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Black Prophecy unveils Space Superstar contest
Feeling like a Black Prophecy superstar? The recently launched free-to-play space shooter is looking for a few good designers to take advantage of the game's character creation tools. The Space Superstar competition will feature three winners, one each in the categories of coolest, funniest, and most beautiful avatar. What do you get for your trouble? Immortality (or at least, the MMORPG version of it). Each category champ will have their character entered as the new preset in Black Prophecy's character creator. The contest kicked off yesterday and it runs through Wednesday, August 3rd, so what the frak are you waiting for?
CCP publishes fourth DUST 514 fiction piece
New Eden is home to thousands of stories, and while most of them are a variation on "lulz, delicious carebear tears," occasionally an enjoyable piece of fiction arises from CCP's grand social experiment. In the past, officially sanctioned EVE Online-based fiction has taken the form of novels and web-based short stories. Today we're here to tell you about the latest instance of the latter, only this time the prose centers around the upcoming shooter spin-off known as Dust 514. Stranded, Part IV is the latest Dust chronicle, and in typical EVE fashion, it's a bleak, bone-crunching portrayal of life in the big black. If you missed Stranded parts one, two, and three, CCP has helpfully archived them on the official Dust 514 website.
Global Agenda 1.5 video teaser hints at Sonoran Desert content
Global Agenda's 1.5 update is just around the corner, and Hi-Rez has released a teaser video to whet your appetite. The clip is pretty brief (under a minute's worth of footage to be precise) but it nonetheless sets an eerie stage for what looks to be some fun additions to the third-person shooter's Sonoran Desert PvE content. As the teaser web page states, "Robotics agents are using drones to stream video to the domes. Is it safe for agents to enter this area of the desert?" You'll have to wait for 1.5 to find out, but in the meantime, fly your jetpack past the cut to get a look at the surveillance footage (and listen in on its creepy audio track) before heading to the official Global Agenda website for more details.
E3 2011: Trion Worlds talks Defiance
Straight from E3, we have some brand-new information on the upcoming project Defiance from Trion Worlds and Syfy. Three members of Trion Worlds got up on stage to demo the game and answer questions from the audience (which included our own Rubi Bayer), and there's a wealth of new information to cover, so let's dive in, shall we? Follow on past the cut for all the Defiance goodness you could ask for.
Firefall dev blog talks skill vs. progression
If you're a bit apprehensive about the balance between progression mechanics and skill-based gameplay in Red 5's upcoming Firefall title, you're not alone. You're also in luck since senior designer Dave Williams has just posted a new dev blog on that very topic. So what's the answer to this age-old design predicament? That's hard to pin down, and Williams spends quite a few words attempting to wrap our brains about the firm's plans for the game. In a nutshell, we can expect something called horizontal progression -- basically an "enlargement of your toolset" -- as opposed to the vertical progression in a typical RPG that often results in god-mode for players a couple of levels above their opponents. "At the end of the day we want your ability to place your crosshairs over your enemies and pull the trigger to matter," Williams explains. It's clear that Red 5 also wants to keep players engaged over the long-term, and how Firefall manages the delicate balancing act between grind and fun will be interesting to watch.
Train Global Agenda newbs for $200 in prize money
Hi-Rez Studios' Global Agenda is that rare MMO that manages to combine player skill, team tactics, and accessibility, all in one spiffy spy-fi package. While newer players have ample time to learn the ins and outs of squad-based combat over the course of the game's 50 levels, competent agents are few and far between when it comes to high-level merc PvP. To the rescue comes Hi-Rez's new Agent Training contest, in which skilled Global Agenda vets may compete for $200 in prize money for producing the best instructional video in both the objective-based PvP and boss fight PvE categories. The contest kicks off today, and entries (which are limited to a maximum of two minutes running time) will be accepted through April 15th. Winners in both categories will take home the prize money, and the victors will be announced on April 29th. There are a few other requirements (including voiceover and resolution guidelines), which you can read about on the official Global Agenda website.
PAX East 2011: Firefall, the non-MMO MMO
Last weekend, one of the biggest booths to dominate the PAX East showroom floor was a game called Firefall by Red 5 Studios. This shooter game has gained a lot of attention in the past because it pulls elements from different games such as Borderlands, Team Fortress 2, and even Halo. However, none of the comparable games is an MMO. Thus, Firefall really stands out among its peers. There are mechanics of this game that really scream "MMO" to the average observer, yet there are very non-MMO designs as well. At PAX, I had a chance to sit down with Red 5's CEO, Mark Kern, to discuss many of the design philosophies behind Firefall -- in particular, I wanted to know why Red 5 doesn't label the game an MMO when it clearly features many of the hallmarks of the genre. "The potential of MMOs is so much broader than the tag would indicate. We are broadening that definition and taking a crowbar to it. If people want to call us an MMO, that's great. We aren't going to call ourselves an MMO, because we want you to think fresh thoughts along with us," Kern explained. I also had a chance to play this unique game, so follow me after the cut as I give my impressions of the game along with some key quotes from my talk with Mark Kern.
Smedley tweets PlanetSide Galaxy transport image
Oh John Smedley, you coy devil! The enterprising Sony Online Entertainment bossman has dropped another PlanetSide Next tease bomb on the frothing faithful, this time in the form of a new concept model from the upcoming massively multiplayer shooter. Fans of the original PlanetSide will no doubt remember the Galaxy heavy troop transport, and an updated version of the model is now viewable along with the previously released image of what appears to be a New Conglomerate tank. The Galaxy ship was a gargantuan heavy hauler, capable of stuffing nine infantry and two MAX (Mechanized Armored Exo-Suit) units into its ample cargo hold. Fan website PlanetSide Universe notes that this is a preliminary model and not an in-game asset, and the site also managed to get a tiny bit of additional info from Smedley regarding the reveal. "The Galaxy plays an even more pivotal role in the new game," he told the website, while his Twitter announcement is a decidedly more cryptic "I love me some Galaxy!" [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
APB's Book-Larsson talks story, game modes
Bjorn Book-Larsson is back! Forgive the exclamation point, but we had to accentuate the latest in the long line of developers with action hero names (and with apologies to Atanas Atanasov and Tasos Flambouras, Book-Larsson has vaulted near the top of the spiffy name list). In any case, the GamersFirst COO/CTO has updated his APB Reloaded blog with some interesting insights into the game's story. Yes, you read that right; we said story and APB in the same sentence, and before you think we've been brainwashed by the likes of The Old Republic, TERA, and other story-centric MMOs in the offing, consider Book-Larsson's assertion that APB was originally designed to facilitate the "open world-ish" nature of the Grand Theft Auto series. "APB actually has the beginnings of a lot of the elements that will make it a really successful game in the long term, and could in theory exploit (maybe complete) both types of interactions [story and shooter elements]; there is actually a giant backstory to the entire city (100 plus pages of it), there are deep anthologies of the various factions in the city, and there is even the foundation for a single-player mission mode," he writes. Whether or not players will care about APB's potential to grow beyond an ordinary shooter remains to be seen. After all, Global Agenda is a similar title with a fairly deep backstory (and one that is summarily ignored by 99.9% of the players fragging it up in AvA and merc matches). The fact that GamersFirst is even considering future additions to APB is relatively exciting news, and we'll be watching with great interest.
