Edit 3: NOT an MMO. Maybe SP.
 
Russ Bullock @I wouldn't call this an MMO friend. Round based combat.

@TheMechGamer thanks brother and never say never I'm a big SP fan myself.     
 
 
 Edit2: Site is up. http://mwomercs.com/
 
 
 
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EDIT: IT'S A F2P....BUT SOUNDS ALRIGHT. A MECH SIM STILL. FIRST PERSON. A MODERNIZED VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL STYLE.
 
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/10/31/meet-mechwarrior-online-piranhas-free-to-play-tactical-mech-sim/
 

After two years’ of near-total silence about the fate of the Mechwarrior reboot, Piranha Games have announced Mechwarrior Online, a free-to-play, team-based multiplayer BattleMech sim. It’s also going to tell the story of the Battletech universe in real-time, starting from just before the Clan Invasion of 3050. Each day, players will do battle on behalf of the universe’s major factions, and each day in the game will represent a single day’s action in the fictional Inner Sphere. It will go live in the second half of 2012.

Mechwarrior Online (MWO) might be free-to-play, but MWO Creative Director Bryan Ekman and Piranha President Russ Bullock insist this is going to be a proper Mechwarrior game in the tradition of Mechwarrior 2 through 4, not a successor to the Xbox action game Mech Assault. Ekman says joystick support is a strong probability, and both call this a Mech sim.

“I think it’s really the Mechwarrior you know,” Bullock says. “It’s fully first-person. It’s not a new interpretation. We’re modernizing things a little bit, I think we’ll get to those questions, but certainly it’s Mechwarrior.”

A few weeks ago we saw signs of life from Piranha Games’ Mechwarrior project, following two years of radio silence. Since then, the Inner Sphere News Twitter account has been teasing images of Mechs, logos, and a possible release date.

Right now, we can tell you that the next Mechwarrior game will be PC-exclusive. We have an Overlord-class Dropship’s worth of information on its way, along with one very big surprise, so check back in two hours when we can tell you more.

Based on recent interviews and the fact that they revealed a video prototype without any publisher, makes me guess that:

1. In 2009 Piranha and S&T couldn't get greenlighted by a publisher
2. Due to Microsoft having the license, they forced Piranha and S&T to only target the Xbox 360 (and maybe PC)
3. This made it harder to pitch the game to a publisher because of a diminished potential market
4. The game became vaporware
5. Weisman leaves S&T
6. Piranha Games gets hired to do part of DNF
7. MW Reboot is somehow greenlighted during the work on DNF, but the concept is drastically altered (e.g. 3015 -> 3048)

@Metal_Mills: Just came, 3 times.

fuck yes!

Well I've never really sat down and played one of these before, looking forward to it.

Yes yes yes a thousand times YES!

In light of this news, I'd love Vinny and Dave to play MechWarrior 2 for random PC game soon.

In light of this news, I'd love Vinny and Dave to play MechWarrior 2 for random PC game soon.

Will this still be a Microsoft game or how does this work?

Will this still be a Microsoft game or how does this work?

Holy shit! There are no words, no words.... I never dreamed of this. The big blackout after the "teaser" made me think of the worst. This news just made my week.

Oh no. It's full name is MechWarrior: Online. Is this an MMO? :\

Oh man. This is going to be awesome.

Edit:And tell me it's going to be online. And free to play.

OH MY FUCKING GOD.

"PC exclusive" is secret code for "MMO", weren't you aware of this?

O.O If it is anything like that trailer AHAHAHHAHAA YEEEEEESS!

Mechwarrior gave me nightmares as a child

Holy shit.

Also I totally got the name Jeff wooo

F2P MMO? I un-came once. But still, 2 ain't bad!

Dev blogup explaining what happened and the history of the game on their site:

http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/10/2-dev-blog-0

Mechs & micropayments.

everyone. Free to Play MMO.

This is not the mechwarrior you wanted.

everyone. Free to Play MMO.

This is not the mechwarrior you wanted.

Im sold, will give this a shot when/if it releases.

@Metal_Mills said:

@RenMcKormack said:

everyone. Free to Play MMO.

This is not the mechwarrior you wanted.

I still think it sounds good. First person. Mech Sim. Joystick support. PC only. It's the classic MW, slightly updated and turned into a F2P game. It sounds very cool the more I read about it.

But literally every single game that has come out and said its an action game AND an MMO has been literally a blood soaked nigtmare. SEE

- Crimecraft

- DC Universe

- APB

Its not going to be the Mechwarrior you recall playing. The things that made it good, most importantly solid controls and the feel of the combat will have to be stripped down and/or limited due to the MMO format if previous "action mmos" are any sort of lesson.

Also nearly 4 year PLUS dev cycle with major change of format from "Action Game" to "MMO" at the end of the cycle seems like a recipe for terrible. I want this game to be awesome, but will not let a publisher/dev slide by on my nostalgia anymore.

If there's hats I'm sold.

@Metal_Mills: Dude, that video is just a pre-attempt at the final trailer they put out in 2009:

This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orhOvbfyyJw (Very old!)

wouldn't you rather this come out small release on Steam and be a hyper intense and detailed? Like maybe no story or single-player at all (save money there) just big MP battle arenas and have all the focus beon really in depth mech building and customization engine. For the "micro-transaction part, sell mini development things to the community to make additional parts for the mechs and have the focus be on customization and building as if a mech was a car. Like Forza levels of tuning. I mean, why not small focus and go for the hardest of hardcore mech fans? You are probably never going to crack a big mainstream market again and f2p mmo seems like a graveyard for bad ideas so why not get ALL of a small niche market rather than SOME MMO fans and SOME "loot lust" people?

SICK! Good fucking news gentleman!

Wait, what Mechwarrior MMO? Oh no.. .
 
Either this will be increadibly awesome or absolutely horrendous a'la APB.

I'll believe it when I'm able to play it. Till then I'm not getting my hopes up.

@Metal_Mills said:

@RenMcKormack said:

everyone. Free to Play MMO.

This is not the mechwarrior you wanted.

I still think it sounds good. First person. Mech Sim. Joystick support. PC only. It's the classic MW, slightly updated and turned into a F2P game. It sounds very cool the more I read about it.

But literally every single game that has come out and said its an action game AND an MMO has been literally a blood soaked nigtmare. SEE

- Crimecraft

- DC Universe

- APB

Its not going to be the Mechwarrior you recall playing. The things that made it good, most importantly solid controls and the feel of the combat will have to be stripped down and/or limited due to the MMO format if previous "action mmos" are any sort of lesson.

Also nearly 4 year PLUS dev cycle with major change of format from "Action Game" to "MMO" at the end of the cycle seems like a recipe for terrible. I want this game to be awesome, but will not let a publisher/dev slide by on my nostalgia anymore.

it's not MMO - read Russ bullock's tweets

also, Russ clearly wants to do a campaign - just can't fund it yet

New tweet by russ_bullock

View ›

@TheMechGamer thanks brother and never say never I'm a big SP fan myself.

via Twitter Follow - Russ Bullock | 13 minutes ago

Delete

New tweet by russ_bullock

View ›

@DrKlep I wouldn't call this an MMO friend. Round based combat.

via Twitter Follow - Russ Bullock | 16 minutes ago

@Metal_Mills said:

Also, Crimecraft and APB were made by shit developers. DC Universe was also made by a shit developer AND was subscription based.

It's a good thing Piranha has such an amazing track record then, right?

I can't even tell if it's good or bad Weisman ain't in on this anymore. And I really, really, really would've wanted a campaign.I don't want a purely multiplayer focused game that I can't mod. I mean, I was so hella excited for this it was ridiculous then I read the "online" part of the title. Goddammit. I need to plug my old computer in, play some Mechwarrior 2 and experience a great 'mech game again.

it's not MMO - read Russ bullock's tweets

also, Russ clearly wants to do a campaign - just can't fund it yet

New tweet by russ_bullock

View ›

@TheMechGamer thanks brother and never say never I'm a big SP fan myself.

via Twitter Follow - Russ Bullock | 13 minutes ago

Delete

New tweet by russ_bullock

View ›

@DrKlep I wouldn't call this an MMO friend. Round based combat.

via Twitter Follow - Russ Bullock | 16 minutes ago

i kind of wanted an mmo back when they were trying to make that battletech 3025 game, which was supposed to be an mmo... but right now i'd rather just play a regular single player mechwarrior game....  it's been so long and to come back with an MMO doesn't seem like the smart thing to do.

@Metal_Mills said:

Also, Crimecraft and APB were made by shit developers. DC Universe was also made by a shit developer AND was subscription based.

It's a good thing Piranha has such an amazing track record then, right?

I can't even tell if it's good or bad Weisman ain't in on this anymore. And I really, really, really would've wanted a campaign.I don't want a purely multiplayer focused game that I can't mod. I mean, I was so hella excited for this it was ridiculous then I read the "online" part of the title. Goddammit. I need to plug my old computer in, play some Mechwarrior 2 and experience a great 'mech game again.

I feel like I missed out on all the cool robot games. I played some of Armored Core but I have never played a MechWarrior game so I am looking forward to this.

Also, their capcha on register is bullshit. I messed it up 3 times and then it makes me put all my info in again.

There were several F2P MMOs' set in the Mech Warrior universe.

They were fantastic games before EA shut them down and MW lent itself perfectly to that type of game. If this game is anything like those it'll easily be great.

Google Multiplayer Battletech Solaris / 3025 if you're interested.

Why does it have fingers?!?!?!?! What I remember from Mechwarrior 3 was that there was gun there, they had no hands at all.

Why does it have fingers?!?!?!?! What I remember from Mechwarrior 3 was that there was gun there, they had no hands at all.

really? All I know was that the mechs in Mechwarrior 3 never had fingers, everything was some kind of gun. Maybe I remembered that wrong.

@Metal_Mills said:

@GTCknight said:

Why does it have fingers?!?!?!?! What I remember from Mechwarrior 3 was that there was gun there, they had no hands at all.

Atlas has always had fingers.

This man speaks the truth! They did MOVE the guns on the Atlas a bit though, and I think earlier games had the fists balled up so they were easier to model (lower polycount). Wonder if youcan actually use the hands in this one.

Also, ok, the idea of running around, scouting in a Locust or something (you think they'll let you have anything but lights without paying?) and getting someone to rain down artillery sounds like it could be fun to try at least. We shall see.

@Cozmicaztaway: Was the Atlas in Mechwarrior 3? If so were the guns inside the fingers? Because I do remember something like that, but I just don't remember any mech with pure hands (as a hand that's not also a gun).

I jizzed. Gimme muh fuckin MECHWARRIOR!

@GTCknight: I'm not sure, never got to play Mechwarrior 3 more than a demo. According to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnuxv1d3Ors it wasn't. The Atlas should always have hands to punch guys with, however.

I am an incredible Battletech nerd. I have something around a hundred novels and dozens of sourcebooks. Strangely I almost missed the entire Mechwarrior series of games except MechAssault. I'm personally still holding out hope that someday I will get the 4X Battletech game I've always dreamed of.

That all being said I'll give this game a try. I don't have high hopes considering the way things have gone for Battletech in recent years.

I just realized the MadCat won't be in it as it's pre-clans. Surely we'll get a predecessor MadCat 0 or something.

more reading material

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/10/31/new-mechwarrior-game-a-pc-exclusive/

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/10/31/meet-mechwarrior-online-piranhas-free-to-play-tactical-mech-sim/

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/10/31/exclusive-interview-piranhas-bullock-talks-about-the-rocky-road-to-rebooting-mechwarrior/

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/10/31/mechwarrior-online-developers-share-details-explain-how-mwo-evolves-the-series/

http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/10/2-dev-blog-0

@Metal_Mills: Just came, 3 times.

MW has always stood for MechWarrior.

I am coming back from the ledge with all this additional reading material.

Still don't like it. The SP Campaign stuff was always the meat of the MechWarrior sim games for me. I like messing around in Instant Action too, but a "round-based" sim is basically just a glorified death match mode. Which is fine and something I probably want to play as a PART of the game I want, but this isn't it.

Will I be willing to try a Free to Play MW game? probably, but I sure as hell won't be spending money on one.