The latest APB: Reloaded dev blog entry is short and sweet. GamersFirst CTO and COO Bjorn "TechMech" Book-Larsson has announced that the deadline to register for the first wave of closed beta keys is tomorrow, Feb. 15, at midnight PST. Head over to the game's site and submit your e-mail address if you'd like to be considered for the beta.

Book-Larsson also revealed that the team tentatively plans to kick off the first closed beta during the week of Feb. 28. They may delay the launch if any issues arise, so don't be surprised if the beta rolls into March.

More than 100,000 people have registered to participate in the APB: Reloaded closed beta so far! Have you signed up?

Developer blogs are always an interesting thing, and this time around proves to be no different, as the developers from All Points Bulletin: Reloaded have popped up yet another one of their weekly dev blogs. This time around, the team gave a sneak peak at what they hope will eventually become the third district of APB: Reloaded, dubbed "The Asylum." The devs also go carefully over what, specifically, went wrong with APB from a design perspective, and they really go into detail as to how they plan to tweak and fix everything up. All in all, it's a great read, and an even better one for fans of APB: Reloaded!

In the latest APB: Reloaded dev blog entry, Designer Zak "Qwentle" Littwin gives all sorts of details on the changes that players can expect to see in the upcoming closed beta. The post is quite lengthy, so here are the highlights:

• Gameplay changes will include integrated cheat detection, weapon modifications (damage, recoil, accuracy) and other general tweaks (marksmanship, witnessing, camera position).
• There are some major changes to the progression system. For example, organization standing has been removed, High-level vehicles are now using a slightly different unlock system, and the cost for most items has drastically increased.
• Vehicle changes include the removal of the Han Cellente starting vehicle and some big updates to the Balkan Kolva dump truck. The truck is now a rare find and has increased weight, torque and health.

Littwin also teases at four other topics that will be discussed in future blog posts: what you actually get for being a paid premium member, the configuration of leased weapons, the new game modes, and the actual details about the new Asylum map.

GamersFirst CTO and COO Bjorn "TechMech" Book-Larsson has been writing all of the entries for the APB: Reloaded dev blog since it kicked off in November 2010, and he now feels it's time to let some of the other team members chime in on the game's development.

In the latest entry, Johann aka "Aphadon" focuses on dealing with cheaters in the game. Aphadon was previously a Living City / AI Engineer for Realtime Worlds before the studio shut down, and now he's the engineer in charge of anti-hack and anti-cheat detection for APB: Reloaded. He discusses the technicalities of using PunkBuster to detect aimbots, and then shares the team's proposed banning policy:

"If a player is positively identified as running a known aimbot, he/she will be immediately kicked from the district and a notification message will be sent to all other players in that district. The cheater’s account and PC will be immediately banned for a period of time, during which the person will not be able to play using that account on any computer. If an aimbot is detected a second time, the account and computer will immediately be permanently banned, all monies paid will be forfeited and any upgrades or customizations will be revoked."

Book-Larsson ends the entry by emphasizing that the team takes game cheating extremely seriously. Read the entire blog entry for more details.

GamersFirst CTO and COO Bjorn "TechMech" Book-Larsson's latest APB: Reloaded blog entry is short and to the point. He answers two questions that were posted on his blog by players:

• The goal is to let you keep all the customizations you created in the original All Points Bulletin game.
• GamersFirst is working on purposeful end-game content and PvP, but don't expect to see it in closed beta.

If that's not enough APB: Reloaded news for you, Producer Jon-Enee Merriex recently answered some frequently asked questions on the forums. He says that GamersFirst currently plans to launch the game in the first half of 2011, but it may slip into August. He covers a lot of topics, so be sure to check out the entire Q&A after the jump.

GamersFirst CTO and COO Bjorn "TechMech" Book-Larsson has published his latest APB: Reloaded blog entry, and it contains a ton of information about the upcoming closed beta. Here are the highlights:

• To apply for the beta, submit your e-mail address on the game's official site and create a GamersFirst account.
• Closed beta e-mails will be sent out around the first week of February. You will be asked to submit additional data.
• About 20,000 e-mail addresses have been submitted for the closed beta test. GamersFirst's goal is to have approximately 6,000 to 8,000 players in the closed beta.
• GamersFirst will be testing components that have been updated since All Points Bulletin went dormant, as well as some of the new balance and progression systems.
• Beta testers will receive some sort of permanent reward.

Book-Larsson goes on to confirm that they plan on letting original APB players reclaim the original content that existed when the game shut down, including customizations, gear and character names. However, players likely won't get back all of their progression data and will definitely lose all of their old RTW points or cash-equivalent credits. Check out the entire blog entry for more details.

GamersFirst CTO and COO Bjorn "TechMech" Book-Larsson has made a couple interesting announcements in his newest APB: Reloaded blog entry. The team vows to launch the free-to-play version of All Points Bulletin in 2011 and the closed beta should start in late February.

Book-Larsson goes on to say that two key items need to be in place before the closed beta can begin: a new game client and a new network for GamersFirst. If the team runs into problems with either of these items, then the closed beta could be delayed.

The next blog entry will kick off a series of detailed game client discussions, which should be an interesting read for players who plan to try out APB: Reloaded.

As 2010 winds to a close and we prepare for 2011, the ZAM news team decided to take a look back at this year's highs and lows, as well as share what we're excited to see in 2011. Our team has changed a bit recently, so we wanted to take the time to properly introduce ourselves and talk about about our favorite topic: gaming.

Over the next few pages, you'll get to meet Editor-in-Chief Darryl "Togikagi" Gangloff (yours truly), Senior Staff Writer Chris "Pwyff" Tom, Reporter Kayla "Reiyami" Smith and Staff Writer Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland. Keep reading after the jump for my personal thoughts on 2010 and then flip through the pages to hear from the rest of the team.

We'd love to know what you thought about 2010. Feel free to share your opinions in the comments section below, or contact us at news@zam.com. You can also find our individual contact information on the staff list page.

In his latest blog entry, GamersFirst CTO and COO Bjorn "TechMech" Book-Larsson focuses on the fundamental concept of APB: Reloaded. As he puts it, the original All Points Bulletin was attempting to be similar to a "Grand Theft Auto Online" type of game, even though it's difficult to combine a story-driven element with a hardcore PvP game. After listing some possible game modes that APB: Reloaded may have, he outlines the team's current goal:

"Our end goal is clear - we want people to become so engaged in the activities we will make available in San Paro that gamers want to "hang out" in some part of the city almost all the time. There should be a huge variety of interactions (PvP, PvE, collaborative, single-player, storylines, social interactions etc.) and  players should really drive what modes we spend our time expanding and increasing in size (and what modes we abandon)."

So how will APB: Reloaded combine PvP and story elements? Only time will tell, but Book-Larsson's blog entry is definitely worth a read while we wait for the relaunch of the free-to-play All Points Bulletin.

GamersFirst CTO and COO Bjorn "TechMech" Book-Larsson has certainly kept his promise of posting weekly updates on APB: Reloaded, the upcoming free-to-play version of All Points Bulletin. His newest blog entry focuses on dealing with hackers and cheaters. Here's his main point: "As a mostly server-driven game, APB is naturally much more resilient to cheaters than most other F2P MMOs." He also vaguely mentions that they have ways to combat distributed denial-of-service attacks.

Rahul Sandil, the senior VP of global markets and PRfor GamersFirst, also made an interesting post on the official forums that gives some insight on how the company plans to recreate the APB brand. He says that GamersFirst's stance is to listen to their players. They plan to listen to the community, so let your voice be heard!