Hot off the presses: PlanetSide 2 is officially launching on November 20^th!

After teasing the crowd by saying that the game might not be ready for six months, if not six more YEARS, SOE announced the launch date next month. Players who purchase the game in advance through the Alpha Squad option will also be able to reserve their character names for launch.

The game will go live with three continents, including Amerish, which was shown during the keynote speech.  Other features for launch will include more vehicles, Twitch integration for live streaming, and a new outfit revamp including items like decals and unique uniforms.

Future plans include player-owned bases that exist in the game world and can be attacked and destroyed by other players, and there are three additional continents planned for release post-launch.

Finally, the keynote address included a great new video inspired by old war audio effects called “This is War.” Check it out!

Ah yes, the inevitable horror stories of closed betas - at one point or another, there's a big, sweeping server wipe before the game launches. I remember back when we huddled in our circles in World of Warcraft, hiding from mentioning the upcoming release date. And now it comes to PlanetSide 2. With the next update, SOE is going to wipe all characters, resetting everyone to zero and - as if to soothe the burn - launch the Esamir continent at the same time. 

John Smedley also confirmed that the number of servers will be reduced to just one for West Coast, one for East Coast NA and one for Europe to ramp up the size of the battles and put the servers through their paces.

If you have your stories, time to add this one to the list. 

Julian "Mirai" Williams

Last week, big changes came to PlanetSide 2.

Balance adjustments, vehicle and weapon changes, new certifications and lots more arrived in the beta that is already proving a hit among players.

With the help of the lovely people at SOE, ZAM is offering you the chance to choose your side and go to war.

More tales from Auraxis dropped courtesy of PlanetSide 2's Matt Higby and Tramell Ray Isaac.

With news of the recent updates to PS2, fan videos and quesitons and hints at more to come there was plenty to sink your teeth into.

Matt Higby, developer for SOE, is refreshingly honest today. Usually, a developer will swear up-and-down that their game is not pay-to-win, but Higby doesn't. He just states that he believes Planetside 2 isn't, and explains all of the decisions made in the creative process, with the game's weaponry, vehicles, attachments, zones, or the like being completely free. "The ultimate arbiter of your success," he says, "Is your own personal skills, not the gun you bought."

But then what does that mean about paid content? 

There are two things that we are considering selling in the game: Cosmetics and Convenience. That’s it. Seriously. Cosmetics are pretty self-explanatory, I think everyone “gets it” with cosmetics and won’t be too upset at buying camo patterns or decals for real money. What about Convenience, what does that mean exactly? For us, convenience is purely the act of unlocking something faster, whether that means through buying a side-grade weapon directly with a StationCash microtransaction or earning certification points faster due to a boost or membership.

And then, later, when discussing planned membership benefits....

1 – Passive Cert Growth. This is often mischaracterized (by myself as well) as “offline cert points”. It’s actually just passive cert gain that works if you are online or offline. With the current plan all players will gain cert points passively over time at a set rate. Members will get a faster rate. The current penciled in benefit for membership is 50% increase to the speed which passive cert points are granted. This does not affect cert points earned via experience. 

2 – Automatic experience boost. Members will accrue experience at a 50% increased rate. This will affect “active” cert point gain, as well as battlerank gain.

3 – Automatic resource boost. Members will accrue resources at a 50% increased rate. This will affect the rate which you can acquire consumables like grenades, spawn beacons and med kits, as well as vehicles and Auraxium unlocks.

4 – Increased resource pool caps. As Auraxium is uncapped, this only affects Catalysts, Alloys and Polymers, it’s a 100% increase to those pool sizes. This allows you to spawn some additional vehicles, grenades and consumables if you have no resource income on the map before you’re tapped out.

5 - NEW: Members will receive priority slots in the login queue over non-members.

Best thing about the thread is he's still talking, still discussing, and taking comments and suggestions on the subject of sub membership, you can get in with your suggestion if you like!

Julian "Mirai" Williams

The first shot at Planetside 2's beta was a pretty huge success, but complaints were made. Some obvious points about balance, resources didn't seem to matter a whole lot, and sometimes the game just chugged with less than optimal computers. John Smedley, on the forums, has outlined a few things that are going to be changed in the next few weeks. Among them, they're thinking about doing continent locking (preventing more players from spawning/dropping into zones for balance reasons), Esamir (the second continent), and other, smaller tweaks, like gun recoil and resource capturing.

Keep an eye on those patch notes, everyone.

Julian "Mirai" Williams

Calling PlanetSide 2 a PvP MMO feels almost a little misleading. This isn’t a small-scale arena for frantic fragging, but it’s also not a larger battlefield with rules, objectives and time limits. Instead, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) has focused on delivering a single goal: all out, large-scale, futuristic war. 

With beta fully underway, it was time to see how well the game lived up to being both a fun first-person-shooter and a great multiplayer experience.  With up to two thousand players spread across three factions on each massive map, there’s plenty of opportunity for strategic, thought out combat. Add into the mix a range of infantry classes, land vehicles and aircraft, and there’s enough flexibility for even the most hardened military commander.

While at Gamescom, I also got the chance meet with Senior Art Director Tramell Ray Isaac. He shared some background on the Forgelight engine powering PlanetSide 2, from origins to future deployment. Isaac also shared his views on why he thinks the unique mass-combat FPS will appeal to a wide range of players.

ZAM celebrates the launch of its new Twitch channel with the epic Sci-Fi combat MMO PlanetSide 2.

Let’s face it: as MMO gamers, we’re usually pretty poor at upgrading our PCs. Compared to our FPS playing brethren, we try to eke out as much life as possible from our components. When it is finally time to buy a new base unit or bundle of parts, we try to stretch our cash as far as possible. Considering our tendency to splash out on mice with more buttons than the average calculator, it’s surprising that we’re less inclined to think inside the box.

During Gamescom, I had the good fortune to meet up with NVIDIA representatives and check out their latest collection of hardware, from brand new desktop and laptop chips to the latest in mobile gaming. I also managed to get a close look at some of the latest games and MMOs running on this new kit, so that I could see for myself just what a difference it makes. From multiplayer Mech-fest Hawken to contemporary MMO The Secret World, the results are stunning.

Details of the PlanetSide 2 Mobile Uplink App have surfaced on AppBurst, including a breakdown of everything to expect from the app. The Mobile Uplink App will have a comprehensive game guide, detailing weapons, factions, classes, vehicles, implants, and achievements. There is, of course, the now-standard Facebook and Twitter link-ins allowing sharing of information, plus videos and wallpapers for your phone.

But what's really cool is the interactive map and voice chat, showing off the in-game map's territory control, resource points, and facilities captured. It's updated in "near real-time", probably meaning there's a short delay before it's updated. You can also in-app voice chat with other players. Though, naturally, the question is what do you do with an app that offers you a map and in-game voice chat when the game ideally should have that feature anyway, but that's beside the point.

The Mobile Uplink App will be available for iPads and iPhones at an undetermined date. 

Julian "Mirai" Williams