MechWarrior Online video interview

MechWarrior Online will stomp out of beta by the end of this summer, and the game's Vancouverian creators at Piranha Games are illuminating further what the free-to-play multiplayer game will look like when it hits its version 1.0 milestone. I spoke with Piranha President Russ Bullock and Creative Director Bryan Ekman last week in San Francisco to get more details about MWO's ambitious territory-control metagame, Community Warfare, ask about the status of this thing, and check up on other upcoming features.

MechWarrior Online will be fully operational by the end of Summer

I still haven't seen a single groundhog, but people are already talking about Summer, let alone Spring, like we're absolutely certain it's going to happen. Yesterday, Piranha Games gave us another reason for this damnable Winter to shuffle off and give Spring/Summer their due: the launch (proper) of MechWarrior Online. As revealed at GDC, the stompy multiplayer shooter will exit beta in late Summer, more specifically "no later than" September 21st. Well that is the last official day of Summer.

MechWarrior Online March content plan includes largest map yet, more keybinds, "dynamic hanging items"

Piranha has outlined the upcoming March updates for MechWarrior Online, which will include usability improvements and new items for players to tinker with while dancing the mech-on-mech ballet. The coming weeks bring, among other features, one-use modules, an expanded set of piloting controls, and dangly accessories for your cockpit such as fuzzy dice.

MechWarrior Online shows off its Pretty Baby

In a blatant bit of ironic naming, MechWarrior Online has introduced a new robot combatant: the Pretty Baby. It's 80-tons of metal and laser cannon, putting it firmly in MWO's heaviest class. Although I'll admit, the paint job is quite fetching.

MechWarrior Online update adds Death's Knell, nostalgic startup sequence

Stomping right behind the Spider Mech that launched last week, the Death's Knell is a new and agile robotic warrior included in MechWarrior Online's latest update. As a bonus, a familiar-sounding startup sequence for series veterans now plays whenever you switch on your towering titan.

Mechwarrior Online releases Spider Mech ahead of double-XP weekend

The engineers at Piranha have been hard at work at their latest robot warrior for free-to-play battler Mechwarrior Online. Disappointingly, the Spider Mech isn't an octolegged monstrosity that traps its flitting opponents in webs of hardened steel. Instead it promises to be the fastest, most maneuverable addition to the Light class - with eight jumpjets to bump up the agility.

According to the press release, "Spider pilots can create nightmares for pilots of heavier Mechs on the battlefield; this is the time to watch your back!" Presumably they're working on a giant, reinforced can of bug spray for a future release.

Why mechs are the most fun thing to shoot in a video game

Not zombies. Not terrorists. Not bandits, pirates, helicopters, or mutant helicopters. After dedicating my life to research, I’ve determined that mechs are the most fun thing to shoot in a video game. MechWarrior’s mechs, specifically.

What makes mechs special? They’re voodoo dolls. And piñatas.

Conquest mode coming to MechWarrior Online this Tuesday

Piranha Games is sneaking out a final content update for MechWarrior Online before the holiday break. Next Tuesday, Conquest will become MWO’s second mode—a long-awaited addition for beta players like myself who’ve put dozens of hours into the game’s fun-but-meager map pool. Read on for more details, and for other changes coming in the upcoming patch.

MechWarrior Online implements cosmetic customization, AI voice-over, map variant

Mechmakers Piranha Games deployed an update yesterday to MWO's slowly-growing closed beta that adds CamoSpec, the all-important system for redecorating your mech. Well, technically our MechWarrior Online issue was the first way mech pilots could apply paint to their hulking man-panzers, but Tuesday's patch formalizes the system within the game. Inside, I've taken a minute to pop into the MechLab to check it out in a video.

Piranha releases Mechwarrior Online open beta trailer

MechWarrior Online hands-on video

Mechwarrior Online enters open beta

There's been a bit of hesitation surrounding the launch of Mechwarrior Online, but it has finally stomped through the closed beta process and wheezed into the sunlight of open beta. The move to open beta represents the last data wipe for beleaguered closed beta pilots that have levelled up stunning war machines time and time again, only to have them vanish with the arrival of another big update.

Good news for them, then, but better news for everyone else. Anyone who fancies jumping into the cockpit can sign up for an account on the MechWarrior Online site

MechWarrior Online open beta starts Monday, for real this time

Stompy multiplayer robo-tactical shooter MechWarrior Online has been flip-flopping over its pending open beta for a good few weeks now. First it was kicking off on October 16th, then it was delayed, and then it didn't like the look of those teenagers so it decided to keep its giant feet indoors. Thankfully, those teenagers have now wandered off - MWO will begin its open beta (for realsies) on October 29th, or this coming Monday.

Piranha "would love" single-player for MechWarrior Online

"I'd love to see a big, new ten-hour single-player campaign for MechWarrior," Piranha Games co-founder Russ Bullock said during GDC Online. He's assuredly not alone on that wishful thought -- the MechWarrior franchise's bipedal chunks of armageddon typically came with colony and clan warfare. But speaking to Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Bullock cited the industry's "really tough" expectations for including worthwhile single-player as the primary reason for keeping the action multiplayer for now.

MechWarrior Online open beta delayed

Last week, Piranha Games announced that the MechWarrior Online open beta test would start tomorrow. Then, later last week, Lead Designer Paul Inouye responded to community concerns over instability with the news that the open beta will be pushed back indefinitely.

MechWarrior Online open beta commences October 16

The wait is almost over for those who haven't already made their way onto the stompy, mech-infested battlefields of MechWarrior Online by way of key or invite. Starting next week, the beta is opening up to all aspiring combatants. You have until midnight on the 14th to become part of the Founders Program, grabbing some exclusive rewards and hipster cred that you just can't put a price on.

Mechwarrior Online trailer provides pilot lesson, delivers hot lasers to robot faces

As much as I'd love to be a mech, there are definitely some drawbacks. You can fire a kaleidoscopic array of lasers out of your face, which is neat, but if you overdo it you shut down and have to spend several minutes gently venting hot gas, which has to be on the list of most embarrassing things that can happen in public. Perhaps that's the reason that you won't actually be the mech in Mechwarrior Online. In the cockpit, you're a pilot in a cockpit, with legs and everything.

Mechwarrior Online trailer shows Centurion class, deals damage with dazzling lazers

A mech that's effective at all ranges with all lasers, that's what we like to see. The Centurion mech sounds like a good starting point for new players. A few tons of extra armour give it the resilience to last in a midfield laze-off and its flexible load out options should be fun to tinker with. The new Mechwarrior Online shows the Centurion reducing foes to scrap on beaches, in bases and tight arctic corridors. That last one looks to be Frozen City, the new map that the Mechwarrior Online devs revealed a couple of weeks ago. Take a closer look in the new trailer below.

Catapult mech looks a bit bored in new MechWarrior Online screenshots

Piranha Games have just released some new screenshots from their upcoming free-to-play game MechWarrior Online. These ones show the Catapult mech standing around a bit, flying, shooting something, looking a bit sad, looking at a tower (possibly because it's a bit sad), and then standing around a bit more. Of course, the game is likely to be a bit more interesting than these screenshots suggest - Evan was anything but bored by it in this preview. It's powered by Crytek's CryEngine 3, too, which means even a bored mech looks like a good mech.

MechWarrior Online devs on community warfare and taking planets in "the Inner Sphere"

A developer diary post on the MechWarrior Online site has sketched out how communities will fight in MechWarrior Online. For every day that passes in the real world, a day will pass in Mechwarrior Online's "Inner Sphere." There players can join factions and complete missions to earn control of the planets within the sphere.

"Wednesday December 7, 2011 is Wednesday December 7, 3048," write developers Paul Inouye and Bryan Ekman in the post. "This means that every time you log into MechWarrior Online, something new has happened. News updates via the ISN feed, news reporter features and battle feeds keep players up to date on current events."