MechWarrior creator relicences MechWarrior, crimson skies and ShadowRun from MS

chizow

Diamond Member
Jun 26, 2001
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Would love to see an MMO MechWarrior game.....

And before all the MMO-haters come out with their "Zomgzs MW:Mercs 15 ftwzzzies!", there were MW MMOs in the past that were more fun than any of the recent MW titles. MPBT on GEnie and the Beta MPBT 3025 (killed off when Kesmai/EAOnline folded and buried when MS bought the license) were both incredibly fun.
 

Build it Myself

Senior member
Oct 24, 2007
333
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I want mechwarrior, but only if it's like it used to be (Clan Jade Falcon owns!) :) I tried playing that mechwarrior 4 and black knight, it just seemed...well, arcady...i don't know. I remember playing Mechwarrior 2 all night thinking about how to build my mech efficiently enough to hit all objectives/tentative or not. The new ones seemed bland and kind of childish to me.

I really hope they go back to the basics...a cockpit display and low lit levels that made you fear there could be another mech just waiting around a corner somewhere :) I miss that game.
 

BladeVenom

Lifer
Jun 2, 2005
13,540
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Originally posted by: chizow
and the Beta MPBT 3025 (killed off when Kesmai/EAOnline folded and buried when MS bought the license) were both incredibly fun.

:beer: That was one of my all time favorite online games.
 

chizow

Diamond Member
Jun 26, 2001
9,537
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Originally posted by: BladeVenom
Originally posted by: chizow
and the Beta MPBT 3025 (killed off when Kesmai/EAOnline folded and buried when MS bought the license) were both incredibly fun.

:beer: That was one of my all time favorite online games.

Haha ya...was a blast, was really sad when they pulled the plug on it. Some of the most fun was taking on the Devs and honorary high ranked Generals (Lv94+ etc.) and wasting them in their 100-ton Atlas' running around in Catas/Grasshoppers/Hunchies/Enforcers. :D

Here's a little Blast from the Past, literally.

Had to download and install this to get the AVI to run in WMP
IV50 Codec from Intel (safe, direclty from Intel)
 

BladeVenom

Lifer
Jun 2, 2005
13,540
16
0
Originally posted by: chizow
Haha ya...was a blast, was really sad when they pulled the plug on it. Some of the most fun was taking on the Devs and honorary high ranked Generals (Lv94+ etc.) and wasting them in their 100-ton Atlas' running around in Catas/Grasshoppers/Hunchies/Enforcers. :D

Here's a little Blast from the Past, literally.

Had to download and install this to get the AVI to run in WMP
IV50 Codec from Intel (safe, direclty from Intel)

I usually used a Grasshopper. The Catapults were easy to headshot once you knew were to aim. I also liked the Victor, even though it seemed hardly anyone else did, AC/20 and JumpJets rocked.
 

TheVrolok

Lifer
Dec 11, 2000
24,254
4,076
136
Originally posted by: FallenHero
Clan Ghost Bear please!

The intro video from Ghost Bear's Legacy is still one of the coolest things ever. The Mech dropping down and crushing the other Mech from above.
 

chizow

Diamond Member
Jun 26, 2001
9,537
2
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Originally posted by: BladeVenom
Originally posted by: chizow
Haha ya...was a blast, was really sad when they pulled the plug on it. Some of the most fun was taking on the Devs and honorary high ranked Generals (Lv94+ etc.) and wasting them in their 100-ton Atlas' running around in Catas/Grasshoppers/Hunchies/Enforcers. :D

Here's a little Blast from the Past, literally.

Had to download and install this to get the AVI to run in WMP
IV50 Codec from Intel (safe, direclty from Intel)

I usually used a Grasshopper. The Catapults were easy to headshot once you knew were to aim. I also liked the Victor, even though it seemed hardly anyone else did, AC/20 and JumpJets rocked.

Ya I liked the Grasshopper too because of its speed and JJ, but it lacked a bit in terms of armor and payload. I think by the end I ended up using a Trebuchet variant. They were slow and easy to hit but they certainly packed a punch! :D

Wish I could find a good list of Mechs in that game....I don't really remember the Victor but I do remember a 70-75 Ton Heavy with a big AC so maybe that was it. The other big thing with the Cata, and any mech that had a lot of ammo-type weapons, was that they were prone to ammo explosions. I know some of it was a bug they were working on, since you could trigger ammo explosions sometimes by just clipping terrain.

But the reason I really enjoyed this game was because it was more of a sim than some of the later MW titles on PC (as someone already said, felt really arcady). I was really glad actually it took place before the Clan insurgence.....ALL Mechs were lethal and weapons that were all but trivialized in MW titles such as Med Lasers and AC10s were absolutely lethal. Bigger weapons like AC20s, LRM15/20, and PPCs were terrifying.

It really had the makings of a great game with many elements that were ahead of its time. Even looking at some SS, the graphics hold up pretty well. Ugh.....hopefully this is one of the projects being looked at in the OP.

AVI Trailer link from Wiki

A Reviewer Taking a Look Back
 

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
260
126
When news came that the former fasa studios would be closed after shadowrun, I said at the time the series would be picked up again. Even if shadowrun tanked, the rest of the labels were pretty good sellers.


However now hearing whom picked it up I'm a little torn on whether I would prefer for it still to be dead after what that shit brained idiot did with that abortion of clicky'tech crap.

 

BladeVenom

Lifer
Jun 2, 2005
13,540
16
0
Originally posted by: chizow
Ya I liked the Grasshopper too because of its speed and JJ, but it lacked a bit in terms of armor and payload. I think by the end I ended up using a Trebuchet variant. They were slow and easy to hit but they certainly packed a punch! :D

Wish I could find a good list of Mechs in that game....I don't really remember the Victor but I do remember a 70-75 Ton Heavy with a big AC so maybe that was it. The other big thing with the Cata, and any mech that had a lot of ammo-type weapons, was that they were prone to ammo explosions. I know some of it was a bug they were working on, since you could trigger ammo explosions sometimes by just clipping terrain.

But the reason I really enjoyed this game was because it was more of a sim than some of the later MW titles on PC (as someone already said, felt really arcady). I was really glad actually it took place before the Clan insurgence.....ALL Mechs were lethal and weapons that were all but trivialized in MW titles such as Med Lasers and AC10s were absolutely lethal. Bigger weapons like AC20s, LRM15/20, and PPCs were terrifying.

It really had the makings of a great game with many elements that were ahead of its time. Even looking at some SS, the graphics hold up pretty well. Ugh.....hopefully this is one of the projects being looked at in the OP.

The Grasshopper had a good armor (13 tons of armor 208 armor points); it was a bit lacking in long range firepower though. It had 1 large laser, 4 medium lasers, and an LRM 5.

The Victor was 80 tons, AC 20, 2 medium lasers, and an SRM4. Dangerous up close but no long range firepower. 11.5 tons of armor (184 armor points).
 

chizow

Diamond Member
Jun 26, 2001
9,537
2
0
Another MPBT Trailer with more in-game action, from Jeff Hanna's Web site (Kesmai Dev)

Here's a link to the discussion thread from the article above where Jeff Hanna chimes in a bit on the cancelled game:
Comments from Jeff Hanna "Quarters" @ Futurelooks

Unfortunately the pics the Mod SuperAL posted aren't showing up for me....he posted quite a few. Tempted to pull my old "blazing fast" Maxtor 80GB that I ran MPBT on to see if I have any saved SS of MPBT on there.....

Game was truly a marvel for its time, as Jeff goes into a bit of detail about. You can see from the videos how good it looked (and a small glimpse of how well it played), but the most amazing thing about it was the game came in a 16MB downloadable package. Incredible really.

What the videos don't show you is the Planetary Assault interface where there was an overhead strategic map of the Inner Sphere, planet by planet. Planetary control was determined by PvP Lance drops of up to 4v4 with I believe 4 simultaneous drops allowed per planet. They had plans to increase it to 6v6 and beyond.

Each Planet had a drop ton limit determining the maximum Class and weight of Mech allowed which emphasized strategy and limited the tendency for games to migrate to eventual "end-game" states where everyone is running around at capped level with the biggest/baddest guns/gear/items. For instance, typically Assault-class mechs were limited to House Capital planets or major industrial centers; periphery planets might be limited to Light Mechs but were necessary in keeping supply routes open for a Capital planet assault.

Players gained rank points and C-bills with rank determining which Mechs you had access to and C-bills allowing you to purchase new Mechs. Each player had his/her own stable of Mechs and could sell/purchase Mechs pretty freely with little penalty. Due to the scarcity of funds however, you were forced to choose between which variants you maintained in your stable, increasing your choices as you earned more C-bills in that tier of Mechs.

Here's to hoping someone over at Smith and Tinker have as fond memories of MPBT 3025 as I do! :D