Yeah, FireFall will be heading to just open beta testing this July. July 9, 2013 to be exact. The game has had the closed beta testing tag applied to it for over a year after Red 5 Studios has gone through three major progression revamps, from dropping levels to eradicating branching battleframe progression. After over a year of closed community feedback and a few Chosen weekends of open beta testing, the firm has applied dozens of changes based upon their suggestions. The company finally feels confident that the open-world MMO shooter is ready for the big time. In just under three months time.

Obviously, the new tag won’t stop Red 5 Studios from continuing development. In the interim the company will continue to hit major milestones in May and June. Many focus on PvE elements.

Upcoming features include:

• City Power Levels: offering players bonuses for aiding in localized missions.

• Melding Exploration: Unlocked by increasing City Power Levels, players will be able to explore the Melding via special dropships.

• Chosen Instances: Strengthening the open world environment will unlock these instanced dungeons.

• Crafting & Progression: Crafting system alterations and ever-improved UIs for the new Battleframe progression system.

For those thinking of joining closed beta testing now via invite or by becoming a Founder, don’t forget that James Macauley already promised an end to character wipes in 2012. Check out the Open Beta FAQ for all the details.

Last year as convention season began its full swing Red 5 Studios made a radical, unexpected change to its third-person MMO shooter. The company made a drastic call to completely revamp various game systems in FireFall, including general progression. The changes so late in development and so widespread were so unexpected that we featured an interview on the topic.

Apparently, come our appointment at PAX East with Red 5 Studios we’ll have to produce a sequel. The company has announced that its making a major adjustment to progression as part of a milestone patch for March 22, the PAX East 2013 begins. The original change removed the typical experience-based leveling system, cementing the battleframes as the title’s core progression system.

Players and Senior Game Designer Cameron Winston enjoyed the change, but subsequent data, feedback and play information has revealed that the outgoing system is too “hard to understand, and it had arbitrary limitations that prevented players from exploring how they could customize their frames.” Class-based frames will remain in the new system, but each will now have its own unique tech tree.

The latest devblog has more and we’ll be sure to spotlight the issue further during our upcoming interview.

The industry is young, and 2011 was a mark of success throughout when the Court System ruled that video games indeed are a form of art, and therefore, protected by the first amendment. That strengthened the industry as a whole, giving reinforcement to everyone that video games are indeed as practical a source of entertainment as movies, comics or books are.

However, just as our year of a great victory came to an end, two blocks of legislation came to the industry’s attention that threaten all we have gained in respect and strength in the years past: SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and its sister bill, PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act).

Many companies and websites have banded together to combat the dangerous measures the U.S. government is investigating to combat the cyberworld in the name of “piracy protection”. While, yes, piracy is bad (and we do not support it at Lore Hound), these recent proposed acts have far more reaching effects than just piracy prevention.

Red 5 Studios, makers of the upcoming FireFall made an official announcement this morning, declaring itself as an endorser of a new legislative movement group on behalf of the gaming industry: League For Gamers, properly acronymed as LFG.

Laguna Hills, CA – January 17, 2012 – Red 5 Studios™ today announced the League For Gamers (LFG), an organization with the lifelong mission of promoting games in a positive way, spreading the passion of gaming and protecting gaming interests in politics. Red 5 will shut down Firefall and its website on January 18^th in a 24 hour show of solidarity, encouraging gamers, developers and all industry supporters to join LFG and stand together against misguided and overbearing legislative initiatives such as SOPA, (Stop Online Privacy Act), and PIPA, (Protect IP), in order to perpetuate and continue industry growth.

The League For Gamers was founded on January 14, 2012 by Red 5 Studios and its CEO, Mark Kern, through a $50,000 pledge. It was established as a true alternative to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and its subsidiary organization, the Video Game Voter’s Network (VGVN).

“The VGVN and the ESA claim to represent gamers and developers, but they have turned their backs on them by supporting and funding legislation such as SOPA and PIPA,” said Mark Kern. “Developers such as Red 5 Studios and other game makers no longer have an organization to represent their true position on this kind of destructive legislation. LFG’s first action will be to petition the ESA to withdraw their support from PIPA, which still looms large in the Senate.”

While it was announced on Monday that SOPA has been “shelved” – for the time being – its sister bill PIPA is still an immediate threat to the gaming industry and online freedom. The Senate is scheduled to vote on PIPA January 24^th, leaving one week for gamers and developers to add their support and get the attention of representatives. Interested parties can join LFG and its ESA petition at the following link: http://www.leagueforgamers.org/2012/01/17/help-lfg-join-now/

Continue Reading

PAX Prime 2011 is now at a close after day 3, but not without some last executions for skipping lines, getting torched by a flamethrower, and cool statues coming to life.

While filming the Rayman interview at the very vibrant and colorful Ubisoft booth, the Just Dance 3 music was playing and Mordil couldn’t get enough of it to resist from dancing. Just like Beararms who couldn’t resist picking up a “pimp” cane and hat to pose for a profile picture.

Finally, as the last homage to PAX, as people were getting kicked out and lights turned on, the employees at the Hi-Rez Studios booth had a little fun with extra promotional stickers by placing them on none other than unsuspecting Mordil. Toting around stickers everywhere in random places on his body, Mordil showed his Hi-Rez love by doing free advertising for 3 blocks to the car for the drive home.

Check out the gallery and FireFall’s animated statue after the break. Stay tuned for a full FireFall interview later this week.

Continue Reading