Several free-to-play titles, including Champions Online: Free for All and Spiral Knights, are now available as part of a listed “free-to-play” genre. There’s now a concise free-to-play FAQ available on Steam that answers every question you’d have about these games, as well.

For instance, you won’t need to provide any payment upfront in order to play these games. That’s nice enough. But if there are components of the game you wish to pay for, those are easy enough to access, because your Steam Wallet now serves as the funding source for any microtransactions in-game.

If you’re only playing free games, you’ll be a Limited User of the service (basically meaning that you can’t add access any community features), but that’s great for the overall userbase, mostly because that means a lot fewer spammers in the mix.

It’s great that Steam is now supporting what is turning into a rapidly-expanding gaming experience. Maybe more gamers will make the jump to Steam and join the ranks of mouse-and-keyboard gamers. It could happen, right?

Here’s the full list of available titles:

• Alliance of Valiant Arms
• Champions Online: Free for All
• Forsaken World
• Global Agenda: Free Agent
• Spiral Knights

Forsaken World launches two weeks ahead of schedule

Perfect World Entertainment’s new title Forsaken World laumched 2 weeks ahead of schedule on March 9^th. Six servers were available at launch, three of which are strict PvE. “Forsaken World has been our most highly anticipated game, which is evident in the fact that this has been our largest and longest closed beta to date,” said Clifton Chu, Product Manager for Forsaken World. “We would like to thank all of our beta testers in making Forsaken World the most polished and best game possible, which is one of the reasons why we are able to launch two weeks ahead of schedule.”

Would you like some social networking with your MMO?

Ever wanted to combine social networking with MMOs? Well Gamania Digital Entertainment has partnered with GamerDating.com that they will be working on a “revolutionary experience for gamers everywhere.” The new “dating” MMORPG Lucent Heart along with GamerDating.com  will be combining forces in order to help players meet new friends and build relationships. “Lucent Heart offers a low-pressure outlet for couples to go on fun, lighthearted dates together and GamerDating.com offers an essential portal for them to continue interacting which includes profiles, email, blogs – things that players can’t easily and safely exchange within the game.” Sounds a bit creepy to me personally but it may fit with some others.

Tera: now with Big Ass Monsters and Achievements

Tera, the new MMO from En Masse Entertainment, has already gained many players since it’s launch. And now they can all start earning Achievements as well as beat down on Big Ass Monsters (BAMs)! The new BAMs are huge, stronger and “meaner than a dentist with a grudge.” Each BAM will have different phases that it will go through, like a boss fight, as players whittle them down. On top of new monsters, players can now work on earning achievements in every aspect of the game which can earn you some new titles as well as bragging rights.

Pandora Saga gets third-tier jobs, a new level cap and mounted combat

If you’ve been waiting for some new Pandora Saga updates, you’re in luck! As of March 15^th, Atlus Online announced that the level cap is now 50, you can fight while mounted, and there is a new tier for jobs! The third-tier jobs give players the chance to play a total of 28 different classes. But to me the most interesting part is the Mounted combat. Players at level 40 and above may undertake the necessary quest to begin making warhorses. They will also be able to manage their horses by leveling them up and increasing their parameters to best fit their combat needs.

Major update for LOTRO Players

Volume III Book 3: “Echoes of the Dead” was released in March as well and expands upon the main epic storyline. Along with this continuation are five new instances, the Spring Festival (March 22 – April 12) and new skirmishes:

New Instance Clusters

Northcotton Farm – 3-player instance featuring two tiers of difficulty with an optional Challenge Mode quest

The Town of Stoneheight – 3-player instance featuring two tiers of difficulty with an optional Challenge Mode quest

The Lost Temple – 6-player instance featuring two tiers of difficulty with an optional Challenge Mode quest

Glacier Fortress – 6-player instance featuring 2 tiers of difficulty with an optional Challenge Mode quest

Ost Dunhoth – 12-player raid featuring 2 tiers of difficulty with an optional Challenge Mode quest6, two 6-mans and a 12-man raid

• Celebrate the Spring Festival! – The Spring Festival returns to Middle-earth from March 22^nd through April 12^th.  The world will come together in celebration as the free people of Middle-earth enjoy the season with special decorations, festive costumes and special quests including the return of the Hedge Maze!
• New Skirmishes – Three new skirmishes erupt from the depths of Moria! Beyond the barriers of the 21^st Hall, in the knighted gulf of the Deepway, and along the Way of the Smiths, defend the brave dwarves of the Iron Garrison from the hordes of Mazog.

Age of Conan partners with NVIDIA for a graphics boost

NVIDIA and Age of Conan developer Funcom have announced that Funcom’s proprietary Dreamworld 2.5, a leading game engine for massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), is the first game to incorporate server-side NVIDIA® PhysX®. This unique implementation into the Dreamworld engine  results in more than a doubling in the speed-of in-game physics processing vs. traditional client-side PhysX technology, delivering realistic collision effects within the online gaming environments.

“We are proud to have launched  a fully rewritten render engine for ‘Age of Conan’, yielding major performance increase on high-end systems and enabling several new visual features for lower end machines”, said Casias. “We have been collaborating closely with NVIDIA in continuously improving the quality of the Dreamworld Render engine, resulting in fully new effects such as shader-based anti-aliasing techniques now being implemented in‘Age of Conan’. The launch of the new engine is a major milestone towards the high requirements for visual performance in virtual adventures required for ‘The Secret World’.”

Rise of Immortals by Petroglyph begins closed beta on April 5^th

Petroglyph recently announced that closed beta testing for their new free to play online game Rise of Immortals would begin on April 5^th. Rise of Immortals, an online, free-to-play PC game that expands on the hit MOBA genre with new, innovative features, is currently in a friends-and-family beta test after a successful showing at the 2011 Game Developers Conference in early March. With the closed beta test beginning April 5, Petroglyph will expand the player base to an estimated ten thousand new testers. Anyone interested in participating in the closed beta test can register to be a participant at http://www.riseofimmortals.com.

“We had a phenomenal showing at the Game Developers Conference earlier this month,” said Steve Wetherill, executive producer of Rise of Immortals for Petroglyph. “The positive reaction to Rise of Immortals by both press and industry leaders proved to us that there is great deal of interest in new MOBA-style games, particularly those that can expand the market beyond hard-core players. We look forward to the start of the closed beta test, and to using the feedback from players to further enhance the game as we move toward launch.”

In addition, Petroglyph also announced today that all participants in the closed beta test will receive the exclusive “Metal God” skin for the Immortal “Lazarus.” The skin, which includes a new model and textures, will be available exclusively for closed beta testers to enjoy both during beta, and as a complementary add-on to their account at release.

Rift upgraded to 1.1

The first major content update launched in Rift which comes with new loot as well as a 20-player raid instance: River of Souls. But to unlock this raid instance, players will first have to defeat a dynamic worldwide event. Alsbeth the Discordant has seized control of the Soulstream and will soon stalk across Telara, raising her undead warriors and setting off worldwide Death Invasions on an unprecedented scale. Ascended of any level can participate in this conflict for a chance to loot hundreds of new items, including exclusive loot like an undead disguise or even a spectral steed. Once players have driven back the Bride of Regulos and her minions, the River of Souls 20-player raid opens its doors to players willing to take the fight to the Endless Court.

Dungeons & Dragons Online goes global

Turbine announced on April 5^th that DDO would now have service for German and French languages. “We’ve successfully migrated players from the former European service and we are very excited to begin welcoming thousands more to DDO Unlimited,” said Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer of DDO Unlimited.  “This is going to be another outstanding year for the game as we continue to roll out new content and features for our growing legions of players.  We’re very excited to begin engaging directly with German and French speaking players and look forward to introducing them to a truly premium free to play MMORPG.” Bonne chance mes amis/ Viel Glück Freunde!

Ragnarok Online goes free to play

Gravity Interactive recently announced that Ragnarok Online would be going free to play, with an option for a VIP Package that would offer improved experience rates, monster drops, larger storage capacity and access to special NPCs and areas.  Yggdrasil (once a Monthly Subscription based server) and Valkyrie (a free to play server) will both become completely open to account and character creation for players that want to give Ragnarok Online a test drive; with Yggdrasil being the newest server (launched October 2010).  Yggdrasil has the youngest characters and newest economy which makes it the ideal
³fresh-start² server.  You can still purchase a VIP package and play on these servers as well.

Global Agenda: Free Agent also going free to play

Seems we have an outbreak of MMOs going free to play here. Hi-Rez Studios also announced recently that their game Global Agenda: Free Agent will be going free to play. The version 1.4 Free Agent update, expected to go live in mid-April, will support free play across all character classes through level 50.  This update also introduces a new Dome Defense Raid as high-level player content, a CTF- style Mercenary PvP game-mode with pilotable robots, revised skill-trees across all four character classes, and other changes and content.

“Global Agenda has never required a monthly subscription to play and, for a while now, we have offered a generous free trial for the game.” said Todd Harris, Hi-Rez Studios COO.  ”Our experience with the limited free trial has demonstrated to us the great demand among free-to-play gamers for a AAA-quality Shooter MMO like Global Agenda. We believe this latest change will further broaden the game’s popularity and appeal.”

For an optional one-time purchase of $19.99 USD (£13.99 GBP, €15.99 EUR), players may upgrade to Elite Agent status, which will accelerate the rate of earning character levels, gear, and currency and also grant access to premium features such as the login priority, auction house and in-game mail. All players that have previously purchased Global Agenda will be automatically upgraded to Elite Agent status.

Want a summary of the differences between the two accounts? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered:

Free-to-Play

• No Level Restriction
• Ability to earn all of the game’s current items without spending real money.
• Access to all of the game’s current playable content, including:
  • Sonoran Desert Open Zone
  • Special Ops PvE (1- to 4-person Co-Op)
  • 10v10 Mercenary PvP
  • 4v4 Arena PvP
  • Double Agent PvPE
  • 10-person Defense Raids (including the new Dome Defense Mission coming in version 1.4).
  • Agency vs Agency Gameplay (AvA)

Elite Agent – One-time purchase of $19.99 (£13.99 GBP, €15.99 EUR)

• Earn End-of-Mission XP at twice the rate of a Free-to-Play user
• Earn End-of-Mission Credits and Tokens at twice the rate of a Free-Play user
• Earn End-of-Mission Elite Loot upon winning an instanced PvE or PvP match
• Choose which PvP game types you would like to play when queuing for Mercenary PvP.
• Access the Auction House
• Access In-Game Mail
• Less restrictive chat capabilities
• No ads for in-game voice
• Ability to create Agencies
• Higher Login priority

Both Free-to-Play and Elite Agent players can optionally purchase Boosters within the Global Agenda webstore.  For a timed period, Boosters will:

• Double XP, Tokens and Credits earned in Game
• Provide 2,000 tokens a day for free
• Provide an extra end-of-mission Boost Loot drop

Black Prophecy launches in EU, goes into closed beta in NA

The latest title from Reakktor and gamigo games, Black Prophecy recently went live in Europe and also went into closed beta for North America. The game itself features massive space environments, highly customizable characters and some great space battles.

“With the launch of Black Prophecy, the most comprehensive, exciting and ambitious project in the long history of our team is going live. All this is the result of the hard work of an extremely dedicated and talented group of people. The launch of this high-quality free-to-play game proves that we have met the high expectations set for Black Prophecy. We’re looking forward to seeing lots of players in the game and to hearing the feedback from community members that have been with us for years as well as from new fans. We hope players will enjoy the game as much as our team does.” said Kirk Lenke, CEO of Reakktor Media.

I haven’t yet had a chance to play it but from all of the trailers I’ve seen it looks amazing, and I signed up for the beta. Not sure if you want to play? Well check out this trailer they released:

Hi-Rez Studios is also hosting another Global Agenda dev chat using Vivox Voice for Facebook. This event will take place on Wednesday, March 3 at 9pm US Eastern, 6PM US Pacific (02:00 GMT on Thursday, March 4). Hi-Rez will be giving a “State of the Game” address, talk about eventual additions, and respond to questions. They urge everyone to enter the room early, submit questions on the Global Agenda forums, and download the Vivox Voice app here, and join the room here.

Full patch notes below.

Global Agenda 1.1

Global Agenda Patch 1.1 introduces several commonly requested new features, including a friends list, two new Conquest Zones, the ability to repair upgrades, additional player choice when queueing, and more. The patch also fixes a variety of bugs and annoyances. A larger Patch 1.2 is being worked on for later release that will introduce significant additional content to the game.
Scheduled Deployment

• Patch 1.1 is currently scheduled to be deployed on Tuesday, March 2, 2010. The Global Agenda servers are scheduled to be down for the patch deployment between 11 AM and 3 PM US Eastern. (16:00 and 20:00 GMT, 8AM and Noon US Pacific).
• All Conquest/AvA Zones will be closed all day on Tuesday, March 2.  Conquest Zones will re-open on Wednesday, March 3.
• Watch GAServerStatus on Twitter to follow latest status of servers and patch.
• Once the patch is deployed on March 2, you must download the patch of the game client from Steam before you can play the game. This update should occur automatically, but if it doesn’t and you are sure the patch has been deployed, we recommend closing out of Steam entirely, waiting several minutes, then relaunching Steam in order to ensure you get the latest patch.

General Notes Regarding the Public Test Server

• Patch 1.1 went live on the Public Test Server on Tuesday, Feb. 23.
• The Public Test Server should be on and available for login at most times during the day but may be subject to occassional downtime. Follow GATestSvrStatus on Twitter for latest status.
• All players that own Global Agenda should have a “Global Agenda Public Test Client” available to download through the TOOLS menu on Steam. This requires a full download of the game client. (More…).
• Players may login to the Public Test Server using their normal account credentials. If your “Live” password has changed in the last week, your old password may still be in effect on the PTS.
• The test database has been seeded with a copy of the Live environment as of Friday, Feb 19.

New Features

New items and features in this patch include:

• Friends List: A Friends and Ignore list has been added (More…)
• Mission Screen: When joining the Mercenary PvP queue, players have checkboxes to select the Map Types to queue for (Control, Breach, Demolition, Payload, Scramble).
• Mission Screen: When joining a PvE queue, players have the ability to “Only join a balanced team.” If this option is chosen, it may take longer to get a match, but you will be ensured of having one player from each class on your team.
• Upgrades: Upgrades can now be repaired using Repair Kits that can be crafted using blueprints purchased in the Prototyping Center in Dome City.  (More…)
• Crafting: Additional rare and epic blueprint options have been added.
• Crafting: There are now specific uncommon blueprints, so it is no longer necessary to craft random.  Existing random blueprints have been converted to match the new scheme. To accommodate this:
• • All existing uncommon blueprints were removed from the game and your credits have been refunded.
  • There are now separate armor and weapon blueprint vendors in the crafting area. Each vendor sells 42 blueprints that craft a specific item (rather than the random chance at a stat as prior).
  • All upgrades and blueprints have been renamed to make them esier to identify. (Example: No longer do you have to wade through hundreds of Alpha Analysers to find one with a ranged damaged bonus. Now you can search on Ranged Analyser and see all of them with that particular stat).
• Crafting: Item names are now more representative of the enhancements they provide.
• Loot drops: Plates now drop at 2x the previous rate in PvE missions.
• Loot drops: Alarm bots no longer drop loot.
• Conquest: Two new Conquest Zones have been added — Tradewind has times convenient for Oceanic players, and Anvil has a start time convenient to many European players.  (More…)
• Conquest: New tabs have been added to the CONQUEST MAP screen for “Combat Log” and “Alliance”. These allow you to get a fuller picture of the recent activity and current state of a given Zone.
• Conquest: Improved support for the Zone Win Condition has been added.
• Conquest: Equipment brought into an AvA match that is not destroyed by the opposing team is no longer destroyed by the system if your team loses (this would happen a % of the time previously, by design).
• Conquest: If you lose an AvA match, your dropship is now always destroyed.
• Conquest: When a strike-force leader withdraws from a hex, a chat message is now sent to notify the entire strike force.
• Conquest: Multiple maps rotated for each type and level of facility (before there was one map for each facility level). Any given hex with a given facility type will always play the same map.
• VOIP: Players with multiple speaker/microphone devices on their PC, may now choose which devices to use for in-game voice. Visit the SOUND tab on the SETTINGS menu.
• VOIP: Options have been added to disable Instance Voice, Team Voice or all Voice. Visit the SOUND tab on the SETTINGS menu.
• VOIP: A variety of changes intended to improve stability and performance have been implemented.
• Settings: An option to enable mouse smoothing has been enabled. Visit the GENERAL tab on the SETTINGS menu.
• Settings: An option has been added under Video Settings for a “borderless” window. This is most useful for fast alt-tabbing while running at your monitor’s native resolution.
• Abuse Reports: Use chat command /report to report players for suspected cheating, griefing or harrassment. Use form “/report <name> <reason>”. (More…)
• Auction House: Several improvements to searching, filtering and sorting.
• Agency Management: Your Agency’s Message of the Day is displayed in chat when you login to the game, or when an Agency member with permissions modifies it.
• Agency Management: An option exists under SETTINGS | CHAT to be notified in chat each time an Agency member logs logs into or out of the game.
• Agency Management: Level now shows on the Agency screen (for online characters only).
• Agency Directory: The Agency Directory now offers the option to filter by Conquest HQ Zone.
• PVP: No more than 4 players of the same class will be match-made into a mission on the same side.
• PVP: Overtime is now limited to a maximum of 3 minutes. If the attackers do not capture the objective during this time, the Defenders win.
• PVP: The game-type (Breach, Control, etc) is now visible on the loading screen for each PvP map.
• Equip Screen: Improved tooltips for level/skill/seasonal requirements.
• Human Resources: Dye Vendor #3 has gone off strike and is now back at work.
• Website: The MYSTATS section of the website has gone through several upgrades and improvements.
• Miscellaneous: Various map cleanups and improvements.
• Miscellaneous: Various audio/sound effects improvements.
• Miscellaneous: Various animation cleanups and improvements.
• Miscellaneous: Visual elements on combo boxes modified.
• Miscellaneous: Paging support has been improved/added on several screens throughout the game.
• Miscellaneous: F3 now launches the Friends list instead of Network Stats. Use “/stat net” in chat or F8 to show network stats.
• Miscellaneous: The radar is now disabled in Dome City.
• Miscellaneous: You can now rotate your character in the equip screen and vendor preview screen by left-clicking and dragging the mouse (same as character select screen).
• Miscellaneous: /dance will now randomly play one of the games’ several dance-like emotes.

Bug Fixes

• Some crash conditions have been fixed.
• Agency Recruiting screen not updating under some conditions
• Search and filtering on the Agency Directory improved.
• Several fixes to Auction House search
• Several fixes to Strikeforce Inventory management.
• The Agency field now populates on the PvE Matchmaking box (previously blank).
• Condition in which mouse was not properly locked during map load when in windowed mode has been fixed.
• Various spelling failures corrected.
• Death animations have been added to the Think Tank boss.
• The proper key binding now shows on the ESC menu for AGENCY.
• A condition that would cause some clients to lose text chat sporadically has been fixed.
• Agency tax rate no longer displays in chat with lots of digits after the decimal point.
• Fixed bug in which sniper projectile was not visible at long distances.
• Damage messages now show correctly when damaged by an AvA deployable.
• A fix to HQ relocation logic that allowed HQ’s to be misplaced under some conditions when automatically moved by the system upon HQ loss.

Device Changes

• The Drone Duration and Super Drones skills under the Robotics tree now function as intended.
• Neutralize Wave: The base recharge time on all Neutralize Wave ranks is now 60 seconds (times had been inconsistent across ranks).
• Damage on the AvA Mini-nuke has been increased to ensure it fully wipes out AvA Turrets within its range.
• AvA Turret deploy time increased from 5 to 20.
• AvA Turret collision improved
• Armored Beacon I Class 1 Ore Requirement reduced from 25 to 20
• Production Cost reduced to 350 on all Tech II Buildings, and Missile Complex, making them take less time to manufacture.
• Research time on Tech II Mine and Tech II Factory Blueprints reduced to 330.
• Resource requirement for Tech II Foundation blueprint reduced to 3000 Class 1 Ore, 300 Class 2 Ore.
• Ununpentum requirement for Tech II Mine, Factory and Lab Blueprint reduced to 90.
• Android Squad: Reduced Class 1 Ore requirement. Reduced production time. Reduced research cost.

Venom Bomb II no longer injures teammates (bug fix)

If you’ve pre-purchased the game (and done so before January 28), you can reserve your in-game name and receive special headflair. Additional details about this event can be found here.

In addition, if you happen to want to play a little bit before the official Start Date, you can do so! The Early Start Event allows players to reach Level 10 and form agencies before anyone else! All players also receive free access to Global Agenda: Conquest until March 3, 2010.

Hi-Rez has a piece of advice for gamers who preordered through Steam: You need to link their LIVE ACCOUNT on the Global Agenda website prior to end of day January 31 in order to receive your flair.

Global Agenda launch trailer:

SIEGE is very much an industry event. It is put on every year by the Georgia Game Developers Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the growth and development of the electronic and video gaming businesses and professionals in the state. Local studios such as Hi-Rez, CCP/White Wolf, Silly Monkey and Tripwire attended this year, as did representatives from the several local colleges and universities which offer game design or related industry courses.

The Volunteer Ringleader

Over a 48 hour period, beginning Friday afternoon and ending Sunday afternoon, several panels and round-tables take place, focusing on specific career tracks. There were panels for designers and programmers, audio, art, serious games (IE: educational or military games) and business. Attendance at these panels is high, as there are students, recent grads, and people already in the industry packing the rooms to learn and discuss how they can further themselves and how their field can progress through these types of public forums.

Saturday’s activities also included a College & Career Fair. One of the ballrooms was set aside for recruiters from a few of the local studios and colleges to speak with students and recent graduates. There was also an open portfolio review and two special panels on Saturday for students to attend.

HiRez Studios brought Global Agenda for attendees to try out

The Expo Hall featured Hi-Rez and their “spy-fi” MMO Global Agenda, which is currently in beta. I spent a lot of time ogling the graphics and watching others play each of the four classes in PvE mode (Player vs Environment). Each class is available to be played as male or female and are customizable. If they had brought a 360 controller along I would have given it a shot myself, but my keyboard/mouse skills are awful. Global Agenda was definitely the busiest booth in the room.

Some students from ACAD were in attendance and encouraging networking and social interaction with the game Suits. The game is based off of the work of Richard Bartle and blends social aspects with classic dungeon mechanics of role playing games. A lot of people attending SIEGE were taking part. I was mostly in it for the badges (which were shiny buttons). The person who turned in the most sets of cards, coins or badges in the various classes won prizes which the students provided.

The Suits Booth

This was my first year attending SIEGE, and I have to say that I was so surprised with the turn out and sense of community I felt all around me. I am definitely going to continue attending this great convention and I look forward to checking out each of the studios in the area. The Georgia Game Developers truly know the meaning and importance of community.

After some hectic confusion in the morning with media passes, I was well on my way to experiencing GameX. GameX is the three-day convention in Philadelphia, PA that offers everything geek culture: video games galore, Steam Punk, robotics, comics, cosplay, and more. It’s similar to a convention like PAX, but on a lesser scale. I’ll be first to admit that the east coast gets the raw end of the deal on these types of events.

Since it was Friday, and the kiddies were in school and the parents at work, it was definitely a slow day. Friday in the middle of the day just doesn’t seem like an optimal day/time for a gaming convention. Due to the way the event was scheduled, there was not much going on Friday anyway. So this gave me a great chance to take a look at everything and really take it all in. I was able to meet a couple of my favorite celebrities like Brian O’Halloran (Dante from Clerks), and three of The Guild members Robin Thorsen (Clara), Jeff Lewis (Vork), and Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo). I did forget to bring cash, sadly, and I have to wait for an autograph until Saturday or Sunday.

I sampled some unreleased games too! I got to play an upcoming MMO by Hi-Rez Studios called Global Agenda, EA’s Dante’s Inferno, and SEGA’s Bayonetta. I will be doing previews of Dante’s Inferno and Bayonetta once I spend more time with them. The highlight of the day was The Guild panel for me. There, fans of The Guild got to watch two episodes from season 2 and ask their questions afterwards. People asked questions about their experiences on The Guild sets, their likes and dislikes about acting on the show, and similar questions. There weren’t many people for the panel, but the people that were there were huge fans. Everyone in the audience and The Guild were laughing during the Q&A as the guildies were making jokes and being very conversational and friendly with the crowd. I’m disappointed in myself because I forgot to record the Q&A part so I would actually remember specifics.

I’m excited for the rest of the weekend because I’ll be attending some of the seminars and sessions GameX put together, playing more new games, as well as hopefully spend some time interviewing a few people. Stay tuned!

The main game will be $49.99 and will include the following:

• Creation of up to eight different agent characters
• Character visual customization
• Access to all combat weapons and devices
• Cooperative Player vs. Environment missions against the Commonwealth NPC faction, AI-controlled enemies, and Boss Fights
• Matchmade Player vs. Player missions with five different game types and over 20 unique maps
• Character progression through 30 levels
• Achievement and unlocks system for individual characters
• Player Inventory for suits, flair, dyes, upgrades, and loot
• Virtual Reality practice fighting area
• Vendors and accumulation of in-game currency
• Text chat with multiple channels
• Built in voice chat during missions
• Ability to join an established player-created agency
• All play is on our single-shard, hosted server environment to ensure convenient and consistent gaming experience.
• Ability to sign up for one free month of subscription at registration (credit card required, can be canceled at any time)

For the additional Global Agenda: Conquest, subscribers have 3 payment options: $12.99/mo on a month to month basis, $11.49/mo for 3 months, and $9.99/mo for 6 months of game time. Conquest is optional and adds the following to Global Agenda:

• Access to Alliance vs. Alliance (AvA) World Domination gameplay

• Auction House with bidding and buyouts
• Mail System
• Upgrade Text and Voice chat to support multiple channels and strike teams
• Player Crafting with blueprints
• Additional character customization options including elite character suits, dye colors, and seasonal flair
• Ongoing Co-Op content at max character level
• Ongoing AvA content, multiplayer PvP content, and new social areas

This public showing of the game, that is available for hands-on preview throughout the expo, includes a first glimpse into the Global Agenda backstory via the “Inception Mission” that follows character creation, a chance to explore “Dome City”, a social hub area set within the Sonoran Desert, new PvE mission content against Commonwealth androids and bosses, and new PvP areas within arctic and jungle settings. The skill-trees for each of Global Agenda’s four agent character classes were also debuted for players to experiment with.

For those unable to see the game in person, screenshots featuring the content unveiled within the Global Agenda booth today have been released. Hi-Rez Studios is still accepting applications toward Global Agenda’s Closed Beta at www.globalagendagame.com.