“Enter The Castithan” Coming Later This Month

Ambitious online shooter Defiance will be getting its first major content update later this month, developers Trion World have announced. In an update posted on their official website, executive producer Nathan Richardsson has provided details on how these “DLC” updates will work moving forward, as well as addressing the feedback from both players and critics over the game’s first month of live play.

Defiance's first major cross game/TV series appearance has been detailed, allowing players to compete to get a digitized version of their mug onto the SyFy show. We're not sure whether the obscene amount of grind is worth the reward, but if you're game, we've got the details below.

This week on the PWNCAST we take a closer look at two games we've all been getting stuck into. First up, its all about Defiance, as we chat about Trion Worlds' ambitious multiplatform MMO shooter. Then we move onto Soul Sacrifice. Can Keiji Inafune's inventive action title save the Vita?

PWNCAST | Season 3: Episode 14 – Defiant Murder, Recorded: April 25th, 2013

Parental Advisory: We've tried to keep it as conversational and informal as possible, and you should be warned that there may be a few instances of strong language.

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Platform: PC (Tested) | PS3 | Xbox 360

Developer: Trion Worlds

Publisher: Namco Bandai

Here we are with the final part of our review for Defiance, the online shooter side of the Transmedia project between Trion Worlds and SyFy. We previously looked at my initial impressions of the live game, and then analysed the content, social features, and progression for the game. Today we will be delving into what lies beyond the PvE open world by testing out the Co-op and PVP, analysing the link to the TV show (as well as summarising its entertainment value), and closing with our verdict for the ambitious online experience.

We’ve already mentioned that Defiance's first impression is less than positive, making some shaky first steps in its first 8 hours of content, but once players manage to overcome the initial area of Mount Tam they are rewarded with their first slice of what is arguably the best mode on offer – Co-op. These instanced missions take 4-players (be it a pre-made group or via matchmaking) through what is essentially a corridor dungeon, but the mix of enemies and arenas end up being far more interesting and, more importantly, fun than anything the open world has to offer. As with Arkfalls, players will compete with each other for the top spot on the leaderboard (for that delicious serving of loot) but at the same time the need to ensure everybody stays on their feet is crucial – no single player can hope to conquer the swarms of enemies (let a alone the sub & main bosses) on their lonesome. Admittedly, they don’t have the same refinement as a dungeon found in the Borderlands series, but the co-op missions end up being challenging enough to make players think, and have enough freedom for players to perform flank manoeuvres to push forward.

Platform: PC (Tested) | PS3 | Xbox 360

Developer: Trion Worlds

Publisher: Namco Bandai

We’re back with the second part of our Defiance review, where we will be looking at the content beyond the storyline, the community aspects, progression and gear, and ending with a summary of the current state of the game. If you have yet to see the first part, where I gave my initial impressions of Trion's online shooter, you can get up to speed by clicking here.

As well as the storyline missions that lead you across the Bay area, the game unlocks a series of various other missions to take part in. Side missions act as fire-and-forget bites of gameplay but often end up being forgettable and sometimes downright annoying thanks to the overused audio cues from NPCs (your digitised assistant EGO being the biggest culprit of unoriginal thought.) However, the quick nature of these missions helps to create an addictive feeling of doing “just one more mission” when you’re just a few hundred XP from the next EGO rating. Ultimately though, there is no real variation between them – activate this, kill X amounts of enemies, deliver that. Rinse, repeat, ugh. While there are tidbits of lore included, the fact they have been relegated to the initial text upon getting the missions comes across as a way to keep the budget lower.

Outside of these missions, players will also find arcade-esque time trial activities ranging from races around the world to score attack arena that give the player a certain weapon type to eliminate as many foes as quickly as possible. These missions come with leaderboards so players can continually compete with each other once they get the gold rating, and while they can be fun it can also be a little disorientating for newcomers due to the strange removal of crouch and sprint functionality (something that is not explained heading into these modes.) They make for a welcome temporary distraction, and the rewards of keycodes, resources and XP are small yet appropriate for the time spent, but they are by no means an aspect that will have players loading up their clients in several months’ time.

Platform: PC (Tested) | PS3 | Xbox 360

Developer: Trion Worlds

Publisher: Namco Bandai

When Jon got the chance to get hands-on with the upcoming MMO shooter last year, the words “ambitious” and “insane” were used to describe the overall project, and in fairness I had similar feelings when I was there for its unveiling to the press at Gamescom a few years back. Labelled as a “Trans-media project,” Defiance is the first online game that will coexist with a television show, broadcast by SyFy. While both entities will take place in different locations, the aim is for the stories and characters to interject between each medium and, perhaps more importantly, have players influence the path of the story, as well as being affected by it.

The Sci-fi enthusiast in me adores the idea whole heartedly, but the success of the project ultimately comes down to two things – the entertainment value of the television show, and the gameplay of the MMO portion being fun. Right now it’s still early days as to whether the show has the legs to survive (we’ll get to reviewing it in Part 2) but for now the game finds itself in a very precarious situation of being best described in a single word – odd. Despite the fact there is a fair bit wrong with Trion's new game, it still manages to find a way of being fun, so it’s my job to sift through it to see if the pros can outweigh the cons, and determine if Defiance is worth your time and money.

Fixes & Tweaks Aplenty

As announced last week, the giant patch for Defiance will be hitting servers this afternoon to sort out some of the frustrations players have been experiencing with Trion’s recently released Online Shooter. The patch notes, which relate to all platforms (PC, Xbox 360 & PS3) can be found on the official forums, but we’ve helpfully provided the entire thing for your perusal after the jump.

BioShock Infinite has held onto the UK top spot for a third week, but only by the narrowest of margins. According to GFK Chart-Track, it only managed to beat Tomb Raider by 2500 sales, which is still selling very strongly indeed.

Elsewhere, ambitious-yet-flawed MMO shooter Defiance slips to fourth, while LEGO Batman 2 and Far Cry 3 sneak back in at the expense of Skylanders and Need For Speed: Most Wanted. Check out the top ten after the break.

"Massive Client Patch" Coming Next Week

Once again proving that no MMO-centric game is immune from niggling launch issues, Trion Worlds has decided to gift early adopters of online shooter Defiance with some in-game boosts for all characters. The 7-day boosts will provide faster XP and Scrip (money) gain, a higher chance for loot, and an increase in weapon skill gain. On top of this, launch players will also get an exclusive 'Daredevil' title for their characters.

Carrying on from yesterday, Dealspwn's very own majestic cape-wearing mascot Toby The Dealspwny continues his shenanigans around this year's Gadget Show Live. Today, we witness the moment he got to meet a rather iconic Italian Plumber....

No, the other one...

This week's chart starts with a lighthouse, in that BioShock Infinite has managed to secure the top spot for a second week running. Well, it was always going to. However, newcomer MMO shooter Defiance has debuted in a respectable third place, impressive considering major launch issues for the Xbox 360 version. Elsewhere, Skylanders and Need For Speed: Most Wanted have re-entered the top ten, bothering the likes of Luigi's Mansion 2 and Assassin's Creed III.

Trion Worlds has announced that their experimental transmedia sort-of-MMO Defiance has gone live for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360, and that there'll be lots more to come once the related TV series kicks off on April 15th.

We've looked at the character creation and initial gameplay sequence, we've explored some of the content to be found in the game world, and we've dived headfirst into a major Arkfall event. However, today we conclude our episodes of Dealspwn Playthrough dedicated to Defiance's beta by taking a look at the mircotransaction store, before showing off some of the elemental weapons that could be in your posession whilst making your way as an Ark Hunter. See all the fire-and-green-lazer-esque mayhem after the jump.

We're back yet again with the third of our episodes of Dealspwn Playthrough dedicated to Defiance, the upcoming MMO shooter from Trion Worlds. In today's episode, Carl takes his virtual representative McGarnagle into the hellbug-filled fray that is an Arkfall event - dynamic pieces of content that can randomly appear in the game world at any time. See how he fares by watching the video after the jump.

Carrying on from the initial episode yesterday, we continue our run of Dealspwn Playthrough episodes dedicated to Defiance. In this second episode, we follow Carl as he charges through some of the various mission types to be found in the game. See him take on a huge mutant, his struggle in a buggy against a fallen tree, and his attempt to rack up a high score, after the jump.

When Jon got the chance to get hands-on with the upcoming MMO shooter last year, the words “ambitious” and “insane” were used to describe the overall project, and in fairness I had similar feelings when I was there for its unveiling to the press at Gamescom a few years back. Labelled as a “Trans-media project,” Defiance is to be the first online game that will coexist with a television show, broadcast by SyFy. While both entities will take place in different locations, the stories and characters will interject with one another and, perhaps more importantly, players will be able to influence the path of the story, as well as being affected by it.

The Sci-fi enthusiast in me adores the idea whole heartedly, but the success of the project ultimately comes down to two things – the quality of the storyline for both entities, and the gameplay of the online game being fun. I had previously been able to try out Defiance in a Beta Weekend at the beginning of the year, but with an NDA the size of the Great Wall halting me from saying (or showing) anything I was forced to keep my opinions to myself. However, as of last weekend Trion Worlds finally allowed players to tell the world about Defiance, so that is exactly what I am going to do with these new episodes of Dealspwn Playthrough. In this first episode, we take a look at the Character Creation process, and go through the initial gameplay sequence. We also take a quick look at the EGO system which allows players to pick their abilities and skills. See the video, along with a brief intro to what Defiance is, after the jump.

The ambitious MMO Shooter from Trion Worlds, Defiance, is almost here, and to mark the occasion we have a new trailer to watch. Borrowing that "Radioactive" track from a trailer featuring a certain assassin (which is fine, because it's a good track) the video shows off the Human and Irathient Ark Hunters in action, giving us a look at some of the locations we'll be visiting, a taster of the sort of vehicles we'll be able to drive around, and finishes with a Arkfall featuring a Hellbug of colossal proportions... and yes, you will fight that thing in-game.

Defiance launches on April 4th for PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3, with its partnered television series premièring on April 16th on Syfy. We'll have some in-game impressions from the final beta weekend on-site soon, but in the meantime you can learn all about Defiance from our hands-on preview here, and our exclusive interview with Robert Hill of Trion Worlds here.

This weekend marks the final beta test for Defiance, Trion Worlds' breathtakingly ambitious MMO shooter that will tie seamlessly into a simultaneously-running TV show.

However, you'll need to be a PlayStation Plus member to participate.

With the second beta weekend freshly announced for next week, Trion have issued a live-action trailer for upcoming MMO shooter Defiance, as well as dating the full release for April 2nd.

The Defiance beta key giveaway proved rather popular, and we all left beta weekend number one with flushed faces and beaming smiles. Not that we were allowed to talk about it. Anyway, the good news is that there's a second beta event coming up in under a fortnight.