BigWorld Tech News » Sports

Interzone Futebol indeed Free to Play.

skg — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:22:00 +0000

American-out-of-water-in-Australia developer Joseph Hewitt almost – but not really – trembles with unspoken rage at the Total PC Gaming magazine factual error about whether Interzone’s Futebol has a free to play model or no – which it clearly *does* as it begins it’s launch roll-out in Brazil first.

Actually Hewitt is quite level-headed throughout his blog post and seems entirely reasonable about the magazine error. The article itself notes that there is another soccer title, albeit with a markedly different gaming style approach, coming out by publisher Frogster some time in the near future – Kickster.

There is also further competition somewhere inside Korea, as various soccer related titles were glimpsed at this year’s GStar games conference in Seoul, plus the ‘Football Superstars’ title in development in the UK.

A big year then – 2009 – for online football games.

Gamezone interviews Interzone on Futebol

skg — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:09:00 +0000

from the Boys from Brazil dept.

In a nice little review of some of the development issues related to making a Massive Soccer title like Futebol, Gamezone talks with the Interzone team :

“Question: Soccer, or football, is a rapidly moving game that requires instant field recognition and reaction from the players. Any sort of lag can adversely affect the game conditions. How do you plan on reducing that potential game-killer?

Jeff: This is a terrific question to start off with Michael! This is actually one of the earliest obstacles we faced when developing our MMO Interzone Futebol. As you said, this can be a potential game-killer and I humbly suspect that it is the main reason that true massively multiplayer online sports games have not been developed.

The first measure we took against lag was choosing the right engine. We believed this problem would be significantly reduced if we were to use a mature and well-developed engine. After reviewing different engines, we decided to use the BigWorld engine. We have developers that are experienced with it and BigWorld is very responsive and supportive toward us.”

Interzone is putting the finishing touches on their online sports title, Futebol, which is being released for testing in Brazil later this year.

Futebol!

skg — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:05:00 +0000

from the You kick I catch dept.

“CHICAGO, IL – JUNE 9, 2008 – Interzone Entertainment, parent company of Interzone Games and a BigWorld licensee, has announced its long-secret massively multiplayer online sports title, Interzone Futebol. The PC MMOG will first release in Portuguese for the Brazilian market, home to millions of avid futebol (soccer in the U.S.) fans and players, closely followed by international versions for worldwide release.”

Another BigWorld licensee opens it’s kimono this June with an MMO take on the little known athletic game – soccer. With so few real-world players of this arcane sports pastime, it is yet to be seen how this title will fare. A truly international development, with resources in sunny Australia, China, the US and Brazil all contributing to the game. Futebol!