MechWarrior 4: F2P Coming...Soon (TM)

I keep checking back at MekTek, but it seems that they're still working on upgrading their servers in anticipation of the traffic they expect to receive when they finally do put up MW4 for free. Here's the latest (kinda' old still) news about the process:

Mechwarrior4 FREE Release Update

Posted by Vam, Saturday, 15 August 2009 06:57 Comments(0), Read all Well folks its certainly time for an update regarding the the FREE release of Mechwarrior4 recently announced. I figured it would be worth mentioning considering this is the weekend of GENCON 2009 where all of the major players in the Mechwarrior and BattleTech world are expected to converge on Indianapolis this weekend. We have been receiving a wealth of requests for information regarding this release from gamers both young and old. As a game fan community development site such as MekTek, receiving such honor to release a million dollar product developed by Microsoft may be one thing but delivering on this release successfully is another. Currently, MekTek is working around the clock on pretty much everything in preparation for this free release. There will be a second media blitz when the release is ready as both MekTek and the release partners want to ensure the word travels far and wide regarding the official release. Also expect to see more info regarding partner developments around this time on BattleTech.com.

The reason we did not re-package the ISOs of Mechwarrior4 and release the game as is right after the release of the announcement is because we simply were not prepared. The news and announcement of the FREE release happened very quickly and was dropped in our lap almost as quickly as it was dropped in yours. Since the announcement, we have been diligently preparing for the release of Mechwarrior4 which has all of the digital protection mechanisms removed. Along with this development we have also been working on our MekMatch software. For those of you not familiar, MekMatch is a reverse engineered protocol developed for match making services in Mechwarrior4 by MekTek. This service was developed after Microsoft terminated the Zonematch service which officially supported Mechwarrior4 multiplayer. Our MekMatch software needed a serious overhaul to handle the amount of traffic we expect on our servers when the game is released. MekTek also plans to include MekPak3.1 with the free release of Mechwarrior4 which includes an additional 100+ new battlemechs, dozens of new weapons, maps, and other content developed by MekTek. The distribution will come as a single file self-installable which will be initially downloadable via torrent trackers and later provided in multi part volumes, ISO. Finally, MekTek is also releasing a new application which has been in development since this announcement which provides the community with the latest patches and software from MekTek. This software will greatly simplify the patching process of Mechwarrior4 and allow MekTek to push updates, such as our MekPak4, to the Mechwarrior4 community much easier than in the past.

The unfortunate aspect of all this great news is that all of these new developments could have been ironed out before the announcement but they were not. Our partners felt an initial announcement was necessary and so did we. We plan to release Mechwarrior4 for FREE when developments are completed and considered stable. We are also waiting on legal paper work from lawyers and as anyone out there that has worked in the professional industry knows, something of this magnitude takes time on all fronts. MekTek is not receiving any financial support from the partners regarding this release and obviously no one can quit their daytime job to get the job done faster either. The release has entered beta status and will be delivered to the world very shortly. MekTek is supported through donations from our community and thus far we have received 50% of our goal to cover server infrastructure costs. We hope the community will continue to support us during this very busy time to ensure we have the best possible hardware in place for this release.

Thanks for supporting us folks, while we work hard on something new and shiny, for everyone, for FREE!

So, let us continue to be patient, and if you want, go donate!