Realtime-Worlds
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Report: APB not coming to Australia due to lack of local servers
Though potential cops and criminals living in the U.S. will get their paws on Realtime Worlds' APB on June 29, our Down Under cohorts may not be able to join in our online crime sprees. Kotaku reports that Realtime Worlds has no plans to host local servers in Australia, which are necessary to make the twitchy action-MMO playable. EA, which will serve as worldwide distributor for the game, reportedly confirmed to Kotaku that the game won't be released in Australia for this very reason. We've contacted EA for first-hand confirmation of this report. If it's true, we plan on contacting our spiritual advisers to inquire why bad things keep happening to good countries.
Aussies denied APB
The Land Down Under has always been notorious about creating obstacles between perceived violent video games and Australian gamers, but for once, a game title that's denied to the populace has nothing to do with its love of beatdowns. Kotaku Australia is reporting that All Points Bulletin won't see the light of day in Crocodile Dundee's backyard when it launches elsewhere in July. Apparently, because of its fast-paced gameplay, APB needs local servers to facilitate low latency -- and Realtime Worlds has no plan to open an Australian server. No server, no release. Crikey! Considering all of the positive buzz swirling about this GTA-like game, it's a shame to see a good chunk of game fanatics denied the basic right of life, liberty and the pursuit of all suspects. Aussies can buy an overseas copy and attempt to play on those servers, but as you might imagine, the ping will make that a frustrating experience.
APB's Key to the City event delayed
Realtime Worlds has announced a delay in their Key to the City end-of-beta promotion. The teaser event, designed to give prospective players a taste of life on the crime-ridden streets of San Paro, features five hours of action district gameplay and unlimited social district gameplay. In a news post just released on the All Points Bulletin website, game creator Dave Jones outlines the reasons for the hiccup. "We've worked tirelessly to bring the service online, installing and configuring a massive amount of new hardware in our data-centres, to help meet the high demand and bring you the best experience we can. As we're sure you'll appreciate, this is a huge undertaking and unfortunately on this occasion, we've hit a number of installation delays," he says. The event is currently scheduled to take place starting at 9:00am EDT on Saturday, June 12th.
APB's lead designer talks content, pricing model
All Points Bulletin's June launch date is just around the corner, and adding to the hype train is a new video over at GameTrailers featuring Realtime Worlds' lead designer EJ Moreland. The two and a half minute trailer features a ton of in-game footage accompanied by Moreland's voiceovers, where he discusses everything from the game's PvP focus (there are no NPCs to fight) to the pricing model, to the customization options. "There are no microtransactions you have to worry about with customization. Customization comes with buying the game initially. From then on, the only time there's any kind of transaction fee is when you put something on the marketplace and sell your creativity," Moreland says. Check out the full video over at GameTrailers or after the jump.
APB's Chris Collins talks music, customization
Realtime Worlds Community Manager Chris Collins lends his mug to a new video featuring the various customization options found in the forthcoming All Points Bulletin urban crime MMORPG. Collins talks about everything from the in-game paint program to the musical death themes we first heard about back at PAX East 2010. "Players can create what we call death themes, so every time that you kill a player they're forced to listen to your music," enthuses Collins in the video, currently hosted over at GamesXtreme.net. The two-and-a-half-minute teaser, compiled at the EA Showcase London event, features brief snippets on the player music creation system and the Forza Motorsport-like graphical layering app that facilitates the game's extreme customization options. The video also features a smattering of new gameplay footage including a few glimpses of the action and social districts. Check it out over at GamesXtreme.net.
The Daily Grind: Pre-order now!
Pre-ordering has become something of an epidemic in the gaming industry. Whether you're looking to plunk down five bucks at Gamestop several weeks in advance of Red Dead Redemption or pay for the full enchilada on Amazon and wait for them to ship you a box on launch day, companies large and small have taken to offering their goods up for sale before they're really for sale. MMORPGs aren't left out of course. Currently the darling of the pre-order ball is Realtime Worlds' All Points Bulletin, simply by virtue of being the next big genre release. Along with the early payments, players are generally rewarded with some sort of in-game trinket. Age of Conan's first expansion, launched this week, offered up a Loyal Kappa and Ravager of Jhi pet duo to those who pre-ordered Rise of the Godslayer. Both of these items, while aesthetically cool, are completely unnecessary (they function as fairly weak combat pets and buffers), mainly because Funcom is following the unwritten gaming rule that states thou shalt not provide early adopters any kind of real advantage. Along with the pets, early Godslayer customers were given a bewildering array of expansion upgrade packages to choose from, each featuring different items designed to temporarily boost XP, ease the transition for newbs, or just make their avatars look that much cooler. Whether all of this is a good thing is up for debate. On the one hand, it's clear that players love any chance to acquire new shinies, even if it means paying a little extra. On the other hand, it can be argued that pre-ordering allows MMORPG makers to deliver unfinished games due to pre-existing demand and blind faith from fans. What say you, dear readers? Yay or nay on MMORPG pre-orders?
APB's lead designer discusses pricing model
Kotaku has an interesting article regarding the recently announced pricing options for Realtime Worlds' All Points Bulletin. The urban crime MMORPG made waves late last month with their unique access model that allows gamers the ability to purchase time blocks in certain sections of the game world in addition to the traditional all-encompassing monthly access fee. E.J. Moreland, APB's lead designer, draws a distinction between players that are likely to prefer the game's gunplay versus those that will be more interested in the socialization options in the game, which are considerable. "With the social district there is a compelling investigation to be made into making the social district entirely free to play, building that out to be a stand alone. There is going to be two kinds of audiences in APB: People who want to play the action game and think it's cool and then people for whom customization is the driver," he says. Moreland goes on to state that the Realtime Worlds team is planning on adding to the social game in short order, beginning with player housing. Check out the full article over at Kotaku.
Be on the lookout for APB June 29
Attention, all units: EA will release Realtime Worlds' cops-and-robbers MMO APB on PC in North America on June 29, in mainland Europe on July 1 and in the UK on July 2. The initial $50 game purchase, either through retail or by download, will include 50 hours of playtime, as well as "unlimited time" in APB's so-called social districts, where players can customize, chat and trade. When the 50 hours are up, players have the option to purchase 20 more hours for $7, 30 days of unlimited access for $10, or discounted 90- or 180-day passes. In addition, extra playtime can be earned through certain unspecified accomplishments, according to EA: "APB provides avenues for accomplished gamers or creators to earn rewards for their creativity and subsidize their ongoing costs with their in-game efforts." Pre-order incentives, which are currently offered by APB.com, include access to the demo and early access to the full game, plus an assortment of bonus cars, clothing and character Emotes, some of which can be seen in the gallery below. %Gallery-92108%
APB payment model, launch date, and pre-order revealed
Realtime Worlds' forthcoming urban crime MMORPG All Points Bulletin has finally been dated. The title will launch in North America on June 29 and on July 2 in Europe. In addition to the street date, Realtime Worlds has unveiled the payment model, which looks to parcel out sections of game play via micro payments. The retail client will be available digitally or in stores ($49.99/£34.99/€49.99) and will include 50 hours of 'action' game play plus unlimited time in the social districts. These districts include character customizing, socializing, and marketplace trading. Once you burn through your initial 50 hours of action play, you can purchase an additional 20 hours for $6.99 (£5.59, €6.29) or opt for the 30-day 'unlimited' package at $9.99 (£7.99, €8.99). There will also be 90 and 180 day discounts available. Your retail box (or download) will also include 100 RTW points which can be put towards additional game time and other perks to be announced. Players will be able to convert their in-game customizations into items that can be traded to friends or put on the marketplace. RTW points can also be converted to game time or in-game currency. Realtime Worlds also announced the pre-order perks for All Points Bulletin. Early customers will get 10 hours of additional action game time, a key to the city which allows pre-launch event access, exclusive clothing, decals, emotes, and a custom vehicle. Check out the pre-order video as well as the launch press release. [Thanks to APB-evolved.com for the heads up!]
APB's Chris Collins details zoning, missions
Many of us here at Massively are anxiously awaiting the release of Realtime Worlds' urban crime MMORPG All Points Bulletin. Though the title is currently deep into beta, there hasn't been a huge helping of news regarding the city of San Paro as of late. Now, German fan site OnlineWelten has come to the rescue courtesy of an interview with Community Manager Chris 'Deum' Collins. Collins highlights the game's talking points including creativity, conflict, and celebrity, in a wide-ranging piece that discusses everything from PvP, to mission systems, to server structure and player population. "Servers (or worlds as we refer to them as) consist of 100,000 players. These servers then break down into a number of districts. These districts hold between 100 and 250 players at any one time, so if one version of a district is 'full', another will be available for them to join. If you have friends or clan-mates that are in another district, then you can simply pull up the social panel and join them. The game will then spawn you in their district," Collins says. Check out the full interview at OnlineWelten. [Thanks Trikki!]
APB video preview needs more Enforcers
The violence in this APB video is jarring. Staff from Realtime Worlds will be talking about one of the game's features, like character customization, and then the camera cuts to a few criminals casually interacting, in order to show off the variety of character appearances. Then, one of them pulls out a machine gun and starts spraying bullets. Were the other guys just wearing the wrong colors? Aside from the juxtaposition of design discussion and graphic violence, this preview also introduces locations found in the game and fleshes out the Enforcers vs. Criminals gameplay.
APB pumps up the volume on video podcast #18
All Points Bulletin community manager Chris Collins serves as your guide to the latest podcast about the forthcoming urban crime MMORPG. Along with RealTime Worlds' audio lead Roland Peddie, Collins guides the viewer through APB's unique locational VOIP system. "No matter where you are within San Paro [the game's fictional metropolis], you can pretty much yell at anyone who passes you by, you can smack talk other players, while you're arresting someone you can listen to them cry for help. It's great fun," Collins enthuses. Another feature of the game's voice chat that looks to differentiate it from standard VOIP implementations is the ability to interact directly with other player avatars using voice. As Peddie puts it, the system allows for "spontaneous moments of absolute comedy gold" such as running over a player with your vehicle and thrilling to his 'R'-rated reaction. Questions of political correctness aside, the feature could provide a fair bit of immersion when coupled with the game's modern urban setting. You wanted to see the podcast? Look no further than after the break!
APB impressions from Joystiq at GDC
Our friends over at Massively's sister site Joystiq have weighed in with their impressions of Realtime Worlds' forthcoming All Points Bulletin MMORPG, recently demoed at last week's Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco. The article drops a few interesting nuggets, including the fact that APB will not feature hand-to-hand combat on release day, as well as observations on the vehicle customization tools, enforcer versus criminal PvP, mission types, and other items shown at GDC by studio founder (and Grand Theft Auto creator) David Jones. "I have to admit that the concept of a "GTA MMO" was never one that seemed like it would "work." After seeing APB in action, though, with its multitude of customization options and spectacular shootouts, my feeling has definitely changed. It really could work," Joystiq concludes.
GDC Impressions: APB
Last week, Realtime Worlds MMO APB featured prominently during an in-booth press conference held at GDC. The game was playable (though, sadly, not by me), and the audience was treated to a live demo lead by the developer's founder, ex-DMA and Grand Theft Auto co-creator, David Jones. Using two separate PCs hooked up to their own projection setups, Jones and another Realtime Worlds staffer hopped onto one of the game's servers and began by giving a tour of one of three main areas, the Social District. As its name implies, this area -- which reminded me more than a little of PlayStation Home -- is where players can meet up, trade or sell their items, build custom music in the game's built-in sequencer and buy a new set of wheels (or upgrade their current rides). When talking about the latter, Jones showed the vehicle customization tool, which featured not only cosmetic mods (custom designs can be sold to other players) but performance and aerodynamic tinkering, as well. Before heading out onto the mean streets, Jones pointed out a couple other unique features of the Social District: Statues and display points. The former are generated by the game as effigies of its top players on an ongoing basis, while the latter are spots that can be "rented" in order to publicly display players' cars that are up for sale or auction. %Gallery-65497%
More APB beta invites going out
Did you miss out on the APB beta last year? Tipsters have begun alerting us that a new wave of invites is going out. If you still want an early look at Realtime Worlds' massively multithug online game, you should probably head over to the site and apply now. At least with the knowledge that more invites are going out, there seems to be more chance that you'd be able to get one now, right? While you're on pins and needles about your potential beta invite, why not read this Eurogamer interview with RTW CEO David Jones? In it, he says that APB is a release during the first half of this year is "achievable" (though EA says pretty much exactly the opposite). He also describes the game's pay model as "a very unique business model because it's a unique game." He did not say what that model was. [Thanks, Paul & Jesse!]
The Daily Grind: How do you feel about 2010's MMOs?
The year is still young and lots of MMOs are on schedule to release before it's over. So far, we've been able to see what Star Trek Online has to offer, but many people continue to look forward to LEGO Universe, All Points Bulletin and Final Fantasy XIV. However, we would like to know how you feel about MMOs this year. Does it seem like a pretty good year or are you thinking perhaps 2011 is going to be the big year for the genre, and why? It certainly seems like this year has already been pretty decent, given that Black Prophecy has a publisher now and we've yet to encounter any saddening shutdowns or cancellations of titles still in development. Plus, the free-to-play market is really starting to come into its own with great news for Dungeons and Dragons Online and a recent-but-remedied Allods Online hiccup. We're taking a positive outlook, but how about you?
Epic showing off APB, new Unreal features at GDC
As has become custom, Epic has announced that it will be showing off new Unreal Engine features during a press conference at GDC 2010. Some of the new features include a new "procedural artist-driven tool" for creating buildings and new tool for "continuous branching objects such as roads, sidewalks, tentacles, roots, vines, cabling, and railway tracks." A new foliage demo -- which will be viewable in 3-D -- is set to highlight the engine's new features. In addition to its Unreal Engine 3 conference, Epic will also host live demonstrations of the upcoming Realtime Worlds MMO, APB. Joystiq will be on hand for both events, so stay tuned for coverage next week.
The Daily Grind: Feeling jaded on MMOs?
Reading the comments around Massively, sometimes we wonder if any of our readers are feeling jaded with the current crop of MMOs. In fact, we often wonder if even the upcoming titles like All Points Bulletin, Final Fantasy XIV and Star Wars: The Old Republic are of any interest to many of you. And, if nothing out there is really doing it for you, we'd like to hear what would. Of course, we're far more interested in hearing what isn't appealing to you and why. It's an unpredictable world out there where games like Perpetuum look to meld open economy/PvP with giant robots in the future. So why wouldn't anyone elses' crazy MMO idea have a shot at taking root?
The Daily Grind: What genres will never work as an MMO?
Lately we've begun to see the shooter genre creep into the massively multiplayer online game space. Titles like Global Agenda and All Points Bulletin are both equal parts shooter and MMO. Assuming the trend continues, we'll probably see more shooter MMOs in the coming years -- potentially even other genres, too. Obviously, this makes most of us wonder what other genres could hit the MMO scene. But, what we really want to know is which combinations you think are lost causes. Will there ever be a successful MMORTS? If not, why? Would anyone even want to play an MMO version of a fighting or racing game? The mind reels at the possibilities.
The Digital Continuum: The 'Next Big Thing' in MMOs
Is All Points Bulletin the "Next Big Thing" in MMOs? While I'm fully aware that Realtime Worlds doesn't specifically prefer to associate the game with this genre, it's very much a part of it -- but it also orbits the fringes of what we commonly refer to as a massively multiplayer online game. Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 and All Points Bulletin come from a different school of business models. These games hinge on the idea that most people dislike coughing up 15 bucks a month to keep playing their favorite title. Just look to the success of the original Guild Wars, having a year ago passed six million copies sold. That's a pretty great start for non-subscription MMOs, and because of that success we now have GW's sequel and APB on the way.
