By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), General Manager

Wargaming is back at E3 yet again with one of the most massive and impressive booths of any free to play publisher. This year is particularly exciting though as not only did I go hands-on with the long awaited World of Tanks Blitz, but live gameplay of World of Warships was finally demonstrated right before our eyes in a private demo.

I’ll get the news on World of Tanks Blitz out of the way because there isn’t much to be said, but the little that is to be said is pretty damn exciting. It’s in soft launch in the Nordic EU now and queue times are popping like pancake bubbles on a hot griddle. If all goes according to plan, we should see it launching stateside and to the wider EU area by June 26^th. The game plays just like World of Tanks and the controls are quite satisfying. All your turning, camera adjustment, scope zoom, ammo hotkey, and UI information is there in a nice compact touch format that’s doesn’t require you to have an eight inch thumb to operate.  I actually performed better on the iPad than I tend to on the actual PC edition despite not even owning an iPad.

Players can expect all the platoon features to be in-game at launch alongside 96 tanks split between German, Russian, and US factions. There is also an astounding 8 maps already implemented to keep gameplay fresh. The economy is completely separated from the core PC and console titles as well, so Blitz can be treated as a fresh start for those interested in building platoons out on equal footing with their rivals.

One last piece of news that’s interesting to note is matches fought in the Nordic region thus far have averaged a ridiculous 17 minutes. Talk about long for a game designed for mobile gameplay. However with how popular the soft launch has been, it seems pretty clear that the playerbase doesn’t mind so much. Perhaps this is the beginning of a new scary world where we all laze on couches playing on iPad instead of slouched over a PC!

World of Warships

Sometimes I swear Wargaming labels the state of their titles as being in alpha just to infuriate potential competitors in the military strategic shooter market. World of Warships looked fantastic in the pre-prepared demo at E3 last year and was even mightier in this year’s live alpha demo. Rendering quality seems to have been the major focus for improvement over the past year, as now you can witness in real-time as your battleships’ hundreds of guns rotate in perfect synchronization with your actual aim. And when they all fire at once, it’s an impressive sight only further accentuated by the propellers that reflect your nautical velocity and the damage physics that can disable guns visually.  Granted one most players will quickly take for granted, but the level of detail for the sake of detail put into each ship model warrants appropriate awe.

What players will likely give appreciation for long after launch is the work that has been put into game on attack trajectory tracking. Unlike the more instantaneous gratification of World of Tanks and Warplanes, torpedoes and missiles fired in World of Warships often travel for five plus seconds before impacting the ocean or intended vessel. Alongside the grid segregation of the map, I had a bit of nostalgia of the Battleship boardgame watching as missiles landed near misses on the broadside of hard turning ships.

The weight of the vessels clearly has received some tweaking as well, as we witnessed just how devastating a chunk of ice could be to the Yamamoto. Our driver was so focused on landing a perfect line of torpedo spread that he never saw the miniature iceberg until it was too late. Once stuck against the sheet of ice, it took roughly a full minute to reverse and turn the ship back into the open seas. A lifetime in any Wargaming title and certain death were it not for the heavy support the driver was offered by his teammates over the duration of the demo.

Speaking of the torpedoes, a new feature demonstrated was the ability to set the spread of a barrage of torpedoes as either wide or narrow. High risk high reward is the name of the game, as a full line or torpedoes can greatly reduce a large ship’s buoyancy, a rating separate from armor that can result in disabling components of a ship or even sinking it outright, or sink a lighter cruiser or destroyer outright. Though the speed of destroyers makes landing a perfect line of torpedoes highly unlikely, making a wide spread a more assured way to at least deal some damage, which under the combined effort of another couple ships can result in a sunken vessel.

Another element that separates gameplay from the basis of World of Tanks is that the weapons are no longer on a universal cooldown. Instead you can fire torpedoes while waiting for your rockets to reload, or any other type of weapon they manage to think of in the meantime. These powerful weapons are packing unlimited ammo in the current build as well, as the developers assured me that matches never last long enough to necessitate an ammo system that made sense.

Furthermore, we got a better idea of how the carrier class of ship will operate. Sitting ducks was the exact term used. But now we know they are packing four variations of planes to give tactical players the tools they need to turn the tide of battle. First up are speedy and hard to take out scouts that will be the eyes in the sky affording your team the tactical info they need to land the first missiles. It’s your little sister sneaking a peak at the opponent’s side of the Battleship board all over again! Next is your bombers ideal for disabling opponent’s weaponry to leave them wounded and vulnerable for your allies to finish off. If you want to play truly aggressive you can send in the heavier torpedo planes to sink your unready opponents. However if your allies are getting picked apart by enemy carriers, you can summon dogfighters to begin a battle for aerial superiority. These planes are all AI controlled and complete their missions via rally point markers on the map so you are still able to focus on keeping alive long enough for your aerial friends to finish the job.

To my great surprise, Wargaming expects beta testing to arrive later this year. They’ve confirmed US and Japanese boats will be ready for it, though once they’re happy with the current balance between the four archetypes, they plan to start building out plenty of other nations. I even managed to squeeze a hint out of them that they are looking at building out a crew system akin to World of Tanks, though it’s still very much an idea stuck in the think tank, with no concrete details confirmed as of yet.

Wargaming seems poised to have another stellar year, and I can’t wait to join my tank loving friends at last on the open seas rendition where I belong.

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), General Manager

Going into E3 this year, there was only two things I knew for sure about World of Speed. The game is beautifully realistic and free. Certainly a good start, but not enough to draw a profitable crowd on its own in the incredibly competitive and small genre on PC racing games. But it had one major factor in its favor. PC racing games typically have been pay to play or free to play, but built on monetization systems that seem archaic versus the level being offered by MMORPG counterparts. Getting nickelled and dimed for every car you buy and every repair job you need has just been par for the course on all but a few titles, and the games offering somewhat fair systems were often limited either graphically or in scope of features. Well if World of Speed delivers on its promises, it’s posed to be the perfect racing game for the modern generation of free to play PC titles.

First up, you’ve got real cars racing around real locations with various times of day and weather patterns. Now before I scare any casuals away, I want to point out that the controls in this game are a somewhere in the middle of arcady and simulator, with a slightly higher lean towards arcady. That means you can whip around a corner at full speed, slam into the wall, and not be so wrecked that you can’t finish the race. Sure your car will look ugly as hell for the rest of the race, and you’ll be paying a heavier repair cost to get your car back in tip top shape before the next race, but you won’t just explode in a fiery crash.

This is important since World of Speed has plans for introducing racing elements outside of the ‘you’re either first or you’re last’ mentality that most titles are stuck in. Rather they’re going outside the box and introducing some MMO quest elements to the game in the form of challenges. Your challenge might be to finish first, but you may also find yourself taking out mailboxes, catching a perfect draft, or hitting above a set high speed, or successfully drifting around a certain number of turns. This takes on an even greater MMO feel when you introduce the racing team system into the mix.

See, locations in World of Speed are up for grabs in some kind of racing gang war. As such there will be team versus team competitive events that will pit cars in a four versus four battle to accomplish the maximum point value to conquer an area. And while finishing as quickly as you can is a major deciding factor in these battles, in close contests the team that succeeds in completing the most challenges may tip the scales in their favor even if one of their vehicles wasn’t first across the finish line. As an added competitive twist, each player will be able to track the challenges of rival vehicles and may attempt to slam into them to throw off their rhythm to prevent their successes. Defensive as well as offensive driving becomes the name of the game and suiting up your racing team with various roles adds to the MMO element.

For example, say you are trying to build out an ideal team for a challenge. You know the event will take place on a rainy course with plenty of turns. If the team is worth their salt, they should have a car in the garage that specializes in control over top speed to adjust accordingly to the weather. Or at the last have some part swaps on hand (in other words their raid gear) to load out their vehicle with more appropriate stats to the race. If there is a drifting challenge involved, one car may want to go extra heavy into the grip factor on their vehicle to avoid spinning out in the process. Another car might want to be equipped with some nitrous boosters to have a shot at staying ahead of the pack to bring in first place. A third driver may want to pick up an American muscle car with high weight and sturdy handling to act as a wrecking ball whenever enemy drivers aim to complete challenges. The last driver likely would be fitted with decent acceleration so they can dodge and weave with a rival car to complete their drafting challenge.

The nice part about this part system is that, unlike most racing games that force players to rush to the most expensive parts and look like everyone else to stay competitive, World of Speed offers a wide variety of itemization offering boons and banes to ensure there are multiple valid choices. Just like a tank building damage or defense in an MMO, your choice of parts will help define who you are. Meanwhile you can paint up your vehicle with extreme detail, and even include your team logo or establish a team color scheme to build a reputation. That way when your rivals see your team flag flying all over the track in regions you have under your control, they will feel the tinge of intimidation from going up against you. Or perhaps the motivation to improve and take you out!

With dozens upon dozens of tracks to master, each with a variety of racing conditions and hidden shortcuts to find, one of the largest roster of cars ever to grace a PC racing title, and enough cross-over elements from the MMORPG genre, World of Speed is sure to turn some heads. And best of all, it sounds like closed beta is right around the next bend.