“This game revolutionises the RTS/FPS/Target Practice genre!” – IGN

“Never have I shot at stationary objects like this before. The opening mission on Call of Duty eat your heart out.” - PC Gamer

“NS2 seamlessly depicts the horrors of a future war with unmoving wooden men.” – Penny Arcade

It has only been a few days since people go their first glimpse of NS2, and like the ungrateful curs they are the NS2 fan base has already began modding the crap out it. Check out a full recap of the Engine Test and everything NS2 related we could squeeze out of it after the jump.

(more…)

With such a busy schedule of sitting around and waiting for some NS2 news, our Miami team is currently out of action. However, we can still sense some life in this horse, so our NY team has been called into action to solve the latest mysteries surrounding the NS2 Pre-Alpha footage. Do not be alarmed, whilst the New York team are not as high profile, be rest assured that their technological savvy is unmatched adequate.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEA- wrong show.

(more…)

Resident forum troll The Flying Fish has CSI’d some of the .dds material files included with the spark editor and made a discovery so startling it would make Horatio take off his sunglasses. One file, cunningly named armory_weapon_upgrades.dds, contains 4 (presumably placeholder) icons. Using his amazing powers of logic and lateral thinking, The Flying Fish has deduced that these are icons for weapon upgrades you research using the armory.

Baseless speculation below:

The most obvious upgrade for a flame icon is the flamethrower, which has already been confirmed to be making an appearance in NS2.

The bouncing steel balls may indicate a ricochet upgrade. Possibly flechette rounds for the shotgun – another feature that has been confirmed for NS2.

A bullet piercing a plate of armor. Hmmm. Armor piercing rounds, handy for shooting an onos in the face and teamkilling fellow marines after enabling friendly fire.

The last icon appears to be a mine of some sort, so either mines now have to be researched before they can be bought or there is an upgrade that adds functionality or increases their effectiveness.

If you want to check the file out for yourself you’ll need either the DDS plugin for photoshop or for GIMP and then browse to:

Natural Selection 2\ns2\materials\hud\armory_weapon_upgrades.dds

The editor has been in peoples hands for about 2 days now and we’re already starting to see some amazing stuff. It’s especially impressive considering the editor is pre-alpha and a lot of the functionality is missing or incomplete.

I’ve put together a compilation of the best screenshots from this thread on the official forums after the jump.

(more…)

Dear Charlie, Max, Cory, Matt and the rest of the UWE team,

I start this letter with an affirmation, I am a fanboy. Much of my indulgence into the online gaming quagmire is either a direct or indirect result of discovering, and falling prey to the addictive and unique Natural Selection. From the first time I played, to the last, I have been infatuated with Natural Selection and all it has to offer. My personal investment (financial or otherwise) in Natural Selection, while somewhat mediocre, makes me feel as though I am inextricably linked to the success or failure of the product as a whole. As such, I feel as though I should at the least reveal my thoughts, apprehensions, and yes, even my joyous anticipation of my most enjoyed game’s sequel.

(more…)