APB: Reloaded

I know, there's obviously something terribly wrong with me if I have any interest in Realtime Worlds' failed "Action MMO" All Points Bulletin anymore. Especially since it has been called the "worst failure in MMO history" by the gaming journalism world. I'll agree with that. Any game that causes the bankruptcy of the developer is probably bad. However, I can't help but be a little interested when I hear the rights to APB have been purchased by GamersFirst, a creator of free to play MMOs.

The CTO of GamersFirst, Bjorn Book-Larsson said "We think of it as an opportunity. It's worth our effort to take it and combine it with all of the user data we have and let the game take its time to reach its full potential." Making the game free to play is a great idea, I think. Listening to the feedback provided by the players? That is an amazing idea.

When it was functioning correctly, I enjoyed the living hell out of APB. There were certainly great ideas involved with the game, but they were buried underneath horrible matchmaking, balance issues, bad customer service, a lack of in-game support, lag, memory issues, and a lack of anti-cheating software. There were more things wrong with the game than there were right, which is certainly why it failed, but if GamersFirst is willing to listen to feedback from beta testers, maybe the game can be saved. Like Joe once said, "I might play this game again when it's out of beta."

The new game will be called APB:Reloaded and will launch sometime during 1st Quarter 2011. It will be Free to Play, but with a cash shop. If GamersFirst can iron out some wrinkles and doesn't give too much of an advantage to people that purchase items from the cash shop, I'll be checking this game out again. I never got my hockey mask, after all. I can't be blamed for wanting it still, can I?