CrimeCraft confirmed: nobody cared, until recently.

[Venkman]

From a site I never heard of about a game from a company I never heard of:

After announcing last September that it had signed an agreement with Epic for use of Unreal Engine 3 on MMO CrimeCraft, Vogster Entertainment has confirmed that the title will be released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Although actually confirmed back in October via the company's website (check the "About Vogster Entertainment" section here), no one apparently noticed (including us sadly) until just recently that the game was indeed headed to both next-gen consoles in addition to the assumed PC version.

Aside from the fact that it will run on Unreal Engine 3, so far we know that it will allow players to own real estate and cars, possibly run shops and other establishments, fight for territory and in clan wars, and even resolve conflicts without a single shot. That's not a lot to go on, but promising enough that the game may make a mark on the competitive MMO market.

Main site. Nothing there yet, not even the "screenshots" they claim to have released which actually is just bad sketches. Company looks to be based in Ukraine, with probably a small rented room in New Jersey.

"Crime" and "Craft", together! MMO GTA wannabe? Based purely on the name, title artwork, six character sketches, and the targeting of the consoles, this looks like something more for kids.

[CmdrSlack]

My money is on complex identity theft scam.

And I am only half-sarcastic.

[Yoru]

My money is on complex identity theft scam.

And I am only half-sarcastic.

But will it have negative ping code? Can I get a discount on golf clubs if I give them all of my personally-identifying information?

[schild]

Invites are going out.

Also, bump.

Edit: Also, Vogster is based out of Jersey.

Ahem, sorry, Vogster Entertainment pairs leading Eastern European engineering and art resources with top-notch North American design and production talent to deliver the highest quality interactive entertainment across all key gaming platforms. Established in October 2005, Vogster Entertainment is a venture-funded entertainment company headquartered in the New York City metropolitan area, with a production office in Chicago and development studios in Moscow, Russia, and Kiev, Ukraine.

New York is where the email and NDA and such are assigned to.

[tmp]

They had an interview about month ago; it gives some idea what to expect from the game as there's quite a bit of what one'd presume be regular gameplay on screen while they talk. Technically looks good, nowhere near Darkfall lolfail but... don't know, unlike APB this one doesn't do anything for me. Maybe because it looks like the whole thing was built from nothing but differently textured crates.

[Kageru]

8 versus 8 shooter which means relatively small almost certainly instanced environments and a persistent hub. During the video it has "warmup" and a respawn counter which also supports the idea of it being of it being match based. Could well be fun, but I'm not really seeing the MMO here or the reason I'd pay a subscription for it.

[Triforcer]

Some dark day in the not-to-distant past, these guys, the Global Agenda guys, and a bunch of other devs sat through a seminar entitled "How Millions of People will Pay Subscription Fees for 8v8 match FPSes."  I wish I could've been there, because I didn't think you could drink that much varnish straight from the can and live.

[Ghambit]

update:

THQ announced this week that it has signed on to publish Vogster Entertainment's MMO shooter CrimeCraft for Windows PC.  Scheduled for release in August 2009, CrimeCraft will be a BestBuy retail exclusive.  Gamers that purchase the game at Best Buy will net two free months, exclusive in-game items including two t-shirts, a combat backpack, and a virtual Best Buy discount card for use in the game.  Additionally, pre-orderers will get in-game shoes designed by Mark Ecko, beta access, and a three day jump start at launch.

I gotta say I'm a bit taken aback by the release date.  They must've gotten right to work after they licensed UE3.
The pre-order page is already up at Best Buy for an Aug. 25th release.  Maybe E3 will generate some more info. on this thing.

p.s.
evidently, this isnt supposed to be an MMO.  It's a PWNS!  (persistent-world next-gen shooter) 

[Ghambit]

Batch of beta invites just went out today. (so check your emails)
And yah, I got mines.

[Malakili]

evidently, this isnt supposed to be an MMO.  It's a PWNS!  (persistent-world next-gen shooter) 

Fine with me.  The MMO status quo of forcing levels + abilities + crafting into every genre regardless of its quality or usefulness, just so it can be an "MMO" has turned a lot of games to shit.

I mean, I love the idea of open ended sandboxes, but realistically, most games suck at doing it.  Give me something that plays well, and has a persistent world, and its better than 95% of the crap out there.

[Venkman]

Looks a lot different than what I (didn't) see in 2007

[Nonentity]

Apparently the beta is up for this on Fileplanet.

It's NDA and all that, but I have really heard nothing about this game. I watched a developer video and noted it was made by some eastern european country.

Is this going to be any good?

[Ingmar]

I got the beta email today too. I have to say that they are not off to the right start with the name. It reminds me of the explosion of <Whatever> Tycoon games.

[Morfiend]

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=9126.0

[kondratti]

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=9126.0

   Stuck in a loop.... I cant get out!

[NiX]

I created a time paradox!

[Xuri]

<insert funny joke about becoming one's own grandfather here>

Also, kondratti: Awesome lightsaber fight in that avatar of yours. Source? =P

[kondratti]

<insert funny joke about becoming one's own grandfather here>

Also, kondratti: Awesome lightsaber fight in that avatar of yours. Source? =P

Source... er... likely to have been /b/, which means it was recycled from elsewhere on the internet.  No idea really... was just in my folder of pics, had to resize it down a bit to fit the avatar.

[Signe]

The open beta test for this starts Friday.  (sorry if nobody still cares)

[HaemishM]

Since this is an open beta and I couldn't find anything about an NDA in the EULA, I'll talk about this game.

Meh. 3rd person action with a decent graphics engine and mostly boring gameplay. Also, brown. Lots of brown. Copious amounts of brown. Real is brown, y0. This game:

1) should have been 1st person
2) should have better controls
3) shouldn't have me walking around a gigantic city which is nothing more than a transparent match making lobby/microtransaction store
4) should have made the default walking speed faster than a slug on heroin.

Do not want.

[Trippy]

Since this is an open beta and I couldn't find anything about an NDA in the EULA, I'll talk about this game.

Meh. 3rd person action with a decent graphics engine and mostly boring gameplay. Also, brown. Lots of brown. Copious amounts of brown. Real is brown, y0. This game:

1) should have been 1st person

Why would FP be better? Does it FPS mechanics (i.e you have to aim, no auto lockon, etc.)?

[ashrik]

3) shouldn't have me walking around a gigantic city which is nothing more than a transparent match making lobby/microtransaction store

Why are people still doing this to games that are supposed to be MMOs?

[HaemishM]

Since this is an open beta and I couldn't find anything about an NDA in the EULA, I'll talk about this game.

Meh. 3rd person action with a decent graphics engine and mostly boring gameplay. Also, brown. Lots of brown. Copious amounts of brown. Real is brown, y0. This game:

1) should have been 1st person

Why would FP be better? Does it FPS mechanics (i.e you have to aim, no auto lockon, etc.)?

Yes, it's an FPS game. You have to aim the cursor (if there's an auto lockon, I didn't find it). It's in all respects, a first-person shooter with a 3rd person viewpoint. And did I mention it's motherfucking brown? The graphics engine is very pretty, but the color palette is literally shit.

[Signe]

I even had to play Hellgate: London in FP.  Some games feel very uncomfortable to me if they're not.  I had a beta invite a while back and checked it out but it didn't seem to be my sort of game so I didn't really give it a go.  I thought the character creation was going to be way more cool, too.  But it wasn't.   

[Malakili]

Soooo, apparently this was released today. (Thanks steam, for telling me).   Is this worth even looking in to.  The other posts here seem to say now, not to mention APB mentioned it was NOT going to have a monthly fee whenever that one comes out.

[schild]

$49.99.

Asking a bit too much for a game with no PR, imo.

[Hoax]

Way too much, if nobody has heard of your game you make it free, give a free trial area that is 10 times more polished and fun then the main gameworld and charge a sub to anyone who wants to get to said main gameworld.

[NiX]

Soooo, apparently this was released today. (Thanks steam, for telling me).   Is this worth even looking in to.  The other posts here seem to say now, not to mention APB mentioned it was NOT going to have a monthly fee whenever that one comes out.

Not worth it. Played the open beta and the net code was trash, aiming was clunky and there's no direction at all.

[Endie]

I'm not sure that I want to own my own house and shop in a world predicated on high crime levels.

[Mike_Lescault]

$49.99.

Asking a bit too much for a game with no PR, imo.

I noticed it for the first time on Steam last night. I wanted to check it out, but couldn't find a single review anyplace. So yeah, 50 bucks seems a bit much for a game no one has heard of.

[Venkman]

Yea, everything I've said has either directly or obliquely ended up as "waiting for APB".

[HaemishM]

Soooo, apparently this was released today. (Thanks steam, for telling me).   Is this worth even looking in to.  The other posts here seem to say now, not to mention APB mentioned it was NOT going to have a monthly fee whenever that one comes out.

Not worth it. Played the open beta and the net code was trash, aiming was clunky and there's no direction at all.

Yeah, this. It MIGHT be worth it as a F2P game, but for a $50 starter and a monthly sub, it can go rightly fuck itself. It's just not that good. I've played better F2P shooters than this clunky thing.

[Mike_Lescault]

Yeah, this. It MIGHT be worth it as a F2P game, but for a $50 starter and a monthly sub, it can go rightly fuck itself. It's just not that good. I've played better F2P shooters than this clunky thing.

Is there anything going on there mechanic-wise that is worth checking out? I'm surprised there's so little out there about the game. Of course, I found some of the mechanics in Ryzom interesting, so maybe I am easily amused.

[HaemishM]

Ummmm, not really no. It's the Unreal engine, but done very shittily. Targeting is clunky because it's 3rd person perspective, the lobby is this great bit town where you can't shoot other players. For the few options you have (vendors, crafting, etc.) you waste time walking slowly from one vendor to the next or from one battle entrance to the next. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of non-instanced worldly options, so the whole point of an avatar-based lobby as opposed to a server browser seems tacked-on for no other reason than to call it an MMO. Animation and movement in combat is sloppy and sluggish.

It's not worth $50 - I wouldn't pay $20 for it and I sure wouldn't pay a monthly.

[Ashamanchill]

My roomate purchased this pos and it's the fastest I've ever seen him quit a game. From the bitching I've heard from him, the UI is shite, the LFG system is the worst he's ever encountered, and the respawn timers on death are annoyingly long.