendo Wii, why not take a gander at what the rest of the interweb had to say about the game? Considering the lack of correlation between Metacritic scores and the sales numbers of Wii games, though -- at least according to Peter Moore -- you probably shouldn't let these numbers get to you too much. GamePro (70): "The Conduit is the closest you will get to recapturing the magic of Goldeneye ... To be blunt, The Conduit is a by the numbers shooter that offers a couple of thrills but ultimately doesn't make much of an impact ... anyone who loved Goldeneye will want to give a look as well if only to get a nice dose of nostalgia, but the rest of you shouldn't feel a need to abandon your favorite next-gen shooter for this one." GamesRadar (80): "The Conduit is fun, controls well, and is, at times, quite beautiful ... Both humans and alien drones are animated with competent physics and personality that puts High Voltage Software's Quantum3 engine outside the realm of the "GameCube 1.5" criticisms ... The truth is you probably wouldn't bat an eye at The Conduit had it appeared on PC, PS3 or Xbox 360 ... The solid, yet unremarkable single-player won't win any awards, but The Conduit still features the most finely honed online outings available on Wii." IGN (86): "The Conduit is not a revolutionary first-person shooter, but it's a damned good one ... the title features the tightest, most comfortable control scheme of any console-based first-person shooter to date ... The Conduit features a robust list of modes and maps to play online and nearly 20 weapons to use as you rip through arenas blasting foes ... it's not revolutionary, but The Conduit is a great first-person shooter designed just for Wii owners." %Gallery-33787%
The Daily Grind: What is this mystery project at CCP Games?
We know that CCP Games, creators of EVE Online, is going to announce a new project at GDC Europe in August. As CCP acquired White Wolf, creators of pen-and-paper RPG titles like Vampire, Mage, and Werewolf (the World of Darkness setting), we've known for some time that a World of Darkness MMO is in the works. Unfortunately, beyond the fact that the project exists at some stage of development, we know very little. But this mystery project announcement might not be about WoD at all. We're also aware that CCP Games has plans to release a first person shooter based on the EVE Online IP, which they hinted at during EVE Fanfest 2008. The latest info we've found about a new project at CCP Games (via @crazykinux) is a job listing at CCP for a Senior Game Engineer. The successful applicant "will join a seasoned team based in Shanghai, China where they will work on original IP for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3." The listing also mentions development on the Unreal Engine. Regardless of whether they're planning to unveil World of Darkness Online or an EVE Online first person shooter, you don't need to be an EVE player to appreciate how cool either of these releases could be. What game do you think CCP is going to announce at GDC Europe?
Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad announced
We're as tired as anyone of our seemingly never-ending tour of duty in the Great War, Part Deux. Still, given the unconventional road Red Orchestra has traveled we're just a teensy bit curious what developer Tripwire Interactive has tucked inside its pit helmet. The Georgia-based studio has officially made known Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad, the sequel to 2006's Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, itself based on the company's celebrated Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, Red Orchestra: Combined Arms. And, breathe.Heroes of Stalingrad will again find players seeking shelter in gun-pits as bullets fly between German and Soviet forces, this time during the historic and bloody Battle of Stalingrad. Setting expectations, Tripwire promises "gritty, vicious combat" and "unrivaled accuracy and attention to detail." While there will of course be multiplayer, the dev also notes players will lace up in the boots of a German soldier as part of a solo campaign told from the Axis point-of-view, something Tripwire claims as a "first" for the FPS genre. No release date has been announced, though armchair soldiers can find out more in the pages of May's PC Gamer.
The Digital Continuum: Zombies, zombies, zombies
I firmly believe persistent online games have a lot more to offer, and every so often that fact rises up to the front of my thoughts by games like Resident Evil 5. If a cooperative and ostensibly zombie game can exist, then why not a massively version? Let me present to you, the reader, my vision of a game that could quite feasibly exist in just four or five years time:The zombie apocalypse MMO.
Steelseries partnering with Best Buy, credits WoW for growth
We've heard before about World of Warcraft strutting up the PC gaming market before, but could this game also be holding up the PC game accessories market? Seems that way for Steelseries -- they're the makers of the WoW mouse that we've mentioned (the one that might not be quite kosher with Blizzard's Terms of Service, use with caution). They've just recently inked a deal with Best Buy to carry some of their products (including the WoW mouse), and World of Warcraft played so much of a part in the deal that CEO Bruce Hawver credited Blizzard's MMO with creating his "high-quality gamers": "The way I used to pick up the phone after school, now, kids log into World of Warcraft and chat... Online gaming might cost $14 to $18 a month – less than a single movie visit for two people."It does follow -- if WoW is one of the only reasons left for people to spend money on PC games, it does seem that it would be one of the only reasons for them to spend money on gaming accessories. High-end mice and keyboards use to be the domain of the FPS player -- guys like Fata1ity pimped their own lines and all the mice bragged about their resolution and ease of use. But the PC market has changed, and MMOs are the game of the day now -- everything is about squeezing function into as many buttons as possible and reaching this 11 million player group roaming around Azeroth. If Steelseries and other accessory manufacturers want to sell their products, they've got to try and sell them to us.
3D Realm: Prey coming to the iPhone
This is pretty exciting -- 3D Realms has announced that their 2006 first-person shooter, Prey, is coming to the iPhone. IGN has a preview up now, and it looks pretty impressive -- the texture work is very well done, and the gravity-defying puzzles that helped the original game stand out as an above-average shooter are back as well.As you can see above, the controls are overlaid on the touchscreen, and while IGN says they take a little getting used to (they're obviously not the usual WASD and mouse movement that most shooter fans are used to), they do work well once you figure them out (and you can change the transparency of the controls, so they won't get in your way while you're blasting aliens). 3D Realms says there's no release date yet (the port is being done by a company called MachineWorks Northwest), but it'll definitely be something to watch out for. Thanks, Nick!
Rumorong: Steel Battalion Wii collapses like so many downed mechs
Our hearts were briefly aflutter this morning upon seeing news of a Steel Battalion port for the Wii. Could it be? Were we about to get a second chance at buying that insane 40-button, $200 controller/dashboard that shipped with the Xbox original? Well, no, we weren't -- and for two reasons. Reason one: Capcom was planning to develop the game with support for the Wii Remote, the Nunchuk, the Wii Wheel, and the Balance Board, and sell it for a mere $45, sans amazing controller. Reason two: the story isn't actually real. That's right: this was all a prank by Spanish site Vandal.net, which has now posted a disclaimer at the top of its article stating that the story was merely "a joke similar to the English April Fool's Day." Gutted. On the bright side, some sites are still reporting this as the real deal, which makes us feel a bit less stupid for believing it in the first place. [Via Balance Board Blog]
Born for Wii: Star Wars Republic Commando
Star Wars games have a tough time. With a few exceptions, they generally end up steaming piles of bantha fodder. For every Knights of the Old Republic or Rogue Squadron there's a Super Bombad Racing or Revenge of the Sith. Still, each console generation manages to grab hold of a few shining stars of the Star Wars galaxy, and oftentimes these games are universally praised and well-received -- after all, anything Star Wars George Lucas didn't manage to screw up is something worth celebrating.Star Wars: Republic Commando, developed in-house at Lucasarts, seemed to pass under the radar last generation, receiving less attention than most of its contemporaries. Those who gave it a chance were treated to a squad-based first-person shooter better than the Battlefront series and considerably darker in tone than most Star Wars games (hello, Lego Star Wars). Gritty, bloody, and atmospheric, Republic Commando is an underappreciated gem and a great opportunity for the Wii to bolster its rather meager library of first-person shooters. #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } NEXT >> %Gallery-37875% Every week, Born for Wii digs into gaming's sordid past to unearth a new treasure fit for revival on the Nintendo Wii. Be sure to check out last week's entry in the series, Cubivore, and for more great titles that deserve your attention, take a look at Virtually Overlooked.
The Conduit presents combat fail
If you woke up this morning thinking, "Man, I just want to watch a bunch of dudes and creatures fall over in a sanitary and blood-free way," you have come to the right place. The video above hardly deserves the name, but it's hilarious and so worth a play. What's fifty seconds, anyway? Especially when you get to watch the bouncing bloodless bodies of The Conduit. Nothing goes with coffee like animated corpses! Gallery: The Conduit [Via Gamekyo blogs]
A whole bunch of videos from The Conduit
Aside from some new screens, as well as a video walkthrough of the entire first level, we've not seen much on The Conduit lately. Well, today brings us a bounty of fresh videos, so those of you who have been jonesing for a fix on High Voltage's upcoming shooter, look no further. Hit up the video above, then head past the break for several more. %Gallery-25003%
Impressive homebrew gives Renegade Kid a run for their money
Seriously, we thought the only people who could create such sound first-person shooting were Renegade Kid. But, homebrew creator Smea has gone ahead and disproved that notion with the tech demo you see in the video above. With some impressive lighting effects and a custom 3D collisions engine, you can bet we're impressed.[Thanks, HBM!] Wacky Japanese games, emulation, DS Fanboy's recommendations, naughty homebrew: our recent week of homebrew coverage had it all. Don't be put off if you're a beginner, either -- we have guides and a glossary for the newest of newbs.
Top 5: Games Wii Are Jealous of
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Top_5_games_that_should_be_on_Wii'; Rejoice, Wii-owners. You posses the only (un-modded) home console capable of hosting the greatest gaming catalogue of all-time. The Virtual Console's ability to provide an extensive back catalog coupled with the retail and WiiWare releases of Nintendo's latest instant-classics makes your system the inarguable flagship of Nintendo gaming. It's quite an amazing accomplishment: stuffing such immense gaming potency inside one little white box (save for disk space, you freakin' otaku). Yet it'd be foolish and utterly fanboy-ish to act as if Nintendo were the all-powerful supreme chancellor of gaming. They are considered the best by many, but Nintendo is not the only company that creates amazing titles. Many of these come from third parties. Despite claims to the contrary, third party relations appear to be proceeding very well on the Wii. However, through a combination of first party titles on other systems as well as numerous issues which affect third party efforts, we must face the truth: good games sometimes go to non-Nintendo systems. Madness, right?! Here's our Top Five games that we wish Wii had. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
Top 5: Upcoming Original IPs from Third Parties
var digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/11/top-5-upcoming-original-ips-from-third-parties/'; Man, there are those who really love to complain. After viewing Zero Punctuation's latest video, I've decided that the old phrase distributed liberally by parents and teachers is indeed very true: "you can't please everyone." Nintendo themselves must have felt this pretty hard after their E3 showing was widely perceived as sub-par. On the gamers' side, even those who were most disappointed usually turned to any of the numerous third party efforts for hope. Understanding that Zero Punctuation is mostly intended as farce, it's difficult to call them out. Yet one glaring assertion must be rebutted: E3 2008 was most definitely not the year of the sequel. In fact, on the Nintendo side, the exact opposite was true. For the first time in a long while, I'm much more excited about upcoming third party releases than Nintendo titles as a whole (save for Wario Land: Shake It!). As those of us who braved the GameCube generation quickly learned, a console cannot survive on first party titles alone -- even those of the highest quality. Here are the top five original third party games that we are excited about. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, check out What Are You Playing?, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
Quake creator repeatedly turned down MMO opportunities
John Carmack, co-founder of id Software and lead programmer of the historic first-person-shooter games Doom and Quake, told Shacknews that id has been approached by multiple publishers interested in releasing an MMO version of Quake. Each time, the company turned them down.It was implied that id has not pursued (and will not pursue) the idea because of the etreme challenges of developing a triple-A MMO.There's a good point here. It's not as if Carmack and friends were throwing a money printer in the trash compactor by passing on the opportunity. The concern seems valid: MMOs are expensive, risky endeavors. Even with a team of experienced developers and a well-known intellectual property, there's always a risk that id could get in over its head.[Via Joystiq]
