Mechwarrior rebirth

[Gozer]

Reactor online. Sensors online. Weapons online. All systems nominal.

[kengou]

Maybe I'm just getting cynical about the current gaming climate, but I think this game will fail hard. Here's why:

Item 1: the developer is Piranha Games. They have precisely 4 games to their credit, only one of which is a PC game, and none of them highly acclaimed whatsoever:

# Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza (PC)
# EA Playground (DS)
# Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (PSP)
# Need For Speed: Undercover (PSP)

Item 2: the game is announced for PC and Xbox 360. The Mechwarrior series is so fun because it's a hardcore mech simulator. In the current state of gaming development, games made for PCs and consoles have to be developed for the lowest common denominator: consoles. It'll be simplified for the xbox's controller and won't be the simulation that fans of the series want when they play it on the PC. In order for the game to be a hardcore simulation on the PC, it would have to be pretty much totally redesigned to include so many new gameplay features, and games cost far too much nowadays for developers to take that risk - especially no-name developers who only have four crappy games to their credit.

360 owners might enjoy it; hell it might even be a decent action game. But PC gamers aren't going to find a good Mechwarrior game with simulation controls and depth. If we're lucky it might be as deep as Mechwarrior 4, but that isn't exactly saying much.

tl;dr: The trailer looked cool but I'm not optimistic about the game.

[mortified_penguin]

"In game footage"

That's enough for me. Looking forward to playing this with the Steel Battalion controller.

[mr_m0nks]

I think the last 2 mechwarrior games (4 and mercs) could have their controls easily streamlined and mapped to a 360 type pad with minimum loss of gameplay, infact dual analog sticks would work great.

question is, where did this come from, i thought smith & tinker held the MW IP

[mr_m0nks]

Just found this interview:


http://uk.pc.ign.com/dor/objects/18954/ ... 70709.html

[StoofooEsq]

Very Related Stuff: MechWarrior 4 to be released as a free download soon

[mortified_penguin]

I think the last 2 mechwarrior games (4 and mercs) could have their controls easily streamlined and mapped to a 360 type pad with minimum loss of gameplay, infact dual analog sticks would work great.

I don't know. The Mechassault games were just plain bad and the appeal, (for me anyway), of the Mechwarrior series has always been the sim aspect. Anyone remember MechWarrior 2:Arcade Combat Edition on the Playstation and Saturn? Bleh.

[kengou]

I think the last 2 mechwarrior games (4 and mercs) could have their controls easily streamlined and mapped to a 360 type pad with minimum loss of gameplay, infact dual analog sticks would work great.

question is, where did this come from, i thought smith & tinker held the MW IP

MW4 (and expansions) were imo some of the worst of the series precisely because they were more arcade-like and less like simulations. There's a place for arcade mech games - I love Armored Core and Zone of the Enders - but the Mechwarrior series is not the place for them. You're right that MW4 probably could be adapted to a 360 controller, if you stripped out some things like squad commands and radar options. This is probably what the new game will resemble. And to me that sounds pretty awful.

[Ganelon]

I don't get why everyone equates MechWarrior with being a complex sim when half the installments didn't have dozens of necessary keys. Complications are what incapacitated many genres (fighters, flight sims, war sims, etc.) so it makes sense that they won't make this too complex. I'm looking forward to this game although it certainly won't sell well either way. In fact, I will be absolutely stunned if a mecha game of any sort becomes a big hit in the US during the next few years.

[mr_m0nks]

Watching the trailer again, I suddenly had an nasty thought.

Anyone thinking Project Natal?

All we need is the Mechwarrior series to be turned into 8 year-olds stomping around the living room

[kengou]

I don't get why everyone equates MechWarrior with being a complex sim when half the installments didn't have dozens of necessary keys. Complications are what incapacitated many genres (fighters, flight sims, war sims, etc.) so it makes sense that they won't make this too complex. I'm looking forward to this game although it certainly won't sell well either way. In fact, I will be absolutely stunned if a mecha game of any sort becomes a big hit in the US during the next few years.

I guess people have different tastes, but the "Half of the instalments" you're referring to are the low points of the series in my opinion, because they're not as deep. MW2 was great and MW3 took the formula to the next logical step, adding fine-tuned aim and more heat and control options, as well as lancemate control. MW4 and its expansions really took the series a step backward in complexity and depth. It doesn't even have limb dismemberment for pete's sake!

Guess what, people who are fans of complicated games like sims ENJOY that aspect of those games! Complexity did make those genres less popular, it's true. But making new games in a series of simulators that are increasingly less complex in order to appeal to a broader demographic isn't gunna please the original fans. I'm guessing this game will sell relatively will though. Battletech fans will eat it up. This isn't some super-japanese anime mecha game like Armored Core, it's about as western as mechs get.

[Ed Oscuro]

Item 1: the developer is Piranha Games. They have precisely 4 games to their credit, only one of which is a PC game, and none of them highly acclaimed whatsoever:

# Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza (PC)

oh hell no

Well, that was about eight years ago though. Maybe they've...turned over their entire staff since them? Or augmented it appropriately so they don't try to build the game entirely out of commercial prefab models like they seem to have tried with that game.

[Stormwatch]

Something that irks me:

what it looks like


what it should look like


I mean, is that what they call "realism" these days? REAL LIFE HAS COLORS TOO!

[kengou]

Wow, that second picture is a massive improvement. I completely agree. The actual game looks like it's Unreal Engine 3 based on the washed out grey coloring, although I can't confirm that it uses that engine. (edit: it is Unreal Engine 3, according to the interview below)

edit: Reading an interview http://pc.ign.com/articles/100/1002164p1.html and this particular passage is just mind-numbing:

"Something that we've discussed is maybe there's an opportunity to do something along the lines of the R2 moment within the Death Star trench run, where Luke says, "Patch up what you can, R2!" There's an opportunity to try to look for small automated repair techniques that we can employ, but we want to do it in a resource management kind of system, because that's what the MechWarrior/BattleTech system has always been about. There's no such thing as a free lunch. There's not just health lying around on the ground for you to pick it up. Just as many first-person shooters have moved away from that kind of style and have kind of tried to embrace a reality where health comes from slowing down and taking a break, we think there are opportunities to balance use of power, use of coolant, or removing yourself from the engagement for a moment that would allow you to do some measure of repair in-mission. "

Mechwarrior: Halo Edition? No thanks.

Edit again: Screw Piranha Games.

IGN: That actually brings me to my next question. As far as PC gamers were concerned, part of the appeal of controlling your mech in the MechWarrior franchise was feeling like you were in control of your mech, having access to multiple cockpit commands at one time with your keyboard and your mouse. How are you planning to keep this classic control scheme feel, and will you be adding any new elements for your mechs, especially now that you want to create this full cockpit experience?

Russ Bullock: First and foremost, in this day and age and this time, we've all played the PC games in the past and absolutely loved them. But certainly going forward, just out of necessity and because we think we can, we're definitely very focused also on the Xbox 360. So we're very focused on the console standpoint moving forward.

They take a great PC-exclusive series of simulators and abandons all their fans on that platform by focusing on consoles "because we think we can". Wow.

[ZOM]

I'm with kengou on this one; they will fuck it up, they will fuck it up big time.

Piranha games + Unreal Engine =

As if MW4 wasn't bad enough.

@Stormwatch
Send them your touched up picture.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

The second picture is a little bit too high contrast, but yeah it sure looks nicer.

[Ganelon]

That's a good point. Remember all those brilliant bright skies from the various 3D-enhanced versions of MechWarrior 2? You could feel the optimism of a more technologically helpful world. And now it's down to depressing cyberpunk grittiness a la Shadowrun (well, not in the last installment).

[mortified_penguin]

Uhm,

Humanity is in a technological decline after thousands of years of expansion into space. The Great Houses of the Inner Sphere battle each other as well as the invading "Clans" - Humans, descended from one of the Star Leagues greatest leaders and the army that he took with him during the Exodus. The pinnacle of human military achievement are Battlemechs: large, heavily armed walkers with a huge array of weaponry.

Battletech/Mechwarrior was never about a better tomorrow. It's always been about the grit.

[Stormwatch]

Send them your touched up picture.

Just did, let's see if I'll get a reply.

[mr_m0nks]

ok, sources on the net i can find are a little sketchy on whether this trailer is actual gameplay footage of a game already in development, or just a proof of concept demo.


anyone got any more info?

[Ganelon]

Battletech/Mechwarrior was never about a better tomorrow. It's always been about the grit.

Nobody said anything about a better tomorrow; I was talking about a real futuristic world instead of some ghetto cyperpunk grunge landscape. Have you ever seen the art on the old BattleTech RPG manuals? Nice clear skies and brilliant horizons in pretty much all of the outdoor paintings.

MechWarrior 1-4 had the same colorful representation of the world. But from the screens I've seen of the new MW so far, the upcoming title isn't honoring the series' original artistic vision, enough so that it seems some people are confused about what the universe looked like in the first place.

[mortified_penguin]

It's a three minute preview of a single city level. You're overreacting. I think your interpretation of the games 'original artistic vision' is skewed. I refuse to let all the preemptive naysayers ruin this for me. I can't hear you. lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala

[Ganelon]

http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2005/11/b ... nched.html

But whatever, I'll get this game anyway.

[kengou]

ok, sources on the net i can find are a little sketchy on whether this trailer is actual gameplay footage of a game already in development, or just a proof of concept demo.


anyone got any more info?

In the IGN interview, they explain that the video is not actual gameplay footage. It is basically a target render made in Unreal Engine 3 that shows off the features they plan to have in the game. I believe they do want to make the full game in UE3, though. Ideally they want the full game to look just like the trailer.

[mr_m0nks]

thanks

[Gozer]

Some footage of Mechwarrior Online.

I would not mind paying for a single player mode for this as well. Hopefully they take that into consideration.

Beta sign up is here:
http://mwomercs.com/

Also a Mechwarrior tactics preview.

Beta sign up is here:
http://www.mwtactics.com/

Looking forward to checking out both of these in the summer.

[Ed Oscuro]

Item 1: the developer is Piranha Games. They have precisely 4 games to their credit, only one of which is a PC game, and none of them highly acclaimed whatsoever:

# Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza (PC)

Ffffuck, I hope they've learned something in 10 years (that game was a 2002 release). I think I would rather play most DOS Wolf3D clones than that game, for real

[TransatlanticFoe]

I would thrown money over anyone who offered me the sort of epic campaign Mechwarrior 3 and Mechcommander brought. But alas, we have this online multiplayer approach. So boring.

Give me a proper update of Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries where I can choose my squad, my missions, my mechs and lay waste to some shit.

[Casper<3]

Maybe I'm just getting cynical about the current gaming climate, but I think this game will fail hard. Here's why:

Item 1: the developer is Piranha Games. They have precisely 4 games to their credit, only one of which is a PC game, and none of them highly acclaimed whatsoever:

# Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza (PC)
# EA Playground (DS)
# Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (PSP)
# Need For Speed: Undercover (PSP)

Item 2: the game is announced for PC and Xbox 360. The Mechwarrior series is so fun because it's a hardcore mech simulator. In the current state of gaming development, games made for PCs and consoles have to be developed for the lowest common denominator: consoles. It'll be simplified for the xbox's controller and won't be the simulation that fans of the series want when they play it on the PC. In order for the game to be a hardcore simulation on the PC, it would have to be pretty much totally redesigned to include so many new gameplay features, and games cost far too much nowadays for developers to take that risk - especially no-name developers who only have four crappy games to their credit.

360 owners might enjoy it; hell it might even be a decent action game. But PC gamers aren't going to find a good Mechwarrior game with simulation controls and depth. If we're lucky it might be as deep as Mechwarrior 4, but that isn't exactly saying much.

tl;dr: The trailer looked cool but I'm not optimistic about the game.

This forum and other places have really put a sour taste in my mouth about PC gamers. I really am starting to dislike the general populous as a whole. Nothing is ever good enough for them.

Seriously FUCK PC gamers. Go sit on your mountain on your pedistol on your soft cushion and let the rest of us enjoy our games.

[Estebang]

I'll be playing Armored Core V next week, thank you very much.

And yes, PC gamers have some terrible entitlement issues. I don't know how such a demographic ever came to tolerate, even welcome the tyranny of Gabe Newell's Steam. (Probably because every other form of PC game distribution has gone to shit.)

However, it IS a legitimate problem that many PC games have been needlessly simplified to be more accommodating for controllers. We'll hopefully be seeing less of that now that PCs are set to take over the market, though.