Blue Mars beta and launch dates disclosed

[Mr. Hrm]

... Blue Mars will enter beta testing at the turn of the year, in January 2009.

The first-time developer expects this to last for around three months, before the full game launches in April. And perhaps there will be time for some tea and biscuits if all goes well.

Blue Mars has attracted attention for its impressive CryENGINE2-powered visuals - the same software at the heart of Crysis.

Blue Mars gets beta, launch dates News // MMO /// Eurogamer - Games Reviews, News and More

[Tenebrous]

Originally Posted by Mr. Hrm

Blue Mars gets beta, launch dates News // MMO /// Eurogamer - Games Reviews, News and More

Obligatory but useless comment:
An MMO based on CryEngine 2? How many people will be able to play this? 3?

In all seriousness, I hope they toned it down a little. My desktop can't even run Crysis on max settings and I consider it to be a decent gaming machine. If they're looking to break into the MMO market, the trade-off between visuals for performance is one most people seem to be willing to make if the game is good. I haven't heard much about it, and the screenshots I saw didn't seem to give a lot of information about the game, but it does seem to sound like an alternative version of Sims or Second Life (as mentioned by Eurogamer). With this target audience, they seriously need to consider whether they will be able to run the game well - though I suppose there may not be as big of a demand for a higher framerate as there is in other genres.

Time will tell how it turns out. It's way too early to know...

[Mr. Hrm]

When I initially heard that this was being targeted at the MMO audience, such as the Second Life userbase and the use of this advanced engine which does have a high end, bottom level, my eyebrow raised.

Even if they use 512 textures, low polygon counts and other low end graphics, the core engine itself is hefty on machines.

MMOs are usually aimed for maximum scalability for both grandmother's machine and the high end gaming machines.

I suppose we will see. I wish them luck.