Former executives from Funcom (@Funcom), Lockwood, and Bohemia (@bohemiainteract) have raised $5M to create a new studio ‘Red Rover Interactive’ and innovate the hardcore survival genre.
With the goal of creating truly captivating multiplayer experiences and shaking up the survival genre in the process, brand new studio Red Rover Interactive can today lift the lid on its future plans.
The new outfit - which has already established bases in the Norwegian capital Oslo and Newcastle in
England’s North East - has been founded by games industry veterans who collectively worked on series such as Conan Exiles, Dune Awakening, DayZ, Avakin Life, Crysis 2, Ryse, and Ghost Recon, amongst others.
Red Rover’s goals? Initially, to
utilise the studio’s considerable collective experiences working with successful multiplayer-focused IP to catapult the survival genre in a new direction, placing player agency and drama front and centre. And more long term? In the developer’s own words, to “create the most novel and engaging multiplayer experiences on the market.”
“We believe multiplayer interactions are fundamentally more powerful than PVE ones,” says Red Rover Interactive CEO Fred Richardson. “This is something most persistent online games don't leverage, often being built as single player experiences that support many players. We plan to lean into this, starting with the survival genre which we are intimately familiar with, taking it in a genuinely new direction.”
Red Rover Interactive is headed up by:
CEO Fred Richardson (Funcom, Ubisoft Reflections)
COO Joe Stevens (Lockwood Publishing, Ubisoft Reflections)
Design Director Marek Zilavy (Bohemia Interactive, Funcom)
Technical Director Daniel Ratzer (Funcom)
Art Director Sebastian Zimmermann (Nordeus, Jagex, Crytek)
Red Rover Interactive is focused on cultivating mid-sized, close-knit, co-located teams. This begins with the foundational team of 17 members, most of whom have collaborated previously, leveraging their significant shared experience. From a creative standpoint, the studio aspires to produce titles designed for infinite engagement, perfectly suited to the age of content creation.
The studio has already secured significant seed investment from Behold Ventures and The Games Fund, as well as other participating investors such as Lifelike Capital, GEM capital, Acequia Capital, and a suite of angel investors, coming in at just under $5 million.
Now, with its sights set on the horizon, Red Rover Interactive is calling on fearless developers with a thirst for the extraordinary to join its ranks. Developers ready to shape genre-defining projects in Oslo or Newcastle are invited to step into the ring.
Electronic Arts and Crytek today announced that Crysis 3, the sequel to the 2011 video game Crysis 2 and the next installment of the blockbuster first-person shooter, will be coming to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in 2013.
As the name suggests, Crysis 3 will be the third game in the Crysis series, and will run on the CryEngine 3 game engine.
Pre-order bonuses for Crysis 3 have also been unveiled, a level 5 XP boost in multiplayer, a unique bow skin, the Hunter Nanosuit module and three additional dog tags. The pre-prder bonuses which we have listed below will become available from Selected retailers.
Crysis 3 Pre-Order Bonuses (available from selected retailers)
Stalker Pack – Includes the base game, all Hunter Edition content and the following early multiplayer unlocks: for players who like to stalk their prey from the shadows the Stalker Pack provides early multiplayer access to the deadly semi-auto Jackal shotgun. This powerful, close-range shotgun comes with a unique silencer attachment, custom weapon skin and two exclusive themed in-game dog tags
Overkill Pack – Includes the base game, all Hunter Edition content and the following early multiplayer unlocks: the Overkill Pack features early multiplayer access to the Typhoon assault weapon and skin. Spewing 500 rounds a second, the Typhoon gives players the ability to go guns blazing to take back the Liberty Dome. Also included are two exclusive Overkill themed in-game dog tags.
Predator Pack – Includes the base game, all the Hunter Edition content and the following early multiplayer unlocks: the Predator Pack delivers early multiplayer access to the Feline submachine gun and exclusive camo. With an extremely fast rate of fire and a 60 round magazine the Feline is highly effective and deadly, at short range.
A handful of screenshots for Crysis 3 have been released alongside the announcement, while the first official box art and pre-order information has also been made available to the public. You can check the screenshots out just below, and the official Xbox 360 boxart after the break.
Did you enjoy the original Crysis, or the sequel? I did! If you think you might be picking up Crysis 3, don't forget to add the game to your wishlist on 360-HQ.COM!
The second downloadable map pack for Crysis 2, dubbed the Decimation Pack, is now available for 800 MSP ($10) on Xbox LIVE.
Battle in all-new locations and once again prove yourself the master of the Nanosuit. The "Decimation add-on pack for Crysis 2 adds five new maps and two new weapons to multi-player mode.
5 New Maps
Decimation contains the follow new maps:
Apartments
Chasm
5th Avenue
Prism
Plaza
The Weapons
Two new weapons are included in this pack, bringing a whole host of new strategy and tactics that can be employed. First off there is the FY71 Assault Rifle, perfect for tearing through a line of enemies or battling over long distance;
Secondly there is the Smoke Grenade. Now you can grab a little extra protection when stranded out in the open with low power on your Nanosuit. It's also an excellent tool for sneaking past enemy defenses, or covering your retreat in an emergency situation!
EA and Crytek have announced that a brand new Crysis 2 multi-player demo will be ready for download on Xbox 360 and PC tomorrow March 1, 2011.
With only a month to go before the release of Crysis 2 – one of the most hotly anticipated games of 2011, EA and Crytek are pleased to confirm that a new Crysis 2 multiplayer demo for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and PC is coming March 1. The PlayStation®3 demo is coming soon. Crysis 2’s dynamic multiplayer is built around the franchise’s signature Nanosuit, an advanced exoskeleton giving every player super powers that will allow them to be strong, be invisible and be fast on the battlefield.
Last month over 1.7 million players downloaded an early multiplayer demo on Xbox 360. Since then, Crytek has taken player feedback to help improve the experience even more.
All versions of the new demo will include two maps, “Skyline” and “Pier 17”, as well as two modes “Team Instant Action” and “Crash Site”. Crysis 2 multiplayer will include six intense, action-fueled gameplay modes: Instant Action, Team Instant Action, Crash Site, Capture the Relay, Extraction and Assault, set across 12 maps in Crytek’s visually stunning recreation of the Big Apple. Players will advance through a deep progression system of 50 levels, earning a variety of upgrades along the way for weaponry and the Nanosuit itself, rewarding long-term players with tactical advantages that increase their speed, strength and stealth abilities even more.
Critics have already provided high praise for Crysis 2 multiplayer, with Game Informer saying “Crytek's approach to using the Nanosuit in competitive play is brilliant” and Official Xbox Magazine reporting that “with it’s amazing new battlesuit, Crysis 2 gives you the weapons and the will to take multiplayer to a whole new level.”
Crysis 2 arrives on the Xbox 360 computer and videogame system, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and PC on March 25 in the UK. For more information, visit the official game website at http://crysis.ea.com/uk, the official Crysis community web site at http://mycrysis.com, follow the development team on Twitter at http://twitter.com/crysis or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/crysis.
Today in San Francisco, Microsoft and Epic Games announced details on the upcoming Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta. The Microsoft Showcase event also featured additional news for Xbox 360, Kinect, and Windows Phone 7.
The public multi-player beta for Gears of War 3 is set to go on Xbox 360 mid-April and will contain four new maps with three new Versus Multiplayer modes.
Executive producer Rod Fergusson announced that an exclusive gold lancer would be available via the BETA and that it would be yours to keep if you meet the requirement of 90 matches played and 100 kills.
A bunch of new Gears of War 3 Screenshots and official boxart also emerged from today's event. Here is a quick run through of the latest gears of war 3 info with all the extra announcements just after the break.
Gears of War 3 - Kicking off in mid-April, the Gears of War 3 public multiplayer beta will give players a chance to experience three new Versus Multiplayer modes on four new maps, and help shape the year’s biggest blockbuster, set to launch worldwide on Sept. 20 and in Japan on Sept. 22. You can even decide which maps you would like to see in the beta starting today by visiting the Gears of War Facebook page and voting on their favorites. Voting ends on Feb. 28.
The popular PC game franchise Crysis has finally come to the 360. The new Crysis 2 multi-player demo is available now via the Xbox Live marketplace. Online MP game play will be available exclusively to 360 users for the next 2 weeks.
Crysis has been well known for its beautiful graphics and for being a game only available to those with the best of gaming PC's. Heck, the game is used as a staple for PC benchmarking for crying out loud.
Now Crysis comes to the Xbox 360 with Crysis 2. Xbox LIVE users have exclusive access to the demo for the next couple weeks.
The download size of the demo is 1.9 GB.
The multiplayer demo allows players to try the 'Team Instant Action' and 'Crash Site' modes, across the breathtaking 'Skyline' map. The full game will have six modes across 12 maps, all designed around a recognizable location in New York City.
If you have gotten to this sentence and are still reading... What are you Doing? Go DL the Demo!
Dune: Awakening Shows Off Stunning Unreal Engine 5 Gameplay & More Funcom (@Funcom) revealed a stunning new gameplay trailer and featurette for Dune: Awakening, the first episode of the new Dune: Awakening Direct series. Embark on a breathtaking journey across Arraki..
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