fallen-earth-llc posts

It's never a good sign when a game developer announces some kind of "restructuring". Today that was the announcement made by Icarus Studios, the North Carolina-based co-developer (with Fallen Earth LLC) of the 2009 launched post-apocalypse MMO Fallen Earth. The official press release states that Icarus Studios revealed a "restructure of the company resources and staffing, effective immediately."

Usually a "restructuring" is a big code word for "layoffs". While specific numbers were not mentioned our sister site Massively reports on rumors that as many as 80 percent of the developer's team members may now no longer be with the company. A post on the game's official message board by a staff member states, "As of today, there are 28 core staff members plus customer support staff and GMs." Even with this move, the developer still plans to support and expand Fallen Earth, including an upcoming patch slated for release on May 7 that will add "Blood Sports" PvP to the game.

This week has been filled with Mac-based gaming news. First there was the official announcement of Valve porting its games and its Steam download client to the Mac. Then the possible prospect of porting Battlefield Bad Company 2 to the Mac was brought up by its developer. Now developer Icarus Studios has announced that their MMO platform has been ported to Mac OS X.

As a consequence, the MMO that uses their tech, the post-apocalypse themed game Fallen Earth, now has a free 10 day trial available to download now for the Mac which requires Intel-based Macintosh machines to work. The 5.1 GB client uses the Wine open source software to port the game to the Mac. Mac and PC players of Fallen Earth will be able to play in the same servers.

While not quite as drastic as the unlimited free trials for recent MMO games like CrimeCraft or Age of Conan, the development team at Fallen Earth LLC clearly want more people to check out their post-apocalyptic title Fallen Earth. This week the developer announced that they are offering a free 10-day trial to check out the game for yourself.

In addition the developer is selling the full game on its web site for $39.99, which is 20 percent off its normal price during the holidays. The game is currently going through a holiday-themed live event (apparently a holocaust doesn't keep Christmas down) with special missions where you can get in-game items like eggnog.

Last month, the development team for the post-apocalypse MMO Fallen Earth gave a nice in-game item to anyone who bought the game on Steam for a limited time. Now the game has become available on another PC game download service, the Stardock-run Impulse.

To celebrate, anyone who buys the game on Impulse gets a couple of unique in-game items as well and we have to say we love the names for them. They are the Fancy White Boots and the Snazzy White Hat. Yes, you can travel in the blasted wastelands looking (and we bet feeling) good. Each item has some special bonuses to give to your character as well. Which mean that (and yes, we know its corny) these boots aren't just made for walking. But one of these days they will still walk all over you.

While not getting the media attention of other MMOs released this year like Aion and Champions Online, the release of the post-apocalypse MMO Fallen Earth has neverless generated a solid cult following. It's also expanded its retail reach to include stores like Best Buy. Now the developer Fallen Earth LLC has announced a limited time offer for people who purchase the game via Steam.

From now until December 3, people who buy the game through Valve's download outlet will get a voucher that can be used to get a free faction-related t-shirt. Players will be able to trade their voucher to an NPC in the game to get their t-shirt. Six such t-shirt, each with a specific faction logo, can be purchased and the shirt also acts as a level 10 shirt armor piece.

In the midst of a flood of new MMO PC product that was released inside a month recent, the post-apocalypse themed Fallen Earth has generated a solid fan following. The game was officially launched in the last half of September and now the game's development team at Fallen Earth LLC have posted up a status report on the game's progress.

A new patch is in the works that will be released soon that will include an extended training area for new players to learn more skills in the game. A second patch will "include an increased focus on group-oriented and social content, such as camps, that we've heard players want." While the game has sold well as a downloadable product, apparently the box product is having a hard time reaching store shelves. The update states, "We are working hard with our distributor to remedy those situations and open up new channels for folks to buy including the ability to buy directly from www.fallenearth.com." Ultimately this little indie-made MMO seems to be doing well even in the face of high-powered new MMO releases that have gotten more marketing and PR attention.

[Via Massively]

Fallen Earth is about to officially launch tomorrow (pre-orders have been playing in the game for the past couple of weeks now) but the developers at Fallen Earth LLC are still doing some pre-order offers from download sites for the upcoming MMO. One of them is Steam and if you decided to pre-order the game from that service you get a special in-game item.

You can see the item in this news post; an in-game t-shirt with the Steam logo (apparently the post-apocalypse world still needs a PC game download service). It's not just for decoration for your character, though; wearing the shirt also gives you some extra bonuses on many of the game's skill levels. If you want the Steam pre-order offer you have less than a day to grab it.