MAG for PlayStation 3 : Exclusive Hands On Preview

http://www.8bitjoystick.com/2009/04/mag-massive-action-game-for-playstation-3-exclusive-hands-on-preview.html

MAG started off as being short for Massive Action Game but it is now pronounced "Mag" or "in the MAG". It is an online military style first person shooter game that has been designed to have titanic two hundred and fifty six player battles as the core of the game. There is no off line story part and there are no bots. It is a live online virtual battle on a gigantic scale. These are designed to be persistent battles that can last to an hour or more and the results of it will effect a constantly evolving global outcome of "The Shadow War".

The big thing to get your mind wrapped around on MAG is that there are no actions that are not caused by a real human player somewhere in the world. All the bullets, air strikes and foot steps are caused by the actions of other human players in the MAG. It is not like other first person shooter games where everyone is an computer controlled AI player with the exception of one or two humans. We are talking about absolutely everything in the battle is the direct result of human actions. I got it when I was playing it and shooting paratroopers with a rifle as they landed, some one playing the game was on the receiving end of my fire. If you are looking for a linear shoreline where AI driven characters hold your hand from point A to B you should go play a different game. This is war.

In his ground breaking 1984 book Neromancer, William Gibson defined the word cyberspace as the consensual hallucination shared by millions over global networks. That is what MAG is. It is a game that has been designed to be a real persistent place that does not die when you turn off your console. When you log on to the MAG you are assigned your battle and you do your part but the world will continue after you did your duty in the game that day. They are aiming to have MAG deliver, persistent battles and immersive war zones with constantly evolving gameplay. Battles are designed in stages and certain events will change the flow of battle. For example one a bridge is repaired and the anti-aircraft batteries are destroyed it can enable a whole different part of an invasion.

"As someone who has actually played MAG it looks great. The lighting shading may look like iffy on pause but it is very convincing and fluid on a real PS3. It is not going to be out until Novemberish but it currently looks damn good in person. Plays great"

Another way of looking at 256 players at once is as follows. Imagine two armies of 128 each. Now 8 grunt players in a squad, 4 squads in a platoon, 4 platoons in a company and 2 companies facing off against each other as all 256 players on one giant-sized extended battle.

When you fist start to play MAG you create your account. There are no fees to play the game beside the cost of the actual game on the disc. There is no MMORPG tax. You join one of the three armies and customize your armor and weapons. Fighting in battles will earn you Experience Points that you can use to get better equipment, skills and eventually go up in rank. When you go up in rank in MAG there are direct benefits and responsibilities. You can be promoted to command a squad, a platoon and a company by moving up the chain of command. When a superior officer gives you an order there is nothing forcing you to do it but if you do you will be rewarded with more XP. If you make key contribution to the battle you will be even rewarded with more XP. Everyone has free will but if you don't follow orders you are not going to advance in your military career in the MAG.

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im glad its free to play and im getting it day one if game turns out well.

im sure game will end up a polished product for retail release, i cant wait to hear more from it.

*i cant be 100% sure if theres no fees but the preview claims so

Release date confirmed-ish.

No Fees = epic wins.

MAG = Most epicly winage indeed.

ye i think it will deffo make it out this year.

i just hope sony doesnt balls up its release shedule, releasing to many titles near to each other is crap to be honest.

microsoft did a better job last year in sheduling thier titles lets hope sony dont make that same mistake.

im hoping for late september release for this fingers crossed. if not october.

Heard lots of news about MAG today. At first I was a little held back but now it looks like its going to turn out to be a promising game.

There are already several threads on the MAG preview, place this in any of those.

Remember at E3 last year? FFXIII got announced multiplatform, but M.A.G. was revealed. Then all the Xbox fans were like "HAHAHA, All you have is MAG, we get FFXIII now. MAG will just be another FPS, while FFXIII is YOUR RPG!"

While still getting FFXIII, this "just another FPS" is looking to turn out to be something rather big. So suck on that