Miner Wars 2081, the game that's all about mining and warring in space, has just received a major update,  switching the rendering engine from XNA to DirectX for improved stability along with a few other tweaks and fixes. More notable, however, is the fact that both the game and the VRAGE engine's source code have been released, opening the flood gates for the modding community to sweep in and do what they do best.

When Miner Wars 2081 was announced it was easy to make the comparison and hope to recapture some of that magic that was felt while playing Descent. Miner Wars 2081 is an ambitious part of a larger puzzle in the Miner Wars universe that includes an eventual MMO. The groundwork is laid here with a full campaign spanning 30 plus missions and support for up to 16 players in co-op. We dive in to see just how well that classic feel could be revived.

Miner Wars 2081 has finally hit its beta phase after extensive alpha and pre-alpha testing from the community.  The game is now being balanced and tweaked, getting ready for release sometime later this year on PC.  Miner Wars 2081 features both single player and co-op gameplay as well as some versus elements in a six degrees of freedom type game - think classic PC game series Descent.  The team has a Greenlight Page up to try to get Miner Wars 2081 onto Valve's Steam service.

Miner Wars has been in development for quite a while, in fact our first article on the game was from July of 2009.  Yes, it's been a long road for the game and there's quite a bit to update you on as things settle in.  First off, the game originally started as an MMO but is now actually two separate games: a fully featured single player / co-op / versus game and an MMO.  There's actually a third game, Miner Wars Arena, that was just released that's more arcade style gameplay as well set in the same universe, but that's a bit of an offshoot project.

As games implement more features, they take longer to develop. It’s true that many games are beginning to include a lot more multiplayer options. To our delight that also includes co-op. Miner Wars is a game that has been in development for a while holding our interest with some space exploration co-op, that is also taking its time in development.

The Miner Wars team has just released a brand new video and batch of screenshots for their upcoming space-action-simulation-miner game.  I really don't know how to classify it other than it's a six degrees of freedom game that plans to integrate single player and co-op play into one experience.  I get a distinct Descent vibe from it.

Who says mining has to happen on Earth? There are plenty of minerals to round up out in space, and plenty of aliens to fend off while getting the goods. Miner Wars thought the same thing, sending us reaching for the stars...with a drill. Explore asteroids for various precious commodities, including Iron, Gold, Silicon etc. To many gamers, Miner Wars may look a bit familiar in these trailers. Perhaps a great big hint of Descent can be picked up in this 6DOF (Six Degrees of Freedom) sci-fi shooter.