Rumors that Planetside 2 will be a Nokia N-Gage Exclusive
According to Planetside 2 creative director Matt Higby in an interview on Thursday with G4, Planetside 2 beta will potentially be “the best damn thing you ever played on your N-Gage.” Preliminary speculation from G4 watchers reveals mixed feelings toward the announcement.
Pictured: The next Planetside gaming platform?
More information to follow as it breaks.
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Rumblings about a new BFR mechanic
One of our sources in San Diego has revealed to us an entirely new mechanic for obtaining BFRs (BattleFrame Robotics, for those of you not in the know). It seems that Planetside 2 is going to forgo the complicated certification procedure. Rather, all BFRs will be owned by the fictional BFRCorp (pronounced BifferCorp), who will rent BFRs to player characters for “BifferBucks.”
It gets more complicated than that. BFRs can only be rented at a BFRCorp Franchise, which can be established by a player at any empire-controlled base (establishing a franchise requires a small upfront investment of BifferBucks). There can be multiple (up to five) BFRCorp franchises at any given base. The cost to rent a BFR is inversely proportional to the number of BFRCorp franchises your empire has running on the continent. The player who establishes the BFRCorp franchise (the franchisee) gets 1% of the gross profits of the franchise in BifferBucks. If your empire loses control of the base where your BFRCorp franchise has been established, the franchise goes away.
It gets worse. If an empire controls 75% of the structures on a given continent, another empire’s troops cannot establish a BFRCorp franchise without first applying for a Zoning Variance (which costs BifferBucks). Zoning Variance applications are processed by the Auraxian Council (apparently a weighted random number generator) at a rate of about one every 10 minutes. An Expeditement can also be purchased for additional BifferBucks, which bumps your Zoning Variance to next in line.
Empires can gain favor with the Auraxian Council using a Political Action Committee in their favor. Empire members can make their Political Action Committee more powerful by donating BifferBucks. The PAC then sends lobbyists to the Auraxian Council, making them more likely to grant zoning variances in that empire’s favor.
Players can buy BifferBucks at a rate of about 10 per dollar.
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Planetside 2 Trailer leaked?
According to inside sources at Sony Online Entertainment, Planetside 2 trailers and concept art were included as hidden Easter Eggs in the latest DVD version of Deep Impact. Apparently, the materials are revealed if you click on a mole on Morgan Freeman’s forehead.
Unfortunately, as of this time, no one we know owns or has ever owned a DVD of Deep Impact; nor does any store near us carry it.
Update:
A brief email from SOE CEO John Smedley reveals that Deep Impact is his “favoritest [sic] movie”, and that he “bought all the copies” because he “isn’t sure how to rewind a DVD.”
“Guitar Hero” style “minigame” included accidentally
After misunderstanding a Youtube video (since deleted for containing Fall Out Boy lyrics), SOE CEO John Smedley demanded a small team of developers include Grohl-Playing elements in Planetside 2. Five months later, the team had written a Guitar Hero style minigame where players must strum, drum, and sing their way through hits from the following bands:
- Foo Fighters
- Nirvana
- Scream
- Queens of the Stone Age
- Garbage
- Killing Joke
- Nine Inch Nails
- The Prodigy
- Guns ‘N’ Roses
- Tenacious D
- Motörhead
Smedley was so pleased with the results that he insisted that successful completion of the “minigame” (over two hours in length) be a prerequisite for certing the RExo Suit.
Planetside 2 Net Code
Net code being rewritten “entirely in common lisp, for some reason,” dev sources say.
Smedley email reveals possible Planetside 2 source code
In what was supposed to be an intra-department email from Sony Online Entertainment CEO John Smedley, it small amount of Planetside 2 source code appears to have been leaked. Interestingly, large sections of the code seem to have been copied wholesale from Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. ANTs to deploy into turnstiles.
Pictured: Oshur.
Update on Planetside 2 vehicles
Puerto Rican-based PC Videojugador Magazine reveals in their April 2012 issue that all land vehicles are to be replaced by LandBoat_small, which is the size of a Lodestar and deals 3d20 damage per second against water elementals. Pictured: artist’s rendering of LandBoat_small.
Dropped napkin reveals new Planetside goodies
According to a napkin dropped in a Starbucks by a member of the Planetside 2 development team, all documentation, in-game tutorial text, and voiceovers refer to the Marauder as the “Mduar.” It shows up as “Magrider” in the vehicle selection screen.
New Factions Announced
In an interview with Planetside 2’s creative director Matt Higby, it was speculated that the game will feature “all-new factions, including warriors, clerics and rogues.” Interestingly enough, each class would still be fighting the other two.
More aircraft info leaked!
Members of a preliminary focus group criticized Reaver piloting, calling it “uncomfortably similar” to the 1983 arcade game Root Beer Tapper. When asked to comment, Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley did nothing grimmace while eerily feeding hardware store washers into a broken arcade cabinet (Mr. Smedley insisted on a Skype* interview). After maybe 20 minutes of this, Mr. Smedley requested a “goddamn bucket of Jack” from his administrative assistant, which he downed with gusto.
*Mr. Smedley pronounces Skype “Skippy” and refused to be corrected, saying “I say Skippy just fine, thank you.”
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