Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Game continents: noticeably smaller than the real thing. Anyway, more details are emerging about what to expect from Planetside 2: “We have enormous, enormous gameplay space,” lead dev Matt Higby told PCG. “One of our largest development efforts on this project has been hand crafting every single area of those eight-by-eight kilometre continents.” Artillery will have a range of up to a kilometre. The official site is also starting to post regular updates, with some details about the factions.

The PCG article talks about 200-man battles. I can’t wait for this to arrive.

Marv Wolfman is a great name for a person, especially if that person is a comics writer who launched Crisis on Infinite Earths and invented Blade. The same guy is responsible for writing the story for PlanetSide 2, according to Gamespy. Presumably that won’t be too much a stretch for Wolfman because wait… they brought in a pro for the story? Really? They needed to bring someone in to write the story to “three factions fight over planet, forever”? The source Gamespy story comments “Nice. PlanetSide definitely needs a bit of meaning added to its conflict.” And I am thinking: No, it really doesn’t.

I wonder, actually, if this is some kind of commercial response to Firefall hiring Orson Scott Card? Anyway.

UPDATE: See below for SOE’s comment.
I hadn’t really considered PlanetSide 2‘s payment model. I just assumed it would be the same as PlanetSide. For I am a fool. Speaking to the efficiently named Chinese site 17173.COM, translated somewhat on the equally perfunctory title MMO Site, SOE president John Smedley gave a few hints about how it’s all going to work. And inevitably, it’s some form of Free To Play. But what form?

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The Gamescom* Planetside 2 trailer is below. There is SOMETHING familiar about it. It doesn’t show much of the new bases, or more than a couple of vehicles, sadly. Just a lot of pew-pew sidearm action. That said, there’s plenty to suggest that this is going to be very like the original, with the tower under siege, a torrent of gunfire and a flight of reavers to finish things off. There are a few glimpses of familiar weapons, too. Familiar indeed.
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Planetside 2′s developers were apparently abroad at Gamescom 2011, and our own sinister agents arranged a furtive rendezvous for discussion of the game. We’ll report back on what happened there soon. Meanwhile some images have escaped, and I’ve posted them in a little gallery for you to see, below. Click for full size, obviously.
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While SOE don’t seem ready to reveal the exact business model for Planetside 2, they have said that the game will have a “free component” and also a cash shop. Speaking to Planetside Universe Smedley said:

There will be a cash shop for the game however the goal is not to sell power. For example we would sell things like customization because we would like there to be a massive amount of ways to customize your characters. So people could recognize you or your outfit out of a group. We will not sell a more powerful gun or vehicle.

Quite what this means isn’t clear, although it sounds promising. I am hoping it will mean that we get free reserves to keep the numbers up and a premium option for the more dedicated players.

Speaking to SOE Creative Director Matt Higby, we have learned that Planetside 2 will be PC-only, and that it will be a straight remake of the original game with modern technology. There will be no instancing, and Higby says: “we’re only limited by how many can physically fit into a small area.” The territory capture is now far more detailed, featuring more than just towers and bases: “All of our maps are completely hand-crafted so that every square inch supports gameplay. The size of our environments is completely unrivalled.” Combat is now powered by a generative mission system, filling in some of the biggest holes in the original game.

Skills too have radically changed: “It uses an offline time-based learning method – if you’re familiar with Eve Online, how they unlock skills, it’s similar to that.” No word on pricing or release date yet, but I am so excited I might burst. Go read the full preview.

Last night in Las Vegas SOE officially announced Planetside 2. You can see the trailer and first screenshots below, and then check back at 2pm for more details. It’s set in Auraxis once again, and the three familiar factions are back. It’s looking very much like a straight remake. No sign of the mech things, either, but Reavers zooming about and men shooting each other very much in evidence. We understand it will be PC only.

Go take a look.
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There are rumblings in the world of PlanetSide. The worldside of PlanetSide? While we know PlanetSide 2 is in production, all they’ve shown so far has been the odd model of a vehicle, which men like me are too handsome to care about. What I want is Hard Gaming Fact. Could that be nearby? It seems possible, with Sony adding a shiny countdown timer to the official PlanetSide 2 page. There’s also a new Facebook page (sigh), which makes it even more clear that Planetside 2 news will be appearing on the 7th of July, at 7pm. I think that’s this year, rather than 2077. Oh, and it seems it’s called PlanetSide 2 now, not PlanetSide Next. Which was a really stupid name.

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