NoxX hosting beta key giveaway

Thanks to Bion who pointed of that the NoxXious Agency will be giving out some beta keys in a TF2 event coming up. Here's the clip:

On Friday, the 4th of December at 7:00pm PST NoxXious will be hosting a TF2 match on our dedicated server. We will have a few of our members in-game partaking in the face-melting and hopefully a few Hi-Rezians will join in the fun as well. The rest of the roster will be filled with people who have yet to receive a beta key.

Those interested can read the full info on the official thread.

The Escapist has posted a nice segment highlighting Hi-Rez Studios' exceptionally clever "No Elves" campaign. The video is part of the Escapist's satirical gaming news feature. The entire video is about 5 minutes in length with the No Elves portion starting in at around 2:40. Head on over to the Escapist to check it out:

Global Agenda online game Escapist video

Global Agenda Medic interview

The guys at TenTonHammer have posted a nice QA regarding the Medic class and all the stress that comes along with being responsible for your team members health and well being.

Ten Ton Hammer: Obviously medics are all about keeping allies in the pink, but we learned in the assault class interview about how they can buff damage output and work some poison damage of their own. What are the various support roles in combat that the medic fills?

Todd Harris, Global Agenda Executive Producer: They definitely have a variety of support options. They can do concentrated healing on a single target, they have a different option of a channel heal that can heal multiple allies at the same time, there’s also a different option of lesser healing with a damage buff, and there’s also a variety of in-hand devices that can buff team damage temporarily or even increase team damage temporarily. So quite a few support options are available to the medic.

Ten Ton Hammer: And all of this supports the team while it’s in motion. The medic doesn’t deploy first aid kits or anything like that, correct?

Todd: That’s right. Robotics is the other class that has a healing device, that’s a deployable medic crate, but with the medic, all of the healing is emanating around the character.

Head on over to TenTonHammer to read the full interview with Global Agenda's Todd Harris.

Quickdraw Beta Key Contest!

So it looks like I've received a few more Global Agenda beta keys after all! This is obviously good news, as everyone wants a beta key these days.

With such short notice given the upcoming phase of testing, I want to get keys out to people as fast as possible to make sure that the winners have enough time to download the client and get to playing.

So how can one win a key? Well, I'll be picking a few random members who have stopped by the site today and they'll receive a notification by email sometime later tonight.

Global Agenda preview and beta key offering

The guys at Escapist have posted a nice lengthy article about Global Agenda and are also offering a chance to win 1 of 10 beta keys. Here's a clip from the article:

Playing the game in its non-subscription form gets you access to "match-made PVP, or also PVE content so you can level up your character that way." You'll also get loot drops, there's a social area, you can visit vendors, customize character with new suits and dyes, and make use of the built-in voice chat. And if that's all you ever do, you'll have a very satisfying shooter experience comparable to other online shooters, but as Harris puts it "We also say come for the action gameplay, then stay for the game of territory control."

He's referring to Conquest, the "grand turn based strategy game" mode that's only accessible in the subscription version of Global Agenda. Conquest is Global Agenda's version of realm versus realm gameplay, as Alliances compete to claim territory and meet win conditions that might stretch over a 30- or 40-day arc. Alliances are comprised of groups of Agencies - Global Agenda's version of a guild. Starting an Agency is just a matter of getting some friends together and paying a nominal in-game fee; where you go from there is up to your creativity and ruthlessness.

For those interested in a key, simply enter the word 'Escape' into your Global Agenda account referral code box. For the rest of the article, head over to the Global Agenda preview.

Beta phase this weekend

It looks like another phase of Global Agenda closed beta will be held over the weekend. This is a small phase, introducing only a couple new features. The testing weekend is going to be pretty focused as well.

Unfortunately, I don't think we'll have keys this weekend, but the good news is that Agency vs Agency looks to be on for December. I'm sure new keys will be handed out at that time and you can bet we'll get a hold of a few for the loyal fans that frequent our site.

Global Agenda to use Vivox Voice

Hi-Rez Studios has announced today that they will be incorporating Vivox Voice support upon release. Some features include:

• In-Game Player Voice Chat - push to talk voice chat enables team communication within co-op player-vs-environment missions as well as competitive player-vs-player missions.
• In-Game News Broadcasts - delivery of voice broadcasts within the game that describe key victories and events associated with Global Agenda’s persistent territory control gameplay.
• Out Of Game Player Voice Chat (Subscriber Only): Subscribers gain the ability to talk with Agency members and other Global Agenda players while playing other games or simply browsing the web. Players can use a variety of access methods including the Vivox Web Voice within the toolbar controls, Vivox Voice on Facebook, or calling into a specified chat channel from their phone.

Good stuff for sure. Head on over to the Global Agenda official blog to read the full press release.