Archive for the ‘Press Releases’ Category

ATLANTA, Oct. 20, 2009 - Global Agenda players will be able to experience the major features of the game after a one time purchase via digital download or box sale, with no monthly subscription required. An optional subscription package called  Global Agenda: Conquest will be available for those players who wish to participate in the persistent Alliance vs. Alliance territory control game-play and access ongoing content updates.

"Throughout our Beta process, our fans, players and reviewers have consistently told us that Global Agenda’s combat system is exceptionally fun and that they would love to play it as a multiplayer shooter" said Todd Harris, Executive Producer. "This single-purchase, non-subscription model will enable players to fully experience Global Agenda’s award-winning persistent shooter gameplay."

"At the same time, many players are seeking a deeper experience, and want to engage in large-scale campaigns between player-created groups over limited territory and resources.  These players can opt for the Conquest subscription plan which includes our persistent AvA world domination gameplay, and other features typically associated with MMOs."

The specific features associated with each pricing option are as follows:

Global Agenda (one time purchase - $49.99 MSRP) includes:

• Creation of up to eight different agent characters
• Character visual customization
• Access to all combat weapons and devices 
• Cooperative Player vs. Environment missions against the Commonwealth NPC faction, AI-controlled enemies, and Boss Fights
• Matchmade Player vs. Player missions with five different game types and over 20 unique maps
• Character progression through 30 levels
• Achievement and unlocks system for individual characters
• Player Inventory for suits, flair, dyes, upgrades, and loot
• Virtual Reality practice fighting area
• Vendors and accumulation of in-game currency
• Text chat with multiple channels
• Built in voice chat during missions
• Ability to join an established player-created agency
• All play is on our single-shard, hosted server environment to ensure convenient and consistent gaming experience. 
• Ability to sign up for one free month of subscription at registration (credit card required, can be cancelled at any time)

Global Agenda:  Conquest ($12.99 per month, $11.49/mo for 3 month, $9.99/mo for 6 month) includes:

• Access to Alliance vs. Alliance (AvA) World Domination gameplay
• A massive scale campaign between player created agencies and alliances over scarce territory and resources on a persistent world map.
• Attack and Defend Territories in zones that match your agency’s schedule
• Agency and Alliance Management – Create and maintain persistent player groups and officer ranks
• Creation and Upgrading of Facilities - Control production and output
• Base Raids – involving up to 60 players per side; coordinated between 6 different strike teams within linked territory instances
• Agency Achievement System, Leveling, and Recognition
• Auction House with bidding and buyouts
• Mail System
• Upgrade Text and Voice chat to support multiple channels and strike teams
• Player Crafting with blueprints
• Additional character customization options including elite character suits, dye colors, and seasonal flair
• Ongoing Co-Op content at max character level
• Ongoing AvA content, multiplayer PvP content, and new social areas

Global Agenda is currently in closed beta testing and scheduled to be development complete by the end of this year toward a Q1 2010 release.

For more information, please reference the Pricing FAQ in the Global Agenda Answer Center..

ATLANTA - SEPTEMBER 22, 2009 - Global Agenda Community Members Sponsor Auction to Benefit Child’s Play

The Global Agenda Community Auction closed the bidding floor of its virtual charity auction last week after raising over $2,000 for Child’s Play charity, an organization dedicated to improving lives of children in hospitals with toys and games.

The auction event was organized by members of the Global Agenda community and Global Agenda fan sites - a society of enthusiasts around the upcoming massively multiplayer online action game, Global Agenda®, from independent developer Hi-Rez Studios - including Noxxious, OBC (the Orange and Blue Clan), AgendaSource, GA Wiki and CC Gaming who joined together to organize and accept bids on game-related items from Sunday September 13th through Wednesday September 16th.

"Child’s Play relies heavily on community events for our support, and we are deeply grateful to the Global Agenda Community and Hi-Rez Studios for putting together this successful charity auction on our behalf," Says Kristin Lindsay, Project Manager for Child’s Play. "We recognize the healing power of play, and thank our fellow gaming communities for sharing their love of gaming with sick children across the US and around the world.  When gamers give back, it makes a difference!"

The auction items included a limited edition Global Agenda Poster signed by the entire development team at Hi-Rez Studios, a Microsoft Sidewinder Gaming Mouse, a Genius G-Pen 450 Computer Tablet, a Nintendo 64, and 10 Global Agenda Beta Keys.

"This event was 100% driven by our fan community," said Stewart Chisam, VP of Game Operations. "The auction was primarily organized and run by one of our active Community members — Peebojam — who helped gain support from various fans and fan sites. We are grateful to our Community for this great display of generosity."

ABOUT HI-REZ STUDIOS

Hi-Rez Studios, inc. is an independent developer, established in 2005 to create exceptional interactive online entertainment and located just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Currently, Hi-Rez Studios is in development with an action based massively multiplayer online game titled Global Agenda. For more information, please visit www.hirezstudios.com and www.globalagendagame.com.

September 6, 2009 - SEATTLE- The Penny Arcade Expo show floor is featuring the action MMO Global Agenda and introducing three newly polished maps and game-styles: 

- Ice-Flow is an Escort map set outside a Siberian facility with the lights of the Aurora Borealis visible against the evening sky

- Seaside is a 3-point Ticket map set upon a massive drilling platform suspended above a storming Northern Atlantic ocean

- Climate Control is an Attack/Defend map set within the mountains of East Asia and populated with trees that sway in the blowing wind.

These maps have emerged recently from Global Agenda’s Closed Beta Test 1 (CBT1) and have been warmly received by the PAX crowd according to Executive Producer Todd Harris.   "First-time players are hopping on a station, playing team-based missions, and then returning with additional friends to play more", says Todd.  "Our Dev Team here at PAX is thrilled to see players enjoying MMO game-play for its own sake rather than simply to level-up a character.  Our booth is a grind-free zone".

Later this year, developer Hi-Rez Studios plans to introduce Campaign functionality which will initiate a massive persistent conflict between player created Agency groups for limited territory, technology, and resources in the world of Global Agenda.  Players interested in joining this pending Closed Beta Test 2 (CBT2) phase of Global Agenda can apply at www.globalagendagame.com

About Hi-Rez Studios

Hi-Rez Studios, Inc. is an independent developer established in 2005 to create exceptional interactive online entertainment and is located just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Global Agenda is an action-based massively multiplayer online game set in 22nd century Earth, in a spy-fi world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict. For more information, please visit www.hirezstudios.com and www.globalagendagame.com.

Media Contact:

Michal Adam

madam@hirezstudios.com

Images included

ATLANTA, AUGUST 11, 2009 - Hi-Rez Studios, independent developer and publisher of online interactive entertainment, announced today initial dates and locations for the Global Agenda North American Tour, providing fans of the upcoming action MMO a unique opportunity to meet the games’ developers and experience Global Agenda’s fast-action play style and intense class-based combat hands-on.

Initial tour dates include events in Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Philadelphia and Las Vegas, and build on the game’s highly successful showings at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in March and E3 in Los Angeles in June,  where Global Agenda walked away with several high-profile awards from the gaming press.

"Global Agenda’s rapid-pace gameplay and unique combat system is best experienced hands-on," said Executive Producer Todd Harris. "So we are very excited to take the game on the road and expose the rest of the world to the game that we’ve all grown addicted to playing."

Initial tour dates include:

Dallas, Texas QuakeCon August 13 - 15

Atlanta, Georgia DragonCon September 4

Seattle, Washington Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) September 4-6

Las Vegas, Nevada Consumer Electronic Show (CES) January 7-10

Global Agenda developers are looking forward to meet and play with gaming enthusiasts across the country.

See fans react in this video:

For more information, updates, and additional tour dates, please continue to watch www.globalagendagame.com/tour and follow Hi-Rez Studios Twitter feed @hirezstudios for all the latest Global Agenda news and events.

ALPHARETTA, GA – July 29 2009. Following the conclusion of Global Agenda’s very successful Closed Beta Testing Phase 1A (CBT-1A) on July 24 through July 27, Hi-Rez Studios today announced timelines for its next Closed Beta testing session.

CBT-1B will be held FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, through SUNDAY, AUGUST 23. Exact times will be released to the beta testers as the test date approaches, and additional testing details announced through the Global Agenda Answer Center.

Global Agenda is a fast-paced action MMO using Unreal Engine 3 set in Earth’s near future, a spy-fi world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict.

“We could not be more pleased with the results of our recently concluded CBT-1A,” said Todd Harris, Executive Producer of Global Agenda. “All of our major objectives were met or exceeded and we were thrilled with the enthusiasm and participation of our testers.

“Given that many testers played more than 40 hours in just 3 days of testing –we hope they all get some rest before this next round!”

Hi-Rez also announced today that three deserving testers – Tuttle, Gregyfox, and Sarmaul – were awarded credits to the Global Agenda T-Shirt and Merchandise Store at http://www.globalagendagame.com/Shop.html.  These testers were among a group of “top bug finders from CBT-1A” whose names were drawn for the award.

About Hi-Rez Studios

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

Unreal is a registered trademark of Epic Games, Inc.

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Over the past two weeks, Hi-Rez Studios has released ever more information on its upcoming Closed Beta Testing program. On June 25, the Studio released a general FAQ revealing how the initial phase of beta would unfold. Then last week, Executive Producer Todd Harris posted a Dev Blog on MMORPG.com that discussed specifics around the two initial major phases of Closed Beta.

Today, Hi-Rez updated its Answer Center with the currently expected timeline for the release of Closed Beta. Hi-Rez continues to insist that the Closed Beta will begin when the game is ready, but the current schedule calls for initial testing to begin on JULY 24th.  The Beta process requires that invited participants RSVP on Hi-Rez’s website, in order to ensure that spots are optimally allocated to those testers that will be active. Invites will be staggered over the next few weeks and will likely continue after the initial testing phase begins.

The full Answer Center article is located here.

The key updated sections are quoted below:

Ok. Great. When does Closed Beta Begin?

The exact timelines for Closed Beta Testing Phase 1 (CBT-1) could change based on Hi-Rez’s assessment of the games’ readiness. But, at present, the plan calls for Closed Beta Phase 1 to begin on July 24th, 2009.

Testing for CBT-1 will unfold over a series of short testing windows, each labeled CBT-1A, CBT-1B, etc. The servers will only be available for testing during the specified times for each test. The first weekend of testing, CBT-1A, will have separate test windows for "NEW BETA PLAYERS" and "CURRENT ALPHA PLAYERS".

NEW BETA PLAYERS will test from FRIDAY JULY 24th AT 3 PM EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME through MONDAY, JULY 27 T 6 AM EASTERN.

CURRENT ALPHA PLAYERS will test on MONDAY JULY 27 OM 6PM EASTERN to MIDNIGHT EASTERN.

The dates and times of subsequent CBT-1 testing phases will be released as we progress further. However, generally, testing will be concentrated during extended weekends (FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY).

When and how will I know if I made it into Beta?

Invitations for Closed Beta Phase 1 (CBT-1) will be sent in groups.

The first group was sent in late June and was primarily directed to existing Alpha testers. Subsequent invite waves will be sent during the weeks of July 8 and July 15, 2009.

In order to participate in the Beta, players that receive an Invite must RSVP by visiting the Global Agenda website and following the instructions in the invitation. Each invitation will include a date by which a player must confirm their participation prior to the invitation expiring. Once a player confirms their participation, additional information will be sent regarding the test program.

Earlier this year, Hi-Rez Studios, the makers of the upcoming action MMO, Global Agenda, received an e-mail from the wife of U.S. Army Captain Chris Ficquette.

“My husband is in the United States Army and will be re-deployed for his second tour of duty this summer,” the e-mail stated. “ To date, I have not yet found a bigger fan of video games than him. Is there any way that I could have my husband involved in motion capturing so that he could be immortalized in your video game?”

The timing was impeccable. It so happened that Hi-Rez needed additional motion capture on some special weapons handling. What better than to use a seasoned military veteran?

Soon after, Chris came into the Studio and met with Lead Animator Daniel Lilleberg. Armed with nothing but a few Nerf weapons, Chris went to work. He even revealed some funky moves that were perfect for in-game emotes (short sequences that players can have their character perform by typing a command in the in-game chat window).

In the short video below, you’ll see three emotes that Chris performed the motion capture for that have subsequently been added to Global Agenda – HoeDown, RoboDance, and, our personal favorite, Psycho.

Also see below a few pictures from Chris’ motion capture session (shown with Lilleberg).

Chris and his unit are soon shipping back to Afghanistan. As Independence Day approaches, Hi-Rez wishes him and all of his mates in the 146th Movement Control Team the best of luck and godspeed. And a hearty shout of appreciation to all of our men and women in uniform from Hi-Rez Studios.

Every motion-capture sequence starts and ends with a “T Pose”, in order to level set the capturing software.

Daniel and Chris choreograph a sequence.

Strike a pose.

Daniel watches as Chris’ motions are captured.

Having fun with melee.

Anticipated Spy-Fi Action MMO Available on Expo Floor for Hands-On

ATLANTA, Georgia – May 19, 2009  Hi-Rez Studios, an independent developer of online interactive entertainment, confirmed that they will showcase their massively multiplayer online game Global Agenda at the Electronic Entertainment Expo next month in Los Angeles, California. Global Agenda, built on Unreal® Engine 3, delivers fast-paced combat set in Earth’s near future, a spy-fi world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict.

Global Agenda is currently in closed alpha testing.  The hybrid MMO combines shooter-oriented action combat, RPG style character progression, and competition between player-created groups to capture and control territory like a grand strategy game.

"Global Agenda is very different than the typical MMO”, said Todd Harris, Executive Producer.  “The intense mission combat and team-based tactics are best experienced rather than merely explained. We’re excited to bring Global Agenda to the show floor for hands-on demonstrations, accompanied by one-on-one conversations with members of the game development team”

Hi-Rez Studios’ booth will be located in the South Hall, Booth 2630. Visitors at the booth will have chance to play Global Agenda and meet with its developers.

About Hi-Rez Studios

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

Unreal is a registered trademark of Epic Games, Inc.

Hi-Rez Studios Media Inquires:

Michal Adam

madam@hirezstudios.com

(678) 248 - 2969 x 200

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ATLANTA, May 18, 2009 – Just a week after announcing the winners of its Global Agenda Fan Site Contest, Hi-Rez Studios today declared the winners of its Global Agenda Fan Video Contest, selecting a handful of fan-created videos to recognize from the more than 100 submitted by fans of Hi-Rez’s upcoming Action MMO, Global Agenda.

Each video utilized Global Agenda game-play footage and other content provided by Hi-Rez Studios, with some creators choosing to mix in their own original content.

Global Agenda, Hi-Rez’s debut title, is a fast-paced action massive multi-player online game set in Earth’s near future, a spy-fi world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict. The highly anticipated game is currently scheduled to enter its Closed Beta phase this summer. Applications for beta testing are being accepted on the game’s official website at http://www.globalagendagame.com.

“Our Community continues to amaze us with their enthusiasm and creativity,” said Stewart Chisam, Vice President of Game Operations. “We had scores of videos submitted, and we loved to see the different ways that our players represented the game. We’re incredibly grateful for all of our fans’ efforts in producing the videos – not just the selected winners. As a special award we will be giving each person that submitted a video to the contest a key to our upcoming Beta, which they can use for themselves or, if for some reason they are unable or ineligible to participate, one of their friends.”

The maker of the Best Overall video receives a $200 gift certificate to Amazon.com. Each of the announced winners below receives a gift certificate to the Global Agenda merchandise store at http://www.globalagendagame.com/shop.html.

All of the videos submitted for the contest can be found by visiting Hi-Rez’s official YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/hirezstudios.

Combined Winner’s Play List

The top videos have all been compiled in the following YouTube Playlist:

URL: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=427B2080BD6C1BF8

 Best Overall

This short, snappy video mixed an original concept with some funky music, while doing a great job of showing the fast pace and varied game-play of Global Agenda. We found ourselves replaying several times.

• Name: Global Agenda: Incoming Transmission

• Creator: CaptainBlackenstein
  URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK_2Ahvj8VQ

Fan Favorites

Summary: These videos each had a huge number of views and great fan reviews, making them stand apart from the crowd.

• Video #1: Global Agenda Fan Video

• Creator: clayman90
  URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgA2T7QKNZs

• 
  

  Video #2 : Global Agenda Fan Trailer #1

  
  Creator: jurasiks
  URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KMOLw-M_FI

Best Representation of the Game

This action-packed video highlights the key components of the game in an action-packed minute of footage that leaves us yearning for more.

• Name: Global Agenda: Fan Made Video Contest

  Creator: Dishu4
  URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUX1KPaAdFk

Best Set of Related 30-Second Commercials Submitted by a Single Creator

These 4 videos each highlighted a different character class inside Global Agenda within a tidy 35-second timeframe. Together, they do a fantastic job of highlighting the game and combine the basis of a cohesive advertising campaign.

• Names: Global Agenda - TV Spots (Robotics, Recon, Medic, Assault)

  Creator: MasterSaji
  Playlist URL: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=144920B649A0BA3C

Most Humorous

We chose to recognize a couple videos in this category. The first for it’s dry take down on the game-play footage, and the second for its interplay off of an inside joke on the Global Agenda forums:

Top Humorous Video

• Name: The Ultimate (Fan Made) Trailer

  Creator: xxicelingxx
  URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1jG4kzJGcA

• Name: It’s a Great Game or Else

  Creator: askori
  URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9O0hyIa22I

Others We Couldn’t Leave Off the List

• Name: Unlimited Possibility

  Creator: Raptor747
  URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc9HRfpCURQ

• Name: Trailer Competition

  Creator: GoDTiME
  URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbA6jtYUMXw

• Name: Global Agenda Fan Video created by DragonLight

  Creator: DragonLight
  URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFudP257OFU&fmt=22

 We Just Couldn’t Resist

This video’s tongue-in-check comparison of Global Agenda to Team Fortress 2 unfortunately didn’t meet all of the requirements of the contest in order to be declared a winner. But we enjoyed it enough that we couldn’t resist highlighting it.

• Name: Global Agenda – Completely Original

• Creator: Sma!!wood
• URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvA2KrN7F8o

ATLANTA, May 8, 2009 – Hi-Rez Studios is pleased to announce the winners of its first-ever Best Fan Site Contest, choosing five fan-run Global Agenda websites to recognize for their superior creative design, depth of content, and innovative use of Community-building features .

Global Agenda, Hi-Rez’s debut title, is a fast-paced action massive multi-player online game set in Earth’s near future, a spy-fi world of advanced technology and player-driven conflict. The highly anticipated game is currently scheduled to enter its Closed Beta phase this summer.  Applications for beta testing are being accepted on the game’s official website at http://www.globalagendagame.com.

The Best Fan Site Contest was announced in early March, and elicited great response from the budding Global Agenda Community.  In addition to bragging rights and recognition, the winners receive beta keys that they can distribute to community members, as well as coupons for the Global Agenda Merchandise store.  The first-place winner overall also receives exclusive Global Agenda art that can be displayed on their fan site.

“We’re thrilled with the response from the Community around this contest, and the quality of the sites that have been created in a short period of time,” said Stewart Chisam, Vice President of Game Operations. “All five of our winning sites were outstanding and picking a winner was no easy task. We sincerely thank each of the fan site creators for their fantastic effort helping promote the game.”

The winners are:

1^st Place – Agenda Source

Agenda Source differentiated itself with a sleek web design, a nifty “What We Know” section, and a news section that constantly kept very up to date on the latest happenings inside the Community.  A twitter feed, polls  and forums keeps the site up-to-snuff from a technology standpoint, and we really liked how prominently the site  promotes the other fan sites (including a great link on the main navigation to the Global Agenda Wiki).

URL: Http://www.agendasource.com

2^nd Place - Global Agenda Mission Control  

Global Agenda Mission Control showed great innovation in generating community involvement, including a push to gather community ideas for maps, and an in-depth Q&A with Hi-Rez populated with questions submitted by other readers. While the overall web design was among the simpler of the sites, we thought these features made Mission Control extremely engaging, and we found ourselves frequently visiting.

URL: http://www.globalagendamc.com

3^rd Place - HexAgenda

HexAgenda won our hearts with its Feed Aggregator , which provided a single resource to access the RSS feeds from most of the Global Agenda fan sites, in addition to the official Global Agenda News Network. This became our “go to” source for tracking the latest in the Community and a must-have subscription for our news reader!  We also loved HexAgenda’s IRC Chat channel, which lets users quickly get together to share info on the game.

URL: http://www.hexagenda.com

4^th Place – The Global Agenda Wiki

The Global Agenda Wiki stood out as an endlessly valuable resource that should be heavily promoted on all of the other Fan Sites. In a short time, the site compiled a notable amount of content and we have high hopes for this becoming THE fan-created resource detailing the facts behind Global Agenda.

URL: http://global-agenda.info/wiki

5th Place – The Alliance of Agencies

The Alliance of Agencies was a relatively late entrant to the contest and we suspect that if we re-judged this contest in a few weeks they might place even higher. The site’s web design stood out as perhaps the best among the group, and we were attracted by the “hook” the site provides as a gathering place for those seeking more information on Agencies in the game

URL: http://www.allianceofagencies.com

About Hi-Rez Studios

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

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