With 38 Studios’ Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning on the verge of release, we’re seeing quite a bit more chatter on the interwebs. The NY Post  interviewed Curt Schilling, 38 Studios founder and baseball legend, about his upcoming action RPG. He seems to think it’s the cat’s pajamas, and we’re inclined to agree. We’re even more excited about the MMO followup, Copernicus, that’s being built on BigWorld Technology, and is being headed by the same all-star team that developed Reckoning.

“I’ve always been a gamer, literally my entire life, for as long as I can remember,” Schilling said. “The first true game I ever played was Wizardry. It came out in 1980 for Apple and was the first 2D non-text based game I have ever played. It was the most influential thing I have ever done and the greatest thing I’ve ever played.”

Gamespot just released a great interview with the author behind upcoming Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and its followup Copernicus MMO, R.A. Salvatore.

Due out in North America on February 7, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning began life at 38 Studios as a massively multiplayer online game code-named “Copernicus” but was later reimagined as a single-player fantasy RPG following the acquisition of THQ’s Big Huge Games after THQ announced its intention to close the outfit in March 2009. Having acquired both Big Huge Games and the unnamed RPG IP it had been working on, 38 Studios officially revealed Amalur in July 2010 as an open-world fantasy action RPG conceived from the ideas and talents of both development teams.

“All of a sudden we had to come to terms with the fact that the MMO we had been building for so long would make its debut as an RPG, and I remember saying, ‘Wait a minute, we’ve spent three years building this world,’” Salvatore says. “When I write, I’m used to having control over everything, from the prologue of the book right up until the end. But when you’re working on something this massive, you need to share the love. Letting go and trusting the teams of writers I had working for me and beside me was very hard to do. My instinct was to say, ‘No it’s mine! You can’t have it!’ But it really isn’t mine. The whole point of doing something like this is creating something that people can buy into.”

Joey Davidson & Erik Norris run a weekly web show called “Watch Us Play…” where they play through a game and provide commentary.

Being pretty entertaining guys, their playthrough of 38 Studios’ demo for their upcoming Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (prologue to the BigWorld-powered Copernicus MMO, no release date) is worth a watch.

38 Studios just released the demo for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

The immensely fun 3rd person action RPG is on the verge of launch, and is meant to be a prologue to the Amalur MMO, codenamed Copernicus.

Copernicus is being built on BigWorld Technology.

38 Studios has just significantly augmented their Amalur website, which provides some vantage into the world of the Copernicus MMO, which is being developed by the team at 38 Studios/Big Huge Games, including industry icons like R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane.

Read more about the Almain, Ljosalfar, Dokkalfar and Gnomes.

Wargaming.net has unveiled the initial German Tech Tree for their upcoming BigWorld-powered title, World of Warplanes.

This follows their recent unveiling of the American Tech Tree & Trailer...

They’ve also released a shiny illustrative trailer to this effect

The branching tech tree, seen below, features classics like the Bf109 and the Me262 Jet.

Wargaming.net is rallying the legions of Louisiana-based World of Tanks players to meet in an as-of-yet-unspecified location in the big easy.

A member of the World of Tanks development team will make an appearance, give a talk, and answer questions from the players.

Read about it or contribute to the discussion here.

38 Studios’ Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the prequel to the upcoming BigWorld-powered Copernicus MMO now officially has a demo. The Amalur demo takes players through the character creation and intro dungeon tutorial and exposition, then provides 45 minutes of open-world exploration. Fourty-five full minutes of wolf slaying, chicken bashing, and slaughtering of innocent townsfolk (er… so we’ve heard). As a bonus, 38 Studios has teamed up with Bioware to reward players with Mass Effect 3-themed gear for their full purchase of Amalur.

Our early estimation, based on one playthrough, is that combat is the jewel of the title. This probably comes as little surprise to anyone who’s been following the game’s press, but we were nonetheless pleasantly surprised to find that combat is varied, responsive, weighty, meaty and ultimately very rewarding. The game’s environments are rich and immersive, drawing from a wide variety of fantasy palettes, all conveyed extremely tastefully. Character body and facial animations, combined with dialogue, are on par with any of the best AAA RPG titles available. The game provides an excellent balance between quick-draw action and a level of character visual and stat customization that is accessible, and not too shallow nor too overwhelming. The narrative, environments and character design are all exactly what you’d expect from R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane, and the same can be said for the rest of the staff. Amalur may just be the sleeper action RPG hit of the year, this early into 2012.

We look forward to the game’s official release, and are even more excited about being able to tell you more about the BigWorld-powered MMO followup, Copernicus.

EA has brought two of its studios together to cross-promote their anticipated action RPG’s.

If you download and play through the 45 minute demo of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning on Jan. 17th, you’ll unlock a set of Mass Effect-style armor for your full-game purchase. The same works, vice versa, if you play and complete the Mass Effect 3 demo.

38 Studios is building its Amalur followup, an MMO stealth-titled Copernicus, on BigWorld Technology.

Amalur Armor in ME3

4

ME3 Armor in Amalur

It’s no news that iconic fantasy author R.A. Salvatore is part of the team working on 38 Studios’ upcoming BigWorld-powered MMO, Copernicus. He joins Curt Schilling, Todd McFarlane, and a host of game development icons in the MMO followup to the upcoming Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. This Boston Globe article focuses a bit on Salvatore and his role in narrative development.

“I tried to think of the people that were the best in the world at what they did,’’ Curt Schilling wrote in an e-mail, explaining why his Providence-based video game company, 38 Studios, partnered with Salvatore. The former Red Sox ace needed a detailed fantasy setting for two projects: A World of Warcraft-like online game currently called Project Copernicus (still in development), and a single-player game, called Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (set to launch Feb. 7).

Everyeye.it has released its interview with Alexander Zezulin, lead designer on Wargaming.net’s upcoming BigWorld-powered World of Tanks follow-up: World of Warplanes. The Interview is in Italian, but Google Chrome does a good auto-translation job, overall, in the event that you don’t read Italian.

How would you define World of Warplanes compared to other games?

World of Warplanes, unlike WoT, is a game with full-scale three dimensionality battle space where every plane is in constant movement, the rate of fire is tremendous and the situation on the battlefield changes so quick (especially true for jets) that it’s getting highly tricky to act timely. Moreover, there are no houses, trees and hills to hide and sneak at the enemy, so have nothing left but to act your fastest and skillfully perform various maneuvers if you’d like to survive. In World of Warplanes landscape and weather will become your enemy unless you manage to turn them to your account.

How far will you push the simulation part of the game, especially the physics department?

In World of Warplanes we are trying to reasonably combine accessible controls with historically accurate World War II machines. A decent balance between these two elements will allow us develop a thrilling title for a wider audience.

Have you got an approximate release schedule (or even a date)?

There’s one thing you can be dead certain about: we’ll release it in 2012. As for more firm dates, it’s too early to speak about them.

Wargaming.net has provided another round of responses to its fan base regarding upcoming BigWorld-powered World of Warplanes. Among some of the topics discussed are the inter-connectivity between World of Warplanes and World of Tanks.

Equal distribution of experience in flight unit, or 60/40 in pair. The dogfight specificity when one attacks another covers and if we count experience distribution as it is in WoT all the XP points will go to the attacking pilot, and the covering one will get nothing. It is unfair. In the case of flight unit, platoon analog in WoT, I suggest Equal distribution of experience
Yes, it is possible. Will think it over and check statistics of XP adjustment. Coordination in flight unit seems to be more important than in WoT platoons and such coordinated actions should be encouraged.

Will you make a unififed premium account for WoT and WoWp?
It will be implemented however with some peculiarities. We are thinking about it.

Will the pilot’s (not player’s) experience decreases after multiply defeats?
No, it would be too cruel. Player looses himself and this could be double punishment.

Will you give us the opportunity to transfer experience and money between WoT and WoWp but with some fee for experience and big commission for gold transfer?
There were multiply answers about gold transfer. Your suggestion about taking commissions will be taken into consideration.

Will the game feature not only music soundtrack but also as a real pilots conversation?
It can be switched by user Some part of system messages will be stylized in form of pilot’s talks but to make all the soundtrack in this form will be to boring and will distract from important messages.

How about contaminating signals, at voice chat (on desire)?
Contaminating signal as an element of entourage will be but if only it is not resource-demanding for other players And we are not going to deteriorate voice completely. First of all it can be hacked on the client and provide some advantages, secondly bad voice chat will lead to using Skype, Teamspeak, X-Fire etc.

Read the full Q&A here

Wargaming.net has launched the official website for its latest addition to the “World of…” family, World of Battleships.

BigWorld Technology powers World of Tanks, World of Warplanes and World of Battleships.

The Battleships site is fairly basic at the moment, but as we saw with its World of Warplanes sister site, we should be expecting a forum and facebook links to appear soon.

2011 has been a landmark year for BigWorld. Our team has expanded, we’ve made some major improvements to our product, and we’ve seen our clients leverage our technology to do some amazing things. We hope yours was as fruitful as ours, and we wish you an excellent 2012.

So, from all the BigWorld cells scattered across the globe, we wish you a happy new year.

Wargaming.net has taken the time to answer 30 or so questions from their community regarding their upcoming BigWorld-powered title World of Warplanes.

The full Q&A is here, but here are a few excerpts…

Mid Air Collision? Are we having them? Or are the Planes Ghost Planes and can fly through Each other?

Mid Air Collision will surely be implemented. It will reduce aircraft HP depending aircraft speed, weight, damaged module etc. as in WoT. If you are an experienced and lucky player you will be able to perform deliberate ram attacks, chopping off enemy’s aircraft tail with an airscrew.

Will the fight start with the planes in the air or will we have to take off from a runway, if we do have to take off from a runway will we are able to land again? either to get repairs or ammo ? WWII planes i believe never really had that much ammo on them

Aircraft will be spawned in the air at the beginning of the battle. As an option, you will be able to land the aircraft at the end of the battle and successful landing will give you additional experience. Unsuccessful landing will break the plane and will cost repairing.

Will WOWP have muti-core support?

It already has it.

Night missions – will they be implemented and if so, will there be tracer rounds available for purchase?

We are discussing such night battle modes

Big Huge Games and 38 Studios team leads talk about their process for creating the weighty, meaty combat that will appeal to RPG enthusiasts in their upcoming game, Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning. The game will be the single-player 3rd-person action RPG counterpart to their stealth project, code-named Copernicus. Little is officially known about the project, except that it shares the same universe as Amalur… and that it’s being built on BigWorld Technology.

World of Tanks and popular military enthusiast publication Armchair General have teamed up to provide new players of the BigWorld-powered MMO some startup bonuses.

You still have time to order Armchair General Magazine and get a World of Tanksbonus with a month of premium, 750 gold, and a premium tank. In fact, if you order before the end of the year and you miss the issue with the disc in it, just contact us privately through Facebook and we’ll ensure you get a promo code anyway.

In the following video, Wargaming.net developers tell us a bit more about the improvements they’re bringing to World of Tanks using BigWorld Server Technology. The developer has built their tank empire on BigWorld Technology, utilizing the end-to-end client-server MMO development suite, and has leveraged and improved upon it in expert fashion.

The 7.0 update is bringing multi-cluster support to World of Tanks servers, meaning that they’ll better be able to support the continuously record-breaking peak concurrent user numbers they’ve been serving. This behind-the-scenes feature also covers some client-side enhancements and additional functionality. These include enhanced minimap, re-introduction of tracers, enhanced explosion effects, more complex tank damage models, and so forth.

Feel the 7.0 Power!

Here’s some insight into Wargaming.net’s process for testing the boatload (tankload) of new features in BigWorld-powered World of Tanks 7.0.

The video features plenty of coverage of upcoming American maps, featuring an alternate-history time-travel through Oz… basically.

Wargaming.net continues to build its blockbuster success, World of Tanks, on BigWorld Technology Client and Server MMO solution. The video, produced by Wargaming.net, showcases the real potential of BigWorld Technology Client, when wielded by a creative and talented veteran development studio.

World of Tanks videos are pouring out during this Christmas week. In this segment, Wargaming.net puts its focus on the French tanks available in the recently-released 7.1 update to their BigWorld-powered mega-popular tank combat MMO.

The company also announced the upcoming release of Update 7.1 featuring the French tech tree. 18 new vehicles will introduce the first three branches of the French nation; light, medium, and heavy steel chariots will enrich the combat and bring all-new tactics into the game. These will later be followed by SPGs and tank destroyers.

“7.0 is a huge-scale update that includes many of the long-expected features, including camo and new visual effects,” said Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming.net. “Also, we are very excited to introduce the forthcoming French tanks. They are fast and deadly due to their special reloading system, and we believe they will dictate completely new battle strategies.”

Wargaming.net has unveiled the initial US Tech Tree for their upcoming BigWorld-powered title, World of Warplanes.

They’ve also released a shiny illustrative trailer to this effect.

The branching tech tree, seen below, features classics like the P-51 Mustang and F-86 Sabre.

Wargaming.net has released World of Tanks 7.0, powered on BigWorld Technology. And she’s a beaut.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

London, UK, Paris, FR and San Francisco, CA (20 th December, 2011) — Wargaming.net, the award-winning videogame publisher and developer, announced today the release of the highly anticipated Update 7.0 for their free-to-play action MMO World of Tanks.

World of Tanks’ most anticipated update includes numerous camouflages visible to all players. Tankers will be able to ride their roaring monsters across new maps – Fjords and Swamp. In addition to the scenery of the new battle arenas, updated special effects including salvos and explosions will add realism to the gameplay.

Tank Company mode has also been improved to fit players’ requirements and abilities. Tankmen can now choose the division of battles with different tier caps: Junior (tier 4), Medium (tier 6), Champion (tier 8), and Absolute (tier 10).

The company also announced the upcoming release of Update 7.1 featuring the French tech tree. 18 new vehicles will introduce the first three branches of the French nation; light, medium, and heavy steel chariots will enrich the combat and bring all-new tactics into the game. These will later be followed by SPGs and tank destroyers.

“7.0 is a huge-scale update that includes many of the long-expected features, including camo and new visual effects,” said Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming.net. “Also, we are very excited to introduce the forthcoming French tanks. They are fast and deadly due to their special reloading system, and we believe they will dictate completely new battle strategies.”

World of Tanks is the first and only team-based massively multiplayer online action game dedicated to armored warfare. Throw yourself into the epic tank battles of World War II with other steel cowboys all over the world. Your arsenal includes more than 150 armored vehicles from America, Germany, and the Soviet Union, carefully detailed with historical accuracy.

A flexible system of authentic vehicle upgrade and development allows you to try any of the vehicles and weapons in the game. Whether you prefer to exhaust your foes with fast and maneuverable light tanks, make deep breaches in enemy lines with all-purpose medium tanks, use the force of giant tanks to eliminate opposing armored forces, or become a heavy sniper with long-range howitzers, each unit type has its own advantages and can be extremely effective when operated by a true tank ace.

But being a great tank commander alone isn’t enough to win! In World of Tanks, it’s all about teamwork. Victory is achieved by combining your combat skills with those of the other members of your team, each playing their own role on the battlefield. Just add your favorite strategy to build your own steel empire and manifest the indisputable authority of the tank power!

Join World of Tanks:

http://worldoftanks.eu/registration/ (Europe)
http://worldoftanks.com/registration/ (North America)

A few more photos from the office, and the interviews we recorded…

Thisisgame.com, one of the leading video game news websites in Korea, recently caught up with Gavin to discuss upcoming BigWorld Technology shininess, including the iOS client demonstration.

The article is in Korean, but here’s an excerpt:

Another main driver of BigWorld’s success in China has been the support it has provided for its clients, as well as the stability of its server. For some of its earliest clients in China, BigWorld provided a secure solution, both with a developed client and integrated server solution. “The core server-client solution makes it significantly easier to create and publish content to your MMO,” explains Gavin Longhurst, VP of Business Development at BigWorld.

World of Tanks has broken its own Guinness Record for most concurrent users logged into an MMO server. In November, 250,000 users logged in concurrently into the game, whose servers are powered entirely by BigWorld Technology. We continue to be impressed by Wargaming.net’s wielding of our technology, and wish them continued success moving forward.

World of Tanks Sets New Record

London, UK, Paris, FR and San Francisco, CA (8th December, 2011) — Wargaming.net, the award-winning videogame publisher and developer, is proud to announce that its MMO action game World of Tanks has set a new record.

The MMO action game dedicated to armored warfare has demolished its own Guinness World Record for Most Players Online Simultaneously on One MMO Server, when the number of concurrent accounts logged on to the game’s Russian server totalled an impressive figure of 250,000 players this November.

Wargaming.net team is about to introduce the Update 7.0 and multicluster technology. The latter will significantly increase the overall possible number of active server players by allowing gamers to choose the game cluster with optimal in-game comfort and providing them with a better connection and performance.

“We are more than happy to watch our World of Tanks win over hearts and minds of gamers all around the world,” said Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming.net. “The multicluster technology will enable us to move steadily towards new milestones and records.”

World of Tanks is the first and only team-based massively multiplayer online action game dedicated to armored warfare. Throw yourself into the epic tank battles of World War II with other steel cowboys all over the world. Your arsenal includes more than 150 armored vehicles from America, Germany, and the Soviet Union, carefully detailed with historical accuracy.

A flexible system of authentic vehicle upgrade and development allows you to try any of the vehicles and weapons in the game. Whether you prefer to exhaust your foes with fast and maneuverable light tanks, make deep breaches in enemy lines with all-purpose medium tanks, use the force of giant tanks to eliminate opposing armored forces, or become a heavy sniper with long-range howitzers, each unit type has its own advantages and can be extremely effective when operated by a true tank ace.

But being a great tank commander alone isn’t enough to win! In World of Tanks, it’s all about teamwork. Victory is achieved by combining your combat skills with those of the other members of your team, each playing their own role on the battlefield. Just add your favorite strategy to build your own steel empire and manifest the indisputable authority of the tank power!

Join World of Tanks:

http://game.worldoftanks.eu/registration/ (Europe)
http://game.worldoftanks.com/registration/ (North America)

We talked a bit earlier about the US Army’s using BigWorld Technology for their EDGE program, meant to train soldiers for the field in a virtual environment, using the valuable lessons of game design and virtual worlds.

This short video showcases a bit of the alpha stages of EDGE. The team is at an early prototyping stage, so most of what you see visually is placeholder for now.

We’re back from I/ITSEC 2011, the biggest simulation and training conference in the world. While there, we took at look at the projects that the US Army’s RDECOM is currently building on BigWorld Technology. EDGE is a dynamic, multi-platform, geo-spatial training environment for US Army personnel being deployed abroad. The program aims at developing and maturing competency in teamwork, leadership, cultural awareness, and other tactical necessities for soldiers in the field.

The following video provides a glimpse into the promising current alpha-stage development of EDGE.

Remarked Major General Nick Justice, who paid us a visit during the conference…

“What we’re trying to do many times is not just always the physical. It’s not just reducing the weight, it’s reducing the burden to them in many aspects. In time: can we get training to them so that we can make their precious time more dedicated to what we’re doing? Can we actually reduce the physical load? Can we reduce the mental workload that they have to operate so many separate devices, by integrating technologies into each other? And also unburden them as far as the mental and spiritual aspects of what they do to relieve the burden that they face?”

Pictured Above: Major General Nick Justice, head of RDECOM, pays a visit to the US Army RDECOM pavilion at I/ITSEC, chatting with Tami & Doug, and reviewing BigWorld’s gig-line and ensuring our covers were off.

The cartographers over at Wargaming.net have unveiled a few more of the more eclectic end of their World of Tanks map selection, all built on BigWorld Technology Client and Content Creation Tools, scheduled for release in 2012…

Munich: “This small 600×600m map with restrained urban conditions resembles Himmelsdorf, but unlike Himmelsdorf it features a slight altitude difference and bushes placed at certain strategic points. It also has an industrial area, a railway branch, a street railway with a circle, a park with a pond and the half-destroyed residential area.”

South America

“Life Ox”: The terrain of the map is plain, filled with marshes: and some of them are unpassable. Nevertheless, a tanker would easily find the right way by the colour of the soil and presence of trees on it. Eventually, this map is a real paradise for players. It has splendid landscapes, a typical American town, a factory area, a rail way station with the bridges. Although the map has no hills or rocks to cover behind them, there are multiple roughs and coombs. It is better to play at high settings to see all the beauties of the map as it even has a marvellous cotton field on it.

This isn’t specifically BigWorld-endemic, but we wanted to share a bit of significant news in the world of Indie games. Our friends behind upcoming Indie Game: The Movie have just proudly announced their film’s selection in the upcoming Sundance Film Festival.

We’re excited to see another unique and poignant perspective on the world of indie game development take root with a mass audience.

Indie Game: The Movie is a feature documentary about video games, their creators and the craft. The film follows the dramatic journeys of video game developers as they create and release their games to the world.

The film tells the emotional story of friends Edmund McMillen & Tommy Refenes, as they craft their first Xbox game: “Super Meat Boy”.

It follows Phil Fish, the creator of the highly-anticipated game: “FEZ”. After 4 years of working in near solitude, Phil reveals his opus to the public for the first time.

And, the film tells the surprising story of one of the highest-rated video games of all time:”Braid”.

The film is about making video games, but at its core, it’s about the creative process, and exposing yourself through your work.

In short: Making fun and games is anything but fun and games.

The level design dept at Wargaming.net has been expanding their World of Tanks fare as of late, releasing new maps for Mexico, North Africa, Kansas, Munich, South America and Smalltown USA.

As usual, the efforts of the World of Tanks team exemplify some of the real potential of the BigWorld Client and Content Creation Tools!

Africa: “Airport is a North African map. Sand deserts with small hills and access to the sea. The bases are situated among the houses of the villages. A military airfield goes along the mountain belt.”

Mexico: “A part of Mexican desert is surrounded by mountain ranges with almost no buildings on them. The terrain of the map is complex and plain at the same time, covered with rocky hills. There are plenty cacti and other desert greenery on it, which can cover a vehicle. Just imagine the depth of feelings of designers, who made this map look that much more interesting and captivating! And soon you’ll have the opportunity to see it with your own eyes!”

Kansas: “The map was designed under the inspiration left from the marvelous landscapes of Kansas in autumn. The rich colour-grade of the map creates a special ambience, guaranteeing sound mood at playing. The map displays an industrial town with typical American blocks, a small river and hills with vivid trees. It also has a highway, running through the whole map.”

Curt Shilling’s 38 studios is becoming increasingly vocal about their upcoming 3rd person action RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The title will be the predecessor to the BigWorld-powered MMO titled Copernicus, coming when its ready.

Steve Farrelly at Ausgamers interviews Reckoning Lead World Designer Colin Campbell…

There’s abilities, there’s talent trees, there’s the crafting systems and of course there’s RPG combat, but it’s amazing RPG combat. It’s marrying a lot of fighting games into an RPG, it’s not an action game that has a few small RPG elements, it’s very much a cohesive experience that way.

we have thousands of variations of weapons in the game, depending on our procedural approach to how these weapons get made and generated for the player to use and find.

So they can go through the world and on different replays, they’ll find different weapons and be able to build themselves in different ways and really find the things that work best for what they’re trying to achieve as a player.

I’m really excited about the open-world aspect of this; of running through and exploring those RPG and combat systems in this sprawling environment. So I can’t wait to see you guys check it out.