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Pigs Fly, Sky Falls, New MechWarrior Announced

The guy behind the original giant robot franchise is bringing it back on PC and Xbox 360. Huzzah!

File this one under headlines you never thought you'd see: Jordan Weisman, original founder of FASA and creator of the BattleTech universe--and, by extension, the MechWarrior games--is bringing yesteryear's vaunted big-robot franchise back to life on the Xbox 360 and PC. The game is not a sequel but instead a reboot of the entire series, which Weisman likens to the recent new-ification of franchises like Star Trek and Spider-Man.

I'll spare you the gory business details of how all this came about--which IGN covers in a thoroughly in-depth Q&A--and just show you this sweet-looking launch trailer, which Weisman describes as being indicative of "what the game should be," though note this isn't actually the game itself.




Between the involvement of original MechWarrior dudes and that trailer, I'm tentatively optimistic this might actually turn out like a proper MechWarrior game oughta. Specifically what I'm looking for is a robot that controls like a tank and overheats and makes you eject when you're about to blow up. But given that the game will have to work on a 360 controller, I hope the gameplay isn't dumbed down too much.

What's your past experience with the MechWarrior series, and what would you like to see in a new version? Did you know Dave Snider used to be in a MechWarrior 2 clan? Did you know they even had clans back then?
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116 Comments

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delta_ass

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Edited By delta_ass

There's this old saying: Try to please everyone, and you'll end up pleasing no one.

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MrMuise

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Edited By MrMuise

I found it more entertaining trolling the chat rooms instead of actually playing mechwarrior 3 and 4. I would probably be more excited for a new Steel Battalion, maybe shove some Natal support in there for slight head tracking and release an even larger controller with way more buttons.

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jb335

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Edited By jb335

the mech warrior games were some of the first ones I ever played too...hope this new one does the franchise justice!

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metal_mills

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Edited By metal_mills

Also, just so you guys know MechWarrior 4 plus all of the expansions and add-on's will be released free very soon.

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DukeTogo

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Edited By DukeTogo

I just found out that very recently the current owners got the old anime designs back.  It seems like that would be a difficult task given the multiple sources they used, but if the old ones are back, I'm much more interested.

The video showed a look-alike Tomahawk, so maybe the agreement means they have to change them slightly to not look exactly like their anime counterparts.  Having Dougram and Macross stuff in it makes Battletech decent again.

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Intrepid

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Edited By Intrepid

This is great.  I've always loved mechwarrior games, beat Mech 2: Mercs too many times, but after the new ones came out...anything after 3 or so, maybe even before that - anything after 2.  It just didn't feel the same.  Looking forward to the reimaging of the series.

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Insectecutor

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Edited By Insectecutor

Fuck yeeeaaahh! This is gonna work fine on dual-stick controllers - it's what they were made for.

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Mcubed

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Edited By Mcubed

Oh man. I friggin love Mechwarrior. Finally something that'll let me get my hands on a good old joystick.

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MisterMollusk

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Edited By MisterMollusk
@AndrooD2: Ah, but it's a MechWarrior game. I realize that some people will want it to be a robot-y fps because not everyone wants to worry too much about how much those extra heat sinks and armor are going to slow you down. But that's not what the series is about. The series is about being a relatively slow moving, hard to maneuver walking tank. I really recommend trying to get in to it. There's a certain extra thrill behind taking down another armored foe when the game is done more like a simulation.

Oh, sorry I was kinda being a douche yesterday. I was just excited. :)
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GozerTC

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Edited By GozerTC

Okay this is the greatest game news I've heard personally, since Ghostbusters. :)

Okay and Bloodbowl. :p

Anyway I LOVED the Mechwarrior series, and I was a big Battletech guy back in the day as well. (Still have much of the old stuff.)  It's great to see a WARHAMMER in this game, which means to me much more oldschool.  Plus it's 3015 which is deffinetly pre Clan stuff so I'm happy. :)

My big concern though is if they're going for an Xbox and PC release are they dumbing it down to make it work on the Xbox?  Oh sure you can do quite a bit of Mechwarrior on a controller, but deffinetly not as much as you can with a PC.  A mech IS a majorly complicated item after all. 

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c1337us

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Edited By c1337us

I had a MechWarrior game back in the day. I dont even remember which one it was but I know I wasnt into that much.

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dickey

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Edited By dickey

I used to be in a mechwarrior clan too.....

This game had better rock.

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DondonIcon

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Edited By DondonIcon

The robots go "pew pew pew" and "boom boom".

Sold.

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pikeplacer

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Edited By pikeplacer
@HeavyMental:

It did when it was alive. and even if it doesn't, many people prefer this sereies to others.
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pikeplacer

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Edited By pikeplacer

It's not transformers people!