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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 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.
