World War II Online

This was posted in the wwiiol forums

'Welcome Back Soldier' 5-Year Anniversary

This Welcome Back Soldier offer is available to all players- premium and promo* account holders, and provides all access, free play between June 22nd and July 6th, 2006. No sign-up or credit card required to participate.
*14-day free trial accounts created after June 7th, 2006 are not eligible.

FREE PLAY STARTS JUNE 22ND

We're welcoming back hundreds of thousands of players in celebration and thanks of our 5-year anniversary. All former and current players who join the action during the promotion will be eligible for prizes such as t-shirts, drink coozies, free yearly subscriptions and more.

Winners will be drawn randomly from those gamenames which have a sortie entry in the 'Combat Stats and Records' database anytime during the promotion. Rules subject to change without notice. Void where prohibited.

PLEASE LET YOUR SQUADMATES KNOW ABOUT THE FREE PLAY

Quote:
"WWII Online" Celebrates 5 Years- Welcomes Back Thousands
Game’s history surpasses 125 million combat sorties and 61 million player casualties

Bedford, TX, June 13th, 2006 – The largest promotion in the 5-year history of the PvP-based MMOG, "WWII Online", is set to begin June 22nd to celebrate the game's evolution and to thank players for supporting one of the longest-running MMOGs in the history of gaming.

The “Welcome Back Soldier” promotion will activate accounts of approximately 300,000 players for 14 days between June 22nd and July 6th. In addition, all former and current players who join the action during the promotion will be eligible for prizes such as t-shirts, drink coozies, free yearly subscriptions and more.

Playnet Inc. and its in-house development studio, Cornered Rat Software, launched "WWII Online: Blitzkrieg" in June of 2001 with follow-up retail releases, "Readers' Choice Edition", "Macintosh Edition" and most recently, "Battleground Europe" in many European countries. The current version is available through direct download at www.battleground-europe.com or as a game-on-demand through Matrix Games (www.matrixgames.com)

"Its been a roller-coaster ride beginning with one of the earliest MMOG launches to growing and supporting a fiercely-loyal player community all the while trying to continue the innovative and unique approach to development that's seen WWII Online stand alone as the ultimate PvP MMOG available", says Al "Rafter" Corey, Executive Producer for Playnet. "We're so proud to stand up and say that we're still here and thriving after 5 years. This promo is just a small way for us to say thank you to the thousands of players, past and present, who helped make it possible."

More details of the 'Welcome Back Soldier' promotion and how to get a 14-day free trial of "WWII Online: Battleground Europe" are available at www.battleground-europe.com.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE "WWII ONLINE" TIMELINE

June '01
- "World War II Online- Blitzkrieg" launches with players fighting with and against thousands of others in combat infantry action and in command of one of dozens of accurately modeled WWII vehicles and aircraft.
- Game exceeds 5,000 concurrent users- most ever for a first-person shooter.

Sept '01- First naval combat vessels go live delivering first MMOG combined-arms virtual battlefield featuring land, sea and air units.

Jan '01- Winner of IGN's "Readers Choice: Persistent World Game of the Year" beating out "Dark Age of Camelot".
- Winner of GameSpy's "Gamers Choice: Sim of the Year" beating out "Microsoft Flight Simulator".

June '02- "World War II Online- Readers' Choice Edition" released.
- "World War II Online- Macintosh Edition" released.

Feb '03- "Channel Dash", a two-day special event ends, delivering first ever MMOG naval battle with 1,040 sorties completed and 590 player casualties.

May '03- Bomber aircraft added signaling strategic bombing against enemy factories tied to research, development and production of in-game combat units.
- Delivery of 21st weapon class/type bringing the total of player-controlled weapons & vehicles above 80.

Sept '03
- "World War II Online" surpasses 150,000 registered users.
- Local language support added featuring French, German, Spanish and Italian.
- First recorded complete Allied vs Axis campaign ends in Allied victory. 2,708,424 combat sorties completed with 1,410,973 player casualties.

Jan '04
- "Combat Stats & Records" feature added providing detailed historical player and combat statistics. 4,152,910 entries recorded in first 24 hours.
- Additions to game terrain now include 36,546 strategic objects such as buildings, bunkers and bridges placed among 4,090 facilities in 445 cities and towns. Largest MMOG environment measuring 354,889 square miles.

Mar '04- Game environment update includes new special effects system and the addition of more than 4 million 3D trees and bushes to game world.

Jun '04
- Longest Axis vs Allied campaign ends in Axis victory after 87 days. 5,928,585 combat sorties completed with 2,683,128 player casualties.

Dec '04
- Airborne Infantry added. These specialized paratroop units board, ride and parachute from new transport aircraft assaulting enemy positions or supporting troops under attack. 3,800 paratrooper sorties recorded in first 8 hours of availability.

October '05- Brigade structure integrated adding player-run Divisions and Brigades bringing a new level of tactical and strategic realism to the virtual battlefield

Dec '05- Fulfilling long time request by players, snipers are added to infantry class bringing the total of player-controlled weapons & vehicles above 100.
- "Battleground Europe" retail release makes game available in Europe for the first time.

June '06
- "World War II Online: Battleground Europe" surpasses 350,000 registered users.
- Historical totals equal 125 million combat sorties with player casualties exceeding 61 million.

Of course

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE "WWII ONLINE" TIMELINE

June '01
- "World War II Online- Blitzkrieg" creates history as the worst MMOG launch ever recorded.  Bugs', bugs and more bugs sees the gameworld split into several shards, after CRS' hosting company goes belly-up
- Game exceeds 5,000 concurrent users- most ever for a first-person shooter.  Game exceeds 10,000 refund requests in the first week  - most ever for a first-person shooter.

Sept '01- First naval combat vessels go live delivering first MMOG combined-arms virtual battlefield featuring land, sea and air units.  After 3 months the game actually has a semblance of what was advertised on the box.  Game goes into Chapter 11.  Players start wondering when they will get bouncing grenades.  Killer states that an ordnance server is needed for such items.  It's coming 'soon'.

Jan '01- Winner of IGN's "Readers Choice: Persistent World Game of the Year" beating out "Dark Age of Camelot".
- Winner of GameSpy's "Gamers Choice: Sim of the Year" beating out "Microsoft Flight Simulator". 

June '02- "World War II Online- Readers' Choice Edition" released.
- "World War II Online- Macintosh Edition" released.

November '02- not content to simply slow your computer to a crawl, CRS exhibits real genius by releasing a patch that deletes your hard drive.  Doc spends two days on the forums trying to convince players its actually Microsoft's fault.

Feb '03- "Channel Dash", a two-day special event ends, delivering first ever MMOG naval battle with 1,040 sorties completed and 590 player casualties.  Yup, just over 1000 sorties in two days ..... 590 players died over two days.  "Fast paced gaming" ...........................NOT!

May '03- Bomber aircraft added signaling strategic bombing against enemy factories tied to research, development and production of in-game combat units.   Players go "WTF" when they find that if they bomb from above 9000 feet their bombs disappear prior to hitting the ground.  Killer advises that we need an Ordnance Server for high altitude drops as well (see September 01 entry).  Several players point out that Aces High, Warbirds etc don't need an ordnance server for high alt bombing.  Several players banned from forums.  Official CRS position?  The ordnance server is coming 'soon'.
- Delivery of 21st weapon class/type bringing the total of player-controlled weapons & vehicles above 80.

Sept '03
- "World War II Online" surpasses 150,000 registered users.  That's 150,000 forum users ..... the game is still lucky to get 500 online at a time.
- Local language support added featuring French, German, Spanish and Italian.  Unfortunately, the game blows no matter how you say it :)
- First recorded complete Allied vs Axis campaign ends in Allied victory. 2,708,424 combat sorties completed with 1,410,973 player casualties.
-  Killer advises Ordnance Server is practically ready .... just needs to be turned on.  Players rejoice :)

Oct '03
-  Killer denies having ever heard of an 'ordnance server' ..... CRS has found a better way to do high alt drops, bouncing nades, mortars and artillery.  You guessed it, it's coming 'soon'.

Jan '04
- "Combat Stats & Records" feature added providing detailed historical player and combat statistics. 4,152,910 entries recorded in first 24 hours.  Two years later, and CS&R still shows riflemen killing Tiger tanks.  CRS hoping to get a kill system working by 2008 .... if they can borrow the one from Aces High.
- Additions to game terrain now include 36,546 strategic objects such as buildings, bunkers and bridges placed among 4,090 facilities in 445 cities and towns. Largest MMOG environment measuring 354,889 square miles.  That works out to about one player every 700 square miles.

Mar '04- Game environment update includes new special effects system and the addition of more than 4 million 3D trees and bushes to game world.  Players immediately turn off the bushes in a desperate attempt to save all the fps they can.

Apr '04 -New patch sees introduction of 'StatHE', a new statistical means of calculating shrapnel effect from high explosives.  CRS issues new definition of 'high explosives' to exclude any mention of a shell larger than 20mm in size.  CRS says its because statHE does not work in large HE explosives.  Entire Closed Beta crew know better, but are kept silent due to threats of legal action by CRS.

Jun '04
- Longest Axis vs Allied campaign ends in Axis victory after 87 days. 5,928,585 combat sorties completed with 2,683,128 player casualties.

Dec '04
- Airborne Infantry added. These specialized paratroop units board, ride and parachute from new transport aircraft assaulting enemy positions or supporting troops under attack. 3,800 paratrooper sorties recorded in first 8 hours of availability.

October '05- Brigade structure integrated adding player-run Divisions and Brigades bringing a new level of tactical and strategic realism to the virtual battlefield.  Thousands of players unsubscribe from the virtual battlefield when they realise a small number of players can decide how, when, where and with what equipment the rest of the playerbase is allowed to play.

Dec '05- Fulfilling long time request by players, snipers are added to infantry class bringing the total of player-controlled weapons & vehicles above 100.  Still not enough to stem the flood of resigning players.
- "Battleground Europe" retail release makes game available in Europe for the first time.  Stunning failure!
-  CRS fires more than half its staff as they realise they cannot afford to pay the bills.

May '06- Version 1.23 sees first instance of 'server tracked objects' .... see mythical 'Ordnance Server' comments from earlier months.  First STO is not bouncing grenades, or high altitude bombing, or artillery, or even mortars ....... it's a truck you can get out of.  Shades of BF1942.   Exciting, ain't it ?

June '06
- "World War II Online: Battleground Europe" surpasses 350,000 registered users.  (Forum users, that is: still lucky to find 500 online at any one time.
- Historical totals equal 125 million combat sorties with player casualties exceeding 61 million.
- North American release cancelled as publisher pulls out due to weak pre-orders.

Call me when there is Logistics for everyone not just the H.C.  Not interested in camel T.O.E.'s either.

---

Originally posted by Nerf09

Call me when there is Logistics for everyone not just the H.C.  Not interested in camel T.O.E.'s either.

---