E3 2010: Global Agenda Interview — “Sandstorm” Phase 3, Open World, And Beyond

iTZKooPA didn’t just sit down with any old dude at Hi-Rez Studios; he got to sit down with the old dude at Hi-Rez Studios, Founder/CEO/Director of Janitorial Services, Erez Goren. And what did they discuss? E3 is, of course, the time to show off the most exciting aspects of your upcoming releases and, for Global Agenda, that’s rounding out the mini-expansion called “Sandstorm” with Phase 3.

And that’s a very important phase, because it finally introduces the concept of an “open world,” the lack of which has been a common complaint about the game’s label as an MMO in the first place. Normally, you would just sit around in the hub city and queue up for missions via the user interface, but now people have a little bit more to explore. Currently, it’s limited to a single zone, designed primarily for Level 5-15 players (though Levels indicate something far different than they do in your average game of this sort, so it’s not as much of a problem if you’ve already maxed out your characters), but what a large zone it is! Mr. Goren explains in the video that it takes about 15-20 minutes to get from one end of the Sonoran Wastes to the other, and the draw distance makes it look really beautiful.

Ah, but there’s even more to be found in Phase 3 and upcoming content patches: War Zones (32 vs. 32 PvP maps), Raids (self-explanatory), more Special Ops dungeons, Defense Missions (survival-style matches against NPC invaders), a revamped achievement system, consumables, and yes, even the fabled Rainbow Dye used to customize your armor, so you can run around Dome City looking like a bag of Skittles. However, don’t expect it to be the sort of thing you can easily obtain…

Before I give all the details away, check out our expanded coverage below. I apologize for the odd darkness in parts of the video. While it was actually dark where the video was filmed, the editing process somehow messed with the gamma of certain clips. Now that it’s been rendered and uploaded, not much can be done to fix it. But you still get some really good footage of upcoming content and an excellent chat with Mr. Goren, to boot!

12 Comments

  1. Fear not, a more powerful stand-alone light has already been ordered. PAX Prime should have a much shinier iTZKooPA. Next up, make-up artist!

  2. i don’t even know what to say to this other than wow. phenomenal work on hirez’s part cant wait for this patch

  3. Haha nice work on this! Never thought we would get a glimpse of it until it went to Test server.

    Zone is HUGE and they plan on having quite a few of these too x.x

    I’m really looking forward to this. I read the lore on the forums and it’s fantastic. Being able to take part in it will just be sheer epicness.

    Nice job on the interview and can’t wait for the future!

  4. Yeah, according to the Q&A released today concerning subscription changes, they seem to indicate that future expansions (roughly every 6 months) will include at least one new open-world zone.

  5. EREZ YOU’RE FRIGGIN AMAZING FOR ADDING IN RAINBOW DYE!!!!!

    I feel a sense of power at having convinced a CEO to listen to my request.

    Go buy this game and roll a medic. It’s the most fun I’ve had in online gaming since TF2.

  6. Just saw this today when I got the email for phase two going live tomorrow. I had to see if I could find some info on phase 3. I just want to say GrEAT!!! job. You guys have really listened to the community and responded in kind. Keep it up. When a game evolves and receives continuous updates like this it really keeps you interested. I can’t wait to see what’s next. I recommend this game to all my friends and will continue to do so. Any other games on the horizon for HiRez?

    Dodge

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