New MechWarrior game in the works, MechWarrior 4 becomes a free game

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A new MechWarrior game is being developed by Piranha Games for the PC and Xbox 360, according to an IGN interview with the co-creator of FASA’s BattleTech universe, Jordan Weisman.

The game is simply titled MechWarrior and is intended to be a reboot of the videogame series’ storyline.

MechWarrior is being developed on Unreal Engine 3. A co-op mode with 1-4 players is being planned, along with multiplayer modes similar to Call of Duty’s style of level-progression.

Cross-platform play for all modes is “a large goal of ours”, said Piranha Games president Russ Bullock.

Development on the game began last October and no release date or publisher for the game has been announced so far.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the BattleTech universe and the announcement of the new MechWarrior game, Weisman’s company, Smith & Tinker, will be releasing MechWarrior 4 and all of its expansions for free on the MekTek.net community web site.

 

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  • athrun86

    Haha…I was just checking if any of us posted this yet…

  • DomeJr

    “MechWarrior is being developed on Unreal Engine 3.”

    Not playing it. Period.

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    I know nuts about the BattleTech universe. If the game is good it would be a great way to introduce us noobs into the MechWarrior lore.

  • Neth

    And what’s wrong with Unreal Engine 3 ?

  • athrun86

    Former Battletech TCG player here…still got my cards somewhere in my closet…

  • DomeJr

    UT3 sucked in many ways other than the gameplay, game engine and game community.

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    That doesn’t mean that this game will suck just because it uses the same engine.

    It’s like saying you played Crysis, hated the game, then go on to declare that all CryEngine2 games will suck.

    What about Bioshock 2, Batman Arkham Asylum, Borderlands, Mass Effect 2, Alpha Protocol, Huxley, Mirror’s Edge 2? All these upcoming games use UE3.

    Yes UT3 was quite disappointing (former UT99 to UT2004 player here). But how on earth can you attribute one game’s failure to other games using the same engine?

  • DomeJr

    Mass Effect was brilliant.
    Along with Bioshock and Crysis, I’ll give you that.

    But…

    Look at gears of war, mirror’s edge and UT3.

    Their world physics and graphics are so similiar that the chromish feel and colourisation of everything.. basically i could describe a lot of it but

    bottom line is,

    UT3 engine is TOO unreal for me. Though the game developers may create something spectacular (Mass Effect 2, Gears of War etc.) in terms of gameplay, the murky and dark monotonous colour tone and texture of the graphics will drive people like me insane.

  • Neth

    😮 What nick were you using during UT2003 period?

    <– ash.dReaMz`oN

  • riffraff

    actually i thought gears of war was pretty fun on pc 😛 (curse microsoft for no GOW2 on pc)

    i reckon the unreal 3 engine is pretty versatile actually, especially since it allows ease of porting games across from console to pc platform; it looks pretty good overall and runs pretty damn well too.

    as for the look of the engine, yes i do agree that i dont like some of the visual effects to some extent, but im sure graphics arent the sole factor contributing to the “fun-ness” of a game.

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    @Neth

    I forgot lol… that was so many donkey years ago. Really miss the golden days of UT99 where all the old competitive SG clans were still around. X3M comes to mind.

  • DomeJr

    @ riffraff

    I guess you’re right. But UT3 being a disappointment both in terms of gameplay, story and graphics, little innocent kids like me find that simply too unbearable to endure and shut their minds out to Unreal Engine 3 forever :(

    @Neth

    I never played multiplayer in UT99 and UT2003.

    But in UT2004 my nick. was “Haine”.

  • riffraff

    heh DomeJr, sometimes i sadly suspect that UT3 was simply slapped on after they developed UE3, with a greater purpose in mind simply to make profits off the engine

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    @riffraff

    GoW for the 360 came out one full year before UT3’s release. Perhaps the success of GoW got to Epic and they became complacent with UT3.

    It was also partially Midway’s fault. Lousiest game publisher I have ever seen.. UT3 was very poorly marketed and not a lot of hype was generated about it.

    Needless to say, Midway is now bankrupt.

  • DomeJr

    Agree with both of you on all counts.

    And at least GoW had some awesome gameplay qualities and more behind it.
    I liked it despite the distasteful graphics that made Reaper from UT3 look a hell lot like Marcus Fenix.

    At least i’m not alone in thinking UT3 and Midway is shit.

    Though on the upcoming MechWarrior game, should Piranha Games pull through and the game has a lot more positive points other that outweight my prejudice against UE3, I guess I might consider playing it too haha.

  • DomeJr

    Though I just realise Piranha Games are pretty much unheard of. Though described by wikipedia as one of the oldest independent game publishers around.

  • athrun86

    Haha…I was just checking if any of us posted this yet…

  • DomeJr

    “MechWarrior is being developed on Unreal Engine 3.”

    Not playing it. Period.

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    I know nuts about the BattleTech universe. If the game is good it would be a great way to introduce us noobs into the MechWarrior lore.

  • Neth

    And what’s wrong with Unreal Engine 3 ?

  • athrun86

    Former Battletech TCG player here…still got my cards somewhere in my closet…

  • DomeJr

    UT3 sucked in many ways other than the gameplay, game engine and game community.

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    That doesn’t mean that this game will suck just because it uses the same engine.

    It’s like saying you played Crysis, hated the game, then go on to declare that all CryEngine2 games will suck.

    What about Bioshock 2, Batman Arkham Asylum, Borderlands, Mass Effect 2, Alpha Protocol, Huxley, Mirror’s Edge 2? All these upcoming games use UE3.

    Yes UT3 was quite disappointing (former UT99 to UT2004 player here). But how on earth can you attribute one game’s failure to other games using the same engine?

  • DomeJr

    Mass Effect was brilliant.
    Along with Bioshock and Crysis, I’ll give you that.

    But…

    Look at gears of war, mirror’s edge and UT3.

    Their world physics and graphics are so similiar that the chromish feel and colourisation of everything.. basically i could describe a lot of it but

    bottom line is,

    UT3 engine is TOO unreal for me. Though the game developers may create something spectacular (Mass Effect 2, Gears of War etc.) in terms of gameplay, the murky and dark monotonous colour tone and texture of the graphics will drive people like me insane.

  • Neth

    😮 What nick were you using during UT2003 period?

    <– ash.dReaMz`oN

  • riffraff

    actually i thought gears of war was pretty fun on pc 😛 (curse microsoft for no GOW2 on pc)

    i reckon the unreal 3 engine is pretty versatile actually, especially since it allows ease of porting games across from console to pc platform; it looks pretty good overall and runs pretty damn well too.

    as for the look of the engine, yes i do agree that i dont like some of the visual effects to some extent, but im sure graphics arent the sole factor contributing to the “fun-ness” of a game.

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    @Neth

    I forgot lol… that was so many donkey years ago. Really miss the golden days of UT99 where all the old competitive SG clans were still around. X3M comes to mind.

  • DomeJr

    @ riffraff

    I guess you’re right. But UT3 being a disappointment both in terms of gameplay, story and graphics, little innocent kids like me find that simply too unbearable to endure and shut their minds out to Unreal Engine 3 forever :(

    @Neth

    I never played multiplayer in UT99 and UT2003.

    But in UT2004 my nick. was “Haine”.

  • riffraff

    heh DomeJr, sometimes i sadly suspect that UT3 was simply slapped on after they developed UE3, with a greater purpose in mind simply to make profits off the engine

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    @riffraff

    GoW for the 360 came out one full year before UT3’s release. Perhaps the success of GoW got to Epic and they became complacent with UT3.

    It was also partially Midway’s fault. Lousiest game publisher I have ever seen.. UT3 was very poorly marketed and not a lot of hype was generated about it.

    Needless to say, Midway is now bankrupt.

  • DomeJr

    Agree with both of you on all counts.

    And at least GoW had some awesome gameplay qualities and more behind it.
    I liked it despite the distasteful graphics that made Reaper from UT3 look a hell lot like Marcus Fenix.

    At least i’m not alone in thinking UT3 and Midway is shit.

    Though on the upcoming MechWarrior game, should Piranha Games pull through and the game has a lot more positive points other that outweight my prejudice against UE3, I guess I might consider playing it too haha.

  • DomeJr

    Though I just realise Piranha Games are pretty much unheard of. Though described by wikipedia as one of the oldest independent game publishers around.