APB Full Public Beta Coming, New Art Here

We haven't heard a word from Real Time Worlds since they blew our collective minds during a talk at this year's Game Developers Conference. Recently hired Community Relations Manager Chris Dye just dropped us a line to let us know that's about to change.

Dye is tasked with the walk in the park job of building interest in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto-esque massively multiplayer online game.

“APB is at an extremely exciting and important stage, and we can now begin the process of introducing to the gaming community the various aspects of what will make up this genre defining MMO”, commented Chris.

Mario Rizzo, Business Development Manager added “This appointment signals the start of a new phase for APB where we can interact more fluidly with both gaming sites, and our potential future player base. This is an important milestone for the game now that we are transitioning into Alpha and moving towards the full public beta of APB.”

I know that a beta for an MMO is almost a necessity, but that doesn't make me any less excited.

Put these pieces together. Realtime Worlds made Crackdown. Realtime Worlds are now at work on an MMO called APB, which is not entirely dissimilar to Grand Theft Auto. Realtime Worlds were founded by David Jones, who created Lemmings. Oh, and Grand Theft Auto. Last month, Realtime Worlds bought back the rights to APB from Korean company Webzen, who were originally scheduled to publish the game. Why the buyback? Eurogamer are reporting that, according to "a credible industry source", it was so they could turn around and sell the game to Rockstar, who could then rebadge it as a GTA MMO. Realtime are keeping quiet on the rumours, saying only that they bought back the rights to their game to "give themselves some options".

Realtime downplays GTA Online talk [Eurogamer]

Crackdown Devs Wrest Control Of APB From The Koreans

And by "the Koreans" we mean the fine folks at publishing outfit Webzen, which until now was the planned publisher of Realtime Worlds' cops and robbers MMO APB, planned for a PC (and possible PlayStation 3 and almost definite Xbox 360) release. You may recall that the Crackdown developer was on the receiving end of a $50 million cash infusion, the majority of it we assume was spent on frozen haggis, but which some was surely earmarked to get the game out of hock from the Korean distributor.

Realtime Worlds now holds distribution rights to APB—which, by the way, looked nothing short of fabulous at GDC—which founder David Jones says "can ensure that gamers around the globe experience the revolutionary gameplay we envisioned." Jones also spoke of a "having direct, personal relationships with our players" due to the change. We can only presume that the Scottish method of microtransacting does not necessarily jibe with the Korean style, but we hope that whatever the reason, the game will be better for it. Press release follows.

Realtime Worlds Seriously Considering APB For PS3

Realtime Worlds' Grand Theft Autoesque MMO APB (All Points Bulletin) has already been announced to be in development for both the Xbox 360 and PC. But with $50 million in their pocket, Realtime Worlds is considering all of their options. And that includes Sony's PlayStation 3. Studio Manager Colin MacDonald explained:

Yes, we'll be looking seriously at [APB on PS3], but that doesn't mean it's going ahead, and it doesn't mean it's not going ahead.

Crackdown Devs Handed $50 Million

Dave Jones of Realtime Worlds wowed GDC audiences this week with his presentation "My First MMO", debuting the successor to the award winning Crackdown known as APB. APB, Jones explained, is a massively multiplayer online game without the grind, one that draws inspiration from Counter-Strike more than it does from Ultima Online, EverQuest or World of Warcraft. Why Counter-Strike? "There's no persistence, no progression, no customization, its just damn fun," Jones said.

APB does have persistence and progression, if done a bit non-traditionally. But customization is one feature that APB has in spades.

Real Time Worlds Says "No" To Crackdown Sequel