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Using all in-game footage, this video shows off the expansive maps included in Moonrise, the free content expansion for Shattered Horizon. To mark its release, Steam is hosting a free-to-play weekend for Shattered Horizon complete with a 50% off sale to give both new and current players a chance to try out the new maps. Players can pre-load the game now, and the free-to-play weekend will last from today 4:00 PM PST until February 21st at 1:00 PM PST.

"Shattered Horizon immerses you in the cold reality of combat in space like no other game before. This multiplayer first-person shooter is played entirely in zero gravity. A catastrophic explosion on the Moon has filled near-Earth space with billions of tons of rocky debris. You and your friends will join intense 32 player battles to control hollowed-out asteroids, huge fragments of Moon rock and the ruined remains of the International Space Station."

Download HD Shattered Horizon Moonrise Trailer (50 MB)
Read the Shattered Horizon Review
Check out all Shattered Horizon Downloads

Earlier this week Futuremark Games Studio released their Moonrise four level map pack for their zero-g space-based shooter Shattered Horizon. The map pack doubled the number of levels in the full game. Now the developer is giving folks who have not played the game a chance to check out its rather unique features via a free play weekend on Steam.

Folks can now pre-load the game which will unlock beginning at 7 pm Eastern time later today. The free play period will end on Sunday at 4 pm Eastern time. Futuremark is also making it easier to purchase the full game. During the free weekend it will be priced at $9.99, a 50 percent cut from its normal price. As we always do with this game, we want to remind everyone this is a DirectX 10 exclusive title which means only folks with Windows 7 and Windows Vista installed can play it.

Players who wanted more levels for Shattered Horizon can rest easy now. Developer Futuremark Games Studio has now made available the promised Moonrise map pack that added four new levels to the unique zero-g space based shooter. This new map pack now doubles the number of total maps in the game.

The maps included in the Moonrise map pack include Deadeye (set in a massive but broke communications disk) Ten Star (on board a space hotel resort), Searchlight (which takes place around an abandoned space craft) and Slingshot (on a mass driver which you can see above). Players will have to play on updated servers in order to access the four new maps.

Earlier this week we reported that the free Moonbase level expansion pack for Shattered Horizon will be released "soon". While we wait for that to happen, developer Futuremark Games Studio has issued a new patch for the multiplayer first person shooter via Steam. While there are lots of bug fixes in this patch it also add a few new game features.

One big new addition is in-game voice chat which means the title now natively supports chatting and hearing back from fellow players. Also players with more experience will see cosmetic changes to their character's space suits that sets them apart from less experienced players. The game's ranking system got revamped with 50 new experience ranks added to the game. You can check out the list of changes, improvements and additions on the Steam web site.

It's been a while since we have heard anything new on the Shattered Horizon front but today the zero-g first person shooter's developer Futuremark Games Studio offered an update and new screenshots from the upcoming free Moonbase expansion pack.

As we have reported before the free expansion will contain four new maps which when released will double the number of levels in the full game. The locations include a mass driver installation, a lunar hotel, a communication dish that was once on the Moon and a cargo ship. There's still no word on when the Moonbase expansion pack will be made available. Last December it was revealed that layoffs had occurred at Futuremark Games Studios although it was not clear how many people on the team were dismissed.

Once again it looks like some game developers are losing their jobs just before Christmas.The latest dev studio to suffer layoffs is Futuremark Games Studio which released their multiplayer zero-g themed first person shooter Shattered Horizon less than two months ago.

At least two members of the studio announced they were laid off today on the game's official message boards and it sounds like less than expected sales of the game are to blame. The game's now formal level designer Petri Jarvinen stated in his farewell post, "Now this does not mean that the game is dead, it´s just that there are less people making it." We have emailed Futuremark to try to find out exactly how many people were laid off and what this means for the future of Shattered Horizon.

[Via Blue's News]

In today's day and age, having dedicated server support for PC first person shooters is becoming more news worthy. So today we can report that the folks at Futuremark Games Studio have now released their dedicated server software for their multiplayer shooter Shattered Horizon via Steam.

The software can be access via the "Tools" tab on Steam and includes a lot of customization features for server admins. It also includes Steam's VAC anti-cheat software and also allows for the game to be played via a LAN. There's also a new automatic patch available for Shattered Horizon that has some changes in the game's HUD along with bug fixes.

When we reviewed Shattered Horizon earlier this month one of the things that we thought would make the $20 price tag more of a bargain was the promise by developer Futuremark Games Studio that they would release new free map packs for their zero-g shooter. Today the developer announced their plans for their first such free map pack which will add four new levels to the title.

That means that players will soon have double the amount of maps that were present in the initial release of the game. Details of the "Moonrise" map pack were not revealed but if you pre-ordered Shattered Horizon you will be able to beta test those maps beginning later this week.

The recently released zero-g first person shooter Shattered Horizon is getting pretty good reviews so far. However the development team at Futuremark Games Studio don't have any plans to release a playable demo of the title. Thankfully their use of Steam gives them a way to do something similar.

According to the game's official forums, all of the current Shattered Horizon players have been or will be given three guest passes that they can share with others. The free guess pass enabled a Steam user to download and play the full version of the game for three days. Hopefully some of you reading this will have some friends who have bought the game already and will be willing to give you a free sample of the title.

All of us like free stuff so we just wanted to remind you that you still have a chance to get something for nothing. That something is one of three Steam download codes we are giving away for Shattered Horizon, the just released multiplayer first person shooter that's also the debut game from developer Futuremark Games Studios.

If you are eligible to enter our contests (make sure you read our official rules) then you have until 11:59 pm Eastern time tonight to get your comment posted on the contest web page. Then we will pick three random comments and award those folks who made them with the Steam download codes. Simple, huh?