Posts Tagged ‘apb’
Top 10 original video games of 2010
Hollywood usually takes most of the slack when it comes to criticism for lack of originality, but in fact, the video game industry is even worse at creating original content, it’s a world dominated by franchises of every kind, from sports to action games, publishers and developers are usually taking the easy and safe way: sequels. And spin offs. And remakes. Etc.
We’ve compiled a list of top 10 original games that are scheduled for release for 2010 — and it was quite a challenge: out of the 130 games confirmed for 2010 by major publishers and developers, we found 19 that were original. Just 19.
10: Brink (Spring 2010)
Brink, an FPS developed by Splash Damage and published by Bethesda, centers around a two sides: Resistance and Security, and is a team based multiplayer shooter much like Quake Wars, which was also developed by Splash Damage. It looks promising as a multiplayer game, as it’s story based, much like Quake Wars, where one battle takes place over several maps, with a story connecting everything together.
9: Alpha Protocol (Spring 2010)
Alpha Protocol, developed by Obsidian Entertainment — developers of Star Wars: KOTOR 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 — is a third person action RPG where the player assumes the role of Michael Thorton, a CIA agent who’s been betrayed and must not only fight his way through enemies, but also uncover the conspiracy that set him up.
8: Singularity (Q2 2010)
While time travel is a known concept in games, albeit underused, it’s still something that is difficult to fit in wiht the overall storyline, and the time feature never seems to be used properly. In Singularity, the player will have control over a TMD (Time Manipulation Device), a “weapon” which will be used to solve puzzles, for instance, if a door is locked, instead of looking for the key, you use the TMD and speed up time for the lock only, which will rust, and voila, door opened! Or use it on an enemy and watch him turn into a skeleton. The concept certainly seems intriguing, and offers some truly original puzzles.
7: Dante’s Inferno (February 9, 2010)
Dante’s Inferno has already caused a lot of controversy, from the fake E3 2009 protest, to gameplay elements where players can slay children. The gritty, hell based game is loosely based on the actual Inferno by Dante in The Divine Comedy, and the player assumes the role of Dante, who has to fight his way though monsters and demons in the 9 circles of hell, and decide whether he’ll be good and spare some (like children) or go reckless. It definitely looks as one of the darkest games of 2010.
6: MAG (January 26, 2010)
MAG (Massive Action Game) is a PS3 online FPS multiplayer who’s main feature is a massive 256 player online matches, with 128 players per team, divided into 8-player squads, 4 squads into a platoon, and 4 platoons into a company. With 256 players on the map, MAG is set to deliver some of the most intense and frantic combat yet, and will offer detailed stats and rankings, where higher ranked players will be able to command the battle and give orders to individual squads and platoons.
5: LA Noire (Q3 2010)
LA Noire, an open ended adventure game set in a recreated 1940s Los Angeles, which players can freely roam around, and chose to solve a number of murders around the city. The game has a great feeling of classic noir films based in LA, like LA Confidential, The Maltese Falcon and Chinatown, and draws inspiration from such works as well.
4: Rage (Q4 2010)
It’s been a while since Id Software has made an original game — actually, the last original game Id Software made was Quake, back in 1996. Id finally shows something new with Rage, a fusion between a first person shooter and a racing game set in a post-apocalyptic Mad Max styled world. It’s built with the all new Id Tech 5 engine, and shows very promising visuals, to say the least.
3: Heavy Rain (Q2 2010)
Heavy Rain has been on the radar since it was originally showcased at E3 2006, and will be released almost four years later, in Q2 2010. The gorgeous looking game centers around a serial killer known as “The Origami Killer”, and players assume roles of different characters who try and solve the murders. It’s one of the most stylish and atmospheric games to come out in 2010.
2: Alan Wake (Q2 2010)
What Heavy Rain is for the PS3, Alan Wake is for the Xbox 360. Developed by Remedy, Alan Wake is a psychological thriller inspired by the likes of Twin Peaks and Stephen King novels, where players assume the role of Alan Wake, a writer who seeks refuge at a quiet place where he can write his next novel (much like Stephen Kings “Misery“). However, when his wife vanishes, it’s up to him to get her back.
1: APB (March 2010)
APB is not only the most original MMO game to his the stores in 2010, it’s also the most original game overall. It’s the classic cops vs. robbers gameplay, but on a massive scale, with endless customizations and options, tons of missions and weapons. Created by David Jones, the original creator for GTA, APB is hailed as everything he wanted to do wince he made GTA, and while originally trying to pitch and sell APB to Rockstar as GTA Online, it’s good that APB is on its own now, we need a great, original game. And an MMO that’s not fantasy based.
Tags: alan wake, alpha protocol, apb, brink, dantes inferno, heavy rain, la noire, mag, Multiplayer, singularity
APB closed beta begins
Realtime Worlds has commenced closed beta testing for APB, the upcoming MMO crime game, as the first batch of invites have been sent out to the lucky ones. There’s no details on what the beta includes, but we suspect it’ll test a wide variety of game mechanics — that’s what betas are for, anyways.
If you haven’t received an invite, don’t worry, as you can still apply for the beta here.
Tags: apb
20 games to look forward to in 2010
While 2009 is drawing to an end, and with all the great AAA titles only weeks away, keep in mind that 2010 is going to see more top-notch titles released than the last few years. Here are 20 games that should/will make an impact next year, and while a lot more games are coming out, we obviously couldn’t include them all — our list grew from ten games to twenty games simply because even we were surprised how many title are lined up for 2010. Here’s our 20 games for 2010, in no particular order.
Postal 3 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Running With Scissors, Q2, 2010)
The original Postal was both hailed and damned for its controversial content, and the sequel, Postal 2 only made it better (or worse, if you’re a politician looking for some media attention). Postal 3 will expand on the sandbox style gameplay, and will even feature director Uwe Boll (who made the 2008 Postal movie) in a cameo role.
APB (PC, Xbox 360, March 2010)
After developing Crackdown for the Xbox 360, which has since become a cult classic on the console, Realtime Worlds shifted all their manpower to APB (All Points Bulletin), a revolutionary MMO set in a huge city where players battle each other as either law enforcement agents, or criminals. A kind of GTA online, as creator David Jones (the man behind GTA) is noted saying APB is “the bastard child of everything we’ve been striving towards over the 15-20 years”.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360, March 2, 2010)
Battlefield: Bad Company almost managed to perfect something no other FPS had done before: creating a fully destructible battlefield, where walls would no longer provide infinite cover — one tank shell and you better be looking to hide somewhere else. Coupled with a single player campaign and a solid multiplayer, Bad Company has been one of the most played FPS on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Bad Company 2 will bring “destruction 2.0″, taking destruction to a whole new level, this time, entire buildings and towns can be leveled to the ground.
Heavy Rain (PS3, February 2010)
Heavy Rain has been highly anticipated ever since it was first showcased at E3 2006 for the PlayStation 3, the film-noir, thriller-styled game will feature an intertwined storyline, with four playable characters, all looking for a serial killed going under the name “The Origami Killer”.
Halo Reach (Xbox 360, Q4 2010)
The next chapter in the Halo series and Master Chief’s battle against the Covenant was unveiled at E3 2009, without any further details other than the game would be the last Halo game to be developed by Bungie. Owners of Halo 3: ODST will have a chance to check out the game’s multiplayer beta in the middle of 2010, by then we should have more details on Reach.
Red Steel 2 (Wii, February 16, 2010)
The original Red Steel was the very first Wii game that was revealed, and rode a wave of anticipation until its release — as a Wii launch title — where it showed a flawed control scheme, dated visuals and uninspiring gameplay. Red Steel 2 is said to correct all those issues, and will require (and be bundled with) the Wii Motion Plus accessory, giving it a true 1:1 control input, paving the way for some great sword fights. We sure hope so.
Crysis 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Q4 2010)
The original Crysis is still bringing even the most powerful PCs to their knees, and is still hailed as the best looking game available, at least if a tropical island is what you crave. Crysis 2 continues the story where the original left off, and will use the new CryEngine 3, creating an even more immersive world. There aren’t many details of the game yet, but one thing is for sure: start saving for a new PC rig.
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Realtime Worlds: APB subscription fees “won’t be normal”
Ever since Realtime Worlds announced All Points Bulletin it has been a highly sought after game with it’s GTA-like gameplay and MMO genre.
Well the developer has again stepped forward to speak of the game and this time about the subscription fees, a topic that has been under discussion for some time. David Jones of Realtime Worlds was quoted to have said the following:
“Basically, you have to buy the client. It’s a traditional game that you buy…We’re not going the normal ‘you have to subscribe to play the game every month’ route. What we haven’t said is which route we are going, and in some respects we’re still looking.”
Let’s hope that they really come up with something unique if you told World of Warcraft players they would have to pay an additional $15 a month to play APB, I don’t think they would be down.
via Kotaku
Realtime worlds and APB to appear at E3
After Realtime Worlds got wind of the speculation surrounding their appearance at E3, they released the following statement to the APB Evolved community:
Hi everyone at APB-Evolved, we just wanted to quickly say thanks for all your patience recently whilst we’ve been quietly pushing forward with the development of APB.
We know this can be frustrating for fans, so to show our appreciation we have decided to inform you guys that yes we WILL be at E3 this year and this will mark the start of lots more news, activities and information coming out about APB: All Points Bulletin.
Here is a brand new screenshot made especially for you guys to give you another look at the awesome character customizations that will make up a large part of APB.
See you all at E3.
Realtime Worlds
So there you have it, Realtime Worlds will definitely be at E3 showcasing their upcoming MMO All Points Bulletin. Oh yeah, they also gave the community the above screenshot to show off the character customization, how kind of them.
Realtime Worlds to showcase APB at E3?
Rumors have been circulating that Realtime Worlds, developers of the upcoming MMO action game APB, All Points Bulletin, would be showcased at E3, more specifically, the Microsoft Press Event. Eurogamer tried to get a comment on the story, but Realtime Worlds declined to comment. We’ll see at E3, as ABP has been in development for years now, and is, according to rumors, scheduled for release this year.
Realtime Worlds has previously developed the Xbox 360 open world action game Crackdown, which has since become somewhat of a cult-classic.
All Points Bulletin official site goes live
Who wouldn’t love a GTA MMO? That’s what Realtime Worlds is hoping to accomplish with their upcoming PC title All Points Bulletin, brought to you from the guy behind the original GTA and Crackdown, David Jones.
Those looking to soak in all the information possible can head over to the recently launched official website at http://www.apb.com/. Besides some fancy art and a teaser website, not much is to be found at said site yet but there is sure to be more information added as APB’s release date grows nearer.
APB Gets Criminal Arresting, Possibly Stealth
Long in development MMO from Realtime Worlds is actually making progress and will soon be ready to enter beta status. A game newsletter reveals that law enforcement characters in All Points Bulletin will be able to arrest criminal characters, adding an interesting touch to the PvP policies in the GTA-esque MMO.
This arrest system will let cops take out criminal players until they are freed or the arrest timer expires in which case they must respawn as if killed. In addition, the developer is said to be working on a stealth system, though it is unknown if it will make it to the final version of the game.
Additionally, Realtime Worlds is ditching class systems like most other MMOs, instead creating a unique class tailored to each player based on their individual style.
All Points Bulletin is due out on PC and Xbox 360 sometime next year.
No More Crackdown DLC
OXM reports that there will be no more DLC for Crackdown, which has been confirmed by Realtime Worlds.
The news comes straight from community relations manager Chris Dye who said in a post on the game’s forums that the studio has completely moved on to APB, its upcoming cops-and-robbers MMO.
However, he does note that the company appreciates the support gamers have provided for Crackdown, adding that the studio “hopes to repay that in future”.
APB is expected to hit PC and Xbox 360 sometime next year.