Firefall Announced, Beta Sign-Up Now Live

Red 5 Studios just announced Firefall, their upcoming MMO shooter at PAX 2010. Having a team that was directly involved in such projects as World of Warcraft and Tribes, Red 5 Studios is a force to be reckoned with. Firefall is a “team-based action shooter that thrusts hundreds of players together into a lush, dynamic open world combining intense competitive multiplayer and large-scale cooperative gameplay,” we’re told. The game is coming late 2011 and will operate under a F2P model.

Here’s the full story:

Seattle, WA, (September 3, 2010) – Today, at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), Red 5 Studios® announced Firefall, the studio’s first title brought to you by the team lead of World of Warcraft and the lead designer of Tribes. Firefall is a team-based action shooter that thrusts hundreds of players together into a lush, dynamic open world combining intense competitive multiplayer and large-scale cooperative gameplay. Firefall is due for release near the end of 2011.

“When I founded Red 5, I knew I wanted to do something different than anything I’d done before.” says CEO and Chief Creative Officer Mark Kern, who led the development for World of Warcraft. “I wanted to take the best of what I learned making online games and bring that to skill-based shooters.” Scott Youngblood, former lead designer behind groundbreaking multiplayer shooter Tribes, couldn’t agree more. “When Mark brought me on to help design Firefall, it was obvious to me that he was dedicated to building something different. With Firefall, I’m finally able to make the game of my dreams.”

Firefall paints a beautifully devastating vision of Earth, 200 years in the future. The promise of a new clean energy source, Crystite, leads to the disastrous arrival of the Melding, a hostile energy storm that engulfs most of our home planet. Earth’s surviving humans must band together in the eye of the Melding storm to save our species. Unfortunately, a new danger emerges as a bloodthirsty race known as The Chosen threatens humanity’s survival.

Players will protect the Earth through the use of high-tech battleframes, which can be customized extensively to unlock the power of Firefall’s class-based combat. Battleframes allow players to specialize in their favorite style of play, while giving them the flexibility to swap and trade their way to new configurations on-the-fly. Whether you enjoy supporting your team, aggressively assaulting an enemy position, or sneaking behind enemy lines, there is a battleframe for you.

Firefall will feature a free-to-play model that allows players to experience every detail of the vibrant world without having to pay a penny. Updates to the game, dynamic world events, and other content will also be offered without a price tag, while a marketplace will allow fans to purchase optional enhancements.

Red 5 Studios is currently accepting applications for the beta program of Firefall. For more information, please visit Firefall’s official web site at http://www.firefallthegame.com.

To find out more about Firefall and sign up for the beta program (tentatively scheduled for Q1 2011), visit http://www.firefallthegame.com.