Urgent Fury and Gaming News
Lightbox Interactive Senior Designer Andrew Weldon joins us for an EXCLUSIVE interview, where he spills the beans about the Starhawk 1.04 Update & DLC. Get comfy. Because we don’t leave anything out.
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After a grueling 12 weeks, we had 6 teams that entered into the Dust Championship. Normally we expect a smooth playoff but not so much this time. Teams were faced with the dreaded XMB Kick randomly, teams cheating and for one team an endless battle of fatigue. But in the end a champion rose from among the ashes to be crowned the UF: Dust Champion for Starhawk on PlayStation 3.
United Mercs gained entry into the Dust Championship by winning the second of six deployments serving as the preliminary events leading up to the championship followed by a long battle in the championship ending with a final record of 4 wins and 1 loss.
Their only loss came from Mech Warhawk Society which by far was the most handicapped team with the majority of their members are in the UK making the match time in most cases 3am BST. After facing and eliminating Killer Instinct, UNIT returned to meet MWHS in the Semi Finals is a win or go home situation. UNIT held strong winning the Semi Finals only to have to return Friday night to face MWHS again, now a third time. At this point both teams had a 1 – 1 record against each other and whoever won would be crowned a Champion and the team that loss would have to settle for second place.
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Each team set their fate by choosing their maps, modes and loadouts for the finals, here is how it was laid out:
In the final match Unit was given home field advantage so their two maps came in the first three rounds, which being the best of 5, that played in their favor.
Round one: Unit took the map 2 – 0
Round two: MWHS took the map 65 – 57
Round three: Unit took the map 2935 – 917 Time Expired
Round four: Unit took the map 1401 – 1146 Time Expired
Both teams fought hard to reach this point and we commend them as well as Killer Instinct which received the MVC (Most Valuable Clan) award.
Over the next week we will be announcing the next line up of tournaments for Starhawk including the Starhawk King of the Hill Series. The series will include a King of the Hill set up for each of the team based modes where teams can challenge the King and attempt to take his crown.
We will also detail the next league which will run on Tuesday and Thursday Nights every month. So get over to www.urgentfury.com and get your teams set up.
PlayStation announced today that Starhawk would receive a boat load of goodies with the next Patch. Lightbox followed that up with a more detailed post outlining many of the changes coming with 1.04 as well. Not only that, as the fan base has asked for many times, we are seeing the release of a digital version as well.
I did check with Harvard to clarify if Coop would be included in the Multipayer version, and he explained the two apps are either All Solo or All Multiplayer. He also confirmed the Single Player only is currently available to PS Plus users in response to a question posed on the blog.
Well we have more coming as well, Commander Fury will have Andrew Weldon who is the design lead on the unannounced DLC joining us for the next podcast.
Commander Fury will get down and dirty with Andrew about the new content, if there is more than meets the eye and how the DLC will work. I hear there is a truckload of DLC coming so I think Dylan may be holding out on us.
If you want to provide any questions for the interview, please comment below and we will select a few of the questions for the interview.
Commander Fury gives us an Urgent Fury: DUST (Bravo 2 Deployment) SITREP, and then talks to AkilleezMight….Season 3 winner of The Tester!
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Commander Fury talks with Urgent Fury CIO Shane Bell about how hard it is to please all the people, some of the time. Plus, he gives you a Week 1 rundown of the Alpha-1 Deployment of Urgent Fury: DUST for Starhawk.
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Here we are, the last weekend before Starhawk releases on Tuesday May 8th, and it has been an exciting ride for sure. We have met a great community. But don’t fret there is still plenty of exciting things to do before release day.
It started with the much-anticipated Top 14 Questions compiled by HawkStarJay after the beta completed in late March. Of course the rabid fans would not let up about the video, and just like they promised, not only did Dylan deliver, he knocked it out of the park by providing more details than we could ever ask for.
Now this is a long video as we decided to take the video and post it in the full version, so it is about 30 minutes long. Let me break down the questions for you with a time stamp to help you out.
1. 01:32 – Can the speed of the melee “Drama Kill” animation be increased?
2. 02:18 – Will the strength of the air combat be increased?
3. 05:18 – Will the power of the Flak Gun be adjusted?
4. 07:43 – Will there be an additional map variety in the release versions of Starhawk?
5. 10:29 – Will any maps contain pre-built structures?
6. 12:29 – Can the flight ceiling be raised?
7. 14:13 – Can the speed of the vehicles be increased?
8. 15:19 – Will the rift energy economy be adjusted for the release version of Starhawk?
9. 17:52 – Will the strength of Torpedoes vs. Bubble Shields be adjusted?
10. 19:47 – Can the building cap of 32 be increased?
11. 23:00 – How will base camping be prevented?
12. 24:57 – How will the idea of “Turret Spam” be addressed?
13. 26:00 – Why is there no vehicle Health Bar?
14. 27.16 – Can you provide more information on load outs?
BONUS. 22:22 – Zones Bonus Topic – Dylan Expands on some changes to Zones Mode
Saturday evening we got the next punch as Lightbox got the gang together to show off some Multiplayer Game footage live via their UStream Channel, it was quite intense and was the first live look at many of the maps and modes that we will all experience on Tuesday. We were soothed by the commentary by Rico (IT Manager and QA Lead for Lightbox Interactive) which turned into some Q &A and then the “Pete Request Line”. They did great and everyone in the live chat had a blast getting Pete to drive off cliffs, show off different guns and tools as well as give an epic Dog Fight Match to end the evenings Gameplay.
Not only that it was broadcast live to PlayStation Home users in theater 6, here is some footage from the theater.
Now it’s not over yet, so tomorrow between 5pm – 8pm Pacific Time (0000 – 0300 GMT) you can once again head over to UStream and check it out as the head honcho himself, Dylan Jobe, who will be co-hosting and providing you with guided previews of our Single Player, Co-Op, and Multiplayer modes in the game. There will also be some prizes and a special announcement…
Of course don’t forget that Urgent Fury is hosting one of the first Tournaments for Starhawk right out of the gate beginning on May 14th. Many of you are asking why so quickly, well we know there are many established Warhawk Clans that will be headed over to Starhawk and they don’t need a month to get their team together. The first two deployments are especially for you guys, head over to Urgent Fury to get the scoop on Urgent Fury Dust and get your teams signed up. We will close up registration and rosters on the 13th.
We will then open up Registrations for Deployments Three and Four on May 16th.
Well after a little break Commander Fury is back with the latest from the Tournament Command Center with special guest FEARLESS1 from Soulless Corps and Shane Drop in to talk about the 2012 Tournament Season.
Well after a little break Commander Fury is back with the latest from the Tournament Command Center with special guest FEARLESS1 from Soulless Corps and Shane Drop in to talk about the 2012 Tournament Season.
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Well at least for all of those that came by to check out Austin based Lightbox Interactive’s Starhawk booth at SXSW’s Screenburn Arcade this past weekend.
The demo consisted of 6 rounds of ground pounding action and air to air combat as you are working to protect your Rig from the Outcasts who are hell-bent on destroying it in the Echo map.
The rounds get progressively more intense as the Outcasts come at you first on foot, then via Razobacks, OX Tanks and then from the air in Hawks. You are not stranded though, you have the full build and battle system at your disposal, and for the first time we got to see building upgrades outside of changing a wall to a gate.
The Beam Turret included two upgrades, the Flak Cannon, which is like an anti- air gun and then a rocket launcher that took aim on all ground vehicles. You are also able to pair up via online with up to four friends or if you got a buddy at home, he can take a spot via split screen.
One notable mention by Dylan Jobe was the reaction to the younger kids that were playing in the booth. I brought some of my younger cousins to check out the game and not only did they have a blast, Jessie was the first to complete all six rounds.
What we really can’t wait for is to get our hands on is the single player campaign… this is being kept under wraps, and based on what we have seen so far in the Multiplayer Beta and Coop Demo… the campaign will be an epic part of the game.
Unlike Warhawk, the spiritual successor to Starhawk, we will get the story behind it all, connecting you further with Emmett Graves as the story of the Rifters and Outcasts unfold.
Starhawk releases May 8th, 2012 in North America and you can preorder the Starhawk GameStop exclusive Limited Edition now.
As you can imagine here at Urgent Fury, our community members are always first to look at clan management when it comes to the next shooter title to grace their inventory.
Well Starhawk is no different, many of us have asked for more info when it comes to the clan management, and Starhawk delivers. Not in talk or bullet points, but in hands on!!! With the release of version 1.3 of the beta, you are able to get your grubby little hands on some clan management action.
We have put a little video together so you can watch the set up and invite process involved with Starhawk:
A few of the new features to point out:
Now there is an Elite Clan Code box in the clan banner section, and we are looking to get more details about this function.
Over all the clan management is sleek and very easy to use, almost back to the basics that we all have been looking for. Invitations can be sent via the Social bar, in-game and by typing the name. Clans are able to post Clan news, check out the leader boards and even see the overall KDR of your clan.
Now this is just the first look and it may not represent the final version, but even at this stage it is better than most games that have come out over the last year.
****UPDATE*****
We are giving you the scoop on the “Elite Clan Code Option” in a conversation today with Harvard Bonin, Jr. today he revealed what this is going to be used for:
“We are creating unique banners for long time, special clans. We will give them a number that allows the clan officer to access that special banner. No one else in the world will have that banner.”
The Starhawk team will be choosing the clans that receive this, is your Clan one of the Elite? Only time will tell.
It is little things like this that shows how much the Santa Monica Studios and Lightbox Interactive Teams actually do care about their community. This is another first that we have seen, and well we think it is BADA$$.
“Starhawk” Senior Producer Harvard Bonin Jr. explains exactly what he does, and gets his very own Spoof Ad.
Partial Artwork from www.starhawkradio.comPodcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:01 — 25.7MB) | Embed
