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Taikodom prepares for August closed beta
Earlier this year we were wondering what had happened to Brazilian sci-fi shooter Taikodom -- and if we'd ever see it at all. Happily, things are looking up in this department: Reloaded Games announced that the title is now on the verge of closed beta testing. CEO Bjorn Book-Larsson said that beta signups will commence shortly and the title will go into closed beta in August. If you're wondering what Taikodom is all about, Book-Larsson attempts to sum it up as thus: "The game is a cross between EVE Online, Risk, and a shooter/action game, and has some incredible first-person space vehicle battles, combined with the capability to build large strategic battleships. Players will be able to not only engage in some incredible head-to-head combat in space, but also control vast territory and engage in interstellar politics." Taikodom has taken so long in getting to beta because the team switched to the Unity3D engine halfway through its development. The title is slated to launch this year on the PC and Mac, with tablet and console versions to follow in 2013.
The Firing Line: What ever happened to that game?
Online shooters are a dime a dozen these days. Heck, so are MMOs. I can't get up from my computer chair for five minutes without missing some sort of PR blast about the latest, greatest gift to gamingkind. It's easy to lose track of all these titles, and it's even easier when some of said titles are fairly niche to begin with. In this week's edition of The Firing Line, I'm going to figure out something to write about until I get into the PlanetSide 2 beta. Er, I mean, I'm going to do a little detective work in an attempt to figure out what happened to a few of the MMO shooters that have dropped off my radar.
Taikodom zooming toward closed beta
A couple of years ago at at E3, we got our first look at the Brazilian sci-fi space shooter, Taikodom, which had been developed by Hoplon Infotainment. What we saw there definitely caught our eye. GamersFirst network had seen the potential in this fast-paced dogfighter as well, and were working on an English localization, as well as improvements to the game to make it the free-form twitch-based space combat game many have been asking for. At this last E3, we had the chance to spend some time with the updated version, which once again had us dreaming of huge space battles. As of this morning, emails are going out, offering closed beta signups on the US Taikodom site. Forum posts indicate that closed beta may be a few weeks off, and no official dates have been released as yet. Still, if you've been curious about the game, are willing to hunt bugs and provide feedback, then now is the time to head over to the GamersFirst site and get signed up. If, instead, you'd prefer something a little more polished -- where your characters won't get nuked repeatedly -- then you may want to wait until open beta rolls around. %Gallery-95561%
