MechWarrior 4 re-released for free

[Razor]

I stopped playing Mech Warrior games after 2. I disapprove of the arcade-y direction the franchise has taken.

Yes I'm a Mech Warrior snob.

I was disappointed with 3 and 4 as well. But I still play BattleTech to this day.

MW2:Mercs was as good as it gets.

[eclipt1c]

Apparently they're using the Valve and Creative Assembly definition of 'soon'. Can't wait to play the game.

I remember when I played it with a flight stick, you could twist the stick and it would twist the torso on the mech. I thought that was the coolest thing in the world.

One of my favorite things was turning off my mech and hiding in a river, since I believe they could sense your heat signature, but would have to visually spot you if there wasn't one.

[jneeriem]

Ok not bringing this up again for the obvious reason, because there is no obvious reason.

Any of you who took interest in this thread ever played Steel Battalion? Anyone still plays this game?

[Irishjohn]

God yes. I loved Red Planet, though often I didn't have much of a choice in the matter as the local Battletech (in the basement of the CN Tower) would often be playing that than, you know, Battletech.

I remember one time they put us into a game of Battletech set on "hardcore", where shit overheats fast, damage is extensive, and all the buttons are used. Nothing quite like having your core overheating, having to input a key combination on your keypad, over your head, to vent it only to get attacked and having to manually eject. Steel Battalion is not nearly as immersive.

I was always tempted to go out and grab a copy of Steel Battalion, insane controller and all (probably because of the insane controller). I kind of wish I'd had your crazy arcade installation experiences, but I can't even get my head around the finer points of Chromehounds.

[Coldkill]

They need to release a new game like Steel Battalions, which was absolutely insane, especially with the controller, mostly because of it's attention to detail. They probably wont though, the game didn't really turn a profit apparently. Although, with games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero providing people with new peripherals for consoles, I wouldn't be surprised if something popped up at some point.

[Wrestlevania]

I'd forgotten about this. MekTek have issued an update regarding the re-release of MechWarrior 4:

Its been awhile since we last updated you on the status of the free release of MechWarrior 4 so we felt the need to assure everyone that the time is nearing. We had hoped to release the free title the last weekend of summer but that unfortunately did not happen due to paperwork.

As previously mentioned, I indicated that there are still a number issues to resolve before the free release. Those issues are resolving thanks to the hard work of many at MekTek. From a development stand point the free release is near ready to go but we are still waiting to resolve some of the legalities associated with such a wide distribution. While we have not provided a set date for the release, we are still on target, and our partners are happy with the progress MekTek has been making.

Fucking red tape...

And that's not because I'm impatient or ungrateful, but from bitter personal experience on a day-to-day basis.

On the flip side, however, it sounds like they're making a real effort to launch the game at a modern level by creating their own distribution platform ["Stop groaning at the back!"] and match-making platform called MTX:

• Bootstrap Installations
  
• Incremental Delta Auto-Patching
  
• Torrent or HTTP Downloading from an exclusive MekTek Tracker
  
• Custom Web Browser
  
• News Updates from MekTek and Partners
  
• Online Help
  
• Community Chat Lobbies
  
• Network Diagnostic Tools

[ThunderPeel2001]

Of course the best giant mecha game ever made was... Walker!

kzmEJWjcwms

Ah yes! I played and completed this... Awesome game back in the day!

[MrChaz]

Ok not bringing this up again for the obvious reason, because there is no obvious reason.

Any of you who took interest in this thread ever played Steel Battalion? Anyone still plays this game?

Steel Battalion is great, I haven't played it ages though. The controller is fantastic and the game is good fun too but seriously hard.

It's the only game I know of that when you die in a mission it properly kills you and you have to start from scratch. On top of that before each mission it kills you so if you rage quit you're dead anyway.

Depending on how good Natal really is I think that would make a great way to play without needing the insane controller (although I do really like it).

[Wrestlevania]

Ah yes! I played and completed this... Awesome game back in the day!

Wow, I remember that... one of Psygnosis' last original games for the Amiga, I believe. And look who it's made by, too! That's Rockstar North of old, that is.

Used to play that at my neighbour's house and we'd take turns at either shooting with the mouse or controlling the mech with the keyboard. It was the first sort of twin control computer games we'd played at that point and we found it hard as nails.

[MrChaz]

That's Rockstar North of old, that is.

I wondered if it was that DMA

[Wrestlevania]

I wondered if it was that DMA

Yup! Busy boys.

[ThunderPeel2001]

DMA? Didn't they also do Lemmings?

Edit: Yes. Yes, they did.

They also did Hired Guns... another amazing Amiga game. I'm surprised to see that I think I've played just about every game they did (ok, so it was only five, but still!).

[Wrestlevania]

DMA? Didn't they also do Lemmings?

Edit: Yes. Yes, they did.

They also did Hired Guns... another amazing Amiga game. I'm surprised to see that I think I've played just about every game they did (ok, so it was only five, but still!).

I applied to Dundee University in the hopes of taking a gap year with DMA Design, but was told I didn't actually get a place on the course I wanted when I got there. So I came all the way home again--about a 500 mile round trip in 2 days.

As it turns out, DMA moved to Edinburgh before I would've gotten my gap year anyway. DMA founder David Jones is still in Dundee though, having founded what became Real Time Worlds (makers of Crackdown) when Take-Two bought DMA about the time my course would've ended.

[jneeriem]

Steel Battalion is great, I haven't played it ages though. The controller is fantastic and the game is good fun too but seriously hard.

It's the only game I know of that when you die in a mission it properly kills you and you have to start from scratch. On top of that before each mission it kills you so if you rage quit you're dead anyway.

Depending on how good Natal really is I think that would make a great way to play without needing the insane controller (although I do really like it).

I see. I was thinking about picking a copy up on Ebay. Looks like "demand" is down and you could get an xbox with the game and controller for less than $200 all in...

[MrChaz]

I see. I was thinking about picking a copy up on Ebay. Looks like "demand" is down and you could get an xbox with the game and controller for less than $200 all in...

That sounds like a great deal to me, if it's a modded console you can copy your saves off to get around the whole killing you thing (this is what I did).

[Squid Division]

Well apparently the MW2 rerelease is ready. I'm all over this, but I'll need to find my joystick.

[Wrestlevania]

Well apparently the MW2 rerelease is ready. I'm all over this, but I'll need to find my joystick.

Well, it sounds like you'll have a little time to find it as the game's not actually available to download by we Great Unwashed just yet.

Nice to read they've finally been able to get it through Microsoft's legal department though.

[Squid Division]

http://mektek.net/projects/mw4/

It has apparently be released. Sweeeeet.

[Sully907]

I'm trying to download it but their proprietary P2P software is slow as heck.

[Gabbo]

I'm trying to download it but their proprietary P2P software is slow as heck.

I can't even get the software to download from the site. Happy they get the green light finally, but goddamn this isn't a good start.

[Squid Division]

I heard opening ports frees up their stupid downloader to download faster than 5 kbps, but I'm not sure I really want to mess with doing that.

[Quanta]

I tried to download the game and the only thing I got was a depression. Why do I have to install a shitty download manager first? Why the shitty download speeds? Why make it complicated? No, thank you.

[Murdoc]

I tried to download the game and the only thing I got was a depression. Why do I have to install a shitty download manager first? Why the shitty download speeds? Why make it complicated?

Because it's free?

I always like the idea of the mechwarrior games, but I spent more time drawing pictures and thinking of cool scenarios with giant robots then playing the games.

Something never really gelled right. I think the scale always felt off(This is the issue with most games in trying to create giant objects, it never feels right in a lot of them)

I'd love to see a warhawk type mp game with mechs and drop ships and such, but again, I think I like the idea more then any execution so far.