FireFall has been generating a profound amount of interest for a long time now. Red 5 Studios is building a game that stands apart from the rest of the MMO scene.

Eschewing the typical Sci-Fi, post-apocalyptic feel, FireFall's setting, art style and fast, action-packed gameplay have won a lot of admirers.

If you are one of the many people who have been eager to jump in and try the game yourself, ZAM and Red 5 are going to give you just that chance.

FireFall is getting European servers. Everyone in Europe who wanted to play FireFall, it's time to party. And just in time for the beta too! It apparently was a grind to get it to happen.

“We’ve been working hard to get these servers up and running for our European fans and it’s great that we were able to launch them in time for the Beta Weekends,” said Mark Kern, CEO of Red 5. “We still expect some kinks as the stress-testing continues, but overall, performance should be significantly improved with less lag for European players.”

Julian "Mirai" Williams

Firefall developers Red 5 have been hitting the livestream hard lately, and this man - Red 5 developer James "Thrasher" Macauley - has made a guest appearance on the stream. Did you see it?

Oh, we didn't warn you in time. Well, that's okay, because they planned for that - the livestream session with him was recorded and they have the full hour-plus right here for your viewing pleasure. Needless to say, if they ran a contest when this ran, you probably won't win if you enter now.

Julian "Mirai" Williams

It was a big patch day for Firefall, adding a whole slew of new content for all beta players. Included is a boatload of new content, including new missions such as Patrol Drone, Bounty Terminal, or Signal Scanning, new achievements for PvP, PvE, and exploration, warpaint patterns have been added, a ton of new class and weapon changes, and bunches of bugfixes. 

Julian "Mirai" Williams

This, readers, is not a Pokemon. It is the art for a Brontodon, one of the creatures for the shooter MMO currently in beta, Firefall. Red5 has showcased him in the newest Creature Feature, displaying how he came to be and why. 

Interestingly, unlike most of the wild creatures of post-Melding Earth, they were not created by the Melding doing Fallout-levels of genetic mutation, but was instead created by men, splicing genes to create essentially a giant cow, with enough meat to feed an army. They were engineered en masse to help get them along the new ice age, which fits - they look like mastodons gone crazy. 

Julian "Mirai" Williams

Red5, developers of Firefall, has started their first livestreaming this week, dubbed FireFall Fest! Through all of this week they will be streaming all day, letting newcomers (not just developers!) play the game, hosting special guests, and giving away prizes. Special guests include DAY[9], famed StarCraft II community celebrity, djWHEAT, eSports commentator, the Extra Credits team, the Mega 64 team, and actors Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, and Nathan Fillion.

The full schedule is right here, and the livestream is right here. It's up right now, and the devs are having a blast. We'll keep you updated on the proceedings through the week.

Julian "Mirai" Williams

Cancel your plans for next week, as Red 5 Studios have just announced a livestreaming event of gargantuan proportions. Starting on Monday October 22nd, FireFall Fest will be hitting our screens for six days of giveaways and competitions. Assisting throughout the week are some great names in gaming and geek, including Day9, Wil Wheaton, Felicia Day, James Portnow from Extra Credits, and more.

Those giveaways are definitely something to look out for, as prizes include an array of Razer loot and five AMD gaming rigs. FireFall founders will also be able to bag some in-game swag, with a new item up for grabs every day of the Fest. The celebs themselves will be hitting it hard in the FireFall beta, either by taking it to the Chosen in PvE, or by diving into PvP battles.

Check out the FireFall Fest site for more information on the livestream schedule. And if you’re not already a Founder, all signups from Monday 22nd will get instant access into the beta.

Gareth "Gazimoff" Harmer, Staff Writer

Anyone familiar with FireFall's Chosen is probably used to seeing them in one of two ways: they're either guarding a drop pod or they're teleporting in as you loot a crashed Accord drop pod. Fun to fight, but not much variety since they use the same tactics in the same location every time. Red 5 Studios is looking to change that over the next few months. In a recent developer blog post, designer Clancy Powell laid out some of the ways the war between the Accord and the Chosen will be developing as they begin to add more PvE content.

Firefall developers Red5 have put out a new blog post about dynamic events, which - given what Firefall is aiming for with their progressive content releases - is pretty important. 

If you're an Everquest veteran like me, you probably remember GM events, right? Where an employee of the game would control an in-game event to shape the world around them? Dynamic events are trying to do that on a more varied scale, either local events (called LDEs) or global events (called GDEs). Red5 is careful in the post to detail that they want to make it all feel important, both in story and in gameplay, which is why they explain a few examples of dynamic events they're planning - like Chosen trying to gain a stronger foothold in areas, or a rush to secure a crashed Thumper's salvage. 

Firefall is all about making the player feel like they're in a shifting world that changes depending on their actions. Dynamic events are the way that Red5 are making this happen. And I'm glad for that.

Julian "Mirai" Williams

In the first part of our interview with Lead Class Designer David Williams, we focused on how Red 5 was increasing the depth of gameplay in FireFall by raising the skill cap, allowing highly skilled players to truly shine. We also talked about the incredibly powerful eSports toolkit that went live in the recent patch, and how Armies will form up and organize missions into the Melding. The first half wrapped up with a look at recent class revamps and the reasons behind them.

Concluding this mega-interview is a closer look at how class abilities and unlocks are balanced, and how the revamped crafting system fits into that. We also took a look at the lore that went into crafting the world, and what inspired the manga and overall art direction for FireFall. My discussion wrapped up with Williams explaining the team’s approach to beta and his thoughts on free-to-play.

With PAX Prime opening today, Red 5 has also launched a Founders Pricing promotion, with a 25% discount available on all packages throughout the weekend, even for those unable to attend. We’ve also got a hands-on closer look at the game itself, by our very own Paul Cleveland. And don’t forget to check out Part One of the interview if you haven’t already!