red-5
Latest
Leaderboard: Firefall vs. Defiance vs. Destiny
Shooters are certainly in vogue at the moment, what with last week's Firefall launch, this week's Defiance Silicon Valley expansion launch, and next month's colossally expensive Destiny launch. Come to think of it, those three titles are probably worth pitting against one another, wouldn't you agree? So, how about it Massively shooter fans? If you had to pick one of those three titles as your go-to gunplay fix, which would it be? Vote after the cut! Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!
Firefall partners with The9, Qihoo 360 in China
Firefall finally launched in the West this week. Red 5 also entered into a business agreement with Chinese megapublisher The9 and Qihoo 360 to bring its long-gestating sci-fi shooter to the Far East. The deal will last for three years and will see profits and equity split equally between the The9 and Qihoo 360, according to GamesIndustry.biz. [Thanks D Houser!]
Firefall drops a launch trailer
After what seemed to be an interminable period of testing, Firefall is finally officially launched -- and in a very different state from its initial testing, at that. Did you play the game once and step away? Are you wondering what it's even like these days? The launch trailer is meant to address exactly that. A two-minute trailer can provide only a top-level overview, but this one does so while keeping its narrative entirely in-character, which is commendable. Click on past the break to get a picture of just what you can do within the game now, and if it sounds like your sort of shoot-happy armor-swapping festival, you can start playing the game now.
Firefall's launch-day roundup
MMOFPS Firefall officially launches today after several years of development drama and 180-degree design turns that saw CEO Mark Kern ousted last December as the game shifted from a PvP-oriented e-sport extravanganza to a game with no PvP at all to a game that just reintroduced battlegrounds in the last few weeks. To celebrate the fact that Firefall is (finally!) launching, we've rounded up some of our best news, opinions, and videos of the game from the past year after the cut. Enjoy!
Firefall brings multiple raids to launch [Updated]
If you live and breathe big battles with lots of friends in MMOs, then you're going to be delighted when Firefall launches next week. The retuned sci-fi shooter will feature not one, not two, not four, but definitely three 20-person raids from the beginning. A new dev diary posted today talks about two of the raids, the titans of Baneclaw and Kanaola. Baneclaw is a giant scarab that will roll around and unleash little hellclaw minions at any intruders. Kanaola goes the "big lava worm" route due to its proximity with a volcano. This fight will get tricky as molten hot magma will be rising as the fight progresses. The raids will have some of the best loot in the game and will be on a seven-day lockout timer when beaten. These titans will become available when the playerbase works to gether up enough Dark Crystite to unlock the instances. We've got a video of the new raids for you after the jump!
Firefall reintroduces its open-world PvP
In the lead up to Firefall's official launch on July 29th, Red 5 Studios has released a new video outlining the game's open-world PvP. Formal PvP takes place in a separate zone called Broken Peninsula, where players are divided into corporate teams to beat the crap out of each other over resources, territorial bases, and a series of outposts and watchtowers that grant their holders special bonuses. NPCs called the Chosen do their best to interfere with players along the way. How soon can a newcomer participate? "Firefall's open world PvP is primarily intended to be end-game content," says the studio, but skilled lowbies can "make an impact" at their own peril. Check out the video after the cut. [Source: Red 5 press release]
Firefall to launch July 29
Firefall's extended beta will soon be over as Red 5 Studios has announced that the MMO shooter will be launching on July 29th. The free-to-play game has been gearing up for this launch with a series of dev blogs entitled Path to Launch that each spotlight a particular game feature that MMO shooter fans -- and general MMO fans -- may enjoy. "The update we are releasing for launch will be the largest update we have ever had," said James Macauley, CEO of Red 5 Studios. "It will quadruple the amount of world space in Firefall and add roughly 15-times the amount of content we have had previously in Beta." Be sure to check out our own early impressions of the game and take a look at the official press release for more info on what to expect at launch.
Firefall introduces personalized missions-on-demand
With Firefall's official launch approaching, the devs are in a frenzy proclaiming the new features and systems that players will be seeing when that day arrives. In a new dev diary today, the team highlighted a personalized mission maker, called ARES. ARES Jobs allow players to create and launch dynamically generated quests during downtime. Players can choose from several story and gameplay options, and the system will pull together a mission that can be completed solo in the game world. The devs promise that ARES jobs will keep mixing it up with objectives and locations to avoid any danger of the missions growing stale. There are reportedly "hundreds" of jobs, and if a player so desires, he or she could level up exclusively through ARES. "ARES jobs also help to make the world feel more alive: in the current system, it is rare that you run into another player in the world by random chance," the devs wrote. "ARES missions take place in a number of predetermined locations, and dynamic events like tornados or crashed thumpers draw players to them in a predictable manner."
Firefall outlines progression on the path to launch
As Firefall approaches an official launch at long last, the game's design team is taking a look at the game as a whole and trimming up parts of the game that can be made better than they are. The newest development diary on the official site discusses doing just that with the game's progression system, a task accomplished by removing some systems, consolidating others, and generally making progress that much easier to understand all around. As players go out and fight things in a given battleframe, the frame will level up, with new abilities coming regularly as you level. Frames will visibly improve as you increase in level, unlocking perks as you level up that can be used across all frames, with new abilities and weapons containing module slots for customization purposes. The new frame core equipment replaces the more fiddly systems of before, making it easier to slot in effects for improved jump jets or the like. Check out the full diary for all the details on how progression will be more straightforward for launch.
Ex-Red 5 staffers blast Mark Kern's 'destructive' behavior
If you wondered what was going on behind the scenes of Red 5 Studios turbulent past year, then a new exposé on Game Front might illuminate you. Anonymous former employees of the Firefall studio allegedly came forward to spill the beans about mass layoffs, questionable decisions, and ex-CEO Mark Kern's erratic behavior. One person said that Kern's constantly shifting decisions caused severe stress on the team: "Months of work would be thrown out simply because he would change his mind, or he would have another 'revolutionary' idea." Another anonymous ex-staffer said that Kern was worse than that: "When he did get involved in the production of the game itself he was simply destructive. He would swoop in one afternoon and berate a series of features several teams had spent months on, declaring they begin again and LISTEN to what he told them to do. He'd be back in a few days to see if it was done. This crushed morale, and forced people into spontaneous, isolated crunch mode. He would shout and scream his perspectives." [Thanks to Dengar for the tip! Part three of the expose is now live as well.]
Firefall patch takes us to the kingdom of the Crystal Skull Pirates
A small update for Firefall is now live on the servers and with it comes a slew of small adjustments and additions including faster melee combat. Patch 0.8.1745 reduced the cooldown of melee attacks from three to two seconds, while also making significant tweaks to the Electron battleframe. Get your Indiana Jones jokes in while you can, because the team has included Crystal Skull Pirates with this update as well. The pirates are rare enemies that offer up a special helmet if you can track them down and deliver a plasma-laced punishment.
Firefall developer secures $23 million in funding
Bright skies might be ahead for Red 5 Studios: the Firefall developer announced today that it secured $23 million in additional funding. Red 5 said that it entered into share purchase agreements for the funding from Shanghai Oriental Pearl Culture Development Co. and shareholders. Red 5 Acting CEO James Macauley pointed to the influx of cash as a sign that the battle-worn company is moving forward: "This additional round of funding will offer us the means to execute on our plan for successfully launching Firefall in 2014. This is the year Firefall takes flight. The entire Red 5 tribe is focused on creating top quality content that will take Firefall to the next level and we are excited for this next stage of development." The studio has plans to create a new story campaign for Firefall, take the fight to the Chosen, and reveal some of the burning secrets that have been in the game. [Source: Red 5 press release]
Jukebox Heroes: Firefall's soundtrack
There's something about militaristic science-fiction shooters that brings out the piano in the composer, isn't there? That's what I was thinking when I first heard one of the Firefall themes. Not that the track was bad, just that it made me wonder why these simple piano themes have been linked to such games. Oh, it's probably because of Halo, but I'd like to think that there are greater reasons than that. So this week we're going to be taking a crash course on the Firefall soundtrack. As far as I know, composers Michael Bross and Boon Sim's score isn't available to buy or download anywhere, so the avid video game score collector is going to have to do a little digital yoga to coax those files out of the library. I think it's worth hunting around for it, as Firefall's music is an obvious labor of love and a desire to create a quality product. "Initially, we experimented with something that was mostly synth-driven and atmospheric," Bross said in an interview, "but then there was a desire from the team to have something that leaned toward the orchestral. Over time, though, we settled into something that combined both orchestral and modern elements that lend very well to an epic but atmospheric feel."
Firefall getting 'rare legendary weapon drops,' lots of other stuff [Updated]
Did you catch Red 5's dev round table on Twitch earlier today? I didn't either, but fortunately the Firefall Twitter account susses out several of the more interesting tidbits. The team mentioned the MMO shooter's revamped progression curve, which has changed to the point that "you will feel the difference." In-game mailboxes, separate chat channels, "rare legendary weapon drops," and clicking-on-player-names-to-whisper are just a few of the features in the works. The game's HUD is now drag-and-droppable, and the crafting UI has a new and less confusing layout. There's more where that came from, too, so click through the links below to read all about it. [Update: The official site has updated with a dev blog outlining the Q&A!]
Mark Kern addresses his departure from Red 5 Studios
Using a mixture of geek culture references, former Red 5 Studios CEO Mark Kern posted a brief statement on MMORPG.com to address his departure from the Firefall studio. Kern referenced the event as his "Kobayashi Maru test" and insinuated that fans shouldn't fully believe what they may have heard. "While there have been rumors about whether I was demoted, terminated, or maybe even corporately executed, I will only say this: Remember that Han always shot first," he wrote. Kern said that he had fond memories of his time with the company and wished the studio success in the future. Mark Kern was let go from Red 5 on December 19th and replaced by acting CEO James Macauley. [Thanks to ArchDevi for the tip!]
Mark Kern removed as CEO of Red 5 Studios [Updated]
According to a recent report from Gamefront, Red 5 Studios CEO Mark Kern has been terminated by the company's board of directors, effective immediately. Vice President of Development James Macauly has apparently sent an email to all employees informing them of the change in leadership, with this latest dismissal coming in the wake of several previous layoffs at the Firefall studio. No official statement has been issued to the public by the company at this time. An anonymous source within the company has also spoken out against Kern in The Escapist, claiming that the CEO was frequently absent and arrived sporadically to hand down arbitrary decisions. How true these statements are cannot be confirmed, although the company does hold a low rating for employee satisfaction overall. We'll have more on the situation if and when a statement is issued regarding Kern's continued employment or lack thereof. [Update: Red 5 Producer Matt DeWald has issued a formal statement on the now-confirmed rumors: "As of Thursday, December 19th, Mark Kern is no longer the Chief Executive Officer of Red 5 Studios. Mark founded Red 5 Studios in 2006 to provide exceptional game entertainment along with a world-class team of developers working on the MMO Shooter, Firefall. Red 5 Vice President of Development, James Macauley, will be moving into the role of acting CEO. The team at Red 5 continues work on Firefall and looks forward to all that we have to offer in 2014."]
Firefall update talks quest system, bug squashing
It's time for a Firefall development update direct from Red 5. The most interesting tidbit has to do with a new content creation tool that the devs hope will provide quest-like missions. The team "made tremendous progress" on this little ditty "that will allow us to string together multiple encounters with branching trees all wrapped up in a loose narrative structure." Red 5 also managed to clean up its creature database and roll out additional bug fixes. You can read further details on the Firefall forums.
Red 5 Studios' parent company lines up $24 million Firefall investment
Anyone who has played Firefall wouldn't associate it with more standard free-to-play Chinese MMOs, but the game is certainly generating a lot of financial interest in China. The9, the Chinese gaming company that owns developer Red 5 Studios, is lining up for the game to get a major investment from Oriental Pearl Culture Development Ltd., a major entertainment development organization. That investment shakes out to around $24 million and would make Oriental Pearl one of the largest minority shareholders in the company. Overall, Firefall is apparently valued around $100 million based upon statements released by the companies. This latest investment is still in a non-binding stage and could be cancelled if Oriental Pearl changed its mind and decided against investing in the company. Preliminary reports suggest that the deal will go through, generating quite a windfall for the not yet technically launched game and demonstrating once again just how big the MMO scene is becoming worldwide.
Red 5 doubles Firefall's internal QA team, focuses on bug-squashing
Red 5 has a new Firefall development update initiative in the works, the first entry for which went live on the game's website recently. The dev blog mentions that bug-squashing is currently a major point of focus, so much so that the studio has doubled its internal quality assurance team. The team is also hard at work on the UI and a new HUD as well as the game's dynamic encounter systems. The details are fuzzy at this point, but Red 5 says that "Firefall is meant to be a living, breathing world with things happening at all times and something that reacts to player involvement." The rest of the dev blog covers the game's story, character progression, crafting, creatures, combat, and social integration. Read all about it via the links below.
The Soapbox: Stop hurting the people who love you
Over the last few years, we have been witness to dramatic shifts in the way the video game business does its...erm...business. Crowdfunding appeared out of nowhere and turned people like Chris Roberts into money tornadoes. Digital distribution created an environment in which anyone with an internet connection and a laptop can create and release a game. Here in the MMO niche, early access, paid betas, founders packages, and extended soft launches became the norm. My opinion on soft launching and paid betas has been well established on this site. I dislike the idea that players must jump in to aid a flailing development team while it buys time on a project the team clearly should have reigned in. I also hate the environment soft launching creates in which studios are not accountable for their mistakes; a game like Firefall can have its entire PvP system wiped while its developers say, "Oops, our bad, beta! But thanks for all the money." However, there is another enormous problem with the prevalence of the soft launch system. Namely, it kills fans.
