It’s been another great week here at LoreHound. More PAX interviews have appeared, we’ve had a few exclusives, and there’s even been some game industry mudslinging. I was terribly excited to see news about Torchlight 2, and I’m sure there’s even more excitement about Diablo 3. I won’t be playing either game as I’ve got weekend plans, but I’m sure between TERA and Diablo 3 there’ll be lots of beta testing going on this weekend.

This week seems to have flown by so quickly! Maybe it’s because I’ve been sleeping through a nasty flu, or wasting lots of time on The Secret War. Actually, given that I’m ranked #2 for my state on the leaderboards, I’d say I’ve been wasting entirely too much time on The Secret War. What can I say, I’ve got not-so-hidden dreams of world conquest, although I’ve been contenting myself with doing my best to keep Brasil and China in the hands of the Dragons. In any event, I feel like no time has passed at all since I wrote last week’s rundown. But enough about me, I’m sure the week’s news is much more interesting!

• PAX East Interview with Jared Gerritzen of Zombie Studios, who discussed Blacklight: Retribution with iTZKooPA. New maps, game modes, heroes and more!
• PAX East Interview with Chris Rippy of Robot Entertainment where iTZKooPA gets the scoop on lots of gameplay footage for Orcs Must Die 2.
• PAX East Interview with Tor Egil Andersen and Erling Ellingsen of Funcom, talking about character progression in The Secret World. Part Two is where iTZKooPA asks tougher questions, like when will we see more ARGs.
• itZKooPA talked about the new content patch in Champions Online, and how it put the game back on his radar.
• PAX East Interview with Victor Kislyi , CEO of Wargaming.net about the upcoming flying MMO World of Warplanes. If you want to take to the skies, there’ll be a public beta in June!
• Mike told us about Yet Another Free SWTOR Weekend. How many of these do they plan on having? I agree with Mike, they should just get it over with and open up a fulltime free trial.
• I was excited to see the launch of The Secret War, the Facebook app that’s paired with The Secret World, and discussed the unexpected success that shut it down for a few hours. My wild speculations turned me into a laughingstock – I honestly expected the app would be down for days or weeks instead of hours!
• The first beta weekend for Guild Wars 2 was announced!
• TERA‘s open beta weekend kicked of yesterday. Everyone can play this weekend, even if you’ve not purchased the game.
• SWTOR‘s subscription numbers may be declining, according to analyst group Cowen and Company.
• Bluehole Studios called NCSoft a corporate bully, and said they won’t back down. TERA will be released, even if they have to fearlessly stomp through the grist of rumors and lawsuits.
• PAX Interview with Stefan Ramirez of Bluehole Studios. iTZKoopa got the scoop on how the “holy trinity” will play out in TERA, as well as more details about the lauded political system.
• The Diablo 3 open beta stress test weekend is underway, allowing anyone to get their hands on the game. I haven’t had much interest in this, but I’ll admit to being slightly disappointed it’s this weekend when I won’t be at home to play.
• PARTY!! It’s the five-year anniversary of Lord of the Rings Online, and iTZKooPA spoke with Aaron Campbell, Senior Producer of LotRO, about the exciting events happening within the game to celebrate. Fireworks, mounts and costumes are just a few of the goodies available during the festivities.
• PAX Interview with Max Schaefer of Runic Games about co-op, quest sharing and other exciting tidbits in Torchlight 2.

Just a few weeks ahead of its release, LoreHound sits down with Lead Designer Jared Gerritzen to discuss the title’s entrenched competition, unique partnership with Perfect World Entertainment and on-going player support.

LoreHound: Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer our and the community’s questions. We’ll start you off with a softball. Who are you and what’s your role?

Jared Gerritzen: I’m Jared Gerritzen, Creative Studio Head and Lead Designer on Blacklight: Retribution.

LH: There’s a good portion of gamers that may not realize Blacklight: Retribution is actually a sequel. Care to discuss the title’s origins and what Zombie Studios plans to do on the follow-up?

JZ: We have been working in the Blacklight world a couple [of] years now, with the first game being Blacklight Tango Down. It originally started as a F2P game, but in the end we had to move it to a retail digital download title. We learned a great deal with that title and had a number of things we had to cut and tons of stuff we just didn’t have the time or resources to do. We got the opportunity to move forward with Blacklight: Retribution as a built-from-the-ground-up F2P shooter and have been able to make the shooter we originally set out to make with Tango Down.

LH: Congratulations on the Open Beta milestone! Are we closer to a concrete release date? How about launch feature sets, such a number of game modes, shop options (cash, in-game and earned) and number of maps?

JZ: Thanks! We just recently set the launch date for April 3rd, 2012! We are burning the midnight oil getting all the final touches into the game. As for new features and maps, we are still nailing down all the final details on those.

LH: BLR has had the PC platform in its iron sights since the beginning. How has this affected development, aside from it being graphically stunning? What about the decision to develop with the F2P business model from the start?

JZ: We love the PC platform. Being a small studio making games for the PC allows us to have a certain level of flexibility and quickness that we wouldn’t have if we were on a console. Since the beginning of Tango Down, we wanted to make the best FPS F2P on the market as we think F2P or Games As Service is the future and we wanted to be the leader. Making games for the PC we can’t forget to mention graphics though. Being on the PC also lets us show our talents by pushing the platform. We are using Unreal Engine 3 for BLR and are thrilled to be the first DirectX 11 UE3 Game released, so we are using the latest technology available and the game looks amazing.

LH: Any trepidations of going against major competitors like Electonic Arts’ Battlefield and Medal of Honor franchises and Activision’s 600-pound elephant/gorilla/hippopotamus [Ed. Note that'd be a small elephant or hippo] commonly known as Call of Duty? Not only in striving for the same customers, but attacking their base via a different model.

JZ: We love and play those games as well. I’m a huge fan of Battlefield, but we think we are bringing something new to the table with BLR. I think when people play BLR, they will see the value that they are getting as we are giving them a AAA game for free.

Hit the jump for the rest of the 411.

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We’re glad to inform you that Perfect World Entertainment will be releasing Zombie Studio’s free-to-play FPS Blacklight: Retribution on April 3, 2012.

Shwing!

The title is currently in Open Beta, so you might as well jump in an begin leveling your permanent character now. If the “headstart” isn’t a good enough incentive for you.

How about this tidbit: The game is currently undergoing a Bonus XP Weekend. Actually, that’s weekend++, as the event will end on Tuesday!

We’re not worthy!

“After five successive months of closed and open beta testing, Blacklight Retribution has recruited a strong community of dedicated players that have provided valuable feedback for our development team to create a tight and polished free-to-play game with innovative and exciting features,” said Andrew Brown, Executive Producer for Perfect World Entertainment. “Our team has been working really hard to prepare the game for its release, including additional content like new game modes, supporting maps, and a variety of new weapons and related gameplay enhancers.”

Above you’ll find the latest trailer for Blacklight: Retribution. To be fair, it’s geared more towards getting your adrenaline pumping than showcasing in-game experiences. This blogger has never faced enemies that stupid, or that willing to spill their blood, which doesn’t exist in BLR.

“Add it in post” indeed.

(Sorry, I just watched Wayne’s World).

[Update]

In fact, this was confirmed and expanded upon by the Creative Head of Zombie Studios, Jared Gerrtizen:

Aftereffects and a path in the video that isn’t in the map…. Heads have rolled.

Zombie Studios takes its community very seriously.

The upcoming sequel to Blacklight: Tango Down is heading to Open Beta testing on February 27. The final round of Closed Beta testing ends at 5:00 PM PST on February 17.

Aside from allowing all gun junkies to get their hands on BLR, the Open Beta will introduce gamers to three new maps, custom built Hero characters, the Data Node system, new backgrounds, and systems.

Check out the latest Intel Report for all the tips and tricks.

Ready to get gibbed?