Once again Swordplay from PlayHGL.com has been hard at work and transcribed a speech that Bill Roper made at Hellgate Asia lauching party.

It is a great pleasure to be here today. Very exciting to be able to bring in the very latest version of Hellgate: London. So I wanted to give you an update on our current status, where we are with the game. We are currently working towards our first external alpha testing of Hellgate: London. We just sent our �Friends and Family� invitations earlier today, in the US, we�ll be doing so this week. And the game contents, we�ve locked down for quite a while, so we are in the finishing, polishing, balancing and bug fixing stage.

So I just want to let you know that Hellgate: London has come quite a long way since the last time that we actually brought the game to Korea. We�re very excited to give you the chance to play the latest available code, so in many ways, every one here who plays today will be really our first alpha testers. We�re really very excited to hear feedback and comments on what we�re doing with the game.

Swordplay from PlayHGL.com has posted part two of the transcribed audio interview with Bill, Dave and Kaiser.

There have been rumours that there will be extra classes in the factions, is that true?

Bill: Well one of the things that is exciting for us, we wanted to build the factions first of all to show not only the diversity of storyline and the philosophies of them all, but also to show the different game play archetypes. So the Templar is kind of the hack and slash melee fighter, the Cabalist being the spell casters and the Hunters using that first person mechanic. And then within that being able to create diversity in those game play types with different character classes. Certainly one of the thing that we look forward to being able to do is to expand the number of character classes that are there within the different factions. That is certainly something that is a possibility for us.

Are you studying your competitors or opposing games that are coming out around the same time?

Bill: In terms of competitive products, I don�t really know if there is a directly competitive product. There is really not a game that is coming out that is like Hellgate: London. So I think that if there is anything competitive, there just going to be other fun games for players to play.

It is one thing that we have never worried about, even from the Blizzard days till Flagship, we�ve never really sat and looked at what other games are coming out and then being too concerned about them being competitive. And certainly, we know what is coming out as we get excited as gamers over what is coming out. But I don�t really believe that there is anything that we are going to be watching that is coming to the marketplace that is going to be like Hellgate. So we are in a very unique place for it.

Information on the first four patches and ongoing development in the game have surfaced in Swordplays gallery of picture's from the Hellgate Asia launching party.

�Full details are as follows:
� �

� � We will update special events every month
� � We are hoping to release larger content-based patches every 3-4 months
� � We intend to focus on the first four Ongoing Patches

� � Special server types and game modes, like Hardcore, PVP, and Role-play
� � Expanded Guild support, like guild housing and shared guild stash
� � Auction House access and expanded social support, like in-game email and out of game character access
� � Class based �epic� quests for �ultimate� equipment
� � Expanded group management, like auto-group matchmaking
� � Armor Mod system
� � Trinket system
� � Usable stationary Turrets

� � New Monsters
� � New Weapons
� � New Armor Sets
� � New individual pieces of armor
� � New Tile Sets
� � New Locations
� � New Skills
� � New Affixes
� � New Character Classes

Swordplay from PlayHGL.com has posted his collection of photos from Hellgate Asia launching party.



You can find Swordplays gallery Here.

Swordplay from PlayHGL.com has transcribed and translated an audio interview with Bill, Dave and Kaiser that was recorded at the Hellgate Asia launching party.

How will balancing be handled in Hellgate: London?

Bill: Well, the balancing across the classes, we really are striving to have the different factions and the classes in the factions to all play fairly differently. So that when you are making a choice to what class you are playing, you are getting a very different game play feel out of it.

Obviously, the hardest thing in an RPG is balancing, because you want to make sure that each character has its own flavour, has its own feel and it plays a certain way. But at the same time, you don�t want one to be actually be just a class fit, but I think we are doing very well in that aspect. The balancing process is ongoing and we will get a lot of balancing out from our alpha and beta test, as we see people come out with ideas we have never thought of, different ways to combine skills and armour and weapons.

Where did the idea of armour and shields come from?

Bill: In Hellgate, there are basically two types of defences against attacks, armour and shields. Armour works in a way that you are used to in an RPG, where it reduces the amount of damage you receive. Shields is different in that it actually goes back to Star Trek, where you put your shields up and it stops all the damage until your shields go down then everything gets through.

So it is really based off more of a science fiction type of idea, which has been around for quite a long time, the idea of having personal shields. It really depends, the Hunters are kind of leaning more towards shields, while the Cabalists kind of have a mix between armour and shields and the Templars tend to skew more towards just armour, but you can find items that give you both, that another way you can customize your characters, kind of how much you are using each of those for your protection.

Flagships community manager Kaiser has posted some pictures on Flickr from the Asia launch party which took place recently.

You can find them Here

Tomorrow IGN will be updating the server we are hosted on to PHP5 and as a result there may be a small amount of downtime.

Thanks!

Due to internet connection problems in the last month I havent been around an awful lot, so for those that visit Hellgate Central I appologize about not keeping you up to date with the latest news.

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If you would like to volunteer you can email me at dgriffin01[AT]googlemail.com or post in the forums.

It has been announced in this months Games For Windows Magazine that there will be an a Elite subscription, the cost of the Elite subscription will be $9.95 (US Dollars) per month and will include some of the following benifits:-

• 24/7 phone- and internet-support
• No (server) queues for elite subscribers, with preference over non-paying customers
• 3 chars per account for non-elites, 12 for elite-customers
• Elite subscribers can store up to 40 items (instead of 20 for non-subscribers), which can be accessed from any char in an account-wide item vault.
• Visible distinction from other players. Elite subscribers are recognisable from their equipment and may trade subscriber-only equipment to other elite subscribers.
• VIP-Shuttles to remote areas
• Housing and founding of guilds are enabled for subscribers. Elite subscribers may attain officer/leader priviledges within their guild.
• Elite subscribers have access to additional game modes, including Hardcore mode.
• Elite subscribers and non-subscribers can play with each other.

Source: HellgateLondon.com

Yep, it�s true: Brennan does anything we want him to. As he prepares the monstrosity known as the behind-the-scenes DVD, we dance around him taking photos of him. Sometimes we do it while he�s working, other times we take pics of just of his equipment � y�know, because we have no idea what any of it does.

Also included in this photo set are a couple shots of our glorious, hard-working testers, and an office space cozier than a koozie. Enjoy!