News

Day 1 Studios Hints at New Mechassault Game

By Justin Pauls

Posted on February 17, 2012

Day 1 just announced a storm was coming on their website and posted a teaser video online. In the video we’re shown a damaged building, a statement that they are returning to their roots, and then a mech foot drops in front of the camera.

In case you weren’t aware, back in 2002 the first game that Day 1 Studios developed was the original xbox title, Mechassault. As the go-to game for Xbox live multiplayer gaming, and its online components were new and exciting. MechAssault moved faster and didn’t bog you down with the mech design and configuration found in the PC based MechWarrior series – it truly was XBL what Halo 1 was to the launch of the xbox.

MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf was also developed by Day 1 studios back in 2004, and while the production values for the FMV and some of the between-gaming segments lagged a bit, the ability to get out of your mech, drive other vehicles, or even hijack an enemy mech changed up the game and really made it feel fresh.

Given that we’re 8 years out since the release of MechAssault 2, and a decade out since the first, it will be a big challenge to build a sequel and bring it up to today’s expectations. No word yet on the game title, setting or even which platforms it will be produced for.

Best of luck, Day 1 – you’ve got some pretty big boots to fill!

Justin Pauls

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Born and raised in Winnipeg, Canada, at a young age I was forced to decide whether the harsh northern winters were going to claim my fingers, or to turn to the safer pursuits of indoor activities. Little did I know that a little game called Ninja Gaiden would bring my digits more pain than frostbite ever could. Starting with Vectrex and C64 games and moving forward through the era of electronic entertainment, I sampled as much as I could in the different platforms, and began my interest in PC gaming from wrestling with DOS memory management.

While console games were a part of my earliest gaming memories and I certainly had played on most platforms including 3D0, all things Nintendo, PS1 and the like, truly the PC was my domain until the Xbox. As an old PC gamer, I ever chased the cutting edge technology. Eye of the beholder with CGA 4 colors was my first step down the the path of blowing thousands of dollars on PC upgrades over two decades. Ultima 7, with the Guardian talking to me through my monitor, still haunts my dreams and keeps me ever hoping for a decent Ultima 8 and 9. From the 3DFX SLI VooDoo2s and Aureal to today's GPU driven DirectX games, the new and shiny pictures seem to keep me going. My PC gaming has slowed down with the market shift though, and although I have choice games that will ever be on PC, I have found myself in console gaming with a bit of portable gaming in my life.

Back around the turn of the millenium (and long before fatherhood), I had fired off an email offering to help Ron with a little-known site called ConsoleGold. Little did I know it would be be a part of my life to this day. While I've seen my fair share of shovelware (thanks Ron!), I manage to try and find the fun in most games. Leaning towards sandbox and action titles, I've grown to love games for their potential to reach art. Console agnostic and excited for the progress of tomorrow, I fancy the latest and greatest, but still enjoy the good old classics ... as long as they've been revamped from their 8bit graphic roots.