apb-game posts

It's looking like the closed beta invites for APB Reloaded are being sent out, indicating that the revival of 2010's shut down first person shooter MMO is getting closer. Both Kotaku and PC Gamer are reporting that the invites are being sent out to players who beta tested the original All Points Bulletin game when it was developed by the now defunct Realtime Worlds. Those players will have a chance to restore their original character in the new version.

As some of you may know already, APB launched in June 2010 after years of development but sales of the game were not enough to support the title. Realtime Worlds went bust in September and took the game down with it. However by the end of 2010 Gamersfirst came in to purchase the rights to the game and should officially relaunch it as a free-to-play title later in 2011.

Update: GamersFirst sent out a new email to media outlets stating, "GamersFirst has NOT released any keys or sent out invitations for APB Reloaded closed beta. As of now, no formal date for the APB closed beta has been released and no keys have been distributed. We expect the closed beta to come out near the end of February."

When the first person shooter MMO APB Reloaded is relaunched later this year, the game will be keeping its Punkbuster anti-cheating support. In the game's latest blog update, GamersFirst revealed that Punkbuster's software was actually a part of the first version of APB under developer Realtime Worlds. While there were some issues with using Punkbuster during the game's first incarnation that resulted in the software being turned off in the game for a time, the development team" ... managed to turn it back on without issues for a few weeks before the servers were shut down."

However the plan is to have Punkbuster ready to go for APB Reloaded when it relaunches later this year. The blog post states, "We also plan to have anti-cheating enabled on all servers from the very start of Closed Beta." Also if a player is found to be running an aimbot program in the game, the player will be " ... immediately banned for a period of time." If the player is discovered to be using an aimbot for a second time, the player will get a permanent ban. As the blog post states, "This might seem quite harsh, but there really is no excuse for aimbotting and this time around it will be treated with zero tolerance. "

APB Reloaded is prepping for its closed beta test later in February but in the game's latest blog info update from its new developer and publisher GamersFirst more info was revealed on how content from the original game from defunct developer Realtime Worlds will be incorporated into its revival.

According to the site, players of the original APB should not have to worry about their characters' customization, saying " ... the goal is to let you keep ALL customizations you created using the old game." Even if some items are now for premium users, the blog post states, "That's ok. You will basically be unique thanks to you having played the game "back in the day" and our goal is to make sure your many gazillion of hours of investment do not go to waste."

If you have been following the game news for the past few weeks you know that developer Realtime Worlds is all but shut down with just a handful of staff remaining to support the first person shooter MMO All Points Bulletin while another small team works on the social gaming-sim title Project MyWorld. The developer reportedly blew through over $100 million in outside funding before its collapse earlier this month.

Now the UK-based Guardian games blog has a detailed looked at what happened behind closed doors at Realtime Worlds with info supplied by two former members of the company (who are not identified). In short, the sources tell a tale of a developer who was making a game that sounded good in design but lacked polish and the all-important "fun" factor in the end. Having all of that start-up money might have actually hurt Realtime Worlds as well. As one of the ex-employees said, "We got all this money, and it made us relax, when really it should have focused our attention on making sure we had a really good approach to managing the project ... ."

Things have apparently gone from "total meltdown" to just "really bad" over at developer Realtime Worlds. Gamasutra reports that the company, currently under "administration" has hired back 23 of its Scotland-based workers who were on the MyWorld development team. According to the Begbies Traynor administration team the social networking-themed city sim game, officially announced just a few weeks before the developer began its shut down process, "is attracting considerable interest from potential buyers."

Realtime Worlds' current MMO game All Points Bulletin is still online and working and Begbies Traynor states that the game will be "improved and supported 100 per cent during this restructure." Offers to purchase the remaining assets of Realtime Worlds have reportedly come in on "both sides of the Atlantic".

The trials of All Points Bulletin developer Realtime Worlds have now come to a head. Despite several years in development and lots of pre-release hype and promotion for the first person shooter's MMO, Eurogamer is now reporting that the developer is planning to shut down its doors completely. A Scotland-based newspaper web site states that the shut down will lead to 170 people losing their jobs.

While the report, which comes from unnamed sources, states that the APB team in the developer's Scotland offices were "given until Friday to clear their desks" it also states that there are rumors that the company will "retain a core team of staff to support online game APB."

Realtime Worlds was formed in 2002 from a core team that had developed a first person shooter, Mobile Forces, for the now defunct Rage Software. In 2007 it released the acclaimed open world action game Crackdown for the Xbox 360 console. It announced its plans for APB back in 2005 and had raised over $50 million in outside funding for that title. However the game suffered from low sales and mediocre reviews when it finally was released in late June of this year.

With the game now less than a month away from its June 29 release date, the team at Realtime Worlds are getting busy fixing bugs and prepping their urban-themed MMO shooter All Points Bulletin (APB) for its launch. Now the game's official web site has posted up info on the game's minimal system requirements on its FAQ page.

The requirements are pretty bare-bones so hopefully your PC will be up to it to run this game that has a huge emphasis on customized characters, vehicles and even music:

Core 2 Duo 2Ghz or equivalent
2GB RAM (3GB for Vista64 / Windows 7 64)
nVidia GeForce 7800 - 256MB or equivalent
20GB Hard disk space
Headset and microphone recommended
Broadband internet connection required

It was first announced way back in 2005 but today we finally have an actual ship day for All Points Bulletin, the first person shooter MMO from developer Realtime Worlds and publisher Electronic Arts. The game will be available here in North American June 29. Most of Europe will get the game July 1 with the UK getting the game on July 2.

EA also announced the pricing model for APB, revealing that you can buy the game for $49.99 and play it online for free if you just want to customize your cars and clothes, socialize online and trading your creations. If you want to actually shoot people the game comes with 50 hours of gameplay in the box. If you want to buy more time in that aspect of the game you can do so for $6.99 for 20 hours or $9.99 for one month of unlimited gameplay (discounts will be available if you pay for 90 days or 180 days). You can also get free action game time if you are creative enough in the game.

People who pre-order the game via download or via retailers will be able to get some specials incentives including early access time before the game officially launches, bonus action game time, a "Key to the City" demo, and exclusive clothing, emotes and cars.

As we get closer to the release of All Points Bulletin (APB) later this year, the development team at Realtime Worlds are showing off more of their upcoming urban shooting-themed MMO title. In a new video released this week we learn more about the game from the dev team and from seeing gameplay.

The over six minute video goes over some of APB's features including its wide degree of customization that players can choose to use. There's also lots of shooting and lots of fancy cars in the video. Publisher Electronic Arts still plans to release APB in the third quarter of 2010.

Download HD APB 'Create Conflict' Developer Video (393 MB)
Check out all APB downloads

A few weeks ago it was revealed that the shooter themed MMO All Points Bulletin would be released sometime in the third quarter of 2010. Now developer Real Time Worlds is recruiting folks to join in the game's third and final closed beta test period.

The developer is already saying they will be bringing in "thousands of new players" to participate in the final closed beta for the long-in-development game. There's no word yet on when the developer will have an open beta test for APB but if it sticks to its current schedule the final version will be released by publisher Electronic Arts sometime between July and September.