Gunsport: A Beach Sport For Cyber-Dudes

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only a short list of acceptable pastimes:

• Making everything neon
• Wearing mirrorshades
• Helping the street find its own use for things
• Energy weapons
• ...volleyball?

At last there is a game which combines all of these things: Gunsport. Release is projected for "late" 2015, so for now there's only a teaser trailer to go on, but we've not written about Gunsport properly before and come on now: cyberpunk volleyball.

That video isn't so great at giving you an idea of how the game plays, but fortunately the official site is a little more forthcoming. The volleyball comparison is fairly apt, although you're using gunfire rather than limbs to propel the ball into the other side of the court, and the more times a ball passes back and forth the more points its worth.

Players have limited ammo so it's necessary to aim and time your shots carefully. Ideally you'll want to work closely with your teammate, communicating your strategies and moves. There are also special moves of varying kinds, but at this point I begin to get a little lost. If you and your teammate shoot the same ball at the exact same time, that's a Focus Shot which propels the ball twice as fast, but your opponents can turn that right around on you if they're "drift compatible". Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that the term used in Pacific Rim for Jaeger pilot teams?

I'm a big proponent of putting mechs in just about every game - mechs are the greatest - but even I think the inclusion of a three hundred foot war robot in a volleyball match could introduce balancing issues.

P.S. Brandon Sheffield of Necrosoft Games wrote a blog post analysing the response to the above teaser trailer when it was released via Microsoft and Sony's official video channels. It makes for interesting if slightly depressing reading, as well providing a cautionary tale on creating promotional videos.