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Earlier this month Jagex Games Studio announced the name of the much anticipated MMO: TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE. Following that announcement, they released their first asset pack for the game including a teaser trailer, concept art and an animated screensaver.

You can checkout www.transformersuniverse.com to register to receive email updates about the game and the chance to participate in the Beta.



For those who missed the news, here what was announced about the game at BotCon:

- Hasbro and Jagex have joined forces to develop and publish a TRANSFORMERS MMO.

- The title of the MMO will be TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE.

- TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE will be an action orientated MMO.

- In TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE players will be able to create and play as their own AUTOBOT or DECEPTICON, designing and customising the character to fit their game play style, combat preferences and appearance.

- After looking at the mechanics, the iconic TRANSFORMERS IP, and the TRANSFORMERS heritage Jagex distilled this into core themes which are present throughout the TRANSFORMERS universe: conflict, teamwork, and social regard (the AUTOBOTS caring for the humans)

- TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE sits within the "Prime" timeline, along with the book Exodus, the War for Cybertron games and the Prime cartoon.

- The game will be released in 2012.



Here is the concept art which was released in this asset pack for your viewing enjoyment ...


Autobot Base


Megatron Waterfall


Decepticon Mine


Prowl


Barricade


Decepticon Fighter

Freakin' Awesome!
Super stoked. Those character concepts look sweet!

Not trying to nit pick as the concept is cool and I love the art better than most bayformer artwork, but just out of curiosity, What kind of vehicles are these suppose to be? Prowl has only two visible wheels and two doors, Barricade seems to have all four wheels on his arms so the wheel base would be ridiculously short or his arms will be extremely long and fighter has 7 wheels and uses the wheels for shoulder joints. I am just trying to picture the transformation process in my head for that one. Again this isn't a bash, just a hard time visualizing the transformation.

My one complaint is that they seem to be limiting us to cars and jets, I want military vehicles, helicopters, and boats (submarines) as well.

Otherwise looks like an amazing game!
Hopefully its Mac compatible.

_Anshin_ wrote:Not trying to nit pick as the concept is cool and I love the art better than most bayformer artwork, but just out of curiosity, What kind of vehicles are these suppose to be? Prowl has only two visible wheels and two doors, Barricade seems to have all four wheels on his arms so the wheel base would be ridiculously short or his arms will be extremely long and fighter has 7 wheels and uses the wheels for shoulder joints. I am just trying to picture the transformation process in my head for that one. Again this isn't a bash, just a hard time visualizing the transformation.

Hm? Prowl has wheels on his shoulders and the big robot only has five: four for the car and one spare that would presumably be mounted on the rear.

OH MY FREAKING GOD!!!

MY FRIEND AND I WAS TALKING ABOUT, WHAT IF TRANSFORMERS WAS DONE AS A MMO...

NOW IT HAS...


*go change my shirt, as I drooled on it*

2012... THE YEAR THE WORLD GOES BOOM, AND THAT'S FROM MEGATRON SHOTS AT OPTIMUS...

Starscream GaGa wrote:
Hm? Prowl has wheels on his shoulders and the big robot only has five: four for the car and one spare that would presumably be mounted on the rear.

On the artwork I am looking at it looks like a fender not a wheel or a rim on his shoulders. As for the fighter, I would agree on the one for the spare, however if you look at the heal of the fighter it looks like there are two more wheels down there (one for each leg). Again that could just be a fender point, which would make transformation a bit more confusing.

Starscream GaGa wrote:

_Anshin_ wrote:Not trying to nit pick as the concept is cool and I love the art better than most bayformer artwork, but just out of curiosity, What kind of vehicles are these suppose to be? Prowl has only two visible wheels and two doors, Barricade seems to have all four wheels on his arms so the wheel base would be ridiculously short or his arms will be extremely long and fighter has 7 wheels and uses the wheels for shoulder joints. I am just trying to picture the transformation process in my head for that one. Again this isn't a bash, just a hard time visualizing the transformation.

Hm? Prowl has wheels on his shoulders and the big robot only has five: four for the car and one spare that would presumably be mounted on the rear.

Remember that wheels can fold into the body, out of the way.

superchook6909 wrote:
Remember that wheels can fold into the body, out of the way.

True, kind of forgot about that.

dont care about this game. but these would make some nice toys.

Prowl looks like bumblebee.
Barricade looks like megatron.
Decepticon fighter looks like bulkhead.
Am I the only one who sees this?

I think you mean Decepticon Fighter looks like Breakdown.

Since this takes place in the TF:Prime universe and there's overtures that humans may be involved, I'm hoping we get to attack Miko if you play as a 'Con. That would make me very happy.

BeastProwl wrote:Prowl looks like bumblebee.
Barricade looks like megatron.
Decepticon fighter looks like bulkhead.
Am I the only one who sees this?

Prowl looks like Prowl. It wasn't until Bayverse that Bumblebee started looking like Prowl too.

Luscanun wrote:Since this takes place in the TF:Prime universe and there's overtures that humans may be involved, I'm hoping we get to attack Miko if you play as a 'Con. That would make me very happy.

Same here. If I could smush both Miko and Rafael, I'd be a happy man. The annoy the ever lovin crap outta me.

Gotta say, I'm fairly excited for this. But, with a game called Universe, I'd figure it would encompass the entire TF universe, not just Prime. Kinda a bummer, but still really interested. Hope it hits consoles.

Omg I love that Prowl It combines all the awesomeness of animated Prowl with the officialness of regular Prowl. I want toys of all of them I'm also really liking what I'm seeing about this game so far. It has a lot of potential.

_Anshin_ wrote:Not trying to nit pick as the concept is cool and I love the art better than most bayformer artwork, but just out of curiosity, What kind of vehicles are these suppose to be? Prowl has only two visible wheels and two doors, Barricade seems to have all four wheels on his arms so the wheel base would be ridiculously short or his arms will be extremely long and fighter has 7 wheels and uses the wheels for shoulder joints. I am just trying to picture the transformation process in my head for that one. Again this isn't a bash, just a hard time visualizing the transformation.

They flip around a bunch of times and they're a car. Simple as that. That's how it's always been done.

WarzoneBeta wrote:My one complaint is that they seem to be limiting us to cars and jets, I want military vehicles, helicopters, and boats (submarines) as well.

They're not limiting us to cars and jets. They're limiting us to cars.

I still dont care what any one says WFC is not part of PRIME, and since this game is now confirmed to be set during prime my interest just dropped alot. Should've had activision do it.

This is coming from someone who isn't even that into MMOs
If you are really into Transformers as much as an insane too-old-for-cartoons person as I am, its here where you show youre support. If the game turns out to be okay... with fan support, it could endure to be great with game updates, and even a sequel that trumps the first. Screw the movies, this is where the business needs the fans to pull together and give it the benefit of the doubt.
As for the characters having the same sort of body shapes/contours, as much as I didn't like the fact that I sorta noticed that myself, it could be due to customization working globally as the user changes part types on his bot. I'll forgive them about all the noticeable downfalls already if the game is FUN. Which is what matters most. People nowadays get so preoccupied with all the extra crap that really don't add much to gameplay.

am i the only one who feels a lockdown vibe coming from barricade's head?

Looks great. My only problem is Prowl's face. I've never really liked the sunglasses look. G1 Prowl has always been my favourite TF and I love his original appearance. The visor was the only thing I didn't like about Animated Prowl.

Otherwise, this looks great.

Oops, double post. Appears my typing finger has a stutter.

MINDVVIPE wrote:This is coming from someone who isn't even that into MMOs
If you are really into Transformers as much as an insane too-old-for-cartoons person as I am, its here where you show youre support. If the game turns out to be okay... with fan support, it could endure to be great with game updates, and even a sequel that trumps the first. Screw the movies, this is where the business needs the fans to pull together and give it the benefit of the doubt.

Fan support doesn't mean a game will be good or get better. You ever wondered why Star Wars: Galaxies ceased to be? It wasn't because it didn't have enough fan support, it was because SOE thought they were making the game better and instead screwed over the players.

As for "business," there is none. it's free-to-play, so there won't be any money coming in. Even if they use Exteel's (Rest its mechanical soul) micro transaction system...well, that system turned out to be not enough to save a really great game.

MINDVVIPE wrote:I'll forgive them about all the noticeable downfalls already if the game is FUN. Which is what matters most.

I won't, the noticeable downfalls are what makes a game not fun.

If people downright ignore this game, it'll show poorly on the market for a Transformers MMO. If people played it despite being somewhat cruddy (but with some redeeming qualities), other developers might invest time and effort into figuring out how to do it right, even if it isn't made by the same company.
A micro Transaction system or not is beside the point i'm trying to make. the TF world barely gets any good games, theres no need to be so overly picky when whats there so far is enough to have me playing it, atleast a few times round to show them gamers are willing to log on and play. If the game is free, there is even more chance that they might add stuff to it, at a cost or free, who knows yet. They might not want to invest a ton of resources right away when this is pretty much uncharted territory, being a TF MMO. There is always business involved, its a Hasbro Product... someone is making money of this at some point along the lines, even if the game is free.
You dont know if the downfalls will hinder fun factor yet, since you haven't played it... so.. my point still stands.

MINDVVIPE wrote:If people downright ignore this game, it'll show poorly on the market for a Transformers MMO. If people played it despite being somewhat cruddy (but with some redeeming qualities), other developers might invest time and effort into figuring out how to do it right, even if it isn't made by the same company.

That's not how it works. You know why no one is planning on a new Star Wars MMO? Because BioWare is already doing it, and they're only doing it because SOE lost the license. You know why there's no plans for a new Star Trek MMO? There already is one. You know why there's no plans for a Batman-themed MMO? DC Universe Online.

No one is going to try to make a better MMO when tons of people are already giving one their attention.

MINDVVIPE wrote:A micro Transaction system or not is beside the point i'm trying to make. the TF world barely gets any good games, theres no need to be so overly picky when whats there so far is enough to have me playing it, atleast a few times round to show them gamers are willing to log on and play.

Also not how it works. You don't praise a game because it's the only one of it's kind. If it's good, you praise it, if it sucks, you bash it. The franchise has literally nothing to do with this.

MINDVVIPE wrote:If the game is free, there is even more chance that they might add stuff to it, at a cost or free, who knows yet. They might not want to invest a ton of resources right away when this is pretty much uncharted territory, being a TF MMO. There is always business involved, its a Hasbro Product... someone is making money of this at some point along the lines, even if the game is free.

I really don't get what you're saying. They'll add stuff anyway, long-runner multiplayer games always do that. But not because the game is free. A free game means no revenue, no revenue means they have to find some other tactic to make money, because without money, the game goes down. Exteel tried exactly what you're thinking, non-free content, but it didn't save it in the end. Team Fortress 2 has the Mann Co. Store which is the exact same thing, except TF2 costs $10 and it's servers are run by players so they don't have to spend money on that.

MINDVVIPE wrote:You dont know if the downfalls will hinder fun factor yet, since you haven't played it... so.. my point still stands.

I never said there were any. I said downfalls are what make a game not fun. So my point still stands.