The world of massively multiplayer online games is full of fantasy and Sci-Fi role-playing games. Years ago, however, things weren’t like this. In 2003, Sony tried something different and released an MMO first-person shooter. PlanetSide was essentially a giant war, with three army factions battling for supremacy of the many regions of a world. It had voice commands, flying vehicles, RPG-like weapon upgrades, different armor classes, and a lot of other features made popular by team-based PC shooters like Starsiege: Tribes.
Since 2009, there has been talk of a PlanetSide sequel and today Sony released the first trailer and screenshots for PlanetSide 2. From the looks of the Website, it appears that the new game will largely follow a similar format with three factions fighting one another–the authoritarian Terran Republic, the New Conglomerate rebellion, and the alien Vanu Sovereignty–with a number of land and air-based vehicles. What we don’t yet know is what the business model for PlanetSide 2 will be, though the FAQ leads us to wonder if Sony may make the game free-to-play, and make its money off microtransactions.
While we enjoyed the original PlanetSide game, it never reached the success of other MMO games we think because few players saw the need to continue playing what was essentially a never-ending game of King of the Hill. After a while the battling seems pointless. However, it continues to chug along to this day. We look forward to seeing how Sony has improved the game.
Below is the official teaser trailer.
