Mount and Blade v1.0 Gets Publisher

By: Derek Yu

On: January 24th, 2008

…and a tentative release date of “Q2 2008” otherwise known as “coming this summer” in the Northern Hemisphere. (Actually, the developer is quoted as saying that they are “aiming for May” on their forums.)

Mount and Blade, the insanely awesome combat/cavalry sim by husband and wife development team TaleWorlds, has been in open beta for nigh 3 years now, and is currently at version 0.903. The official release of the game will be published by Paradox Interactive, best known for developing the Europa Universalis series of historical strategy games. Paradox is also publishing the next installment of the indie horror series Penumbra, titled Black Plague, which is coming out on February 12th!

Fortunately, this deal will not affect current players, who can still pre-purchase the game at $25 (final version $40) and look forward to new beta releases until 1.0.

Check out the official press release and also some new screenshots at Worthplaying.

(Source: Kieron Gillen, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun)

Posted in Business, Community, Previews | Tags: Taleworlds

Zulgaines

I bought this game years ago, it’s nice to see it’s almost out of beta.

Paradox Interactive are doing a nice job or working with unique games, first they buy the license to Majesty, the game I love so much, now they’re publishing M&B.
Zulgaines

or = of. >.<
http://doomlaser.com Golds

what can I say? I <3 Mount & Blade.
toastie

I am so happy for them. Me and BmCC played this non stop for the entirety of our ride to Montreal and back (probably around 20 hours in total).
Xotes

This makes me sad, as the only computer in
my house that could run it dies at around .751, which sucks. I’m going to try to port it to my grandma’s computer. ((Which, unsurprisingly, is better than every other computer in my house.))
Kemo

Meh, they added so much in the last versions that i cant even get it to simply START on my machine. So i could care less.
Xotes

DOH! I meant the motherboard died.

Still, it starts on the one I type this out on, although it crashes once I try to do ANYTHING.
sinoth

This game is insanely fun. The melee combat is spot on. I can’t wait!
PHeMoX

I’m totally addicted to this game, melee combat is indeed AWESOME… sure graphics aren’t exactly next-gen, but it’s a lot of fun playing this game and there are quite some things you can do in the Mount&Blade world.
cannon_fodder

Distributed. It’s gonna be distributed by Paradox Interactive, not published. If it was published by them, it would’ve ceased to be an independent game long ago.
fucrate

Oh my word, derek, you totally missed the mark when you failed to say _neigh_ on 3 years… its a shame really.
http://www.awestyproductions.com awesty

I love this game. I played it non stop when it was around 0.7* – 0.8*.
Bezzy

I’m normally opposed to games which lean so heavily on the “Time Sink” template. But in mount and blade’s case, the world game systems interact so well, and so consistently that the loss of a cavalry you’ve built up over time never makes you feel like “shit, I’d better reload”, because it’s just as fun to start again from scratch, using the trading game. I love how, as you get a bigger and bigger force around you, your role in the world changes to mimick roles of NPCs in the world. First you’re just like a trader. Then you’re just like a little piracy squad, or escorter, then you’re like a town commander, and then (I hope in the future) you’re giving out commands to other NPCs like a King of the realm!

Every different role emerges organically from all the systems interacting, so none of the roles feels contrived, or forced. They just feel natural.

Awesome game. Rough around the edges, sure, but still awesome!

Congrats on the publishing deal.
http://gnomeslair.blogspot.com/ gnome

Very impressive. It’s rare seeing an indie game that manages to come up with such well-done 3D graphics…
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

SEA RAIDERS!

This game is amazing.
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

P.S. Ivan is a _surgeon_ with a lance.
Victo

I wish I could play it without lag …
It’s so awesome when I play at my friend’s…