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Pirates of the Burning Sea: Dead men do tell tales
Like many of you, I am a fan of all things Pirate. I know the difference between Calico Jack's flag and Blackbeard's flag, and I know the difference between Stede Bonnet and a Bluebonnet. It goes without saying, but since I'm a columnist I get to say it anyway, that I was very much looking forward to Flying Lab Software's new MMORPG, Pirates of the Burning Sea. I was fortunate enough to meet the good folks at Sony Online Entertainment at Dragon*Con this year and begged for a beta key. Thanks to them, I was able to take a sneak peek at the game.To their credit, Flying Lab does a wonderful job of listening to their beta players, and while the game is not yet completely polished, I have seen many improvements in the game in the short time I've participated in the beta. There was much consternation when Flying Lab announced that they would be partnering with Sony Online Entertainment to publish the game, but aside from the Station Pass and front-end patcher, Sony actually has very little input into this game. To be clear, this is very much Flying Lab's game, not SOE's. But how is the game, you ask?
Cinemassively Specials: PotBS Machinima preview
When I was growing up, Sid Meier's Pirates! was one of my favorite games. Released in 1987, you could choose your own destiny by being a dirty swashbuckler, or serving your King. Pirates of the Burning Sea brings me back to those simpler days, when the biggest dilemma was whether to use a rapier or a cutlass in battles of honor. Alas, I went for the Leisure Suit Larry style of MMO, otherwise known as Second Life. Oh, how things could have been if PotBS had come out sooner ...During a recent conversation with an SL friend, Bebop Vox, of Natural Selection Studios, he mentioned that he was in the closed-beta program. When asked about the Machinima capabilities, he admitted that they were a bit rough around the edges. However, when the NDA lifted today and he showed me this video, I wasn't expecting that kind of quality at all!As you can see from this short clip, you can sail the gorgeous seas and engage in gun fights with a rival crew. At the end of the day, you can relax with a brew in the local bar. I'm sure you can even meet a real lusty wench or two, although you could do that in SL as well. There's no doubt about it - PotBS is the action-packed MMO that we've been waiting for, and Massively has all the dirt you're looking for on it!
Massively's Pirates of the Burning Sea character creation videos
Random Appearance and Clothing Coloring System Video When creating a new character in Pirates of the Burning Sea you pick from three nationalities, British, Spanish or French. Or you can choose to be allied with no country but yourself as a Pirate. From there you can customize the look of your seafaring avatar.Overall, the character customization is what we've come to expect from new MMOs: detailed, rich and varied. I'm particularly impressed with the embroidered trim on the clothes and the opportunity to use two color on every option, including hair.I also like that there are Asian faces and African skin tones available. Even though the national options are limited to Western European countries, the races represented visually still span the globe.More videos of each and every character creation option for Male avatars after the jump!
PotBS NDA lifted, open beta details
Have you read our in-depth mission preview and crafting hands-on for Pirates of the Burning Sea, and discovered a burning inner desire to try your hand (or hook) at life on the open sea? Well today may just be your lucky day. Beginning December 7th, closed beta testers and members of FilePlanet's Founders Club will gain access to the PotBS open beta, and the general public will follow four days afterwards on December 11th, a day on which we anticipate many businesses shutting down to a sudden and unforeseen outbreak of scurvy. In the meantime, the non-disclosure agreement signed by closed beta testers has been lifted, so those among us who were fortunate enough to have been playing the game in quiet anonymity will finally be able to share our experiences on forums and the like. So chat it up!Not wanting to leave Australian and European fans behind, the Flying Lab Software folks also reaffirmed their commitment to finding publishing partners in those territories. There's no news (and subsequently no pre-orders) in this respect as of today, but they wanted gamers abroad to know that they have not been forgotten.
Massively's Pirates of the Burning Sea mission preview
Not that we're excited to be playing this game or anything, but we can safely say Pirates of the Burning Sea is the most fun we've had in an MMO in a long time. One of the best parts about this rollicking high-seas adventure is how they deal with missions and questing. Each mission you receive falls into two basic categories, but before we even venture into those waters, we'd like to talk about the personality of the missions in this game. Our first character in the game, naturally was a pirate – heck, who are we kidding? So was our second one because we had so much fun with the character creation – and we quickly learned that this is a game where you simply must read every scrap of text on the mission screen. This isn't because you will miss sneakily placed information or anything, it's because the banter is just so much fun. This is a game with a sense of humor, and every response your character makes to the questions she is asked is definitely worth the time taken to read it.
Lead designer of Pirates of the Burning Sea Q & A interview
The Warcry Network recently had a chance to ask Pirates of the Burning Sea lead designer Kevin Maginn a round of questions about the upcoming Jack-Sparrow-simulator. The interviewer poses queries about launching with both land and ship aspects already in-game (as opposed to a game like EVE which is only now looking to add land-based play), system requirements for the masses, the beta and stress test processes, population balancing and the user interface.Of most interest is the question on populations, regarding the different factions in the game. Players can choose to be English, Spanish, French, or the swashbucklin' Pirate. Maginn notes that, during various phases of the beta, the numbers have remained roughly the same -- 35% choose Pirates, nearly as many choose the English, and then the French and Spanish each take 15%. On this he says, "we are working on some population balancing tools, with two goals: make the game more fair if your nation is underpopulated, and make underpopulated nations more appealing, particularly to large PvP guilds". If the incentives for one race are good enough, it might swing the population the other way entirely. We'll have to wait and see what countermeasures will be employed before the game releases, as the difference in numbers so far sounds fairly staggering.
PotBS stress testers can now set sail in the closed beta
If you signed up at FilePlanet for the Pirates of the Burning Sea stress test, you might be pleased to hear that Flying Lab Software has given all stress tester accounts access to the closed beta now that the stress test is drawing to a close.The Flying Lab Software team had already announced that they would be inviting anyone who reached level 5 by the end of the stress test into the closed beta, but since almost everyone met that goal, they apparently decided it'd just be easier to bring every single stress test account in. If you didn't sign up for the stress test, you're out of luck, but hey, at least you can read our PotBS crafting hands-on!As for the rest of you; go on ye no-good pirate scoundrels! Set sail on the burning sea in search of gold to loot, grog to drink, and bugs to report!
Massively's Pirates of the Burning Sea crafting hands-on
Yarr matey! Lift the gunwhales, lay out the plank, and shine yer cutlasses, there be... crafting to do? Sure, crafting and trading might not be the traditional pasttimes of choice for the pirates of lore, but we here at Massively have been sailing the seven seas (well, actually, just one of them) in the Pirates of the Burning Sea beta, and I am fascinated with the crafting system. Flying Labs has mixed some old ideas in with some new innovations, and put together a crafting and trading system that just might rival the fun of more traditional piratical activities.For a short walkthrough on what they've put together (and a look at the economy tutorial quest), hit the link below.%Gallery-11209%
Massively's Massive Giveaways - Pirates of the Burning Sea part 3
Okay, so maybe you're one of the folks who are just burned out on pirates. Perhaps the idea of ship-to-ship battles gets you going, but you're the type who prefers to stay on the good side of the law. Never fear! There are many other things to do in Pirates of the Burning Sea than just being a pirate! As the PotBS community site points out, the game will feature something many EVE players know all about -- economic gameplay. To quote them: "Economic gameplay has no level restrictions. If you can dream it, you can build it." Curious? Then get on over to Fileplanet and get into the PotBS stress test now!To go along with the idea of making your own goods and amassing much wealth, we're announcing the final prize for today's Pirates of the Burning Sea giveaways. One lucky winner will walk off with the uber-piratey prize -- a wooden treasure chest chock full of PotBS swag, courtesy of the folks at Flying Lab Software! As they told us "We'll give the winner a wooden treasure-chest with two PotBS t-shirts; one that says "Support Piracy" and another that says "Getting Booty since 1720" as well as the official PotBS map!" As always per the official rules, you must be 18+, a U.S. resident, and not afraid to make your own fortunes. So if you want to be entered, leave a comment below before tomorrow (11/16) at 8:30 PM Eastern, and you too could walk away with this treasure chest full of sweet PotBS booty!
Massively's Massive Giveaways - Pirates of the Burning Sea part 2
If you haven't gotten to downloading the Pirates of the Burning Sea beta for the stress test this weekend, what are you waiting on? Jump in, choose your look, choose who you'll ally with, and start your career. Just from what we've seen on the official PotBS site, we're chomping at the bit. Ship to ship battles in an MMO? How can you not dig that idea?For this, our second Pirates of the Burning Sea giveaway, we're offering up even more pirate booty to all you scallywags! For this giveaway we're picking six lucky folks to get one of the following prizes: A "Surrender the Booty" t-shirt, a t-shirt that reads "Pillaging, Drinking, Flogging, Wenching. Just Another Day On the Job...", another copy of The Government Manual for New Pirates, a pirate-themed deck of cards perfect for swindling yer friends, or a great big pirate coffee mug. That be some fine booty, matey! You just have to be 18+, a resident of the U.S., and eligible under the official rules -- oh, and ye must leave your answer before 6:30 PM tomorrow (11/16) to be entered to win.Now, ye landlubbers -- tell us your opinion on the following... Who would win in a fight; Johnny Depp as Capn' Jack Sparrow, or Graham Chapman (of Monty Python) as Yellowbeard? Or do you think a third pirate altogether could take both of 'em out? Let us know!
Massively's Massive Giveaways - Pirates of the Burning Sea
Yarr mateys! If ye be wonderin' whar be the posts today for tha' giveaways, we be here to tell ya high-fallutin' landlubbers that we be bringin' 'em to yah! (Wow. It's hard to type like that.) That's right -- today we're celebrating the opening of the stress-test for Pirates of the Burning Sea with our own little cache of pirate booty. For those of you not in the know, PotBS (one of our personal picks for eagerly anticipated titles) has opened up the beta to a whole mess 'a folks for stress-testing purposes. All you have to do to get involved with that is to head over to Fileplanet and sign up. You know you want to play this game before everyone else! Of course, if you're out for some pirate booty while your stress-test copy is downloading, then you'll want to drop in a comment below! For this giveaway we're offering a "Got Rum?" t-shirt, a copy of The Government Manual for New Pirates, a deck of official Piratin' cards (perfect for those on-board poker games), and a Pirate coffee mug able to hold 17 ounces of yer best grog! As always per the official rules, you must be 18+, a U.S. resident, and not a scurvy dog. So if you want to be entered, leave a comment below with your vote on the eternal struggle -- Ninjas* or Pirates -- by 4:30 PM tomorrow. (11/16)*Note: Voting ninja will not disqualify you, but we may look at you funny.
Pirates of the Burning Sea experiencing a bad spot of weather
SOE has been having technical issues with its Station game portal today. The issues particularly affect the Pirates of the Burning Sea community. According to a post on the game's official community site, "fans may experience challenges submitting User Content, posting on the Pirates of the Burning Sea forums, as well as difficulties logging into beta."They assure us that the technicians are working hard to fix the problem, though, and that we can expect things to be fine and dandy again soon enough. But until then, beware ye landlubbers, there be harsh weather upon the burning sea today. Arrr!
Pirates of the Burning Sea's supernatural side
Gamespot has added a preview of Pirates of the Burning Sea that is solely to do with the supernatural content found in the game, and makes us anticipate the game's release even more. Apparently, a significant portion of content (10-15%) will take place in an area known as the Bermuda Triangle -- you may have heard of it. Happenings in the Triangle tend to lean towards the decidedly-spooky, and the quests that Gamespot managed to see involved zombie armies, voodoo priestesses and possessed crew mates. Some of the finer details in the preview show the effort that developer Flying Lab Software is putting in to make their game unique. An interesting part of the article tells of how the remains of a vanquished zombie can be donned and used as a disguise, to hide within enemy ranks. However, since the NPC monsters themselves move at walking pace, if you happen to break step and move a little too fast, the other zombies will realize something is up and turn on you.
Pirates preorder delayed, and that's bad
Pirates of the Burning Sea is coming out in January. That's good.The preorder was supposed to happen this week, but it got delayed. That's bad.SOE couldn't get it done in time, and they feel really sorry about it. That's good.They couldn't get it done because they were running from the fires in California. That's bad.Unfortunately, Flying Lab can't tell us where we can preorder, when preordering will happen online, or anything else about it besides that it will show up on November 13th. That's bad.But they can tell us that answers are coming soon, and they even were nice enough to let us download four exclusive tracks from the preorder CD, four mp3s of the port music for each of the various nations. That's good!Stay tuned for more info about the preorder. Hopefully SOE's employees will be able to get back to their homes safe and sound, and soon enough you'll be able to pick up the preorder box at a game store near you.Can I go now?[ via Tobold, with apologies to this obscure show ]
Pirates of the Burning Sea: PvP details on port control
Avast ye scurvy rapscallion dogs! Arrreckon you want some PvPbooty so pay close attention. Alright, that's enough pirate-talk for one post. Isildur, developer/buccaneer extraordinaire has posted the nitty-gritty details on capturing ports and adds his own insightful commentary on the strengths and weaknesses for the first four maps or battlegrounds for ship-to-port combat to be ready for some keel-haulin' once the game sets sail. The maps look great and I'm happy to see real tactics like wind and positioning play a key-role in the overall outcome. It's also good to know that if the attackers land immediately they won't automatically win, they must face a series of challenging encounters first. Attackers won't be able to just land anywhere either, there are certain landing points and the entrances to the town and fortress are only opened until all their respective gun emplacements are destroyed. Before the battle starts, players will wait in a ready room, which is an avatar room -- no ships allowed in here, and within this room there are three exits for each spawn location. Players have 10 minutes in this room before the battle begins to formulate any plans, organize their groups and choose the location where they will spawn from. It's also important to note that the Pirates of the Burning Sea is still in beta and the way these four Final Battle scenarios play-out may not be set-in-stone.
Pirates of the Burning Sea announces release date
The embargo has dropped and so now we can announce: Pirates of the Burning Sea will set sail worldwide on January 22, 2008. We've been drooling at the thought of a little MMO pirate action for a year or so now, so it's great to finally have a date to put "break the champagne bottle against the hull" on the calendar with.Preorders, we're told, will start up on October 23rd, and anyone who preorders will be invited to a "pre-boarding party" that will get into the game 15 days early, and have the option to level up to 20 before the plebians are allowed on deck on the 22nd. Preorders also get a "captain's best friend" (a blue and yellow pet), a weapon "suited to their fighting style," and a 60 minute original soundtrack.Are you guys ready to fly the Jolly Roger? I played Pirates about a year ago at PAX '06, and wasn't super impressed, but I only got to play it for a bit, and I'm sure it's come a long way since then. I am excited to play anything featuring pirates, of course (they're the second coolest thing in the world, right between monkeys and ninjas), but I may wait for the reviews on this one. At any rate, if you can't wait to get the eyepatch, tricorner and codpiece on and make some landlubbers walk the plank, you've only got about four more months to wait.
Pirates of the Burning Sea dev details SOE publishing deal
Massively multiplayer swashbuckler Pirates of the Burning Sea was recently announced to be sailing under the flag of Sony Online Entertainment's Platform Publishing. While joining hands with a publisher is generally considered good news, some fans following the game throughout its development have expressed concern over SOE's involvement, citing its indelicate handling of Star Wars: Galaxies. Addressing these concerns is Russel Williams, CEO of developer Flying Lab Software, who updated the game's official website with a surprisingly straightforward explanation of what the publishing deal entails.Williams specifies the responsibilities carried by each party in the deal and is quick to point out that Flying Lab Software retains complete ownership of Pirates of the Burning Sea and remains independent. "Platform Publishing is a channel for independent developers to compete on the same level as a big publisher – without selling their soul," says Williams. He goes on to stress that the deal will ultimately allow Flying Lab to focus on development of the game and deliver it on time this Fall. "I've put my money where my mouth is. And I want more developers to do the same." Aye, Mr. Williams! Aye!
