Here’s the 2nd in our “Virtual Booth Tour” series: MAG (click here for the guided tour of God of War III).
You’ve probably seen some quick demonstrations of MAG, but that’s not enough time to do this complex game justice. In this video, Zipper Interactive designer Ben Jones takes us through the flow of a massive 256-player battle.
Apologies for the audio pops – it was quite loud on the show floor!
We’ll have more video booth tours coming this week!
76 Comments
Nice job there Jeff. For the future (E32010?:), could you zoom in to the game screen after the introduction of the developer/presenter?
It’s always good to see developers and would be better if we can see the more detail with their voice.
Again, good job.
We weren\’t shooting \’off-screens\’ as they\’re called (or allowing anyone else to do so), as they don\’t give a solid representation of the game.
I\’m sure we\’ll have some good, HD video capture for you soon.
i didnt see the video yet but im sure MAG is gonna be good..although it wouldve been GREAT in 3rd person view.Zipper dissapointed me with this surprise.i guess im going to just have to WAIT till Slant6 stops LYING about thier due dates and gets thier stuff together and put out some DLC.I understand that patients is a virtue but this is ridiculous! but yeah im not so xcited about MAG.:/
Liking it but still haven’t been able to find a high quality video for this game.
WOW so realistic. You’re telling me that you can cause static in other opponents mic to mess with their communication in real life!? MY GO THIS IS A DAY ONE PURCHASE!
can’t wait for this game!
MAG me up baby!
Hey Jeff I was wandering if we could get a second live blog chat with MAG developers.. I just felt we didn’t cover the whole game in 1 hour.
Thanks
That seems very likely, yes.
Jeff, thanks for posting this.
Have you played the game yet?
What I really would like to know is… Do you really feel like you are playing with over 200 other players? Or does it just seem like you playing with or against other platoons/teams of 8 or 16 players?
I am really interested in this game, but I am not convinced yet that you will truly feel the intensity of a 256 player battle
Then again, if there is one dev team that can pull that off, I truly believe that ZIPPER is the one.
Let us know what your thoughts are
Thanks
SPARDA
So, we know that to minimize lag, basically you recieve the most information about only the players closest to you. What happens when everyone, all 255 other people, are close to you? Does that happen at the end of every battle when the 4 platoons converge on the center?
Hello Jeff,
I have one question. Considering MAG will have a beta at some point in time, I am asking if this is a possibility. Like the Uncharted 2 Beta, will there be a Qore correspondance for the beta?
I can understand if you can not answer my question if you are not allowed to and/or it will not be one of those Qore deals. I am still eager to try this out whether in Beta or the full release!
This looks intense and can’t wait to see more!
Too soon to talk beta logisitics. All will be announced on the blog, of course (like Uncharted 2 beta, etc)
such a new experience I may just have to get it because of that fact alone. Granted it’s an FPS, but there is so much strategy involved. Just wow. FPS evolved.
M.A.G. is really looking hot and from what he is talking about this is the most tactical game that going to come out. Putting static in other people mics is great.
Hey Jeff, will there be a bundle that is gonna have mics with the game cause everyone is really gonna have to have mics in this to really work as a team?
Their has to be a better way to relay info to the player besides all the HUD on the screen . I can barley see the environment because of all the HUD thats in the way . Zipper please give the option to go HUDLESS ! Its just to much of it in the way . It take away from the real war experience. MAG looks like a great game but without the ability to loose at least some of the HUD its just too much for my eyes to handle.
this game looks awesome. i can’t wait until it comes out. hopefully theres gonna be a huge gamer community for this game.
jeff what other game modes are their in the game is their team death match?
It\’s not TDM, there are a number of \”modes\” going on throughout the battle – some of which are similar to TDM, CTF, Capture and Hold, and more. But those objectives are up to your commanders. The game won\’t end cos one team or another hit a certain kill count.
I still haven’t seen anything on PSN to have a good look… any chance of getting this as a PSN download?
What gives Jeff? Where is WKC? You said that you will cover WKC at E3 and will give us a release date, but so far nothing on the PSblog involving WKC. If you are not going to post anything involving WKC, then can you at least reply to my post and tell us when the game is coming out? It isn’t that hard Jeff. If you do not know the release date, then that Ok, no hard feelings.
Awesome, Mag looks sweet.
Jeff, I thought Evolution was going to have the new tracks for Motorstorm Pacific Rift at E3? Any pics or videos?
Thanks,
the blog is awesome.
I’d be way more interested if it were a 3rd person like a lot of people thought it would be. That was a good question there @ 11 would like to see the answer.
ok im not gettin M.W.2
I hope there is a fast buggy in this game :P
Looks amazing. I hope people will actually work together like it’s proposed.
Question though: Will the OIC be on the field at all? Or does he permanently hover over the field in HUD? And for other COs, do they have a limited number of respawns? That could give a nice aspect for the teams to target officers like in a real battle.
Good questions for the team (who I\’ll be bringing back onto the blog soon). Far as I know, OIC is on the field, though you\’d likely want them in an armored vehicle for safety most of the time.
Looks way to complicated. Where do friends come to play? i don’t want to play with a bunch of random people. And come on, 1st person view?? whats up with that. Would be a lot better if they stuck with 3rd. Thats what zipper was made famous for. Not like all the other shooters which are 1st person.
How does playing wth your friends in this game work? Ranking and weapons seem to sound and look fine.
Can’t wait for this game!!!! It looks amazing especially is it doesn’t lag
nice vid, cant wait :D
that’s jjust too small.. Lookin a screen in a small video on my 17″ laptop.. no way, can’t see $hit
This game just keeps looking better and better to me.
just what i’ve always wanted
Holy shooooot. Reminds me of BF2. Maybe we can get some keyboard and mouse support? (:
Really looking forward to this game.
Q for Jeff:
Can we see gameplay soon in the PSStore?
Incredible ambition for a game, great so see in action. Looks every bit the game we were promised at E3 ’08
2Jeff: Than you for giving us this new video of MAG. It would have been even better if it had been done in a quieter environment.
Can you ask Zipper these questions:
1) Will MAG have Six-axis motion control with adjustable sensitivity (like Warhak) for vehicles?
2) Will it have a spectator mode?
3) Will we be able to capture screenshots or video from within the game (like Battlefield Bad Company)?
this game should have been a tps. also in many respects i doubt this game will not be successful due to all the COD kiddies out there who hate doing objective based gameplay.
just look at the uncharted 2 beta…no one likes to play the superior game mode plunder, everyone votes for death match
also its NEEDS a splitscreen coop mode although that looks impossible at this point.
i look forward to a proper warhawk sequel much more than this.
This seems complicated…
Thanks Jeff:)
I hope we can have some solid footage of this epic battle to understand/feel the large scale war.
IMHO, most of Killzone 2 videos failed to deliver the feel of the crazy intense battle it delivers. (e.g. like fusing C4 with 4 spawn points going in the same room).
Without some understanding of MAG’s epicness through good videos, people will pass I am afraid.
Will there be a beta for this? Id love to try that.
This looks like it’s coming along nicely. One thing though, the HUD takes up too much of the screen. Maybe some people don’t mind it, and I understand you need to see some of this info, but I hope they give you options to remove pieces of the HUD or even all of it. Too much HUD hurts the immersion of the game.
Other than that looks great so far.
Great! Can”t Wait!
What exactly are those white uhh. semi circles in the middle of the screen?
At first i thought they meant you were being shot, but now I see this isn’t true.
Lose the HUD Zipper, I want to feel like im IN the game !!!!!
Sorry…BATTELFIELD/END WAR MIX..I’ll pass. They should have stuck to what sells….SOCOM
@ 43 its impossible to lose a hud in an objective based game like this, with constantly changing missions.
Also, where the hell are we going to get some quality direct feed footage of this game?
The first ingame trailer of the game was horrible, and now all the gameplay footage is off screen…Do they want to make their game look bad?
Looks really suuuuuuweet!
Oh man I think this is a one day buy for me. It looks just like Battlefield 2 except way bigger and a lot more deep.
Hey bomber here long time reader first time comment lol id just like to say personally i cant wait for this game. ive been waiting on a game that would truly feel like a real war and this might be it. also cant wait on any info on the beta of this id love to test it and leave my inpute thanks.
alright question. he mentioned that winning the shadow war had benifits? so does that mean that one day i log in ill have for example extra armor, higher ammo capacity ect. and then if i log in the next day i might not have that depending on my whole factions progress?
this looks awesome.
Looking forward for it!!!
Jeff, did you have your hands-on MAG?
How did it feel playing with other 255 people?
I didn\’t get to go hands on at E3 (too busy shooting interviews), but hopefully will once back in the office.