Post-Apocalyptic

Vostok's Survarium, a spiritual sequel to the STALKER series, is getting ready to send out alpha invites. A dev diary posted yesterday on the game's official forums says that the first wave will welcome 1,000 testers into the post-apocalyptic MMO shooter's fold. Vostok says that of those 1,000 testers, no less than 200 of them will be stressing the game's servers around the clock.

The dev diary also outlines what testers can expect from the early stages of the project. The alpha, for example, is "team-based PvP combat mode only," and even this is necessarily scaled down in order to ensure that key components like shooting, movement, and synchronization are working properly.

You can register for the Survarium alpha at the game's official website.

Calling all high-level Fallen Earth players! GamersFirst is looking for some level 55 wastelanders to help alpha-test the new Dome arena. The Dome is a PvE challenge that was previewed in the March State of the Game, and it's now ready for the next step of development with your help.

If you're interested, send your forum name, typical hours of play, build, and PvE vs. PvP ratio to DeconLead@gamersfirst.com for review. Take note that involvement in this test doesn't mean you're in the elite Decon testing team, as this is more of a one-off event. Check out the Fallen Earth May State of the Game for more details.

Adventurers of Telara, you've kind of got a good news/bad news situation taking place here. The bad news is that RIFT is getting invaded, which was already the case. The worse news is that it's now being invaded by the Hellbugs from Defiance, which usually require a great deal of automatic weapons fire to be put down. The good news is that if you can somehow manage to overcome the distinct lack of any firearms and put down the invasion, you can keep a Hellbug around to ride! Wait, that might still be bad news.

Yes, Trion Worlds is kicking off a cross-promotional event with new fire rifts that give players a chance at Defiance-related rewards, most notably the chance to pick up a Hellbug mount. The event is open to all players, even if you're just trying out the game's Lite version. No word on how long the event will last, but it's probably best to assume that it won't be forever -- which is also sort of a good news/bad news situation, unless you wanted to see the game overrun by Hellbugs.

The crossover potential of the Defiance MMO and television series has only really been felt with a few main characters so far, but Trion Worlds wants to take that one step further by giving you a chance to be on the show.

How does that work? Simply register yourself at the official contest page and head into the game to earn the most ark salvage per hour during the contest period from 12:00 a.m. PDT April 30 to 11:59 p.m May 12 in the Most Wanted: Competitor and Most Wanted: Rogue's Gallery in-game pursuits. Of course, this is you, not your character's likeness, that we're talking about here, but it won't just be a simple screenshot pushed in the background. Artists from the series will render the winning player into an upcoming episode of the show.

[Update 4:15 p.m. EDT: The press release says that "the winner will have artists from the Defiance series render their character's likeness into a special place in an upcoming episode," but Trion's PR team has separately confirmed to Massively that it will in fact be you, not your character, whose likeness will be imported into the show.]

[Source: Trion Worlds press release]

Defiance executive producer Nathan Richardsson is getting serious today in a very serious blog post uploaded very seriously to the official site, a post that discusses fixes already made and promises even more fixes for some of the problems that have plagued the game since launch. MMO launches typically go about as smooth as a rhino's hindquarters, but it's always good to hear official word that the team is aware and working on the problems.

According to the post, the "big team" is working overtime addressing issues like PC server woes, general game server crashes, Xbox problems, and PlayStation 3 client patches. In happier news, the team promises that hackers and cheaters are being taken very, you know, seriously. The blog even admits that some cheaters are allowed to linger in the game for a while so the team can "enjoy" watching the scum.

The team is also looking into the Case of the Disappearing Items, although it is admittedly a tough nut to crack. Future blog posts, Richardsson says, will cover player feedback on many of the issues since launch.

Of all of the crazy characters from HBO's Game of Thrones, Brienne is easily my favorite. Why is she my favorite? It's not because she's just heroic or brave or any of the things that people often attribute to her; it's because she's a survivor. Much of that survival comes from her armor and the fact that she knows well enough to be able to protect herself! The actress Gwendoline Christie has talked about how uncomfortable the armor is to wear. I've heard the producers say that the metal skin is supposed to look sort of mismatched, and I love that. It only makes it stronger.

I often wish MMOs represented armor in better ways, especially for female characters. Some MMOs do a better job than others, and some MMOs do a decent job some of the time. Here are some of my picks for my favorite armor sets for female humans, orcs, goblins or... well, you get the point.

(Please don't post Game of Thrones spoilers in the comments section.)

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Would you like the good Grimlands news first or the bad Grimlands news first? That's nice, but you're getting the bad news first because this isn't a democracy. The post-apocalyptic shooter's Kickstarter campaign has been cancelled.

The good news is that DRAGO is apparently in talks to secure more substantial funding from an unnamed group of backers. Grimlands' project page updated this morning with the following announcement: "We have been contacted by several investors and are in active discussions to finish the game with them. This would not have been possible without this campaign and without your support! Of course we will keep you up to date on any development!"

[Thanks Zach!]

Did you enjoy the first episode of Defiance last Monday? We thought so. If you can't wait to see what's happening in the first four minutes of the next episode, then we have you covered. Tensions are rising as central characters Nolan and Irisa come head-to-head with ancient laws and religions within the city of Defiance, and we're sure that what happens next is going to impact the ragtag community for many episodes after.

Nolan has donned the star of the local lawman and stepped right into the middle of a Castithan ceremony, something that does not sit well with Datak Tarr, the local crime boss. Even after they fought in battle together, is it be possible for these two headstrong characters to bury the hatchet for good? Can't they all just get along?

It's TV, so no, no they cannot. Click past the cut to watch the video!

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Although it's been a while since the post-apocalyptic sandbox Xsyon has seen a patch, today's update looks to make up for that. With a focus on developing the in-game economy, this update introduces a number of new features, including new resources and materials, new Artisan and Master armor sets, a tribal upkeep system that offers bonuses, special trade totems, alliance and family group formation, and more.

Trade will be bolstered through the new totems; the new trade and quest versions allow tribes to place additional totems that will serve as a marketplace and quest hub. Even better, besides the ones placed in the tribe's own land, additional quest and trade totems can be placed on allied land. For more details on this and the other new systems, check out the full patch notes.

[Source: Notorious Games press release]

Mechwarrior Online is about to hit its fifth month of open beta, with promises of a late summer launch. With that launch comes continued production, new content, plenty of bug fixes, and tweaks. With all of the new content -- said to be delivered on a regular schedule -- comes plenty of challenges for the developer team.

We sat down with Piranha Games' creative director, Bryan Ekman, and president, Russ Bullock, to talk about how things have been going and where they're going in the future. Not only did we get the scoop on the next community-designed Mech to be released, but we also found out about new HUD improvements, aid for players who suffer from high ping, and much more. Click past the cut for all the details!

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Last night, the TV half of the multimedia Defiance experience launched, drawing players into the story of the town by the same name. Today, Trion Worlds expanded the narrative of this new world, releasing a new trailer highlighting the life of the Ark Hunters and delving into the events that led to the current state of the world. As Ark Hunters, players of the shooter comb the world to collect valuable Ark technology while facing danger in the partially terraformed lands.

Did you catch the premiere episode of Defiance on TV last night? If so, tell us what you thought in the comments below. And watch the Ark Hunter action in the video after the break.

[Source: Trion Press release]

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If you're anxiously waiting for Dean "Rocket" Hall's standalone version of his ultra-popular Arma 2 mod DayZ, you'll have to wait a little bit longer.

Hall is currently climbing Mount Everest as part of a two-month vacation from his development duties on Bohemia Interactive's zombie-themed post-apocalyptic sandbox. "Although the timing is poor for my sabbatical, it is not something planned on a whim and involves non-refundable costs of up to $100k," Hall writes on the DayZ website.

"This is going to take as long as it needs to," he continues. "We want to release our initial alpha under the architecture it needs to avoid hacking and security issues -- this is the only remaining task stopping us from releasing the alpha."

If the post-apocalyptic wastelands of Grimlands caught your eye but you didn't think you could play on Linux or Mac systems, think again; DRAGO Entertainment has just announced that the shooter will be developed on both platforms. And players needn't worry about which version they are playing from, as everyone will be on the same servers together. The studio doesn't intend to stop there either: DRAGO's Lucjan Mikociak added, "And there are even more versions planned down the road."

Along with this announcement, DRAGO has released the second installment of the three-part Making Of series. In the video, Wiktoryn Zerebecki details the importance of crafting and the player-driven economy and Krystian Kofin expounds on vehicles. Watch the full video after the break.

[Source: DRAGO press release]

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