11655766
submission
Vamman writes:
If you've been following the drama surrounding the free release of Mechwarrior4, than you would be aware that the initial announcement, made last summer, was a bit premature. After nearly a year since the announcement came, MekTek Studios has announced, that Microsoft Legal has given clearance for the free release of Mechwarrior4. This interesting move by Microsoft Games couldn't come at a better time for this community, as the owners of Mechwarrior are attempting a reboot of Mechwarrior. A few weeks ago this studio stuck their necks out there and announced that they were struggling to see this release through to the end. Looks like some interesting pressure was applied from a variety of sources.
11100808
submission
Vamman writes:
Way back in July 2009, Smith & Tinker announced that it was going to authorize MekTek to release MechWarrior 4 and all its expansions for free "soon" — likely to drum up interest for the upcoming MechWarrior reboot. After nearly a year, the game remains unreleased. The reason for the delay, according to MekTek, lies with Microsoft. The group claims that the project is "held up at Microsoft" and it's currently "unknown" when the release will receive its "final go ahead."
The studio adds the unfortunate revelation that it's now in dire financial straights thanks to the delay. "Due to the demands placed upon us by industry lawyers to release the Mechwarrior 4 Free release we were forced to insure our Studio at a premium rate to meet the Microsoft standard," reads the announcement, adding that group's server fund has "run dry" and is currently being paid directly by staff. MekTek is asking for donations from players that download its MekPak 3.1 expansion. According to the announcement, MekTek would be able to keep the servers running for an entire year if all those who downloaded the expansion were to donate $5. MekTek is saying thank you for support from another company caught up in this mess Virtual World Entertainment, the company which owns and operates the Tesla Cockpits simulators also running Mechwarrior.
MekTek has released to their community a major update for their existing community expansion MekPak 3.1. Check em' out! They are also promising their new expansion — MekPak 4 in a few weeks as open beta!
