FiringSquad: What other elements do you think will separate Vanguard from the MMORPG pack?
Nick Parkinson: I think two things will separate us from the crowd. First, our visual style – the late master fantasy artist Keith Parkinson served as art director at Sigil until he passed on in late 2005. He established the look of Vanguard through the eyes of a painter and as a result, it feels much more alive and organic – much like an oil painting.
Depth of game play is the other big thing. There’s just so much to do. Gameplay is broken into three separate spheres. Two of them, adventuring and crafting, should be familiar to most players. But the third, diplomacy, is something that’s pretty new to the MMOG genre.
FiringSquad: The game uses the Unreal engine. What sorts of updates and refinements have the Sigil team made to the engine to make it work?
Nick Parkinson: We’re constantly working with the guys over at Epic (who are great, by the way) making tweaks and adjustments for various things we may need. Our graphics engine is more of a hybrid at this point than anything. We licensed the Unreal engine, and as you know, it is an FPS engine – so we’ve had to make a lot of modifications over the past couple years to make it into an MMOG engine that will fill Vanguard’s needs.
FiringSquad: When can we expect the game to launch its beta test and when is Vanguard's official launch scheduled?
Nick Parkinson: We’ve been in closed beta for a while now actually and are quickly nearing Phase 4 – which will see a lot of new people be brought in to help test the game. As for a launch date, all we can really say at this point is Q1, 2007.
FiringSquad: Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Vanguard at this stage of development?
Nick Parkinson: Like I was saying before, nearing the end of development, it’s a really exciting time around the office. Everything we’ve been working on, pouring ourselves into for nearly the past four years we’re almost ready to finally share with everyone – and we couldn’t be more jazzed about it.
Just this week, our pre-order boxes shipped out across the country and you can find them at Gamestop, Best Buy, Fry’s and other retailers. Check out our website at http://www.vanguardsoh.com and if you like what you see, pick up a copy and we’ll see you in Telon!
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The PC version of the game promises enhanced graphical fidelity, standard RPG trimmings such as hotkeys and quick-save, as well as unbridled mod support, something we’ll all be thankful for once they release that SDK. Skyrim has already sold millions of copies and set records for play-time on Steam... Find out why in today's review, which happens to be one of the biggest and most in-depth articles on the subject out there!
L.A. Noire Complete Edition PC Review L.A. Noire, as the name clearly states, is a video game built on the tropes of one of the greatest periods of American cinema: film noir. Developed by the now defunct Australian developer Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games, this title has been out on consoles for a full six months before finally making its way to the PC. This “Complete Edition” of the game features improved graphics, keyboard/mouse controls, and every bit of previously-released DLC for free. But was it truly worth the wait? Read on and find out!
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Xbox 360 Review
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Stronghold 3 Review
The latest sequel in the long-running real-time strategy franchise from FireFly Studios, Stronghold 3 is all about building your dream castle and defending it against sieging enemies. Almost exactly one decade after the first game was released, this new title promises a return to the classic and well-received gameplay that has been strayed so far from in more recent iterations. Does it live up to those expectations? Will (AKA Synchronous Failure) tells us all about it in his first official FiringSquad review, so read on!
Battlefield 3 PC Review - Single-player Impressions
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Wrecked: Revenge Revisited Supersonic Software Interview
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Wrecked: Revenge Revisited Hands-on Preview
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We get more info on Vanguard's gameplay features.
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