And APB's closed beta stage is upcoming, with alpha testing completed in the middle of September, says Realtime Worlds. "Initially this will be a very core, select number of trusted friends of employees, but does mark the start of what can be considered the ‘Closed’ Beta stage of APB," said Chris Dye, community relations manager.

There were no specifics given on exactly how Facebook will be a part of this. Develop Magazine points out that APB will use social music site Last.fm for its in-game audio, Realtime Worlds has shown a willingness to use existing online services rather than create its own.

The release date is still TBA.

APB to Use Facebook as 'Major Community Tool' [Develop]

Calling the choice to not immediately begin work on a sequel "a horrible, horrible decision that we still dwell on," Macdonald tells VG247 that "I don’t think the door’s closed" on a sequel. Sounds like RTW is still willing, and able, to take another crack at Crackdown, should Microsoft call upon them. And they may, one day.

Crackdown 2: “The door’s not closed,” says Realtime Worlds [VG247]

Realtime downplays GTA Online talk [Eurogamer]

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 Regains Global Distribution Rights to Ground-Breaking Online Game APB Following Second Round Funding

BOULDER, Colo. & DUNDEE, Scotland—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Realtime Worlds, Inc., a leading independent video game developer, today announced that it has regained the global distribution rights to All Points Bulletin (APB), the highly-anticipated urban-themed massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) under development in the company's Dundee studio. The move follows Realtime Worlds' recent US$50 million second round funding and provides the company with the independence to push creative boundaries in the development of the game and to take a more active role in managing APB's global distribution strategy.

"Owning the distribution rights to APB marks a major milestone in Realtime Worlds' evolution into a premier online entertainment company," said David Jones, founder and CEO, Realtime Worlds. "By controlling the rights to APB we can ensure that gamers around the globe experience the revolutionary gameplay we envisioned when we first began creating the property. We are excited about the prospect of having direct, personal relationships with our players, which is a dream come true for many development studios."

APB is an original MMOG for the PC platform featuring an immersive urban-based community where players choose between playing the criminals or those out to catch the criminals. Players will carry out or thwart opposed crimes and build up areas of the city they control, all with unprecedented levels of character and vehicle customization.

Realtime Worlds regained the global distribution rights to APB from leading Korean online entertainment company Webzen, Inc., which originally partnered with Realtime Worlds in 2005.

About Realtime Worlds

Founded in 2002 by CEO and Creative Director David Jones alongside gaming industry veterans Ian Hetherington and Tony Harman, Realtime Worlds is one of the largest and most successful independent game developers in the world. With an exceptionally talented staff of more than 200, the company's experienced teams have a tremendous history of creating some of the world's bestselling video games, including the global hit franchises "Lemmings" and "Grand Theft Auto."

In an exclusive partnership with Microsoft Game Studios, Realtime Worlds launched its first title, Crackdown, on Xbox 360 in early 2007. The debut game broke records for demo downloads, sold approximately 1.4 million copies, and won multiple awards including prestigious BAFTA and Develop Industry Excellence awards.

With corporate headquarters in Boulder, Colo. and a development studio in Dundee, Scotland, Realtime Worlds is currently working on All Points Bulletin, a massively multiplayer online game in the urban action genre.

For more information on Realtime Worlds, visit www.realtimeworlds.com

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.

While the above pic may not be of the best quality, we got a few individuals snaps that are much better looking. They're behind the jump, front page visitors, because I'm pretty sure that pic of a pants-less Miyamoto is not safe for work.

Seriously, man. Put some khakis on!

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

Jones kicked off the early look at APB with a preview of character customization. One of the design goals for APB was to "let the player make their own action figure", putting character generation in the hands of the user and giving them the ability to make their avatars look totally unique. While deep character customization has become a staple of the MMO, APB's version may feature the broadest set of tools yet.

Jones walked us through a sped up version of the creation process, outfitting his avatar with unique identifiers—facials scars, veins, freckles, tattoos, realistic looking hair, a massive wardrobe. Using a system that might look familiar to serious Forza Motorsport 2 players, APB looks to one-up what Turn 10 Studios has done, with a decal system that has some stunning customization chops. Not only can users manipulate primitive vector shapes, they can apply shaders, textures and pre-made hi-res images to their designs, making for extremely realistic decals. These decals can be applied to anything the player wears, even to his skin, with a realistic tattoo look applied to the player generated content.

Clothing is also fully customizable, with attention paid to fit, layering and even things like tucking or untucking one's shirt.

That unique identity extends not just to your own character, but to your clan and your car as well. Car customization works just like avatar customization, so the decals a player has emblazoned on his jacket can also be applied to your ride.

Jones showed footage from the game, featuring characters fresh to the world—one thug was on an early mission, stealing a TV set in the default noob outfit of white t-shirt and jeans—and characters who were longtime APB vets. The MMO features "dynamic matchmaking" as Jones called it, essentially setting up player versus player missions on the fly. A three-player group of Gangsters were tasked with scoring some loot, then driving it to a safe point to complete their mission, a standard Grand Theft Auto-style mission set up. The moment the Gangsters crossed the line and broke the law, an APB was sent out to the game's Enforcers, the cops to their robbers.

What followed was essentially the MMO version of a Counter-Strike round, with players either driving their respective vehicles or engaging in a third-person firefight. The pair of Enforcers, two player pairs, responding to the all points bulletin eventually tracked down the bad guys, blocking them into an alleyway.

Jones said that these dynamic matchmaking battles in APB wouldn't necessarily pit players of the same level against each other. He showed a clip of a group of new players, with just a single pistol between the four of them, being matched with a very high level Enforcer. He quickly took them down, but not before destroying their low level car with a rocket launcher. Who doesn't like rocket launchers?

What we saw of APB was really exciting stuff. The team looks like they may have something special that appeals to gamers who would traditionally scoff and MMOs, but something that isn't just Crackdown Online or EverQuest In The Bad Part Of Town.

The final feature that Jones showed, was APB's ability to generate great machinima. With a group of wildly customized characters that looked like Cloud and Barret from Final Fantasy VII taking on a Cactuar and something impish, but not immediately recognizable to this FF noob. A turn based battle ensued, which quickly ended when "Cloud" summoned a decked out flaming car, done, of course, to hilarious effect.

We have dozens of screens of the game in motion at GDC, including the mock Final Fantasy VII cinema, in the gallery below. Be sure to check them out.

The other big nominees include the European developers behind Motorstorm, Viva Pinata, DEFCON and Formula One Championship Edition. The full list of nominees for each award are listed at Gamasutra. Michael McWhertor

Crackdown Tops Develop Award Finalists [Gamasutra]

Realtime Worlds' downloadable content for Crackdown is just dripping with new features, many of which are free. The video clip you see above shows off the DLC's new mini-gun, cloaking device, the "Lobber" and, most importantly, the amazing HRX Harpoon gun. Do not miss what this weapon is capable of.

Microsoft's Major Nelson has uploaded three additional clips to YouTube that highlight the title's new gametypes, as well as the Street Racing and Keys to the City modes. Very, very point-worthy. Michael McWhertor

Work hard enough at your skills (play the game) and you can eventually leap tall buildings in a single bound, or...drive better.

So is it any good? Hit the jump to read our Frankenreview: the Best. Review. Ever.

Worthplaying
Crackdown is one of the manliest games you will ever play. The only acceptable way to play Crackdown is with a cold beer and a bowl of salty snacks (popcorn, nuts, or chips are all acceptable) at your side. At times, I wondered if it was in fact possible for me, a mere woman, to faithfully review a game that was so explosively masculine...In Crackdown, basically all problems can be solved by going and shooting some guys, or kicking their heads off. That's what makes the game so incredible.

Gamezone
"...it's your choice which ability you want to develop and how much time you spend developing the ability. When I first started playing the game I tried to grab as many green agility/athletic medals as I could find. Once I went up a level I soon discovered I had more fun jumping from building to building looking for more agility medals than going after the gang members. To me I felt like I was creating a superhero...The freedom to develop your character is nothing new [but] turned out to be a blast."

Computer & Video Games
"...when the action's getting hectic you can always call in the assistance of mate; Jump in/jump out co-op lets you and your Xbox Live buddies join forces for some 2-player city-slicking madness, and it's simply-put this is one of the best co-op games out there...It works flawlessly and you'll be hooked from the moment you set off your first 100-barrel explosion chain... If you thought flinging cars was fun on your own, wait until you're drag-racing the streets and scuffling on skyscrapers with a partner."

Rocky Mt. News
Problem is, once you succeed in toppling a gang, that particular city gets quite boring... If I do leap, say, from a high rise into the center of the street, or accidentally kick a car into a light pole, people panic... It's unclear what the developer's original intention was in creating this sandbox of criminals and cops...[as] I now feel the need to walk, gun timidly at my side, through the idyllic thoroughfares of the crime-free town.
Kotaku (Because I can speak for EVERYONE here)
The game is called Crackdown for a reason: it's the most addictive title I've played in a long time. And despite every mission consisting of the same immeasurable odds, when I die it feels like I should have done something different as a player—not that the game is somehow unbalanced. So why aren't we seeing even better scores? From the occasional near-building camera issues to the frequent voice over problems, Crackdown lacks the polish of a killer app. Mark Wilson

The E3 directory is useful, but not perfectly accurate. I have a meeting with RealTime Worlds and the directory leads me to Scottish Development International, where several nice people with Scottish brogues confer among themselves and eventually point me to the Xbox 360 booth in the another hall.

Once I get through Microsoft registration (presumably next year I can just give them my gamertag) I'm lead into a presentation room and on the screen all Hell is breaking loose. Bodies are flying, cars are exploding into pieces, and the streets are filled with thugs, unfazed by the carnage around them, unloading round after round of small arms fire. In the middle of this is a burly man dressed in a dark blue body suit, calmly shooting and throwing grenades, orchestrating carnage like an incredibly violent symphony conductor. The game is called Crackdown.

The graphics look stylish, with a bright, hard-lined style reminiscent of the comics in Heavy Metal magazine. They call it the "graphic novel look." The game is instantly recognizible as one of the many illegitimate children of Grand Theft Auto III: You run freely around a large city, dispensing mayhem at will and picking up missions when you get tired of free-form destruction. In this case, you're the good guy working for "The Agency," and mowing down innocents is discouraged but certainly an option.

Much of the presentation is focused on explaining that the game is even more open-ended than its predecessors. You can go anywhere on the three available islands, take missions in any order, and all without load screens. I'm told you can even go straight to the end mission and theoretically win the game without playing any of the parts in-between, although it would require someone with the gaming skills of Kevin Flynn.

The other gimmick is that the character has skill ranks. The more you blow things up, the better you get at blowing things up. If you lift and throw things enough, you can eventually toss around cars. This is reflected in the game, with the explosions becoming massive, your muscles becoming even more bulging, and so forth. In the nicest effect in the demo, when your driving skill is maxxed out, special Agency cars morph into cooler forms when you get into them, with a plain old regular semi cab turning into a futuristic hyper-truck before your very eyes.

There's going to be no shortage of sandbox games in this next generation. It's way too early to pick winners, but Heavy Metal artwork and morphing hyper-trucks aren't a bad place to start.