hi-rez-studios posts

The busy action-RTS-MOBA-DOTA inspired game genre just got a new entry today. Hi-Rez Studios, the makers of Global Agenda and the upcoming Tribes Ascent, has just announced plans to release SMITE, their own free-to-play online game. featuring characters from mythology battling each other in combat.

The game's press release admits to being "inspired" by Defense of the Ancients but says SMITE will also be using Unreal Engine 3 as its graphical basis. Todd Harris, the co-founder of Hi-Rez Studios, states, "At this point we already have a really fun playable version of SMITE and we look forward to sharing additional details about the project in the coming months."

As promised earlier this month, developer Hi-Rez Studios has taken its sci-fi first person shooter MMO Global Agenda into the free-to-play game genre. The game also gets a slight name change; it's now called Global Agenda: Free Agent. All of the game's content and all 50 character levels can now be played for free. Additional features such as "in-game mail, auction house, priority access to servers" and more can be purchased with a one time fee of $19.99.

The game also has added some new content in its switch to the free-to-play model including a new Dome Defense Raid for players of level 40 and above and a new gameplay mode, Acquisition, that has pilotable robots.

Global Agenda was first released just over a year ago but today the sci-fi first person shooter MMO is switching its business model yet again. Later this month developer Hi-Rez Studios will release an update that will allow anyone free access to all of the game's character classes and content up to level 50.

Under the new business model, players who purchase the "Elite Status" level for the game at $19.99 will be able to access additional features as well as faster rates of "earning character levels, gear, and currency" in the game. Global Agenda was originally planned as a game with a monthly subscription fee when it was first launched but that business model was never put into service.

Lots of Tribes players and fans are anxious to find out how developer Hi-Rez Studios plan to revive the cult hit sci-fi shooter series with the upcoming multiplayer shooter Tribes Ascend. This week, the game's official Facebook page posted up the first concept artwork for one of the maps, titled Drydock, that's being made for the game.

As you can see above the art style for the game is pretty much spot on compared to previous games set in the Tribes universe. There also seems to be some kind of energy blasts hitting the ground from above. Whether those blasts come from natural or man-made sources remains to be seen. Tribes Ascend is currently set for release before the end of 2011.

[Via Destructoid]

Tribes Ascend's announcement by Hi-Rez Studios last week was a welcome surprise to fans of the long running Tribes shooter series. Now the game's official Facebook page is making fans "like" it by promising to reveal concept artwork from the title as more and more fans "like" the page.

The first couple of concept art images are already in places showing off some Blood Eagle armor types and more are promised when and if Facebook users continue to "like" the page. While concept artwork is nice we would prefer to see some in-game screenshots. Hopefully those won't be held hostage for long.

[Via PC Gamer]

Developer Hi-Rez Studios' previously announced revival of the Tribes sci-fi shooter franchise will be getting a new installment. Previously, the developer announced plans to create a persistent online game known as Tribes Universe. While that game is still being planned, Hi-Rez Studios has now announced that before that game comes out it will release a digital download title called Tribes Ascend that sounds like it will be more like the multiplayer shooters that started the series with Tribes 1 and 2.

In its press release, Hi-Rez Studios' founder Todd Harris said that in their testing for Tribes Universe, "We've had tremendous fun play-testing and realized the potential of a multiplayer focused title ahead of Tribes Universe. The community has been waiting for a multi-player shooter that is the modern successor to T2. Tribes: Ascend is that game." The game is due out in late 2011 for the PC and also for the Xbox 360. A teaser trailer for the game can be seen after the jump:

One year ago, developer Hi-Rez Studios released Global Agenda its sci-fi themed action shooter MMO. While the game was supposed to have premium subscription content as well as content that was free to play online, Hi-Rez dumped its plans for the premium option and allowed people to access all of the game's content for just the price of the game itself.

For the next two days the price of the game has been cut drastically. From now until 1 pm Eastern time on Thursday you can download and purchase Global Agenda via Steam for just $7.50, a 75 percent price cut from its normal $29.99 price. You can get more info on Global Agenda via a new feature and interview with Hi-Rez Studios head Todd Harris over at our sister site Massively. The interview reveals that Hi-Rez is now working on another unannounced game in addition to Global Agenda updates and Tribes Universe, the revival of the sci-fi shooter series that was first announced last fall.

Download Global Agenda Trial Client (6.6 GB)

Earlier this week developer Hi-Rez Studios revealed that it had acquired the rights to the Tribes game franchise with plans to make a first person shooter MMO called Tribes Universe. Today it launched a web site that will allow folks to sign up to be picked to participate in the upcoming alpha test for the game.

Alpha testing for the new game is expected to begin in early 2011. The press release also confirms that the acquisition of the Tribes IP also includes the previous games in the game's Starsiege universe. As you can see above the logo for Tribes Universe has also been revealed.

This weekend's out of the blue announcement of a new game in the Tribes series of sci-fi shooters by developer Hi-Rez Studios likely has the attention of some old school gamers who remember where they were when the original game in the franchise was first released. However it's also likely that many people reading this web site have never played, or even worse, never heard of the Tribes series.

So we decided to whip a quick history of the Tribes franchise for those of you who have yet to play any of the games in the series. The franchise was a massive influence of the first person shooter genre, particularly in its multiplayer features. In many ways the first game in the series was years ahead of its time but its successors never achieved the audience that the first game did.

One of the oldest first person shooter game franchises has a new home. Hi-Rez Studios, who released the sci-fi first person shooter MMO Global Agenda earlier this year, has announced that it has acquired the rights to the Tribes game franchise. Hi-Rez is already at work on the next game in the sci-fi shooter series, to be called Tribes Universe.

The surprise announcement was made in a post late on Saturday on the official Global Agenda message boards (free registration required to read the message) by Hi-Rez Studios' CEO Erez Goren. In his message he stated that the idea behind the Tribes acquisition actually started when they realized they could not expand Global Agenda in terms of player and map size beyond the game's current limits so the decision was mad to make an all new game that would have support for over 100 players at once with massive levels, vehicles and more.

Goren states, "While working through the design we kept coming back to one old and loved game that represented many of the concepts we where incorporating into the new game (Jetpacks, vehicles, large open space, three armor types, futuristic weapons, etc)." Of course Goren is describing Tribes and the company apparently decided to go ahead and purchase the Tribes IP. The previous owners of the Tribes property, InstantAction.com, have confirmed the purchase via its own message board post, saying, "HiRez owns all rights and any questions regarding Tribes development should be directed to them." Specific financial numbers for the deal have not been revealed.

Goren stated the new Tribes Universe will have, among other things, a fully persistent world with three factions, massive maps that are 10 times the size of the largest Global Agenda map, ground and air vehicles, "lots of weapons", jetpacks, clan support, "skiing." and more. Goren assured Global Agenda players that the game will continue to be supported and updated while Tribes Universe will be developed by a separate team at Hi-Rez. Alpha testing for Tribes Universe will begin at the start of 2011 and according to Goren, "Global Agenda players with level 50 characters will have priority in entering Alpha and Beta testing."

[Via Massively]