In case you haven't heard, CrimeCraft is on tour at some major college campuses in the United States! Keep an eye out because we might be at your very own school.

CrimeCraft is the premiere and exclusive PC game featured during the upcoming GAME U: G3 Tour presented by Best Buy. The Persistent World Next-gen Shooter (PWNS) CrimeCraft is coming to eleven campuses across North America via the wildly popular gaming technology tour that features interactive demonstrations and exciting gaming competitions. CrimeCraft is available exclusively through Best Buy retail stores and online through a number of leading digital distribution partners, including Direct2Drive and Steam.

Vogster's CrimeCraft Joins Tour to Major College Campuses

The GAME U: G3 tour kicked off Monday, October 26 at Boston College and will bring the hottest video game action to the following campuses:

10/26/2009 - MON - Boston College
10/27/2009 - TUE - Penn State University
10/29/2009 - THU - Marshall University
10/30/2009 - FRI - Ohio State
11/2/2009 - MON - University of Nebraska
11/3/2009 - TUE - Wichita State University
11/4/2009 - WED - Oklahoma State University
11/6/2009 - FRI - University of New Mexico
11/9/2009 - MON - University of Arizona
11/11/2009 - WED - University of California @ San Diego
11/14/2009 - SAT - San Diego State University

For more information on the GAME U: G3 Tour please visit: www.gameulive.com

If you've logged in today, you'll notice that your game updated once again. We had a patch today to help with the VM crash, which was exacerbated during Monday's update. It's not a complete fix, unfortunately, but it should improve the situation and early reports from the trenches seem to be positive.

The second big issue addressed in this patch was the Hargan Mastiff rocket launcher. Its damage was reduced, as well, to help with balance.

We had a little bit of ingame lag as the servers came back online and it required a quick restart, but everything seems to be running smoothly now so don't tarry any longer; your gang won't run itself!

As I'm sure you're aware, CrimeCraft underwent a major update this past Monday. The update included new subscription models, the addition of an unlimited free trial, and many other perks and features, including a special title of Original Gangster for those that purchased the game prior to the update.

Here's the official patch note goodness about changes in the new build:

• Unlimited Free Trial account support added

• Premium item list updated

• Instance “special assignment” missions added for Standard and Premium subscribers

• Original Gangster title and missions added for players with accounts prior to Oct. 25

• New levels added to existing jobs

• New crafting jobs and achievements added

• New loot collection jobs and achievements added

• New Headhunter PVE game mode added on Douglas Avenue Labs (Downtown) and Reinhold Museum (Midtown Square) maps

• New Triad PVE gang/AI bots added

• Hargan Mastiff rocket launcher updated

• Medals and titles added

o Players able to choose title displayed in game

• New abilities added:

o Flashbang blinds enemies staring at the blast

o Heartbeat Detector detects living targets in a limited range for a short period of time

o Auto Injection makes injecting boosts quicker by removing the manual process

• Sleight of Hand ability name changed to Salvage Mastery

o Ability increases the drop chance for materials specific to your crafting profession

• Sunrise City Times newspaper added

o Newspaper vendors available in lobbies

• Municipality Agent NPC added

• Riot mode loot drops added

• Instance joining process updated and simplified

• Mode descriptions added before warm up

• UI updates to character window

Of course, this being Wednesday, there are already some known issues about the patch. The most severe has been a virtual memory crash, and fixes are already being tested, as addressed in this forum thread. In general, rest assured that if you've been posting feedback in our forums, we've heard you loud and clear ... well, not "heard" so much as read, but you get the idea. We take all your comments to heart.

For those of you new to the site and the community, you might be curious about exactly what the differences are between a Free and Premium account. Look no further for information; all you need to do is check out this page.

And as a final note to all of our members, I'd just like to say good luck in the new Sunrise City!

If you've been visiting our forums over the last couple weeks, you know that we've been running a weekly event where we put a member of The Regulators, the GM gang from Sunrise City, on the hot seat and ask him questions submitted by the community.

The newest installment of answers in that series is now up! You can check out Possoms' answers to your questions in this forum thread.

And just in case you missed any of our earlier editions, you can find the answers here:

Cova

Nefarious

SpecialK

If that's not enough good news for you, I've got more. We're still accepting questions for this week's GM: MrBlack. If your question is selected this week, you'll win five Gold Bars to spend in Sunrise City. Head over to this forum thread for rules including eligibilty and prize details.

Or, if you're already famliar with those, you can head straight to MrBlack's official submission thread.

Thanks to everybody that's sent in questions over the last few weeks!

You've been waiting for a chance to put your questions directly to the dev team, and now you have that opportunity! Go here to post your questions now!

We'll compile your questions and put together a Q&A with the team, then we'll do it all over again!

--KevinB

 CrimeCraft Executive Producer Matt McEnerney wrote this up for you, the community, and asked me to post it here. Be on the lookout Monday for the "Ask the Devs" thread for a chance to get your questions put straight to the dev team! 

Hey guys,
 

Just wanted to give you all a quick update on the important questions we’ve been hearing a lot about lately. We don’t want anyone to think we’re not listening to them, but it’s pretty easy to get caught up in work and believe me, we’ve got a lot of stuff we’re pulling together based on feedback we’ve gotten from you guys!
 

First of all, we’re committed to CrimeCraft and the game servers will be up for the foreseeable future. Money is not an issue right now, we’re just focused on making the game better so we can be as successful as we can be in the long run.
 

I hope you all have noticed a drop off in cheating since we recently fixed some issues we had with HackShield. We’re not done working on it yet, we’re still tweaking the settings and finding ways to close the loopholes. This is an all-out war on hackers and they always fight dirty, so we’re working overtime to find cheaters and ban every one of them. If you are one of the cheaters, consider this your last warning: Stop now, because we will find you and you will be banned.
 

By now I hope you’ve all heard about the new content we’ve got coming at the end of this month and the free trial program that we will be offering. I’m really excited about delivering the first of several bi-monthly updates. We have a new PVE mode that’s going to be rolled out on some of our existing maps. I know some of you play more PVE than PVP these days, so we’re giving you guys more chances to beat up on some bots! For you PVP guys, we’re working on new ways to calculate your ranking to shake things up a little bit.
 

You’re also going to see some cool new features like the Sunrise Times in-game newspaper that will let you know what the top players and gangs are up to in game world. You’ll also see some of the statistical leaders and “most wanted” on some of the billboards in game.
 

We pay attention to these forums and we hear your suggestions, so please, keep them rolling in. The community team and the mods do a great job of working with you guys and keeping us in the loop with what’s on your mind, so use them at every opportunity. When you talk to a mod, you are talking to the team!
 

So, to sum up, we are financially secure, the game servers will stay up, HackShield is on, new content is coming and we’re listening to you, the players!
 

I’m going to have our community manager KevinB (Capo) open up an “Ask the Devs” thread on Monday that he will track for us and we’ll have the team get answers for you guys on a regular basis.
 

Stick with us guys, there’s good things coming soon!

Matt

Most of you have heard we were out in San Francisco earlier this week meeting with the media. Today we're officially announcing our Original Gangster Loyalty Program that's going to take care of you guys that have been with us from the beginning! We also will kick off an Unlimited Free Trial program late this month aimed at bringing more targets ... I mean, more players ... into CrimeCraft!

And that's not all, we're also announcing a crime lord's vault full of features we'll be adding to CrimeCraft in the next few months!

For you players who have been our best supporters, we're giving you an exclusive "Original Gangster" in-game tag and icon that will set you apart from the masses and we're going to give you an extra free month on your subscription plus you're going to get priority access to future content!

You can read all about the Original Gangster Program and the features coming to CrimeCraft in our press release:

Vogster Reveals Free Trial, New Subscription Structure and First Major Content Update for Online Shooter CrimeCraft
Company Proactively Addresses Community Feedback

NEW YORK, NY, October 2, 2009 –Vogster Entertainment, LLC, an international innovator in video game design and content, today announced an unlimited free trial, an enhanced subscription model, the game’s first major content update, as well as a loyalty reward program for existing customers of their PC-based Online Shooter, CrimeCraft. All changes are slated to commence later this month.

“The CrimeCraft community talks and we listen,” said Mario Kroll, Director of Marketing at Vogster. “We’ve been working closely with the community to find ways to enhance the content, depth and player experience to make CrimeCraft the best it can possibly be. In addition to our first major content update, at the end of this month we will offer a non-expiring, free trial that will allow gamers to experience the major features of the game without paying a subscription.”

Details of the free trial and subscription model changes are as follows:
 

• Unlimited Free Trial –New CrimeCraft players will be able to experience the major features of the game for free for as long as they want.
 

• Varied Subscription Options – CrimeCraft will introduce a new Standard Subscription for $4.99/month in addition to the current $9.99/month Premium Subscription option. The major differences between the subscription levels is the extent of customization, skill slots, speed of experience gain and inventory capacity. Standard and Premium subscription features will also be showcased behind “velvet rope” areas to allow players to make a fully-informed subscription decision.
 

• Seamless Transition – Players can seamlessly convert from a free trial to a paying account and switch between subscription levels. Features will be placed “on hold” or unlocked based on the current subscription level.
 

• Original Gangsters – In appreciation of our current CrimeCraft customers, everyone that purchases the game between launch and the introduction of the free trial later this month will receive a third month of Premium Subscription at no cost, and a host of in-game rewards including an “Original Gangster” tag and icon for their characters as well as priority access to future content .
 

The boxed version of CrimeCraft that is sold exclusively at Best Buy and FutureShop retail stores will remain the ideal way to jump into the world of Sunrise City. It now includes three free months of premium membership, an initial stake of 100 gold bars and access to exclusive in-game items – virtual apparel from Marc Ecko and Atticus Clothing, a discount card for in-game purchases and a combat backpack to expand carrying capacity.

CrimeCraft will also bring the first of many scheduled content updates online at the end of October. This first update will increase the game’s depth and adds many of the features most requested by our fans, including the following planned enhancements:

• Sunrise City Times – In-game newspaper that will feed information to the players concerning the latest news and happening in the game, including dynamic exploits by players and gangs.
 

• Your Name in Lights – In addition to making stars of players inside the newspaper feature, top ranked gangs and players will see their alter egos promoted on billboards.
 

• Titles Through Achievements – By completing certain difficult achievements, players will gain access to in-game icons and titles to make their character stand out and further communicate street credit and reputation.
 

• Kill the Boss Mode – A new PvE mode that allows players to cooperatively fight AI controlled enemies across every in-game map and take out bosses to get the best loot. This dramatically enhances the variety of environments for the highly praised PvE instances currently in the game.
 

• Storytellers – New Municipal Agent NPCs will provide a more in depth look at the back story that makes the universe of CrimeCraft a place of guns, gangs and intrigue.
 

• New NPC Gang and Mission Chains – A new NPC gang will offer additional missions and jobs.
 

• Player Loot Drops – Now players will be able to gain loot from participating in Riot Mode PvP, with the highest ranked players dropping more valuable loot if killed.