GDC Roundup: Blackstar, DJ Rivals, and Death Rally announced

11.03.2011
The Game Developers Conference wrapped up last week, and many new games were announced. Here are a few that stood out.

What would you do if you had an expansive sci-fi MMO with over $25 million invested in it, and it hadn't seen the light of day? You'd be , and you'd be bringing six years of development to the iOS in Quarter 2 of 2011. , the recently unveiled global sci-fi themed free-to-play MMORPG, will be coming to the iOS later this year.

If the name Spacetime Studios is familiar to you, it's because you may have played the company's wildly popular fantasy-themed MMORPG, . According to Gary Gettis, CEO of Spacetime Studios, the company recognized a "gaping hole" in the offerings of games on the iOS and that Spacetime Studios could provide the kind of high-quality MMO that players aren't experiencing yet.

Spacetime has released four games this year and has an impressive statistic to brag about: while most games only see 2 percent of their users monetize, Spacetime Studios' games monetize at a rate of 10 percent. That means that even if fewer people download the games, more people are paying. But Gettis believes this is only the beginning. "Everyone will be playing MMOs in three years," he predicts.

Blackstar hopes to be one of the many titles in the fray at that point. Like any good RPG, Blackstar will include classes, full customization of weapons and armor, auction houses, stashes, and multiple worlds to explore. The three classes mirror Spacetime's Pocket Legends; The Commando role takes the previous role of the warrior/tank while The Operative fits into the stealth/rogue role and The Engineer is the science fiction equivalent of a mage. According to Gettis, there will be puzzles to solve, environmental interactions to be had, and a larger plot to unravel.