real-time-worlds posts

Australia has become something of a whipping boy (whipping country? continent?) for the game industry. Thanks to the government-run game ratings system lots of titles with adult content have been banned for sale due to Australia's lack of a adult-style ratings for games (although a number of games that were banned have released edited versions in that country).

The latest game that won't be making an appearance in Australia is All Points Bulletin (APB). However Kotaku Australia not because the government has banned the upcoming urban themed MMO FPS. It's because the game's developer Realtime Worlds has no plans to offer a local Australian server for the game which is needed for players in that country to have an acceptable online experience. There's no word as to why Realtime Worlds won't have a local server for the game.

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.

We were expecting this to happen but now its official. All Points Bulletin (APB) the urban themed shooter MMO from developer Real Time Worlds, will not make its previously announced first quarter 2010 release date. As part of their financial press announcement, the game's publisher Electronic Arts has now confirmed that they are now targeting a release sometime in the third quarter of 2010 (July-September) (or EA's fiscal 2011 second quarter).

Real Time Worlds has apparently already begun closed beta testing for APB last fall. The developer has been pretty silent on the game's status for some time but if EA sticks with this current time line for APB's release we should be getting more news on the game's progress soon.

Real Time Worlds' upcoming urban themed shooter MMO All Points Bulletin is still scheduled for release in the first quarter of this year (although we suspect that we will be hearing about a delay for that game any day now) but the Scotland-based developer apparently has some plans for another all new game that will be released in 2011.

VG247.com reports that the LinkedIn resume of a Real Time Worlds artist named Tahir Rashid states he's now working "on a brand new IP due for release in 2011." That's pretty much all we know at this point although if it's really coming sometime next year we suspect that a reveal might be in the works for sometime in the near future.

We are going to put this next item in the rumor column since, at the time of the posting of this article, it has yet to be officially confirmed. However, sources at both Eurogamer and Kotaku report that folks have received email confirmations that the closed beta test for All Points Bulletin (APB) has now begun.

Developer Real Time Worlds has hinted that the beta would be beginning very soon for their urban themed shooter MMO. The unconfirmed reports state that the closed beta is very limited in terms of its time periods; there's only three days out of the week where the beta testers can actually sign on to play the game. However with the title due out in the first quarter of 2010 it looks like APB is sticking to its release schedule for now.

[Via Massively]

Before Real Time Worlds created the Xbox 360 open world action game Crackdown and their upcoming urban shooter MMO All Points Bulletin, they created a first person action game for the now defunct publisher Rage Software called Mobile Forces. Now that 2002 Unreal Engine 1-based game is now available again via GoG.com's DRM-free game download site. You can get the sci-fi themed multiplayer shooter, with support for lots of drivable vehicles, for just $5.99.

GoG.com also has their weekly "Gem of the Week" sale going on. This time the Earth 2150 Trilogy RTS game collection (the original game plus both expansions) is on sale now until the end of the day on Sunday for a mere $4.99.

We've been told that the launch of the closed beta for All Points Bulletin is very,very close with developer Realtime Worlds telling press folks at last month's PAX 2009 that the beta launch is coming soon-ish. Now comes word that the upcoming urban shooting-themed MMO could launch the beta test as soon as next week.

That's the word from VG247.com who reports that Realtime Worlds boss Gary Dale stated exactly that at a UK-based conference today. Of course there's no official word yet from the developer or publisher Electronic Arts yet so considered this story as a well sourced bit of rumor for now. It's still not too late to sign up for the beta at the game's official web site.

While other game developers are cutting down their team members, other dev teams are continuing to hire and expand their offices even in this slow economic climate. Today, UK based Real Time Worlds announced that it has expanded its development space by an additional 8,000 square feet on top of their previous 26,000 square feet of workspace.

Real Time Worlds currently has 265 team members and plans to expand to over 300 people by the end of the year. The dev team is currently working on the urban themed MMO shooter All Points Bulletin that's scheduled to be released in early 2010 by publisher Electronic Arts. They are also working on a second secret project that is supposed will be revealed next year.

While a number of new MMOs are still holding onto the idea of monthly subscription fees (including the upcoming Champions Online, Aion and Global Agenda) others are looking into other kinds of revenue streams. One of the big upcoming MMO titles is All Points Bulletin and on their official web site's FAQ page they state flat out, "We can confirm that APB will not require a monthly subscription."

Developer Real Time Worlds has already confirmed that customization will be a big gameplay factor in APB with people creating their own items and even their own music. It's possible that APB could use a micro-transaction model to buy, sell or trade user made items but so far that's just speculation.

All Points Bulletin is supposedly going to be released in the first quarter of 2010 so naturally the long awaited MMO game from Real Time Worlds might be interested in signing people up for their beta test. A new beta application page on the game's web site, however, is asking some questions that are perhaps a little too close to home.

Seriously, why are APB beta prospects asked if they are married or if they have children and if so how many kids? What are we to make of questions like asking for a person's income or type of job? They are even asking if we own a home. If we don't and say we do does that mean we get into the beta test? Very odd indeed.