Archive for April 1st, 2009

Q100's Melissa Carter is cast as a vendor in the upcoming MMO Global Agenda

Melissa Carter is a successful and highly popular radio host in the Atlanta Area, broadcasting on Q100’s The Bert Show.

However, at heart, Melissa is a geek with a dream — to do voiceover work either in animation or gaming. So back in December, she made a New Year’s Resolution on the air. Luckily for Hi-Rez, we had some fans listening that day, and quickly placed a call to help her dream come true.

Since then, Melissa has come to the Studio for voice and motion capture work, with additional sessions on the way.

The video below shows how Hi-Rez used motion capture technology and a lot of great acting from Melissa to produce some in-game emotes. Keep watching for more updates as Melissa continues to work with us, and read about her overall experience in her blog!

Do you live in the Atlanta area?

Hi-Rez Studios, the independent developer of the upcoming online title GLOBAL AGENDA™ is looking for game testers at our Alpharetta, GA, Studio from

APRIL 15th to MAY 15th

The program offers an opportunity for local groups and individuals to participate in early testing of the massively multiplayer online game Global Agenda, from inside Hi-Rez Studios!

As an in-studio tester you will be able to play in the Hi-Rez Gaming Lab and participate in testing new aspects of the game, including levels, devices, combat, and so much more. For college students this offers a chance to add testing experience to your portfolio and to game enthusiast, this is a chance to get your hands-on a pre-released game. (Note that the program is un-paid).

Participating testers will participate in between one to three testing sessions, each approximately two hours long. Testers must be able to travel to the Alpharetta-based studio. Participation is flexible. Feedback from consistent players is very valuable to our development team.

Get more information about Global Agenda at http://www.globalagendagame.com/

GET IN THE GAME, GEORGIA!!

Sign up as soon as possible. SPACE IS LIMITED!

To sign up and begin playing in our studios please go to the following link and fill out the form

http://www.globalagendagame.com/in-studio

Location:
Hi-Rez Studios
3905 Brookside Parkway
Alpharetta, GA 30022

While at GDC, Todd Harris, Executive Producer of Global Agenda, had the opportunity to talk with Keith Cross of MMORPG.COM. In the interview, Todd discussed classes, conquerable territory and much more.

View the video on MMORPG.com, then use the HYPE feature on the site to give Global Agenda a maximum rating on the site!

 Part 1

Part 2

When GotGame.Com visited our booth at GDC, they wanted to see if the game played as well as it had sounded in a February interview. See their impressions in this post-GDC write-up

After sitting down with the crew from Hi-Rez at the GDC, Massively.com’s Shawn Schuster named Global Agenda his “Most Anticipated New Game for 2009.”

See Shawn’s Best of Show list, then check out his latest update on Global Agenda.

This was originally released on March 26, 2009

Hi-Rez Studios Selects Aria Systems as Billing Solutions Provider

Video Game Developer Chooses On-Demand Billing Leader to Execute Its “Global Agenda”

SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwire - March 26, 2009) - Aria Systems, the leading provider of on-demand billing and customer lifecycle management, today announced that its A+ Billing Platform has been selected by Hi-Rez Studios, an independent developer of online games, to monetize its new massive multi-player online (MMO) game “Global Agenda.” Showcased at this week’s Game Developers Conference, the A+ Billing Platform enables Hi-Rez Studios to ramp and manage “Global Agenda’s” billing and customer management activities and processes.

Faced with the challenge of needing a billing and customer management system that could scale quickly and on-demand in real time, Hi-Rez Studios chose Aria Systems for its years of gaming industry experience. And, making its foray into the market with Global Agenda, Hi-Rez Studios sought a reliable billing solution that offered its players complete payment security. Hi-Rez puts its faith in Aria Systems as the launch’s stakes were high for both the company and its players, especially as the players put their “virtual lives” at risk.

“Billing is a critical component of running any massive multi-player online game,” says Stewart Chisam, Vice President of Game Operations at Hi-Rez Studios. “By partnering with Aria, we leverage their global reach and years of experience with MMO billing, and greatly simplify our deployment by using their unique and secure Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform. That gives us great confidence that we’ll be able to adapt to our players’ needs in this area — and keeps us as a Studio focused on the efforts of building a great game.”

Aria Systems’ A+ Billing Platform is the first and only end-to-end PCI Level 1 compliant, enterprise-class billing platform offered in a highly flexible SaaS based environment. This creates a powerful-but-simple, self-service experience for companies who want to self-manage their complex billing procedures. “Managing the billing process for online games can be incredibly complex, especially with MMO games that acquire large, global communities of online users, as they often quickly grow in popularity,” said Ed Sullivan, CEO of Aria Systems. “By selecting Aria Systems’ flexible and scalable SaaS billing platform, Hi-Rez Studios will be ensured that its billing will be properly executed no matter where players are in their ‘Global Agenda.’”

About Hi-Rez Studios, Inc.

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

Global Agenda, the debut title from Hi-Rez Studios, is a fast-paced, action-oriented, massive multi-player online game set in the Earth’s near future — a spy-fi world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict. To learn more visit: http://www.globalagendagame.com.

About Aria Systems

Aria Systems is the leading provider of on-demand and subscription billing solutions encompassing the full spectrum of Billing and Customer Lifecycle Management services. The A+ Billing Platform offers clients the industry’s most secure, flexible, and scalable tool for accelerating revenue capture, optimizing cash flow, and enabling actionable market intelligence while significantly reducing operating costs throughout each phase of the customer lifecycle.

Aria is the SaaS billing leader in terms of experience, execution, and reliability. The company has handled over one million accounts, and managed more than one billion transactions, since its inception in 2003. Additionally, Aria leads the market in security and compliance having achieved both end-to-end PCI Level 1 Compliance and SAS70 compliance.

Aria’s executive team has over 80 years’ combined experience in billing and 50 combined in SaaS, and is backed by investments from Hummer Winblad Partners, Venrock, and Dave Labuda, former CEO of Portal Software (acquired by Oracle). The company is headquartered in Media, Pa. (metropolitan Philadelphia), and has offices in the San Francisco bay area. For more information, visit www.ariasystems.com.

This was originally released on March 27, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hi-Rez Studios Showcases New Spy-Fi ACTION MMO at GDC

Fast-paced Combat System Highlighted in Hands-On Previews of Global Agenda

March 27, 2009 - San Francisco, California

Hi-Rez Studios gave the first hands-on demonstration of its spy-fi action MMO Global Agenda at the San Francisco Game Developers Conference, which wraps up today. Media and guests experienced fast-paced combat, in both PvE and PvP missions, using stations within the Hi-Rez exhibition booth and playing real-time with remote players.

“Our combat system was inspired by modern multiplayer shooters”, says Executive Producer Todd Harris. “But in addition to firearms, we’ve added melee, hundreds of other high-tech player-usable devices, and jetpacks! We find it a refreshing change from the standard tab-targeting found within fantasy MMOs and we’ve been thrilled to see the reaction from others here at the show. And while we think our combat system is a major differentiator, we’re equally excited about the RPG advancement system and the opportunity for player-groups to compete for territory control.”

Booth guests also got a taste of Global Agenda’s sophisticated, face-customization system and the introductory game sequence in which the player’s special agent character escapes from the clutches of an oppressive world government called The Commonwealth.

“Players begin as a fugitive”, Todd says. “But after choosing a class and advancing their agent skills via PvE or PvP missions, they encounter other groups within the world and choose which ones to align with. We expect most players will eventually participate in our Campaign mode which allows player groups to acquire territory within the world, construct facilities, defenses, and bases on that territory, produce resources, and engage in the player-driven drama to dominate a region.”

Hi-Rez Studios also announced that they are still accepting applications toward their upcoming closed Beta. Players looking for a refreshing take on the MMO genre were encouraged to apply at www.globalagendagame.com.

About Hi-Rez Studios

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

Global Agenda, the Hi-Rez Studios debut title, is a fast-paced, action-oriented, massive multiplayer online game set in the Earth’s near future - a spy-fi world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict. To learn more visit:  www.globalagendagame.com

Media Contact:

Michal Adam, Associate Producer
Email: madam@hirezstudios.com
Phone: 1-678-248-2969 ext 200

The April Edition of PC Gamer Magazine featured a nice two-page preview of Global Agenda. Following the interview, PC Gamer writer and reviewer Evan Lahti referred to the game as his “Darkhorse for 2009″ in a podcast.

Read the preview on Gamesradar.com

Listen to the Podcast (Global Agenda covered in minute 48)

We are excited to introduce our community to the world of Global Agenda, a setting of future action-espionage, advanced technology, and player-driven conflict that we call “spy-fi”.

Our gameplay trailer demonstrated Global Agenda’s fast-paced combat — incorporating jetpacks, turrets, forcefields, robots, and other futuristic weapons. However, little information has been revealed to date about our setting.

The new fiction is found here, authored by our own lead writer Nathan Knaack. The story provides a glimpse into our futuristic spy-fi world. In this piece, we learn a bit about the ways of The Commonwealth, a prominent faction within Global Agenda, that serves as an NPC enemy for player agents.

We hope you enjoy it!!

One of the best ways to stay current on the latest news in Global Agenda is to become a fan on our Facebook site. The information there is often updated even ahead of our other publicly facing sites — and the posted news can be configured to show on in your Facebook stream, so it comes to you!

Follow this link to the site, or search inside Facebook for Global Agenda.

Once you get to the site and are logged into your Facebook account, be sure to choose the option to Become a Fan of Global Agenda.

ALSO NOTE: We will be choosing 5 names at random from our list of fans on Facebook each Friday and providing each them with 5 exclusive keys to our Alpha/Beta program!!

Players that use these keys must still meet our basic qualifications (minimum PC specs, age, agree to the NDA, etc), but will be highly prioritized for admittance into the Alpha (and subsequently Beta) program.