MechWarrior fans have been hoping, praying and anticipating a new game in the famed franchise ever since the last expansion pack for MechWarrior 4 was released in 2002. Now, seven years later, their prayers have been answered. IGN has the very first details about MechWarrior reboot that is currently in production at Smith and Tinker and Piranha games. Yes, that's right, reboot. Instead of this game becoming MechWarrior 5, the developers have decided to completely re-launch the entire franchise, calling this new title MechWarrior.

We spoke to the two main players involved with MechWarrior. First there's Jordan Weisman, co-founder of Smith and Tinker and co-founder of FASA, the company that created the BattleTech universe that MechWarrior is based upon. Second is Russ Bullock, president of Piranha Games. (For an in-depth discussion of the reboot and how it fits in the franchise, check out our exclusive interview.)

You may remember the MechWarrior games published by Activision, MicroProse, and Microsoft. The latter actually acquired FASA Interactive in the 1990s only to shutter the studio in 2007. However, the software giant retained the rights to the MechWarrior franchise. After leaving Microsoft, Weisman engaged in various pursuits before founding Smith and Tinker in 2007. That same year, Smith and Tinker acquired the rights to many FASA properties from Microsoft, including MechWarrior.

This new MechWarrior is set on the planet Deshler in the year 3015, and places players in the role of Adrian Khol, a wayward nobleman who prefers partying and shirking responsibility over his training and studies. However, when House Kurita launches a massive invasion to conquer Deshler, resulting in the death of his entire family, Khol discovers a purpose to fight for.

There are ambitious plans for this new MechWarrior. The original MechWarrior games were limited by technology; now with modern computing power, the developers are hoping to really capture the sense that you're piloting a giant, walking war machine in the middle of an incredibly dynamic battlefield. While the two companies are still talking to potential publishers that could determine the final production budget, Weisman and Bullock explained that they plan to have a full single-player campaign, as well as support for a four-player co-op campaign, and a full multiplayer suite.

One of the key features is a sense of information warfare, using everything from unmanned drones surveying the battlefield from above to light scout mechs relaying information to teammates. Weisman and Bullock both explained how they want every class of mech to really matter in this game; it's not just a race to the heaviest, most powerful mechs. The designers want to reward you for picking a mech and sticking with it -- you will gain experience and become better at piloting your chosen mech, and that will translate into better accuracy and damage with weapon systems. This way, a player could specialize in a light mech throughout the entire game if they choose. It also means there are multiple playthroughs with different mechs. The developers also said the game will change based on your chosen mech class.

While the developers didn't go into how many mechs will make the game, based on the video trailer and the discussions, we know of at least four. There's the Jenner (light class), both the Warhammer and the Rifleman(heavy class), and an Atlas Prime, a feared assault-class mech.

The game is being developed for the PC and the Xbox 360, though there isn't any idea of a release date yet, since the game is still in the middle of development and the companies are still talking to publishers. For more information, read the interview with Weisman and Bullock. We also dissect the trailer in a Rewind Theater. Check out the gallery for the very first screens of the game anywhere. Finally, keep checking back with us as we keep a very close eye on this exciting new project.

Teaser Trailer: http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/18954/mech-warrior-project/videos/mechwarrior_trl_phoenix_70709.html
screens : http://media.pc.ign.com/media/018/018954/imgs_1.html

http://pc.ign.com/articles/100/1002275p1.html

This isn't much, but the Piranha Games website lists this on the front page as coming soon. At least they are admiting to working on it... just a few more years now.

this is what they have on the mechwarrior page of their site...

=======================
Not Your Father’s MechWarrior

Smith and Tinker and Piranha Games are developing a full reboot of the acclaimed MechWarrior franchise for Xbox 360 and PC.
Fresh off our work with Luxoflux-Activision on Transformers2 for Xbox 360 and PS3, Piranha Games is partnering with Jordan Weismann, creator of the BattleTech universe, to develop the all new MechWarrior game. Set in the traditional BattleTech world, the new game is paying homage to 25 years of history and fan dedication with a complete reboot of the MechWarrior series.

The new MechWarrior is set on the planet Deshler in the year 3015 and places you in the role of Adrian Khol, a wayward nobleman who prefers partying and shirking responsibility over his training and studies. However, when House Kurita launches a massive invasion to conquer Deshler, resulting in the death of his entire family, Khol discovers a purpose to fight for.

Gamers will pilot a deadly BattleMech and use information warfare to dominate a dynamic-destructive urban battlefield. The game features include classic and new mechs from the BattleTech universe with persistent character development and plans for a single player campaign, as well as, co-op, and multiplayer gameplay.

“There are ambitious plans for this new MechWarrior”, says Russ Bullock, President of Piranha Games. “We want to capture the sense that you're piloting a giant, walking war machine in the middle of an incredibly dynamic battlefield”.

“Nothing is ever as satisfying as unleashing the kind of firepower that only a mech contains and watching it ravage your target” says Jordan Weisman of Smith & Tinker and co-founder of the BattleTech / MechWarrior.

MechWarrior is being developed for the PC and the Xbox 360.

MEH... that is no biggie. There was a misunderstanding across the board in the last few months pertaining to the unseen mechs. They said they would be available again in classic Battletech as well as in the new mech game, but changed that a few months later.

All they lose are a couple of mechs from the game.. or rather a few models. They can still have a Warhammer, it just has to be the reseen model and not the original. The good news is that the didn't sell anything with those mechs in it. No harm no foul. They just can't use those images any more.

Looks like this ne MW game is gonna take longer than expected, if they get it out at all
Was browsing the MWLL forums, to see what news was out about it, when I stumbled across this link. MW5 in legal trouble?
Seems someone is not happy about some aspects of the new MW game.

tell ya what sal, i think we patched things up pretty good before vengeance ended, if ya remember i made a decent wrecking ball and a hell of a sniper.

i cant drop the EC tags ive never been anything but EC (save a breif stint as regular garrison BH), however u need or want another gun on the field id march with ya.

i expect im gonna be horrendously ugly rusty to start but my claws should sharpen fast enough.

lemme know.

oh yeah this is gonna be exciting to be slugging it out again, i havent played a mechwarrior game in atleast 5 years. only reason i know about this was because i wanted to find an old EC website if one happend to still exist on some server someplace so i could get background graphics for a myspace page.

ended up finding a page that made refferance to both DDM and EC. turns out it was tane talking about DDMs beginnings. So i dropped in, signed up and gave the short version of it. forming off the Black Hawks disbanding when MrPrez went MIA.

then i tracked tane to here and saw this thread and wow cool, im gonna get another chance to jockey a thor.

what ya mean about "lucky were gettinng first person" ? i didn't play mech assault.
[ah, read up on it. hahahaha power ups! omg sounds like mario bros.]

Hey dude. Long time, no see.

I think third person we can count on. We're lucky they are even talking about giving us first person as an option after mechassault.

WoW, now dont that look fun salamander ?

i just hope theres a 3rd person view.
time to think about buying a new joystick and getting in some practice time in.

Phin and Lex are here, Crunk. I'm all set.

I allready have my tech crews working on prepping my mech for battle again.
Unfortunately its been out of comission for quite some time and it will take some time before its back in working order. I also have to upgrade some of the internal systems as they are somewhat out of date.
I have been whipping the to work harder, but they seem to not take it seriously enough.
If a good crew Just were not so hard to find I would have them all replaced in a day.
Hope to be back in the cockpit soon though.

This game looks awsome and if the teaser video is any indication the graphics looks just marvelous.
Havent gotten around to read up on everything just yet. Got alot of things on my mind keeping me reather preoccupied these days.

*Suddenly a loud crash sounds, and DL shouting and yelling cures and other profanities*

Sorry guys, gonna have to get back to you later, seems like my crew is trying to break my mech rather than fix it. Damn incompetent fools, a 5 year old could have done a better job than these guys.

*Transmission clicks off*

DDM_Wing0 wrote (View Post): › Chka chamona eh hee hee!

get it MJ! Hurry up and grab a 12yo before they are all gone.