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APB beta to go live next week

If you were one of the lucky people who got accepted in the All Points Bulletin beta you should be happy to hear that the beta will go live sometime next week.

News of this comes to us from Realtime Worlds CEO Gary Dale who took center stage during the Tech Media Invest conference to let us know of the beta’s next week appearance. Furthermore, he said that those who didn’t get accepted into the beta need not worry as Realtime Worlds plans on accepting more and more people as the game’s release date grows nearer.

via eurogamer

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

E3 ‘09: All Points Bulletin character customization

Here’s something we let slip by from E3, All Points Bulletin’s character creation tool which is showcased extensively in the above video.

Realtime Worlds really did a great job of giving players the ability to tweak and perfect their character any way they want. They also briefly showcased the ability to customize cars from their paintjob all the way to whats on the license plate.

If Realtime Worlds delivers with All Points Bulletin we may be looking at a hugely popular genre of MMOs. Unfortunately at this point all we have for a release date is Q1 2010, bummer.

Ruffian games expands by 15, still won’t say what they’re working on

It seems that a game studio founded by developers working on Fable II, Crackdown and GTA entitled Ruffian Games, has announced their expansion. 

The infant game studio will expand their employee base by 15 but still are unable to let the world know what they are working on. Joystiq quoted Ruffian exec Gaz Liddion as saying “Now we’re in full production, we’re itching to share the fantastic work these guys have been producing,” going on to say that the announcement “won’t bee to far away”.

Hmm, I wonder what the project could be? Crackdown 2 anyone?

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.

Take Two exec joins Realtime Worlds as CEO

It was recently announced that Take Two executive Gary Dale has taken the seat as Realtime Worlds new CEO. If you’re not familiar with Realtime Worlds, you may be familiar with its debut title Crackdown; you know, the game that came with a Halo 3 multiplayer beta key? Yeah, that one.

Co-founder and creative director of Realtime Worlds, David Jones, had this to say about Mr. Dale:

“Having worked with Gary earlier in his career at BMG Interactive, I am deeply impressed with his management style and profound understanding of the entertainment business. As RTW transitions from being a traditional developer to an online publisher I could not be happier that Gary will lead us through this exciting phase of our growth.”

The real growth we will see from Realtime Worlds, however, is with their upcoming GTA-esque MMO All Points Bulletin.

Press release after the break. More »

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.

Developer: Crackdown 2 Possible

Realtime Worlds studio manager Colin McDonald has said that there may yet be hope for a Crackdown sequel someday.

“I don’t think the door’s closed [on a sequel],” he said. “Obviously, right now we’re tied up with APB and everything else, but hopefully in the future we’ll have the resource and something can be worked out with Microsoft.”

The studio moved on to All Points Bulletin, an action-MMO that will pit cops against criminals, directly from Crackdown. He described the choice to be a “horrible, horrible decision that we still dwell on.”

All Points Bulletin is in development on PC and Xbox 360 for release in 2009; a public beta is expected to lead up to the game’s debut.