The open beta for GarageGames' online shooter Fallen Empire: Legions, a spiritual sequel to Starsiege: Tribes, has launched on web portal InstantAction.com.

Prospective beta testers need only sign up for a free InstantAction account in order to get in on the action.

As in Tribes, Fallen Empire's major draw is its jetpack-based flight, which makes for a rather frenetic first-person shooter. The game supports up to 16 players on two maps, played in either deathmatch or capture-the-flag modes.

For more on the game, check out our recent preview.

GarageGames today released a new trailer for its web-based spiritual sequel to Tribes, Fallen Empire: Legions.

For more details on the online FPS, check out our fresh hands-on impressions.

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Much like its confounding two-part title, Fallen Empire: Legions really consists of a combination of two separate elements.

On the one hand, GarageGames has fashioned an accessible time waster, the next generation of Flash-like gaming. It runs in a web browser, looks great for it, and can be played and quit in the span of a coffee break.

On the other hand, Fallen Empire is a hardcore online shooter, a game any Starsiege: Tribes fan will immediately recognize. It has chainguns, large maps, and is entirely centered around jetpack-based flight combat.

In the end, you'll need two quick hands to get anywhere in Legions, because if this game is anything, it is fast.... Read more

Update: The response from GarageGames now indicates that the beta program is now nearing its limit of players due to "unforeseen demand." Thanks to Shacker Xevo for the tip.

Original Story: Independent developer GarageGames is currently accepting beta applications for its multiplayer shooter Fallen Empire: Legions (PC), with the next round set to begin "in this coming week."

For an advance look at the Tribes spiritual sequel--which runs through the web-based InstantAction platform--send an e-mail to FELopenbeta@garagegames.com from the same address used for your InstantAction account. After sending a blank e-mail, Shacknews received the following response:

Congratulations! By mailing this address you've added yourself to the list of approved Legions beta testers. Full access to FE:L will be granted during the next round of user admission in this coming week.

As pointed out by NeoGAF moderator and all-around good guy Teknopathetic, the e-mail address was hidden within a recent Fallen Empire blog post. GarageGames has yet to specify the number of applicants that will be accepted in the next wave.

GarageGames has asked us to remind everyone that voting for the second wave of the Shacknews Fallen Empire: Legions Photoshop contest ends today.

As with the first wave, five winners will receive access to the closed beta for the Tribes spiritual sequel. The beta is currently underway for select InstantAction users, and is expanding every week.

Thus far, this contest is the only way to guarantee beta access!

Voting is simple: just browse all the entries and respond over at the InstantAction blog with the number of your favorite. Currently, rodein is in the lead with his entry.

Independent developer GarageGames has clarified a number of details about the beta test for Fallen Empire: Legions (PC), the Starsiege: Tribes spiritual sequel that will someday debut on the company's web-based InstantAction platform.

With the multiplayer title currently in a closed beta, the company will begin to add roughly 100 InstantAction users to the test every few days in order to increase load and feedback.

While the studio previously expected a public beta to begin by late March, Shacknews was today told that it has yet to determine an "official" date for the open beta. A representative for GarageGames noted that the title is expected to stay in closed beta "for a while."

Unfortunately, outside of the recently-concluded Fallen Empire beta contest, we were told that there is nothing InstantAction users can do to increase their chances of being selected as a beta participant.

For more on Fallen Empire: Legion, check out our recent batch of hands-on impressions.

When a single game is played compulsively to perhaps unhealthy quantities, your brain can be so monomaniacally focused on that one thing as to where glimpses of it infiltrate real life. We asked you to take these images--provided by the fine folks at GarageGames--and insert them into the day's current events.

At stake are five entries for the Fallen Empire: Legions private beta, which should still have a few weeks to go before being open to the public. You can find the full gallery of entries here, so without further ado here are our choices for the first group of winners.

... Read more

Update: Since the responses to this have been so great, we've decided to extend the contest a day until 11:59PM PST on Wednesday, and add a little something to it. Not only will the Shackstaff pick their favorite five, but all the results will be posted to the InstantAction web site for additional public voting. The top five of those who haven't already won beta access will also receive keys. Those who win beta access are guaranteed at least two weeks of exclusive play before public access opens up.

Original Story: Ever play a game so much, that you start to see elements of it in real life? Your stoplight exchanged for Chu-Chu Rocket direction blocks? Disgaea style path trails leading to where ever you walk? Do you catch glimpses of Scouts in the corner of your vision, bat at ready?

Well, for once we will confront this phenomena directly, and jump to the conclusion of mixing real life and game elements. Thus, our next contest with GarageGames and Shacknews.

What we would like you to do is to take the art in the gallery above--so kindly provided by Fallen Empire: Legions developer GarageGames--and photoshop it into real-world events, specifically the news. Frame the picture with a more humorously... Read more

Big Starsiege: Tribes fan? Excited about the spiritual sequel in development by GarageGames for InstantAction.com? Want to know how it plays in its early state? Chris Faylor got the chance to find out at this year's GDC, and reports back with his findings in this hands-on preview.

The crew identified a few key factors that truly defined the series: "Team play, freedom of movement, and just zipping around the terrain and blasting the shit out of people."

They wanted to make sure the spiritual sequel retained the fun of the original, but was still accessible enough for anyone to pick up and enjoy.

It looks like they've succeeded. Read more..

GarageGames designer, Fallen Empires: Legion project lead, and Shacknews regular Tim Aste sent along some footage of his team's team-based shooter tonight, straight from the GDC show floor.

Grenade launchers, laser rifles, and all manner of Tribes-like weapons and combat are shown off.

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For more information on Fallen Empires: Legion, be sure to check out today's big news, as well as our three-page interview with GarageGames. Also, be on the lookout for our impending impressions of the game.

A torrent of details on the Starsiege: TRIBES spiritual sequel Fallen Empires: Legion were unveiled today, along with some brand-new screenshots.

GarageGames representative Bill Linn told Shacknews that the web and team-based online shooter is being developed under a mod-like rolling release philosophy.

Coined "Live Development" by the five-man Fallen Empires team, the process will see the game continually changed and updated based on community feedback via an innovative voting system.

As a result, the full game will sell for a very low cost when the final version is released, roughly two months post-beta. New features will be continually added through beta and post-release.

The beta is set to begin at the end of March, and will include the following:

• 2 classes
• 2 character models
• 3 maps
• 4 weapons (rocket launcher, grenade launcher, chaingun, laser rifle)
• 12-16 players
• Capture The Flag mode
• First and third person cameras

Linn noted that while only InstantAction.com testers would be allowed into ... Read more

A new alpha-level video has surfaced from the upcoming web-based GarageGames title Fallen Empire: Legions, a game widely seen as a spiritual sequel to the revolutionary online shooter Starsiege: Tribes.

For more details on the game, check out our recent interview with GarageGames CEO Josh Williams and Fallen Empire project director Tim Aste.

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Though GarageGames does not hold the rights to create another entry in the beloved Tribes series, its latest project, Fallen Empires: Legion, is about as close to a sequel as the gaming populace is going to get.

"We're not doing a real successor to Tribes," project director Tim Aste explained to Shacknews in a comprehensive interview. "If we succeed in having the same sort of spirit of innovation and focus on fun gameplay [as Tribes and other games], then that's an accomplishment we'll all feel proud of."

Founded by members of original Tribes developer Dynamix, GarageGames is developing Fallen Empires for its upcoming InstantAction platform, a web-based game portal aimed at both casual and hardcore gamers.

Along with GarageGames CEO Josh Williams, Aste elaborated on a number of previously-unknown specifics, including details regarding multi-directional jet-packing, user-generated content, an intitial lack of vehicles, the forthcoming public... Read more

Starsiege: Tribes was a miracle of game design--a quantum leap forward in team-based shooters that paved the way for modern multiplayer Battlefields.

Now the company founded by former Tribes developers is returning to its roots, taking first-person shooting back to the skies.

"The first hit is free because we're street like that," says GarageGames' Tim Aste, project director on Fallen Empires: Legion, of the company's plan to offer a trial period for the title. The language is not coincidental: the developer is hoping to craft a perfect mix of fast, addictive multiplayer action, and do it all through your web browser--catering to both hardcore and casual audiences in the process.

Check out a few of the things we've learned about the game below, or just click on through for the full interview with director Aste and GarageGames CEO Josh Williams.

• Runs inside your web browser. Full-screen mode supported.
• Emphasis on fast combat with free, flight-based movement.
• Multi-directional jet-packing.
• Large maps, buildings, and team sizes possible, but not necessarily the norm.
• Laser rifle!
• No vehicles or deployables initially.
• Will be competitively priced. Free trial before purchase.
• User-generated content support planned for post-release.
• Beta test coming soon.

Curious about skiing? Need more details? Read on..

Developer GarageGames has sent over the first official screenshots from its upcoming browser-based action game Fallen Empires: Legions. Alpha video footage of the game was leaked last month. It is said to draw inspiration from Dynamix's multiplayer classic StarSiege: Tribes, a game on which numerous GarageGames founders worked.

Fallen Empires: Legions is part of GarageGames' partnership with InstantAction.com, a service that plans to bring action games to browser-based interfaces, hopefully bridging the gap between dedicated hardcore gaming and more casual PC gaming. Shacknews' Chris Faylor reported on InstantAction.com's goals and several of its upcoming titles late last year.

Also: marketing logos.