Not Pictured: The vast, walkable distances.

Who doesn’t like jetpacks? TELL ME, I’LL MAKE THEM WISH THEY LIKED JETPACKS!!! Excuse me, not sure what came over me there. Probably just a little flashback to the blinding fits of rage I used to experience while trying to play Tribes 2 over a not-so-optimized for online play internet connection. Man, were those the days of lag rage.

Thankfully, those days are far behind me now and coincidentally, Tribes: Ascend is getting closer and closer to a “commercial release” which is an unusual choice of phrase for a game that intends to be free to play. The milestone of proximity to a final product we’re talking about, if you happened to miss the title of this article, is the official implementation of open beta status, as soon as this Friday, February 24th, 2012. Encouraged by the results from the closed beta, in which over 300 000 gamers all participated, the initiation of open beta comes with increased capacity in North America, Europe, Australia, and new local servers in Brazil and Asia. There are no planned character wipes, so those of you who may have worked very hard at their unlocks don’t have to worry.

A sizeable patch will be accompanying the open beta, adding features such as two new maps, one new game type (arena deathmatch), new unlockable items, a few cosmetic bits and bobs (such as new default suits for the Doombringer & Brute), and some bug fixes and balance tweaks.

Details are: as of 5pm GMT on Friday, anybody will be able to download and try Tribes: Ascend off the official website without the need for a beta key. Explosive frisbee mania!

Source/Links: Press Release, Tribes Ascend Website

Johnny Maloney

Having been a gamer since 1986 when his father brought home an IBM PCjr with King's Quest and Crossfire included, it seemed destined that PC gaming and Johnny Maloney's life would run parallel forever. Despite his occasional affairs with movies, books, music and single malt scotch, he's never once left the side of his PC. In fact, on a full moon on a friday the thirteenth, if you sit in his old chairs... chills will run up your spine if you say "you fight like a dairy farmer," and you can sometimes hear ghostly whispers in the night respond "how appropriate, you fight like a cow…" -- Attempting to contact Johnny at Johnny@Blisteredthumbs.net may be successful.

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