Today we chat with George Cochrane, of Juggernaut Games about their new MiniBots Training Facility. YPSH : Welcome again to YPSH! Especially glad to have you here to talk about your new MiniBots Training Facility! George : Thanks Karen, we're excited to finally get the multiplayer MiniBots experience into the hands of Home users! YPSH : What is the MiniBots Training Facility and how does it differ from the first MiniBots release? George : The MiniBots Training Facility is all about multiplayer. We'd previously talked about the fact that we had to remove multiplayer from the original Battlebox due to memory constaints, and now we're unleashing it with the firepower of this fully armed and operational Training Facility. You'll be able to play games with your friends with a variety of new weaponry and gadgets. The space and game are also free! YPSH : Multiplayer and the space is free? Nice. Do we have to buy the game to get it? George : No! As soon as you enter the space you'll be awarded MiniBots furniture and can immediately invite over some friends and jump into a game of MiniBots multiplayer. There are optional weapon, gadget, decoration and furniture purchases you can make to enhance your experience, but the core game is free. YPSH : This is a personal space that we can decorate and use just like any other personal space? George : That's right. The core focus of the space is the multiplayer game, but we have plans to expand the space and add more gameplay and some surprises as time goes on. YPSH : OK. How will we get the space? George : This Wednesday (July 18th) you can visit the Action District (where you can also play multiplayer MiniBots!), visit Cutteridge Estate, or activate a Battlebox or Poltergeist Puzzle Box – any of these will automatically award you the MiniBots Training Facility personal space. YPSH : So now I gather up some friends, invite them to my space to play. Do we play as teams or do we just shoot our enemies until the time runs out? George : Your choice! The host of the game will be able to choose a Team or Free-for-all game and determine the length by setting the number of kills to win. YPSH : Will only the owner of the space be able to start a game? George : Nope! Anyone can host a game. Up to 5 games can be hosted simultaneously, with up to 8 players in each. YPSH : Very cool. Multiple simultaneous games. What if I just want to stay and watch a couple of games to get the hang of it? Can I do that? George : Up to 2 players per game can also play as “Observers” – basically a free flying camera mode. Later on we're planning on adding in screen captures and hopefully video recording for Observers. YPSH : I love it when devs upgrade their spaces! I'm assuming we can customize the playing field? Can we use the items from the first MiniBots game? George : That's our favorite thing about MiniBots – custom levels! You can decorate the Training Room with any piece of furniture you own in Home. MiniBots work best with furniture created specifically for them (including the original Battlebox furniture), but you can design a level with any piece of furniture you can think of! YPSH : What new items will we have? Are they purchases or unlocks? George : You'll immediately be awarded some furniture pieces when you enter the space, including custom weapon pickup points, and you can purchase and unlock additional pieces. Weapon-wise, the Assaulter and Abuser are making a return (for free, if you own the Battlebox!) and we have some new weapons and gadgets too, including the Death Ray, Thunder Cannon and Mechanite Reaper. Each weapon also has a special unlock attached for scoring 10 kills with it. YPSH : How many unlocks are there to obtain? George : We have about a dozen unlockable rewards, some of which come from premium content and some you can earn immediately – or you might have unlocked them already by owning the Battlebox, Juggernaut Cake, or the special E3 2012 companion. YPSH : Can we buy upgrades? George : You can purchase additional weapons, decorations and special furniture called “Battlefield Effects” to enhance your experience. There is also a trial item each week in the Armory, which will let you try out different upgrades for free. YPSH : Trial items? That’s a great feature! Will those upgrades be necessary to win against opponents who have them? George : Absolutely not! We hate “pay to win”. The different weapons in the Facility are built around different styles of play – there is no Golden Gun that will win every game for you. If you love the Thunder Cannon and that's all you ever want to use, you can. If you want to expand your arsenal and be able to equip anything you see, you can do that too. YPSH : Can we expect to see the new MiniBots in other regions besides NA? George : We're proud to be releasing the original MiniBots Battlebox for the first time in the EU, and simultaneously releasing the MiniBots Training Facility in both the US and EU. Both US and EU users can also play the multiplayer game in their version of the Action District! YPSH : Certainly sounds like a lot of fun. The first MiniBots was, so this HAS to be even more so! So, why don't we kick-off the release with a competition? Sound like a plan? George : A competition eh? I LOVE IT. YPSH : OK. How about this: YPSH will host the competition. We'll lay out some rules and a schedule and let the games begin! We could do team and free-for-all games and have a winner in each category. Winners would be determined by process of elimination. Would Juggernaut care to kick in a prize for our Grand Prize winner and for our 2nd and 3rd place winners in each category? George : Only if the prizes are custom MiniBot companions and decals designed by the winners. :O YPSH : OK! Let's get the party started! Thanks for giving us the first hand info on the new MiniBots Training Facility. Should be a blast! George : My pleasure - we'll see you all in training! YPSH will announce the start date, more details and rules right here soon. This will give everyone a chance to experience the Minibots Multiplayer and be ready for the competition! STAY TUNED…… Be sure to check out our new Minibots Tactical HQ's thread to share tips and tricks with your fellow Minibots players!
Great interview Karen and wow we're being spoiled with another great comp. Am really looking forward to this.
Great interview with some great information. Really looking forward to this and looking even more forward to the great contest we have planned
wow thanx... i won a few of the adorible bots in a friends club house game set, the game was awsome & realy adictive. Now that multi play will be included, something the game realy lacked, i'm sure it will be a great sucsess.lol