Apb (all points bulletin)

[Strike Swiftly]

New game I havent heard much about and couldnt find a thread on. By the original creator of GTA and Crackdown, looks very interesting. PC only at the moment, possibly a console version a bit later.

[youtube]AMkBwHJaSkw[/youtube]

[YOUTUBE]icR3LtEMvZI[/YOUTUBE]

What is APB (All Points Bulletin) and why should I be interested?

Imagine a living breathing city, but for the first time ever it’s online with streets full of vehicles and thousands of civilians going about their daily life.
Introduce 100 players to this online city. Their mission is to achieve fame and fortune, and achieve it fast. Many will take to a life of crime, feeding on the city, its people and its businesses. Other players, the enforcers, will feed on the criminal players. What will the outcome be?
The great thing is, we don’t know! It’s an online sandbox. Many players will gain fame, fortune or notoriety. Alliances will be formed, rivalries will be bitter. One thing we do know, every player will be unique. Thanks to leading edge technology, players can personalize their looks, clothing, vehicles and music.
Welcome to the next evolution of action games into the persistent online space. You’re going to love it.
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I’m in. When’s it launching?

APB: All Points Bulletin will launch in North America and Europe in Spring 2010.
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Is there a beta? And can I get in?

Yes, there is a beta. You can apply here to be part of our beta testing community. We’re starting small but we’ll be adding more people to the program as time goes on. If you’re not selected at the start of the program, don’t despair, we’ll keep your details and we’ll invite much bigger numbers into our beta as we approach release.
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Will there be console ports? Or a Linux or Mac client?

We’re evaluating opportunities for a console port of APB but there’s nothing concrete to announce at the moment. There will not be a Linux or Mac version of the game.
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How big is the game world? And how many people fit on one server?

Each game world or server has a limit of 10,000 players concurrently online. These players will be playing on district maps which each hold up to 100 players for action districts or 250 players for social districts. Each world has 100’s of these district maps so although a single action district has a 100 player limit, there is no limit to the number of other players you will encounter. For the individual players who top the leagues, their character will become famous across the whole world, not just one district. It’s a brand new gaming concept where the players are the game, full of unique and innovative tools and game play.
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Is APB an MMO?

APB is entirely online and multiplayer however it’s a unique game and is not the same as other MMOs out there. The game runs on fast, high quality servers allowing you to enter cities and engage in a new style of game where your actions bring you into opposition with other players dynamically so there’s no waiting in lobbies. You can play against thousands of other players over a short period of time. Our dynamic matchmaking allows solo and group play with deep missions, against or with real people rather than AI. We’re still working out how to describe that in a three letter acronym, suggestions welcome.
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What rating will APB carry?

APB: All Points Bulletin will carry a mature rating and is suitable for players aged 18 and over.
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What engine is the game running on?

APB utilizes the cutting edge technology of Unreal Engine 3 ™ to bring the polish of next generation art and game play into the online space.
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Will the game be localized into different languages?

Yes, APB and our APB websites will be localized into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and English.
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How much will APB cost?

The price and payment model have not been finalized yet but we can say it won’t be the traditional monthly subscription model.
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Where can I buy the game?

You’ll be able to buy the game at retailers across the EU, UK and USA. You will also be able to purchase the game online and download the product. We’ll supply a full list of ways to purchase the game, details of how to pre-order and how to convert to the full product if you are selected for the beta testing program, as we approach launch.
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Who is the development team?

APB is being developed by Realtime Worlds — creators of the award-winning Xbox 360 title Crackdown.

EDIT: EB games has APB listed as a 360 game?

http://www.ebgames.com.au/xbox360-147787-APB-Xbox-360

 

[Kerrby]

I thought it was cancelled on PC and is only 360 atm?

That video looks pretty boring. The Agency looks better.

 

[HBK619]

I thought it was cancelled on PC and is only 360 atm?

You're thinking of Alan Wake.

This was put on hold on the 360 and currently has a PC beta going. Will hit PC before hitting the 360 and then potentially the PS3.

I've been following the game for a while now, but with it's schedule and any information being so secretly kept it's fairly hard to know whether the game will be any good, even though it does have a great concept.

 

[HBK619]

New 6 and a half minute dev vid describing all sorts of facets of APB.

Looks much like a highly customisable Saints Row MMO.

[YOUTUBE]t_riyswgPBA[/YOUTUBE]

Also becoming unlikely to see a release on consoles. Although a PS3 release seems to be on the cards now more than a 360 one. Based on MS's stance on things and the fact that all games for the 360 have to be made with the no HDD thing in mind, which makes a persistent online game tough considering the amount of patches that are usually brought out.

Source: http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/107/1077447p1.html

But as I mentioned, this isn't the first game to seemingly drop off the console scene. I asked Jones just why it was apparently so hard to get an MMO onto consoles. "The original 360s had no hard drive, and that's something Microsoft still has to address." At this stage in the console's lifetime, Microsoft still has restrictions on games with mandatory hard drive requirements. "Microsoft also likes to have control of their servers, whereas Sony is a little more open about that stuff. There's lots and lots of small issues [keeping MMOs off consoles], to be honest."

 

[HBK619]

Dated for July 2 with payments detailed as well.

Source: http://www.criticalgamer.co.uk/2010/04/30/apb-given-release-date-payment-details/

Realtime Worlds forthcoming cops and robbers themed MMO action game All Points Bulletin has been given a 2nd July release date in Europe, with North America getting the hotly anticipated title on June 29th.
Crackdown developers Realtime Worlds have spoken previously about a unique payment system for the game, which includes both traditional monthly subscription fees alongside other options. Players can buy additional action game-time hours priced at £5 ($6.99) for 20 hours, pay a monthly fee of £7.99 ($9.99) or convert money made through the in-game trade system to purchase extra game-time. The game will RRP at £34.99/$49.99/€39.99

 

[HBK619]

Well after it's been released, APB has been bashed a bit by reviewers. Seems very underwhelming overall.

Sitting at a 61 on Metacritic and it's top review is an 8.7 with Edge the next best giving it a 7.

Sounds like it has been released ahead of time and is very unpolished at the moment.

Still nothing on any console version but it would seem that both 360 and PS3 won't be seeing this title.

 

[Forrest Gimp]

Not too mention EA refused to give us an Australian server, so good luck playing this competitively with 300+ pings.

 

[Noppo]

Not too mention EA refused to give us an Australian server, so good luck playing this competitively with 300+ pings.

1 step forward - Actually producing/publishing some great games.
2 steps back - Act like tossers.

 

[HBK619]

Interesting video here from GiantBomb giving a 'Quick Look' over APB.

The vid is 40 minutes and gives you a really good look at most aspects of the game.

Here's the vid:
http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-apb-all-points-bulletin/17-2889/

After watching the vid it seems like the game is a fair bit underwhelming and really not a true MMO as perhaps advertised, as they say in the video it's more a Persistent online experience that only allows about 80 people in the world at once. At that too it just doesn't really seem like the interaction overall is as good as it should be.

There's a lot of really cool elements to the game - the customisation is awesome and there's some good stuff regarding missions and how you accept them and how you actually get them too and in turn can interact with those other players in the world - but it seems that there's also a lot that is either underdeveloped or just not nearly polished as much as it should be.

The gunplay looks VERY poor, it's been mentioned in various reviews, but the guns seem really unbalanced and unless you've levelled up to a fairly high extent (in the vid, the guy playing doesn't get one kill despite having the opportunity quite a number of times). It's one of those things that an open world game just rarely has shooting mechanics that work for an online title and it really provides a severe barrier in this game when there's a lot of good elements at play but when the game doesn't play well then there's not much that any good elements can really do outside of that.

This is one area that perhaps The Agency has the potential to flourish. The first time I saw the gameplay I was VERY meh, but it seems to have polished up the gameplay to be a fair bit tighter in the mechanics so it will be interesting to see where that goes anyway.

As for APB it looks very disappointing and if it ever does come to consoles it will have to be a far more polished and developed game for people to really flock to.

 

[HBK619]

APB already set to close down after just 3 months.

Source: http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/112/1121234p1.html

A post made by Community Officer Ben Bateman says the servers are as of now still operating if you want to "say goodbye."

"APB has been a fantastic journey, but unfortunately that journey has come to a premature end. Today we are sad to announce that despite everyone's best efforts to keep the service running; APB is coming to a close. It's been a pleasure working on APB and with all its players. Together we were building an absolutely amazing game, and for that, we thank you. You guys are awesome!"

Epic Games are lining up to buy the game though and potentially keep it going, could mean a move to console may end up being likely as well.

Source: http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/112/1121569p1.html

APB, the troubled MMO from Crackdown developer Realtime Worlds, could be bought by Gears of War developers Epic Games according to a recent report.

Realtime Worlds announced yesterday that APB is to close a mere three months after it first released, and the BBC reports that Epic are interested in taking on the torch.

 

[FGMPR]

Just an epic mis-step by the dev's. They should of kept making smaller, less ambitious games for a while before they attempted something like this. Look at Bioware, or even Blizzard. They didn't attempt an MMO until they were ready. There's massive money to be made if you succeed, but if it bombs hard, theres a good chance the company is going down with it.

I don't think I've heard a good word said about this game, which is the vibe I'm getting from FFXIV at the moment as well. The idea was always kind of cool though, so hopefully Epic can do something with it, fix up the PC version, relaunch it with a free trial or open beta and then get it onto consoles (or the PS3 at least, the 360 is far from mmo friendly at the moment).