The Internet works in mysterious ways sometimes. Most of the time, news travels so quickly around the net that players have picked sides in the battle long before the subject of the news is even aware it's happening. And then there are times like this.

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”

The final words of Roy Batty may seem like an odd way to start a review of PlanetSide 2 (PS2), but it’s often the strains of Vangelis’ score for Blade Runner that seem appropriate when playing SOE’s Sci-Fi action epic.

And though I haven’t laid my widening eyes on flaming hulks near Orion, I have seen a swarm of Mosquitos, Liberators and Galaxies swirling in chaotic grace over a 200 strong column of tanks and armored personnel carriers; the land and air linked by the blasts of cannons, guns, missiles and laser turrets.

At the end of October, ZAM’s own Editor-in Chief Scott “Jarimor” Hawkes was able to sit down with Tramell Ray Isaac and Matt Higby for an interview about the then upcoming Planetside 2. Of the big topics discussed was the possible plan for player owned motherships and today we might have been given a glimpse of what these motherships might look like.

John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment, tweeted this picture just minutes ago:

Higby in the interview gave some information on how these outfit-owned motherships might work:

“As an outfit you can spend a lot of resources on creating a mothership, set up defenses for it and you can field it on a continent, but if you do field it on a continent then it’s vulnerable to attack. You get other benefits for it, like you can do orbital strikes from it, you can drop pod anywhere on a map from it. [But] if their guys want to come crush it, they can. There’s a challenge there on how much time and effort goes into building up this sandcastle that someone can come kick over with very little effort.”

The only thing Smedley said with the picture was “People keep asking for galaxies to carry tanks. bah.” So whether this fleet carrier, called the Bastion for the Terran Republic, is some kind of guild base for Outfits or just a new kind of super-Galaxy ship is anyone’s guess. Either way, I want one.

[UPDATE] We reached out to SOE who responded that the Bastion is a concept only. The team is looking carefully at vehicle carriers and they may go with a smaller design than the depicted ship.

Matt "Mattsta" Adams

Well, it's out - PlanetSide 2 is officially launched, and with it comes Sony Online Entertainment asking everyone one very important question - "Can your FPS do this?"

And honestly, I know mine can't - because my new video card is in the mail, and my computer can't run much of anything. What about you? 

Julian "Mirai" Williams

Yeti and LiquidPixels are the duo that make up HimVsHer. Yeti is a finalist in the SOE Live PlanetSide 2(PS2) tournament, whereas LP won the recent “Never Have I Ever“  PS2 competition. Together, they regularly pop redheads and crush grapes for the New Conglomerate on their twitch stream. In their first article for ZAM, the PlanetSide 2 veterans give their personal guide to Auraxis, for those new to its dangerous landscape...

Are you prepared for war?

Many players have been champing at the bit to choose their side and lay waste to the opposition in PlanetSide 2. Their time has come.

A countdown clock has been running that will expire at 10 AM Pacific today -- which is right about now at time of publishing -- signalling the start of combat between the Vanu Sovereignty, New Conglomerate and Terran Republic armies across the three massive continents of Auraxis.

It ain't exactly the New Conglomerate's Delta Squad, but it's pretty close - right after the Vanu Sovereignty and Terran Republic's own teams, we now have Planetside 2's own 666th Outfit, The Devil Dogs, tearing up the battlefield. Remember these are real players who have been destroying the beta, and SOE has given them their own trailer to showcase how kickin they are. 

Julian "Mirai" Williams

It's counting down towards the Nov 20th launch date of PlanetSide 2, and once again, the well-known developers from Sony Online Entertainment Tramell Ray Isaac and Matt Higby are here to talk about the last big hurrah right before launch.

Inside, there's a round table with a few other developers, some talk on what's going on in the beta -- including map balance and bugs -- a glance into the music of the game, a recapping of SoE Live and more!

Julian "Mirai" Williams

In case you've been living under a rock, live game streaming is a pretty big deal. Wether it's play-by-play eSports, competitive progression raiding or basic tomfoolery with commentary to match, there is no shortage of gaming streams to watch these days.

Being an unabashed fan of PlanetSide 2 (PS2) – TR represent – it was with no small sense of anticipation that I sat down with “King of the Vanu” and Senior Art Director, Tramell Ray Isaac and the New Conglomerate rabble rouser, Creative Director, Matt Higby.

Excitement surrounding PlanetSide 2 reached fever pitch at SOE Live in Las Vegas – where, across a couple of days, I interviewed PS2’s most outspoken developers. Partly due to the announced November 20 launch of their game, both devs were brimming with enthusiasm.