Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

The Fallen Earth team has been traveling the U.S. for a few months now on their "grassroots" tour, and they're now giving gamers the opportunity to decide where their final destination will be. Making the announcement from GDC '09, the Fallen Earth devs will soon be putting up a contest that allows gamers to select the city that they'd like the Fallen Earth team to visit next. Although no other details were given on the contest itself, fans can expect more information to appear on the website on April 2, 2009.

Here's the official release:

As part of an ongoing national grassroots tour, the developers of the self-titled post-apocalyptic MMO Fallen Earth announced a contest in which their fans will have the opportunity to choose the final tour stop. Slated for May 2 at an undetermined location, the culminating fan event will give players a chance to meet the dev team, demo the game and collect a surprise in-game item. Official contest rules will appear on the Fallen Earth site on April 2, 2009.

The grassroots tour included previous stops in Raleigh, N.C., Baltimore, Md., and earlier this week at the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) networking event as part of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. The tour takes Fallen Earth on the road to meet fans and game enthusiasts through IGDA chapter meetings and other local gaming events.

“GDC provides us with an excellent opportunity to showcase the in-game elements we have been working on since we went into closed beta,” said Lee Hammock, lead game designer for Fallen Earth. “Our testing community has been instrumental in helping us develop a more compelling game environment and we are excited to give them the opportunity to choose the last destination on our national tour.”

In addition to Hammock, Fallen Earth Project Manager Colin Dwan, Associate Project Manager Dave Haydysch, Content Team Lead Marie Croall and Product Manager Jessica Orr will be at GDC to discuss the contest and show recent updates to the game.

Fallen Earth is a massively multiplayer online game that strategically combines first-person shooter and traditional role-playing game designs. Set in the Grand Canyon after a lethal disease destroyed most of mankind, Fallen Earth features 70 towns, six competing factions, a classless advancement system and a crafting system in which players can make 95 percent of game items.

Fallen Earth is currently in closed beta testing and is set to launch later this year. For more information about the contest or to participate in closed beta testing, visit www.fallenearth.com. Contest rules will be posted on April 2, 2009.