I first got to play and look at Firefall at last year's PAX East. The game is still in beta and being constantly worked on and taking serious looks at what the fans want in the game. Right off the bat of this presser was informative and entertaining. They have moved away from the previous 'Tier' and 'Level' based system and instead opted for a gear based system. You're gear determines your rank instead of how much grinding you do. They also are planning on improving the Thumpers; a device you drop to allow players in your area join in what you are doing and collect resources together. They are also introducing a new enemy called 'The Chosen' described as a bloodthirsty race bent on destroying humans. Visually the game looks about the same and it is still very much the Firefall from last year. So not too much to say other than these guys are completely dedicated to putting out the best MMO they can. This also brings up some bad recollections of another big dev (3D Realms) with high aspirations. The fact that Firefall is still in beta after about five years or more is a bit scary. The game is great as it is, but I could see it definitely becoming MMOs Duke Nukem Forever. I hope it doesn't come to that and the game is stunningly brilliant. Red5 definitely has their heart in the right place and I hope it can come out full version and full retail soon. I think Red5 has it in them to do well with this and I love where they are headed.

Now let me cover something else covered at the presser, Stage5.

Here is a new video service in the style of Machinima, G4TV, and YouTube. It is original content and shows for gamers and the like. They showed us some of the new show called "Game Changers." A show where they challenge the commonplace staples in gaming, like jetpack combat, in real life. These folks will try to prove anything in games can be done in real life. Think Mythbusters for gamers. The clips shown were great, very funny, and also shows that these things we take as fantasy are not that far off from real life or being real life in a few short years. I look to Stage5 being very popular soon with Game Changer and other shows lined up like Rise of the Indies and Project Cosplay. Their YouTube can be found at youtube.com/Stage5.