TimeGate Studios announces the free release of Skirmish, a brand new game mode for the PC and XBLA versions of Section 8: Prejudice. The PS3 version, released today, already includes the mode.

Skirmish removes the control points that dominate play in normal games of Prejudice, in favour of a more straight up deathmatch experience.

If it’s free, it’s worth having.

TimeGate Studio’s awesome Section 8: Prejudice has launched on the PSN today.

We were pretty fond of the game, as you can see in our review.

For the first week, anyone who purchases Section 8: Prejudice on the PlayStationNetwork will receive the Blitz Armor Pack and Overdrive Map Pack for free! This includes two armor skins, early unlocks, and two additional multiplayer maps. In addition, if you are a PlayStationPlus subscriber, you will receive the exclusive in-game Hunter Armor, and if you are one of the first 1000 subscribers to purchase the game, you will receive a free copy of the original Section 8!

Section 8: Prejudice on PlayStation 3 system features:

·         Mobilize by Drop Spawning from 15,000 feet, use Jet Packs to evade enemies, and ram opponents in Overdrive
·         Campaign mode: 5-hour story-driven single-player campaign
·         Conquest mode: Large-scale multiplayer for up 40 players
·         Swarm mode: Four player co-op mode where shooter gameplay meets tower defense
·         Assault mode: Team-versus-team game mode where teams race to capture all Control Points in the fastest time
·         Skirmish mode: Team-versus-team death match where Control Points cannot be captured and Victory Points are awarded for kills and completed missions.
·         Offline bot support for all game modes
·         Highly customizable weapon and equipment loadouts; deep level progression and unlockable content systems
·         Dynamic Combat Missions: ensure no two multiplayer games ever play the same
·         Stats Portal that allows players to track their lifetime statistics, join Clans, compete in TimeGate-run events and much more

TimeGate Studios continues to expand Section 8: Prejudice, breaking numerous laws of physics to jam more content into what is already a ridiculously value-packed offering. One of the year’s most acclaimed shooters gets even bigger in July with the announcement of the new Frontier Colonies Map Pack for the PC and Xbox Live for only 320 Microsoft Points ($3.99).  TimeGate plans to unleash the new multiplayer Skirmish mode for Xbox LIVE Arcade, PC, and the PlayStation Network later this month for the low price of $0.

The upcoming Frontier Colonies Map Pack includes two new maps for you to fight over, both on and offline. Desolation is a parched desert world haunted by the remains of a failed colonization attempt. Overseer is home to military facilities overlooking a habitable forest valley. Both maps are playable for all multiplayer game modes, including Conquest, Swarm, Assault, and the soon to be released Skirmish mode.

Touted by TimeGate’s game testers as “oh man, so awesome,” the newSkirmish mode pits the 8th Armored Infantry against the Arm of Orion in a team death match with a twist. Victory Points are awarded for kills and completed missions. Control Points cannot be captured or hacked in this game mode, though, so you’ll need to adjust your gameplay tactics.

The Frontier Colonies Map Pack will be available on Xbox LIVE Arcade for 320 Microsoft Points on July 13 and on PC for $3.99 starting July 27. TimeGate plans to announce more about the free multiplayer Skirmish game mode and PlayStation Network release, which is slated to release Summer 2011, so stay tuned.

The digital download only FPS Section 8: Prejudice didn’t exactly cost the earth on initial release but, for a limited time, it will be even less costly – one third less costly to be precise. During the upcoming big Steam sale, which starts this Thursday, the game will be available for $9.99. All good things must come to an end however, and the Steam sale will have run its course by the 11th of July – so get in there quick.

A new season of gameplay is being launched within the Section 8 community, on both PC and 360, to coincide with the sale: The season will run the length  of the sale and will have players competing in various categories (XP, teamwork, kills, time played, destructions and combat) with the highest ranking players in each category (separate for PC and Xbox) winning, what the press release refers to as, ‘a shiny new toy’.

TimeGate Studios have announced new downloadable content for Section 8: Prejudice : The Overdrive Map.

The Overdrive Map Pack includes two new multiplayer maps, Abaddon and Sky Dock. Amidst the magma craters of Abaddon, protect a power cell facility built on a scalding energy source. Sky Dock is a crucial military base and space port nestled in the frozen tundra. Each map is playable in both multiplayer and offline play for all game modes, which includes Swarm, Conquest, and the recently community-unlocked Assault game mode.

The DLC will see release on June 1, 2011 for PC and Xbox 360. Stay tuned with us for more news and updates.

Section 8: Prejudice will get a new mode unlocked if the community gets to 10 million kills. In order to keep track of the kills, TimeGate Studios have launched a counter at http://warisprejudice.com. And once it hits 10 million, TimeGate will unlock the new mode for both XBLA and PC versions.

“We’ve been absolutely blown away by the response to Section 8: Prejudice, and we’re very thankful to everyone who picked up the game,” said Adel Chaveleh, CEO of TimeGate Studios. “But we’re not done yet! When we announced Prejudice, we said we were committed to long-term support of the game, and this is just the beginning. Assault is a really fun, fast-paced game mode, and we can’t wait to give players free DLC. Given the success of the XBLA launch, we thought this would be a great chance to get the community involved and give everyone a chance to unlock Assault early!”

Assault is a team-versus-team game mode where teams race to capture all Control Points in the fastest time. While in the attack round, players must work together to capture all control points. During the defense round, players defend their bases for as long as possible.

Timegate Studios have released a patch for Section 8: Prejudice which certain gameplay issues, increases support for more players online and more. The full list is below:

STABILITY

* Fixed a rare shader system crash that could occur randomly during gameplay

* Fixed a crash that could occur when signing out of LIVE when a message about downloading DLC was on-screen, then attempting to access the marketplace from the DLC message

GENERAL

* Fixed an issue where the game was not correctly upgrading from the Trial Version to the Full Game when logging in with a LIVE account that had previously purchased the game

USABILITY

* Improved visibility of the Loading screen Deploy button after map transition

* Fixed an issue where an inactive sign-in change would disconnect players from Prejudice Online

* Fixed an issue where custom match browser search options saved from a previous run of the game were not reflected in the UI on subsequent runs, even though the actual search options were saved correctly

* Added the ability to reconnect to Prejudice Online without resigning-in, by selecting the Stats button without a connection.

TGXSERVER

* Added improved Region and Language dedicated server options to help players join servers that are near their region and have players of the same language

* Fixed an issue where idle dedicated servers would get into a bad state after an extended period of time

* Added descriptive error message for when a dedicated server fails to launch due to requiring an update

* Fixed an issue where dedicated servers would sometimes not reconnect to the stats system properly

Section 8: Prejudice turned out to be a big surprise for us as the game exceeded expectations. You can check our in depth review here.

TimeGate Studios revealed today an exclusive partnership with GameServers.com to provide dedicated server rentals for fans playing Section 8: Prejudice on the Xbox LIVE .

Dedicated servers traditionally exist solely for the PC platform. PC players embrace dedicated servers because of players’ ability to host high-capacity servers, private sessions, configure game types, and generally customize their play experience and environment. Section 8: Prejudice is the first product on the Xbox 360 platform that allows players to run PC-hosted dedicated servers, allowing console players to enjoy the same high-performance, tailored dedicated server experience that PC platform players have enjoyed for many years.

“We’re excited to provide this feature to the Xbox 360 community,” said Adel Chaveleh, President of TimeGate Studios. “Players who rent dedicated servers from GameServers can customize their server so they can play with their clans and friends how and when they want. It’s all about giving more control to the player. Our partnership with GameServers helps us provide a quality service for Xbox gamers never seen before, and we’re proud to reveal this feature for Section 8: Prejudice in a manner that makes setup and management of a dedicated server a no-brainer.”

Beginning today, players are able to rent Xbox 360 servers that support up to 32 players for the Xbox 360 version of Section 8: Prejudice and fully configure it according to their preferences. Gamers can choose between “Ranked” and “Unranked” servers, customize any available features such as maps, game modes, difficulty levels, and gameplay settings, to name a few. Finally, all of these options are made easy to configure and manage via an automated web-based interface, greatly reducing the traditional barrier to entry of setting up a dedicated server.

For those of you who didn’t get a look at Time Gate’s original Section 8, the basic premise revolves around large scale, class-based multiplayer that sees players control drop troopers who deploy by landing on each map from the sky. As gimmicky as it sounds, the mechanic added a surprising amount of tactical differentiation in Section 8, and it does the same in Prejudice. It certainly beats just magically appearing on each level. If you aren’t too happy about your adversaries dropping into your base, then you can buy some anti-air turrets that will force them to drop further out. You can earn cash for such sundries as you take objectives and slay your foes. AA turrets are not your only option with a whole host of supply depots, turrets, radars and vehicles up for grabs for those who perform well.

I’m not flying, I’m falling with style!

Before you launch from your dropship, you’ll get a choice of what kind of loadout to spawn with. Multiple custom classes are unlocked from the word go, and allow you to modify your kit to your liking. The weapon selection is fairly decent with all your favourite bases covered, though there is only one major weapon of each type. You also don’t get a choice of attachments for your guns, though I think that’s other games in the genre spoiling me for choice rather than any failing on S8P’s part. You also get two equipment slots for anything ranging from mortars and grenades, to knives and a repair tool. I was also pleased to see huge variation in the types of equipment you get. As you progress through the online ranks you can unlock new rounds for your guns that will give them different properties, along with health sucking knives, EMP grenades, motion scanners etc. You name it, you’ll probably find it catered for. To top it all off, you have ten points that can be assigned into a variety of attributes. You might go for extra damage, more stealth or increased speed. There’s a lot of choice in here even before you’ve unlocked anything, so you can expect to be able to play Prejudice your own way. My only complaint about the core engine of Prejudice is that the gunplay doesn’t feel especially tight at times. There are just those moments where it feels a bit spongy, particularly when fighting with rapid fire weapons at mid-range. Don’t let this put you off though, as it is more a minor gripe than any kind of game-breaking fault.

If it weren’t enough that Prejudice offers such deep and rewarding gameplay already, you’ll be pleased to know that there are game modes to match. Conquest mode is where you’ll be spending most of your time, and offers you a bread and butter ranked online mode. There is only one game type included that sees you trying to earn more points than your team. Points can be earned through capturing bases on the map, killing players on the enemy team, or by completing a variety of randomly generated objectives. These objectives aren’t just an afterthought either. They’re fun, diverse and always keep you on your toes. Even though one mode may not sound like a lot, there is so much going on in each game that you won’t really notice.

For a DLC title, Prejudice has some tasty visuals. And jetpacks. Don’t forget the jetpacks

For those with more of a co-op lust, there is the Swarm mode that sees you defending an objective from waves of increasingly tough enemies. It plays in a similar way to Conquest with all loadout and purchase options still available, but it’s different enough to provide a few evenings of good old fashioned co-operative fun.

In terms of content, both of the modes have a decent selection of maps for you to plough through. There are four main areas, with two maps being culled from each for Conquest and an additional defence location from each major tileset comprising the maps for Swarm. Whilst there is a mild lack of textural variation as a result of this, the maps all feel right and are designed well enough to cater for all types of players. One of the things that impeded the first game’s success was its usually vacant servers, an issue that should be rectified with Prejudice’s reduced price point. Even if you can’t always be bothered to take the fight online, you can kick back and play either of the multiplayer modes over system link or solo with bots filling available spaces. AI in multiplayer is something that many modern games neglect, but S8P brings them back in style. They will never be quite as fun to play against as a human player, but they aren’t slouches either and offer a viable alternative to online play.

Prejudice even has finishing moves. What else does it need?

One of the things that really let down the original Section 8 was its lacklustre story mode. More of a tutorial for the multiplayer than a proper campaign attempt, many felt annoyed by the lack of content offered in this department for a full priced retail game. Prejudice responds to this irritant two fold: First, by rolling out a proper campaign with its own separate levels and secondly, by not being a full priced title. The story isn’t particularly memorable or interesting, seeing you as the entirely forgettable captain tracking down some evil guy with your Section 8 lackies in tow. Whilst you’ll no doubt hold this nondescript summary against a lack of professionalism on my part, the plot really is that forgettable. It does a good job of setting up some tense set pieces though, with defence, recon and escape missions keeping the proceedings nice and varied. The campaign is also partially weakened by its production values. The whole thing just doesn’t feel as big as your AAA titles but, for the price tag, Prejudice provides a fantastic and thoroughly enjoyable campaign that is miles better than the pseudo-tutorial we got from the original.

The place where Prejudice’s budget price shows most is in its presentation. The graphics are of a very high standard for a DLC game, but don’t expect any CoD beating visuals. Animations deserve particular commendation, as long as you can get over the aim down sight (ADS) animation being almost non-existent. I know some people are very particular about how they want their ADS to look. What does put a damper on the campaign’s cut-scenes are the awful explosion effects. Budget aside, these still look pretty off.

I make a lot of small criticisms of Section 8: Prejudice, but in reality these are almost negligible. The game could do a hell of a lot more stuff wrong and I’d probably still consider it an essential purchase, just on account of the value for money it provides. I haven’t played as well fleshed out a shooter as Prejudice in a while, and the fact that it costs so little makes it all the more impressive an achievement. You have no excuse not to buy it. Put it on your to do list now.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.