ShootMania Open Beta - Available to Everyone!

The big day is here!  Nadeo and Ubisoft are proud to present the Open Beta of ShootMania: Storm, the newest game in the ManiaPlanet universe.

The beta is available to all.  Anyone can sign up for a free account and play the game without an activation key.  Some features will be limited and a couple of modes will not be available (Royal Exp, Elite Exp and Heroes) -- but there will be PLENTY to whet your appetite and give you a good feel on if you will enjoy the game or not.

Newly introduced in the past month or so is the ability to use grappling hooks and do wall jumps.  New modes that highlight these features have emerged like Time Trial and Obstacle, where the player races other players through obstacle courses trying to get the fastest time... it's like TrackMania inside ShootMania!

So what are you waiting for?  Jump in and come play with us... make sure to visit our Team FNG Royal server in the North America | USA | Utah zone.  It's always a good time and we have some of the best/nicest players in the community that frequent our server.

SpeedMonger narrowly misses ThatOneGuy
with a shot lightning shot from the rail

The game is a blast... once you've had some fun with it, make sure you purchase it before release so you can get it at a 20% off discounted rate!

We'll see you on the Pew Pew battlefields!

ManiaPlanet 2.1 is here!

ShootMania and TrackMania fans alike... rejoice!  The next phase of ManiaPlanet is here.

Nadeo released ManiaPlanet version 2.1 today, with better menus, new blocks and more optimizations.  This update is not an optional one, and once updated, you will not be able to connect to old servers.

I will be updating the Team FNG server at lunchtime today, so if you want to play, get your clients updated ASAP.  You will need to update ManiaPlanet, ShootMania: Storm and TrackMania 2: Canyon.

ShootMania Release Date Bumped to 10 Apr 2013; Another Open Beta Announced for February

Today Nadeo announced the postponement of their release of Shootmania, which was slated to happen tomorrow (23 Jan 2013).

For those that have a hard time reading that date format:
Open beta starts: 02 February 2013
New ShootMania Release: 10 April 2013

Instead, they will release ManiaPlanet 2.1 for those that have pre-ordered and are in the currently closed beta.

Nadeo also announced that come 12 February 2013, the beta will again open up to everyone and go until the April release.  They feel this will better help them finalize the tweaks and innovations that will make the game shine (like the recently added grapple, wall jump and charge shot abilities.)

While this comes as an unpleasant surprise, Nadeo has always been good at delivering a great game; and I believe the extra time to work on it will yield a more solid and polished game.

What saddens me is the looming delay of the upcoming TrackMania 2: Valley and TrackMania 2: Canyon games.  I can't wait to play these too, and wish Nadeo well as they push forward to tackle all three projects.

The good news is, if you haven't had the satisfaction of partaking of the fun entertainment that ShootMania is, come join us for the open beta in Februrary!  And look forward to the free-to-play Royal and Elite modes that will be available on the 10 April release date.

Until then, the Friday Night Gamers will continue to support Nadeo, one of our favorite video game makers of all time, and currently catching up to the record holder of "longest playtime" of a game franchise for FNG (Motocross Madness series being the current title holder.)

And don't forget to purchase the game if you like it... just because Royal and Elite will be free; there are plenty of other fun modes like Obstacle, Goal Hunt, SpeedBall, JailBreak, etc. that won't be available unless you own the game.

Pew Pew!

ShootMania Beta 2 Is Now Available!

Ubisoft just announced the release of ShootMania Beta 2!!!

Download it now to enjoy the new Wall Jumps, Grappling Hooks, Charge Shots, new map blocks and more!

Nadeo has been working hard for several months making performance enhancements and adding these new features.  Enjoy the next level of awesome.

NOTE: Users of temporary beta keys will no longer have access to the game with this new release.  You will either need to purchase the game or get a new beta key.

On another excellent note, Nadeo confirmed that LAN play is coming back for both ShootMania and TrackMania 2 before the official release of ShootMania on 23 January 2013!

Get hyped!

ShootMania Beta 2 Coming Tomorrow!

Get hyped!

I got an email from the ManiaPlanet forums a little while ago notifying me that the official Beta 2 ManiaPlanet dedicated server is available; in preparation for the client update tomorrow (which could be Mountain zone's tonight...)

I will be setting the server up tonight so FNG is ready to go the second the new beta client is available.

I can't wait to discover what new delights we can expect to see from SpeedMonger with the new blocks, custom object ability and the new wall jump and grappling hook action.

See you tonight or tomorrow for some new ShootMania awesome!

Team FNG Shield Emblems for ShootMania Team Modes

Elite Team FNG
Ok we really aren't... we're casual,
but you have to admit, that
Team FNG logo looks awesome.

Red team spawn point with Team FNG logo

Blue team spawn point with Team FNG logo

Again... 

Stay tuned for the official Team FNG player skin.

(coming soon)

That One Mumble Failure Night

Those Friday Night Gamers that "Pew Pew"ed and raced TrackMania together last night, experienced my Mumble dilemma where I connected and kept getting kicked off.

I wanted to let you know that I tracked down the problem; and it was my epic newbness.

Read all about my Mumble fail on my Tech Support blog.

LOL!

If I ever have this problem again in the future, remind me to disconnect myself on the work computer; then mock me profusely.

ShootMania FNG Battleground

Thundr has been working on porting our Team FNG logo into ShootMania.  Unfortunately, you have to have this file on your own machine to see them in-game, and they'll show regardless of what server you're in, but Nadeo has told me that they are working on making it server-based in the future.

Once that happens we will make sure our server looks like this every time you come in:

Team FNG Spawn Point

Team FNG Pole

Love it!  Thundr is also working on a Team FNG skin, so stay tuned for it.

Cool ShootMania Screenshot

SpeedMonger narrowly misses
ThatOneGuy who unleashes
a volley of retalliation rockets
(Full-sized image)

While playing a little "Pew Pew" (ShootMania) at lunch the other day, we had some epic rounds with some funny finishes; including this one on the "KILL DEATH MATCH" map by Sammon.

As we went back and watched a few of the replays, I captured this cool screenshot using the in-game editor.

New ShootMania Beta 2 Trailer

Beta 2 of ShootMania Storm should be made available next week, and Nadeo and Ubisoft have highlighted some of the new features in this awesome trailer.

I can't wait to see how the charge shot works.  The grappling hook and wall jumps are going to be a blast too.  And I'm excited to see how much creativity explodes in new maps thanks to the custom object importer; especially ones from our own SpeedMonger.

Buckle up, it's going to be a sweet slide... er... ride.