Fans of All Points Bulletin are in for a treat this week as GamersFirst has dropped a ton of new info about the game in its latest APB Reloaded blog entry. Zak "Qwentle" Littwin (former QA Lead at Realtime Worlds and current designer at GamersFirst) devotes a lot of virtual ink to APB's closed beta tweaks, and also hints at "much more extensive changes" in store for the game's open beta and release clients. Littwin teases a new game mode called Turf Wars as well as APB's first proper expansion which will feature a new district for the city of San Paro.
First things first though; the meat of the blog entry concerns core gameplay adjustments that GamersFirst wishes to test in the closed beta. These include cheat detection (via Punkbuster as discussed last week), weapon modifications, and sweeping changes to the old game's progression curve. A few of the game's vehicles have also been modified. The original version of APB received a fair bit of criticism related to its driving mechanics, and GamersFirst is looking to rectify this in part by "giv[ing] each vehicle a lot of individual personality and specialisation and unique benefits, rather than everyone rushing straight to the Cisco/Bishada/Jericho/T25."
Finally, Littwin touches on premium accounts and the challenge inherent in differentiating them from free-to-play services without unbalancing the game. Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and read all about it at the official APB Reloaded blog.
Reader Comments (12)
Posted: Jan 31st 2011 10:09AM jmerriex said
Is it wrong for the Producer of the title to post first?
Posted: Jan 31st 2011 11:01AM Tezcatli said
So glad to see APB got picked up. And that it's being further refined. It's the only friend I could get my friend remotely interested in. Since she likes GTA. And F2P just sweetens the deal. :D
Posted: Jan 31st 2011 11:10AM Ergonomic Cat said
These are encouraging! I wanted so desperately to lobe APB, but just never enjoyed it. This article convinced me to respond to that "APB Beta" email in my box.
Posted: Jan 31st 2011 12:26PM Ergonomic Cat said
@paterah Exactly. Sorry, I should have been clearer. Old subs got a "hey, guess what?" type email.
Reply
Posted: Jan 31st 2011 2:21PM bobfish said
Not sure about the progression changes but the rest of it sounds pretty good.
Hope the fact that my RTW account had a now defunct email address doesn't prevent me from reclaiming my characters.
Hope the fact that my RTW account had a now defunct email address doesn't prevent me from reclaiming my characters.
Posted: Feb 1st 2011 11:28AM Luftwaffles said
I've been so excited about this reboot, and then I read about "premium weapons for lease" and all my joy evaporated. The only thing worse than premium items are premium items you have to keep paying to 'borrow.'
Posted: Feb 1st 2011 7:35PM claytondora said
The love the apparent transparency that is going into the redesign of what could have been a great game. They state quite clearly in the post: this is what we're are currently fixing this is what we are planning to fix/add, and why. Those folks over at Gamersfirst know how to make a community happy. I for one am ecstatic about this change of hands and subsequent revival of APB. I think Gamersfirst will make a better game than RTW could have, and they will make it F2P, like it should have been from the start. The way they seem to be going about micro-transactions makes good sense, and it will probably make them good money. Good show.
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