Today Digital Extremes provided a first look of WARFRAME, a fast-paced co-op shooter currently in development and set to hit the Free-To-Play PC market this winter. A stopped-in-mid-action diorama has gone live on playwarframe.com that gives gamers an appetite-whetting glimpse into the WARFRAME world. It also signals an open call for gamers worldwide to register at playwarframe.com for their chance to help shape the game during the closed Beta Test this fall.
Digital Extremes Goes Free-To-Play With Co-Op Action Game
WARFRAME
Registration for Closed Beta Starts Today at PLAYWARFRAME.COM
June 25, 2012 - London, Ontario - Today Digital Extremes provided
a first look of WARFRAME, a fast-paced co-op shooter currently
in development and set to hit the Free-To-Play PC market this
winter. A stopped-in-mid-action diorama has gone live on
playwarframe.com that gives gamers an appetite-whetting glimpse
into the WARFRAME world. It also signals an open call for gamers
worldwide to register at playwarframe.com for their chance to
help shape the game during the closed Beta Test this fall.
Set in the far reaches of outer space during a new Dark Age,
WARFRAME introduces the Tenno, a race on the brink of extinction
after being enslaved by the Grineer for centuries. Players enter
WARFRAME on the cusp of the Grineer's victory over the Tenno
until they begin to arm themselves with WARFRAMES - an ancient
exo-skeletal technology only they can operate. Hidden within the
Orokin Derelicts of a lost civilization, new WARFRAMES lie
dormant and undiscovered. These artifacts are the Tenno's only
hope for survival.
WARFRAME is a fast-action PvE shooter set in an evolving sci-fi
world. Some would call it MMO-Lite as squads of four players
band together to advance their characters and battle the
oppression of the genocidal Grineer. Throughout their combat
missions, players will continually increase the power and
abilities of their WARFRAME and weapons. Players will raid new
areas of space searching for exotic and powerful weapons and
WARFRAME augmentations to customize their arsenal. With
WARFRAME's Automatic Mission Generator, the game will offer
endless replay as levels are procedurally configured for a unique
raid -- every time.
"WARFRAME is a new name for an old game," explained Steve
Sinclair, chief creative director at Digital Extremes. "It was a
shelved concept we kept coming back to. High-tech machine-gun
Ninjas set in a far-future, over-hyphenated, Manga-Dune mash-up.
Free-to-play lets us take risks. It allows us to build WARFRAME
with our players."
Upon its release this winter, WARFRAME will be completely free-
to-play to anyone who registers an account at playwarframe.com.
After a quick free download, players can enter WARFRAME and enjoy
all attributes of the game's world for as long as they like or
can choose to participate in the game's marketplace where various
enhancements to the game will be offered.
"We've heard for years now that PC gaming is dead. It isn't
dead; it just went underground for a few years and is now re-
emerging with this massively growing free-to-play market that has
matured to the point where the quality of games we're seeing
rivals many AAA retail games," said James Schmalz, CEO of Digital
Extremes. "In many ways, we're going back to our PC action-based
roots. Free-to-play is like shareware 2.0! Once again, we're
connected directly to our end-user. They decide whether or not
to pay for their experience and we listen to their feedback and
continually improve the experience to make it worth paying for.
Game development as it should be."
Registration is now open on playwarframe.com where gamers can
reserve their 'alias' in the game and will have a chance at
joining the Closed Beta Test slated for this fall. In addition,
they will receive a free pre-launch only weapon that will be
added to their account just for signing up. Further details of
the Closed Beta Test will be announced this summer.
The character designs were eerily familiar and I subsequently realized that they are the concept designs from digital extreme's original concept of dark sector before they turned it into the uninspiring garbage that was ultimately released. See original concept trailer:
I wonder how well a KickStarter for a "Peace Face/Inc/Frame/Etc." might do in this environment...
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