Section 8: Prejudice Message Board older than one year ago

TimeGate has announced today that a title update has launced into Section 8: Prejudice, bringing in new fixes for a plethora of elements within the game...

Well, this is certainly unexpected. No Xbox Live Arcade game to date has been afforded a dedicated server option. That is, until now. TimeGate Studios has announced that its recently released, multiplayer-centric title, Section 8: Prejudice, now allows Xbox Live players to access and play on PC-hosted servers through GameServers ... for a small fee.

Dedicated servers can host ranked or unranked matches with support for up to 32 players. The monthly charges will run you $1.29 a player, plus a little extra something something if you want to purchase support for a standalone voice chat program. You can place your order for a dedicated server for the XBLA version now -- PC and PS3 players should look sharp, though, as the same support is on its way to their respective versions of the shooter.

With Section 8: Prejudice now available on Xbox Live Arcade, TimeGate has announced the pre-order bonuses for the upcoming PC version. Prejudice will be available via Steam, Games for Windows Live and Direct2Drive, all of which will offer different pre-order incentives.

Those who pre-order on Steam will receive a ten percent discount, knocking the $15 price down to $13.49. Games for Windows Live pre-orders get the Explosion Pack, which unlocks the Riot Mod pulse cannon as well as Concussion Detpacks for in-game use. Direct2Drive pre-orders also get in-game goodies, namely the Lightning Pack, which unlocks EMP rounds for the pulse cannon, tagger rounds for the sniper rifle and Blitz armor. Section 8: Prejudice will be released on PC May 4.

TimeGate has also released a video detailing the game's online stat tracking portal because, hey, this is a portal kind of week. Check it out after the break.

Somewhere, on an ice-encrusted planet, a battle is raging. Enemies literally fall from the sky, crashing feet first onto the ground, spraying up dust and stone. Jets periodically strafe the area with bombs as I frantically rush toward a computer console, quickly activating it to disable the facility's shield generator. High above, I spy a massive orbiting space ship as it bombards the fortified bunker into which our quarry recently fled.

Strangely, the thought running through my mind has little to do with the abundance of action. The mental refrain is one I've repeated often while playing Section 8: Prejudice: "This costs fifteen dollars."

#frankenreview Can TimeGate Studios possibly succeed with the downloadable sequel to a retail first-person shooter that nobody played in the first place? Find out in the Section 8: Prejudice Frankenreview. More »

Jeff and Ryan drop into some downloadable shooter action, with a couple twists.

GUNS! Kicks to the face! A knife fight! Jetpacks! Robots! …Robots having a knife fight! Some elderly dude doing a voice-over about how “The hunter does not question his purpose”! VTOL aircraft! Robots! Energy cannons! A guy hanging by his fingertips! Esplosions! Ground vehicles being delivered from orbit! A gun larger than my flat! It’s all after the jump. When’s this coming out again? May 4th? OK.(more…)

The sequel to the online action game burns in to PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.

Few trailers are as comprehensive as this launch video for Section 8: Prejudice. It's got a little slice of everything included in the game: Hectic gunfights, vehicles, armor customization, objective-based gameplay and, of course, some of the most haphazard skydiving in recorded history.

Joy is back and, it would seem, still single in the latest developer diary for Section 8: Prejudice. Apart from her quest for love, the video also discusses the game's story, which is greatly expanded over that of its predecessor. Section 8: Prejudice drops (ahem) on XBLA April 20.

Section 8: Prejudice, the downloadable continuation of the Section 8 franchise, was given a release date the other afternoon. The Xbox Live version of Prejudice will see a release first on the Marketplace this April 20. That launch will then be followed by the Games for Windows Live PC release on May 4 and a forthcoming PSN release later this "summer." All three versions of the game will carry the same price tag of 15 bones.

Prejudice is a tactical shooter like its predecessor Section 8, which was, in a nutshell, a flashy title with some unique concepts that fell flat in execution. I haven't gotten my hands on Prejudice yet, so I can’t speak to the improvements on the original's formula, but creator TimeGate has been adding to the original's feature set. For example, Prejudice will feature an all-new HUD, new or tweaked weapons, and a single-player campaign that’ll have you uncover a “sinister series of betrayals” that threaten all human life. Of course, the core mechanic that defined the first title--the dynamic spawning system that let you spawn wherever you want in multiplayer--will return, alongside deployable vehicles and dramatic aerial drops. 
  

Section 8 gets to the root of all conflict in Prejudice. The Behind the Scenes series continues as the single lady continues her pursuit of a game developer mate.

For $15 the new Section 8 game is looking like a bit of a deal. There’s a five hour single-player campaign (I played an hour of it, and it was okay) and both a 4-player co-op and standard multiplayer campaigns. All for the price of cheap. You can check out my hands-on impressions here, too. The game probably isn’t going to be a classic, but it could be eminently playable with some flaws (burdened as it is by GFWL.) Anyway, it’s been dated and that date is later this month: April 20th.

Timegate Studios has dated two of the three versions of its upcoming FPS sequel Section 8: Prejudice. Via its Twitter account, the developer confirmed that the game will land on Xbox Live Marketplace in two weeks on April 20, followed by the Windows version on Games for Windows Live come May 4.

The PS3 release doesn't have a firm date; the game is simply noted as coming "summer 2011" to PSN. Whenever it hits, it'll carry the same $15 price tag as the other versions.

I’m trying to work out exactly what I think about the video below showing the studios at Timegate, as they work on Section 8: Prejudice. It’s certainly uncomfortable. But then it’s trying to be. It’s not exactly endearing toward women, but then it’s not to men either, and they’re obviously taking the piss. It’s certainly a unique approach to the usually excruciatingly boring behind-the-scenes videos we see of development studios. But I’m not convinced it’s the right one. It’s an insecure woman pretending to care about the game so she can flirt with the developers. Er. Oh, whatever they were trying to do, it doesn’t work.

(more…)

If can get past the strange introduction and interludes in the latest Section 8: Prejudice developer diary, there's actually some worthwhile information to be had. If, for some reason, you actually enjoy said interludes, it looks like we'll learn more about Joy's love life in later episodes.

Take a humorous look behind the scenes at TimeGate Studios as a single lady peruses the developer team for potential mates!

As nice as it would be to say that Rock, Paper, Shotgun is the only source of cynical, British, top-quality PC gaming journalism on the internet, we cannot, as that would involve ignoring internet phenomenon (and regular RPS commenter) Cynical Brit (aka Total Biscuit). His videos and shoutcasts routinely reach an audience of hundreds of thousands, the bastard. What to do about this? After months of plotting we calculated that bringing about his death would be unfeasibly expensive, and so we have organised a tentative alliance.

Today we present to you the first Spotlight On Biscuit, a weekly feature in which we’ll highlight the best of Total Biscuit’s videos for that week, and also spotlight an actual biscuit, just to make sure nobody reads the headline and goes home disappointed. Today we’ve got TB explaining “WTF Is…” Section 8: Prejudice, and a look at that firm favourite, the Ginger Crunch Cream. (more…)

The original Section 8 was an unknown quantity launching just weeks before the likes of Halo 3: ODST, Resident Evil 5, Red Faction: Guerilla and Batman: Arkham Asylum. To put it lightly, Section 8 had quite an uphill battle on its hands. Now, developer TimeGate Studios has prepared a disruptive secret weapon: Turning the sequel, Section 8: Prejudice, into a budget download.

Based on what I played at PAX East, I'd say it's a strategy that might pay off.

Sugar Land, Texas - TimeGate Studios announced their new first person shooter, Section 8: Prejudice, will make its presence felt at the 2011 Penny Arcade East Expo (March 11 13 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center). With three locations on the show floor, gamers have multiple chances to meet and play against the developers, as well as win exclusive prizes...

Most of the time, company names are obscure enough that we have no clue what their origin is. In the case of TimeGate Studios we always thought we had a fairly good idea, but, as it happens, we were just letting our Richard Dean Anderson obsession cloud our judgment.

Joystiq: So, TimeGate. You were just watching a lot of Stargate, right?

TimeGate Studios head Adel Chaveleh: "The concept was that we had a lot of different ideas for game types -- there was fantasy-themed, WWII-themed, sci-fi. Basically, as a company, we want to kind of be a portal to our fans and to ourselves to different worlds and universes. So TimeGate was the name that we came up with that seemed to kind of communicate that. Ironically, it played out exactly that way. It's like, fantasy with Kohan, and Axis & Allies is WWII, and here we are with our own sci-fi franchise [Section 8]. I'm trying to think of what other time periods we can go to, but we'll see I guess." [laughs]

TimeGate Studios' next title, Section 8: Prejudice, will be available for download on PC, 360 and PS3 this year.

Like this feature? Be sure to check out the What's In A Name Archives.

Like many indie developers, TimeGate Studios' origins are humble. "We set up a card table and called it TimeGate. That was a little over 12 years ago," president and CEO Adel Chaveleh recalled during our recent meeting. "We knew the game we wanted before we knew how the hell to make a game," he added with a wide grin. That game was Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns, which went on to earn an 87 Metacritic score and a handful of awards.

Today, TimeGate isn't far from launching its first digital-only title, Section 8: Prejudice -- the sequel to 2009's Section 8 -- and Chaveleh is noticeably excited about the prospects of the company's future in publishing.

"In the midst of a year, not only did we finish development of the whole sequel, but we've switched our whole business model, and we've built that internal publishing infrastructure," he beamed. "Now that we've got that pipeline established, we're looking at more content -- both internally, and we're starting to talk with some external developers, as well, about being a conduit for either their content or helping us develop content." Chaveleh wouldn't reveal any of these collaborators, but it's clear TimeGate understands that, whether physical or digital products, the publisher still holds all the cards.

Get a detailed look at the Eden map in Section 8: Prejudice!

A little game time helps me overcome my prejudices.

There shall be no debate: This game costs $15. Pick up this downloadable title in 2011 for the pre-announced price!

The follow-up to Timegate Studios's coldly received 2009 multiplayer shooter, Section 8: Prejudice, will avoid the boxed-copy retail battlefield and will instead aim to "corner" the digital market. The developer announced today that Prejudice will come to Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and PC retail portals, including Steam and Games for Windows Marketplace, as a $15 download when it launches early next year.

Prejudice will include a single-player campaign, support for up to 32 players in online multiplayer and a new four-player co-op mode called Swarm. Offline players will also be able to partake in multiplayer, as the game can swap out those pesky humans for emotionless, calculating bots.

Timegate has also pledged to support the sequel post-launch through "a substantial downloadable content plan," though specific details have yet to be revealed.

Aims to corner digital FPS market.

Though many are now realizing its beauty in multiplayer shooters, the jetpack is a woefully underused tool in the FPS developer's work box. My love affair with the jetpack began many years ago on the PC with Dynamix's Starsiege: Tribes -- unfortunately, that love affair has taken a near 15-year, involuntary hiatus.

Halo: Reach went a long way in sating my desire for airborne multiplayer combat, but it looks like Section 8: Prejudice will go even further toward addressing that desire. Jetpacks abound -- like they did in the original Section 8 -- as do a glut of other variables to turn the objective-focused multiplayer into a rock, paper, scissors playground. But while I was excited by a lot of the gameplay ideas I saw in Prejudice, I was just as concerned about the dated visuals and subdued personality.

See why Timegate's orbital nutjobs might make their second drop something special.

New Section 8 on the way.