Vogster Entertainment News

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:27:00 +0000

Be the Editor of the Sunrise City Times

Spread the word and become a part of the lore of Sunrise City by writing for the Sunrise City Tmes! Think you've got what it takes to be a newshound? Submit your articles here in one of the following categories: Fan Fiction, Guides, Player or Gang Profiles, or News (such as tournament results, Gang Wars outcomes, match results, etc.)

Have fun, get in character, and get your name in (digital) print!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:51:00 +0000

Player Interview - Patron Saint of Sunrise City

On July 1 the Patron Saint competition was announced, challenging the top gangsters of Sunrise City to build an empire. Using the Patronage feature on our website (under account page) and recruitment inside of the game, players fought to build the biggest crew and win a $200 cash prize. After over a month of campaigning a true Patron Saint emerged, claiming 177 associates to win the title and the cash.

With me today is the winner of the competition, BombaFat! Congrats on winning!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

My name is Malte and I live Germany. I am 21 years old and am currently studying at a technical university."Flail" is my roommate and a great friend at my university.

Oh boy… I remember getting killed by Flail many times before in-game. Guess he was just too good for me! I am curious, what degree are you pursuing?

I want to become an Energy Engineer… a pretty new type of degree. When I get my degree I will be able to help develop new energy sources so we do not have to rely on oil so much or at the least help lower the cost of these energy sources.

If you can help lower the price of gas I will be very grateful! Anyways, how did you get into CrimeCraft?

I played another MMO with Flail until we got bored of it. He found out about CrimeCraft a month before me and introduced me to the game on April 20 2010.

Wow you remember the exact date; I can’t even remember my girlfriend’s birthday! So, what motivated you to take part in the Patron Saint competition?

I was sad that I wasn’t able to participate in the SCIFF (Sunrise City Indie Film Fest) because I did not have time. Additionally I like to help new players. I recognized that not many players know about the "patronage system" and so I thought I would have a good chance.

Looks like you were right! I know you don’t want to give away your strategy, but how did you recruit nearly 200 associates? Did you start becoming players ‘patron’ before the competition started?

I already had some crew members … real life friends of mine. My strategy was asking first my in game friends and gang members to join my crew. After that I began running between the city's districts asking a lot of people to join me. I focused on offering help to new players and answered their questions at all times.

I did face some troubles though. Some players did not speak English that well or at all. To solve this problem I used a translation tool. It was still hard to explain to them how to join my crew. Translating whole sentences doesn’t work so well all the time. I tried my best though.

We created the patronage system in part to reward players who help others. Have you received a lot of gold bars as a result?

Yeah, I was asked a lot of "how to ..." questions from all my crew members and answered them all … a lot of them even started using the patronage system after I explained it to them. Considering the size of my crew you can imagine this took a lot of time. However I already received about 250 gold bars. That and the prize, definitely made up for my troubles :P.

You have some good karma! Thanks for your time, anything that you wanted to share before we wrap things up?

I want to thank everybody who supported me, every new friend I got through this competition and every loyal friend who became a part of my crew.

On behalf of the Vogster team, congrats and thanks for the interview! Good luck to you and enjoy the prize money!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:39:00 +0000

Dev In-Game Q&A with Players Coming

Hey guys,

Just wanted to give you all a heads up that the Vogster dev team will be in-game soon to answer your questions!

We haven't got a date set yet, but I feel pretty comfortable saying that we'll get this Q&A going next week. Keep watching the annoucements for more details!

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:25:00 +0000

Voting is Now Open in the Billboard Contest Finals

Hey guys,

We're opening the voting in the Billboard Contest Finals today! The top three finalists in the Sunrise City promotion category are from Cloudy Eyes, Digital Phantom and Mithik!

View their entries here then go to the poll section to vote!

Cloudy Eyes:

Digital Phantom:

Mithik - Hotel Paradise

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:22:00 +0000

Hot Fix Coming Based on Player Feedback

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to pop in and let you know that we’ve been listening to what you’ve all been saying about the latest update and we are making some adjustments based on your feedback.

We’re currently working on a hot fix for early September that will adjust a few of the features that have received the most feedback.

We will be changing the Sniper Rifle zoom feature back to the way it was before the update and we also will make an adjustment to the Cabrese semi-auto Assault Rifle to increase its rate of fire.

For Chemists who are still hanging onto Probability and Quality ingredients, we will be replacing those with useful ingredients in the hot fix. Please note that any ingredients in the mail system will not be replaced, they need to be in a bank or backpack. We’re also looking into ways to compensate Chemists who lost recipes in their inventory based on rarity.

Finally, we will be optimizing item durability to fix issues with some weapons that are losing it way too quickly.

Many other issues that have been raised are on our watch list, so we are keeping a close eye on your comments and game play for other changes that need to be made. We’re also working very hard to deal with some of the lag issues players are seeing. The hot fix that was released today addressed lobby lag issues, but instance lagging is difficult to reproduce and that makes it difficult to fix. We are making progress and we will keep working on the issue until it is fixed.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:35:00 +0000

MMORPG.com Debuts Gibleting Video

Hey guys,

MMORPG.com has an exclusive look at the Total Character Destruction in this video that posted today! Go check out some of the explosive dismemberments and leave us some comment love if you like what you see!

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:25:00 +0000

Super Cash Tournament coming Saturday

This Saturday it's time for another Super Cash Tournament, so start your prep work now!

Winning team members will each receive $100 real world cash, payable at the winner’s option through gold bars, PayPal or an online Visa gift card.

Form your teams and get ready to kill the competition in the Super Cash Tournament at 6 p.m. server time Saturday, August 28.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:40:00 +0000

New Weapons, Abilities Coming in August Update

Hey guys,

As you know if you’ve been paying attention, we’ve got another update coming soon that will continue the improvements we’ve been making to our game since launch.

While I think we all agree that Sunrise City is in a much better place now than when we launched (and certainly our population growth says we’re in a much better place!), there’s still room to improve. These changes are essential to continue fixing and improving the game and setting it up for future growth and expansion. I think you’ll all appreciate the new weapons, abilities, customization options and changes to the current abilities.

Today I’m going to highlight some of the major changes we’re making to CrimeCraft in the next update.

New Weapons, Clothes and Appearance Options

We are adding 14 new guns to the game through the loot table and the Black Market. These include assault rifles, LMGs, sniper rifles and SMGs. New clothes also are being added to the Black Market as well as appearance options including new faces, skin tones, hair styles, beards and makeup.

Ability Additions and Changes

We’ve added three new abilities and reworked many of the existing abilities, so we will be rolling back everyone’s Skill Points at the update launch so you can try out the new additions.

The new abilities include:

Electric Shield – An ability that stuns enemies after melee attacks
Corrosion Grenade – An ability that gives the character a grenade that creates a cloud that reduces damage resistance and absorption to all enemies in the radius
Collector – Characters get a chance to spawn a +25 hit point MedKit out of each enemy they kill

Ability changes include:

Desensitization – Increased positive effect
Enhanced Metabolism – Increased positive effect
Enhanced Endurance – Decreased stamina reduction and increased sprint speed
Enhanced Recovery – Increased positive effect
PSP Rounds – Character’s resistances increase as soon as a player uses the ability, starting animation is two times faster and ability can be stopped at will by pressing any move button
Incendiary Rounds – Ammo loading animation removed, so the ability is now instant
Charge Compression – Added possibility to throw two grenades without cooldown
Fragmentation Grenade – Throw speed increased, lighting changed
Molotov [filtered]tail – Throw speed increased, enemies who pass through flame take damage
C4 – Now thrown like a grenade and sticks on collision
NBR Grenade – Throw speed increased, activates when it hits the ground, heals enemies and allies, increased healing effect, duration reduced
Liquid Armor – Added visual effect to character torso, character speed decreased
Blast Helmet – Added visual effect to character head, character speed decreased
Camouflage Sensor Array – Effective radius increased
Explosion Dampening Field – Now thrown like a grenade
Heartbeat Detector – Duration increased

Abilities removed include Flash Grenade, Sensitization, SatCom.

Ability Level Gating

Along with the changes to the abilities themselves, we also are adding level gates. At low levels, users will have access to a small number of abilities; at mid levels, about half of the abilities; and high level users have access to all abilities.

This change adds depth to the RPG side of the game as players progress through the levels and unlock additional play options and streamlines game play for new players. Note that to balance the gameplay we have adjusted the PvP handicapping to account for the difference in abilities.

Itemization

We are expanding the Black Market and adding a number of new items to the Gold Bar store, including the new customization options and weapons I mentioned earlier. That’s not all that’s coming to the Black Market, however. We’re adding several new game features including Profiles. Profiles are additional paper dolls for a character that can be outfitted with different clothes, boosts, abilities and weapons for different combat situations. Each time they die in a match, a player with multiple profiles can choose which one to spawn. For example, if your enemies are using extensive resists to heavy damage, you may choose to respawn with your grenade launcher build.

Chemist Profession Improvement

We have made many major changes to the Chemist profession to make it a more viable crafting tree. If you are a Chemist, when you log in after the update you will find that all of your recipes have been removed and that the money you spent learning those recipes has been refunded to your account. The Chemist trainers will be selling the new recipes at launch so Chemists can learn and use the new recipes right away.

PVE Instance Creation

To encourage cooperative game play in PvE we are making the following change: In this next update, instances can’t be created if there are open matches with open slots. We are making this change because of our population growth. There is an upper limit to the number of instances that can be run per server, and having 12 PVE instances with one user is not efficient for our server usage and performance.

Durability Adjustment

You’re going to notice that your weapons and clothes will lose durability faster after this next update goes live. The goal is to increase the turn-over on gun use in order to further spark growth in the economy and encourage players to explore more options in firepower and crafting.

These aren’t all the changes coming in the next update but they are the major changes. We’re tuning combat performance for game play balance, removing the ability to reload while sprinting or rolling and we’re also adding a Stamina Meter to the combat UI. Finally, we’ve added some explosive new death animations that we think everyone will enjoy!

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:32:00 +0000

New Screens Sneak Peek on Facebook

Check out the CrimeCraft Facebook page for a sneak peek at two screens from the upcoming update! Come back to CrimeCraft.com next week for an update preview.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:58:00 +0000

Suspensions, Tournaments and Fair Play

There’s been some buzz about recent suspensions, and I wanted to step in and clear things up for everyone.

We have run quite a few high-profile events lately with substantial prizes, and it is our responsibility to ensure a level playing field for all of our users in those events.

When we find that players are colluding during a tournament to throw matches and ensure that other teams advance, we are forced to take severe action. We are committed to fair play within the confines of the game rules. That’s not to say that gang vs. gang intrigue and subversion doesn’t have a place in CrimeCraft. It most certainly does, but that place is not in skill-based tournaments.

The players that were banned were cheating other members of the community out of their fair chance to win a tournament, and we as a company will not allow that in our game.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:59:00 +0000

Ten Ton Hammer Takes Another Look at CrimeCraft

Hey guys,

Go check out the hands-on look at CrimeCraft over at Ten Ton Hammer:

"During my tour of the game we ran several scenarios, most of which were PvE based and showed off the speed and power of the combat system well. After being abused for a couple matches I rebound my hotkeys, got some good advice and started feeling less the hunted and more like the hunter."

We also gave them a first look at some of the planned item shop expansions with some information I know you'll all be interested to read!

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:57:00 +0000

Paint the Town in the Billboard Contest

Get your crayons and finger paints out, it’s time for another contest! We want you to design some killer billboards for Sunrise City.

Each billboard must fit into one of three categories

• Gang Recruitment and Promotion – Show everyone why your gang is the best in Sunrise City.
• Individual Promotion – Get your name up in lights across town and let everyone know you’re the best killer in town, or promote your crafting. Stroke your ego any way you want.
• Sunrise City Promotion – Design a billboard for any of the businesses in town or the Municipality.

Billboards must be created in one of the following sizes:

• 320x512
• 256x128

We’ll select the top entries in each category and open a poll for the community to vote for the top three. The first place winner in each category will win $50 and their billboard will go into the Sunrise City billboard rotation for one month.

Second place receives $25 plus their ad goes in the Sunrise City billboard rotation for one month.

Third place gets their ad in the billboard rotation for one month.

Post your entries in this thread. Please note, entries do not have to be created using crayons or finger paints.

See the official contest rules here.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:53:00 +0000

Patron Saint Contest Winners Announced

The people have voted and the Patron Saint of Sunrise City has been chosen! BombaFat built a Crew of 177 Associates to claim the title and the $200 prize money.

Rounding out the top five Saints were, in order, Alannah85, Smuggy, xnighthawkx and jasonsdragon77.

Congratulations to BombaFat and all the rest of the Saints of Sunrise City!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:14:00 +0000

Lag and the CrimeCraft Player Base

Hey guys,

There has been a lot of community talk about lag hacks both in game and here on the forums.

I want to assure everyone that we at Vogster take the lag issue very seriously and we will find a solution.

First of all, it is important to understand that players cannot gain an advantage from intentional lagging in CrimeCraft. CrimeCraft has been optimized to accommodate pings up to 300ms because we have players from around the world. When you see lag in game, this is largely due to your own connection. To a player in Kazakhstan with a ping of 250ms, American players with a ping of 100-150ms will appear to lag slightly. This can lead to game play that looks like cheating. This is, unfortunately, still a fact of life in online games with a global player base.

We’ve recently seen a large growth spurt in several global regions. We are currently examining options for adding local servers for those players, but we are also trying to find a solution that would allow everyone to keep playing together no matter where they are.

While we are looking at options to improve server performance, it’s possible that we will go to a solution where players with extremely high ping will be auto-kicked from matches. This high ping can be caused, in some cases, by player interference, but usually it is caused by connection issues. These players will have to wait for regional servers to be installed.

We will work to address this as quickly as possible in and will keep you informed.

Whatever route we go, we will let you know in advance of making any change that affects your game play.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:39:00 +0000

Interview with SCIFF Winner Dzordzi

In early June CrimeCraft opened up submissions for the first Sunrise City Indie Film Fest, leaving the creative direction up to the gangster. After the three week submission period, three of the movies stood out because of their polish and creative craft. These videos are available for streaming at ww.youtube.com/CrimeCraft. The final decision was left up to public vote, and after tallying the results Sunrise of Crime emerged the winner.

Hello, my name is James and I am the marketing assistant for Vogster Entertainment. With me today is the winner of the Sunrise City Indie Film Fest, Tomek 'Tommyz' Jancarz, who is known in game as Dzordzi, Dzordzzi, and Dzordz! Congrats on winning! I would like ask you some questions about your winning entry.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Tomek Jancarz, but my friends call me Tommy or Dzordzzi. I'm eighteen years old and I live in Poland. I like online shooting games, especially CrimeCraft! I only started playing a few months ago but have really had a lot of fun. Of course I also enjoy activities outside of house, like hanging out with my friends or playing a game of football.

I'm curious, how did you get the nickname Dzordzzi?
Long story short, "Dzordzzi" came from mixes of other character nicknames from games I've previously played. When you pronounce my nickname in polish it sounds like Georgie.

What inspired you to create “Sunrise of Crime”?
I enjoy making videos from games I like to play. The idea to make a CrimeCraft movie was born a long time ago. When the movie contest was announced, I knew I was going to make something for it. I really wanted to show off this great game and the wonderful gang/players I play with everyday, so that all became a major part of my video.

How did you get into video editing? How long have you been playing CrimeCraft?
I've seen a lot of in-game movies, so frag (gameplay) movies made by other players inspired me to make my own. I took my first steps in basic film programs. Over time I moved on to more advanced ones. My knowledge of moviemaking is growing which made making this film more enjoyable, but I still have much to learn.

Did you think that you had a winner when you were done with the film?
Of course I didn't think that. I was worried that I didn't put everything I wanted inside it... I felt like there wasn't enough time to edit and correct the footage. I know it's a decent film but it doesn't show my skills with both the game and movie making. I hope to make a new movie when I have the time.

Thanks for your time, anything that you wanted to share before we wrap things up?
Thanks to all who voted for me, CrimeCraft, Focus Team gang and all of the community. Hope to see more events like this in the future and always glad for any competition.
Tomek Jancarz: Tomek "Tommyz" Jancarz aka Dzordzi

On behalf of the Vogster team, congrats and thanks for the interview! Good luck to you and enjoy the prize money!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:45:00 +0000

And the SCIFF Winner is ...

The Sunrise City Academy of Fine Arts has taken a vote and we have a clear winner!

TommyZ, coming in first with more than 50 percent of the total vote has been named the Movie Mogul of Sunrise City and been awarded a $200 prize for his entry, Sunrise of Crime.

Congratulations are also in order for Rekas and his entry, The Murder King, placing second, and Phukka's Behind Those Gates, placing third.

Look for an interview with TommyZ coming soon!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:00:00 +0000

SCIFF Voting Ends Today

Today is your last chance to vote for your favorite video in the Sunrise City Indie Film Fest contest. We'll announce the winner tomorrow! Vote in the poll on the community page and let us know which video you want to win!

The nominees are:

Sunrise of Crime - Tommyz

The Murder King - Rekas and the Watchmen

Behind Those Gates - Phukka

You can watch all three videos at the CrimeCraft YouTube Channel.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:36:00 +0000

Can You be the Patron Saint of Sunrise City?

All good crime lords build their empires on the backs of their hardworking Associates and Prospects. Do you have what it takes to build an empire and claim a $200 cash prize?
Using the Patronage feature on the accounts page of the website, build the biggest crew by July 31, 2010 and you’ll be named the Patron Saint of Sunrise City and win the cash! Recruit inside the game by stealing Crew from other players or think big and recruit new players to come in and join the fight. You can use html code from you’re My Crew page to add a link to your signature on CrimeCraft.com (use the edit signature button through the forums) or on external forums. The link will direct the user to create an account with you automatically assigned as their patron.
On July 31 we’ll take a full measure of all the Crews in Sunrise City and find out who is the true Patron Saint. By the way, you won’t just get fat cash for winning, you’ll also get the in-game Patron Saint title, proving to everyone that your empire is unmatched. Remember that as long as you are another player’s assigned Patron you get a 10% kick-back on all their GB and Membership purchases and 1% from each of their Associate’s purchases. Get the word out. Build an empire. Play for free.
Get busy on the recruiting front, the clock is already ticking down.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:07:00 +0000

Vote for Your Favorite Film Fest Entry

We've narrowed down the Sunrise City Indie Film Fest entries to three and now it's time to let your voice be heard! Vote in the poll on the community page and let us know which video you want to win!

The finalists are:

Sunrise of Crime - Tommyz

The Murder King - Rekas and the Watchmen

Behind Those Gates - Phukka

You can watch all three videos at the CrimeCraft YouTube Channel.

Vote now to pick the winner!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:40:00 +0000

Take Our Nightclub Survey

Hey guys,

As you know we're always looking for ways to improve the features in CrimeCraft, and here's a chance for you to help us out. Take our Nightclub Survey now and give us your feedback on what you want to see implemented!

Your opinion matters, so vote today!

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:52:00 +0000

Updated Newcomers Guide In-Game and on Wiki

Hey Guys,

Check out the updated Newcomers Guide in-game through the Sunrise City Times (available at any newspaper box) or on the CrimeCraft Wiki.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:38:00 +0000

CrimeCraft Named Top 10 by SpawnPoint

Hey guys,

SpawnPoint.com has made their list of the top 10 Free to Play MMOs and CrimeCraft has made the cut! Check out the full list here and help get the word out about CrimeCraft.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:43:00 +0000

Super Cash Tournament set for Saturday

This Saturday we're hosting another Super Cash Tournament, so now is the time to get ready for the frantic action!

Winning team members will each receive $100 real world cash, payable at the winner’s option through gold bars, PayPal or a Visa gift card.

Get your teams together and be ready to kill the competition in the Super Cash Tournament at 6 p.m. server time Saturday, June 26.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:33:00 +0000

Twitter Tuesdays, Facebook Fridays are here

Hey Guys,

If you're not following us on Twitter and a fan on Facebook, update your social networks now to get in on Twitter Tuesdays and Facebook Fridays. From trivia and hot opinions to code grabs and retweets, this is your chance to win Gold Bars, Premium Boosts and more.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:50:00 +0000

Film Fest Submissions End Tonight

Hey guys,

If you're planning to enter the Sunrise City Indie Film Fest, make sure you post your entries here by 11:59 p.m. PST tonight (6:59 a.m. server time). There's a $200 cash prize up for grabs for the winner!

Remember, entries cannot feature copyrighted material including music, so if you have that in your video, take it out and resubmit while there's still time!

Check out the full rules here.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:42:00 +0000

Server Stability Fix is Top Priority

Hey guys,

I just wanted to give you all a quick update on our server stability issues.

As you can imagine, no one is more concerned about this than we are. We’ve had far too many crashes since the last update and we’ve got everyone on the team with even an ounce of aptitude for server issues tasked with finding a fix. This is our No. 1 priority by a mile.

Now, all that said, there’s a silver lining behind the clouds of server crashes that bodes well for CrimeCraft once we get the problem fixed. That silver lining is that our community of players is growing every day, and while that is great news, we know it won’t do us any good in the long run if we can’t fix the crashes.

To do that, we have been studying logs extensively and we discovered that a recent change in the way the game queries the database is part of the problem. We tested the change before going live, but the problems don’t show up until the server hits a critical mass of players, a situation we are working to emulate on our test servers.

We are testing fixes and we have the ability to deploy solutions quickly, so don’t be surprised to see the game in maintenance occasionally as we work for a permanent answer.

Once we have a fix, we will be compensating all of our affected users for the inconvenience caused by the instability.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:55:00 +0000

June Update Focusing on Player Requests, Bugs

Hey guys,

Over the past few months we’ve added some big features to CrimeCraft, from the 32-player map Delosville and Clubs to Free to Play and tournaments. We’ve also made a lot of smaller changes to address issues brought up by our users and make CrimeCraft more fun for all of our players.

Today, I can tell you that we’ve got an update in the works that surpasses all of the others in scope and content, but it’s a long-term project that won’t likely make it to your PCs until this fall. In the meantime, this next update is all about you. We are focusing in hard on player requests and bug fixes for June.

The first change I want to tell you about is a request that came directly from our most dedicated tournament players. For the Daily and Weekly Tournaments, teams will now be placed in brackets by the highest level team member instead of the average level of the team. This means a level 50 can still team with three level 30s, but they will be placed in Division 1.

Here are some of the other changes and fixes you can expect to see in the June update:

UI/Game Lag improvements – We are optimizing the servers to eliminate lag when searching the auction house, using the mail system and when the crafting tab is open
Gang Production – Gang production time is being reduced and rewards increased
Game Freezes – Game freezes during crafting fixed
Mini-Map Errors – Blacked out Mini-Maps fixed

There’s also a number of smaller fixes going in that we’ll detail in the patch notes.

Another popular request we’ve received is for customizable matches with player-controlled limits on weapons or the number of players. We are working on a design for this, but it will not be implemented in time for the June update. At this time there are server load issues that make implementation less than optimal, but the team is considering a number of options to give players more control over their matches.

Private matches and spectator mode also are popular requests, but these are server resource hogs that also will not be implemented in the short term. We have placed these features on our “to do” list, but at this time we can’t commit to a date for implementation.

The changes that are targeted for June are essential to the overall health and stability of CrimeCraft, but trust me when I say that we’ve got some exciting features coming later this summer and into the fall that are going to expand the story of Sunrise City and let you write your name in blood across the skyline! Metaphorically speaking, because if it was literal that would be a little gross.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:19:00 +0000

Daily Cash Tourneys Start Monday

Hey guys,

Starting Monday, June 7, we'll be running cash tournaments at 6 p.m. server time Monday-Saturday through June 19. Winners will get $10 in Gold Bars, PayPal or a Visa online gift card.

Sharpen your knives, calibrate those sights and get ready to win!

--KevinB

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:53:11 +0000

Robocalypse � Beaver Defense is now available on WiiWare�

The eagerly awaited madcap tower defense game Robocalypse � Beaver Defense is now available for download on WiiWare� in North and South America and comes to Europe on Friday, June 4. Robocalypse � Beaver Defense features the trademark humor of the franchise thanks to writers Jay Lender (of Spongebob Squarepants� fame) and Micah Wright, but also takes full advantage of the Wii� system�s unique control scheme. Download Robocalypse � Beaver Defense for 600 points today.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:48:00 +0000

Open Submissions for Sunrise City Indie Film Fest

CrimeCraft is filled with cinematic moments, from sunrise over city hall to the gently wafting toxic clouds around the Isopach Oil platform. Think you have what it takes to direct the action in a gangster opus? Here’s your chance to prove your skills behind the camera in the first Sunrise City Indie Film Fest.

Starting today, you’ve got three weeks to produce and direct your film. Post your finished product on YouTube and post a link in the contest forum thread. Then get your friends to support your video by clicking on the “Like” button.

Based on your community support and our internal evaluations, we will pick the top videos to go in a poll at the end of the three weeks.

The first place finisher will win $200 in cold hard cash, plus their winning video will be featured on in-game billboards!

Check out the full rules to the contest here, then get your camera in focus and on the action.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 28 May 2010 11:11:00 +0000

Server back up

Hey guys,

Earlier today we experienced a severe database error that required us to take the game offline. The servers are back up now.

Unfortunately, we experienced some data loss, so we expect that you will see the effects of that next time you log in.

To compensate players for lost time, we will be giving users effected by the crash a 2-hour XP boost and a 2-hour loot boost.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 26 May 2010 18:36:00 +0000

Gang Wars, May Update Coming Monday!

When the new update goes live Monday, May 31, you’ll find a few new tab on the Gang UI for Gang Wars.

We’ve completely revamped the Gang Wars system to now feature 5 vs. 5 battles set up by gang leaders. The gang leader selects his five-player team, then sets up Gang Wars through direct challenges or open offers.

In a direct challenge, a gang leader can select a rival gang from the eligible gangs list to challenge. The rival gang leader can accept the challenge, and then the two work to select the game mode and map. If the gang leaders can’t agree, the mode and map will be randomly selected from the options they selected. In the same window, each gang leader places a wager from their gang bank on the match. The winning team gets the wagers deposited in their gang bank at the end of the match.

Open offers are listed on the Gang Wars Manager. A gang leader can inspect the available open offers, choose his team of five gang members and accept an offer or set up an offer of his own. To set up an offer, a gang leader selects the game mode, map, required amount of money to bid and the number of times the offer will be relisted after a battle ends. Open offers start automatically once a rival gang accepts and the offer re-posts upon completion until the relist parameter is reached.

In addition to the new features we’ve gone over this week, there are also a number of bug fixes and feature updates that will be detailed in the patch notes going up on Monday. The patch process will begin at 8 a.m. server time, 4 a.m. EST, 1 a.m. PST and it is expected to take 2 to 3 hours.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 24 May 2010 15:55:00 +0000

Need a Place to Party? Clubs Coming in Next Update

One of the features that you guys have been consistently asking for over the last few months is Clubs, and we’re very close to getting them in game! Clubs are currently in testing for the next update that will be coming very soon.

What makes Clubs special? Each Club can be unique with four themes as the base and a ton of customization options ranging from furniture to vendors to strippers. That’s right, strippers!

Clubs can be purchased for Gold Bars by a gang leader and opened up as a separate area attached to the gang hideout. The gang leader can make the Club closed so only gang members can get in, or open, so anyone can join the party. A gang has to be level four to have a Club and the purchase is made through the Secretary in the gang hideout. Once purchased, the gang leader or anyone in the gang with the right permissions can use the Club Manager inside the Club to customize the Club look and the party setup.

The four themes are Underground, High Tech, Classic and Modern. Underground clubs are the least expensive with Classic clubs the costliest. Customization options include rare clothes, boosts and weapon vendors, furniture items such as tables and chairs, sofas, armchairs and more where players can sit and hang out and pole dancing girls. These customization options are sold for Gold Bars. The Club can also have a bar with a Gold Bar vendor who sells specialized boosts that increase XP gain or loot chances.

Once the gang leader is satisfied with the look of his club, it’s time to get the party started! To start the party, the gang leader chooses Open or Closed. If the party is Open, the gang leader can set a ticket price. This admission price, charged in in-game cash, is deposited in the gang bank whenever anyone pays to get into the party.

In addition to the rare item vendors, the Bartender, social areas and dancing girls, there’s one more feature coming in Clubs that will get everyone talking: The VIP Room. In this private room, accessible through the VIP Porter/Bouncer on the dance floor, partiers get a one-on-one dance with a random girl or one they design themselves. Players are charged in Gold Bars to visit the VIP Room.

Clubs are rented for a one-month period, after which they can be renewed at the gang leader’s option.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Sat, 22 May 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Next Game Update Features Unveiled

Hey guys,

There’s a new game update just around the corner and we’ve got some features coming that fill some of the holes you’ve been asking us to take care of while also adding and expanding existing content.

The update is currently in testing and on track to go live soon! The new content includes two new features and two updated and expanded features. The new features are player-run Nightclubs and the Capture the Zone game mode. The updated/expanded features include a new interface for Gang Wars and Weekly Tournaments.

Later this week I’ll be back with details on clubs and Gang Wars, but today I want to tell you about the Weekly Tournament and Capture the Zone.

Weekly Tournament
Weekly Tournaments are an expansion on the daily tournaments currently in game. The Weekly Tournament will be played on Sundays at 6 p.m. server time and all players who want to take part will be required to have a Ticket. Tickets can be won by placing first in any Daily Tournament or purchased for 2500 in-game cash from new vendors, Ivan Petroff in Downtown, Anna Coolagina in Oceanside and Dan Strick in Midtown.

Weekly Tournaments run in a format identical to the Daily Tournaments, but the prizes get a nice little bump up with first place getting 10,000 in in-game cash, rare set items and an in-game title.

Just to run it down, four-player teams will compete in Shootout matches on three maps, Olympia Mill & Lumberyard, Isopach Oil and Othello Sky Bridge. Warm ups are 1 minute with each match lasting 10 minutes. If the two teams are tied after 10 minutes, the match will go into a Sudden Death phase. This 2-minute period will continue until one team is eliminated or time runs out. If time runs out, the team with the most players still alive wins. If both teams have the same number of live players, the team that scores the last kill wins. If neither team scores a kill, both teams are eliminated from the tournament.

Capture the Zone
This new game mode is playable on Delosville. It’s similar to a king of the hill game, but there are three large zones that must be captured and defended.

This mode is for up to 32 players. Capturing a zone takes 2 minutes for a single player, with each additional player in the zone reducing that time by 20 percent. To capture a zone, no enemies can be inside. Once captured, the zone scores 5 points for the team every 10 seconds. These points accrue until the zone is captured by the enemy.

I’ll come back Wednesday to talk about Nightclubs, then on Friday I’ll unveil the new interface for the Gang Wars.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 14 May 2010 18:27:00 +0000

2-A-Day Tournaments Extended

Hey Guys,

We're extending the 2-A-Day Tournaments out for another week, starting on Monday, May 24 through Friday, May 28.

If you didn't get in on the action last week, this is your chance. We're watching participation to determine if we want to keep 2-A-Days on as a permanent addition to our tournament lineup or if it will be an occasional addition to the schedule, so let us know if you want to keep them around by voting with your guns!

This week's 2-A-Days will run at the same time as they did last week, at 1 a.m. GMT, 9 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. PST.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 11 May 2010 18:28:00 +0000

Double Your Tournament Fun

If you've been keeping up, you already know about tomorrow's Super Cash Tournament. To build on tournament popularity, we're doubling up on daily tournaments!

Two-a-Days will kick off on Monday, May 17, so get ready to double your carnage and double your fun! The first tournament will continue at 2 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. server time, with the second tournament at 9 p.m. EST, 1 a.m. server time.

Check here for more details on the tournament system.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 05 May 2010 18:43:00 +0000

Super Cash Tournament set for Saturday

Calibrate your sights and sharpen your knives, this Saturday we’re giving away big cash prizes for the daily tournament winners in each of the three divisions.

Winning team members will each receive $100 real world cash, payable at the winner’s option through gold bars, PayPal or a Visa gift card.

Get your teams together and be ready to kill the competition in the Super Cash Tournament at 6 p.m. server time Saturday, May 15.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:42:00 +0000

Lag Hot Fix

Hey guys,

The dev team recently updated the server and database to deal with a DB check that we found to be the source of the lag many of you experienced in lobbies.

If you're still experiencing lag, please use the ticket system to enter your issue so we can investigate and fix any problems.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:09:00 +0000

PvP scoring, handicap changes coming Monday

Hey guys,
Here’s one last update on the April update before we go live on Monday. Today, I’m giving you a look at the inner workings of the new PvP scoring system and ladder and the revamped handicap system.
PvP Scoring and Ladder
One of the most common complaints about the current PvP scoring system is the negative scores that seem to occur even when you’re doing really well in the game. So first things first, the negative scores are GONE!
The basics of the new system go like this: If you kill a player the same rank as yourself, you score 6 points. You get more points for killing higher ranked players and fewer points for killing lower ranked players. It’s possible to score zero points if you’re farming noobs, but you don’t lose points for dying. The formula is based on the PvP rank table with Rooks at level 1 and Most Wanted at level 11.
With the elimination of negative scores, we’ve also removed the cap on PvP scores. On update day, the PvP ladder will be wiped clean with everyone starting at zero. We’ll run a one-month PvP Ladder Tournament and at the end of the month, the top players on the leaderboard will win a mix of real-world cash prizes and in-game prizes. When the month is up, we’ll wipe the boards clean and start a new chase for the top rankings.
Revamped Handicap System
Where before we determined a player’s handicap based on their PvP score, we have now added a new system, the Power Rating that determines how powerful players are in relation to each other. The Power Rating is based on the character’s level, their kill/death ratio, the items they have equipped and their equipped abilities. The total score is displayed by a star on the paper doll. Each item’s Power Rating is displayed in the pop-up tooltip, allowing players to mix and match their weapons, boosts and abilities to compete in a variety of matches.
In the instance selection screen, you’ll still see the difficulty column, but now the difficulty is based on the Power Rating of the player who started the instance rather than their PvP rank.
Handicaps also will be applied to a wider range of attributes than they currently are, including stamina regen rate, recoil and accuracy.
We’re also working on a profile feature that will allow players to have multiple builds of each character that can be tailored for PvE or PvP versus higher or lower Power players. This feature will be coming in a future update.
Post update we will continue to tune these systems for best performance.
--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:15:00 +0000

Skill Calculator available now!

Hey guys,
We wanted to let you know about a new feature on the website, the CrimeCraft Skill Calculator found here.

This tool lets you try out multiple skill build outs for your character without going through the rollback process in game. It includes full descriptions of all skills and a snazzy interface too!
We’ll be updating the calculator as we move forward when new skills are introduced to the game.
--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:13:00 +0000

April Patch Preview

Hey guys,

In a little less than two weeks, on April 19th, we’ll be releasing a patch that brings four major changes to CrimeCraft. I’m here today give you all a quick overview of these changes.

For our current players, three of the changes will have the most impact.

PVP Scoring System
We’re making some major changes to the way the PvP scoring system will work that takes into account player feedback we’ve received since the last revision. In the new revision, we’re revamping the scoring formula and doing away with negative scores. We’re also removing the cap on PvP scores and adding a penalty for players who try to game the system. To be more transparent with players, we’ll be adding an additional UI screen that details the scoring system.

In addition, we’re changing the way we calculate handicaps. Instead of basing it on PvP rank, we’ll be looking at a player’s “Power” and kill/death ratios to determine handicaps. Power ratings add a new level of depth to the game, as this can be adjusted by players on the fly. Power is calculated from a player’s level and kill/death ratio, but also on the player’s weapons, clothes, boosts and abilities. Players will be able to adjust their equipment to compete without penalties in a wide variety of matches. You can see your power marked with a star on the character UI.

As you may already know from a previous announcement, we’ll also be clearing the leader boards on a periodic basis and handing out prizes to the top players at the end of each “season.”

Maps and Game Types
The reaction to the Delosville map has been overwhelmingly positive, but the high minimum player count to start the map makes it less popular in the overall rotation. To counter that, we’re reducing the minimum player count to 10 from 16. This is a change we’re making in direct response to community requests. We’re also adding the Riot mode to the map, which should make for some chaotic fun free for alls!

A few changes are coming to Headhunt and other PvE maps as well. In Headhunt, fewer mobs will spawn near the boss; overall, Berserkers will be slowed down by about 20 percent.

XP and Loot
Based on player feedback we are reworking the XP system for Headhunt and Safeguard to remove penalties for completing the match before the timer expires. For Turf and Robbery, we are reducing the minimum time to 7 minutes.

Loot will also be recalculated so players aren’t penalized for completing the match early, subject to the same 7 minute limit for Turf and Robbery.

Finally, we’ll be increasing the drop rates for tier 4 and 5 rare crafting ingredients.

Campaign Prologue
Finally, we are adding an intense prologue to CrimeCraft. “Welcome to the Jungle” is a series of missions designed to introduce players to the story behind CrimeCraft. This is a series of about 33 missions that take place on the outskirts of town as players “prove” to the Municipality that they are ready to enter Sunrise City! The prologue is primarily for new players and takes character from level 1 up to about level 8. For current players who don’t have open character slots but who want to try it out, we will be selling additional character slots so they can experience the prologue as well.

We’ll provide detailed patch notes on release day, but this gives you a solid heads up about what is coming this month!

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:11:00 +0000

Server Stability Update - April 5

Hey guys,

Back again to talk about server stability. As you know, we’ve taken several steps to ensure a more stable game for everyone, but obviously we’re still experiencing some issues. Fixing this issue is our top priority, but it will not delay the patch update that is due this month as we are currently in the testing phase.

While the steps we have taken will benefit the game in the long run, we now know that we have a memory bug. Memory bugs are tricky to fix, but we’re following a four-step plan to coax it out and crush it!

First of all, we’ve reconfigured our debug tools to draw out relevant information from the crash dump logs to give us more information on exactly what is happening during the crash.

Next, we are updating all server hardware to ensure the best performance on all machines.

We’ve also begun a line-by-line code review to identify what may be the cause of the problem.

And finally, we are rolling back some portions of the C++ code for greater stability.

We are committed to server stability and we will find and beat this memory bug. We also are looking at ways to compensate our subscribers for the inconvenience, and I'll announce something on that real soon.

As more information comes from the team, I will pass it along to you here.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:30:00 +0000

Leaderboard revamp - vote now!

Hey guys,

The devs behind CrimeCraft have been looking to bring a new wrinkle to the game, this time through a timed leaderboard competition. At the beginning of each season the leaderboards will be wiped clean and everyone will start from zero. This means the current leaderboards will be reset.

Scores will be based on a revised PvP scoring system that eliminates negative scores from matches.

We want your input on how long do you think a season should last and also on the types of rewards we should offer. Vote in the poll at CrimeCraft.com/community and let your voice be heard!

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:39:00 +0000

Server Stability Update

Hey guys,

As most of you know, we experienced some fairly severe server instability in the last few weeks. I was just about to headshot someone when I was unceremoniously dumped out of the game!

To take care of the issue, we have done a great deal of research into the problems and we believe we have the proper fixes in place.

The first issue occurred last week when we had a hardware problem. This led to critical errors and inevitably to a complete server crash. We were able to track down the faulty hardware and replace it. Problem solved, right?

Well, not exactly. The critical errors and crash introduced some database corruption that led to the problem players experienced when trying to accept loot after a match and transfer it to their backpack. This corruption led to lag, then instability, leading us to another restart.

This database corruption has now been fixed, so between the hardware replacement and the database update, these server crashes should be a thing of the past.

We continue to monitor the servers for stability and we’re redoubling our efforts to identify and stamp out any problems before they affect the community.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:38:00 +0000

Tourney time changing, real cash prizes Saturday

The daily tournaments are off to a great start, and now it’s time to take them up another notch! First of all, we’ll be changing the start time to 2 p.m. EDT, 6 p.m. server time beginning Tuesday, to reach an even bigger audience. In addition to this change, we’re adding real cash money prizes for the winners this Saturday only! These prizes will be available to all subscribers, including our international community.

We’ll be changing tournament start times to meet the needs of our international audience. The 9 p.m. EDT start time was good for our U.S. players, but not as accessible to our European fans. With this change and the new cash prizes, we expect to see our biggest turnout yet on Saturday.

This Saturday only we will be giving each of the first place winners in all three divisions (assuming teams compete in all three) a $10 cash prize, with a $20 cash prize going to one MVP in each division. The MVP in this tournament will be the player with the best kill-to-death ratio in a minimum of two matches. Cash prizes are in addition to the current in-game prizes.

Prize winners will have a choice of receiving an online pre-paid credit card in the amount of their prize, a one-time PayPal payment in the amount of their prize, or a gold bar payment with a bonus over the prize amount. Winners will be notified through an in-game email and will have a customer service ticket opened in their name. Winners must respond to the ticket within 30 days to claim their prize.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:43:00 +0000

April Patch brings changes to PvP Scores, Handicap

Hey guys,

First of all, from in-game chat I think most of us can agree that the patch that launched March 9 was a big success. I hope we all agree that we are going in the right direction! We’re not taking a break, however, and our next patch will be coming in April. We don’t have a solid date yet, but it’s likely to be mid- to late-April with a very small chance of slipping to early May.

I just got a big stack of design documents from the dev team this week and I’ve been carefully reviewing them for some highlights to share with you all.

PVP
We’ll start out with the PvP Scoring system as this has been a pretty hot topic since we introduced it back in December. You’ll all be happy to know that we have listened to the community and most of these changes are based on your feedback.

First of all, we’re drastically limiting the circumstances under which a player can receive a negative score. We understand that players can feel cheated when they win an instance, but still manage to lose PvP score (I know I feel that way!). It’s still going to be harder for higher level characters to gain score, but overall, this revamp will better reflect a player’s skill as a killer.

At the same time, we’ll be removing the cap that’s currently in place so the true cream can rise to the top.

Handicapping
Another hot topic has been the handicap system that’s based solely on player PvP scores. Players provided us with a lot of feedback on this subject, and again, we listened to what you want and we’re going to deliver.

The new system coming in April will take into account player level and their kill-to-death ratio in determining the relative strength of players compared to one another. We’ve already implemented changes to more fairly apply the handicap to player attributes, and we will continue to balance and tune the system for a more fair and balanced game for all players.

Leader Boards
With the April patch, we will be resetting the leader boards and letting them repopulate. With the new PvP scoring system, we believe this will give the players a much better representation of who the top killers are in Sunrise City and who is to be feared when you see them enter a match!

One more thing …
I’ll leave you with a tease of something else we’re working on for April. Have you ever hesitated to cap that last point in Turf because there was still time on the clock and you didn’t want to get less XP for that match, so instead you stood around and farmed the opposition for three or four minutes? Well, we’re making a change so that instances that end before the timer runs out don’t penalize players in XP!

Much like the March patch, we will continue fixing bugs and improving the game, so you can also expect a fix to the sniper rifle issues and other issues.

These changes are in addition to the Night Clubs and the Prologue tutorial that were delayed out of the March patch and, if things progress as we hope, will be in the April patch.

We are listening to you and we value your feedback, so please keep it up! We want to know what you think!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:56:00 +0000

Major Patch is Live!

As you've read in previous posts, there was a major patch scheduled for release today. As of this writing, the game is finished patching and the new content is live!

Just a friendly reminder that this is a major update, so if you have any issues that you think might be a bug, it's extremely helpful if you report them using the Customer Service ticketing system. We think you guys will enjoy the new content and the patch underwent extensive testing, but we all know what people say about the best laid plans ...

If you're curious about what's in the patch, head over to the full patch notes. There's a huge list of bug fixes and other improvements, but here are some of the highlights:

New Features

• Reworked F2P model
• Daily Tournaments
   o Tournament implemented on three maps
      Olympia Mill & Lumberyard
      Isopach Oil
      Othello Sky Bridge
   o Tournaments are 4v4 Shootout matches
• 32 Player Map
• New Premium Items added to Black Market vendor

Functional Changes

General
• Virtual Memory error fixed in all test cases

AI
• Weapon fixes and tuning for all bots
• Added delay before first shot for Clearshots and Shockwaves
• Adjusted bot grenade ranges
• Bots given access to abilities
• New Bot types added

Client
• Connection timeout increased to aid low-bandwidth users

Boosts
• Drugs rebalanced
   o Bess action time changed depending on drug level
   o Niks duration changed and regeneration rate increased
   o JellyJoy no longer nulls Stamina
   o Climax bonus values decreased
   o Majoun bonus values decreased, healing rate increased and negative resistance values decreased
   o Wood duration changed
   o Kesey effectiveness reduced
   o Frenzy effectiveness reduced
   o K-Dust effectiveness reduced

Game Play
• AR, SR, LMG, SMG and Pistol recoil and spread adjusted for balance
• Spread adjusted for semi-automatic weapons
• Pistol and Sniper burst fire disabled
• Rocket Flight trajectory improved
• Rocket explosion particles updated
• Weapon effects updated
• Grenade fall trajectory improved
• Player death animation and explosion reaction animations improved
• Stack auction prices adjusted
• Bots added for Federals faction
• Lobby NPC draw distance increased
• Robbery bag return process made accumulative
• SHOT score subtraction for suicides added
• Players awarded points for returning money bags in ROB
• Bags fixed on radar display in ROB
• Visual indicator added for points awarded when capturing enemy flag in SNG
• SNG flag return time adjusted
• SNG matches that are tied default to kills to determine winner; display updated to reflect this
• Uncontrolled TURF positions return to Neutral when unattended
• SFG enemy waves changed and game length increased by difficulty
• SFG Defense Core HP increased, Triad Destroyer’s HP increased
• SFG Changed view of Triad bots
• SFG Fixed bot grenade cool downs
• SFG Removed Courier from Easy difficulty
• SFG Level gated entry to Safeguard matches
• Damage display added over target

Help
• Help pop ups added in craft window

Gang Hall
• Gang Leader can invite non gang members in hideoutLoot
• Loot drop chance increased

We hope you enjoy the new patch, guys, and don't forget to check out the full patch notes to see the complete list of changes!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:50:00 +0000

Patch coming March 9!

Hey guys,

Back with another patch update, and this time it’s a solid date! This is a very large patch and we’ll start the process with the servers going down at 10 a.m. GMT, 5 a.m. EST, 2 a.m. PST on Tuesday, March 9! We expect the process to take up to five hours.

We are confident that we’ve beat the virtual memory error for the majority of user systems. There may still be a few issues left, but we believe the situation will be fixed or at least greatly improved for almost all of our users. We’ve already gone over a few things like improved bot AI and the 32-player map, so I thought today I would run through a few more of the changes you’re going to see in more detail.

Premium, Deluxe and Free to Play Changes

We’re making some major adjustments to our subscription tiers to provide better value to our players.

The Free to Play tier has undergone some radical changes. This is an unlimited play time offer, but players will earn experience, cash and loot at about half the rate of their paying counterparts. They also will be limited in access to bank tabs (two versus six for paying customers) and will pay more in-game cash for vendor services, auction house sales and other in-game services. Free to play characters also can’t start or lead gangs, but they have full gang membership opportunities and privileges. We believe these changes will make F2P much more viable to players.

Next up we have the Deluxe subscription tier. This is now the baseline subscription and comes in at $4.99. At this level, you get one month (30 days) of play time and a 10 GB stipend.

Finally, we have the Premium subscription which comes in at $9.99 and includes one month (30 days) of play time and a 120 Gold Bar (GB) stipend.

Economy Balancing

The current CrimeCraft economy has gotten significantly out of whack, so we’re making several adjustments designed to get our money system back in balance. Most important among these are nearly across the board price increases and the price they pay for items from characters will be going down. The vendors and trainers of Sunrise City will in general be charging twice as much for their services and many of their wares. Gang creation and maintenance costs also will be going up.

That’s right, the high cost of inflation has come to the streets of Sunrise City. Level 50 characters, who have been getting in-game cash instead of experience, will also see a cut in their take home pay.

Item Durability

Most items in game, with a few exceptions, have an associated durability rating. As you use an item, it gets damaged and suffers wear and tear. Currently, items can be repaired to full strength an infinite number of times. Starting with the new patch, this will change. Each time an item is repaired, it will lose a small percentage of its total durability rating and eventually it will break. All of the high-level, advanced weapons also will become bind on equip.

These steps also have the added bonus of increasing the value of the Gunsmith profession and their ability to craft high-level multi-slot guns.

Tournaments

Starting on March 9, we will have our first daily tournament. Players must form teams of four and register to compete with the first tourney kicking off at 3 a.m. March 10 server time, 10 p.m. EST March 9, 7 p.m. March 9 PST.

These tournaments will run Monday through Saturday and teams will compete in Shootout matches on three maps, Isopach Oil, Olympia Mill & Lumberyard and Othello Sky Bridge. At launch we will be offering prizes including multi-slot weapons, high level boosts and in-game cash. Tournaments will be a great way to offset some of the costs of the economy changes that have been made as winning team members can earn up to 4500 credits.

Once the patch is live, you’ll be able to hit ‘T’ in any lobby and see all of the details for prizes and start times.

Scavenger Tool

We are adding a third AUG slot for the Scavenger Tool, a new item players can attune to find crafting ingredients for a specific profession and tier. The Scavenger Tool is made by characters from a recipe and Broken Electronic Parts, which can be purchased from any crafting trainer.

We’re also making some changes to the crafting system that will improve the experience for all professions, and with the Scavenger Tool, players will find the path to level up their professions to be much easier. That said, there will be additional changes coming to crafting in future patches that will continue to improve the game.

Wrap Up

These are the four big change areas you’re going to experience once the patch goes live on March 9. You’ll also see smaller changes, like two new outfits, Made Man and Murder Maid at the Premium vendor and a lot of bug fixes. These fixes will be outlined in extensive patch notes to be posted on March 9. This is a big step forward for CrimeCraft and we believe it is the most polished patch we have produced to date.

Don’t forget, however, that there’s still more in the pipeline. We’ve got Night Clubs and a full tutorial that didn’t quite make this patch. We’re also instituting a policy for player suggestions that will keep us more responsive to community needs moving forward. It won’t be long till I’m announcing our next patch, so keep an eye here on the forums for more news!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:35:00 +0000

Patch update with screenshots

Hey guys,

We’ve talked a little bit about the upcoming patch in the last few weeks, and I wanted to give everyone another quick update.

First of all, I’m just going to pull the band-aid off quick and let everyone know that we’ve opted to push the date back at least two weeks for additional testing and polish. As you guys know, we’re a small, independent developer and we don’t have deep pockets, so we’re forced to do most of our testing internally. This is going well, however, but there are a few areas that just need more time before their ready for the public.

But wait, I’ve also got some really good news! From the testing we’ve done, it appears that we’ve finally had success at rooting out the virtual memory error! Now, with the massive variety of boxes people play on, we can’t say with 100 percent accuracy that it’s definitely gone, but it does appear that the error will be extremely rare for most people. I personally have experienced a drastic change on my home computer, which suffered from at least one VM crash an hour. On the new build of the game, I’ve gone more than 8 hours at a time without a crash!

In addition, I’ve got a sneak peek at the 32-player map for you guys! Here’s three shots of the biggest CrimeCraft map yet!

You’ll be able to play 8v8 all the way up to 16v16 Shootout matches on this new map!

So, I know the delay isn’t good news, but in the long run, this is going to be best for the game.

We’ve got a ton of content, including a significant list of fixes coming. Here’s just a bit of that list:

• Grenade animation fixes
• Applying handicaps to all attributes
• Flag glitching
• General Protection Fault Error fix
• Rendering Thread Exception error fix
• General client crash fixes
• Mesh tearing fixes

And that’s just a part of the list. One of the reasons we’re pushing back the patch release date is to ensure all of these bug fixes and all of the other features are tested as thoroughly as we can.

Bear with us, and I’ll update you on the date as soon as I can. Right now we’re looking at a two to three week delay, which would put us in mid-March at the latest.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:18:00 +0000

Most Wanted 2 Raffle Winners!

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time once again for my favorite part of my responsibilities in the CrimeCraft world: announcing the winners of a competition. It's like Christmas, except without having to sit on the lap of some fat guy with a fake beard -- which, let's face is, gets uncomfortable after a while.

Anyway. The competitions are long over, and we've tallied the raffle tickets earned by the players and held the raffle. Before we get to the winners, one final reminder: If you find your name on this list, that also means you're going to have a Customer Service ticket taken out in your name. You MUST reply to the ticket with the requested information in order to claim your prize. If you don't claim your prize within 30 days, it may be considered forfeit, and nobody wants that.

Without further ado ... here are the winners of the Bandanas and T-shirts (one prize per listed name):

CrimeCraft Bandana

Glykon

blackmask55

Dragastar

Pops12

Driven

tmxExterminator

Ramses

FAZE

cuckls

xDukexNukermX

bonez7126

Kheradruakh

1RichDaddy

TheBringerOfLight

cbhunter

CrimeCraft T-Shirt

lias101

Starmaster29

Lamfir

Simpleminded

BDARmech

regal

Swordsmenjr1

And here are the big winners:

CrimeCraft T-Shirt signed by the Dev Team

Pkirker

ATI 3870 X2 Video Card (one per player)

CoCheez

Savage55 (edit: this was originally listed as Sav, which was the character's name that won the competition for raffle tickets)

[If you want to mentally add a drumroll, now would be a good time to do it. Go ahead. I'll wait. What, you've already skipped this and read the name? No, that's okay. I understand. And the big winner is ... ]

Alienware Notebook

alkalifly

Thanks to everybody that participated in the events. We hope that even if your name didn't appear on this list, you still enjoyed playing and were able to win some Gold Bars.

And, of course, a big congratulations to the winners! ... now go check those tickets before Santa puts you on his naughty list!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:25:00 +0000

Ask the Devs 2 - The Answers!

Hey guys, between all of the work that's going on for the upcoming patch, I was able to get Executive Producer Matt McEnerney to take a little time to answer your questions. We'll do another round of questions a couple of weeks after the patch goes live and everyone has a chance to see what it's all about!

Synapze asks: Is there more going on that meets the eye in Sunrise City? - here I'm thinking new common enemies besides the Triads and Rogues, or will their presence be further developed in the future?

Matt: Oh, we certainly have something planned for the future enemies. In fact, we have a popular comic book writer currently working on some possible scenarios for us as we speak.

Will there be more Pve content coming - like "Raid" orientated maps - just like my favorite map Safeguard.

Matt: We are certainly working on more PvE content that is similar to Safeguard.

KidKapone asks: I have just 1 area that i'd like to address, and that's the Virtual Memory bug. I'd just like to ask the devs if they could give us some insight as to their progress addressing this issue. Have they made any real solid progress, can the issue be fixed, or will it be an issue that we will have to face indefinitely.

Matt: We have devs working on the memory issues that have plagued us since launch. As you can imagine, it is not an easy task given the nature of our game and content. We certainly have made strides to reduce the frequency of these crashes.

Xnighthawkx asks: The time to wait for the gang house production tab to put out such a small amount of items, and the fact that there is no real reference for which formula puts out what makes for a difficult time trying to figure out which ingredients you get and which formula is most worthwile to run. Are there plans in the works to cut the production time and make lists for those of us who run gang house production tabs, and has any thought been put into a revamp of the crafting professions so that it is not so insanely difficult to advance in a given profession?

Matt: Crafting will go through some revisions in the next update. We found that some of our recipes were not dropping as frequently as we anticipated, so we will be adjusting the drop rates. We also will be introducing a Scavenger Tool, which will help improve chances of finding a particular type of ingredient. Because of the drop rates and some minor bugs, advancement has been pretty difficult, but this will even out with the above improvements.

Raekin asks: (What about) a 32-player arena map?

Matt: Our arena map is currently in testing phase. We’re still working out the bugs and balancing a new game mode that will be associated with the level.

Questions from Russian community:
Are there plans to add ‘Last man standing’ gametype? Or its variations?

Matt: We have several gametypes that we are exploring for future updates for both PvP and PvE modes. We have tested many different modes in the past and will certainly look to incorporate more game types into our world.

Will there be a gang logo constructor or an option to upload custom made logos?

Matt: We had logo creator on our feature list, but we were forced to cut it before we hit beta. There are issues as to how many logos we could allow to be created and possible legal issues surrounding the possible content that users can create. The feature has been on our radar and is something that could be considered in the future. What logos would you like to see?

Can we get an in-game radio or built in game mp3-player? More or less like it’s done in GTA?

Matt: In-game MP3 players were talked about for a while, but we decided wasn’t worth the development effort. There are several reasons we didn’t add this feature from technical limits to licensing issues. Keep in mind all of the songs in GTA are fully licensed at an enormous cost to Rockstar/Take Two Interactive. Unfortunately, small independent developers like Vogster Entertainment do not have the same resources to secure licensed music.

Will there be new content? Increased level cap, new weapons, apparel, locations?

Matt: We are always on the move to create new content for the game. We have new maps, weapons, skills, missions, and items currently in development. You may not see all areas of content addressed in each update, but they are all being addressed.

What new are we going to see in CC in 2010?

Matt: We are currently working on a major update for the game. We have a lot of things on our plate, so I don’t want to make absolute promises yet. We will post a feature list when we get closer to the launch date. I can tell you that you will see improvements in just about every area of the game.

Are there any plans to diversify gang related features? For instance, add real estate building and gang shops, territory wars?

Matt: Absolutely. We are certainly planning on incorporating more “empire building” into the game world. You will see the first of these features in the next update.

Will we ever be able to alter game UI with custom made modifications?

Matt: Not at the moment. We have several other features/fixes that are higher priority. It is certainly something that we will look into for future releases.

When and if will there be European game server? Russian game server?

Matt: We are currently looking into several localization possibilities for our strong European and Russian community. I can’t give you a time frame, but we certainly have started working on it.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:03:00 +0000

CrimeCraft patch coming late February!

Hey guys,

I thought I would let you all know today that we’ve targeted late February for our next patch release. I’m going to run down some of the changes and upgrades that will be coming in this patch and a few things we’re working on for future updates.

First of all, we’re working on client optimization that will require less hardware power. So far, we’re seeing a steep decline in client crashes, and we’re not done working on the problem yet! We’ve got 16 workstations dedicated to stamping the issue out and we’re confident that we’ll get it done. This is a deep game architecture problem that requires substantial coding changes to accomplish. I’ll keep you updated as we move forward with any updates I get from the dev team.

We’ve also got a 32-player Riot map in the pipeline. This map is BIG! Additional game modes will be added in future updates. The best way to describe the map is to say that if you stuffed a psychobilly circus/white trash flea market/shantytown into a post-apocalyptic domed football stadium, this would be the result! The map is still in test, and since we pride ourselves on creating balanced/polished levels there’s some potential it could slip to March, but it’s targeted for February.

We’re adding a daily tournament system with all-new prizes. Three divisions (novice, intermediate and expert) will compete in skill-based PvP events that run Monday through Saturday. I know some of you are thinking that players who are currently gaming the PvP ranking system are going to screw up the divisions, but we have a fix coming that will put an end to that nonsense. Players will form four-man teams, sign up through the UI and KILL KILL KILL! Matches will be single-elimination shootout on a variety of maps. Later this week I’ll talk more about this feature.

Up next, we’ve got some fairly extensive changes to the PvE bot AI. We’ve made improvements to the AI logic and we’re allowing the bots access to a wider variety of abilities to give players a more challenging experience. That said, we’re also taking out some of the more annoying AI “features” like insta-kill Clearshots and Shockwaves. These changes will add great depth to Stockpile, Safeguard and Headhunter PvP matches.

We’re making some changes to our subscription system to make CrimeCraft a better value to our players. Free to Play accounts will now essentially be the same as what we formerly called Standard, meaning they will get to customize their character and get full access to the auction house, ATMs, trades and instance creation. We’re also increasing the rate at which F2P characters gain experience.

Next up will be the $4.99/month price point that will be the same as what is currently the $9.99 Premium subscription. Same features, just $5 cheaper! We’ll keep the $9.99 subscription in place, but it will essentially be the $4.99 subscription with an extra $6 of gold bars added to your account each month.

The next feature is an extensive overhaul of the economy. Most vendor prices will be increasing and there will be a number of changes to loot drops, item durability and the crafting system. Some of these changes won’t seem justified at first, but they are absolutely necessary to ensure the long-term health of our in-game economy! Specifically, these steps should help lower some of those insane prices on the auction house. We’re also making some adjustments to the crafting system that you’ve been anticipating. I’ll come back to both of these topics in a couple of weeks with a number of new details of how these changes will affect the game.

We’re also adding an in-depth tutorial for new players that introduces them to the world and combat system without throwing them directly to the wolves of Sunrise City. We’ve targeted late February for the tutorial, but it’s a feature that might slip.

Another feature that might take more time than we’ve got for this update is Night Clubs! These are gang-owned customizable spaces where characters can host a variety of parties that can be as open or as exclusive as the organizer wants them to be. We’ve got some special surprises in this feature as well that I’ll talk about as we get closer to patch day!

As you can see, we’ve got a lot of changes and enhancements to get done over the next three weeks! I hope this look at what’s coming has whetted your appetite for more CrimeCraft, I know I’ve worked up an appetite just typing it all out :)

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:15:00 +0000

CrimeCraft featured at WarCry.com!

CrimeCraft Executive Producer Matt McEnerney recently sat down with the good folks at WarCry to talk about topics ranging from Banned in Australia to the grind in an MMOFPS vs. a traditional MMO. He even drops a few hints about the future of CrimeCraft!

"Gangs are our version of Guilds so instead of Raids we have lots of plans to expand the CC end-game in Gang focused ways."

You can read the full interview here.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:27:00 +0000

Monday's Crash and Lost Progress, Premium Saturday

Greetings, everybody. I wish I was writing this post to inform you we broke the alltime CCU record or another issue we could all rejoice about, but unfortunately I have to address a slightly more serious topic: the lost character progress from Monday this week.

For anybody that doesn't know, we had a server crash in the early afternoon (Pacific Time) on Monday, and players that were logged in a few hours prior to, and up until, the crash lost their progress. I hope this goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway: We're incredibly sorry for the lost information that our users put time and effort into.

Before we go any futher, I want to stress that the underlying issue was identified, addressed, and fixed on the same day the crash occurred.

But that's small consolation for the people that saw their data disappear into the ether, so we're also going to be compensating players from Monday. If you were one of the unfortunate players that lost progress, in the very near future your account will change in two ways:

1) You will find yourself 20 GBs richer.

2) You will have an extra day (24 hours) of Premium access added to your subscription.

The first one is self-explanatory, but the second point requires some explanation depending on the current level of your account.

If you currently have a Premium subscription, you'll have one day added onto the end of your current subscription time. This includes people on recurring subscription plans; if your recurring subscription was set to renew on the 15th, for example, it will now renew on the 16th.

If you're on a Standard of Free Trial account, you'll still be getting a day of Premium access, but we wanted the reward to be a little more immediate than sticking a day or Premium onto the end of your subscription, a date which probably doesn't stick out for everybody and may pass without your knowledge. So for anybody that was under the Standard or Free-Trial account, this Saturday is what will be henceforth known as Premium Saturday. For one day, from 12:00am to 11:59pm Pacific Time, any Standard of Free Trial users that lost data due to the crash will have all the perks and benefits that Premium users have. At the end of Saturday, your account will return to its previous status. We encourage you to take advantage of the extra features!

Good luck, and see you in Sunrise City!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:09:00 +0000

Scores adjusted, server up

Hey guys,

It took a little longer than we expected, but the scores have been adjusted and the servers are up.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:31:00 +0000

PvP Scores to be adjusted today

Hey Guys,

We'll be taking the server down for maintenance today at about 11 a.m. EST, 8 a.m. PST, 5 p.m. CET for maintenance and to adjust the PvP scores to the new scale.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:23:00 +0000

An update from the vice president of development

Hi everyone,

My name is Daniel Prousline and I’m the Vice President of Product Development for Vogster. I wanted to take a moment this holiday season to say a few words about the state of the game and Vogster’s company outlook.

First and foremost: The CrimeCraft team is very grateful to our players for showing their support and sticking with the game in this initial difficult period. We know that our population numbers need to grow and the game needs to keep improving for people to continue playing. These are absolutely our two most important goals.

We are very glad to have you with us! Your continuing support gives us hope of eventual success. I want to assure you that we are listening to what you are saying and all feedback is being carefully analyzed and considered. We want to address the issues raised by our community as much as we can and as quickly as we can. Vogster does not have the abundant resources of an EA or Activision, we are a small, independent publisher dedicated to its fan base and this product. We do have an advantage over the “big” companies because we are small, agile and we listen to our community. Every post, every e-mail is read and passed onto our development team. We hear you loud and clear and are developing new features based on your input. We consider CrimeCraft your game and you are helping shape and design it.

Right now our primary goal is to improve the player experience for both new and existing players – this includes improved match matching and providing a better experience to new players, as well as pushing significant additional content. The other important aspect of this work is improving client stability and resolving technical glitches as quickly as possible. It is important to understand that all of these fixes and improvements take time to develop, test and roll out. The development team is doing as much as possible to make this process quick and smooth.

We also are working on creating new content and tuning the existing game and its business model to provide new and existing players with a more satisfying experience. Among our key goals are expanding the item mall and providing better support for our international players. We are thinking long term and starting to build game play that will sustain people over many months. This includes competitive tournaments with tangible rewards, as well as the ability to own and customize in-game possessions.
I also wanted to share a few thoughts on the new PvP ranking system. We implemented this system for one reason and one reason only, to make the game friendlier for new players. Our statistical data shows that new players leave a game after a few matches against high level players (50 percent of new players leave the game within an hour). So without the better balancing elements of the new PvP ranking system, we are never going to increase our population, which is what everyone wants. The more players we have in the game, the more fun everyone will have.

My promise to you is that over the next 6 months we will be able to really give you a sense of solid progress and clear direction of where the game is going. Honestly, we can’t wait to share our excitement about it. We will be rolling details out to you over the next few weeks. Your thoughts and feedback are critical to help guide us in our decision making. Some of these features include:

Daily Tournaments with rewards
Gang War Tournaments
Improved and more robust free to play model
Ability to own and customize night clubs within Gang Halls
32 Player matches
Improved PvE matches

We have the confidence and the support of our investors to continue to operate and improve the game over the long term. We also appreciate and rely on the support of our player community to make this possible over the months and years to come.

Thank you for your continuing support and stay tuned!

Daniel

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:35:00 +0000

More PvP score system info

Hey guys,

I promised a little more detail on the new PvP ranking system and here it is. Just to recap, the old Rep system was based partly on game performance and partly on time spent in game. The new system is purely a reflection of player skill and performance.

The old ranking system ranged up to 99,500. The new system caps at 13,000.
In those 13,000 points there are 12 ranks, ranging from Newbie to the Most Wanted. The basics of the system haven't changed. You get a kill, you gain points, you get killed, you lose points. These points are modified based on the rank of the killer and the killed. If a Newbie kills one of the Most Wanted, the Most Wanted loses more points than if the roles are reversed.

This means it's easier for the Newbie to gain points than it is for the Most Wanted, but as players climb through the ranks, it gets harder and harder to advance. Only the most skilled players will be able to achieve and hang on to the rank of the Most Wanted! As players climb, their score will settle in to their "natural" skill number and will hover around that number unless their skill level improves or declines.

The system we have now may need a few tweaks as our population fluctuates, so expect some refinements as we move forward!

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:07:00 +0000

Most Wanted: The Re-Up Extended; Prize Added

Hello citizens of Sunrise City!

We have two bits of news for you on this fine day. The first is that the Most Wanted: The Re-Up competition has been extended through this weekend! The new end date is Sunday, January 3rd. If you haven't had a chance to win raffle tickets yet through our events, we'll be posting some new opportunities for you in the very near future, so stay tuned to the Events forum.

The second bit of news is that we've added another prize to the raffle list! In addition to the prizes outlined in the original post, we've added a second ATI 3870 X2 Video Card. That brings the overall list of prizes available by raffle to:

1 Alienware Notebook
2 ATI 3870 X2 Video Cards
1 CrimeCraft T-shirt signed by the CrimeCraft developer team
7 CrimeCraft T-shirts
15 CrimeCraft Bandanas

Thanks to everybody that has participated in the event thus far. Stay tuned for more events coming this week!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:12:00 +0000

PvP Score - Why we made the change

Hey guys,

One thing we didn't do very well in this last patch is to explain that the meaning of the PvP score, AKA Rep, has changed. In order to put in a truly fair balancing system, we needed something more granular than the more abstract character level to measure player skill.

Where before Rep was part game performance and part time in game, we've moved to a system that only reflects player skill. With that change, we needed to adjust scale. That's why high-Rep characters see negative scores after every match. We've essentially divided the scale by 10 to get something more accurate for game balance.

When your score gets down to the new scale, you will stop seeing the drastic negative scores and will instead see scores based on match performance. This means you might go up a little, you might go down a little, but it will be within a given range and it will be based on actual game play. Do well, gain Rep, do poorly, lose Rep.

To get a higher rep, players will have to perform well consistently.

We had hoped the scores would normalize to the new range quickly, but if that hasn't happened by our next maintenance, we will adjust scores manually so the perception of the big negative PvP rank scores can be in the past! Before we make that adjustment, I will post an explanation of the changes you will see.

Remember, this change is part of a larger overall adjustment to make the game more fun for all players, newbs and pros alike!

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:24:00 +0000

Today's Patch

Starting with today’s patch, you’re going to notice a number of changes to the PvP UI and game play. The first feature you will probably notice are a number of symbols displayed under the column Difficulty when you select a battle from the PvP UI window.

These symbols represent server strength relative to your PvP ranking.

Red arrows that point up indicate that the match has players who are stronger than you. More arrows indicate stronger players.
A green circle indicates a battle with players near your own ranking.
Yellow arrows pointing down indicate a battle with players who rank below you in PvP.

We encourage players to compete at their skill level when possible, but since that won’t always be possible and because we want new players to have a better early experience (we were all n00bs once, and we need more n00bs!) we’re also rolling out a weighted handicapping system.

You’ll see a message when you’re fighting lower-ranking players informing you of a handicap that can range from 10-30 percent depending on the rank disparity. This is going to bring skill back to the forefront while still ensuring that players get the benefits of gear they worked hard to acquire.

As always, player feedback is very important to us. Please report any issues you encounter through the ticketing system so we can continue to fine tune the system.

Thanks

Team Vogster

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:41:00 +0000

Ask the Devs, Part Deux!

Hello Sunrise City! You've got questions and we've got answers. So if you're itching to talk to the team behind CrimeCraft, then head on over to the Ask the Devs, Part Deux thread.

"This is how it works: You post questions in this thread and I'll compile and pass them on to the devs over the course of the next few weeks. When we've got a nice Q&A done, I'll post it in a new thread." - CapoDeiCapi

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:55:00 +0000

CrimeCraft: Kingpin is Live!

Now you can take the CrimeCraft experience with you on your iPhone or Facebook with CrimeCraft: Kingpin!

CrimeCraft: Kingpin is all about building a gang, earning a reputation and killing the competition. Players will complete missions and eliminate rivals to become the Kingpin of Sunrise City.

Not only will you take out your rivals, you’ll also unlock items in the PC CrimeCraft! The first 50 Kingpin players to hit max level will get a CrimeCraft PC Lobby AUG that gives them an experience bonus and a money gain bonus. Players also will be able to earn a limited number of CrimeCraft PC gold bar packages, a five-slot assault rifle, the Valley Forge Federalist, and a five-slot submachine gun, the R-Sys Smilodon.

Check out CrimeCraft: Kingpin and click on the iPhone or Facebook links to get CrimeCraft: Kingpin and fight for supremacy of Sunrise City.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:30:00 +0000

Vote for CrimeCraft!

CrimeCraft has been nominated for a whole batch of awards over at Massively including Best PVP, Best Visuals/Graphics, Best New MMO of 2009 and more!

Head on over to Massively's End of the Year poll page and VOTE CRIMECRAFT!

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:14:00 +0000

Introducing CrimeCraft: Kingpin

You may have spotted the new CrimeCraft: Kingpin forums today and in case you were wondering what that’s all about, Kingpin is the new free-to-play socially networked game coming in December for the iPhone and Facebook. CrimeCraft: Kingpin was developed in conjunction with Big Boat Interactive.

Just like in the original CrimeCraft, Kingpin is all about building a gang, earning a reputation and killing the competition. To expand their empire, players fight their way across Sunrise City, recruiting new gang members, taking over territory and targeting rivals through grudge matches. By completing missions and taking out threats, players gain experience and rep on their way to becoming the ‘Kingpin’ of Sunrise City.

Here’s a list of features you will see in CrimeCraft: Kingpin:

Free-to-play, socially-networked game for Facebook and iPhone/iTouch, based on the CrimeCraft universe.
Start a gang then perform missions and contracts to earn in-game cash. Recruit your friends to build your reputation. Ultimately fight your way to the top to become Kingpin.
Simple but deep combat system gives players control over skills, weapons and armor load-outs to take advantage of varied tactical situations and terrain.
Achievements in CrimeCraft: Kingpin will unlock special items in CrimeCraft (for the PC) and vice versa.
In-game messaging system allows players to coordinate attacks against a common foe, and taunt enemies across both the Facebook and iPhone/iTouch platforms.
Gives players a deeper look into the crime-blasted, post-apocalyptic universe of CrimeCraft.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Website Item Shop Open for Business

The website premium item shop is now fully operational. All issues have been resolved.

Head on over to the knowledgebase if you need help with retrieving items in-game. If you are still experiencing issues with your premium items, please create a customer service ticket.

Thank you for your patience.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:02:00 +0000

Website Item Shop Temporarily Closed

The premium item shop on the website is being closed temporarily.

There is a known issue with premium items (such as gang name color changes) not being delivered after being purchased. Please note that the items are still registered, it is simply the delivery that is bugged.

We are actively working to resolve this issue and will make an announcement as soon as the shop is fixed. If you have any concerns about your own recent purchases, please send in a ticket to customer service. We apologize for the inconvenience.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:05:00 +0000

Volunteer Forum Moderators

Vogster Entertainment has opened an exciting opportunity for its players! We are currently searching for responsible players to be volunteer forum moderators. This is a great chance to employ your enthusiasm and communication skills in order to help build the CrimeCraft community. Please note that volunteers must be at least 18 years of age and possess an account in good standing.

What are a volunteer moderator's responsibilities?

- Monitor forums for inappropriate conduct
- Keep the forums clean and well organized
- Assist with forum events
- Help welcome players and answer questions
- Help test new content and provide feedback

What do I get for being a volunteer?

- A special test account
- Early access to future in-game items
- The envy of your peers

To apply, please send a private message on the forums to moderator: SpecialK. Please answer the following:

1. Account name, Main in-game character name
2. Age.
3. Languages spoken. Country of origin and time zone.
4. How long have you been playing CrimeCraft?
5. Estimated hours spent on forums/in-game per week.
6. Previous forum moderator experience, previous technical support experience, and/or other relevant experience.
7. Why you want to be a volunteer moderator, and any additional comments you would like to add.

CrimeCraft forum moderators are expected to possess well-rounded writing skills. Proper grammar, spelling, and comprehension of English is a highly attractive quality for candidates. We ask that you please submit a BRIEF writing sample to demonstrate these skills.

8. Please write no more than 2 paragraphs on your favorite weapon in CrimeCraft, and 1 tip on using that weapon in a match.

Disclaimer:
Volunteer forum moderators are not employees of Vogster Entertainment and do not receive monetary compensation. Vogster Entertainment is not held liable for the actions of its volunteers. Volunteers do not receive any special treatment from staff and are required to follow the: privacy policy, rules of conduct, terms of use, and EULA. Volunteers are subject to dismissal at any time. Volunteers are also not eligible to win prizes in any events, contests, or raffles, for the duration of their tenure.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:46:00 +0000

Most Wanted Competition Winners!

Yes, you read that title correctly. We have the confirmed list of winners from our Most Wanted competition, where we raffled off an Alienware laptop. Who won the laptop? Well, you've waited so long for the news that I assume you've stopped reading this post and skipped ahead to the good stuff. So I'll stop right here and just say:

Congrats to the winners!

(And if you didn't win the laptop this time around, don't lose hope. You just might be interested in our upcoming events, if you catch my drift.)

IMPORTANT: If you've won a prize that requires it to be shipped (like all the prizes in this list), we will be taking out a ticket for you in our Customer Service system within the next 24 hours. You MUST respond to this ticket, or else we won't be able to ship your prize. When a ticket is taken out, an e-mail is automatically sent to the e-mail address attached to your CrimeCraft account. Make sure you check your e-mail for this notification. If you do not reply to this ticket within 30 days, it can result in prize forfeiture.

CrimeCraft-customized Alienware Laptop

Winner: Coldshado

ATI 3870 X2 Video Card

Winner: Okipiny

CrimeCraft T-shirt signed by the CrimeCraft developer team

Winner: Deathfox

CrimeCraft T-shirt (1 per winner, 7 winners)

Michael420

Revolution

Bloodsend

Cobal

Darksky

Hadron

Jhana

CrimeCraft Bandana (1 per winner, 15 winners)

Icejudge

Kresty

Spence

gozer

indious

Bebopstrut

Rez

TheDrizzle

MISSLocsta

Revelati

Synn

Kicker21

Deathclown

the13Ari3Arian

Mook

Congrats once again to the winners, and keep an eye out for future events!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:23:00 +0000

CrimeCraft Worldwide Availability and Ingame Chat

I'm sure that most of you have noticed some changes in the population of Sunrise City. CrimeCraft was officially made available to European customers just over two weeks ago, and we've got a lot of new faces in the game as a result. This has a few critical implications for our ingame policies that you, the players, need to be aware of.

Most importantly, the influx of new players also means we have a lot of new languages ingame. Prior to this, I'm pretty sure our most popular languages were English and 1337speak.

The additional players are great for the game, but the lingual diversity also means we have to make some small changes to how our GMs monitor the ingame chat. It's impractical (not to mention silly and ridiculous) to enforce an English-only chat rule when the game is officially available to so many countries where English is not the primary language. Hence, effective immediately, you're welcome to speak in whatever language you like while in-game.

However, that doesn't mean that anything goes, Wild-West style. Our same policies about what you can say are still in effect.

Before we get to our side of the equation on that, I want to remind all of our players that you can blacklist other players ingame. If somebody is spamming, or the chat is distracting you, you're welcome to avail yourself of that tool.

On our end, our GMs are there to uphold the rules and policies, and to help maintain a fun, welcoming playing environment for everybody. If you feel like somebody has crossed the proverbial line, whether it's regarding spam, harrassment, or any other chat-related violation, you need to contact your local GM with an official complaint or file a complaint with the Customer Service department, which you can find by clicking "Help" on the upper-right hand side of this very website.

The bottom line is that we want everybody to have fun in-game, whether you speak English, Spanish, Russian, or Wookie. When somebody is breaking the rules we've set forth in our Rules of Conduct and making your experience less enjoyable, you need to let us know. We're here to serve you, but we need to know how we can help, first.

To recap:

1. Effective immediately, the English-only rule for ingame chat is officially revoked.

2. If you see somebody violating our Rules of Conduct, in any language, contact your local GM or CS department.

(And, as a side note, if you do speak fluent Wookie I'd be willing to pay for lessons. Just sayin'.)

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:46:00 +0000

Developer Responses to Your Questions!

A couple weeks ago, CapoDeiCapi started a thread on the forums soliciting questions that you, the community, had for the developers. If you were waiting for answers to some of those questions, wait no more: they're here.

The lineup for this week's questions was: executive producer Matt McEnerney [Matt Mac], senior marketing manager Casey Dickinson [Casey] and Senior Community Manager, CapoDeiCapi (as he's known around these parts).

Here's a sample question to whet your whistle:

Revolution asks:

The ability gap between low and high level characters seems to make the decision to stay or go for most new players. With this in mind, are you going to implement "Level Based Instancing" to help balance the game play and give players a better chance of getting through a round without being perma-owned?

[Matt Mac]: With the introduction of the free trial program, we certainly see the need to improve instancing. We are currently working on better matchmaking, rating systems, and rewards for competing in highly skilled contests. The early improvements have been designed and are in test right now. Release date is TBD.

Check out the full list of answers and replies on this forum thread, and stay tuned for more Ask the Devs threads!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:27:00 +0000

CrimeCraft Review at WarCry.com

Check out the great CrimeCraft review at WarCry here!

Here's a little bit of what journalist Jim Moreno had to say about our game:

"There is a subtle/obvious shift away from the predominant sword-and-sorcery fantasy genre to other styles. Many of these new styles may be renowned IPs, with previous computer and console games already on the market, but others are original - or at least incorporating a fresh insight into some old tried-and-true methods. CrimeCraft is one such game, with its twist on mixing classic MMORPG elements (leveling, skills, and crafting, for example) with some more current gaming trends (achievements, free-to-play and premium account options). CrimeCraft then [filtered]es it all up with quick and easy modes of play, and a suitable number of storyline missions and satisfying twitch-play combat."

If you like what WarCry had to say, make sure you let them know by posting in their forums here!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:05:00 +0000

CrimeCraft: Kingpin Preview

If you're a CrimeCraft player, you should have received an offer a few weeks ago asking to help test the upcoming CrimeCraft: Kingpin application for Facebook and the iPhone.

If you didn't get a chance to participate in the testing phase but still want to see what CrimeCraft: Kingpin is all about, we've got your back. Pocketgamer has a preview of the upcoming app, which includes a talk with Associate Producer Aaron Krasnov about what you can expect from the finalized version and the overall goals of the game.

So if you're looking for a little more info about Kingpin, well ... why are you still reading this? That link's not gonna click itself!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:50:00 +0000

CrimeCraft on Tour at Major College Campuses

In case you haven't heard, CrimeCraft is on tour at some major college campuses in the United States! Keep an eye out because we might be at your very own school.

CrimeCraft is the premiere and exclusive PC game featured during the upcoming GAME U: G3 Tour presented by Best Buy. The Persistent World Next-gen Shooter (PWNS) CrimeCraft is coming to eleven campuses across North America via the wildly popular gaming technology tour that features interactive demonstrations and exciting gaming competitions. CrimeCraft is available exclusively through Best Buy retail stores and online through a number of leading digital distribution partners, including Direct2Drive and Steam.

Vogster's CrimeCraft Joins Tour to Major College Campuses

The GAME U: G3 tour kicked off Monday, October 26 at Boston College and will bring the hottest video game action to the following campuses:

10/26/2009 - MON - Boston College
10/27/2009 - TUE - Penn State University
10/29/2009 - THU - Marshall University
10/30/2009 - FRI - Ohio State
11/2/2009 - MON - University of Nebraska
11/3/2009 - TUE - Wichita State University
11/4/2009 - WED - Oklahoma State University
11/6/2009 - FRI - University of New Mexico
11/9/2009 - MON - University of Arizona
11/11/2009 - WED - University of California @ San Diego
11/14/2009 - SAT - San Diego State University

For more information on the GAME U: G3 Tour please visit: www.gameulive.com

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:06:00 +0000

A Patch to Patch the Patch

If you've logged in today, you'll notice that your game updated once again. We had a patch today to help with the VM crash, which was exacerbated during Monday's update. It's not a complete fix, unfortunately, but it should improve the situation and early reports from the trenches seem to be positive.

The second big issue addressed in this patch was the Hargan Mastiff rocket launcher. Its damage was reduced, as well, to help with balance.

We had a little bit of ingame lag as the servers came back online and it required a quick restart, but everything seems to be running smoothly now so don't tarry any longer; your gang won't run itself!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:42:00 +0000

Major Content Update Live!

As I'm sure you're aware, CrimeCraft underwent a major update this past Monday. The update included new subscription models, the addition of an unlimited free trial, and many other perks and features, including a special title of Original Gangster for those that purchased the game prior to the update.

Here's the official patch note goodness about changes in the new build:

• Unlimited Free Trial account support added

• Premium item list updated

• Instance “special assignment” missions added for Standard and Premium subscribers

• Original Gangster title and missions added for players with accounts prior to Oct. 25

• New levels added to existing jobs

• New crafting jobs and achievements added

• New loot collection jobs and achievements added

• New Headhunter PVE game mode added on Douglas Avenue Labs (Downtown) and Reinhold Museum (Midtown Square) maps

• New Triad PVE gang/AI bots added

• Hargan Mastiff rocket launcher updated

• Medals and titles added

o Players able to choose title displayed in game

• New abilities added:

o Flashbang blinds enemies staring at the blast

o Heartbeat Detector detects living targets in a limited range for a short period of time

o Auto Injection makes injecting boosts quicker by removing the manual process

• Sleight of Hand ability name changed to Salvage Mastery

o Ability increases the drop chance for materials specific to your crafting profession

• Sunrise City Times newspaper added

o Newspaper vendors available in lobbies

• Municipality Agent NPC added

• Riot mode loot drops added

• Instance joining process updated and simplified

• Mode descriptions added before warm up

• UI updates to character window

Of course, this being Wednesday, there are already some known issues about the patch. The most severe has been a virtual memory crash, and fixes are already being tested, as addressed in this forum thread. In general, rest assured that if you've been posting feedback in our forums, we've heard you loud and clear ... well, not "heard" so much as read, but you get the idea. We take all your comments to heart.

For those of you new to the site and the community, you might be curious about exactly what the differences are between a Free and Premium account. Look no further for information; all you need to do is check out this page.

And as a final note to all of our members, I'd just like to say good luck in the new Sunrise City!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:28:00 +0000

Better Know a Regulator: Possoms!

If you've been visiting our forums over the last couple weeks, you know that we've been running a weekly event where we put a member of The Regulators, the GM gang from Sunrise City, on the hot seat and ask him questions submitted by the community.

The newest installment of answers in that series is now up! You can check out Possoms' answers to your questions in this forum thread.

And just in case you missed any of our earlier editions, you can find the answers here:

Cova

Nefarious

SpecialK

If that's not enough good news for you, I've got more. We're still accepting questions for this week's GM: MrBlack. If your question is selected this week, you'll win five Gold Bars to spend in Sunrise City. Head over to this forum thread for rules including eligibilty and prize details.

Or, if you're already famliar with those, you can head straight to MrBlack's official submission thread.

Thanks to everybody that's sent in questions over the last few weeks!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:48:00 +0000

"Ask the Devs" thread now open!

You've been waiting for a chance to put your questions directly to the dev team, and now you have that opportunity! Go here to post your questions now!

We'll compile your questions and put together a Q&A with the team, then we'll do it all over again!

--KevinB

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:27:12 +0000

Mobile Mayhem receives IGN Editor�s Choice Award and 8.8 out of 10!

IGN Wireless reviews Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem, scoring the game an 8.8 out of 10 and giving it Editor�s Choice Award. "Robocalypse offers fairly conventional RTS gameplay, but it is a well-oiled machine that plays very well. What is really unique here is the gleefully absurd humor and art style. The daft, irreverent tone is refreshing, and we should hope Lender and Wright have more game scripts up their sleeves. This is a polished RTS that will put a smile on your face. Strategy fans shouldn't let it go by unnoticed."

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:49:33 +0000

Three New Reviews

Three more Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem reviews are available, here are some quotes:

"Robocalypse has amazing stylized animation and a jovial nature, combined with real-time strategy the iDevice hasn't succeeded at before. Quite frankly, it�s a keeper." (Slide To Play rates the game 4 out of 4, a "Must Have")

"Robocalypse has certainly gone beyond my expectations and will remain in the highest of iPhone gaming pedestals for a long damn while." (The App Era)

"The numerous enemies along with the numerous robots to choose from make Robocalypse the king of RTS until another worthy competitor comes and dethrones it." (No DPad says the game is a "Must Have")

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:39:54 +0000

New Screenshots are Available

New screens from Robocalypse � Beaver Defense are available. These screens (page 1, page 2) feature the game�s updated art design, which is reflected in some new maps, towers and enemy robots. Robocalypse � Beaver Defense will be released on Nintendo's WiiWare� platform this fall, and features Tower-Defense styled gameplay combined with super-powered hero units and a fantastically funny story crafted by writers Jay Lender (SpongeBob Squarepants�) and Micah Wright (The Angry Beavers�).

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:38:10 +0000

Robocalypse� � Beaver Defense Screenshot 12

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:36:41 +0000

Robocalypse� � Beaver Defense Screenshot 11

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:35:40 +0000

Robocalypse� � Beaver Defense Screenshot 10

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:34:42 +0000

Robocalypse� � Beaver Defense Screenshot 09

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:33:01 +0000

Robocalypse� � Beaver Defense Screenshot 08

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:31:55 +0000

Robocalypse� � Beaver Defense Screenshot 07

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:30:51 +0000

Robocalypse� � Beaver Defense Screenshot 06

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:29:51 +0000

Robocalypse� � Beaver Defense Screenshot 05

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:27:00 +0000

A Note From the Devs!

CrimeCraft Executive Producer Matt McEnerney wrote this up for you, the community, and asked me to post it here. Be on the lookout Monday for the "Ask the Devs" thread for a chance to get your questions put straight to the dev team!

Hey guys,

Just wanted to give you all a quick update on the important questions we’ve been hearing a lot about lately. We don’t want anyone to think we’re not listening to them, but it’s pretty easy to get caught up in work and believe me, we’ve got a lot of stuff we’re pulling together based on feedback we’ve gotten from you guys!

First of all, we’re committed to CrimeCraft and the game servers will be up for the foreseeable future. Money is not an issue right now, we’re just focused on making the game better so we can be as successful as we can be in the long run.

I hope you all have noticed a drop off in cheating since we recently fixed some issues we had with HackShield. We’re not done working on it yet, we’re still tweaking the settings and finding ways to close the loopholes. This is an all-out war on hackers and they always fight dirty, so we’re working overtime to find cheaters and ban every one of them. If you are one of the cheaters, consider this your last warning: Stop now, because we will find you and you will be banned.

By now I hope you’ve all heard about the new content we’ve got coming at the end of this month and the free trial program that we will be offering. I’m really excited about delivering the first of several bi-monthly updates. We have a new PVE mode that’s going to be rolled out on some of our existing maps. I know some of you play more PVE than PVP these days, so we’re giving you guys more chances to beat up on some bots! For you PVP guys, we’re working on new ways to calculate your ranking to shake things up a little bit.

You’re also going to see some cool new features like the Sunrise Times in-game newspaper that will let you know what the top players and gangs are up to in game world. You’ll also see some of the statistical leaders and “most wanted” on some of the billboards in game.

We pay attention to these forums and we hear your suggestions, so please, keep them rolling in. The community team and the mods do a great job of working with you guys and keeping us in the loop with what’s on your mind, so use them at every opportunity. When you talk to a mod, you are talking to the team!

So, to sum up, we are financially secure, the game servers will stay up, HackShield is on, new content is coming and we’re listening to you, the players!

I’m going to have our community manager KevinB (Capo) open up an “Ask the Devs” thread on Monday that he will track for us and we’ll have the team get answers for you guys on a regular basis.

Stick with us guys, there’s good things coming soon!

Matt

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:47:40 +0000

Review in Touch Gen (4.5 out of 5 stars)

Touch Gen reviews Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem, giving the game 4 1/2 out of 5 stars: "Robocalypse is a better than average iPhone RTS, with great graphics, a funny story, and online multiplayer. If you love RTS games there is no reason not to own this one." Read the whole article here.

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:32:56 +0000

Review in News Shopper (8 out of 10)

"Not only does Robocalypse actually make strategy fun but it�s also got such outlandish charm that it�s quite unlike any other game I�ve seen before, certainly on iPhone/iPod," says News Shopper in their review and gives Robocalypse - Mobile Mayhem 8 out of 10. In conclusion they add: "Overall, Robocalypse is a highly polished and enjoyable game. It�s the most fun you can have with fighting robots without assembling your own army of tin servants."

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:07:52 +0000

Lite Version is Now Available!

Lite version of Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem was released today for the iPhone on the iTunes app store. The Lite version of Mobile Mayhem offers two levels from the single player game, along with access to local multiplayer on one map.

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:23:01 +0000

Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem Expands Multiplayer Capabilities

In response to the overwhelming requests from fans of Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem for the iPhone, we are pleased to announce we have launched additional online multiplayer servers for the game. The new servers, located in New York, Moscow and Chicago, are designed to give players additional higher-response, local network access to the chaotic and hilarious online battlefields.

No application update via the iTunes store is needed; players can simply log into the game and connect to the new servers for some outstanding multiplayer action.

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:06:05 +0000

Pocket Gamer gives the game 8 out of 10!

Pocket Gamer gives Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem 8 out of 10 and awards the game with Silver Award! "The nuts and bolts of Robocalypse are solid, even if a few elements need to be greased. It's wholly recommended for the strength of its strategic gameplay, but it also doubles as a handbook for learning new robotic resistance strategies should that water plan fail to pan out."

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:48:24 +0000

Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem is now available!

Hilarious robotic warfare has arrived on the iPhone, as Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem is now available on the iTunes App Store. Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem is a fast-paced strategy title that pits players against the evil (yet exceedingly polite!) robot war-machine � The Demolisher � and his metal minions. Combining a hilarious storyline penned by noted animation writers Jay Lender (SpongeBob Squarepants�) and Micah Wright (Angry Beavers�) with the iPhone�s unique features, Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem is an exciting Real-Time-Strategy experience that nearly anyone can enjoy!

Unbound Saga™ News

Tue, 17 Sep 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Lower price for Unbound Saga™

As a precursor to the holiday season, we announce a new, lower price for Unbound Saga, an arcade-style brawler for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system. The new price – $9.99 in North America and € 8.99 in Europe – is effective immediately. Unbound Saga is rated T for Teen+ and is available for download exclusively on the PlayStation®Network.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Original Gangster program, Free Trial Announced

Most of you have heard we were out in San Francisco earlier this week meeting with the media. Today we're officially announcing our Original Gangster Loyalty Program that's going to take care of you guys that have been with us from the beginning! We also will kick off an Unlimited Free Trial program late this month aimed at bringing more targets ... I mean, more players ... into CrimeCraft!

And that's not all, we're also announcing a crime lord's vault full of features we'll be adding to CrimeCraft in the next few months!

For you players who have been our best supporters, we're giving you an exclusive "Original Gangster" in-game tag and icon that will set you apart from the masses and we're going to give you an extra free month on your subscription plus you're going to get priority access to future content!

You can read all about the Original Gangster Program and the features coming to CrimeCraft in our press release:

Vogster Reveals Free Trial, New Subscription Structure and First Major Content Update for Online Shooter CrimeCraft
Company Proactively Addresses Community Feedback

NEW YORK, NY, October 2, 2009 –Vogster Entertainment, LLC, an international innovator in video game design and content, today announced an unlimited free trial, an enhanced subscription model, the game’s first major content update, as well as a loyalty reward program for existing customers of their PC-based Online Shooter, CrimeCraft. All changes are slated to commence later this month.

“The CrimeCraft community talks and we listen,” said Mario Kroll, Director of Marketing at Vogster. “We’ve been working closely with the community to find ways to enhance the content, depth and player experience to make CrimeCraft the best it can possibly be. In addition to our first major content update, at the end of this month we will offer a non-expiring, free trial that will allow gamers to experience the major features of the game without paying a subscription.”

Details of the free trial and subscription model changes are as follows:

• Unlimited Free Trial –New CrimeCraft players will be able to experience the major features of the game for free for as long as they want.

• Varied Subscription Options – CrimeCraft will introduce a new Standard Subscription for $4.99/month in addition to the current $9.99/month Premium Subscription option. The major differences between the subscription levels is the extent of customization, skill slots, speed of experience gain and inventory capacity. Standard and Premium subscription features will also be showcased behind “velvet rope” areas to allow players to make a fully-informed subscription decision.

• Seamless Transition – Players can seamlessly convert from a free trial to a paying account and switch between subscription levels. Features will be placed “on hold” or unlocked based on the current subscription level.

• Original Gangsters – In appreciation of our current CrimeCraft customers, everyone that purchases the game between launch and the introduction of the free trial later this month will receive a third month of Premium Subscription at no cost, and a host of in-game rewards including an “Original Gangster” tag and icon for their characters as well as priority access to future content .

The boxed version of CrimeCraft that is sold exclusively at Best Buy and FutureShop retail stores will remain the ideal way to jump into the world of Sunrise City. It now includes three free months of premium membership, an initial stake of 100 gold bars and access to exclusive in-game items – virtual apparel from Marc Ecko and Atticus Clothing, a discount card for in-game purchases and a combat backpack to expand carrying capacity.

CrimeCraft will also bring the first of many scheduled content updates online at the end of October. This first update will increase the game’s depth and adds many of the features most requested by our fans, including the following planned enhancements:

• Sunrise City Times – In-game newspaper that will feed information to the players concerning the latest news and happening in the game, including dynamic exploits by players and gangs.

• Your Name in Lights – In addition to making stars of players inside the newspaper feature, top ranked gangs and players will see their alter egos promoted on billboards.

• Titles Through Achievements – By completing certain difficult achievements, players will gain access to in-game icons and titles to make their character stand out and further communicate street credit and reputation.

• Kill the Boss Mode – A new PvE mode that allows players to cooperatively fight AI controlled enemies across every in-game map and take out bosses to get the best loot. This dramatically enhances the variety of environments for the highly praised PvE instances currently in the game.

• Storytellers – New Municipal Agent NPCs will provide a more in depth look at the back story that makes the universe of CrimeCraft a place of guns, gangs and intrigue.

• New NPC Gang and Mission Chains – A new NPC gang will offer additional missions and jobs.

• Player Loot Drops – Now players will be able to gain loot from participating in Riot Mode PvP, with the highest ranked players dropping more valuable loot if killed.

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:36:29 +0000

Interview with Game Producer

Cubed 3 has published their interview with Alan Martin regarding Robocalypse - Beaver Defense: "The Brain Beaver is a very sympathetic villain. The reason that he is so angry with humanity is that their pollution has mutated him horribly - and as a result is unable to find love. And believe me, a beaver that can't find love can be quite nasty!" Read the whole interview here!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:29:00 +0000

CrimeCraft sponsors Shine Fights II

Labor Day weekend was big in the mixed martial arts world as Shine Fights hosted Shine Fights II: American Top Team vs. The World. Premier and Main Event sponsor CrimeCraft had two fighters in the event. Middleweight Junior Assuncao, sporting the CrimeCraft logo on his trunks, took down Pete Grimes, winning a split decision. CrimeCraft lightweight fighter Anthony "Mean Machine" Morrison took the fight to his opponent Micah Moore, but was caught in an arm triangle choke in the second round.

Unbound Saga™ News

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Unbound Saga™ Press Coverage

Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine publishes a review of Unbound Saga in October issue. The game is rated 3.5 out of 5 stars and praised for its action, graphics and sense of humor: "The dialogue amuses - hobos hassle you for "Robbie's Liver" and mutants shout "All Hail Blonnng!" and salute before they rush you."

PlayMagazine.com runs a review of the Unbound Saga #1 comic book from Dark Horse: "After reading the book, you may understand exactly why Rick is so eager to escape the world he's been drawn into, but you can't help hoping that he stays stuck there long enough for at least a few more issues."

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:45:00 +0000

CrimeCraft is Live and in Stores Now!

You’ve been waiting impatiently for this day to arrive, and it’s finally here! THQ and Vogster Entertainment today announced that the highly anticipated Persistent World Next-gen Shooter CrimeCraft®, has shipped to North America and is available for purchase at exclusive retail partners Best Buy (USA & Canada) and Future Shop (Canada) in addition to directly online via download from Steam, Direct2Drive and right here on CrimeCraft.com.

Daniel Prousline, vice president of development for Vogster, said “The streets of CrimeCraft are ready to be filled with players anxious to leave their mark and earn leader board glory for themselves and their gangs. We are pleased to work with Best Buy as our exclusive retail partner to develop a one of a kind program for their customers.”

CrimeCraft is a Persistent World Next-Gen Shooter that blends a gripping, action-packed shooter experience with the best community and role-playing elements found in massively multi-player games. CrimeCraft is set in a gritty fictional city of the near future, following an ecological disaster of unprecedented scale, where the price of life is far less valuable than one’s reputation. Join thousands of players online as you learn the rules of the street, build your own gang and do whatever it takes to survive amidst the chaos.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 02:13:00 +0000

Head Start Now Underway, Events Announced!

As the title implies, CrimeCraft's Head Start is underway, which means that any and all who preordered the game can now join a CrimeCraft realm and start their journey in Sunrise City.

And if that's not enough, we've also got a brand-new slate of events for the players joining us during the Head Start, with rewards like CrimeCraft-branded clothing and in-game items, including gold bars.

But that's not all. If you're looking for something even more exciting, we'll be running a special contest spanning two weeks. If you're one of the top finishers, you'll have a chance to win a new ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB graphics card.

Interested? If so, read on.

GM Meet and Greet

When CrimeCraft's Head Start kicks off on Saturday, August 22nd at 2:00 PM Pacific Time, players will be greeted by our team of GMs, who will be in-game to level alongside players, field questions, and run special instances that will include small prizes for the best performers. So if you want to jumpstart your life in Sunrise City, come join the GMs starting at 2:00 PM Pacific Time on Saturday.

Read more about the GM Meet and Greet ...

PvE Day

On Sunday, August 23rd, players that join PvE instances between 4:00 PM Pacific Time and 11:59 PM Pacific time will be eligible to win real-world and digital prizes. All you have to do is be one of the players with the most PvE kills during that time period. Sound easy? Then at the end of the day, you might be enjoying things like CrimeCraft-branded clothing, for your real-life person, or gold bars for your in-game persona.

Read more about PvE Day, including rules and prize listings ...

PvP Day

If you couldn't make the competition on Sunday, you'll have another chance to earn prizes on Monday -- but this time you'll have to show off your PvP skills, because beating up on the AI just isn't good enough.

On Monday from 4:00 PM Pacific Time to 11:59 PM Pacific Time, be one of the players with the highest number of PvP kills and you'll be eligible to win more prizes.

Read more about PvP Day, including rules and prize listings ...

Rogue Master

If you're reading this, you're probably interested in winning the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB graphics card. Not that we blame you.

So what do you have to do? You have to prove you're a master of all things Rogue.

Players earn a score in every PvE instance based on a number of factors. Different amounts of points are awarded for killing different enemies, killing an enemy via headshot, multi-kills, and things of that nature. For a two-week period from the start of our Head Start launch, all your scores in PvE instances will count towards a cumulative total. At the end of two weeks, the 50 players with the highest cumulative totals will win prize packages and earn an automatic entry into a raffle for the ATI graphics card.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:28:00 +0000

Site and Forums Offline Pre-launch

The CrimeCraft website and forums will be temporarily offline on August 22nd, from 12:00-2:00 pm PDT, 3:00-5:00 pm EDT in preparation for the pre-order head start.

At 2:00 pm PDT, 5:00 pm EDT the website, forums, and CrimeCraft game servers will all be online. Note that only pre-orders will be allowed access to the CrimeCraft game servers at that time. The official launch for all players will be on August 25th.

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:24:18 +0000

Game Overview in Pocket Full of Apps

Pocket Full of Apps has posted a brief overview of Robocalypse - Mobile Mayhem, containing a few exclusive shots.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:43:00 +0000

Molotov and Remote Mine videos up on GamesRadar

The last two videos in GamesRadar.com's exclusive CrimeCraft "Skills" trailer series has posted!

These two videos take a look at the power of the Molotov and the sneaky Remote Mine. Check them both out at GamesRadar.com!

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:33:00 +0000

Cluster Rocket video posted on GamesRadar

The third in GamesRadar.com's exclusive CrimeCraft "Skills" trailer series has posted!

In this video, we take a look at the awesome Cluster Rocket! It ain't subtle, but it gets the job done. Check back daily this week for more Skills videos at GamesRadar.com.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:14:00 +0000

Head Start kicks off Saturday!

Don't forget that the CrimeCraft Preorder Head Start program kicks off Saturday, Aug. 22 at 2 p.m. PDT, 5 p.m. EDT. Make sure you check out our offers page for all of the great preorder packages!

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:08:00 +0000

Active Camo video up at GamesRadar.com

The second exclusive CrimeCraft "Skills" trailer has posted on GamesRadar.com!

In this video, we look at the sneaky Active Camo skill and how it can be used to ambush your enemies! Check back daily this week for more Skills videos at GamesRadar.com.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 03:16:00 +0000

'Spray and Pray' video debuts on GamesRadar

The first of the CrimeCraft "Skills" trailer series has posted exclusively on GamesRadar.com!

In this video, we highlight the "Spray and Pray" skill as a seasoned team of gangsters goes down in a hail of lead! Make sure you check back daily this week for more Skills videos at GamesRadar.com.

--KevinB

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:32:00 +0000

Open Beta has Concluded!

Open Beta has now concluded and game servers will be closed until the official launch on August 25th.

On behalf of Vogster Entertainment, we hope you have enjoyed your CrimeCraft Open Beta experience. We would first like to thank you because you are all not only CrimeCraft players, but also CrimeCraft testers. We extend our gratitude for your time spent in game as it has been a valuable resource to both our bug testing and feedback gathering. The community has been, and will continue to be a vital part in our never ending efforts to further build Sunrise City and the CrimeCraft experience.

Open Beta has been a wonderful learning experience for the developers, the community team, and the players. As you have gotten to know us both in game and on the forums, we have gotten to know you. CrimeCraft is an ever evolving world as evidenced by our closed beta, open beta, and our highly anticipated launch.

We thank you for patience during the server downtimes, events, and patches. It has been a long journey with a few bumps, and we have looked to the community every step of the way. Do not think of today as an end, it is a beginning. Vogster Entertainment is committed to an aggressive campaign of additional content including: new weapons, combat areas, skills, gameplay types, and monthly contests for significant real world and virtual prizes.

We look forward to seeing new and familiar faces when the walls of Sunrise City open on August 25th. For those of you who have pre-ordered, we will see you even earlier on August 22nd. Sunrise may be safe for now, but the gangs run these streets… and they will be coming back.

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:57:56 +0000

Robocalypse� � Mobile Mayhem Wallpaper 04

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:56:47 +0000

Robocalypse� � Mobile Mayhem Wallpaper 03

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:56:08 +0000

Robocalypse� � Mobile Mayhem Wallpaper 02

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:55:43 +0000

Robocalypse� � Mobile Mayhem Wallpaper 01

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:05:17 +0000

Wallpapers for iPhone are Available

We have released four wallpapers to help iPhone and iPod Touch owners spice up their devices! The wallpapers feature characters from the upcoming Robocalypse - Mobile Mayhem, including the evil enemy boss - The Demolisher.

Download the new wallpapers and add a little Robocalypse to your iPhone and iPod Touch.

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:44:28 +0000

Previews in Nintendo Power and Blast Magazine

Nintendo Power publishes a new preview for Beaver Defense in their latest issue: "Unlike the original Robocalypse for the Nintendo DS, which was a full-fledged real-time strategy game, Beaver Defense takes a simpler track: tower defense." Read half-page preview in Nintendo Power #245 (September 2009).

Blast Magazine writes a hands-on preview stating that "I�ve got my eye on this one, as you should." You can read the whole article here.

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:09:31 +0000

Looking for Testers

We are looking for 25 beta testers for Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem. Those accepted into the testing program will receive access to a test version of Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem, and will receive a free, full-featured version of this hilarious and fast-paced strategy game when it releases on the iTunes Store later this summer.

Gamers interested in enlisting in the test need to head over to the URL below and submit the requested information. We are only considering the first 100 entries, and only 25 of those will be chosen to enter the test based on their knowledge of iPhone apps, gaming and use of the iPhone.

Enlist in the Robocalypse Army now!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:03:00 +0000

Open Beta ends Friday

All good things must come to an end, and so we must say goodbye to the Open Beta. The servers will close at 7 p.m. PDT Friday night. That's not the end of the story, however, as launch is right around the corner on Aug. 25. While you’re waiting, why not pre-order CrimeCraft through one of our partners and get early access on Aug. 22 as well as a chance to reserve your character name?

Keep an eye out for in-game events running throughout the day Friday!

We’ll see you soon, through the scope of a sniper rifle!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:34:00 +0000

Exclusive Digital Distribution Packages Revealed!

Value-Packed Programs Offer Coveted In-Game Apparel, Enhancements and Early Access

NEW YORK, NY, August 5, 2009 –Vogster Entertainment, LLC, an international innovator in video game design and content, today announced details behind its customized online programs in support of CrimeCraft, the company’s highly anticipated Persistent World Next-gen Shooter (PWNS).

In addition to the exclusive retail package with Best Buy (and Future Shop in Canada), there are a variety of options on where and how to get your hands on the digital version of CrimeCraft either as a pre-order or when it launches in North America on August 25th, 2009. Each distribution partner offers its own set of exclusive in-game incentives:

CrimeCraft.com:

‘V Dust Super Boost’ – boosts weapon damage, accuracy, resistances and health by 15% for 5 rounds
Limited edition Atticus t-shirt for your avatar;
Exclusive CrimeCraft shirt for your avatar.

Pre-Order from CrimeCraft.com and get all the great launch items plus:

Another hit of ‘V Dust Super Boost’ – boosts weapon damage, accuracy, resistances and health by 15% for 5 rounds.
Access to open beta, and entry into the game three days prior to launch

Direct2Drive (IGN):

‘IGNphetamines Super Boost’ – boosts your weapon damage and accuracy by 25% for 5 rounds;
Limited edition Atticus t-shirt for your avatar;
Exclusive “Jess’ Hope” shirt designed by IGN.

Pre-order from Direct2Drive and get all the great launch items plus:

Another hit of ‘IGNphetamines Super Boost’ – boosts weapon accuracy and damage by 25% for 5 rounds.
Access to open beta, and entry into the game three days prior to launch

Steam:

‘Steamrolls Super Boost’ – boosts your weapon damage and accuracy by 30% and all resistance 20% for 5 rounds;
Limited edition Atticus t-shirt for your avatar;
Limited edition Ecko Unltd. t-shirt designed by fashion icon Marc Ecko for your avatar.

BestBuy.com Digital (same offer as the Best Buy/Future Shop retail exclusive):

Best Buy Discount Card that saves you 15% at all in-game item vendor shops;
Combat Backpack that doubles your carrying capacity;
Limited edition Atticus t-shirt for your avatar;
Limited edition Ecko Unltd. t-shirt designed by fashion icon Marc Ecko for your avatar.

Pre-Order from BestBuy.com Digital and get all the great launch items plus:

Limited edition Ecko Unltd. shoes designed by fashion icon Marc Ecko that increase the movement speed of your character by 20% inside the city areas;
Access to open beta, and entry into game three days prior to launch.

Available in North America on August 25, 2009 for a suggested retail price of $49.95, all versions of CrimeCraft will include two months of premium subscription time and a stipend of gold bars that can be used for in-game micro-transactions to outfit your character in the latest fashion. After the included two month subscription time has expired, there will be a low monthly fee of $9.99 that provides continued access to the game as well as a monthly allotment of gold bars. In addition to providing a persistent world with a secure and developer-managed gaming environment, CrimeCraft will continue to evolve and grow after launch with an aggressive addition of content including: new weapons, combat areas, skills, gameplay types and monthly contests for significant real world and virtual prizes.

CrimeCraft is a Persistent World Next-gen Shooter (PWNS) that blends a gripping, action-packed shooter experience with the best community and role-playing elements found in massively multi-player games. CrimeCraft is set in a gritty fictional city of the near future, following an ecological disaster of unprecedented scale, where the price of life is far less valuable than one’s reputation. Join thousands of players online as you learn the rules of the street, build your own gang and do whatever it takes to survive amidst the chaos.

Earn a reputation. Build a gang. Kill the competition. For more information, please visit www.crimecraft.com.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:52:00 +0000

CrimeCraft Store - Grand Opening!

We are pleased to announce the Grand Opening of the CrimeCraft store. Come on in and take a gander around and while you're there check out the the shiny digital box of CrimeCraft that is available for pre-order. To view the store simply click on the "Shop" link in the navigation bar or better yet click here

Pre-order CrimeCraft now for immediate access to the game when it launches! And by purchasing directly from the site you will be able to reserve a character and gang name for exclusive use when the game launches.

The digital download package includes:

60 days subscription
100 Gold Bars
V Dust Super Boost – boosts weapon damage, accuracy, resistances and health by 15% for 5 rounds
Limited edition Atticus t-shirt for your avatar
Exclusive CrimeCraft shirt for your avatar

Exclusive pre-order bonus: (Limited Time Only!)

Character and gang name reservation
Another hit of 'V Dust Super Boost' – boosts weapon damage, accuracy, resistances and health by 15% for 5 rounds.
Access to open beta on 8/7, and entry into the game three days prior to launch

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:32:00 +0000

Open Beta Keys at FilePlanet

Vogster Entertainment is conducting its open beta for the upcoming CrimeCraft in cooperation with IGN and FilePlanet, who are hosting the client and issuing activation keys on our behalf. This is offered first and foremost as a service to FilePlanet’s subscribers and Founder’s Club members to allow pre-loading and early access to the open beta. However, IGN has graciously agreed to open their exclusivity window and to allow all registered FilePlanet customers day one participation in the beta. A no-cost registration with FilePlanet will still be required in order to participate.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:25:00 +0000

Open Beta Events Announced!

Welcome to the Open Beta for CrimeCraft! As veterans of our Closed Beta know, around these parts we like to test the citizens of Sunrise City to find the best players. We want to know which gang is the best, which players are the most skilled, and yes, even who has the best fashion sense.

Luckily for you, our obsession with finding those answers didn’t stop with the Closed Beta, and we’ve got a slew of new events designed to test your mettle.

There’s something for everybody in the upcoming weeks. Repatriated citizens will recognize some elements of our old events, but new players don’t have to worry about being at too much of a disadvantage: we’re going to start with the basics so you can get your feet wet.

Then, in the second week, we’ll play for keeps.

Each event will be a standalone affair. Prizes for the opening events will help players explore CrimeCraft during the open beta; we’ll be handing out gold bars and items to help familiarize players with exactly what’s available, and at what price.

But in the second week, it’s time to get serious. The GMs will run a small tournament to reward the gangs with the most rep in Sunrise City. More details are listed below, but the prize pool will include digital copies of CrimeCraft along with items and gold bars for the official launch.

Sound interesting? If so, read on.

GM Welcome

As part of the Open Beta, we realize there’s going to be an influx of new players. And new players will have new questions.

We’re here to help.

During the opening weekend, a group of GMs will enter Sunrise City and introduce themselves – because it’s always nice to know who can teleport you to safety if your character gets stuck.

But they’ll also be there to level-up alongside you, play around, and generally answer your questions along the way. If you’re curious about the GM team and want to make a few new friends, be sure to sign on during the opening weekend. If not, be ready for havoc the next week when the GM team will be ready to take on all comers in CrimeCraft instances.

Read more...

Screenshot Contest

Show off your creative side by taking a screenshot (F9 is the default key) of something ingame and entering it in the appropriate category. Our admin team will select their favorite submissions and reward them with items and/or gold bars.

All you need to do is post the screenshot on our forums and let us know what category it fits under:

Best Action Shot: Capture something happening in an instance, like a knife kill, or somebody stalking their next kill.

Best Dance Pose: Take a picture of you (and maybe some of your friends) boogying somewhere in the Sunrise City.

Best Gang Shot: Who’s got the best crew? Show us your gang, and make sure you’re dressed to kill.

Best Variety Shot: Got something that doesn’t fit into the categories above? An artistic shot of you with Sunrise City as a background, perhaps? Or maybe a funny pose somewhere in the city? Submit it under this category.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:47:00 +0000

FilePlanet Pre-Load Live!

Hey folks,

If you don't have the beta client yet and are amped to jump in and get ready for the relaunch into Open Beta, head over to FilePlanet and sign up. In addition to hooking you up and being ready to jump in when beta goes live, being a FilePlanet member will get you the best access to all the latest and greatest files and betas.

See you in Sunrise City!

-gumpti0n

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:25:00 +0000

Open Beta kicks off Friday!

As you all know by now, we shut the doors on Closed Beta Monday. But that isn’t the end of your CrimeCraft experience. For many of you, it’s just beginning!

Friday, July 31, at 2 p.m. PDT, 5 p.m. EDT and 9 p.m. GMT we will invite all of our old friends from Closed Beta and a bunch of new targets … I mean, new friends … into our Open Beta test. You can sign up for Open Beta right here on our site and download the client from our buddies at FilePlanet and IGN.

Our Open Beta is a chance for a wide variety of gamers to get in and try CrimeCraft, the premier Persistent World Next-Gen Shooter (PWNS)! When the servers go live Friday at 2 p.m. PDT, you’ll get to experience a revamped tutorial system as well as a number of enhancements that are being added based on the Closed Beta experience. What kind of enhancements you ask? You’ll see improved stability, more mission content, an improved UI, improved weapon balancing and more!

If you were a part of our Closed Beta, all you need to do is patch up to the latest version to play.

If you haven’t had a chance to take part in the beta, we’re partnering with IGN and FilePlanet to give you an opportunity to download the client ahead of time so you’re ready to get in the game when the Open Beta launches Friday.

If you’re a CrimeCraft user who wasn’t in the Closed Beta, you will be able to download the client from FilePlanet beginning Wednesday, July 29, at 2 p.m. PDT, 5 p.m. EDT and 9 p.m. GMT.Come back to CrimeCraft.com tomorrow at 2 p.m. PDT for your link to the download page.

If you’re new to CrimeCraft, click here to register for our site and after registration you’ll be able to download the client at FilePlanet beginning Wednesday, July 29, at 2 p.m. PDT, 5 p.m. EDT and 9 p.m. GMT.

Once the client is downloaded and installed, just wait for the servers to go live at 2 p.m. PDT Friday and get in the game!

Unbound Saga™ News

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:00:00 +0000

UNBOUND SAGA at the San Diego Comic-Con

UNBOUND SAGA is being featured at the San Diego Comic-Con this week, with signings at the Dark Horse booth (#2615) and a playable demo station at the Sony booth (#5200)! If you are planning to attend, stop by either location and enter to win some great prizes! This week also marks the free download release of DJ? Acucrack's remix of the game's theme track, 'Fight the Maker'.

Visit www.cracknation.com to listen and download this exclusive remix today!

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:20:05 +0000

Interview with Game Producer

App Store Insider has published their interview with Robocalypse - Mobile Mayhem producer Alan Martin. Read it here!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:38:00 +0000

The end is near – Closed Beta ends Monday!

The denizens of Sunrise City have been dreading this day for a while, but all good things must come to an end. The CrimeCraft Closed Beta servers will be taken offline on Monday, 27 July, at 7 a.m. PDT, 10 a.m. EDT and 2 p.m. GMT.

We’ve gathered a ton of data to be implemented as we prepare to open the gates for the coming Open Beta. We couldn’t have gotten to this point without all of our dedicated testers and each of you will have a slot waiting for you in the coming Open Beta.
Keep an eye on this site next week for all of the details, but in the meantime, take advantage of the last weekend of the Closed Beta to shoot, stab and mutilate the competition!

Unbound Saga™ News

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Unbound Saga is Available Exclusively in North America

Unbound Saga, the anticipated arcade-style brawler for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, is now available exclusively via digital download on the PlayStation®Network. The wait is over and you can now fight your way through the ten episodes of hard punching arcade brawler action that can only be found in Unbound Saga!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:54:00 +0000

Ultimate Baller Showdown Event Announced

As citizens of Sunrise City know, we’ve been running events the last few weeks designed to test your skill, knowledge of the game, and creativity. But that, friends, was just the appetizer. Now it’s time to find the Ultimate Baller.

What is that, you ask? It’s not somebody that just knows his turf like the back of his hand. It’s not somebody that just inspires fear in his enemies and confidence in his friends. And it’s not somebody that just does work (Kobe Bryant, eat your heart out). It’s somebody who does all those things and more.

If you think you’re the best gangsta in Sunrise City, come out and prove it. Starting on Monday, July 20th, Team CrimeCraft will be running six events designed to test all your skills – and reward the winners accordingly.

What’s at stake besides your rep? For the winner of the Ultimate Baller competition, a free six-month subscription and 200 gold bars to be delivered upon the game’s retail launch. You read that correctly. These prizes are for post-launch, not a beta.

But even if you’re not the best of the best, fear not, loyal citizens. The Ultimate Baller competition will be giving out prizes to the ten best players from the week’s events. How does it all work, and what prizes can you win? See below for the nitty-gritty details, followed by the list of events with descriptions, dates, and rules.

Do you have what it takes? There’s only one way to find out.

(And if you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to have gold bars to spare, make sure you check out the final day’s event.)

Prizing

Grand Prize (1) – Free 6 Mo. Subscription + 200 Gold Bars
1st Prize (1) – Free 3 Mo. Subscription + 100 Gold Bars
2nd Prize (5) – Digital Retail Game
3rd Prize (3) – 50 Gold Bars

The top finisher in the Ultimate Baller competition will be awarded the Grand Prize.

The second-place finisher will be awarded the 1st Prize.

Players that place third through seventh will all receive the 2nd prize.

The eighth, ninth, and tenth place finishers will receive the 3rd prize.

Reminder: Once again, please note that these prizes are for the official launch of CrimeCraft. This means if you earn gold bars as part of this competition, you’ll receive them when the game goes live, not during open beta.

How to Win

The winners of the Ultimate Baller competition will be determined by their cumulative point total from the week’s events.

To receive points during an event, players must finish in the top-10 participants for the given competition. In the top-10 format, the top finisher will be awarded ten points. Second place will earn nine points. Third place will earn eight points. Each subsequent decrease in place will also result in one fewer point earned, leaving the tenth-place finisher earning a single point. This will be the basic format for all competitions – one point per place.

In the event of a tie during a day’s event, players will split the points earned. For instance, if there’s a three-way tie for third place during the cross-map individual tournament, each player will earn 7 points [ (8 + 7 + 6) / 3]. The only exception is a tie for 10th, in which case all finishers in 10th place will be awarded a single point, rather than splitting the point amongst themselves.

(Note: The above stipulation is also dependent on possible tie-breakers for individual events. Make sure you check the rules for each event so you’re confident in exactly how points will be awarded.)

As for the overall event, tie-breakers for the cumulative total will be determined by the following criteria:

- The first tie-breaker will be highest finish recorded during an individual event.

- The second tie-breaker will be average points earned per placement. If a player finishes first and third (18 points) during two of the competitions, his average points per placement would be 9 – and he would beat, by this tiebreaker, another player that finishes first, fifth, ninth, (also 18 points) which would average out to 6 points per placement.

- The third and final tie-breaker will be the overall amount of time spent playing the closed beta since the last character wipe.

So, Ultimate Baller-to-be, you’re still with us. You’ve made it past the mind-numbing details, and that’s a good indication. Now let’s start the fun stuff.

Name Your Gang

Everybody has to start somewhere. The Ultimate Baller competition starts here, and as for you, well ... you're starting out by thinking of the best gang name and an appropriate motto.

Once submissions are complete, Team CrimeCraft will select our ten favorite entries and open up the final decision to the public through a poll on the main site.

Leveling Competition

If you've already got a gang name, it's time to prove you can handle yourself in other areas -- namely, on that you can thrive on the streets.

How do you do that? Simple. Start a new character and beat your competitors in a leveling competition on Monday, July 20th.

Scavenger Hunt (the return of Myron Funt)

Just when you thought your work for Myron Funt was over, he returns -- and he's asking for more work than ever before. Can you find what he wants before your competitors do? Test your knowledge of Sunrise City in a bigger and better scavenger hunt.

The contest will start Tuesday, July 21st. Be prepared. You don't want to disappoint Myron.

Cross-Map Individual Tournament

It's the return of the Cross-Map Individual Tournament. If you missed it last time, now might be your last chance.

The goal is simple: participate in PvP maps and earn wins. The player with the most wins during the timeframe given on Wednesday, July 23rd takes home first place in this event. What could be easier than beating your fellow man?

Complete the most Payphone Jobs

If you've made it this far, it's clear you've got some skills. But just how versatile are you? Prove it by completing the most unique payphone jobs.

Test the breadth of your skills by taking on as many jobs as you can and completing them. The player that completes the most job during the given time period wins the competition.

End of Event Bash, Best Dressed Competition

It's the last event of the week, and trust me, we've saved the best for last. If you've ever wanted more gold bars than you knew what to do with, now's your chance.

Just make sure you spend some of that gold on some new threads, because the last competition is a fashion show, Sunrise City style. Be the best dressed male or female character, submit your glamour shot on the forums, and make sure the camera gets your good side.

* - Please note that we're still in the closed beta period, and that the servers will still be undergoing periodic maintenance and updates, including daily maintenance from 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM Pacific Time.

Unbound Saga™ News

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Unbound Saga Has Gone Gold

Unbound Saga, comic book inspired arcade-style brawler for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, has gone gold. Pop your knuckles and get ready to "lay down the smack down" as Unbound Saga will be available in North America on July 16th, followed by Europe on July 23rd, exclusively via digital download on the PlayStation®Network.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:01:00 +0000

New Beta Events Announced!

From July 13th to July 19th the CrimeCraft team will be hosting 4 exciting events and there’s something for everyone. Those with explorer’s blood can participate in the Photo Hunt while the more physically inclined can join a good old fashioned Knife Fight.

Photo Hunt

Myron Funt, an intellectual, a cold hearted [filtered] and an aficionado of photography? He’s put out word to the residents of Sunrise City that he is looking to acquire pictures of specific areas and objects throughout the city. Some say he’s gone mad; others suspect more sinister intentions. We say…who cares? He’s rich and is paying with cash, weapons and GOLD!

Each day from July 13th to July 19th, Myron Funt will post screenshots and clues to finding different locations within the game. Be one of the first three to find and take a screenshot of all of that day’s locations and Myron will reward you handsomely.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:56:00 +0000

CrimeCraft Beta: Weekly Events Announced

CrimeCraft is happy to announce three events for the week of July 6th.

Daily Map Challenge
Each weekday we will focus play on a single map. All maps will be available for play, but matches played on the Challenge Map will be tracked closely and the top ten players for each day will be listed on the website.

Challenge Map Rotation:

Monday: Municipality Warehouse & Storage
Tuesday: Misuki Tower
Wednesday: Isopach Oil
Thursday: X-Align Shipping
Friday: Olympia Mill & Lumberyard

Each day will begin at Midnight Eastern Daylight Time (UTC -4:00), so get in there early and play as much as you can. Top players are calculated by total games played & Win Loss Ratio within the top group.

Play For Gold
All players who log in between the hours of 5:00 and 6:00 PM Eastern (UTC -4:00) will be given ~~100 Gold Bars~~ for use in game. Make sure to log in every day to get the most out of this one. Gold Bars will be added to your account within a day, so be sure to log back in to get some use out of your newfound wealth.

Cross-Map Individual Tournament
The first official CrimeCraft Individual Tournament kicks off on Thursday, July 9th at 6:00 PM Eastern (GMT -4:00). All non-Free For All matches played between then and 10:00 PM will be tracked as part of the tournament. Get some practice in, and be prepared to face the best of Sunrise City.

Following the conclusion of the event, a tournament leaderboard will be posted on the site, so check back in on Friday to see where you ended up.

The top five players (by total wins & win/loss ratio) will recieve in-game prizes that will be announced in the coming days.

Tournament Details:

Free For All and PVE matches will not count towards tournament statistics, so make sure to join Team based PVP matches.
Tournament results are calculated for individuals, so it does not matter who is on your team, as long as you are on the winning side.
For a match to qualify for the tournament it must begin betweent 6:00 and 10:00 PM. Matches that run past 10 will still qualify, but only if they commenced before 10.
Tournament results will be posted shortly after the conclusion of the event, and prizes will be mailed to winners within one day.

We look forward to running more events in the coming weeks, so check back regularly to see what's going on in Sunrise City!

UPDATE: Please note that the daily reward for Play for Gold event has been adjusted to 50 Gold Bars.

UPDATE 2: Apologies for any confusion about the time of day for these events. All times listed are Eastern Daylight Time.

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:10:56 +0000

Press Previews

Check out Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem press previews published over June.

"A real-time strategy title with just about everything on the ball." (Macworld)

"From what we saw of the game, it looks like an extremely funny, well executed RTS... possibly capable of outshining Command and Conquer when it arrives in the app store." (148Apps)

"You ignored it on DS. Now, atone for your sins." (IGN)

"If the apocalypse promises this much fun, then we can't wait for judgment day to come." (Pocket Gamer)

Moreover, Pocket Gamer publishes interview with Robocalypse producer Alan Martin.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:12:00 +0000

Art Contest: Forum Mod Signatures

Show the world your artistic side. We’re kicking off the first CrimeCraft Signature Contest, and this is an opportunity to break out your favorite image editor and craft a masterpiece.

Read the details in the forum.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:04:00 +0000

Dev Wars Event has Concluded

Thanks for everyone who participated in today's Dev Wars event. The developers thoroughly enjoyed meeting the players and more importantly shooting them. ;-)

For those who participated in this event, your gold bars will be injected shortly. Please refer to the closed beta forums for the latest updates on the event.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:37:00 +0000

Dev Wars Has Begun!

Hello Beta Testers,

Welcome to Dev Wars!

Agenda

11:00am - 11:30am EST - Mingle with the devs in the Downtown lobby
11:30am - 12:30pm EST - The Battle Begins: Challenge any Dev and begin any map in Downtown
12:30am - 1:00pm EST - Spread out to other lobbies and maps.
1:00pm EST - Dev Wars Ends. Everyone back to their corners to lick their wounds.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:26:00 +0000

Beta Event: Join the Dev Wars!

Join the Dev Wars on July 1st, 2009!

Beginning at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5:00) the development team behind CrimeCraft will be in game to battle against all challengers. Do you think you've got what it takes to beat the gang that built Sunrise City?

Get to know the devs or just try to take them down. Downtown Sunrise City will be open for all out mayhem. Level up your best characters in the coming days and prepare them for the challenge of their criminal careers.

This event is open to all Closed Beta players. To participate, simply log in on July 1st at 11:00 AM Eastern and look for members of the Vogster gang. They will be hanging out in Downtown Sunrise City. Group up with your friends and challenge them to a round in your favorite map. The event concludes at 1:00 PM, so get in there early.

NEWS FLASH!

As an added bonus, all those who participate in this event will have in-game Gold Bars added to their account which can be redeemed for special items. So shoot the developers and get paid for it too!

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:35:00 +0000

E3 COVERAGE! Worthplaying + TGR + Gamebunny

Worthplaying lists some of the game's key features including:

Crime – Perform various “tasks” and “jobs” for money and experience which can be used to help you gain a reputation, learn new trade skills and perform new abilities in battle.

Craft - Use the loot gained from battle to create your own weapons, clothing and performance boosts.

Unreal Technology - Explore the vast world of Sunrise City beautifully rendered by the powerful Unreal Engine 3.

Intense TPS Action – Battle other players or AI enemies with a wide range of weapons, explosives, abilities, and enhancements at your disposal.

>> Read more at Worthplaying

Andrew Greon at The Game Reviews posted a hands-on preview of CrimeCraft in which he comments on how easy it was to pick up and play:

Both the shooting and adversarial modes of CrimeCraft are quite fun, as this part of the game seems to play quite well. I was able to pick up the controls within minutes and felt that the game was solid enough to compete solely as a shooter.

>> Read more at TGR

Two Hammers over at Game Bunny included this blurb about us during E3 Day Two's write-up:

Mike Donatelli, a Senior Game Designer for Vogster’s CRIMECRAFT, gave me a deep run-down of this urban warfare action’er. Donatelli was quick to point out that the game, due this August, isn’t really an MMO. There are many persistent aspects, such as character levels, clans, and unlocked items - but CRIMECRAFT is primarily a twitched-based shooter where cappin’ foos in instances and collecting loot rewards afterward (doled out according to your contribution to the fight) is the order of the day.

>> Read more at GameBunny

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Closed-Beta Launched for IGN/Fileplanet Members!

In addition to bringing in a bunch of new community members into the closed beta over the past couple of weeks, we’ve passed along a big pile of keys to our partners at IGN and Fileplanet. If you haven’t gotten into this phase of beta and are an IGN/Fileplanet member (or would like to be…) jump over and sign up on their side. We’re throwing open the doors in an effort to replicate what launch will be like so we encourage everyone to jump in the game and try to break it! See ya in Sunrise City!

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:24:54 +0000

Press Previews after E3

Robocalypse � Beaver Defense secures a lot of publicity after E3, here are some highlights:

"Will this be the first good tower defense game on WiiWare?... We like what we've played so far and look forward to the continuation of this franchise." (IGN)

"It may sound like a particularly weird kid�s game, but Robacalypse is actually a very robust tower defense-style strategy title." (GameShark)

"Expect multiplayer action and, obviously, a very bizarre sense of humor." (Nintendo Power, June 2009 Issue)

"It seemed to be surprisingly popular with the E3 crowd; someone was on it nearly every time we walked past it and they definitely seemed to be enjoying themselves." (Gaming Excellence)

"If you′re looking for something that could be as fun as PopCap Games� Plants vs. Zombies but runs a bit differently, this could totally be the game." (Destructoid)

"This is one WiiWare game that many Wii owners should definitely consider purchasing once it hits the market." (Nintendo Now)

Unbound Saga™ News

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Unbound Saga™ Buzz

A few highlights after showing Unbound Saga at E3:

"Unbound Saga looks like it could be a pretty solid brawler." ( GameSpot )

"Unbound Saga promises to be a classic arcade beat-em-up game on the PSP, perfect for those quick pick up and play sessions." ( GamePro Magazine )

"Vogster is helping keep the genre alive with Unbound Saga, a promising-looking game due out for the PSP." ( Ars Technica )

"The game really capitalizes on the comic-in-a-game concept with bits of fan service like fights taking place in a comic frame, unique cutscenes, and satirical interjections from the characters." ( My Gamer )

"Unbound Saga seems on tap to deliver a solid beat'em up experience." ( IGN )

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:01:00 +0000

E3 COVERAGE! Examiner + Gametrailers + Gameshark

Thomas Wilde mentioned CrimeCraft in his write-up of this year's up and coming MMO titles:

Vogster's CrimeCraft and K2's Parabellum take the character customization and social aspects of an MMO, and apply them to third- and first-person shooters, respectively. They're hoping to make their money off of microtransactions, with the idea that enough of their players will want a "Hello Kitty sniper rifle," to quote one of the developers who I hope was kidding, to pay for the game itself.

>> Read more at Examiner.com

Gametrailers.com got an exclusive with Senior Game Designer, Mike Donatelli (Thug), where he discusses some new features and capture-the-flag with CrimeCraft flava!

>> Watch more at Gametrailers.com

The staff at gameshark make some good observations:

I’ve grown tired of the “class X is overpowered” arguments that flood the forums of every MMO (I know, I know, not an MMO), so the notion of skill-based duels is right up my alley. As a longtime fan of the film The Warriors, I love the idea of making a uniform for my gang. I’ll be staying in tough with Vogster, so hopefully you can look forward to a preview in the near future.

>> Read more at Gameshark

Peter "Nextweek" Eykemans at Voodoo Extreme 3D ties in lore with his hands-on overview of the game. He also makes mention of the jumping ability, or lack there of:

You can't jump, which sounds strange, but your dodging abilities come in the form of a quick 180 degree turn and rolls to the side, front and back. The Club did the same thing, and it works. In PvP, it's generally going to be an 8 vs. 8 situation, while PvE instances can include up to 200 enemies.

>> Read more at Ve3d

MOAR!!! Last but not least.. Stop on over at Gamervision or Colony of Gamers for more tastey morsels of CrimeCraft!

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:33:27 +0000

Nomination for Best of E3 Strategy

Beaver Defense receives an award nomination in the Best of E3 strategy category from the top Canadian enthusiast site - Gaming Excellence!

And the game gets into GameShark′s "We promise* these games will rock your world!" list: "My biggest surprise of the show - this game looks absolutely awesome."

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 28 May 2009 17:25:00 +0000

E3 COVERAGE! IGN + Gamespot + Destructoid + Massively

Jason Ocampo at IGN played CrimeCraft and feels the game is ready to go! He makes a good comparison between CC and some other titles coming out this year:

The game itself feels like it's ready to go, and that's probably a good thing as inevitable comparisons were already being drawn up at the show between it and APB, the upcoming urban MMO from GTA-creator David Jones and his company Realtime Worlds. Nevermind the fact that APB is more of an full-featured MMO with vehicles while CrimeCraft is more like a persistent version of Counter-Strike and other shooters.

>> Read more at IGN.com

Andrew Park outlines what there is to do in the game, what it's about, and where you can get it. He sums up what he feels about CrimeCraft's content:

CrimeCraft seems like a competent-enough shooter

>> Read more at Gamespot.com

Brad Nicholson interviewed CrimeCraft's developers during E3 and had this to say:

The action in the game -- in its instances -- reminded me of a mix between Grand Theft Auto and Shadowrun: third-person shooting with real life weapons combined with specific skill usage (ability to turn invisible, for one).

>> Read more at Destructoid

Tracey John got a chance to speak with associate producer Aaron Krasnov during E3:

"We want to introduce the FPS players... to all of the great character-building content that MMOs deliver and put that into their world in a way that makes sense." ..and published a great write-up of that conversation on massively.com!

>> Read more at massively.com

MOAR!!! Last but not least.. We also had some hands-on interviews show up on PlayMagazine.com as well as an interview with Mike Donatelli on Futurelooks.com.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 21 May 2009 21:47:00 +0000

THQ to ship CrimeCraft exclusively to Best Buy stores, pre-order in June

THQ AND VOGSTER ENTERTAINMENT TO BRING EXCITING NEW PERSISTENT WORLD NEXT-GEN SHOOTER CRIMECRAFT TO WINDOWS PC

New Urban Crime Drama Available Exclusively at Best Buy

AGOURA HILLS, Calif. – May 28, 2009 – THQ Inc. (NASDAQ THQI) and Vogster Entertainment, LLC, today announced the upcoming release of CrimeCraft for Windows PC. Scheduled to ship across North America in August 2009, this highly-anticipated game will be available at retail exclusively at Best Buy stores and on www.bestbuy.com. Gamers can begin pre-ordering CrimeCraft in stores on June 7 or online beginning May 31.

“CrimeCraft is a unique forerunner into a genre dominated by fantasy and sci-fi themes,” said Wim Stocks, senior vice president of strategic partnerships for THQ, CrimeCraft’s retail publisher. “The seamless merger of a cutting-edge shooter experience with the depth of online play normally reserved for MMOs has Crimecraft defying traditional genre classification.”

Added Daniel Prousline, vice president of development for Vogster, CrimeCraft’s developer, “We are delighted to partner with Best Buy and THQ on CrimeCraft with its truly refreshing blend of genres. CrimeCraft will offer a great gaming experience to fans of shooters and massively multiplayer titles alike.”

Consumers who purchase CrimeCraft at Best Buy will receive two months of free play time and a number of exclusive in-game items, including two in-game t-shirts from acclaimed real-world fashion labels and a combat backpack for their avatar. Gamers will also receive a virtual Best Buy discount card that allows them to purchase in-game items at a reduced cost.

Those gamers pre-ordering CrimeCraft via Best Buy retail stores or online at www.bestbuy.com, will additionally receive virtual in-game shoes from Ecko Unltd., created by fashion icon Marc Ecko, access to play the pre-release version of the game during beta, and three days’ head start at the game’s launch.

About CrimeCraft
CrimeCraft is a Persistent World Next-gen Shooter (PWNS) that blends a gripping, action-packed shooter experience with the best community and role-playing elements found in massively multi-player games. CrimeCraft is set in a gritty fictional city of the near future, following an ecological disaster of unprecedented scale, where the price of life is far less valuable than one’s reputation. Join thousands of players online as you learn the rules of the street, build your own gang and do whatever it takes to survive amidst the chaos. Earn a reputation. Build a gang. Kill the competition. For more information on CrimeCraft, please visit www.crimecraft.com.

About Vogster Entertainment
Established in September 2005, Vogster Entertainment, LLC, is a venture-funded, independent entertainment company that delivers high quality, inspiring and creative content for all major gaming platforms, leveraging opportunities that tie into refreshing themes and brands relevant to gamers. The international company is headquartered in the New York City metropolitan area and has offices in Chicago and Eastern Europe, employing nearly 200 talented industry professionals with multiple awards and top-selling games to their collective credit. Vogster is currently working on the Persistent World Next-Gen (PWNS) shooter CrimeCraft, the comic-book inspired arcade brawler Unbound Saga and two sequels to their acclaimed cartoon-strategy series Robocalypse. For more information, visit www.vogster.com.

About THQ
THQ Inc. is a leading worldwide developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software. The company develops its products for all popular game systems, personal computers and wireless devices. Headquartered in Los Angeles County, California, THQ sells product through its global network of offices located throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. More information about THQ and its products may be found at www.thq.com. THQ and their respective logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of THQ Inc.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 20 May 2009 17:40:00 +0000

Vogster Entertainment Announces E3 2009 Line-Up

Vogster Entertainment Announces E3 2009 Line-Up

Emerging Publisher to Present Wide Spectrum of Playable Titles

May 21, 2009, New York - Vogster Entertainment, LLC, an international innovator in video-game design and content, is pleased to announce their full lineup of games for its debut attendance at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Vogster Entertainment will offer hands-on demonstrations at booth 5555 in the West Hall for the following titles:

UNBOUND SAGA (PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) System) -- Based on the upcoming Dark Horse comic book of the same name, UNBOUND SAGA is a comic book inspired, arcade-style brawler for the PSP System that features interactive environments with real-time physics. In UNBOUND SAGA players can throw down as 'comic book tough guy' Rick Ajax as they brawl their way across the panels and toward their final showdown with the omnipotent entity know as The Maker.

CrimeCraft (PC) -- CrimeCraft is a Persistent World Next-gen Shooter (PWNS) that blends a gripping, action-packed shooter experience with the best community and role-playing elements found in massively multi-player games. CrimeCraft is set in a gritty fictional city of the near future, following an ecological disaster of unprecedented scale, where the price of life is far less valuable than one’s reputation. Join thousands of players online as you learn the rules of the street, build your own gang and do whatever it takes to survive amidst the chaos. Earn a reputation. Build a gang. Kill the competition.

Robocalypse – Beaver Defense (Wii): Set against a comedic backdrop of warring robots gone haywire, Robocalypse -- Beaver Defense for WiiWare will challenge fans of tower-defense games to quickly and strategically place defensives to hold off the minions sent by a highly intelligent and deranged Beaver intent on destroying all humanity. With a storyline created by one of the writers from SpongeBob SquarePants™, Robocalypse – Beaver Defense is sure to keep players laughing as they bash near-endless waves of wise-cracking robots.

Robocalypse – Mobile Mayhem (iPhone) – Based on the award-winning real-time strategy game for the Nintendo DS™, Robocalypse – Mobile Mayhem offers a fun, fast and friendly mix of real-time strategy and humor for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Players will collect resources, build structures and control more than 10 unit types, 20 varieties of weaponry and powerful Hero robots in an effort to stop the evil “Demolisher” and his robots from dominating the world.

All games will be available for hands-on demonstrations by appointment only. To make an appointment, please contact Alex Brewer at alex@highwatergroup.com or 212-338-0077 x308

About Vogster Entertainment

Established in September 2005, Vogster Entertainment, LLC, is a venture-funded, independent entertainment company that delivers high quality, inspiring and creative content for all major gaming platforms, leveraging opportunities that tie into refreshing themes and brands relevant to gamers. The international company is headquartered in the New York City metropolitan area and has offices in Chicago and Eastern Europe, where it employs nearly 200 talented industry professionals with multiple awards and top-selling games to their collective credit. Vogster is currently working on the Persistent World Next-Gen (PWNS) shooter CrimeCraft, the comic-book inspired arcade brawler Unbound Saga and two sequels to their acclaimed cartoon-strategy series Robocalypse. For more information, visit www.vogster.com.

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Tue, 19 May 2009 18:40:54 +0000

Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem Announcement

The Demolisher, an evil robot bent on world domination, has announced his impending invasion of the iPhone today!

We are pleased to announce that we will bring our critically acclaimed, mission-based real time strategy title to the iPhone this late summer. Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem will feature all the humor, wit, content and strategy of the original game, and will be enhanced to deliver an even better experience through the iPhone′s unique features � including touch-screen support and online multiplayer. Fun and intuitive, Robocalypse � Mobile Mayhem for the iPhone will be accessible to all skill-levels of players � from the most casual tactician to the supreme robot-ruling warlord.

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Tue, 19 May 2009 13:47:26 +0000

Robocalypse� � Mobile Mayhem Screenshot 04

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Tue, 19 May 2009 13:46:26 +0000

Robocalypse� � Mobile Mayhem Screenshot 03

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Tue, 19 May 2009 13:45:26 +0000

Robocalypse� � Mobile Mayhem Screenshot 02

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Tue, 19 May 2009 13:44:26 +0000

Robocalypse� � Mobile Mayhem Screenshot 01

Robocalypse™ � Mobile Mayhem Official Announcements

Tue, 19 May 2009 12:44:26 +0000

Robocalypse� � Mobile Mayhem Trailer 01

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 13 May 2009 00:30:00 +0000

CrimeCraft Announces Ship Date and Enters Closed Beta

Vogster’s Persistent World Next-Gen Shooter CrimeCraft Announces Ship Date and Enters Closed Beta

NEW YORK, NY, May 20, 2009 –Vogster Entertainment, LLC, an international innovator in video game design and content, today announced that fans interested in participating in its CrimeCraft closed beta program can begin signing up now at www.crimecraft.com. The first public hands-on test drive of CrimeCraft, the acclaimed Persistent World, Next-gen Shooter (PWNS), officially kicked off this week for all registered users. Additional beta slots will be released on an ongoing basis throughout the summer to registered and qualified participants. The highly anticipated CrimeCraft is slated to ship for PC on August 25, 2009.

“Anticipation and acclaim continue to grow for CrimeCraft and we are excited to offer fans an exclusive chance to play the game before its release, providing feedback that will help fine-tune development,” said Matt McEnerney, Executive Producer of CrimeCraft. “Our game promises a refreshing, gritty and fast-paced alternative to the current online gaming realm. Our goal is to launch the best hybrid of twitch shooter action and RPG gaming depth, set in a persistent world environment. This closed beta is a pivotal milestone to ensure that we deliver on the high expectations that we and our fans have for CrimeCraft.”

CrimeCraft is a Persistent World Next-gen Shooter (PWNS) that blends a gripping, action-packed shooter experience with the best community and role-playing elements found in massively multi-player games. CrimeCraft is set in a gritty fictional city of the near future, following an ecological disaster of unprecedented scale, where the price of life is far less valuable than one’s reputation. Join thousands of players online as you learn the rules of the street, build your own gang, and do whatever it takes to survive amidst the chaos. Earn a reputation. Build a gang. Kill the competition. For additional information about CrimeCraft and the closed beta program, please visit www.crimecraft.com.

About Vogster Entertainment

Established in September 2005, Vogster Entertainment, LLC, is a venture-funded, independent entertainment company that delivers high quality, inspiring and creative content for all major gaming platforms, leveraging opportunities that tie into refreshing themes and brands relevant to gamers. The international company is headquartered in the New York City metropolitan area and has offices in Chicago and Eastern Europe, where it employs nearly 200 talented industry professionals with multiple awards and top-selling games to their collective credit. Vogster is currently working on the Persistent World Next-gen Shooter (PWNS) CrimeCraft, the comic-book inspired arcade brawler Unbound Saga and two sequels to their acclaimed cartoon-strategy series Robocalypse. For more information, visit www.vogster.com.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:27:00 +0000

First contact! Beta invites dispatched today

The first wave of our accepted beta testers have been contacted today! Check your email (and spam folder) to make sure if you're among the lucky few, your notification didn't get buried.

This round was pretty selective so don't be discouraged if you don't have an invite yet. We'll be sending out oodles more in the coming weeks!

IMPORTANT: Game servers & beta forums go live on Friday 5/15.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:55:00 +0000

MTV Multiplayer Blog and Cheat Code Central

Who's been talking about CrimeCraft this week? MTV's Multiplayer Blog and Cheat Code Central that's who!

Jonathan Marx at CheatCodeCentral.com posted a brand new preview of CrimeCraft.

We also received top slot placement on the websites front page.. w00t! Here's what he had to say:

“As cool and unique as your character will get, it will always be put to the test. That's because the gameplay in CrimeCraft is fast-paced like a shooter; players will have to rely on their "twitch" shooting ability in order to succeed. In this way, Vogster has gone to some lengths to try and narrow the gap between noobs and experienced players. After all, if you rule at online shooters, you'll still prevail in the action-heavy combat - there's no "target it and forget it" for CrimeCraft.”

He even goes into how marvelously un-laggy the the graphics are thanks to our core Unreal Engine technology:

“Best of all, gameplay looks to be utterly fluid - the use of grenades, mines, small-arms, and heavy weapons looks to be at par with the top shooters out there. We've got a feeling that this playground will succeed where others have failed.”

>> Read more at cheatcodecentral.com

Tracey John of MTV.com featured us in their MultiPlayerBlog.com piece that spotlighted the upcoming trend in the MMO space to leave the common fantasy theme and embrace a grittier, shooter based model:

“Fantasy-themed MMOs are a dime a dozen; perhaps that’s why we’re seeing a crop of shooting MMOs on the rise. We got the makers of five massively multiplayer online shooters — “APB,” “The Agency,” “Combat Arms,” “CrimeCraft” and “Earthrise” — to tell us briefly why they think the average shooter player (read: non-MMO gamer) would want to pick up their first- or third-person shooting game.”

>> Read more at MTV.com

Also worth mentioning, Spike.com picked up our video on Sasha Redden and has it playing here. [hint] Boy it would suuuure be nice if there were some comments following that clip. [/hint]

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000

BETA SIGNUP NOW OPEN

This is it! The moment you've been waiting for with forum-spamming fervor and sweaty-palmed anticipation! You are hereby cordially invited to tell us a little bit about yourself, making a strong case for which the gaming gods will determine your beta-worthiness.

Enter the official screening site

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:54:32 +0000

Robocalypse � Beaver Defense Announcement

Critically acclaimed Robocalypse franchise returns in upcoming tower defense title for WiiWare!

Robocalypse � Beaver Defense is a new addition to critically acclaimed, robot warfare-themed Robocalypse™ franchise. Robocalypse � Beaver Defense will offer madcap weaponry and uproarious destruction in a tower defense-style game. Set in a world of wise-cracking, battling robots, players will need to create and strategically position static and mobile defenses to stop the waves of enemies that are intent on destroying the player's HQ. Robocalypse � Beaver Defense will offer upgradable skills, weapons, hero units and defenses to be used in single-player and up to four-player multiplayer mayhem. It is the follow up title to 2008's critically received Nintendo DS™ real-time strategy game, Robocalypse.

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:31:13 +0000

Robocalypse� � Beaver Defense Screenshot 04

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:30:13 +0000

Robocalypse� � Beaver Defense Screenshot 03

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:29:13 +0000

Robocalypse� � Beaver Defense Screenshot 02

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:28:13 +0000

Robocalypse� � Beaver Defense Screenshot 01

Robocalypse™ � Beaver Defense Official Announcements

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:57:26 +0000

Robocalypse� � Beaver Defense Launch Trailer

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:46:00 +0000

Gamesradar and Destructoid + video

Nick Chester interviewed CrimeCraft's developers during GDC and had this to say:

CrimeCraft appeals to a market that's long been overlooked, folks more interested in games like Grand Theft Auto or other "more realistic" shooters.

>> Read more at Destructoid (with HD video)

Matt Cabral had some good stuff to say about the game's controls and run & gun gameplay:

"..it certainly feels as though CrimeCraft has got the running and gunning down pat. The character controls are tight, the aiming precise, and unloading a clip carried the appropriate audio and visual kick."

He also summarizes the MMORPG aspects of the game including its deep customization:

“What impressed us more than the solid shooting, though, was CrimeCraft's MMORPG side. Despite the focus on firefights, it's also retaining much of the deep customization you'd expect from the genre. Of course, you'll be able to personalize your own gang-banger; from minor facial details to wardrobe selections, no two [filtered]-cappin' characters will look alike. In our demo, we got behind the [filtered]-kicking and attitude of a female hottie - complete with painted-on jeans and cowboy hat…"

There are definitely some meaty bites in this preview folks!

>> Read more at Gamesradar

...Easter Egg?

Complex magazine made a teaser mention of us in their May 2009 publication in an article entitled "Complex Game System". In this article, there's a Venn diagram placing CrimeCraft slightly right of center between Strategy & Role-Playing and Action & Shooter.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:00:00 +0000

MTV and G4TV Coverage of CrimeCraft + video!

G4TV

Here's G4TV's video walkthrough originally posted by Jeffrey Kanjanapangka:

>> Read more at G4TV (also has a bigger version of video)

MTV

MTV's Tracey John posted a great write-up on CrimeCraft recently which included an interview with Executive Producer Matt McEnerney, what the heck a PWNs is, and how the game is compared to other titles (Halo, Call of Duty, APB, World of Warcraft). Here's a taste:

“What separates us from the other shooters is this persistent world, but we do have features you’d normally find in role-playing games,” explained executive producer Matt McEnerney.

Like an MMO, “CrimeCraft” offers PvE and PvP play, guilds, grouping, extensive character customization, a variety of weapons as well as different classes, missions, jobs and quests to level your character. However, McEnerney insisted that “CrimeCraft” is not an MMO.

>> Read more at MTV Multiplayer

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:31:00 +0000

CrimeCraft - GDC 2009 Exclusives

Our team's back from spreading the good word about CrimeCraft at GDC 2009! Here are some detailed exclusives to feast your eyes on while we're getting the place ready for your eminent arrival

GDC 2009: CrimeCraft

"I'm happy to report that Vogster's doing a great job with the textures and overall topography of the environment, and all the avatars I saw were sharp. The look of the game is Urban, slightly futurised. There's a just-noticeable not-quite-American aesthetic to everything, and that's a positive in my eyes. " -Akela Talamasca

>> Read more at Big Download

Shoot 'em up: Crimecraft at GDC

"Crimecraft is one of those games that, until now, has been rather misunderstood by the media and general public. Up to this point, I'd heard that the game will be like an MMO version of Grand Theft Auto, something that I quickly learned was pretty far from the truth as soon as I sat down to get a demo of the game. "That's a common misunderstanding," I was told by Casey Dickinson, Vogster's senior marketing manager. Having seen the game in action, I completely agree with him. Crimecraft has little in common with Rockstar's open-world series, and it honestly looks like it's a lot more fun." -Michael Thompson

>> Read more at Ars Technica

CrimeCraft: GDC First Look

"Having enjoyed what I've seen of this game so far, I am honestly looking forward to seeing more of it as the development cycle progresses." -Jon Wood

>> Read more at mmorpg.com

GDC 2009: CrimeCraft Impressions

"CrimeCraft runs on the Unreal engine. Matches are fast and brutal, and dying happens often, but since you can respawn a few seconds later, it's more of an inconvenience than anything else. The game's play modes include free-for-all deathmatch, team deathmatch, and a control-point mode that requires you to capture and hold various key points on the map. " -AndrewP

>> Read more at Gamespot

GDC09: Our look at CrimeCraft

"CrimeCraft marries two distinctive styles quite well: the action-packed shooter and the character development of an MMO. They're allowing you the chance to build a story for yourself in this crime-addled universe of drugs and violence, while focusing the combat on a system that makes the most sense in this genre. Forget dice rolls and 30-second cooldowns on spells. When it gets right down to it, it's your skill with a gun (on a screen, mind you) that determines who wins and loses." -Shawn Schuster

>> Read more at Massively.com

Unbound Saga™ News

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Unbound Saga™ Buzz

Unbound Saga secures a lot of publicity after New York Comic Con, here are some highlights:

"The unique premise is presented very well, with solid 3D graphics and interesting comic book flairs." ( Joystiq )

"The game feels like a classic brawler, through and through, and we spent a good deal of time mashing buttons to take out crowds of rather interesting enemies." (Destructoid )

"From the look of things so far Unbound Saga should be a welcome addition to the PSP library this year." (GameSpot )

IGN posts a hands-on article and an interview with Mike Kennedy, Senior Producer.

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Review on X-Play

"Robocalypse is easily one of the best portable strategy games out there." - says X-Play in the game review and rates Robocalypse 4 out of 5. "It′s fun, has a nice sense of humor, and the simplified control scheme works well overall."

Unbound Saga™ News

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Unbound Saga™ coming to PlayStation Network

Vogster Entertainment, an international innovator in video game design announced today that UNBOUND SAGA, an arcade style brawler for the PSP, will be available via download on the PlayStation® Network. UNBOUND SAGA is based on an upcoming comic book of the same name to be published by Dark Horse Comics, a leading publisher of comic books and graphic novels. Both the UNBOUND SAGA game and comic book will debut in June 2009.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Beta Invite Sign-up now open!

We're now taking contact info from players who'd like to be considered for closed-beta! Please leave your email address on www.crimecraft.com so we can notify you of what the next steps are. We'll be sending beta invites out to people in about a month where community involvement will be a factor in candidate selection. So start chatting it up on the forums and getting involved if you haven't already! It'll help your chances in a big way. In fact, we'll give you some time to build up your community rep so get to it!

Anyone who's already signed up to receive newsletters via email won't need to sign-up. However, you might want to double-check and see if your email address is current so you won't miss any important news.

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Robocalypse is nominated for Nintendo Power Awards!

Robocalypse is nominated for Best Writing in Nintendo Power Awards! To vote for Robocalypse visit the official 2008 Nintendo Power Awards ballot. Award winners will be announced in Nintendo Power March 2009 issue (vol. 239).

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Robocalypse is nominated for IGN′s Best of 2008 Awards!

IGN′s Best of 2008 Awards week has begun and Robocalypse was nominated in three categories! Best Strategy Game, Best New IP and Most Innovative Design. Winners and Readers′ Choice Awards will be announced on January 16, 2009.

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Review on Buzzfocus

Buzzfocus reviews Robocalypse and rates the game 8.8 out of 10, saying that "Overall Robocalypse is a well designed, fun RTS, that′s a keeper for any gamer looking for a strategic game with a descent challenge factor."

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Robocalypse Gets Very Positive Reviews

GameShark rated Robocalypse A- and awarded the game with Editor′s Choice: "Robocalypse might be the best RTS available for the DS." Also, they were pleased to notice "how well developer Vogster made the game work for both casual and hardcore strategists." You can find the whole review here.

GameZone agrees with the above: "The game is bursting with personality, and while it may not be flawless, it is one of the best examples of the genre on the DS yet." In their review Robocalypse is rated 8.3 out of 10.

ZTGamedomain rates the game 8.9 out of 10 calling it "A surprisingly deep and charming DS strategy title."

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Robocalypse is available in stores!

Robocalypse is available in stores now and carries a suggested retail price of US $29.99. You can get your copy from local retailers or order the game online.

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Robocalypse earns IGN Editors′ Choice Award!

Robocalypse earns IGN Editors′ Choice Award! "Vogster has crafted a clever RTS with loads of humor and personality." - IGN reviews Robocalypse and rates it 8.9 out of 10. "RTS titles are a rarity on the DS, and this is a polished effort. Strategy fans shouldn′t let it go by unnoticed."

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Robocalypse Has Gone Gold!

Robocalypse has gone gold and will be available in stores on November 18, exclusively for the Nintendo DS™. You can pre-order your copy of Robocalypse today at GameStop and receive a custom DS skin! Robocalypse has been rated �E10+� (Everyone 10 and older) by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) and will carry a suggested retail price of US $29.99.

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Preview on GameSpot

"The story unfolds like a wacky cartoon during the dialogue sequences � much like SpongeBob." - says GameSpot in Robocalypse preview: "The music and sound help emphasize the zaniness, keeping the mood lighthearted and fun."

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Interview with Game Producer on GameInformer

"Aside from being an impressive technical achievement - bringing a full-fledged RTS to the DS - the game′s humor and premise grabbed our attention." - Game Informer publishes an in-depth interview with Robocalypse executive producer Michael Mendheim. The Interview covers many aspects of the game, including storyline and gameplay: "From the ground up, everything we did on this game was specifically designed for the Nintendo DS and making it simple. If a six-year-old could play it, we might have something."

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Runner-up spot in IGN′s Best of E3 2008!

Robocalypse earns the runner-up spot in IGN′s Best of E3 2008, Best Strategy Game for Nintendo DS.

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Press Previews after E3

Robocalypse secures a lot of publicity after E3, here are some highlights: "Robocalypse is an appealing title for anyone looking for some on-the-go strategy gaming." (GameSpot)

"Robocalypse is set for an October release on the Nintendo DS and is looking potentially like a sleeper hit." (GameZone)

"Almost every aspect of the game is imbued with a nice sense of humor, from the dialogue to the comical robot animations." (IGN)

GameTrailers also posts an Interview and a Gameplay Video.

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Robocalypse will be Published by Tecmo

Robocalypse will be published by Tecmo in October 2008. Tecmo will have this title on display at E3 in the Concourse Pavilion at the Los Angeles Convention Center (booth # 417/419) between July 15th and 17th.

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Fri, 30 May 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Previews in Game Informer and Nintendo Power

Robocalypse is featured in June′s Game Informer and July′s Nintendo Power magazine. Nintendo Power has this to say: "Though the atmosphere is light, the game has the strategy elements of a hardcore sim."

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Robocalypse Receives The Best Game For Portable Platforms Award at KRI

Robocalypse is recognized as The Best Game For Portable Platforms at KRI game developers conference in Moscow. Judges honor the achievements of Vogster′s Moscow development team and the game′s executive producer Michael Mendheim for their work on this ground-breaking DS title.

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Preview on GameSpot

GameSpot publishes a hands-on preview of Robocalypse. After playing an alpha version, the review notes the gameplay fundamentals are solid and "...it looks like this may be the most complete RTS-style game the DS has seen yet."

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:00:00 +0000

Preview on GamesRadar

GamesRadar.com gives their first impression having spent time with Robocalypse - "Even in its pre-Alpha state, Robocalypse looks more than ready to hit your DS."

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Preview on 1UP

1Up.com′s preview concentrates on the game″s interface but makes note of its true RTS flavor "Gameplay wise, Robocalypse is your typical RTS: you build factories, create units, and blow crap up."

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Preview on IGN

IGN preview � "...it looks like it may go a long way towards filling the gaping RTS hole on the DS." Check out the article to learn about the storyline, missions, game mechanics, unit types and much more.

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Interview with Jay Lender and Micah Wright on IGN

IGN interviews the writers of Robocalypse. The game story is authored by SpongeBob screenwriter Jay Lender and his writing partner Micah Wright - "...what we really want is for people to say that they played because they needed to know what happens next... and they wanted to feel something. When you play Robocalypse you WILL feel something."

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Preview in Play Magazine

Robocalypse on the pages of Play Magazine. "You may not know them yet but very soon the name Vogster will bring about warm fuzzy feelings of fresh new IPs for the Xbox 360, PC and handhelds." Check out the January issue for more.

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:36:00 +0000

Robocalypse� Trailer: Testimonials

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:54:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 16

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:53:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 15

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:52:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 14

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:51:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 13

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:50:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 12

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:49:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 11

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:48:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 10

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:47:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 09

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:46:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 08

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:45:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 07

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:44:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 06

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:43:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 05

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:42:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 04

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:41:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 03

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:40:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 02

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:39:49 +0000

Robocalypse� Screenshot 01

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:28:00 +0000

Robocalypse� Trailer: The Final Conflict

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:26:00 +0000

Robocalypse� Trailer: News Alert

Robocalypse™ Official Announcements

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Robocalypse Announcement

Robocalypse officially announced! Robocalypse is an innovative real-time strategy game developed specifically for the Nintendo DS™. Featuring robotic armies equipped with unique weaponry, Robocalypse offers deep strategic warfare and a twist of humor. A technological breakthrough for the Nintendo DS, Robocalypse features over 50 A.I. driven units with advanced distributed path-finding, dynamic music and stunning 3D particle effects. Supporting these advancements is a hilarious storyline penned by Jay Lender, a writer and director for the acclaimed cartoon series SpongeBob Squarepants™, and Micah Wright, known for his writing contributions across multiple mediums.

CrimeCraft Official Announcements

Word on the Street

The gaming media is buzzing about CrimeCraft and the hits keep coming. Check out the links below to see what the press has to say after getting their first view of the game:

Destructoid: Read Article
Wired: Read Article
Fox News: Read Article
GameSpy: Read Article
IGN: Read Article
Crispy Gamer: Read Article

More news is on its way, stay tuned!