Archive for October, 2011

Opinion: Trouble in “always on” paradise

For many PC gamers, the recent trend toward always-connected games – sometimes referred to by the name of its top-hat-wearing, mustachioed alter ego, “always-on DRM” – is an oncoming black cloud. Developers, however, insist that there’s a silver lining. The likes of Blizzard and id, for instance, argue that they’ll make up for a tiny loss of control with a heaping helping of convenience. “In the end, it’s better for everybody,” id’s Tim Willits told Eurogamer. “Imagine picking up a game and it’s automatically updated. Or there’s something new you didn’t know about, and you didn’t have to click away. It’s all automatically there.”

And then Darkspore’s dark days happened.

MechWarrior Online developers share details, explain how MWO evolves the series

Worried that a free-to-play MechWarrior might be a cynical cash-in on a beloved franchise? So was I. But after talking with Creative Director Bryan Ekman and Russ Bullock, president of Piranha Games, I was not only more confident about MechWarrior Online, but genuinely excited about the direction they are taking the franchise.

Ekman and Bullock are serious Mech fans, and knew exactly where my questions were coming from. They were also crystal clear about one thing: this is the MechWarrior that PC gamers know and love. This is about taking the gameplay of MechWarrior 2 through MechWarrior 4 in directions those earlier games couldn’t even contemplate.

Sword of the Stars II launches half-baked, developers apologize

Well now, this is unfortunate. Mere days after leaving the launch pad, spacefaring strategy game Sword of the Stars II is adrift and burning in space. Players have cited numerous crippling issues – from missing tutorials to entire features gone absent to general instability. To their credit, at least developer Kerberos and publisher Paradox aren’t denying it.

Exclusive Interview: Piranha’s Bullock talks about the rocky road to rebooting MechWarrior

The MechWarrior community caught fire in 2009 when Piranha Games released a trailer for their upcoming MechWarrior reboot, and it seemed like all Piranha needed to do was find a a publisher and relaunch the classic MechWarrior franchise.

But almost two years went by with no word on the project’s status, and no publisher picked it up. I talked to Russ Bullock, president of Piranha Games’, and asked about MechWarrior’s missing years, and how MechWarrior Online emerged from their struggle to find a publisher. He explains how Microsoft’s restrictions on the MechWarrior license made the property a tough sell, and how bad timing made a tough job impossible. Stymied by the traditional publishing model, Piranha started to take a hard look at whether free-to-play might let them make the game they wanted, without compromising its values.

WildStar opens beta sign-ups to aspiring players, bunny people

WildStar may not spark an MMO revolution, but if WoW was the first MMO to evolve thumbs, then WildStar’s the universe’s greatest thumb war champion. Also, it has purple-haired bunny girls, because… well, moving on, beta sign-ups!

Unfortunately, Carbine hasn’t given any whens, wheres, or whats just yet, but I’m attempting to contact the developer for more information. In the meantime, we have this nice preview to help you arm yourself for the big galactic battle – with knowledge.

Meet MechWarrior Online, Piranha’s free-to-play tactical Mech sim

After two years of near-total silence about the fate of the MechWarrior reboot, Piranha Games has announced MechWarrior Online, a free-to-play, team-based multiplayer BattleMech sim that’ll go live in the second half of 2012. Starting from just before the Clan Invasion of 3050, MWO will tell the story of the Battletech universe in real-time. Each day, players will do battle on behalf of the universe’s major factions, and each day in the game will represent a single day’s action in the fictional Inner Sphere.

MechWarrior Online (MWO) might be free-to-play, but MWO Creative Director Bryan Ekman and Piranha President Russ Bullock insist this is going to be a proper MechWarrior game in the tradition of MechWarrior 2 through 4, not a successor to the Xbox action game Mech Assault. Ekman says joystick support is a strong probability, and both call this a Mech sim.

“I think it’s really the MechWarrior you know,” Bullock says. “It’s fully first-person. It’s not a new interpretation. We’re modernizing things a little bit, I think we’ll get to those questions, but certainly it’s MechWarrior.”

Read on for more with Piranha, and exclusive art.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta delayed

The Global Offensive closed beta was to kick off with 10,000 participants this month, but CVG report that Valve have pushed it back a while after criticism from the pro players they have testing the game.

“They gave us a lot of feedback on things we should get in the game before we release it, otherwise we’re going to be getting a lot of bug reports or a lot of feedback and it would just be redundant,” said Valve’s Chet Faliszeck.

Kinect for Windows to go commercial

Microsoft has announced that developers will soon be able to charge for Windows software that uses a Kinect as an input device. A non-commercial beta SDK for Windows development has been available to download from Microsoft Research since April, along with various programming resources. But profiting from desktop development has so far been prohibited.

That restriction should be lifted soon after the new year, apparently.

Planetside 2 character classes detailed, levelling system “similar to Eve Online”

Straddling the fence between MMO and online shooter can’t be easy, especially when it comes to character classes. We’ve spoken to Planetside 2 creative director Matt Higby about the roles available to each faction, and how SOE have taken steps to ensure that Planetside 2′s classes are flexible, and easy to identify at great distance on Planetside 2′s vast battlefields. You’ll find plenty more information in our six-page Planetside 2 preview in the latest issue of PC Gamer UK.

On top of its three factions – The Vanu Sovereignity, The New Conglomerate and The Terran Republic – there are six character classes each to choose from. “Each faction has specific gameplay implementations that basically make each faction feel like a unique game,” says Higby. “Terran Republic isn’t always going to beat Vanu and New Conglomerate isn’t always going to lose to Vanu, but they have a unique approach that they’re going to have to take to take those guys out.”