Jeff Buckland reports:
''One of the most popular yet least understood online PC games has been Starsiege: Tribes, a game that was intended by now-dead developers Dynamix and publisher Sierra to be an offshoot of a more popular mech-based action game. Tribes wound up with all the popularity, though, as its fast-paced gameplay and open maps made for excellent futuristic fighting with plenty of depth. But the biggest thing was the ability to "ski", to take advantage of a physics bug in the game to use the jetpacks that all players had and a bit of skill to glide down slopes and fly high into the air at a high speed in order to win. While the two sequels to Tribes had much of the same elements, the community simply didn't take to them at all and the third game, not made by the original developers, wound up being a resounding failure.
Now, some of the original guys who made Tribes - whose studio, Dynamix, was closed by Sierra after Tribes 2 sold poorly - are using their new casual gaming site, InstantAction.com, to launch a new game in the style of Tribes. GarageGames' Fallen Empire: Legions is a pretty shameless ripoff, but hey, these are some of the guys that made the originals, so it's quite alright. We got a chance to play some of Fallen Empire during its ongoing beta test, and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with what they have so far.''
Back in 1998, Dynamix released one of the most influential games for the PC, Starsiege: Tribes. The game was followed by Tribes 2 in 2002, then Tribes: Vengeance in 2004. While Vengeance was the last game in the Tribes franchise, it wasn't necessarily the last Tribes-like game from the developers, and it might not be the last Tribes game we see.
Holy smokes, I have'nt played Tribes 2 in a Loooooooooooong time. I think I still have that game around somewhere, and the OST it came with. I don't know if it would run (right) on my current computer.
Great game, but I don't see another one coming out.
I hope so.
Of course, people will call it a Halo clone. Lol.
Halo owes a LOT to Tribes.
oh wow Tribes that takes me back. man i hope they bring this franchise back, Tribes was awesome.
Must admit I haven't been following garage games at all so I didn't know the details about Legions and Play Tribes.
Tribes 2 was not nearly as bad as some of the reception it got from hardcore fans, it was much better than vengeance. As a old frequent forum member at tribalwar I had the chance to see some of the devs talking about things.
They all seemed content with making these casual, low cost games. I don't particularly have an interest in playing them. This could perhaps mark a turnaround. With things like Steam and with their engine and knowledge AND the Tribes IP it does sound likely that maybe we will see a digital full game release from them.
I hope it's a true Tribes 3. That would make my decade.
InstantAction.com games are now playable on the Mac (as an open beta for the moment). Mac users can sign up and play the spiritual successor to Tribes, Fallen Empire: Legions. System requirements call for Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later. InstantAction runs on Intel Macs only, and requires Safari 3 or Firefox 2. Some games require an Nvidia GeForce 7 series, Radeon x1900 series or better.
GameCritics.com says: Imagine a world where if you wanted to play Call of Duty 4 or World of Warcraft, you didn't need to own an Xbox 360 or you didn't need to buy a PC game and install it on your desktop and worry about DRM rights afterwards. For gamers who grew up on Nintendo this may sound like hard thing to grasp, but that's what Shana Fisher of InstantAction was proposing in her keynote speech yesterday at Web 2.0 Expo at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City."
I could see this happening.
I mean, it's already proven that there is a huge, huge market for games like these. Just look at, say, Runescape--that game runs from within a browser and has millions of players. The market seems to be converging towards simpler, more accessible games, so the web browser game market could explode soon.
god i hope not.. i like to have a physical games console, and physical games. call me weird.