Tribes Universe Logo and Alpha Information

As we mentioned a few days ago (amidst all of our BlizzCon hullabaloo), Hi-Rez studios has announced the development of a new MMO based on an old, and very beloved franchise. Now we have a logo for Tribes Universe (see right) and I’m personally happy to see that it pays due homage to the old Starsiege emblem — which was the series of mech sims that predated Tribes, itself.

Likewise, the official website has gone live, though there isn’t much there yet besides early Alpha registration (which is slated to start in the first few months of 2011 at this point).

“We are very proud and humbled to be carrying the banner of the Tribes Franchise,” said Stewart Chisam,Executive Producer of Tribes Universe. “Because the game will be focused around huge battles on huge landscapes, we need a solid group of very dedicated testers that can help us from the games’ earliest stages to validate the scalability and performance of the game, while also helping tune and refine gameplay. We look forward to starting Alpha testing early next year and will certainly be providing much more information over the coming months.”

You’ll need to create a Hi-Rez master account if you don’t yet have one (it’s free), as well as supply basic information as to your expertise in three areas: with the Tribes franchise, with Alpha and Beta testing, as well as general MMO experience. As a bonus, if you live anywhere near Alpharetta, GA in the United States, you can even opt-in for on-site testing.

And just to reiterate some of the key features of the upcoming gameThe game’s highlights include:

* Massive PvP battles
* Massive outdoor maps/landscapes
* Full persistent world with territory control (no instances)
* Three Tribes (Factions)
* Full clan support
* First person view (third person for some vehicles)
* Full vehicle support (ground and air)
* Jetpacks, skiing, lots of weapons — all the things you expect from a game set inside the Tribes game world.

Likewise, Hi-Rez’s current Shooter/MMO, Global Agenda (which leans heavily on the Tribes legacy as it is) is discounted this week on Steam by 30%. Go download it, rack up a few levels (it won’t take long, promise), and come join Lore Hound and members of the development team for our community event tonight!

We’ll have more information on Tribes Universe soon, including an interview conducted by our very own iTZKooPA!