I got a change to watch a bit of Auto Assault in action a few months back when I visited the folks over at Net Devil and I was very impressed. What really surprised me about the car wars massively multiplayer online role playing game was the level of interaction you can have with the scenary. You can drive into anything and it will react. You can knock over fences, bulldoze buildings, rag doll people. And then you can go back and interact with the rubble. The other big surprise was the amount of energy the team spent on car mechanics and physics. You can really drive in the game. You can race, do jumps, anything.

Needless to say, I'm totally psyched about this game coming out. So I was happy to see that you can now pre-order Auto Assault. The pre-order boxes will start showing up on shelves this week in North America. People who pre-order the game will get access to beta events and be allowed to start playing the final version before anyone else.

To celebrate, NCSoft sent out a Q&A with Net Devil President Scott Brown:

Q: Everyone is busy ramping up for E3. What does Auto Assault have in
the works?

Scott Brown: We are working hard on getting ready for E3 and I'm really excited about it. The game surprised people last year, since it is such a departure from the MMO market. In the past year we've
improved the look, the feel, the fun, and added tons of content—some of which will be on display at E3. Those who visit our booth will be able to actually play through PvE missions or engage in some tire-shredding PvP combat.

Q: Last year at E3 you all gave away a dune buggy. Anything crazy like that going on at your booth this year?

Scott Brown: This year, Auto Assault's post apocalyptic coolness will be interpreted by the percussion dance troupe, The Mutaytor. They will bring the energy, excitement and attitude of our game to the stage in the NCsoft booth virtually every hour of the show. If you've never seen a Mutaytor show and are going to E3, I highly recommend stopping by to see them. Aside from the incredible music they perform, they're a very visual performance art group with some stunning things happening on the stage. I'm sure that we'll have complaints from neighboring booths! There will also be giveaways and other exciting things going on in and around the booth and stage that people should definitely come check out.

Q: What do you hope to get out of E3 this year?

Scott Brown: Besides a "Best of" award? Well, since we are just moving from alpha testing stages to beta, I'm really looking forward to the feedback from players. It's going to be great for our team to have the one-to-one interaction that the E3 show floor will allow. I encourage everyone going to E3 to come by and let us know what you think! I want to show that a fast-paced, action-oriented RPG is really possible in the MMO space. I want people to walk away stunned at how we've managed to feature the speed and explosive dynamism of an action game without sacrificing any MMO features whatsoever—in fact, I believe that we've improved on the standard MMO feature-set. A concern I ve had is that some people might assume that this MMO is simply a car combat or racing game, since much of the action takes place inside a vehicle. However, I think that once people get to play the game on the show floor and see how we've merged the action with the role-playing elements of MMOs—the missions, the crafting, the character classes, skills, loot and so on, they'll understand that Auto Assault really is a MMO, it's just faster, meaner and more explosive than anything you're used to!

Q: You mentioned beta... where is the game with respect to that?

Scott Brown: We just began to invite beta testers beyond friends and family into the game last week. This is a huge milestone for us and the beginning of the fun part, to me. Beta testing is going really well so far and we're adding new players and lots of new content every week. We'd love new players to join us and help us test the game, so please sign up for a Beta account!

Q: Rumor has it that pre-order disks for Auto Assault will be out before E3. Is that true?

Scott Brown: That is, indeed, true! Customers can purchase Auto Assault pre-order boxes before E3. Those who purchase and register their CD will get lots of great stuff, including a special in-game weapon, a head start when we launch over people that do not have the pre-order, and a loot bonus. It's definitely a worthwhile investment.

Q: What are the next steps for Auto Assault, after E3?

Scott Brown: After E3, we'll be focusing on adding loads of content
and polishing the game in preparation for our release this fall. We'll also be monitoring feedback from our beta testers and making sure that launch is as smooth as possible with solid server support and customer service. Once we launch, though, it is not over for us! We'll switch to live team mode and immediately begin the first of many content expansions for Auto Assault as part of the NCsoft MMO model.

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