Firefall

The votes are in. The people have spoken. Now, it's time to play. Last week's Choose My Adventure column, the first one centered on Firefall, presented a couple of choices related to the very basics of creating our character and giving him or her reason to fight. Voters enthusiastically chose a beaten-down man with one hope for redemption -- and unwittingly fulfilled my personal fantasy to create a game hero based on Nicolas Cage's character in Con Air.

Voters also chose from among Firefall's five battleframes, with the jack-of-all-trades Assault frame beating out the smash-it-in-the-face Dreadnaught frame by just 26 votes. So, to recap: We have created a character who's an ex-con with no reason to live, handed him an assault rifle, and dropped him into a violent world where pretty much anything goes.

This is getting good.

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Well folks, it was an epic battle. The communities of Firefall and Fallen Earth rolled out in force to support their favorite game in last week's Choose My Adventure poll, and the contest came right down to the wire with thousands of votes pouring in from both sides. Most impressively, despite the efforts of a few bad-apple commenters and forum trolls, it was a war fought with courtesy and genuine respect for the passions of the competing community. Well done.

It's true that only one game can win a slot in Choose My Adventure, and this time around Firefall topped the charts. But let's take a moment to recognize the awesome turnout from both groups of fans. Your communities called you to action, and you responded with dedication and enthusiasm. Frankly, that's the type of stuff we love to see.

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This Friday, June 7, Firefall will have its final public beta test weekend before the game sets up for open beta on July 9.

Red 5 Studios states that this event will feature three days of free access to the game, a contest for high-end gear, and a special community unlock called the Infiltrator Nightvision Goggles.

The Founder's Pack deals will be retiring before open beta, so you have about a month to take advantage of those. Check out the game's newest trailer just after the cut for more wackiness.

[Source: Red 5 Studios press release]

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If there's a class in Star Wars: The Old Republic that has a monopoly on the best lines, banter, and dialogue, it would have to be the Smuggler. Reader Danielle sent us in this nicely framed shot: "Here's my confident, sassy Smuggler striking a pose as he interrupts a conversation."

But isn't interrupting a conversation... rude? He shouldn't do that, then. He should wait patiently until both parties are finished, and perhaps raise his hand and wait to be acknowledged by his betters. Or he could totally interrupt their boring chit-chat.

The One Shots column is a time capsule of some of the most important MMO moments in history, and you're about to witness the latest entries into this hallowed vault. Steel yourself and prepare to gaze in wonder at the peak of human ingenuity and the print screen key!

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If you've been following the development of upcoming crowdfunded sci-fi sandbox Star Citizen with interest, Massively has a brand-new column you might enjoy. The Diablo III test realm hinted at upcoming boosts to life regeneration and the damage output of a few spells, but Blizzard also suggested that a nerf to the Wizard Archon Form might be on the way. Path of Exile started its second season of race events, with over 200 events to take part in and massive prizes to be won.

Third-person MOBA SMITE added the 34th god to its roster this week with acrobatic assassin Ne Zha entering the fray, and Guardians of Middle-Earth released new DLC character Kili the Dwarf. Rise of Immortals added support for game replays and introduced and interesting new White Knight feature that lets players take over from characters who have disconnected or quit in the middle of a game.

Heroes of Newerth announced a huge upcoming balance patch that may finally get rid of the paid-for early hero access and promises to rebalance much of the game's expansive roster of characters. Dota 2's streamlined abuse report update backfired when players discovered they could use the report feature itself to abuse other players. And Firefall may finally be edging toward release with the announcement of a date for the start of open beta.

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If you're in the market for a new sci-fi shooter this summer, mark July 9th on your calendar. That's the date that Red 5 has set aside for Firefall's open beta.

IGN reports that the game will also see "major milestones" in the months of May and July. These include a new UI, crafting and progression tweaks, city power levels, Chosen instances, and Melding exploration.

Firefall is an open-world MMO shooter with skill-based combat and a free-to-play business model.

A demo of Diablo III running on the PS3 was shown at PAX East 2013 this week, and developers confirmed that the game is not necessarily exclusive to Sony. Many PC players have been enraged by the demo, which showed improved loot and singleplayer features developers had previously said were not possible. Red 5 Studios was also at PAX this week to reveal its ambitious plans for a gaming TV channel. The studio plans to expand its gaming video channel Stage 5 with several new high-quality shows about indie games, cosplay, and gaming tropes. Path of Exile also released information on three completely overpowered new support gems currently in alpha testing for its upcoming Patch 0.10.5.

In MOBA news, League of Legends officially launched in Italy this week with a huge launch ceremony in Rome. Several professional players were unrelatedly banned for boosting other players' stats artificially, and one team was given its final warning for using a DDoS attack during a match. Heroes of Newerth received new melee strength hero Prisoner 945, and Guardians of Middle-Earth released a free map update along with a purchasable spider character DLC. Upcoming MOBA SMITE was given a loose launch window of summer 2013, and Russian MOBA Prime World took a big step toward European and US launches with the translation of much of its Russian website into English.

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Red 5 Studios' MMOFPS Firefall is probably familiar to the Massively family, but it presentation Friday at PAX East was a chance to get a look behind the curtain at how far it's come and how far it has to go during testing.

CEO Mark Kern and Lead Game Designer Scott Youngblood presented a little history of the game's development so far, with a look to the future. But if that's not enough to get you to gear up and plant a Thumper, maybe their announcement about a brand-new video channel devoted to everything and anything involving gaming will catch your interest.

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It's hard not to turn into a total tourist when you're checking out a new beta. Out comes the fanny pack, the giddy delight of a new world, and most importantly, the camera.

Reader Michelle kicks off this week's One Shots column with a screenshot of the first Neverwinter beta weekend. It's a shot of her character Nora overlooking the edge of aptly named Neverdeath Graveyard. We're guessing that the caretaker down there has his hands full.

Would you go into such a place if you saw it in real life? I guess that's why we have our avatars to be bold where we would flee! Let's take a look at a few other places where angels fear to tread.

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It's been a huge week for MOBAs, with the release of several new characters, a ton of balance changes, and even a game closing down for good. League of Legends announced that it will start officially supporting Mac and released a new Smart Ping system designed to help players work together as a team despite language barriers. SMITE showed off its new crowd-controlling water god, Poseidon, and console MOBA Guardians of Middle-Earth released a new Survival game mode DLC.

We heard the unfortunate news that Wrath of Heroes will be closing its doors at the end of the month, and it's not the only game going out of business. Online FPS Bullet Run, formerly known as Hedone, is due to shut down on Friday, March 8th, in a big final event. It's not all doom and gloom, though, as Dota 2 has hit another impressive milestone, passing 300,000 peak concurrent players. The first season of Heroes of Newerth's HoN Tour league is soon to draw to a close, and developers are planning a huge balance patch before the next season kicks off.

Blizzard enraged Diablo III fans this week with the announcement that the console version will not feature the controversial always-online DRM and can be played offline. Path of Exile detailed its next open beta patch, which is due to introduce a new fire skill, a 3v3 dueling arena, and significant Duelist class buffs. Online FPS Firefall produced a new trailer this week showing off its flight gameplay amidst criticism from fans over its lack of beta content. Finally, sci-fi sandbox Star Citizen gave fans a look behind the curtain of game development in its biggest development update video yet.

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As any fan of my streams can tell you, I am not awesome at video games. So when Massively asked me to take a look at Firefall, a twitch-heavy, free-to-play shooter developed by Red 5 Studios, it was only with trepidation that I accepted. Could I really find happiness in a world that relied on reflexes and skill more than clever spell rotations? Or would my incompetence make the game so frustrating that I would end up smashing my keyboard with my face?

After procrastinating for days and hoping that the project would vanish into the night (beta goblins or something), I finally sat down to check the game out. What I discovered is that Firefall is much more than a shooter; it is a vibrant universe packed with fun things to do, intriguing content to explore, and enough character customization to please even the most ardent of tweakers.

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If you watch Firefall's most recent video, you would be forgiven for assuming that this game single-handedly pioneered aviation. That's OK, we suppose, because what Firefall offers in the way of in-flight service does look awfully enjoyable.

Jetpacks, rocket boots, and glider wings are all on display as Firefall's characters rain down death and destruction while giving rude gestures to boring old terra firma. Check out the video after the break and let us know if you think that flight is an essential (and perhaps addicting) element for a sci-fi shooter.

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Path of Exile continued upgrading its servers to cope with the increasing load of new players following its open beta release, closing the servers for three hours this week to add several new database servers. Massively exclusively revealed Blacklight: Retribution's new Safehold and metro maps, and Firefall developer Red 5 Studios explained its development plans for the next quarter.

Rise of Immortals released a spotlight video on its new long-range mage immortal Undine, while Guardians of Middle-Earth showed off its latest two DLC characters Radagast the Brown Wizard and Glóin, father of Gimli.

League of Legends made some balance changes to its Honor system, which rewards players for being nice to each other. Riot also talked to some of Season 3's newest competitive players about what being a professional gamer means to them. Dota 2 finally got its long-awaited team matchmaking system this week, and community broadcaster Beyond The Summit launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay for full-time tournament broadcasting.

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