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To say that paintball is a popular sport would be somewhat of an understatement. Over 10 million people play the game a year. In North America alone. Everyone from casual players to hardcore veterans love the thrill that it brings, and that's why the first Paintball Tournament did so well, selling over 300,000 units since it's release. Now Greg Hastings has teamed up with once again to bring you the next installment of the series, Max'd.What's different about this title compared to the first one is that it deals alot more with the strategic side of the game, rather than simply jumping in and going crazy on everyone.
Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball MAX'D (GHTP) is an action sport first person shooter developed by The Whole Experience, under joint venture with Paintball Players Productions, LLC, and published by Activision on Xbox, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, and PlayStation 2. MAX'D is the sequel to Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball (2004 Xbox).
Before you start any match, you'll be given an overhead map of the playing field, called Breakout. From here you can assign your teammates assignments that will be carried out at the beginning of the match. You can have several people flank you while you run up the middle, or you can have one man run down the side as a diversion while the others take the other team out. You can assign up to two actions per player, one for motion and one for firing. So you can have one player advance to a bunker, and then fire in a specific direction while another teammate does the same thing, but in a different location. We asked about the inclusion of waypoints, but they won't be included in the game.
What you can do instead is have command your teammates in real-time. By hovering your cursor over a teammate or an enemy, you can perform a variety of moves. Look towards a teammate and you can command them to spray fire at one area, and if you see an enemy, you can hover your sights over them to inform your team about enemies in the area. So the inclusion of waypoints isn't really necessary, Activision argues, because the dynamic of the sport doesn't allow for it. Something that's also part of the real-life paintball experience is loading up your team depending on their job. You'll be able to choose from a wide variety of nozzles, guns and blasters. For those who want to sit back and be backup, you can choose to have a longer nozzle with a larger amount of paintball containers to help your teammate, but for those who want to run and gun, that's not a viable option.
This also affects what you do during the Breakout session. You don't want your heavier colleagues up in the front, so you have to be very careful with how you choose everything.
When listening to feedback from players, one of the things that they desperately wanted was split-screen action, since many didn't have Xbox Live. Activision listened to these demands and included it in the sequel, and there are some other surprises as well. But Activision didn't want us spoiling them. What we can tell you is that bots are going to be very smart in the game, and you'll be able to select the level of intelligence that they have.
So novice and expert players can both enjoy a game together without one going easy on the other, by having the novice player team up with bots who are on the advanced level and the expert player teaming up with a bunch of novice bots. Of course, Live play is still included in the game, with up to 14 players in one game at once (for 7 on 7 games). From our time with the game, it's definitely better than the first game which was a very competent and solid shooter in its own right. The graphics are solid and are reminiscent of the actual fields that the professional players use, and the music is excellent too. Speaking of music, B-Real (from Cypruss Hill, and an avid paintballer himself) is on tap for the music as are Chester from Linkin Park and a member from Limp Bizkit. Activision promised that there will be a ton of unlockable content too, but balked when we tried to delve into what exactly would be available to players.
With a release date of Q3 2005, Greg Hastings definitely has another solid title on his hands to pimp. And good for him too!
Even though Activision was present at our meeting, you can tell that Mr. Hastings had a lot of involvement in the game, due to the fact that he actually lead us through the game and the inner workings of his title without any difficulty.
It's refreshing to see a down-to-earth guy like Hastings deeply involved with the product that he loves, instead of just sitting back and letting others do the work for him. Look for this title to hit the Xbox and PS2 later this year.
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Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball Max'd combines the speed and adrenaline of a fast-paced sports competition with the tactical play of the first person shooter. Players engage opponents in ultra-intense tournament action. Greg Hastings is a paintball legend, and with other pro paintball players and teams represented, the game delivers an authentic paintball simulation. The game features Single Player Career mode, Split Screen Exhibition mode and up to 14 players for 7 on 7 multiplayer LIVE matches.
Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball Max'd delivers a new level of customization, extended playability and AI control. Split screen exhibition mode supports up to four players on the couch. Players can create their own team in exhibition mode for split screen play. New AI support includes field commands (AI bots look and move and call out opponent positions). Pre-play mode allows players to assign break out positions and break out shooters before a match begins. The Field editor allows players to create and play on an unlimited number of custom fields. GHTP Max'd will support Xbox Live competitions, allowing users to create single elimination tournaments. GHTP Max'd will feature 129 new fields layouts, 50 classic fields, and new licensed music tracks.
Paintball offers a non violent alternative to the first person shooter and brings the sporting EVENT aspect to players in both single player mode and particularly to the LIVE community.
The game captures all of the true nuances of the sport including accurate and detailed controls, licensed pro players, real Paintball gear and 20 actual tournament locations.
History (franchise/license/teams)
Greg Hastings's Paintball Tournament Max'd is the second title in the GHTP franchise. The title is published by Activsion with WXP, Inc. acting as Game Producer and Xbox developer.
WXP holds licensing rights from paintball manufacturers to include authentic gear, as well as pro paintball players and teams who appear in the game. Additionally the game features licensed music tracks featuring artists B-Real, Octane and more.
Sparklers (key features info - both quality and quantity)
- Single Player Career mode, Split Screen Exhibition mode and LIVE multiplayer for up to 7on 7
- Xbox Live competition support for user created single elimination tournaments
- Develop and advance your character's career from Rookie to Pro in Single Player Career mode
- 29 Tournaments, 21 locations, and 148 pieces of licensed gear
- 189 Field layouts -- 139 new field layouts for Max'd, 50 classic fields
- 14 Top Pro's including: Greg Hastings, Rocky Cagnoni, Alex Fraige, Keely Watson and others
- Over 19 licensed music tracks from artists including B Real, Octane and more. Select music tracks for play, or set music to random play. Rip your own tracks to play in the game.
- Build custom fields in the field editor, designate tournament fields in the match editor, and share custom fields in multi-player mode
- Control AI bots on the field to Look and Move
- AI bots call out opponent positions
- Set up your own plays using the pre-play editor - assign breakout positions and breakout shooters
- 5.1 audio
- Support for downloadable content
Xbox Highlights (specific 'Xbox-Only' features)
- Multiplayer for up to 7 on 7 team play
- Xbox Live competitions for user created single elimination tournaments
- Downloadable Content
- Friends list, invites, notifications
- Leaderboard
- Live Aware, Silent sign-in
Demo Information
Single Player Modes (arcade, adventure, practice, etc.)
The E3 demo features Single Player tournament, arcade and tutorial modes only. Players can access the full single player game with 179 fields available. The Field Editor also allows players to create and play on an unlimited number of custom built fields.
Multi-Player Modes (Split Screen/System Link)
We will not facilitate multiplayer (split screen or online) modes for the show floor at E3 due to logistics and crowd congestion in the Xbox booth.
Game Goals (what specifically do you do in game to progress)
Build your career from Rookie to Pro in single player career mode. Develop your character, your team and your inventory of gear. Advance through the single player tournament to win experience points. As you complete tournaments you are awarded store credits to spend on new gear.
Create and play on your own custom built fields created in the Field Editor.
Basic Controls (detail the full control scheme)
Control Function
Left Thumbstick Move character in first person view.
A Button Toggle Snap Up or Left/Right
B Button Dive/Slide
X Button Switch gun hands
Directional pad Stance up and down, look left/right
Y Button Turbo toggled on/off (run with gun down)
WHITE button (In game) bot command, Move and Look commands.
BLACK button Reload
Left Trigger Button Fire Marker (or Snap)
Right Trigger Button Snap (or Fire)
Right Thumbstick Aim/ look around
Right Thumbstick Button Quick look (Default is turned off.)
Left Thumbstick Button Quick Stance (Default is turned off.)
Start button Pause game
Spectate Controls
![Music Music](/uploads/1/2/5/8/125850307/377752464.jpg)
Control Description
Right Thumbstick Look around
Left Thumbstick Move
Right Trigger Fly Up
Left Trigger Fly Down
Menu Controls
Control Function
START Button Pause game and enter pause menu
BACK Button Within menus, return to previous screen
Directional Pad or
Left Thumbstick Menus:
- Move up or down to select menu items
Inventory:
- Move left or right to select weapon or item in Inventory
Character Menu:
- Move left or right to cycle to the next player.
A Button Select/confirm
B Button Return to previous screen
Right Thumbstick Rotates selected objects when applicable.
Left Thumbstick Move menu selections
Right Trigger Zoom in on applicable objects in gear menu.
Control Specifications
Left and Right Triggers
The Right and Left Trigger buttons are analog sensitive. The Left Trigger (snap) controls how your character will snap out from behind a bunker. Pressing slightly or more severely on the trigger incrementally controls your character from a quick peek to a long sustained lean. Firing the marker with the other Trigger can be adjusted to emulate the actual performance of any given marker, changing the amount of sensitivity for firing, as well as allowing for rapid fire modes, where the marker fires on press and release of the trigger.
Turbo Mode
Hitting the 'Y' button on the controller toggles turbo on and off. When in the 'On' position this will allow you to run quickly forward (gun goes down) for a limited time. There is a turbo meter in the HUD under the game time that shows how much turbo you have left. When you stop, the turbo is recharged slowly. You need to select the turbo back off via the Y button to get out of this mode. Turbo is toggled off automatically when the user depletes the charge.
Soft Reset
You can perform a soft reset and return to the title screen by holding down the START and BACK buttons for three seconds.
Controller Vibration
At times throughout the game, the controller vibration activates. You can disable the Controller Vibration at the Options Menu.
Recommended Demo Path (describe how a good demo would flow)
The E3 demo will highlight single player career mode only. We do not plan to enable split screen or multiplayer on the show floor.
Before the demo...
Create and advance a single player profile to the end of the Novice career and save the game. (you will be loading this saved game multiple times throughout the day.) This way when you beat the Pomona level you will see the Congratulations you have completed all of the Novice tournaments screen. As well you will have advanced far enough to acquire better gear and spend experience points on your characters skills. The end of Novice/beginning of Amateur is not too difficult to play. All of the previously beaten levels will be available to play in Arcade mode allowing quick access to a variety of levels. (Note: Leave experience points unspent so you can start the demo by spending points thus examining the characters skills. Leave enough cash so you can buy a better Marker)
The Demo
1. Go to Single Player / My Character - Spend some experience points on a character skill. (Speed is best, allowing you to move faster adds to the visual experience.) Press A to accept.
2. Go to Gear Bag - From the far left starting a Jerseys. D-pad down through the available Jerseys (if you have purchased any) Move laterally through the categories and down through the selections. Press Y on interesting items to look at the more info screen. Use the Right Thumbstick to rotate the item. You might want to change out some gear like putting on a 16 inch barrel and a fast hopper.
3. Go to Online Store - Go to the Markers section and examine the selections. Notice the greater than and less than indicators on weight speed and accuracy. Green arrows indicate the item is better than the one you currently have equipped. Buy a better Marker.
4. Go to Team Manager - Move to a player portrait and press X (drop player) Press A on the now empty slot to move to the available players screen. Move amongst the players showing how their skills differ. Press Y for details on a character. Use the right thumbstick to rotate the character. Select a character to occupy the empty slot.
5. Go to Play tournament - Play through the tournament ladder to its conclusion. (If you save in the middle or end of the tournament you won't have to play the whole thing.) - While playing be sure to use field commands to help out your teammates. Aim at a teammate (crosshair turns green) and press the White button to execute a Move command. Point anywhere on the field and press white to execute a Look At command, drawing your teammate's interest to that area. Try to play tactically, snapping out from behind cover...don't forget to use snap up. Switch gun hands when approaching the edge of your cover so that your snap function will have you popping out on the correct side.
6. Mention other modes of play and features - Split screen exhibition, Field Editor, Match Editor and support for competitions on Xbox Live.
Showcase some of the other Rookie and Novice levels in Arcade mode like the Northwest challenge, Ultimate Madness and Skirmish.
Xbox Live Plans (detail online plans, if any)
- Multiplayer LIVE for up to 7 on 7 team play
- Support for teams and user managed competitions
- Spectator camera
- Leaderboards
- Live Aware, Silent sign-in
- Downloadable Content
Estimated Time to Enter Gameplay (duration of time between boot-up sequence and actual gameplay)
Time to enter gameplay by bypassing the splash screens and intro movie (hitting the A button) is less than 10 seconds.
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