Mount&Blade: Warband

Multi-player expansion demoed in San Francisco.

News by GamesIndustry.biz Contributor

Published on March 29, 2009

GDC San Francisco, March 27th 2009 – Following on from the recent announcement that a Multiplayer expansion was in development for the widely lauded Mount&Blade, Paradox Interactive have today revealed the first detailed information for the newly titled Mount&Blade: Warband.

Demonstrated publicly for the first time at GDC in San Francisco by the development team at Taleworlds, the expansion introduces a number of features that players have specifically requested and which will vastly improve the gameplay experience.

The key features revealed:

• Multiplayer – previously announced, the ability for up to 32 players to play simultaneously on a single map in Team Death-Match style battles

• Faction Rulers – A new in-depth system allowing the player to gain followers even as a rebel and to become the ruler of their own faction and recruit Lords as their vassalals

• Accessibility – Improved and additional detailed game information for players.

• Improved Graphics and optimisation – The introduction of state-of-the-art rendering technologies including HDR (High Dynamic Range), as well as significant improvement in the level of detail on characters, armour and weapons

• Increased interactivity - New interactivity implemented in the environments that the AI will recognize and adapt to, directly impacting the Siege mode

Commenting on the development of Mount&Blade: Warband, Armagan Yavuz, Producer at Taleworlds Entertainment said, “As a development team, we are used to short development circles, fast feedback from our users and the ability to have our gamers in the development loop. That is why we decided to create this expansion. We have received a large amount of requests from players for multiplayer and when we had published the game we saw an opportunity to explore this as well as additional improvements that our gamers requested. I feel that the multiplayer mode adds tremendously to the game experience.”

A summary of additional features includes customizable quick battles, extended diplomatic options and new weapons, armor and animations. Other aspects introduced in Mount&Blade: Warband are improvements to the combat system with more physically accurate horse archery, a variation in horse sizes, and more options when embarking on sieges.

Mount&Blade: Warband is scheduled for release in Q3 2009.

To watch a game presentation from a press event earlier this year, please click here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K16bIpGnd1o

For interviews – please contact: pr@paradoxplaza.com

The developers attending GDC from Paradox Interactive are:

Kim Soares, Lead Designer for East India Company

Web page http://www.eic-game.com/

Johan Andersson, Producer for Hearts of Iron 3

Alexey Kozyrev, Producer for Majesty 2

Web page http://www.majesty2.com/

Maxim Bodrikov, Game Designer for Elven Legacy

Web page http://www.elven-legacy.com/

Armagan Yavuz, Producer for Mount&Blade: Warband

Web page http://www.taleworlds.com/

Tom Soderlund, Executive Producer for Mezmer Games

Web page http://www.mezmergames.com/

On Friday, Paradox Interactive will be present at the San Francisco Marriott, located 1 block from the Moscone Convention Center, in meeting room Pacific A. If you want to schedule last minute interviews, please call:

Boel Bermann, Paradox Interactive

+46 737 66 04 22

boel@paradoxplaza.com

About Paradox Interactive

Since 1999, Paradox Interactive has been a leading developer and publisher of PC-based strategy games. World-renowned for its strategy stable, the company holds a particularly strong presence in the United States and Europe. Its steadily-growing portfolio includes original titles such as the critically acclaimed Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron franchises, as well as the best published titles like the Penumbra series, Mount&Blade, Supreme Ruler 2020, Elven Legacy and the greatly-anticipated Majesty 2 – The Fantasy Kingdom Sim.

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