Global Agenda is a combination of free and subscription-based team-based online shooter, but either way you've got to buy the game to play. Hi-Rez has nailed down February 1st, 2010 as the launch date for their first big title, with preorder bonuses in store for those who reserve a copy via Steam, Amazon.com, or directly from Hi-Rez. Fans putting their money down early get access to the game's closed beta events, a special in-game helmet, and a chance to reserve character and agency names before the masses arrive.

Amazon and Hi-Rez will also be selling a limited edition boxed version of the game, which comes with a poster and a Commonwealth art book, which details the rise of the game's totalitarian government.

Remember, each copy also comes with one month free subscription to the subscription-only Global Agenda: Conquest mode. Check out the difference between free and subscription pay and get more preorder details at the Global Agenda website.

Global Agenda is an online shooter that, on the surface, plays a great deal like many other online shooters. You gain experience, level up, gain new equipment, and fight side-by-side with your teammates through a variety of maps and game types. It's also a massively-multiplayer persistent world game, in which rival agencies and alliances fight for territory, establish bases, craft, socialize, and participate in raids. It has the potential to appeal to two completely different audiences, so Hi-Rez has decided to cater to both.

When Global Agenda launches, a onetime purchase via retail or downloadable distribution will net you the full online multiplayer shooter, with no subscription fees ever required to play the core game. You still get to create and level a character, participate in co-operative missions against enemies and bosses, level your character, and join alliances. It functions much like a Call of Duty or Team Fortress does, only with inventory and enhanced social features.

Players craving something a bit more deeper, however, can opt to pay $12.99 a month ($11.99 for 3 months, $9.99 for 6) for the Global Agenda: Conquest subscription. Players who opt for Conquest again access to the more persistent part of the persistent-world game, Alliance versus Alliance World Domination gameplay. It's a massive-scale war for territory, with rival agencies capturing land, forming alliances with other agencies, gathering resources, and basically maintaining a constant vigil on their things, lest a rival group take them away.

Subscribing also allows players to form their own Alliances and Agencies, send mail, use the auction house, and participate in some of the higher-end raid content. Subscribing customers will also enjoy frequent updates to the ongoing content, which those playing the core game won't have access to.

We spoke with the game's Executive Producer Todd Harris, who explained the core difference between the two ways to pay and play. "The main difference is for folks that want to play the game as a multiplayer online game with a little bit of persistence, that's what the main package brings you. We looked at the feature set of other online games and made sure we had all of that and more. We're putting all of that into a box an letting people get it for a one-time price."

According to Todd, throughout the development of Global Agenda, testers were commenting on how enjoyable the combat system in the game is, saying they would gladly pay for it without any of the MMO features. Now they'll have their chance.

While there are many differences between the two different payment types, Todd assured me that the portions of the game that overlap - the match made PVP battles - will never be unbalanced between those subscribed to the game and those that choose not to. Any items introduced to subscribers that can be used in regular PVP combat will be available to non-subscribers as well. There will be unique items for those who opt to pay a monthly fee, but those will only be useable in subscriber-only gameplay.

As an added bonus, everyone who purchases the full version of the game gets a free 30-day subscription, so if you aren't sure what you want, it won't cost anything to see how the other half lives.

It certainly sounds like Hi-Rez has all of its bases covered on this one. The shooter gameplay in Global Agenda is extremely solid, more than enough to carry off a standalone title. We'll see how things work out for the game when it is released sometime in Q1 of 2010.

It seems like every time I see Global Agenda it looks just a little more polished than before. The armor definitely looks polished, as do the aforementioned killer robots. It really makes me want to get my hands on the game again, despite my suspected belief that the Atlanta-based studio feels I am avoiding it. It's nothing personal, folks! Just waiting until my face feels a little better before heading out to get my ass kicked by your internal testing team again. Soon, I promise!

I'd say it's a bit ballsy to be poking fun when your game is only just reaching the closed beta stage, but at least they picked a good class to do it with. The Recon is the rogue of the Global Agenda universe, and if there's one thing mages cannot suffer, it's rogues. At least the Recon put him down painlessly.

Of course they could just be poking fun at elves in general, but that right there is definitely an elf of the Blood variety right there.

E3 2009 will mark the first major public showing of the game, which has until now been shown off at the odd public charity event or via press appointments. This means a much larger audience will be getting their first taste of the game's intriguing mix of team-based shooter, role-playing game, and territory control strategy. Hopefully they'll be better at it than I've historically been.

"Global Agenda is very different than the typical MMO", said Todd Harris, Executive Producer. "The intense mission combat and team-based tactics are best experienced rather than merely explained. We're excited to bring Global Agenda to the show for hands-on demonstrations, accompanied by one-on-one conversations with members of the game development team."

He makes a very good point. I've tried explaining it many times myself, with varying degrees of effectiveness. Visit the Global Agenda website to check out the latest videos and screens from the game, which should do a much better job.

Global Agenda pits rival player-created agencies against each other as they strive to achieve power in the wake of a global disaster. The game features fast-paced PVP more akin to an FPS than an MMORPG, while allowing players to choose classes and progress, gaining access to better and more powerful gear. Now, after ages of alpha testing (which I had a chance to participate in), Hi-Rez has finally opened up applications for closed beta.

"Our alpha testing has gone very well - in terms of game stability and, most importantly, very positive feedback from an active alpha community", said Todd Harris, Executive Producer of Hi-Rez Studios. "Based on these results we are excited about aggressively growing the Global Agenda player community in Beta"

Agressive, yes, but not so agressive that you won't have to wait until the seccond quarter of 2009 in order to participate. Still, you might want to head over to the website and sign up now, just in case they take eagerness into account when selecting testers. You never know.

BETA SIGNUPS BEGIN FOR ACTION MMO GLOBAL AGENDA

ATLANTA, Georgia – January 8, 2009 – Hi-Rez Studios™ announced today that players can now apply to participate in closed beta for Global Agenda™, an action massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) scheduled for release in late 2009. The closed beta is anticipated to begin in the second quarter of '09 and players can apply by visiting http://www.globalagendagame.com/

Global Agenda, built using Unreal® Engine 3, is set in a near future world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict. It features fast-paced ranged and close combat, RPG-style character progression, solo or cooperative team missions, and epic, competitive campaigns between player-created agencies.

"Our alpha testing has gone very well - in terms of game stability and, most importantly, very positive feedback from an active alpha community", said Todd Harris, Executive Producer of Hi-Rez Studios. "Based on these results we are excited about aggressively growing the Global Agenda player community in Beta"

Features Intended for Closed Beta Include:

* Develop your agent – Create, extensively customize, and improve your agent character over the course of your career, complimenting your FPS skills with RPG-style progression and high-tech gear.
* Join with other agents – Engage in cooperative PvE missions to develop and refine your individual and team tactics
* Advance your agency – Join a player-created agency, compete in technology races for advanced equipment, and capture critical locations to increase your influence in the world.
* Compete in fast-paced PvP combat – Work with your allies to raid or capture enemy controlled facilities during objective-based missions. Equip yourself from a powerful array of weapons, armor, and strategic devices like triggered explosives, deployable turrets, stealth suits, holographic decoys, and remote control robots.
* Experience a dynamic, player-driven world – Agency leaders navigate through a global conflict of other player-run groups, striving to reach their goals first. Territory, resources, technology, and influence are all valuable commodities, with agencies engaging in politics, intrigue, and outright deception to control them.

About Hi-Rez Studios
Hi-Rez Studios, Inc. was established in 2005 to create exceptional online interactive entertainment and is located just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, visit www.hirezstudios.com.

It was a day of gaming, good times, and charity, filled with multiplayer sessions of Global Agenda, a charity raffle that I actually won something from, and a guest spot for me on AllGames.com's Bobby Blackwolf Show during which I embarrassed just about everyone alive. Hit the jump for details on the event.

The Location
The event took place at Computer Arena, a lovely little gaming cafe located off of Alpharetta Highway in Roswell Georgia, that I didn't technically know existed. It's literally right down the street from me, but there's a giant Hi-Fi Buys sign obscuring their sign, a problem that is soon to be solved by the economy. Computer Arena not only features multiple computer stations, a slew of Xbox 360 stations, beer, snacks, and soda, but it also features a learning center that holds classes, and more recently CC Gaming, a vintage game shop in the back that buys and sells titles from every era. It's definitely a place I shall be spending more time at in the future.

The Participants
It was hard to tell who all was with Hi-Rez Studios and who wasn't, seeing as all the employees of Computer Arena, CC Gaming, and Hi-Rez were all wearing the company's logo on their t-shirts. Along with the staff of the establishment and the developers, appearance were also made by representatives of the Georgia chapter of the Entertainment Consumer's Association (ECA) and Asante Bradford from Georgia's Department of Economic Development's Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Office. You know, the guys who give tax breaks for developers willing to put peaches in their games. Yes, Global Agenda will have a Georgia peach splash screen. It's a further 10% tax break on top of Georgia's already generous 20%, so I can't say I blame them.

The Game
Global Agenda is coming along quite nicely. Levels and assets had changed from when I last played the title, giving the MMO a much more polished feel to it. Still no word on the more persistent world elements of their persistent world game, but the event wasn't about that. It was once again all about combat. There was a Noobville area where new players could create accounts and learn the basics, but the real action was in the PVP area, where players could take on each other in multiplayer rounds, culminating in a best of the best competition towards the end of the day that I really had no reason to stay for, seeing as I am nowhere near the best, much less the best of them.

In fact, I had the misfortune to sit next to one of the game's best players during my PVP session, who was on the opposing team. I had found a lovely spot to snipe from and was minding my own business when bam, there he is, taking me out and keeping me separated. I swear he was a dirty screen-peeker.

The Broadcast
Bobby Blackwolf and I have been meaning to get together on a broadcast for a good year now at least, but never had the chance to. Perhaps we were better off. What was meant to be a quick stop by wound up being several quick stop bys as I tried to help Bobby fill the downtime between interviews with representatives from the ECA, Hi-Rez, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. You can find the broadcast over at AllGames.com. If I actually offended anyone, it wasn't me. I blame Pandalicious.

The Spoils
Towards the end of the day there was a raffle held, for which I bought several tickets at $5 a pop, thinking of nothing more than supporting a good cause. Certainly I wasn't thinking of the boxed NES and N64 systems they had in the auction, courtesy of CC Gaming. No, my intentions were merely philanthropic.

I did manage to win something, however. I am now the proud owner of a 4MB Creative Zen MP3 player, which they gave out immediately following the iPod Nano as sort of a consolation prize. Thank you, charity raffle. You just made Christmas shopping for my nephew so very much easier.

The Results
Not only was the event highly enjoyable, it was also highly successful. All in all nearly 300 folks passed through the doors during the event, raising a grand total of more than $4,700 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Not only that, but it also helped raise awareness of the game development industry as it stands in Georgia, which is growing, but far too slowly for my tastes.

On a more personal level, the event made me aware of the fact that I should never, ever do live radio, and that there's a really cool retro gaming store right down the street from my house which I will from here on out be loitering at on a regular basis.

Thanks go out to the folks at Hi-Rez for putting on an excellent event, as well as the guys at the Computer Arena, even if the owner did think I was 45 years old.

Special thanks go out to Hi-Rez's incredibly persistent Michal Adam (above left) for making sure I didn't sleep through the whole thing and providing me these lovely photos from the event.

GEORGIA VIDEO GAMING COMMUNITY TO CANCER: "PWNED"

Charity event features sneak preview of Hi-Rez Studios' action online game Global Agenda™

ATLANTA, Georgia– November 11, 2008 - Hi-Rez Studios, an independent developer of online games, previewed
its action massively multiplayer online game Global Agenda to a crowd of nearly 300 attendees at the Computer
Arena in Roswell, GA on Saturday, November 8th. Dubbed "MISSION: Pwning for a Cure", the all-day
community-oriented event raised over $4,700 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The event is part of a multi-
year Hi-Rez Studios fund raising campaign toward blood cancer research.

The free event allowed game enthusiasts an early preview of the game Global Agenda, currently in closed alpha
testing. Attendees created agent characters within the virtual world of Global Agenda, experienced solo and
cooperative training missions, and engaged in immersive, objective based, multi-player combat.

In support of the budding video game industry in Georgia, the event also included art and animation training
seminars conducted by the Hi-Rez Studios development team. The well-attended, interactive sessions demonstrated
the sophistication of the technology, tools, and talent involved in the development of a modern computer game.

"One of the downsides of covering the gaming industry from Georgia is that one often has to travel across the
country to do the job", says Bobby 'Backwolf' Tamburrino, host of the Bobby Blackwolf Show on All Games Radio.
"But that's changing. The ability to literally go down the street from my home to attend Pwning For A Cure was a
welcome change. Several listeners to our live coverage mentioned that they wished an event like this was in their
neck of the wood. That bodes very well for the future of gaming in Georgia"

About Hi-Rez Studios
Hi-Rez Studios, Inc. was established in 2005 to create exceptional online interactive entertainment and is located
just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, visit www.hirezstudios.com.

Yes, I will be there for the better part of the day, so if you see a tall guy with Final Fantasy characters tattooed on his arms, that's probably me. The event kicks off at noon and runs til 5PM. It's a damn fine reason to get up off your ass for a good cause. Hit the jump for full details, and maybe I will see you there!

HI-REZ STUDIOS AND THE LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY ANNOUNCE DETAILS FOR MISSION: PWNING FOR A CURE
All-day charity event unites video gamers to defeat blood cancers.

("Pwn" is video gamer slang for defeating an opponent, a colloquialism based on the misspelling of "own," usually issued as a boast after a particularly heated and/or public virtual contest.)

ATLANTA, Georgia – October 28, 2008 - Hi-Rez Studios, an independent developer of online entertainment, today announced additional community partners and a full game-development seminar schedule for MISSION: Pwning for a Cure, Hi-Rez's upcoming charity event held in concert with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

The event, co-sponsored by the Georgia Department of Economic Development's Film, Music & Digital Entertainment Office, will be held at the Computer Arena in Roswell, Ga., on Saturday, November 8th from noon to 5 p.m. The day, targeted toward the gaming enthusiast, includes seminars on video game development, a chance to play games with your friends, a silent auction, raffle, prizes, music and food. It also features the first public preview of Global Agenda, the upcoming debut title from Hi-Rez Studios. Attendees can play both solo and player-vs-player missions inside the virtual world of Global Agenda, being among the first to experience the game's fast-action, immersive play style. All-access admission into the event is free to the public. Donations to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society are encouraged and greatly appreciated.

Additional community sponsors of the event include the Art Institute of Atlanta, Rickwood Music, a provider of music for media, the Entertainment Consumer Association's (ECA) Atlanta Chapter, a non-profit membership advocacy organization for consumers of interactive entertainment, and Habif, Arogetti & Wynne, LLP, Certified Public Accountants and business advisers.

A charity raffle and auction will include limited 1st Edition Global Agenda collectibles, a Sony PlayStation Portable, iPod Nano, and more. Items have been donated by TotalTek/Hewlett Packard, Gamer Fitness Guide, and Digital Direct, an extreme data storage provider, among others. Global Agenda merchandise will also be on sale, with all merchandise proceeds benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The event will conclude with an All-Star battle featuring the games' best players. The All-Star battle will be broadcast through a live audio stream on Allgames.com with color commentary from Georgia's own Bobby Blackwolf. Hi-Fi Buys is contributing state-of-the-art high definition televisions through which attendees can be immersed in the battle.

For the media, a press conference featuring Todd Harris, Executive Producer of Global Agenda, and Asante Bradford from Georgia's Department of Economic Development's Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Office, will be held starting at 3:30 p.m.

Game Development Seminars

Hands-on game development seminars, taught by the developers of Global Agenda, will be held in dual sessions from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Seats will be made available on a first come, first served basis, so attendees are encouraged to come early to reserve a spot.

Eric Hartz, lead environment artist for Global Agenda, will lead a session on Environment Art Development using the Unreal 3 Engine. Eric will walk participants through the artistic development of a simple level all the way through the lighting process. The session will examine assets created in 3D Studio Max and textures made in Photoshop, showing how each element is assembled for the final assets seen in-game.

CHUK Vinson, Art Director, and Sean McBride, Senior Character Artist, will lead "Character Creation in Global Agenda". The session will discuss how to create engaging character concepts that capture the imagination and inspire the player while still conforming to the necessarily rigid constraints of game design. The presentation will cover the modeling techniques and speed enhancement tricks used at Hi-Rez to create high-fidelity multiple character ranks and sexes from one base model in weeks.

Lead animator Daniel Lilleberg and lead technical artist Mick Larkins will discuss the process, practices, and philosophies of the Global Agenda character animation pipeline. Their presentation demonstrates the specific tools and methods for creating character animations, rigid-body physics, skeletal controls, audio, and special effects. While the presentation revolves around the specific Global Agenda, 3D Studio Max, and Unreal Engine 3 procedures, the approaches can be applied to a variety of games.

About Hi-Rez Studios

Hi-Rez Studios, Inc. was established in 2005 to create exceptional online interactive entertainment and is located just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, visit www.hirezstudios.com.

GLOBAL AGENDA, Hi-Rez's debut title, is a fast-paced action massive multiplayer online game set in Earth's near future, a spy-fi world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict. To learn more, visit www.globalagendagame.com.

About Computer ArenA

Computer Arena, the Southeast's largest gaming facility, offers more than 50 PC and console LAN gaming stations, computer education classrooms, sales and services, and the Good Times Café. The ArenA is located at 10895 Alpharetta Highway in Roswell, GA, 30076, near the intersection of Route 9 and Mansell Road.

About Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society®, headquartered in White Plains, NY, with 68 chapters in the United States and Canada, is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $600 million in research specifically targeting leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. Last year alone, LLS made 6.3 million contacts with patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals.

For more information about blood cancer, visit www.LLS.org or call the LLS Information Resource Center (IRC), a call center staffed by master's level social workers, nurses and health educators who provide information, support and resources to patients and their families and caregivers. IRC information specialists are available at (800) 955-4572, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET.

So what is Global Agenda? Let's quote the official press information: "GLOBAL AGENDA is a fast-paced action MMO using Unreal® Engine 3 set in Earth’s near future, a spy-fi world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict." The game is set in the 22nd century following a severe global disaster. Players created factions fight and scheme against each other while going up against totalitarian world government hell-bent on completely dominating the populace. Full scale wars have been replaced with covert operations taking place all over the planet between rival factions.

As I get into the gameplay of Global Domination, it's important to note that the game is at an extremely early state. Hi-Rez has been focusing completely on nailing the combat portion of the game above all else, and through the use of both random focus groups and a regular team of weekly testers are continuing to hone the experience. Factors such as world economy, social gathering spots, and the more persistent side of a persistent world game are still in the works. This hands on was character creation and combat alone.

So, after taking a tour of the offices and spending way too much time talking to the guy working on rendering a new cinematic about his Transformers collection, I was led into the room where the regular weekly testing group was playing. Comments and taunts were flying as a wide variety of people took up arms against each other in what looked like a rather intense multiplayer match. Being slightly terrified of jumping right into a match with experienced players playing a game I've never touched, I was relieved when I was told I would be guided through a solo mission with bots first.

Character creation at this point was pretty straightforward. You select a head, some hair, your sex (though only males were currently available), and then pick a class from one of the four available - soldier, scout, medic, and robotic-technician. After picking a soldier for the sake of simplicity and making him suitably handsome and rugged (live the dream!), I logged into the game, where I was given a chance to outfit my character with various weapons, pieces of armor, and technical devices. Each piece of equipment came in variable strengths, each taking up an increasing number of skill slots. Having only a certain number of slots available (20 in this case), I assigned my character a powerful rocket launcher and mini-gun, a melee weapon, some EMP grenades to deal with machine foes, and a few other odds and ends to make things difficult for my enemies to take me down. Once I finished overflowing my skill slots and then paring my load out down to something a bit more realistic, I was launched into a solo match, with bots filling out the enemy roster.

Fighting takes place in third-person view, with your mouse controlling a targeting reticule. According to the devs, they had experimented with a variety of targeting techniques including assisted targeting (boo!), eventually settling on a system much like your traditional online shooter, only a bit more forgiving when it comes to precision. Weapons and equipment are loaded into a hotbar across the top of the screen, making it easy to toss aside your rocket launcher and pull out your mini-gun when the situation calls for it.

The mission, which took place on in an icy environment, consisted of three separate goals. First my bot companions and I had to take over a control point, which we achieved relative quickly thanks to my missile launcher. Unfortunately, blowing up large amounts of enemies in one shot tends to attract attention, and I died and respawned several times.

Once the point was captured, our next goal was to push a container through a narrow canyon as the enemy tried to push it back. This took a bit longer, but eventually I found some high ground on the canyon edge and helped my AI buddies save the day.

The final task was a battle against a gigantic spider-like mech, and I helped out the team by dying over and over again. I am not sure, but I feel they appreciated it, in bot sort of way. Unfortunately the timer for the mission expired and we failed, but I feel like I made a few friends.

The combat itself was fast and responsive, and rather enjoyable, especially when fighting against bots with bots. The AI they had in place actually had me getting healed now and again, which was pleasant. If I had to compare it to anything, I'd say Unreal Tournament III is a close comparison, which makes sense given that they're using the Unreal Engine 3 to build the thing.

Once my mission was over, it was time to fight against the real players. I created a new character, this time opting for the scout, which might have been a mistake, considering my usual shooter play style of running at the enemy screaming until they die. I am not good at stealth. The results of the round showed this.

The match was a basic multiplayer affair, with our team defending a control point from the enemy team. It became clear from the get-go that Global Agenda is going to be a game where communication and strategy is key. If fact, from the brief time I had, I would say that this will be the sort of MMO that traditional shooter clans could do very well at indeed. As it stood, the two teams were communicating throughout the match, in between my apologies for dying as quickly as I did.

My scout carried a rifle that could only be fired in scope mode, which enabled me to actually get a few kills before my normal run-and-gun instincts took over. My sword took out a couple more of the opposing team, though more often than not I was the one on the end of the blade. For powers I somehow missed out on taking stealth (stupid) and instead chose bionics, which allowed me to run faster and jump higher for a period of time, but sadly didn't help my dying situation much.

Still, despite my ineptitude I did manage to have a great deal of fun. The best thing I can say about Global Agenda is that by the time my play session ended, I wanted to play more, which happens with far less frequency than you would think.

I think focusing on the core combat systems was a good strategy for Hi-Rez to adapt. Too many times the more froo-froo bits of an MMO can detract both programmers and players from flaws in the gameplay until it's too late. Global Agenda's combat, even at this early state, has a great deal of potential. It's definitely a game I'll be keeping track of as they flesh out the world these entertaining battles take place in.