VU Games to offer free download of Tribes and Tribes 2 next month
Help celebrate the next sequel by scoffing free games.
Vivendi-Universal Games is planning to give away Starsiege: Tribes and sequel Tribes 2 via FilePlanet and on a DVD bundled with the American Computer Gaming World magazine this May. Apparently the French publisher is doing it all to celebrate the forthcoming release of Tribes: Vengeance, which is currently in development at Irrational Games and due out by the end of the year.
It's certainly a very generous giveaway. The original Tribes, released in 1998, was one of the first big outdoor first-person shooters, arguably paving the way for the likes of Battlefield 1942 in the present day, and built up a thriving community of fans. Despite its age, there are at least 550 people playing it online as we type. Shazbot etc.
Tribes 2, released a bit more recently in 2001, proved less popular than some of its multiplayer FPS contemporaries, but still drew crowds and continues to support a dedicated community fan base. VU Games is presumably hoping to bolster their numbers ahead of Tribes: Vengeance's release later this year, and if it will encourage more publishers to give away whopping chunks of their back catalogue for the rest of the world to enjoy, then we'll certainly give them a plug with a view to doing that...