The cinematic intro to multiplayer shooter Firefall has just been released. And unlike previous pieces from the game, there’s no shooting in it whatsoever.
You may have noticed a few websites around the place pledge to “shut down” on January 18 in protest against the awful Stop Online Piracy Act. That’s all well and good, but now Red 5 Studios, the developers behind the upcoming Firefall, are doing it as well. Thing s, they’re shutting down their video game.
To help shill their upcoming Firefall, Red 5 Studios is employing two models to play the part of the game’s characters at press events and shows. One is cosplayer Crystal Graziano, who Red 5 is also sponsoring for a full year. The other is not a cosplayer. He’s an actor and… a US gladiator.
Regular readers of our Fancy Pants cosplay feature here on Kotaku will be familiar with the phenomenal work of Crystal Graziano. From Metal Gear to Valkyria Chronicles, she’s one of the most recognisable and successful video game cosplayers around.
Firefall is an upcoming co-op shooter for the PC, made by Red 5 Studios, which is helmed by the guy who was team lead on World of Warcraft. So it should know what it’s doing when it comes to online gaming.
It certainly looks like it does, as this gameplay trailer is a blast. If you’ve ever liked Starship Troopers and/or Tribes, there should be something to like in all this.
It should be out sometime towards the end of the year.
Red 5 Studios latest project is Firefall, a competitive shooter with free-to-play MMO elements. Considering the Red 5 team is made up of hordes of ex-Blizzard employees, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about this upcoming title. In this developer diary, members of the team take the time to answer some community questions about the game – addressing servers, competitive gaming and a number of other topics.
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For a game that the developer will be handing out for free, Firefall looks impressively promising. The large scale team-based online shooter – don’t call it an MMO – is certainly pretty from way up here.
While a Red 5 Studios press release claims the studio is only restructuring, sources close to the studio paint a much bleaker picture, complete with forced and voluntary resignations, strange declarations and a new majority shareholder in China’s The9.
