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E3 2011: World of Tanks teases clan wars trailer, new screens
World of Tanks may not be the biggest name in the E3 house this week, but the free-to-play action MMO's clan wars trailer nonetheless brought some big guns to bear on the annual gaming convention. The 40-second spot features a handful of tanks careening across what appears to be a scorched landscape highlighted by fiery fault lines. As the camera pulls back, we get a good look at a stylized campaign map of the European theater over which World of Tanks' clan wars metagame is fought. Wargaming.net has also released a bunch of nifty new screens to celebrate convention week, and you can get an up close and personal look at World of Tanks' highly detailed hardware in our gallery below. After you're done, head past the cut for the teaser. %Gallery-125725%
World of Tanks coming to real-world Tankfest event
It's not often that an MMO intersects with history, and it's even rarer when it does so with enough authenticity to merit inclusion in real-world historical celebrations. World of Tanks has done just that, and thanks to a new press release from Wargaming.net, we've got word that the dev team will be participating in Tankfest 2011, an annual military history event. Tankfest takes place at the Bovington Tank Museum in Britain on June 25th and 26th, and Wargaming.net will be on hand to demonstrate "one of the largest virtual examples of WWII-era steel armor." World of Tanks officially launched on April 12th after an extensive beta period, and the game recently released new maps and the meta Ultimate Conquest mode.
World of Tanks offers pre-order packages that come with your very own toy tank
Unless you're very, very rich or a movie kid powered by a montage, chances are you'll never have a tank to call your own in life. Fortunately, Wargaming.net is getting ready to hand us the next best thing: keys to a virtual tank when World of Tanks launches on April 12th. Fans looking to stock up on goodies for launch should be interested in World of Tanks' pre-purchase program. While the game itself is free-to-play, it will be funded by microtransactions via in-game gold. Until April 12th, players have the opportunity to shell out for one of three pre-order packages to get a good discount on the cost of gold (around 10%) as well as snag a unique tank that comes with special abilities. The "heavy" package will feature the American M6A2E1 tank, the "medium" package has the German Pz. Kpfw. V/IV, and the "light" offers the Soviet A-32 tank. North American players can look over the pre-order packages here, while the European gamers must travel afar to a completely different website. In the meantime, check out 12 brand-new World of Tanks screenies below! %Gallery-96260%
GDC 2011: Joymax weighs Karma
Imagine a world where World War II -- also known as "That War With All Them Movies" -- never ended. Imagine that while the conflict raged, weapons development continued to advance well into the 1950s. Now imagine that this war-ravaged landscape is your new virtual playground. Joymax, the studio behind Silkroad Online, revealed at GDC that its next MMO will take place in such a world. Code-named Karma Online, this massively multiplayer online first-person shooter will attempt to provide the ultimate PvP battleground for players sick of bows and arrows and futuristic plasma rifles. Karma Online seeks to meld the best of both RPGs and FPSs by introducing a skill tree system that allows soldiers to specialize in preferred weapons and tactics. Although we're not quite sure what Joymax means by this, the studio promises more immersion by requiring the use of both hands for combat instead of just the mouse. The game will also come with the popular Call of Duty-style zombie mode if you want to switch up player-killing for undead slaughter. The shooter is scheduled to go into closed beta this May. Hit the jump to see Karma Online in action and get the skinny on Joymax and WeMade Entertainment's other projects-in-progress! %Gallery-118470%
The Daily Grind: Do betas give you bragging rights?
This may come as a shocker, but people on the internet like to brag. I know! Surprised the heck out of me too, but there you go. We like to feel important, and when we're not important, we like to prop ourselves up through importance-by-association. Sure, maybe I wasn't part of the invasion of Normandy in World War II, but my grandfather was, so doesn't that make me a hero in a way? It seems as though the only use for betas once they are finished is for bragging rights, as if being there somehow made some people superior to the rest of the plebeians. "Back in '04? Oh, I was part of the great World of Warcraft beta," they say with a distant look in their eyes. "Oh the times we had... the perils we faced... the bug reports we overlooked. Now you may honor me by giving me your gold and prostrating yourself at my feet." Have you seen this happen? Does being a part of an MMO beta automatically give you bragging rights in the form of seniority and experience? Or do people just think it does while the rest of us roll our eyes? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
World of Tanks reloads with more beta keys
Did you miss out on the World of Tanks closed beta key giveaway? Are you sad that it's not tank time at your house? Well, cheer up, because we've loaded up another round of beta keys thanks to the fine folks at Wargaming.net. If you want to give the game a try, we've got 3,000 more keys -- plenty to go around. Just head over to our handy giveaway site to claim your key. Follow the instructions on the site, set up your key, and you're ready to start shooting! If this is all new to you and you'd like to find out more about the game first, take some time to look at our E3 coverage of World of Tanks, then grab your key and have some fun.
Score yourself a World of Tanks closed beta key here! [Updated]
You know what time it is? It's tank time, the best time of the day! How could any other time beat tank time? Answer: it can't. With the weekend rapidly approaching, you're going to have some free time on your hands -- free time that you should turn into tank time. Lucky for you, we've scored 3,000 World of Tanks closed beta keys, so you can make all of your weekend time into tank time. The closed beta keys, and the corresponding instructions on how to redeem said closed beta keys, are lurking just beyond the break. So hit that continue-reading button and don't disappoint me, soldier! [Update -- the closed beta doesn't begin until July 8th. You can claim your beta key now, and enter it into the registration site, and even download the client, but it won't be operational until July 8th.]
World of Tanks roars in with new screenshots
Screenshots of battle Offered up for your eyeballs It is World of Tanks! Wargaming dot net Hopes you will check them all out perhaps, preorder. If tanks sound like fun Leave a haiku about them Or we'll blow you up. %Gallery-96260%
E3 2010: Victor Kislyi talks tanks... not the aggro kind
While the idea of a tank-based MMO might come across as a little odd to some people, World of Tanks has really shaken things up in its European-only closed beta test. Originally intended as a hardcore MMO for tank enthusiasts and PvP aficionados, interest in the intense, PvP-focused tank MMO skyrocketed in Russia and Europe, with over 40,000 players participating in the closed beta test, including even a few hundred American players who couldn't wait for the US beta coming up in a few weeks. We got to sit down with Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming.net, and discuss just why people are flocking to the tank-themed MMO, and the various changes they needed to make to accommodate a wider audience.
Exclusive WWII Online: Battleground Europe team interview
As we mentioned last week, WWII Online: Battleground Europe is still going strong. In fact, Playnet and Cornered Rat Software are on the verge of a massive update for the game. Update 1.31, currently in open beta, has been in the works for many months and is set to overhaul the graphics of this old-school MMOFPS. It might even give newer games a run for their money! We were lucky enough to sit down with several members of the Battleground Europe development team -- Amy-Lynn Engelbrecht, Dana Baldwin, and Geof Evans -- and fire off some questions about the visual overhaul, as well as a few questions about the weather -- that is, the game's new weather system, which will actually affect land and air conditions in PvP! Click past the break for our exclusive interview with the team!
Interview with World of Tanks' Mike Zhivets
Big guns. Thick armor. Exploding shells. Massive behemoths duking it out over territory. It's just another day at the (Omaha) beach in World of Tanks. Following the announcement of this free-to-play action MMO and a brief overview of how leveling will work in the game, we were eager to sit down with Wargaming.net to pry open the hatch on the details of this vehicle-based title. Happily, Mike Zhivets was kind enough to sit down with us and chew that fat regarding World of Tanks. Hit the jump to see why the game is based in the WWII era, how many types of tanks are on tap, and just how much damage can one tank pour out.
A look at leveling in World of Tanks
World of Tanks is in a class by itself -- if you want to play a vehicle-based MMO focused around motorized armor units, there simply isn't another option available. And while there were more than a few jokes at the time of its announcement, successful games with a strong vehicle focus exist already. But the core of a game like this is going to be the vehicles themselves, both their diversity and their interesting traits to set each one apart from its peers. The developers have released the access trees for all three main nations in the game -- Germany, the USA, and the USSR -- giving hopeful players an idea of what they can use to thunder about the countryside. Spanning the period between World War II and the Korean War, the list is fairly exhaustive, showcasing the diversity of tanks on the battlefield. The German progression path even includes the Maus, an experimental tank of absurd size that should please fans of bizarre WWII machinery. And if rolling around in a two-story tank doesn't get you excited, well, you're probably not the target audience. All three progress charts can be found on the official site for World of Tanks.
World of Tanks rolls onto the MMO battlefield
Who needs a human avatar when you can just roll around in a tank all day? That's the idea behind World of Tanks, a new MMO wargame simulation that's putting players behind the pedals of over 130 tanks in World War II. While the game has just been announced, their website is already featuring a swath of in-game screenshots and their first contest -- design your own tank motto. Players can submit mottos for the tanks at large, or for specific models. If their motto is chosen, they'll win an unspecified gift from the World of Tanks crew. The game appears to be another hybrid title, meshing a tank simulation with an RPG, as you can upgrade and modify your tanks to your heart's desire. Up to 60 players can roll across an instance at once, and the game will feature a territory control system that sounds like Global Agenda's conquest mode. For all of your tank information, check out the game's main website. Also, because no post on tanks isn't complete without a bad pun, "Tanks for reading Massively.com."
ESRB outs WWII-based opening of Bad Company 2
The original Bad Company spinoff in the Battlefield series kept the franchise's setting firmly in modern times, but if the Bad Company 2 ESRB description is true, you'll be seeing a return to WWII in the sequel. At the very least, the game's opening will bring players back to the Pacific side of the war, with the ESRB description saying, "In single-player mode, players conduct missions on an unnamed Japanese island during World War II and then move into the modern day through jungles, deserts, and snowy terrain." Just like we've discovered in our way too many hours with the game's multiplayer demo, the description details the inclusion of "melee attacks with a power drill" (yes, seriously) and the characters use of profanity "during cutscenes and in the heat of battle." And yes, we're just as excited by the former as you might imagine. %Gallery-43916%[Via BigDownload]
Government killing off LORAN-C navigation system, deems GPS good enough
Spare a thought for the noble LORAN network. It helped bombers and ships across the Atlantic in WWII and, since then, has served as a reliable system for helping sailors, domestic and otherwise, to find their position. Of course, now that everybody and their kid cousin has a GPS receiver in their back pocket the need for limited, complex, radio-based geolocation is somewhat reduced. So, the US government is killing it off, shutting down most of the towers on February 8, with those that stay online over the summer going decidedly offline this fall. The savings? $190 million over five years. The cost? No backup for our GPS system, meaning we'll be totally blind when the first wave of EMPs hit -- and don't try to act like they're not comin', man.
Assassin's Creed 2 producer sees franchise expanding beyond a trilogy, maybe into WWII
When asked whether or not the Assassin's Creed series would be getting a third installment, Assassin's Creed 2 producer Sébastien Puel thinks the answer almost goes without saying. "I'm often asked if we're doing a third game after ACII... I mean, we could do 35 of these," he (hopefully) exaggerates to Xbox World 360 in the mag's latest issue (via CVG). When the game's creative director told us the second game would be ending with a cliffhanger, we didn't know he meant we'd have to play 35 games to resolve it -- that's approximately 35,000 assassinated fools, by our estimations.Explaining his hyperbole further, Puel admits that a female assassin isn't out of the question, even confirming "We've had discussions on that very topic." Still, the Ubisoft producer doesn't want to switch the protagonist's gender without a good reason. "World War II, the economies in England and France were run by women because the men were off fighting ... we don't want to just decide we want to change and have a female hero, as the first inspiration is always the time period." To read the full interview in its original context, pick up the latest issue of Xbox World 360 (if you're in the UK, that is).%Gallery-49869%
THQ and WindySoft sending Company of Heroes Online to South Korea
Yesterday, THQ and Shanda announced their intentions to bring upcoming free-to-play Company of Heroes Online to South Korea via publishing partner WindySoft. Like Relic's PC-only classic Company of Heroes, COHO is an RTS game set during the Second World War, but the additions of a persistent world and expanded player customization (read: microtransactions) aim to set the online iteration apart. Currently, no release date is set nor have plans been announced to bring the game to the West. Between Shanda's other free-to-play MMO, King of Fighters World, Namco's Katamari Online, and now this, we're starting to feel like Asia's the rich kid down the block getting all the games we could never afford. Can we come over and play, Asia? Please?
One 'Order of War' comin' up Sept. 22
Square Enix's "first release of a Western-developed game outside of Japan," Order of War, serves up the World War II carnage and strategy starting September 22. The PC-only RTS is being developed by Wargaming.net and currently has a "Road to Paris" demo available for those who'd like an appetizer of the full experience. The game features two different campaign modes, along with multiplayer deathmatch and skirmish modes. No word yet if the main bad guy has gorgeous, flowing gray hair or if the protagonist is suffering from a case of amnesia, but is destined to win the war.%Gallery-50286%
The Saboteur visits brothels, explodes Nazis, has an accent
Nothing says, "I'm Irish ... really!" like Flogging Molly. And that's exactly the music that EA's Pandemic Studios chose for the new gameplay trailer of The Saboteur you see above. Sure, we enjoyed the game when we checked it out at E3 2009, even though it still looked a bit undercooked at the time. And yes, sneaking around WWII-era Paris as a rogue Irishman with a penchant for chaos does sound good to us. But if this music is any indication of the game's attitude, we're feeling a bit wary about it. There's only so much cliché one can take, folks.Update: EA would like us to point out that the trailer above is "made for Germany" and thus" had to be softened for their guidelines." We're pretty sure that means more blood and actual Nazis when the game ships Stateside. Er, um, not in Germany at least. %Gallery-49266%
Hands-on: RUSE (and its steep learning curve)
RUSE is shaping up to become a nice addition to PC gaming, and also to the vacant market of real-time strategy games on consoles. Halo Wars and Red Alert have pretty much been the only standouts, but where's the real depth and longevity of a title like StarCraft? Ubisoft's RUSE is hoping to fill that gap, and based on the time we spent with it recently, it may be just the thing. That is if it'd stop with the gimmicks like showing it at E3 on a Microsoft Surface table and just give us the console goods. Not all of us have a spare $15,000 sitting around.Head beyond the break to see a (very, very) long demo from the Tunisia setting in RUSE, and to read our thoughts about it. It's not something you can pick up and learn in a scant few seconds, but it offers you enough to keep coming back to it. Find out why inside.%Gallery-48492%
