k2-network posts

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. "

The closed beta test for the relaunch of the first person shooter MMO APB Reloaded is scheduled to start in February and in the game's latest blog post its new owner GamersFirst gives some more details on how the closed beta will work. Signing up for the beta is pretty easy. Just put your email address in the Stay Up To Date section of the game's teaser site and also sign up for a GamersFirst account.

A couple of weeks before the beta starts people who have submitted their email will get an email asking for more info, including their PC hardware specs and more info about the player. After all that info is filled out the beta key will be sent. GamersFirst is expecting to send out about 6,000 to 8,000 invites. Previous players of APB won't be able to access their previous characters and accounts in the closed beta but GamersFirst is working to do just that for the open beta test later on.

[Via Blue's News]

All Points Bulletin may have been one of the biggest failures in PC gaming in 2010 but K2 Network/GamersFirst is determined to relaunched the urban-themed first person shooter later this year as a free-to-play title. Today the game's official Twitter page announced that at the moment the publishing is aiming to start APB Reloaded's closed beta test "somewhere in late February."

In yet another "tweet" GamersFirst said that details on how to apply for the closed beta "will be released next week." GamersFirst launched a blog site a few weeks ago with some details on how their version of the game will be handled.

K2 Network, the parent company behind the GamersFirst lineup of free-to-play online PC game titles, is preparing for a major network overall as it prepares to launch a number of new games in 2011. These plans were first revealed in the official blog site for one of those new games, the relaunch of the first person shooter MMO APB.

According to the blog post the network revamp is akin to "... changing the engine oil while speeding down the highway at 100 miles per hour." Since first launching in 2005 GamersFirst has used a number of different network configurations and according to the blog, "This patchwork of services caused various issues over the years, though our IT team put up a valiant fight in each instance to keep things running as smoothly as possible in spite of a sometimes overly "complex" architecture." The new and revamped network started in August 2010. While it goes into pretty technical details, the upshot of all this is that GamersFirst will " ... become a global wholesale network provider (more or less). Yes - technically you could actually now buy bandwidth FROM us on three continents, though I don't think we really have a business model for that yet :)"

In addition to the relaunch of APB, GamersFirst also plans to launch four more games in 2011 although those titles have yet to be revealed.

[Via Blue's News]

Late this year, K2 Network announced that it had bought the IP and game assets to the shut down first person shooter MMO All Points Bulletin (APB). While K2 Network is still several months away from relaunching the game, K2 Network's Bjorn Book-Larsson has been giving some hints about what to expect from K2 Network's version of the game, now called APB Reloaded.

The blog reveals that some of the former APB team members from the now defunct Realtime Worlds will be working on the relaunched version as independent contractors with future plans to open up a full fledged UK-based studio in early 2011. It also talks about taking the game into the free-to-play genre and what that will mean for the free players as well as the ones that will choose to go on the paid "premium'' route. In early January the schedule for the game's closed beta, open beta and officiall launch should be revealed.

The word got leaked last week but now GamersFirst has made it official. In a press released issued this morning the free-to-play gaming web site owned by K2 Network announced that it has acquired the publishing rights and the assets to All Points Bulletin (APB), the first person shooter MMO that was first developed and released by Realtime Worlds. As many of you already know, the game was released last June but poor reviews and a lack of players forced Realtime Worlds to shut down only a few months later.

GamersFirst acquired the APB rights from Realtime Worlds' bankruptcy administrator and it will be developed by its subsidiary Reloaded Productions for a relaunch as a free-to-play online only game with micro-transaction support of in-game content. It's scheduled to go live to the public sometime in the first half of 2011. It will also get a name change to APB: Reloaded. This is not the first time that GamersFirst has taken on a game that got shut down somewhere else. Earlier this year it took over the US publishing duties of 9Dragons, a fantasy RPG that was previously run by Acclaim before it was closed down.

Big Download chatted with GamersFirst Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer Bjorn Book-Larsson on Monday morning about the APB acquisition and you can check out what we learned from him after the jump:

All Points Bulletin, or APB for short, may have found a new home. According to GamesIndustry.biz (free registration required) the defunct first person shooter MMO has been acquired by K2 Network, who runs a number of free-to-play MMO titles under the GamersFirst.com web site. The report, which cites unnamed sources, claims the rights to the game were purchased for a mere 1.5 million pounds. The story also states that an official announcement will be made in the next week and APB could be back online by the end of 2010.

Developed by UK-based Realtime Worlds, APB was first revealed back in 2005. Despite several years of development and months of pre-release hype, the game failed to reach a mass audience after its launch last June due to poor gameplay design and bug issues. The game shut down its servers in September and more importantly a large number of developers lost their jobs as Realtime Worlds shut down.

We've been keeping an eye out for news of Parabellum, the upcoming free-to-play Unreal Engine 3 based first person shooter. Today K2 Network, who handles the publishing of other free-to-play games such as War Rock, announced they will be handling those duties for Parabellum.

The game will be set up at K2 Networks' GamersFirst web site portal, which will allow players to check out the title from developer Acony. The game takes place in the year 2018 where your player can pick from one of two mercenary teams that are fighting in various locals around the world, from New York City to South American jungles. So far there's no word on when the game will launch on the GamesFirst site.