It’s very rare that the announcement of a sequel, be it for film or video games, surprises me. Creating sequels is all the rage these days, as publishers and develops try and minimize risk by only working on “sure bets”. Seeing this brand new MechWarrior Online Debut trailer, though? Now that truly was a surprise for me. It’s been just over 12 years since the release of MechWarrior 4, and I say with all sincerity that I expected the series was dead and buried. This new MechWarrior 5 trailer, officially called MechWarrior Online, proves otherwise.
Despite the incredibly lengthy development time as described on the official MechWarrior Blog, I’m reasonably confident that this is going to be a winner. The Trailer starts out with an Atlas Mech being prepped for a drop from a ship of some sort, while the pilot prepares himself in the cockpit. No flashy action sequences here, but the visuals do look solid. MechWarrior Online uses CryENGINE 3, and that give me high hopes that the entire world will look just as detailed as this debut trailer. Finally something good will come of CryTek’s efforts.
MechWarrior Online Debut Trailer
It’s nice to see a title like this survive against all odds, especially when the developers creating it have such a passion for the franchise. Watching this actually brought a smile to my face, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Piranha Games does with the game as they move towards release. Details are still sparse, but we do know that it’s a multiplayer only title, and takes place in the year 3049 on a planet called Eaglesham. If you ask me, it’s a pretty stupid name and evokes nothing but images of bald eagles scamming people, but hey, maybe I’m just crazy?
MechWarrior Online has no known release date, but I’ll keep everyone updated as details arise.
Eaglesham (pronounced “Eagles-ham”) is a scottish name.. but you forgot the best part of the trailer.. The Betty from the old franchise gives everyone who played the orginal game goose bumbs..
BTW, the game doesn’t just take place in Eagelsham. It takes place all across the innersphere, which houses thousands of planets. Players will battle for those planets in a persistent manner. Similar to WoT Clan Wars.
Eaglesham is just one planet, the game is set in the entire Inner Sphere.
( for the un-informed, the Inner Sphere is: https://www.mwowiki.org/images/b/bb/Inner_Sphere_3048.png )
More particularly, Eaglesham is a nondescript planet on the Lyran side of the Federated Commonwealth, on the Draconis Combine border.
https://isatlas.teamspam.net/system-map.php?planet=3245374&era=3040
It’s aiming for a 2012 Summer release.
RotS-Targe is right about it being much larger then a single silly-named planet.
Some better info straight from the Dev. blog sticky (Feb 29th btw unfinishedman):
1) Yes, it’s all in-game assets.
2) Yes, that is the actual HUD for the Atlas
3) Yes, it’s a “low altitude drop”
4) Yes, that is a Hunchback in the background.
5) Yes, that is a Jenner in the background.
6) No, this is not a pre-rendered video with post effects. It is all in-game engine, the same engine driving the game.
7) Yes, we know that the term was “nominal” but unfortunately couldn’t source the term for audio.
8) We are sorry, we didn’t realize you guys wanted to look at a naked dude in a vest.
9) You guys have no clue how close to gameplay you’re actually watching 😀
10) No, you can’t have the music.
Thanks for the heads up, this is really exciting information. Many would consider it a small thing, but I love the shit out of the music, and I’m glad that we’ll (probably) hear more of the same while playing. It’s perfect.
We just have to hope that if the game gets off the ground, it has built in protection against hacks, cheats and exploits. That and a vigorous GM group that will respond to in game problems quickly and permanently.
No matter how good a game is, it can be destroyed by players taking advantage of weaknesses.
That would be nice. It’s really tough to completely secure any game, unfortunately. There are so many more people trying to break security, than there are trying to keep the game secure.