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The Firing Line: PlanetSide 2, Tribes, and Heroes & Generals updates
Not a bad week for shooter news, wouldn't you agree? Let's see, we had PlanetSide 2's heart-pounding Death is No Excuse CG trailer. We also had a huge Tribes: Ascend update. While those two juggernauts get plenty of press coverage, one shooter that's still operating relatively under the radar is Heroes & Generals. If you've read The Firing Line before, though, you know I'm a big fan of Reto-Moto's browser-based World War II title. Follow me past the break for the latest updates on that and more.
Tribes: Ascend adds a double disc launcher in latest patch
Excellent free-to-play shooter Tribes: Ascend gets extra content (also for free) in its most recent update. Players gain access to new maps, new voice packs and, most importantly, a deadly double disc launcher. [Disclosure: Since we work under AOL, we are extra proficient at launching discs at people. - Ed.]
Religious group calls for removal of Hindu deities from Hi-Rez's SMITE
In Hi-Rez Studios' upcoming action-oriented MOBA, SMITE, players are able to play as a variety of gods, goddesses, and miscellaneous deities from multiple world mythologies and religions. If you recall my impressions of the title from PAX East earlier this year, you'll remember that I got to play as Kali, the four-armed, scimitar-wielding Hindu goddess of change and destruction. Well, it turns out that the Universal Society for Hinduism has caught wind of the fact that SMITE players can control Hindu deities such as Kali and Agni, and the organization's president, Rajan Zed, is not pleased. Zed claims that "controlling and manipulating goddess Kali and other HIndu deities... is denigration as these deities are meant to be worshiped," not "reduced to just a character in a video game." As such, Zed called for the immediate removal of all Hindu deities from the title. Hi-Rez, however, has no plans to do so. The studio's COO, Todd Harris, gave the following response: "SMITE includes deities inspired from a diverse and ever expanding set of pantheons including Greek, Chinese, Egyptian, and Norse. Hinduism, being one of the world's oldest, largest and most diverse traditions, also provides inspiration toward deities in our game. In fact, given Hinduism's concept of a single truth with multiple physical manifestations one could validly interpret ALL the gods within SMITE to be Hindu. And all gods outside of SMITE as well. Ponder that for a minute. Anyway, going forward SMITE will include even more deities, not fewer."
Tribes Ascend's July update reinvents 'Stonehenge' map, invents 'Miasma'
Continuing its promise of monthly new content, Hi-Rez Studios unveiled its latest Tribes: Ascend update video this morning. The update is a biggun for both new players and vets, as two new maps are set to be deployed: a remake of Tribes 1's "Stonehenge" map, and the brand new "Miasma." Now all we need is something borrowed and something blue, and we'll be all set to wed this game.
SMITE schools us with tutorial video
Getting a handle on MOBA-style games can sometimes be tough, particularly if you're brand-new to the genre. That's why Hi-Rez Studios has created an eight-minute tutorial video for its upcoming SMITE: for purely educational purposes. If it so happens to get you totally excited about the game, well, it's not the devs' fault, now is it? The video explains both the ins and the outs of MOBA gaming in general as well as SMITE in specific. Players are walked through a 5v5 match between the gods. Some of SMITE's particulars are important to note, such as how the game is played in third-person over-the-shoulder view and relies on skill to hit targets (versus locking on to them). You can get your beginners SMITE certificate by watching the video after the jump. Certificates are completely fictitious and will be mailed seven to nine weeks after course completion. Make sure to also read about our recent hands-on impressions of the game!
The Firing Line: Defiance, Arctic Combat, and other E3 leftovers
Ah, home. A full-screen monitor, a fridge stocked with Diet Sunkist, plenty of columns to be written, and my own vehicle! Public transportation doesn't agree with me, folks, as I learned last week at E3 in Los Angeles. I also learned a lot about PlanetSide 2, a little about DUST 514, and tidbits about Defiance and something called Arctic Combat. For this week's Firing Line, I figured I should pay a little lip service to those last two. And we'll also recap some of this week's crucial online shooter news. To the cut!
The next Tribes: Ascend update helps you level up guns even faster
Tribes: Ascend's June update adds more than a couple new Capture-and-Hold maps, a whole variety of weapon variants, and "significant balance adjustments." Beyond all that free stuff, Hi-Rez is doling out a speed boost to the game's weapon upgrade system, and has thusly dubbed its latest update "Accelerate." Rather than solely upgrading weapons via XP earned in-game, each weapon will accordingly level up through use. The system seems like an interesting workaround to adding tons of weapons and players feeling unable to master any particular one. Hi-Rez demonstrates the system in the video above.
The Firing Line: Zomg it's almost time for PlanetSide 2 edition
It's taking all of my willpower to avoid reducing this week's column down to four words: PlanetSide 2 hands-on. I guess technically that might be three words, or even two, depending on how you classify numbers and hyphens. The point, though, is that this time next week, I will have gotten my grubby little paws on Sony Online Entertainment's MMOFPS, and I'm so excited that little else matters. OK, some stuff still matters, namely the interesting shooter news that happened this past week. Join me after the jump for a recap.
Get down with yo' bad self in Tribes: Ascend's latest update
Tribes: Ascend's upcoming "Staying Alive" update adds more than just a smattering of new weapons for you disco dancing disc launchers. The update also brings live streams and training videos into the game's main menu, allowing you to spend even more time wrapped up in Ascend.
Tribes: Ascend pulled down 1.2 million times thus far
Free-to-play shooter Tribes: Ascend has been downloaded 1.2 million times, a significant boost from the debatably framed 800K registered accounts from a month ago."It is truly the player support of the title that has driven the population growth and fuels our team to deliver updates," said Hi-Rez Studio COO Todd Harris. "We see the community expanding primarily thru positive word of mouth."Hi-Rez Studios also noted over 110,000 people have joined Tribes: Ascend through the company's referral system. Our experience with the game since launch has been chronicled by our "Murderous Skier."
The Firing Line: 16th century fragging edition
What do War Thunder, World of Warplanes, Leonardo da Vinci, and Tribes: Ascend have in common? Not a whole lot aside from their respective appearances in this week's edition of The Firing Line. Won't you join me after the cut for a rundown on some recent and notable online shooter news? If you're feeling particularly ornery, you can point and laugh at the fact that I'm still not in the War Thunder beta.
Why I Play: Global Agenda
Among the Massively staff, I'm known as the obsessive competitor who plays every game in a hardcore fashion. It's no surprise that I gravitate toward high-skill, difficult games that test skill instead of the typical MMO grinds. But it should be a bit of a surprise that I don't really like competitive shooters. Shooters take a lot of the elements I really love about competition such as mindgames and positioning and marginalize them in favor of raw aiming and twitch reflexes. I'm fond of saying "You must be this tall to ride this ride" when it comes to shooters that are very twitch-based. Global Agenda is a different beast than other shooters, though. The competitive shooter market is saturated with class-based shooters whose emphasis is more on teamwork than on aiming, and Global Agenda really takes it to eleven. Aiming is still important, but it's hardly the most important skill in the game, and every class has a way of minimizing the need for aiming skill. In fact, most of the more effective builds in GA don't require aiming. The emphasis in GA is on teamwork, mobility, and good decision-making. Even though it's a shooter, I find it really easy to spend far too much of my time playing it. It's just great fun.
The diary of a murderous skier: Spending real money in Tribes: Ascend
As free-to-play games are constantly changing, traditional reviews can't really do them justice, so we rely on a series of unscored review diaries to record our experiences with them. Today brings part two of our Tribes: Ascend diaries. I gave in. I dropped $50 on Tribes: Ascend and haven't looked back. After three weeks of loving the game in its totally free form, I decided it was time to suck it up and unlock some other classes. And not only did that $50 get me a ton of Gold, but also a mess of bonus XP. Shopping time!For the price of a full PC game, I unlocked seven of the game's nine classes, a variety of skins, and upgrades across all my classes, and increased the rate at which I earned in-game XP (the only currency that will upgrade weapons, packs, and armor, and which thankfully cannot be purchased with real dollars). I still have some gold coins to spare (the in-game currency that's converted from real dollars, which can't be earned), but I'm saving them for ... well, I don't really know. I'd feel weird spending them all.
Tribes: Ascend getting two new maps, custom loadouts in Tartarus update
Tribes: Ascend continues to be both free and excellent, which is to say we were pretty excited this morning when we heard that a content update is in the works. Two crazy-looking new maps, custom loadouts, and a variety of requested player tweaks are planned for the Tartarus update, which is said to be "coming soon."
Tribes: Ascend puts together a beta infographic
Tribes: Ascend has finally launched, and that means players everywhere can experience the simple joy of logging in, gearing up, and then skiing at high velocity across the ground while firing explosive munitions at distant targets. All right, maybe that joy isn't quite as simple, but the point remains that the game has successfully cleared its beta test. And what better way to celebrate that a bit belatedly than by pulling together some interesting stats on the overall beta experience? Past the cut, you'll find an official infographic tallying things like total kills, total number of flags captured, and the ever-important question of how many people met their end by falling. In a game with jetpacks and high-speed skiing, that number is a bit higher than you might otherwise think. So take a look at the full collection of stats, sigh wistfully in memory, and then start gearing up for another round.
The diary of a murderous skier: My first two weeks with Tribes: Ascend
As free-to-play games are constantly changing, traditional reviews can't really do them justice, so Joystiq relies on a series of unscored review diaries to record our experiences with them. It's been over a decade since I last played PC games with any regularity. Outside of Word Munchers, The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary and The Oregon Trail, I grew up with a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse. There were brief flirtations with Duke Nukem 3D and Doom, but I was busy playing GoldenEye over Quake.Starsiege: Tribes changed that. It barely ran on my father's computer, and our little 28.8Kbps modem could hardly handle the data stream necessary for online play, but I spent hours tying up our phone line regardless. Its fast pace, enormous outdoor environments, and central gameplay twist – "skiing" down hills and jetpacking up the other side, making for constant air battles with other players – entranced my adolescent brain. It seemed so vastly ahead of anything else available and, in many ways, still does.%Gallery-148239%
The Firing Line: Five reasons to love Tribes: Ascend
Oh, Tribes: Ascend, if only you were an MMO. Actually, wait a minute. When I think on it, if Hi-Rez Studios' new free-to-play sci-fi shooter were an MMO, I probably wouldn't like it as much. There's something to be said for frequent updates and instant gameplay gratification, and Tribes provides those things (and more) in spades.
Celebrate the launch of Tribes: Ascend with a new weapon on us
To celebrate the launch of Hi-Rez Studios' Tribes: Ascend today, we're giving away a special in-game weapon that will either help new players gain some ground or act as a boost for current players who have yet to unlock the gun. This special medium Spinfusor just for the Soldier class. You can check out the full image of the weapon after the cut. To claim your Spinfusor, simply grab a code from our giveaway page and use the in-game menu to select "Extras" then "Redeem Promotion." Enter in your code and you're all set!
Tribes: Ascend releases tomorrow, mass casualties predicted
We apologize for giving you only a few hours' notice to call your boss or parental unit and inform him or her that you'll be "sick" tomorrow, but any edge you can get for an early start to Tribes: Ascend is better than none. That's right, Hi-Rez Studios' frantic FPS is releasing first thing in the morning, and you're invited to join the fight. With jetpacks, skiing, and a strong lineage dating back to the original 1998 game, Tribes: Ascend has a lot going for it. The free-to-play title promises to bring back all of the frantic action that fans loved with a few new twists, such as a capture and hold game mode and the return of the classic map Raindance. Players will log in tomorrow to new social options as well and can test out unowned weapons in a special target practice area. Wondering if Tribes: Ascend is right for you? Check out Jef's Firing Line column in which he attempts to convince you that this will suck you in and keep you entertained for a long time to come. If you're antsy, you can play tonight, as the game is currently in open beta. You can watch a new dev diary featuring the Raindance map after the jump!
PAX East 2012: Hands-on with Hi-Rez's new MOBA, SMITE
Move over, MOBAs -- there's a new kid in town. As PAX East 2012 rocks onward, Hi-Rez Studios is flaunting its newest upcoming title, the action-game-inspired MOBA SMITE. Today I got the opportunity to sit down with the game and get my face ground into the floor by the myriad more-experienced players with whom I played. But regardless of my utter incompetence, I still got some hands-on time with the title, so indulge me for a moment and let me tell you about it. The basic layout of the game will be quite familiar to any MOBA player. It sticks to the tried-and-true formula set forth by Defense of the Ancients in almost every possible way. There are three lanes, each lined with a number of defensive towers, and the ultimate objective is to work in tandem with your teammates and allied NPC creeps with the goal of pushing through the towers and destroying the enemy's giant minotaur. Wait, what?
