Hello all,

First I'd like to take a moment to let you know what's been going on within FASA studio. We're currently wrapping up production for Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge for Xbox, I know these souped-up aircraft are not Battlemechs, but I'm sure fans of the Crimson Skies universe won't be disappointed. We've also been busy providing our Xbox Live fans with new MechAssault downloadable content.

Over the past few months there has been plenty of speculation, email, and pleas for information regarding the future of the PC MechWarrior franchise, namely MechWarrior 5. Although an exceptional effort was made by an extremely creative and talented development team, we have decided not to continue the development of the project at this time. There were several factors in this decision, but most prevalent was our concern that we were not advancing the genre enough to meet and exceed our customer's expectations. Please know that this was a very difficult decision, but one we felt was in the best interests of our customers.

We deeply love the Mechwarrior franchise, and are committed to keeping it alive. Our plan is to re-invent Mechwarrior in a way that brings a fresh experience to our devoted customers and new fans alike. We would like to thank all of you for your continued support of the Mechwarrior 4 series of games, and greatly appreciate all the feedback we've received on our games. We are intensely focused on delivering outstanding game experiences, and rest assured we are working feverishly on some wonderful next-generation games.

Von ~

"The nutter in the WWI fighter plane with legs"

;(

Von, are you willing to entertain a little question-and-answer on this subject?

-Atomis27
Warrant Officer 2nd Class
The Royal Terra Guard
and
PUB Urbie-Ammo

>Von, are you willing to entertain a little
>question-and-answer on this subject?

I can already say that most of my answers would have to be: “I cannot say”, “Not at this time”, or lastly, “You need to buy me a drink first”.


Von~

"The nutter in the WWI fighter plane with legs"

Well, try this one anyway:

Do you mean that the project that has been going under the name MW5 has been cancelled, or that any project that might go under the name MW5 has been deemed a no-go?

-Atomis27
Warrant Officer 2nd Class
The Royal Terra Guard
and
PUB Urbie-Ammo

"You need to buy me a drink first"
i don't drink, but if you are in the greater seattle area and it might get me some answers about my favorite game, name your meeting place and i'll buy a round or two...

CMOpatrick

may there be turf in your fire, food on your table, music in your ears, friends at your side, and the joy of Christ Jesus in your heart...

*sighs and shakes head*

Mechwarrior Twitch
Iron Fist Heavy Assault
Alpha Galaxy
Wolverine Solutions

"If you want to face us fine...but we will not hold back. Prepare to reap the whirlwind!"
Khan Sarah McEvedy, Clan Wolverine

Does this mean that there are no plans to make a new incarnation of the Mechwarrior series? Or does it just mean that the current project was scrapped and a new one will probably be made?

=Clan Diamond Shark=
ADL, NBT, UTS

hi von is there a way to suggest how to get the franchise going

becourse i have a wild suggestion that might kick the mech world to the next dimension and give customers a new life of the mech universe ?


MadDragon

Sad news, but the explanation is reasonable and believable (how many variations on the "see mech, shoot mech with a selection of weapons, watch mech go boom" theme can developers come up with?).

Sad nonetheless.

Let's hope a suitable design doc will appear in the future and MW-next will be made, some day.

Oh and Von, if you can answer this one:

Are there any more plans for any new *commercial* content (as in not patches/maps) planned for the MW4 series?

Perhaps a Black Knight type expansion pack for Mercs? Or did Mercs not sell well enough to justify one (unless there isn't one for the same reason as MW5)?

I'd settle for Mechpacks too (assuming the ones for V/BK were profitable).

---
Can there be a heaven still
For one who lies bleeding in the fields
A pardon for these actions and passions
Committed in the name of our salvation

Thank you for your honesty Von. I appreciate it personally, and I'd risk to say that most other people here do as well.

Allow me to extend my thanks to Microsoft for their efforts in keeping the series alive (I refuse to call it a franchise) after the somewhat turbulent times it has gone through. It was fun, and it still is, to play the games that their company has made under the Mechwarrior name, specially now.

And on that same note, I'd also want to extend my thanks for releasing control of the franchise for the sake of another developer, provided that offers are brought to the table from people who would do the Mechwarrior series justice with the achievements it has made in the past.

GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ***Repeatedly bangs head into wall****

Well Von thanks for the honesty

Well there goes any hope on a mw 5 and the message being cryptic enough to assume a possible new style of Battletech game. Would have been better if there was note of a Btech game on the way though. Next genration of games could be anything from a new Btech style of game to Barbi Dress Maker Tycoon......

BeerRunner
"I do whatever my Rice Crispies tell me to do!"

"I do whatever my Rice Crispies tell me to do!"

"The voices in my head tell me you have serious mental problems"

Sad to hear that, Von. We all loved the game, even though we tend to be a whiney lot. Hopefully, someday we'll have MW5.

Oh, Von. Please consider some Mech paks. There are alot of TRO 3050, 3055,3059, and 3067 mechs I'd like to see in the game, and I know many others would as well.

-Chance Gearheart

Member, Health Occupations Students of America
Nursing Student, Hardin County HS
DSC's Resident Medical Expert, Trauma and Emergency Medicine

http://www.hosa.org

"how many variations on the "see mech, shoot mech with a selection of weapons, watch mech go boom" theme can developers come up with?)."


How bout.... dare I say it... a Mechwarrior Simulation game?? It has never been done. There ya go. Start working. lol

Evolve

Calm down fellas. What I get from Von's post is that the devs are just not pursuing the PC Mechwarrior games "at this time". Basically, I get the belief that they want to make a much more superior game and have many great ideas, but to impliment them "at this time" would be too difficult and expensive. Much like the situation with Doom 3's release being so advanced with its engine that they have to wait a bit for the average PC performance to catch up a bit to achieve good sales(this is the reason they are taking their time with finishing it). Sure the MW5 of our dreams can be made at this time, but it would be expensive and would require advanced system requirements, thus limiting sales and and may turn out to be a profit loss for MS. I have a feeling that the dev team already has an advanced engine in mind for MW5, but it just isn't practical at this stage in PC technology. Give it a couple of years fellas for the tech to catch up and I'll bet we will see a Mechwarrior game that makes Mercs look like Pong.

Thanks at least for adressing the issue Von. I'm sure you had to twist arms just to let the legal and marketing suits let you announce this.

I'm sure we'll get a good Battletech PC game at some future date.

Thanks for all the work you guys have done.


-Bangy

I think it might have more to do with xbox sales and the 1 billion microsoft has invested into it, then pc sales of mw5.

>Calm down fellas. What I get from Von's post is that the
>devs are just not pursuing the PC Mechwarrior games "at this
>time". Basically, I get the belief that they want to make a
>much more superior game and have many great ideas, but to
>impliment them "at this time" would be too difficult and
>expensive.

keep in mind that the license holder is microsoft. and microsoft plans to make their next os the be-all-end-all for gaming. (http://www.gamespot.com/all/news/news_2912498.html) would make plenty of sense to give things a rest until new gaming possibilities open up, leaving room for more original implementations.

although there has been no development since mercs was released it's still a pretty big jump to expect the series to die completely, especially when the last incarnation was one of the top games of the year according to many sources (fan and non-fan). personally, i think a few changes could be interesting.

Yeah, the new Longhorn system will be out in 1-2 years. Honestly, if I were the developers I'd wait for the better OS so that the next installment will be a stride ahead of Mercs instead of just a step. The last 4 releases have been the same game, with no real leaps in the technology which is one of the reasons for the diminished sales since Vengence. So, a decision was made based on the current MW5 blueprint and it was deemed to not be enough of a leap above Mercs to be a big seller. That is my opinion on it. Why waste money on producing a game that turns out to be a profit loss which only diminishes funding for future MW games. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me that dropping MW5 now and saving funding for the next installment is the better idea for MW's future.

The only major problem I have with the Longhorn system is that it seems like it won't allow the use of controllers other that its own. Won't that be the same sort of thing that the Justice Dept. got onto MS for the first time?

I'm not willing to give up my Cougar HOTAS for some crappy MS controller.

-Atomis27
Warrant Officer 2nd Class
The Royal Terra Guard
and
PUB Urbie-Ammo

To echo what other ppl have said, thank you for the honesty Von.

OK, anyone want to start the betting we'll still have a MW game out to tie-in with the movie?

Eli.

Elisor McEvedy
Admin of ~Eli's Middle East Servr
http://elisor.150m.com My webpage
http://wx.gerke-preussner.de =WX= Eli McEvedy

I'll probably get flamed like hell for this but theres plenty of good, modable engines on the market. Maybe its time the MW community got together and built something that includes all the items they felt were left out of the AAA titles.

There certainly isn't any lack of talent or intelligence.

-Bangy

I second this motion, verily.

Heh.

Ash
AlphA Strike - Play games with friends
New Battlefields - The Mercenary Map Pack

Ahhhhh, I can see it now *dazes off into dreamland*

1 year from now:

FASA Studios announces licensing of Doom 3 engine.

*dazes out of dreamland*

Somehow I don't think that'll happen.

Sad news not entirely unexpected though, and good to end some of the speculation with the official status, many thanks Von.

One wonders what would happen if a BT combined arms game was developed as a mod for an existing game (eg ut2k3 or whatever engine could handle the scope of it). I imagine it might get eaten by the copyright monsters for infringing on future MW projects, but still in the current absence of an official product on these lines its definitely an area I think could be enjoyably explored. BT Combined Arms would definitely be advancing the genre imo, and embracing the wider scope of BT itself.

Good luck to all involved with crafting the next BT based PC game

>--------<
<obligatory plea for BattleROM recording and playback to be included in the rest of MW series games>
ex-XO, Royal Terra Guard

http://www.dropshipcommand.com/forum/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=12&topic_id=11917&mesg_id=11917&page=

See my post a few down.

-Atomis27
Warrant Officer 2nd Class
The Royal Terra Guard
and
PUB Urbie-Ammo

well what about the devs thought a bit higher than usaly like a Online game wich is the highway at the minute there hasn been loong time between before another online game shows up

my idea is simple : i thought about it for many years wile i played mechy why not move the mech universe to another plane like a online game with the cabebility of doin real war and drob tactic like u have 1 unit owning 1 planet and other 3 planetes and one 2 plantes
and on those planets u can make factorys and such to provide resources and build mechs and drob ships to ship your stuff around to battle zones or to another planet in your system and when u drob ship things i suggest it would be realtime and if 2 units are doin battle on a planetes other should be able to join in the fight like mercyneries if one of the units ask for them to help with a contract


what im sayin is why not move mechy op to the roleplayin plane and make it more advanced and fun

gamers to day is not looking for a normal multiplay game but a Online Game with Cabebilities like role playing management building things administration c-bils to pay of things and with fractions house like davion and units like mercs and freelancer to start folks out until they find a unit to be in.

yes of course this would take time to make but it will dam be worth it

S
MadDragon

Thanks Von, thanks for all the fun these last few years. Hopefully we will see a MW:5 in some form, darkage or no, but if not best of luck.

k im dumb
does he mean that MS isnt gonna make a mw5 for a while and whenever or ifever mw5 does come out it is gonna be by MS
or are they selling the rights or watever to another company?

thx for info!...I hope someone will at least release a couple of more mech paks!to hold us over till a new Mechwarrior game is developed. peace out!...

SgtMagor®™

maybe someone can dust off 3025 and give it another shot???...no?


had to throw that in...sorry

-Bangy

>Over the past few months there has been plenty of
>speculation, email, and pleas for information regarding the
>future of the PC MechWarrior franchise, namely MechWarrior 5.
>Although an exceptional effort was made by an extremely
>creative and talented development team, we have decided not to
>continue the development of the project at this time. There
>were several factors in this decision, but most prevalent was
>our concern that we were not advancing the genre enough to
>meet and exceed our customer's expectations.
>
>We deeply love the Mechwarrior franchise, and are committed
>to keeping it alive. Our plan is to re-invent Mechwarrior in a
>way that brings a fresh experience to our devoted customers
>and new fans alike. >
>Von ~
>

EXCELLANT.. believe it or not I look at this as GOOD news, so.. we have to wait, the words here NOT AT THIS TIME speak volumes, as does the parts I quoted... MW:4 was great, but to make somethin other than an FPS with mech skins shows its not JUST about the cash, ya'll have my suport, & I love crim skies concept, just,.. the flightmodesl are >twitch< off

The Once and Future Desi

www.teambanzai.net

So basically the PC market for Mechwarrior titles is no longer profitable to justify marketing expenditures, and they're focusing on arcade-style platform shooters for xbox. Sad news for the game community, but this makes a lot more sense financially.

Thanks for the Post Von.

As for us, well, we may have just got 'Starsieged'.

MW4 was a new beginning for MW, just like SS was an attempt to re-invent the ES universe. It didn't work good enough to keep the universe alive . Starsiege:Tribes did (in a way), so no SS2, but Tribes 2 was made, which basically tanked, to be superceded by Tribes:aerial Assault, a Console game

So now, the only place the 'starsiege' universe is alive is on a console game.

Sound Familiar? No Mech Commander, No MPBT 3025, No new MW PC game -atleast any time soon-, but Mech Assault Lives on.

*sigh*

Despite minor changes, we've been playing the same game for 2 years, and now learn that IF there is another MW-ish PC game, it will be a LONG time coming......

lets hope that MW movie does VERY well...

_______________________
Black Caesar
~Team Banzai~
http://www.teambanzai.net
~~~~

Oh, I guess I'll have to buy an X-Box, since I don't buy the explanation, thanx for nothin Von.

Excuse me? These guys brought you a great game. I think you OWE them some gratitude.

-Chance Gearheart

Member, Health Occupations Students of America
Nursing Student, Hardin County HS
DSC's Resident Medical Expert, Trauma and Emergency Medicine

http://www.hosa.org

Just a way to sell more X-Boxes, nothing more, micro$ at it's finest. And what I OWE them is dishing out my hard earned $ for every Mechwarrior game since mech 2. I owe them nothing for trying to bully me into buying a game system, and or failing to come up with an original pc game platform.

Von:

Thanks for the candid update, bittersweet though it is.

Since the MW5 project has been shelved for the time being, can we expect any further MW4 projects or add-ons?

Also, is FASA planning any community-based "mod" support to keep the franchise vibrant until MW5 arrives?


-Necron

we paid for the game
all the lil reincarnations of the same gd thing
that guy doesnt OWE von gratitude

buy an xbox.. but don't get mechassault.. at least rent it first.. it certainly isn't anything i'd call mechwarrior... or even good.

http://www.DeathDealerMercenaries.com

Its sad to hear that the Mechwarrior Series will be suspended. It has been one of my favorite games ever. But I never have figured out how the game never really improved over time. It always seemed that the game reinvented the wheel instead of improved it. MW3 kicked butt. MW4 had some awesome new features, but removed some of the best features from MW3. Whats up with that?

Anyway. There has always been one game idea that no one has ever pulled off and the MW world is a perfect gaming world to do this in. My friends and I always said what it we had a game like this:

Some sort of mix between the Mechwarrior First-person game and the MechCommander RTS. Where in a multi-player environment, a single player is the "commander" and runs the RTS portion of the game. Overhead view...builds defenses, buildings, target enemies, etc. Your standard RTS game. But then, the rest of the players on the team can man the mechs that are built by the commander in first person. At that point, the commander loses control of the mech and the pilot controls it instead. The commander can issue radio commands to the pilot, as if it were the recon teams talking in your ears in the MW3/MW4 campaigns. If the pilot gets killed, he can jump into another mech currenlty controlled by the commander.

I think that game would be awesome. In my opinion, it would definitly be a "fresh experience" and a new twist on the game genre.

Thats my 2 cents.

Jeff

>Its sad to hear that the Mechwarrior Series will be
>suspended. It has been one of my favorite games ever. But I
>never have figured out how the game never really improved over
>time. It always seemed that the game reinvented the wheel
>instead of improved it. MW3 kicked butt. MW4 had some
>awesome new features, but removed some of the best features
>from MW3. Whats up with that?
>
>Anyway. There has always been one game idea that no one has
>ever pulled off and the MW world is a perfect gaming world to
>do this in. My friends and I always said what it we had a
>game like this:
>
>Some sort of mix between the Mechwarrior First-person game
>and the MechCommander RTS. Where in a multi-player
>environment, a single player is the "commander" and runs the
>RTS portion of the game. Overhead view...builds defenses,
>buildings, target enemies, etc. Your standard RTS game. But
>then, the rest of the players on the team can man the mechs
>that are built by the commander in first person. At that
>point, the commander loses control of the mech and the pilot
>controls it instead. The commander can issue radio commands
>to the pilot, as if it were the recon teams talking in your
>ears in the MW3/MW4 campaigns. If the pilot gets killed, he
>can jump into another mech currenlty controlled by the
>commander.
>
>I think that game would be awesome. In my opinion, it would
>definitly be a "fresh experience" and a new twist on the game
>genre.
>
>Thats my 2 cents.
>
>Jeff

There was a game similar to this, sort of like Battlezone but it would have allowed for a commander to be in an overhead, RTS mode and the rest of the team to be in first person with the ability to switch vehicles. The name was "Aquarius" and it had a LOT of potential but sadly it never made it out of beta as the dev team couldnt sell it to short-sighted suits at the time (ask Perrin, he participated for a bit). A MW version of such a game wouldve/couldve been something really unique.

Sad news Von, but thanks for letting us all know.

Von is there any hope for some more MW4 expansions? *hint hint mechpacks* Or something to hod us over?


Why do I get the feeling that "fresh experience" to the mechwarrior series means mechassaultizing it?

______________________________________________

RELAX, it's just life, what's the worst that could happen?

Damn i own mechasault and i can honestly say it sucks and lacks depth and strategy and control ,if this is the future of the mechwarior series it wil be without me.
but thanks for all the fun i had/gonna have on mechwarior 4 mercs von

iscreamuscreamicecreamicecream!!

"Our plan is to re-invent Mechwarrior in a way that brings a fresh experience to our devoted customers and new fans alike."

That's all what I will try to remember

Curiously enough I don't think that the game needs any reinventions, just an experience more focused on the simulation, a sort of MW4 meets Day of Defeat (without the flags)

"we were not advancing the genre enough to meet and exceed our customer's expectations"

I hope that doesn't mean that we asked too much , but that resources weren't enough

Anyway Von and the rest of the guys at FASA, good luck on anything you guys do next.

Less options on the server, more on the battlefield
Willy der schlächter

This news is hardly surprising. I've seen lots of expansions and the like in the last year. I'll mention Ultima Online and The Sims as some examples (OK, so that's EA scum). While I enjoyed the mechwarrior expansions, especially mercenaries I would like a more comprehensive update. Creating expansions with the same engine is ok to a degree, but when this happens too much it becomes bothersome. It tends to look like they're milking it for all it's worth, this is not the case for mechwarrior (yet).

I don't know about not being able to meet customer's expectations. Since they now have a more action-based customerbase in Mechassault they shouldn't need to worry about increasing the sim aspect of mechwarrior. If they combine what they did in black knight and mercenaries and use more battletech/mechwarrior mechanics they wouldn't need much more. "Internal ammo explosion", while this isn't really a good thing I'd like it back.

I hope that the mechwarrior games will have a worthy successor to increase interest. I could perhaps provide a more comprehensive list of opinions, but that'll have to wait. Yeah, and good luck to FASA.

This is sad news, Von.

We've all enjoyed MW4 and much appreciated the efforts you and your colleagues have made over the years.

I wish you every success with your new projects, and hope they end up entertaining and delighting as many people as you have with MW4.

RocketDog

www.TeamBanzai.net

Well i'm sure i'll get flamed by this, but i'm saying it anyway.

Thanks for your honesty, Von, at least you guys know you weren't pleasing much of your costumers. Your hard work and commitment isn't in question here, but lets face it, results weren't very good.

MW4 was a huge dissapointment. Like someone said in this thread, it was basically an FPS game with Mech skins. I consider it butchers Battletech in such a way, that i prefer no game, to another abomination like the MW4 series.
It was so bad, that for the first time ever, i didn't bother to finish a MW game. I even bought Mercs, and only played 2 missions, it was just more of the same inferior quality gaming that MW4 had me used to.
It turned me of from Battletech for about a year. I'm now returning playing CBT. And stearing well clear of MW4, and all associations of it.

And before any flames follow, bear in mind i bought, paid for all MW4 games, so i have a right to speak my mind.

As for mods, i have tried tremendously to help shape the BT mod community, as those who visit my site, http://www.battletechmodproductions.com , know. This community has lots of talent, however i see people don't make anything with it. They are just content in making a few high poly models for a TRO page which contributes nothing to the advancement of the community (not flaming tro42, just stating a fact).
I see excellent modellers, excellent texture artists, many coding people, everyone always saying a mod should be done, and whenever i or someone from BMP asks for talent, guess what? no replies.

I'm sure i seem ultra-harsh, and people do have their own mind, and the right to do as they please. I have helped many during the year BMP has been open. I have seen Megamek and Megamek.NET being tremendously helped by me, then "turning" and forming another community (megamek.com) behind my back. Not that i had any special agreement with them, but what pains me is the inability of this community to act as a whole. Everyone just splits, and forms their own show, instead of combining, presenting a unified front, which would be stronger, more effective, and produce more results.

Specially now that another MW game has been put on hold, i encourage the talent out there to join up, and try to make some of the communities dreams come true.

It was not my intent to offend or hurt anyone, i just think some of this needed to be said. I'm just not sure that anyone will get the message.

Good luck FASA studio!

Battletech Mod Productions
MTS - Mech Tactical Simulation, a BF2 mod

I dissagree totally with this massakari guy but he's entitled to his own opinion.
I feel sorry for Von for leaving the now brilliant mechwarior series for a piece of stinking teenage crap called mechasault
I would not be happy in your place Von i hope your influence will make MS mech titles on xbox less painfull for a adolescent to play.
Good luck!
But i'm looking forward to crimson skies if its like its pc predecessor it will be a worthy adition to my x-box games collection
(unlike M.A.)

iscreamuscreamicecreamicecream!!

"I see excellent modellers, excellent texture artists, many coding people, everyone always saying a mod should be done, and whenever i or someone from BMP asks for talent, guess what? no replies."

That is not the fault of the game or the community. Whilst AS Studios may not truly "mod" the game, I have had quite some success pulling together a variety of talent to set about a project to add content to the game. Look to yourself for the reasons, and don't blame the community or the game. (FREE TIP - It took me a long time to discover that the way to get people on board and involved with something that requires a lot of free time, is all about approach, attitude, respect and the relationship you create with them.)

Currently tools don't exist to properly integrate missions into the interface, or to create campaigns, or hook into a black market etc. and of course we can't add 'mechs, but there's still plenty we can do, lacking that.

"Everyone just splits, and forms their own show, instead of combining, presenting a unified front, which would be stronger, more effective, and produce more results."

This is the nature of the beast. Talk to myself, Giskard and the people over at Mektek about independent agendas. Look to any other game, and you'll see the same kind of fragmentation when it comes to "third party" development. Mektek has had more success in the approach you recommend, as they are able to attract a lot of excellent talent into their stable. This makes it tougher for other groups, but competition exists, and treated correctly, is actually healthy. Trying to maintain good relationships can be tricky (Giskard, the man behind Mercstorm, and myself, get on very well and help each others projects regularly), but ultimately can reap rewards and get around some of the problems the various agendas cause.

Ash
AlphA Strike - Play games with friends
New Battlefields - The Mercenary Map Pack

::BEGIN LINUX INSTALL::

Linux is teh suk



Ash
AlphA Strike - Play games with friends
New Battlefields - The Mercenary Map Pack

I don't need to look at myself, my attitude has been fine. BMP has almost 20 team members in various projects.

And i wasn't talking about MW4. Who wants to mod a game like MW4? I realize that my opinion is my own, that some people love MW4, and all... but if you want a true BT experience, don't go modding MW4. Too much of it is hard-coded to effectively work well. Join up and write a proper game, with proper physics, weapons values, physical attacks, etc.

All it takes is to pick up a tried and true engine (the Torque engine, from Tribes 2, for example, is available for $100), get 7 or 8 code guys, 3 modellers, 2 animators, 4 texture artists, 1 sound and music guy, etc.

All i basically said was that, if the community got together, creating a game with whatever BT features you wanted would be fairly easy. I mean, all the modellers/texture artists alone you can find here in the DSC forums. And that's just for this site alone.
The project would take about 1 and 1/2 - 2 years, but hey, we don't have MW5 to look forward, now do we?

Battletech Mod Productions
MTS - Mech Tactical Simulation, a BF2 mod

Your speaking for yourself only. I think MW4 was by the far the best of the series.

H

This was a given on the MW5 board about two to three months ago...

When I brought this up here about a month ago...I became the object of derision....but lets read this post for what it actually says and aludes to:

1. As previously stated....MW5 is now officially DEAD.....PERIOD!

2. As has been discussed in detail on the MW5 board from an unnamed source (Probably PAINGOD in my opinion) virtually all efforts at the development group are now being diverted towards X-Box support and game development. Personally I view the Crimson Skies as a basic abberation probably to support the personal past pet project of the Game Division Manager/Head who was has Crimson Skies came from the Crimson Skies team in the first place.

3. The committment to "re-invent Mechwarrior in a way that brings a fresh experience to our devvoted customers and new fans alike." frankly is a nice bunch of meaningless tripe that promises absolutely NOTHING whatsoever.

4. Like I have stated previously, while this is nicer than the bum's rush we saw here on Dropship with Microprose/Hasbro's dumping of MW3PM....the net result is identical. Turn out the lights....the party's over.

Its been a nice ride....frankly, MW4 Mercs is the best effort of the series...and I have been there from MW2 GB forward. The writing on the wall is writ large here. If you want to play this game; then you better get yourself an X-Box....because that is where the focus of Microsoft Mecha programming effort will be focused for the forseeable future....

Well...maybe the glass is half full.... At least they aren't firing the whole development team like Hasbrow did so that they could focus their efforts on Pokemon....

Maybe there will be some future PC based Mecha games from Microsoft in some form in the future.... And maybe if I clap real hard...Tinkerbell will get better...

Bout the same level of believability....either way.

Sorry Von that you have to be stuck delivering the meaningless Corporate platitudes to the loyal fan base that has this gaming genre has developed. Its tough to tell someone that they have been dumped...in any format anyway. Your message is one of the better efforts in this genre that I have seen.

Well....at least we have Mektek and Banzaii Institute....so maybe the fan base can keep this thing going during the next couple of years with some fan-based development group can add mechs/missions/ and maps....heck maybe someone can even give us some add on campaigns.. That's where any future in this genre exists....

Good luck to the developers....When PAINGOD bailed...well that spoke volumes didn't it...

Bill Perkins
Servant

Mektek going the way of the carrier pidgeon as well it appears.

Ain't getting an Xbox because they ain't built to run finance, CAD and numerous other applications. MS image is that average battletech fans are pimply faced boys with attention spans shorter than a hampster...they are so wrong.

Now it's about who gets the rights to a "next" game...but MS don't have a good track record of letting rights to anything go outside of a courtroom.

Too bad this game does't include a better set of editor tools. The future is bleak.

Fox

Mektek is going through upgrades and other crap. Bear with them.

>Ain't getting an Xbox because they ain't built to run finance, CAD and numerous other applications. MS image is that average battletech fans are pimply faced boys with attention spans shorter than a hampster...they are so wrong.

Screw Microsoft. If you want all that, go with Mandrake Linx 9.1 (Yes, 9.1 is in beta), or 9.0 ProPack, which included OpenOffice 1.01, and many other finance and editing tools. CAD programs are available, try sourceforge.net if you get it.

>Now it's about who gets the rights to a "next" game...but MS don't have a good track record of letting rights to anything go outside of a courtroom.

The Justice Department has had enough of the MS BullSh*t. I doubt they'd even hear the case from ol' gatsey boy. And I believe FASA only sold them the rights for a few years.

-Chance Gearheart

Member, Health Occupations Students of America
Nursing Student, Hardin County HS
DSC's Resident Medical Expert, Trauma and Emergency Medicine

http://www.hosa.org

well, there are not any serious competitors for macromedia, adobe, or 3ds/maya/lw on linux. hard to do real work in the video/graphics world outside of mac or wintel (unless you have serious money and go sgi, and even there it is not linux, but irix).

CMOpatrick

may there be turf in your fire, food on your table, music in your ears, friends at your side, and the joy of Christ Jesus in your heart...

Please, don't ever let facts get in the way of your ranting and uninformed assumptions.


>And I believe FASA only sold them the rights for a few years.

Just to clear the air as Ratboy had done a couple of times during the development of MW4 and MC2: FASA Interactive was bought by MS. FASA Interactive became FASA Studios at MS. We all moved from Chicago to Seattle. In short, there is no FASA for the rights to revert to.

Cornboy

(cornboy, does that mean that Von not taking me up on the offer of a pint at say Conner Burnes was indeed a snub, or just that he isn't really interested in talking if someone is willing to buy?)

CMOpatrick

may there be turf in your fire, food on your table, music in your ears, friends at your side, and the joy of Christ Jesus in your heart...

(cornboy, does that mean that Von not taking me up on the offer of a pint at say Conner Burnes was indeed a snub, or just that he isn't really interested in talking if someone is willing to buy?)

CMOpatrick

may there be turf in your fire, food on your table, music in your ears, friends at your side, and the joy of Christ Jesus in your heart...

Not to be evasive, but you'd have to ask him.

C

to be honest, sir, not sure which of the devs you are, but thanks for the response. if you haven't gotten out much while you have been out here, let me know. used to be a photog up here (vid producer now), and i know my way around...

CMOpatrick

may there be turf in your fire, food on your table, music in your ears, friends at your side, and the joy of Christ Jesus in your heart...

heh, just afraid as to what I might say..

"The nutter in the WWI fighter plane with legs"

ah well, you had said you might above (back at the second or third post... tried to take you up on it then...

understood... guess the time coming to take out my old stress relievers (my total annihilation cds) and work the rust off. sorry you folks got dragged into console.

CMOpatrick

may there be turf in your fire, food on your table, music in your ears, friends at your side, and the joy of Christ Jesus in your heart...

Other options:
Murphy's Pub (Wallingford)
FX McRory's (SODO) - Scotches and Whiskey
Red Door (Ballard)
Kells (Pike Place Market) - an Irish bar, need I say anything more?

- Garg.

you have good taste, sir. <S>

CMOpatrick

may there be turf in your fire, food on your table, music in your ears, friends at your side, and the joy of Christ Jesus in your heart...

Why, thank you.

Now if we could just convince Von that it is OK to carouse with the locals even once....


- Garg.

Von, I've been playing this game all the way back to mechwarrior and mechwarrior2: mercs. As a player with a team that is active in online league battles, we've had a terrific time over the years.

I do agree that MW4 was kind of a mixed blessing... better engine, but then you remove the MFB which added another dimension to online team play. I did see some custom maps where in fact there was an MFB hanger or soemthing and can't understand why you'd remove something like that.

As far as MW4 Mercenaries - it's a lot of fun, looks nice, sounds great and is the most stable platform / engine yet, it seems. Our team; Wolverine Solutions / www.wolverinesolutions.com (as is the case with most others) is more like a family that was "birthed" way back in '96 -- last century - so we're together, no matter what game we're playing --

You can kill the game, but you can't kill our spirit!

ya know.. i'm not as dissapointed as i thought i'd be.. lately i simply havent had time to play mw4 and, while looking foward to the continuation of the franchise.. at the same time i was wonderin if i would have time to play it..

and i couldnt disagree any more with Servant.. the eternal pessimist as usual... mechwarrior is NOT dead..

"We deeply love the Mechwarrior franchise, and are committed to keeping it alive"

i believe that.. i do.. theres one thing that this dev team has not done is throw #### at us.. .. when they actually say something, its straight up.. and i believe and look forward too the re-invention of the mechwarrior franchise.. weather it be 5 ore more years down the road....meanwhile there are other games in the world.. heh

~Thontor~

i think this means mw5 has turned into mechassualt 2 for the xbox

This just plain blows..........

Tell Microsoft heads that I will never buy an X-Box

####s

http://snipershide.us
Shameless self promtion

Ya, I dont think m$ lets anybody re-invent the wheel.
Just too bad it got bought up then killed off.

But on the bright side I wont have to repurchase an exact copy of the same game this christmas.

I have been here from the begining.. net comander, mw2 titanium, mw3,mw4, mw4 bk, mercs, and the expansion packs.. i have bought multiple copies of all. is sad to hear that a culture that i have spent years helping build and promote, seems to be on the chopping block. i spend hours a day at the pc devoted to gaming and its promotion. i have over the last year spent a small fortune building the most powerful gaming pc money can buy, i will not buy a x box..... it seems that all my years and devotion have gotten me a slap in the face.....from ur post it gives the impression that mw will be dropped off to advance mech assault..an x box game ..

Thanks for keeping us informed - even if it isn't the news I wanted to hear.

In case any of the marketing types at Microsoft read these boards...

My take on all of this is what I see as a general drift by game developers and publishers from PC gaming to game systems - a trend that saddens me. I like my PC. I like the fact that I can do lots of stuff with it besides games. I like playing games on my PC without having to compete with my family's TV viewing for a monitor. Unless my daughters really think getting a game system is cool, I doubt I'll ever buy one. If game systems are the future of interactive gaming, well ... it's been fun.

Here is a post I did in a league I participate in.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MechWarrior 4 series has been very expensive and Microsoft along with the FASA/Wizkids development are likely very frustrated with the community development and misleading comments coming from everywhere. And before you make any comments against me, have any of you sat in the media producing chair, if you have then you know how much of a pain it is, and you make changes only to read that is not enough. Most companies would give up after few patches, Microsoft and FASA/Wizkids did not.

I have left organizations who feel this game along with the genre is dead. I feel it is not, why? Because of all of you in NetBattleTech.

Now to the console complaint, yes even I do not like console games. But, in economical sense it is great idea. Have you noticed that the economy has been having problems recently, that translates into purchasing issues of computer and games. Logically, people would transfer to consoles and then to console games because of the expense, both for the consumer and the developer. Screaming Tech Support down the hall and on the phone is limited do to a constant factor on one machine, not millions of configs to deal with. Thus cutting operation overhead. Furthermore, developmental curve of the animation is created to optimize the quality on this single system. Oftentimes, on PC develop requires a minimal bar often viewed by many as poorer quality.

Honestly gang if you take our economy, poor preception of the MechWarrior Community, advancement of consoles, then what do you expect, we got our consequences given right to us.

So lets suck it up, move on and try our best to advance what WE DO have. The only group I see TRUELY advancing the future of this game is here - in NetBattleTech. The old analogy if you got lemons make lemonade best describes our future. Remember, NetBattleTech only describes a fraction of the demographics, we are not the big picture. And yes an acceptable return is require for any product to continue, that includes MechWarrior series.

Though you read my opinion on thsi matter, here comes my lemonade. I am currently writing a field manual for MechWarrior which includes military theory and strategies...man Sun Tzu is cool, in hope to help MechWarrior commanders and MechWarriors preform better in this game.

We have an important mission here, ladies and gentlemen, and the admins of this league have created a great addition to this game. So, lets go promote the league and make constructive critisms to the MechWarrior developers, not the complaining.

Respectively,
Point Commander Fire Kestrel

3rd Falcon Talon Cluster - The Jade Claymores
Joint Commander of Sibko Operations
Clan Jade Falcon

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My concern is that people melodramatics caused this, or that MechWarrior is dead. I have been playing this game both on the screen and the table for over 15 years. Just to describe a new favorite analogy in a film. You can't truely appreciate the sweet until you have had the sour. Time to makes so serious choices as a community and band together, or kiss this series good bye. I been in the sour and have appreciated the sweet of the MW4 series.

Respectively,

Fire Kestrel

Well...I guess we agree to disagree on your posting in some rather important areas.

I have been with this game since the first beta....or lack of beta since there wasn't an outside beta for the MW4 gold whatsoever. The alpha copy that was released as gold was a real pos....with lots of rather significant bugs. Then the dev team rushed a PR1 to that original mess and made that mess go critical. As I remember it, that first patch was so very very bad...that much of the major on line play ceased for a rather large number of players. In addition, the lack of valid in game connections and ability to redily scan for "pick up games" using the zone inside the game like MW3 really depressed much of normal league play.

After about 8 to 12 months the game was finally "fixed" just in time for the BK release with all its copy protection "virus" and frame rate reduction problems.

Then, finally after about two and a half years; we got MW Mercs. This, in my opinion is a very fun game....still it has issues....they all have issues....but it is great fun with an enjoyable single user campaign that is replayable.

Now, yours truely, used to be good friends with many of the dev team. That ceased when MW4 came out because I was blunt and vocal in my complaints here and in email to the development group concerning a game that had been rushed to release without really any significant quality control.

But that's past ....and I am very happy with MW4 Mercs.

But, frankly, I find that the MW community is much less vocal that virtually every on line gameing community out there....in fact they are rather polite in comparison. If this development team has made ANY decisions in the kind of "pouty" reaction to the rather judicious critical complaints or suggestions that have been made here; then frankly, I would think that they would be eligible for immediate admission to the nearest ladies preparatory school....lol

I fully appreciate the lovely larger game that has been made available by the NBT type of economics and political manageemnt game. I initially was there in the inception helping Kell Hounds with their game management in that league.

I would though suggest that you might want to back off a little and take the larger view of this issue. Decisions concerning Mech Warrior at Microsoft...and frankly during MW3 by the predecessor Microprose/Hasbro have virtually NOTHING to do with anything that is discussed or commented upon herein. These decisions are very apparently made by management dweebs that could care less about your or my fan "loyalty" to this or any other game.

They are in it for the MONEY....PERIOD... Any way they can get more NET bucks out of the same development team time....is exactly the direction you will see Microshaft direct their efforts. They haven't become Microshaft by being nice...but being very very good at squeezing every penny outta any market they go into....by whatever rotten means that are available. DO not make the mistake of personifying or glorifying this group. While Von, Paingod, Mantis, Mitch....and others who have passed through may or may not be great people....the basic corporate culture now controling this game is a heartless....and unforgiving machine designed to generate cash.

I have personally made a number of on line friends in this genre...even if I have choosen to be blunt in my critiques of certain problems or "undocumented features". I have been lambasted and generally crucified here for past rather direct critiques of the early versions of this game. That every point I made during that time was borne out by later modifications and discussion....well that doesn't mean much when the basic game now is probably all we will get.

Its a shame....but that's the shakes....

My guess is that somebody will continue to develop good immersive action games in this genre because there is a market. Yes there is a larger market in the pimply faced kids playing Mech Assault type of games....but frankly, I would fully expect that consoles and PC capabilities will continue to converge.

One of my personal fustrations with this PC genre is that the increadable diversity of platforms that everybody here brags about....also means that you NEVER have a level playing field necessary to play this game as a "sport". The person who has spent the extra THOUSAND or so to get the highest connect, greatest screen resolution, and most efficient and largest internal processing graphic and memory system....gets a decisive benefit in on line play. One of the positive features conceptually in an X-box environment is that it IS a level playing field hardware wise. The only variables are from the player.

Yes the darn thing can be improved....with better Internet....better internal memory...and other things. But I still think that eventually we will have cheap console units that are killer for the full range of play that we now enjoy with MW4 Mercs. It ain't exactly rocket science there.... Everybody is talking about all the amazing level of economic management,mech lab and other stuff in the game. Yeps that is there...but it is really rudamentary..and much MUCH less complex than what we had in MW3. The economic model in Mercs while better than what we had in MW4 and MW4 BK is still a joke...and more like what I have played in console games than even what we saw in MW2 Mercs....

So take achill pill. It ain't perfect....but change is what we always must face...

And don't think for a minute that the development team has done a pout and moved into the X-Box in revenge.... Frankly, I don't have that much personal delusion of grandeur. I doubt that what I or anyone else has EVER said in this or any other fan board had any significant impact on any really critical decision in this or any past Microsoft game....

Still its fun to comment even if it doesn't mean much...impact wise.

Bill Perkins
Servant

if you think thet the version of MW4 that was released was "alpha" i think we need to teach you a little bit about what the dev cycles mean!

and MS do extensive internal beta testing. not as good as extrnal i agree but its not as if the coders finish the game and say "ahhh itll be all right... jst ship it."

besides what with the MW4 multiplayer beta test if it wasnt external beta testing?

As one of the beta test group on that original game....that is more or less EXACTLY what happened.... There really was no external beta....and the internal beta was tested on a very limited number of platforms.... Thats why the original had so very many problems...The Microshaft games management group IN CHARGE of the development team basically did exactly what you stated in your comment "ahhh itll be all right....jst ship it."

Microshaft has basically used initial releases of their games as external betas for years now. While it was rather disappointing to see that happen with MW4 Vengance...we in the gaming community should not have been surpised at the same thing happening in Vengance.

Sorry...but you are seriously "out to lunch" in this respect my friend

Bill Perkins
Servant

x( "Our plan is to re-invent Mechwarrior in a way that brings a fresh experience to our devoted customers and new fans alike." i.e., "WE're gonna put it out on the XBox and make you pay, pay, and pay sum more!"

Don't think so...

Well, if MW5 becomes mech assault 2 im not bying it, and i doubt many people will. I refuse to considder mechassault a part of batletech because it sux. I remind microsoft that mechassault only sold as much as it did because of the battletech name. when mechassault 2 comes out, you can expect somewhere between 20%-50% of the sales of the first game, maybe less. no one I know who has ever played MW4 will say mechassault is better, and all but one say mechassault sux. The problem wasnt with graphics, it was with the non-battletech weapons, the incorrect manual, inability to customize, inability to shoot limbs off, no shut-downs or suicides, and other things. If i want a game like mechassault ill go buy unreal tournament. If you want more sales, go back to MW5 which is tried and true. Thats my 2 cents.
~SoA_Tempest

The real shame here is that with the DirectX 9 spec out (and 9.1 due probably sometime in the fall) a photorealistic MechWarrior 5 game would have just the excuse for me to by one of the latest high-end video cards (and by the time Mech 5 came out for Xmas 2003/4 the lower end Dx9 cards would have been very affordable). Almost a re-packaged MechWarrior4 Mercenaries around a graphics engine that took advantage of the DirectX 9 specification could have been a hit this fall (after all it won't be till sometime summer that DOOM III hits the scene and exposes the richness of the new specification/video cards).

The other problem is that Microsoft now owns the MechWarrior Product and are not under any financial pressure to sell it to another company who might develop it. In fact, Microsoft would/will probably sit on it forever rather than let a potential competitor get hold of it.

I think we're out of luck for a VERY long time.

Steel Horses ... Deadly Forces

Ah well all good things come to an end. Atleast I have Battlefield 1942.

Well this really sux.I only play MW,I have tried other games only to consider them a waste of time and money.Now microSHAFT isnt gonna advance the MW series or sell the rights to the game to another company that is willing to do this.They say that the future of MW is in consloe gaming systems.I say f--k a X-box.The only reason I have played MW since MW2 was for the online gaming of it.You say it isnt a level playing field because of different PC systems.Thats one of the things that I like about the game.No two pilots mech are the same,everyone has thier own style of playing and have customized the mechs to accomidate this.If not for online play,I would have giving up on MW just like other games i have played.Mechassault is a freaking joke compared to pc based MW,and I refuse to buy a X-box when I have a pc that is upgradable and far more capable that ANY gaming console.
So basically all I have to say is"MICROSHAFT CAN BITE ME"

aww come on people, wth with this pessimistic and sad atmosphere?
MW2 was 6 year old when MW3 came out and people still played MW2 online because it was an awesome game. I played MW3 for only a few months before I got bored and ran back to MW2 Netmech and continued to play it online until a few months before MW4 came out.
MW4 is a great game and MW4 Mercs is a great follow up product of MW4 and the patch turned it into an almost new playing field again that can provide us with a long long time of much mechwarrior fun!! New playing style, means new challenge and adapting to new ways.

Thanks for the update Von. Great job on MW4 series.
There is no hurry for MW5. MW4 Mercs is only 6 months old, I see myself playing and enjoying it for another hmm 2 years .

Thoman Coston
Diamond Shark

--------------------------------------
Thoman Coston
http://www.rigpa.mark1hosting.net/csa/

Bless you sir, you are not alone in your hope

-Atomis27
Warrant Officer 2nd Class
The Royal Terra Guard
and
PUB Urbie-Ammo

There will be another expansion for MW4, right? or perhaps a sort of "silmarillion" compiled from all complete MW4/5 work to date?

How about a CD with all MW tools, code, art, and whatnot?

"...we were not advancing the genre enough to meet and exceed our customer's expectations."

No kidding! But this is tough, and a very good reason to continue MW5 development: Two very different 'mech games can be made, and two very different audiences may be satisfied.

Please don't reinvent. Just follow the yellow brick road. Everything you need to know about Mechwarrior has been spelled out for you in numerous books of rules and stories.

How many times has baseball been reinvented? Never. And yet, we still like baseball.

I think that if there was gonna be another expansion he would have told us in this thread

iscreamuscreamicecreamicecream!!

"Please don't reinvent. Just follow the yellow brick road. Everything you need to know about Mechwarrior has been spelled out for you in numerous books of rules and stories."

Some of which contradict each other, sometimes in the same book.And none of the PnP rules are really effective in a real-time format.

Phoenix-D

Phoenix-D

"As the current captain, my course of action is clear. I've got to organize a mutiny."
-Sam Starfall

Hello all

First off, why re-invent MW/BT? Its a solid genre with well defined rules/parameters. Do microsod's REALLY need to re-define it? There are vast areas of the MW/BT universe that had still to be developed game wise... anyone for naval combat? Taking an idea posted somewhere in this thread.. why not add the RPG/Strategical elements to the RTS/Tactical game. As was pointed out, mech shoot mech boom has only so many variations. Resurect the starleague and bring it back to power.
Just my 2 cents worth.

Everyone go buy Mech Commander Gold n come play on the zone till MW5 is released.


ERRATIC FEATHERED CACTUS
THE ANTI CLAN

"Retain thy Gonads, for thy buttocks shall no longer accomodate thee." - ERRATIC_LEMMING - 1999

I think, there are quiet a lot things you could use in MW5. Most of them are also things I didn't like in the recent games.

- implement IR- and MAD-vision again.
- try to create deeper woods or jungles along with higher mountains and deeper canyons.
- stop using game-engine cut-scenes and use real videos again. (for more motivation)
- take the story back to 3025-3050 - using "real" Battlemechs.
- give the opportunity to choose one of the major houses.
- reduce action, icrease simulation
- a little more story
- tanks/aircrafts as support units/wingman
- try to simulate a gyro-scope (however this is called in english) - make mechs tumble and fall more often.
- improve environment in general - especially cities (lager "mechsized" buildings, neon signs, more colorful)
- improve environmental damage, breaking in frozen lakes, causing avalanches, flying fragments in zero-gravity, more weather effects (tornados, lightnig hits, burning/smoking forests)
- improved radio festures: e.g. scout operations

that's it for now

If that's to hard for you (;-)) - just release a remasterd version of MW1 or MW2.