Mechwarrior Online Shows Off Gameplay Videos

Thanks to IGN, there's a slew of new Mechwarrior previews up today, showing off the light, medium, heavy, and assault classes, as well as a general game preview and a MechLab display. 

 

Everything We Know About MechWarrior Tactics

While much of our MechWarrior coverage here at ZAM has been on Piranha Games' MechWarrior Online (you can check out our interview series with the folks at Piranha Games, starting with Creative Director Brian Ekman here), there appears to be another MechWarrior game, titled MechWarrior Tactics (MW:T), that will be making its way to browsers around the world this year. Developed by A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Games and Roadhouse Interactive, MechWarrior Tactics is a free-to-play online browser-based game that combines a tactical hex-based asynchronous combat system with those giant metal mechs that we all love. To get more details on this title, I hopped in on a roundtable call with Tarnie Williams, President of Roadhouse Interactive, and Chris Cleroux, Lead Designer for A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Games Inc.

MechWarrior Online Interviews #6 - Community Q&A

Lots of questions have been floating around after all these revealing interviews/posts on the MWO site - and now some have been answered. Custom decals, the hard point system, flexibility of mechs, ammo placement, and the like. An incredible amount of information here coming off the heels of their mech garage breakdown. 

Mechwarrior Online Developer Interview #6

More dev interviews from the Mechwarrior guys!

Talk about the user interface for the upcoming MMO is worthwhile for anyone, but there's some funny stuff in there. My favorite is seeing them all - separately - talk about how much fun the Janner JR7-F, or how much they're enjoying the feedback and reception from the dedicated Mechwarrior fanbase. A funny read if you're amped for the upcoming giant robot fights.

MWO Blog Talks MechLab

The newest entry in the Mechwarrior Online dev blog has landed, and this time they talk MechLabs

It's a bit too long to get into all of it here, but I'll recap - they talk about how Hard Points and Tonnage work. Hard Points are places where you can fixate weapons and gear, but it's all limited by how much the mech weighs (if it can't move, it's not useful). Each weight class of mech has its maximum amount of armor it can have, and the different types of armor (Standard, Heavy, etc) tally differently on the mech. Modules and camo are also addressed.

Really, though, if you've been a big enough fan of MechWarrior to recognize a lot of these terms, you're going to fit right in - most of it's identical to the tabletop game. 

MechWarrior Online Interviews: Paul Inouye

In this five-part miniseries, we sat down with the developers behind the highly anticipated MechWarrior Online to talk about everything you want to know about this upcoming action title. Be sure to check out our previous interviews in the series:

 

And we're back! After the team took a hiatus to prepare for GDC and the summer convention season, it looks like things are now back on track with our MechWarrior Online interview series! Up today is Piranha Games' Lead Designer, Paul Inouye, here to talk about his role on MWO, the proliferation of third-party VOIP programs (and why you won't get some really cool in-game voice comm jammers), griefers in MWO, and more. Read on!


Mechwarrior Online Celebrates PPCs In Dev Blog

The Particle Projector Cannon is an energy weapon in the Mechwarrior universe that fires a concentrated beam of protons that cause damage through both thermal and kinetic energy. Due to the nature of the weapon, it rivals even the autocannon in terms of damage, easily melting through high grade armor, overloading systems or destroying targeting sensors before ejecting out the other side. It is feared on the battlefield for its sheer destructive power, and is infamous for turning tides of battles with a few well-aimed shots.

Now, why am I telling you this? Because on the Mechwarrior Online blog has a fun bit of fluff text that's worth a read if you're into high-velocity proton shots (and I just know you are). 

MechWarrior Online's First Gameplay Video

MechWarrior Online fans have been clamboring for some time to see in-game footage of the game being played, and today their wishes were granted as Piranha Games has just released their first gameplay video. The content at hand is fairly simple, with 'Mechs simply blowing each other up left and right, but there are a few important features to note.

Specifically, while blowing off certain appendages was confirmed in previous dev blogs, it's great to see how visually rewarding it is to take out an enemy's arm. It also gives a fair indication of the overall speed of the game, once again delivering on Piranha Games' promise that MWO would be less about twitch shooting mechanics and more about what MechWarrior is really about: tactical movement and strategic decisions in the heat of battle. We'll keep you posted as more footage is released, but for now be satisfied with this gameplay vid.

MWO's Dev Blog 5: Mech Warfare - Part I

A lot of new information has been revealed today as Piranha Games has dropped a lot of MechWarrior Online information in their latest dev blog on Mech Warfare. In the blog, Piranha Games notes that their combat principles are focused on three core concepts: Mech Operations, Target Acquisition, and Engagement.

Perhaps the most interesting feature revealed is the forward and backward movement throttle, where players will not be moving quickly like in a first-person shooter. Instead, players will set their BattleMech to move forward or backward, and if they need to change direction quickly, they'll need to quickly churn down their throttle in order to do so (think driving a car with your foot perpetually on the gas).

You can read up on Mech Warfare over at the MWO website!

MechWarrior Online's First Trailer

The very first MechWarrior Online trailer has "dropped" today at PC Gamer, and while it doesn't show off any of MechWarrior's explosive gameplay, it does give us a taste of their iconic Atlas Mech rendered in full detail. In the trailer, a pilot hops into the cockpit of an enormous Atlas and preps himself for a drop into enemy territory.

Altogether the trailer is rather light on any digestable content, but boy that Atlas looks nice. You can check out the full trailer below.