MMORPGs

By James Cobb @ The Wargamer

Age of Sail games are few and far between for reasons unknown. The last really good one was Akella’s Age of Sail II: Privateer’s Bounty although Shrapnel Games’ Salvo! came close. Perhaps the intricacies of sailing frightens off gamers even with the popularity of Russel Crowe’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. [A terrible, terrible film -ED] Game Labs has taken up the challenge with Naval Action, an MMOG. Since the game is in Early Access, we have an opportunity to see how such a game on an esoteric subject develops.

Read on…

Naval Battles Launches in Closed Beta Later This Year with “Knights of the sea”

Gaijin Entertainment has announced the forthcoming start of closed beta for Naval Battles, the highly sought after combat mode in War Thunder, its award-winning MMO WWII online game with first exclusive hands-on at this year’s Gamescom. The inclusion of Naval Battles will provide fans with the ability to battle from the land, sea and air.

The participants of naval battle’s upcoming closed beta will be called the “Knights of the Sea”. Made up of torpedo, artillery and missile boats, coast guard vessels and submarine chasers, they are the so-called “small” naval contingent that served in all oceanic theatres of World War 2.

“The high level of realism is one of the key design features of War Thunder. Vehicles are as close to their real life counterparts as possible. Classic large ship battles during the war were contests of patience and planning, where engagements could last from several hours to several days. In War Thunder, where all kinds of vehicles fight in one battle and players can control aircraft, tanks and ships, it is not possible to change the size of the ships or make time run faster, as everything needs to remain consistent.

Our internal testing showed that battles with large battleships were too long and slow or required design changes that made ships entirely unrealistic. For this reason, we are leading with fast attack-based craft, which are rarely reproduced in games. Ships, that are more suitable for the formula of our game. These fast, agile and dangerous “Knights of the Sea” are worthy contenders for aircraft and tanks on the ground” – says creative director Kirill Yudintsev, Gaijin Entertainment.

All nations in War Thunder will get naval forces. Invited players and those who purchase one of two Starter packs with unique ships, will be able to join the closed testing as soon as the testing phase begins later this year.

The first Starter Pack includes a Soviet Project 1124 Armored River Boat. The T-34 turret and two 12.7mm machine guns allow the gunboat to efficiently eliminate enemy ships and low-flying aircraft; but the main destructive power of the Project 1124 lies in her M-13-M1 unguided rocket launcher, the legendary Katyusha.

The second starter pack includes the famous American PT-109, a motor torpedo boat on which the future US President John F. Kennedy served and performed acts of wartime heroism. During one of the operations the boat was subjected to a surprise ram attack from the Japanese destroyer, Amagiri. Despite a serious back injury, Lieutenant Kennedy acted wisely and decisively, saving all ten surviving crew members. In War Thunder, this boat is a fast and maneuverable ship destroyer. Her four torpedoes, each weighing almost 1,200 kg, come in handy for destroying large naval targets. Both ships will be available at the start of closed beta testing.

The first to take part in the naval battles of War Thunder will be the visitors of Gamescom 2016. In the game booth in Hall 6, Gaijin Entertainment has organized a special closed area, where guests can try their hand as captains of attack boats. For those unable to visit the exhibition, there will be a special video broadcast from the official Twitch booth and new devblog updates each day, where developers of the game will talk about the new regime, present ships of different nations and run giveaways of closed beta access codes for the viewers.

Watch the new War Thunder: Knights of the Sea – Naval Battles teaser trailer here.

Purchase the Naval Starter Packs at the Gaijin Store.

To find out more about Naval Battles, please visit the official War Thunder website.

The Russian-based Battlestate Games Studio has announced the start of its technical Alpha testing of Escape from Tarkov, its hardcore online game. First players, those who have claimed their eligibility for participation by pre-ordering the game from the official website – have already been admitted into the game.

Further admittance of eligible players will be conducted in waves, every new wave being formed with one or two day intervals in chronological order: first players who pre-ordered the game, will also be the first to try it. The avant-garde of the Escape from Tarkov heroes will be welcomed by two already familiar raid locations “Factory” and “Customs”, and they’ll come across 15 types of weapons and a wide variety of equipment and supplies.

The main purpose of the technical Alpha testing is for the developers to fine-tune the basic mechanics over high loads, exploring the locations for possible issues, hunting for bugs that are likely to occur in the early stages of testing both in offline and online modes. Along with collecting player feedback, the developers will be optimizing the Escape from Tarkov Alpha version game performance, fixing the discovered issues and adding new content. At this point, the online game mode already includes the majority of essential features, including inventory management, trade, medical treatment, weapon modding and ballistics. Also, players will be able to check out the daylight and weather changes with impressive weather effects.

Escape from Tarkov is a hardcore story-driven MMO featuring elements of FPS and RPG. The events take place in the Russian city of Tarkov, which has been sealed of by roadblocks and sunk into the chaos of local warfare between private military companies. Escape from Tarkov’s Hazardous Environment Combat Simulator employs a number of custom system modules to create incredibly immersive gameplay and make players feel the reality of what is happening in the game.

New Vehicles Including Tanks and Planes Plus Reinforcements and New Squadron Battles

Gaijin Entertainment today announced that its award-winning MMO WWII online game, War Thunder, will be celebrating summer with a spectacular display of firepower by adding to its extensive vehicle selection with new destructive tanks and planes for War Thunder’s ten million players to enjoy.

Two more tanks from the 1960’s era roll in, the American M60A1 will be the top-tank of the US medium tank tree and the formidable Soviet T-62 will be the top-tank of the USSR medium tank tree. The American M60A1 provides good, aggressive gameplay for tankers that like a full on fight due to its frontal armour. This extends a degree of life expectancy to give players time to retreat or send one back down the pipe in kind while the enemy is busy reloading. The Russian T-62, although slower than the previous T-55, makes up for its lack of speed with its 115mm gun which is effective with any kind of shells and packs a huge punch.

The American Thunderbolt gets P-47N-15 modification in this latest update transforming it into one of the fastest piston-engine aircraft in the game. Easily maneuverable, even at high speed, this latest modification makes the plane one to experience.

Additional vehicles added include the German Sturmpanzer IV Brummbär, the Japanese Ki-100 – which provides a dangerous enemy for F6F4 Hellcats and even Mustangs – and the Canadian tank M4A5, along with several updated models of aircraft.

‘The Road to Glory’ update also introduces a new crew feature for ground forces – ‘Reinforcement’. Tankers who have lost one or more crew members in the battle can call a new crew member as a replacement. In Arcade mode players can call a new soldier in any part of the map, providing at least one crew member is still alive. In Realistic and Simulation modes players face the challenge of only being able to call in reinforcements when they are on a capture point. In staying with the true, accurate nature of War Thunder, players must wait for repairs or reinforcements to arrive before they can move again.

Additionally an updated system of squadron clan battles has been added, providing squadron fighters with seasons that last two months. At the end of each season the top 20 squadrons will receive anywhere from 3,000 to 30,000 Golden Eagles based on overall ranking and the top 100 squadrons will be able to receive additional rewards, such as unique decals, 3D decals and other ensigns.

Lastly, the “Operation S.U.M.M.E.R.”, which kicked off Friday, July 22 and concludes August 21,allows players to complete different tasks in the game to earn unique vehicles: the M3 Grant and two absolutely new ones – the Soviet experimental tank KV-220 and an American fighter aircraft, the F7F-3.

To download War Thunder, please visit the official War Thunder website.

War Thunder’s content sharing platform provides incentive for ‘bedroom coders’ and player generated content

Gaijin Entertainment has revealed that the recent War Thunder Update 1.59 ‘Flaming Arrows’ which saw a variety of new features, locations and vehicles added to the game has been a financial hit with one lucky player. Arguably, one of the most extraordinary additions has been the very first official introduction of an aircraft that was created by a member of the Community. Yes, that’s right: The original 3D model of the German night interceptor He 219 was created by Daniil “_Joy_Division_” Zaitsev, a War Thunder player who’s just banked a cheque from Gaijin Entertainment fir a cool $5000 as part of its player revenue share program.

Revenue Share: Where Players become Developers

Adding this vehicle was possible thanks to War Thunders Revenue Share Partner System, which was introduced a while ago as an incentive for creative players to add to and help with the development of War Thunder. The principle is simple: Exceptional work posted to War Thunder Live, the game’s own content sharing platform, may catch the developers attention and thus has a chance of being added to the game. Similarly, players that have already made progress in creating something truly impressive, like the 3D model of a vehicle, are invited to contact us directly – as was the case with Daniil Zaitsev, who got in touch with one of our modelers. If you are interested in reading more about how the He 219 came to life, read more in the respective developer’s blog!

The He 219, a Success Story for Revenue Share!

Included as a Premium vehicle to the German tree that is available for purchase by Golden Eagles, the He 219 quickly became a favorite for many players. And while the machine itself with its six cannons is truly interesting, we are sure that many players decided to support and thank a fellow War Thunder player for his hard work and dedication. Which is great thing, indeed! Check out the He 219 in all its glory here.

To download War Thunder, please visit the official War Thunder website.

Fans of the story-driven, hardcore first-person action MMORPG/FPS – Escape from Tarkov, will get a fresh look at the game today in a newly released gameplay trailer. The new video features over 14 minutes of in-game footage, following a soldier as he attempts to escape an abandoned (but not un-guarded) chemical factory, slipping past scavengers and searching the factory for anything to help him escape the city of Tarkov.

Escape from Tarkov is a hardcore story-driven MMO featuring elements of FPS and RPG. The events take place in the Russian city of Tarkov, which has been sealed of by roadblocks and sunk into the chaos of local warfare between private military companies. Escape from Tarkov’s Hazardous Environment Combat Simulator employs a number of custom system modules to create incredibly immersive gameplay and make players feel the reality of what is happening in the game.

More info on Escape from Tarkov can be found at the game’s official page.

Latest 1.59 update will provide four new missile firing tanks, two new maps and twenty five new vehicles

Gaijin Entertainment today announced that War Thunder’s 1.59 update, titled, ‘Flaming Arrows’, introduces four new tanks armed with player guided anti-tank missile weaponry. One missile firing tank will be introduced for four of the War Thunder nations. This type of player guided missile ordnance will bring a totally new short and long range destructive capability to ground battles in War Thunder, thus expanding the number of tactics and strategies players can employ.

The four anti-tank missile vehicles consist of the Soviet IT-1, a formidable armoured platform which makes up for its lack of a main gun with a consignment of ATGM’s.The low-profile German Raketenjagdpanzer-2 which provides a sleek and fast anti-tank armoured asset which can fire two missiles in succession and the fast Vietnam-era US M551 “Sheridan’’ with its ability to launch both artillery and ATGMs. Last but not least, the Swedish Strv 81 lends its support to the British tank tech tree and packs a particularly powerful punch with its three ATGMs which can penetrate any armour in War Thunder. Check out the destructive capabilities of the anti-tank guided missile here.

War Thunder’s latest Flaming Arrows update also adds two new maps to the mix: Port Novorossiysk situated on the coast of the Black Sea with combined battles, and a new 128×128 km map for aircraft dogfights over the English Channel, situated over the English and French coasts. For the Novorossiysk map Gaijin Entertainment’s painstaking attention to detail saw its artists create some incredible map design work based on archive data, photographs, historic air recon intelligence photos and newsreel footage. The map provides a good all round scope of gameplay with its wide avenues for quick decisive armoured breakthroughs or cat and mouse pursuit among the ruins.

Additionally, Flaming Arrows adds 25 new vehicles across five of the nations in the game, increasing the total number of vehicles in the game to more than 700. USA will get a floating tank LVT(A)1 and powerful T29, the Brits will get the Halifax Mk B.III bomber and Wyvern S.4 naval strike aircraft. Germany adds the dreaded Sturer Emil SPG, and the Soviets add a jet in the form of the Yak-30, as well as two paratrooping SPGs. Japan gets three new aircraft in total, including the N1K1Ja and the N1K2.

One additional addition to this latest War Thunder update is the He 219. Nicknamed the ‘Eagle-Owl’ this German night fighter is the first aircraft to be added to War Thunder through the the games revenue share program and was created by a member of the War Thunder community. The He 219 – was designed and built as a combined effort between the community (model, textures) and the War Thunder developers (flight model, damage model, armament) and takes its place as a rank 4 vehicle in the German research tree.

A new visual makeover to the hangars for both planes and tanks also updates the look.

Be sure to check out all the latest additions to this update on the games devblog here.

To download War Thunder, please visit the official War Thunder website.

New Trailer Shows Off 28 Minutes of Intense, Action-Packed Gameplay

Battlestate Games, developers of the much-anticipated military-themed FPS/MMO Escape from Tarkov, today announced the highly anticipated launch date for the game’s Closed Alpha. Aspiring combatants who have signed up for the Alpha (HERE) should keep a close watch on their inboxes for an invite as we get closer to the Alpha launch, as a select group of gamers will get their first hands-on taste of Escape from Tarkov’s furious battles starting on August 4.

Along with the news of the upcoming Closed Alpha, Battlestate Games has also delivered a 28-minute-long gameplay video, showcasing battlegrounds, weapons and combat, which can be downloaded at the links below.

Watch the video on YouTube HERE.

The newest update introduces long-awaited changes to tanks, UI and UX elements

Wargaming is excited to bring a pack of community-requested changes to World of Tanks with Update 9.15, which will be released May 25 for Europe and North America, and May 30–31 in Asia and Korea. Coming to the game in this update are balance tweaks to tanks, as well as changes to UI and UX elements and further physics and sound improvements—all of which have been implemented off feedback the dev team has received from players.

Evolution in World of Tanks is a gradual process, but thanks to players, the dev team addressed elements that truly take their experience up a gear. A number of popular mods have been added to the client to make it more user friendly. Now it’s possible to extend Garage filters, view several previously hidden vehicle characteristics, which will change in real-time when certain upgrades are used, and more, in a safe and easy way.

“Work on Update 9.15 started with having a conversation with the players,” said Anton Pankov, World of Tanks Global Publishing Producer. “We connected with them on social media, our forums, during player gatherings; spoke to opinion leaders in the community and trialed changes on test servers to set our priorities. It’s invaluable, and from this we’re able to further polish features and mechanics.”

“In the future, we’ll be addressing more player requests, and introducing the sandbox: the first step in one of the biggest changes in World of Tanks history. We’ll be rebalancing every single tank in the game—a truly massive task. Feedback matters more than ever. We’ll be in close communication with the community every step of the way because it’s only by working together that we can make World of Tanks the best experience possible.”

The improved physics and sound, which were introduced last update, are still being enhanced. Now you’ll find the chance of your tank toppling over has been decreased, the damage you take from falling has been lowered, and you won’t find yourself getting stuck on the scenery right when it matters. Uniting all of these features is engine optimization, which should improve performance depending on the configuration of your computer, as well as ensure FPS stability.

For more information on World of Tanks Update 9.15, visit the games official website.

Coming soon, new update will provide new destructive capability for new ground vehicles, letting players carry out precision guided missile strikes

Gaijin Entertainment today announced that War Thunder’s next major update will introduce new tanks armed with guided missile weaponry. This type of missile will bring a totally new destructive capability ground battles in War Thunder, thus expanding the number of tactics and strategies players can employ. Players can fire missiles and guide them the whole way to the target until impact.

One of the first guided missile tanks planned to appear in the next update is the Soviet IT-1. Based on the hull of the T-62, it was the first and the last Soviet tank that had no guns at all – its only armament was 15 missiles ready to destroy an enemy vehicle, even if it was hidden on the other side of a hill. Most of the other nations in War Thunder will also get new guided missile tanks in the next update. Check out the developers’ blog for more information about upcoming additions: http://warthunder.com/en/devblog/

War Thunder also now supports Oculus Rift CV1, available since the last update, so players are able to play the game in exciting combat scenarios in VR. Available for both air and ground battles, Virtual Reality provides pilots and tankers with as much immersion as possible so that a player flying an aircraft in the game can experience similar feelings to what a real WW2 pilot would have experienced. With Oculus Rift CV1, fighters have detailed cockpits and instrumentation panels, providing important tools for controlling the aircraft whilst flying in a cockpit view. The detailed 2K resolution of the Oculus Rift CV1 lets players see enormous landscapes from the cockpit of their aircraft, leaving the enemy no place to hide.

To try War Thunder with the Oculus Rift CV1, download War Thunder, tick “Full client” and “Oculus Rift” in the game launcher, wait until the download is complete and run the game. Pick your favourite vehicle and join the battle. Virtual Reality is available for any aircraft or tank mode in War Thunder. Join multiplayer battles, try out the single or co-op missions or test the most breathtaking maneuvers in test flight. For a deeper level of immersion, a flightstick and throttle are highly recommended.

For more information on Oculus Rift CV1 support for War Thunder see the devblog page here.

Check out the destructive capabilites of the anti-tank guided missile here.

For a look at the first two vehicle additions and updates to the next major War Thunder update, check out the devblog page here.

To download War Thunder, please visit the official War Thunder website.