A modern first-person shooter without a slow-burning, arsenal-amassing progression system is like a clown without big, poofy pants. The absence is glaringly noticeable, and then someone gets arrested for public indecency. PlanetSide 2‘s equivalent of that is the cert system, but in a game that’s just as much an MMO as it is a shooter, that poses some continent-sized content issues. This isn’t Call of Duty. There isn’t a new treadmill to hop onto every year. SOE, then, wants to get off the oh-so-trendy gear-and-guns train entirely with additional, entirely separate means of progression.

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If I didn’t know any better, I’d say SOE wanted to keep PlanetSide 2 all to itself. That would explain why the technicolor dream MMOFPS has been the stuff of mid (and even some high) range rigs’ nightmares since day one. But then, nobody likes the idea of being desperately poor and> all alone forever, so I’m guessing SOE just made a gigantic boo-boo on its priority list. But now, finally, it’s managed to set all of that right with a huge optimization patch. If your machine choked, sputtered, and excused itself from the table (or life) after trying a bite of PlanetSide 2, now might be the time to give it another go.

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… but you should watch it, anyway. In my very casual time with Planetside 2, I haven’t ran into that many egregious technical troubles. I think I must be in the minority, or perhaps even the only person who hasn’t had his game hitch or crash or exhibit any slowdown, because SOE has (virtually) downed tools on a lot of content updates to focus on making the game run better. They’re also documenting this process for the fans in least visually exciting gaming video series, ever>. You know how seriously they’re taking this when they have a game with Planetside 2′s visual oomph but put out a video of people talking in a room. Operation: Make Faster Game’s (O:MFG) first video is below. (more…)

2013 was the beginning of the end for PlanetSide 2. Before then, it was everything we’d dreamed of: a constant, continual laser meatgrind. It never ended, and we never wanted it to. You ever found a purpose in life? Ours was to spot and kill anyone not in purple. It was glorious. War squared. Then the Player Studio opened up, enabling the players to redesign game elements and sell them in the store. It was the helmets that became our undoing. Ever tried to shoot a man in the face when he’s wearing a grey helmet with a love heart on it? It changes you, man. We laid down arms. We’d all take long walks together. Vanu, NC, even those grumpy Terrans, gathering and watching the sun dip over the edge of Auraxis. That was the end of war. (more…)

Planetside 2 has three giant battle-continents so far: vanilla continent, frosted-icing continent, and biscuit continent. Soon, though, they’re going to change things up a bit for some jungle/swamp continent. That one’s called Hossin, and SOE have been teasing its flooded, leafy wonders for some time now. It looks like this might play a little differently to the standard flavours, as you can see in a video below. (What’s with the crazy laser canopies?)

Will it have snakes? Apparently not. That seems like a shame. Everyone likes snakes. (more…)

And we want everyone to be there. Planetside 2 is free, so there’s no excuse. The honour of our internet is at stake: we will be taking on the PC Gamer outfit in a battle to the warpgate. Forum details over here. We need as many folks online as possible. You will need Mumble installed and set up to get in on the action.

The news that Planetside 2 was about to introduce Implants slid past me, like a stealthy and handsome Vanu sniper. The time-limited buffs would have slipped into a new loadout slot, enabling non-class based powers for a brief time. They could be bought with both Station Cash and certs, which is where the problem lies. Lets take a look at one of the powers that SOE had planned to implement, that anyone could buy: “Enhanced Targeting – Enables an enhanced targeting HUD that displays the health of any spotted enemy that you target; it also increases the range of the IFF system from 8 meters to 25 meters”. Other buffs included auto-spotting enemies that damage you, and being hidden from enemy sensors. WHAT? People can buy that? Luckily, that was the same reaction that a lot of the community had, and Sony heard their outcries. The Implants have been yoinked from the next update. (more…)

The evil empire has risen once again, and must be crushed under the magnificence of our all-encompassing purpleness! Yes, Chris from PC Gamer threw down the gauntlet and told me to “bring it on” and “put my Station cash where my air-filter DLC is”. Something like that, anyway. The point is: you are all contractually obligated to appear in Planetside 2 on the 21st of July. Since it’s free to play, you have no excuse. No, not even that.

Same drill as usual: it’ll be from 7pm UK on Miller. To the forums!

Auraxis has fallen into night. We are Vanu (All hail Vanu), a small group of us are purplishly sneaking through the bracken. The New Conglomerate base is quiet, with all the meatbags snoring arrogantly, believing in their dominance. Never believe the map! Us Vanu, handsomest and best of all the races and cloaked in the night’s purple hue, approach. The quiet is deafening, the darkness near complete. Only the glow of war on the horizon flickers. We freeze: I spy a lone guard patrolling on the edge of the Amp station. The fools! I can destroy their defenses with a well-placed bullet. I steady my aim and fire.

FASHOOOOM! KRSHHHHHHHH! WHEEEEEEEEE! SPLOK!

And that’s why I shouldn’t be allowed to buy Planetside 2‘s firework gun. (more…)

Like Snake Island, Pulsing Wart Peninsula, and Angry Infected Monkey Lake, I can’t help but feel that PlanetSide 2′s upcoming Battle Islands have had their fate decided for them. You know what you’re getting into when you visit Snake Island, and the same goes for the newest chunks of Auraxis. The Battle Islands have twin purposes: giving the game smaller maps that are separated from the larger continents for e-sports purposes, for events and the like, but for the live game they’ll also act as mid-point maps that link the continents together. The name that’s been given to this first lovely, foresty chunk of land: Nexus. Want to see it in action? (more…)