“Dude, Hurricane’s been quiet all year. They’re up to something big I’m telling you!”

“No way. Hurricane’s lost its touch. Ever since the merger with GA and ActiSight they’ve produced nothing but garbage and new content for their old stuff. This G3 is going to be nothing but new stuff for old content.”

“I’ll bet you anything they’ve got something big planned! Too quiet I tell ya...”

Karl smiled as he overheard the heated conversation between two young men hurrying by. He certainly hoped that the optimistic one was right. If Hurricane had something big planned it would be one of the biggest scoops of G3! Still… His friend had a point too. Despite their stature as a giant in the gaming world, Hurricane seemed to be in a rut. Their games were still as fun as always, but nothing they’d released in the past few years had succeeded in reigniting the same spark with gamers as their early stuff had. No one would be happier than himself if Hurricane had something big up its sleeves. As a reporter, any big news from Hurricane would be sure to draw in the views like crazy. Especially if they revealed it during today’s press conference.

Karl rubbed his arms in an attempt to warm up, despite the early June heat, the temperature in the convention centre was a cool 20 degrees. Pausing to grab his lanyard, he flashed the nametag at the bottom to the security guard.

“Karl Matthews, reporter for the Daily MMOGamer,” he said, staring nervously at the security guard’s toned forearms.

“Mmmmh," the security guard nodded. “Alright, head on in, show starts in 15 minutes.”

With that, Karl was directed through the doorway into a narrow hallway, which quickly opened up into a massive auditorium. Despite their lack of new titles over the last couple of years, Hurricane was one of the biggest names in gaming and the prestige they commanded at G3 was still incredible. Many gamers would have given their left arm to be allowed in to this room and hear about Hurricane’s upcoming plans even a moment earlier. Not for the first time, Karl thanked his lucky stars that his boss had chosen him to cover Hurricane’s press conference.

Walking to the front of the room, Karl elbowed his way through the throng of onlookers gazing excitedly at the stage. An enormous projector wall covered two thirds of the wall behind the stage, and two smaller, but still massive, screens flanked the main wall, currently showing Hurricane’s logo and a timer counting down to the beginning of the conference.

Settling near the front of the press area, Karl checked the screen. 10 minutes, just enough time to go over his questions and check his recorder.

Once his gear had been double checked and he’d reviewed his gameplan, Karl calmed down and waited for the beginning of what promised to be one of the biggest conferences of the entire event.

As the timer hit zero, the lights dimmed, plunging the room into darkness. Karl could vaguely make out a shape emerging onto the stage as the screens came to life, illuminating the scene. A tall, well dressed man in a fitted suit was smiling down at the audience. As they settled down he began to speak:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, members of the press. Thank you for being here with us today...”

Karl started to drift off, just like in years past, this Hurricane conference was fairly boring. With no new titles, and only expansions and new DLC announcements for their existing titles, it seemed that Hurricane was content to spend another year simply existing. At least he’d be able to write some articles on the upcoming expansions, he mused, staring up at the Hurricane logo which had replaced the final trailer.

All of a sudden, the lights dimmed once more. Straining his eyes, Karl could just barely make out the tall man leaving the stage and a new figure taking his place. As the screens came to life once more, the Hurricane logo was replaced with a new, unfamiliar symbol, vaguely triangular in shape with intricate runes adorning a knotted Celtic ring. Karl perked up, he’d studied everything there was to know about Hurricane in the two weeks leading up to the conference plus his two decades as a gamer - this symbol was brand new. His reporter instincts were screaming that this was a major scoop. Readying his eyeglass recorder, he refocused the image on the logo and then zoomed out to cover the whole stage.

A somewhat portly man stood centrestage, having replaced the tall gentleman. Wearing a loose fitting T-shirt emblazoned with that strange logo and a pair of faded jeans, his looks were nothing impressive, clashing with the prestige of the event. And yet Karl knew better than to underestimate him. Michael Lietke was a legend in the gaming world. The key mind behind many of Hurricane’s most famous titles. His appearance meant one thing: This last trailer was going to be huge.

“Thank you all for being here,” Michael began, his baritone voice rousing any who had not yet realized what was happening.

“This next project has been many years in the making. It was made possible with the help and investment of several key companies including Goggle, Amozone, and many more. The tech required for this project has been one of the biggest barriers to its release. But today, I am pleased to announce that after many years of waiting, Hurricane will finally be releasing its next major MMO... Fate!” pausing for applause, Lietke glowed before continuing.

“Fate is the first next-gen MMO. Unlike other games which add new combat systems, or use new engines to deliver the same general experience, Fate is the first ever Virtual Reality MMO. We’ve partnered with Goggle to create a seamless virtual reality experience in which you the players will be able to actually enter and experience the world of Fate. This is not augmented reality with its clumsy tethers and wires tripping you up, but true virtual reality. But why tell you about it when we can show you?”

With this, the main screen blazed back to life, replacing what must have been the Fate logo with a panoramic shot of a castle, under siege from what looked to be a fantasy army complete with Orcs, Goblins, and winged gargoyles assaulting the parapets. Karl unconsciously leaned closer, as did the entire room. Lietke smiled as the camera panned to a pair of men standing at the top of the castle battlements fighting off Orcs descending upon the walls from giant siege towers.

“Hey Ron!” Lietke said, speaking into a microphone attached to his collar.

“Hey Michael,” replied one of the men, a burly fellow wearing full plate armour and carrying an enormous two-handed battleaxe which he’d just finished burying in an orc’s skull. Flicking off the remnants of the orc’s brains from the axehead, he then spun the axe in a wide circle above his head and brought it crashing down upon the ramp connecting the siege tower to the battlements.

As the axe descended, the axehead came to life with an amber glow. Karl watched, entranced as the axe smashed into the siege tower ramp. As the axe made contact with the ramp, the axehead glowed even brighter. Cracks spread from the point where the axe had landed, flowing along the ramp and down the length of the tower. With a vicious grin, Ron gave a loud shout as the siege tower suddenly burst into a million pieces, peppering the monsters on the ground with splinters and fragments of bloody bone from the monsters unfortunate enough to have still been in the tower. The entire auditorium was silent as Lietke grinned.

“I see you’re still in love with the Earthquake skill, you’ve modified it to be usable with axes instead of hammers?”

Ron smiled, “It’s just so much fun! Lets me feel like a mage while playing as a warrior. Anyways, we’ve gotta clear out the rest of these monsters, why don’t you get back to pandering to your audience?”

With another laugh, Ron moved to hew down an orc as the camera panned around to his back, giving the audience a first person view of Ron’s quest to purge the battlements of monsters.

Lietke cleared his throat and looked at the audience, “Fate is the first ever fully integrated VRMMO. Unlike other MMOs where you’re locked into a class, Fate is more akin to a second life. You can do whatever you want in the game: playing it like a traditional MMO is certainly possible, but you’d be missing out if you didn’t try to experience the game’s incredible combat system and participate in the main storyline. But the game is so much more than just a VR combat simulator. In Fate, anything is possible. If you want to learn magic, then you can self-study or enroll at an academy and learn from the greatest magical minds in the city. Even if you’ve spent years as a warrior swinging your blade at hordes of enemies, or as a baker, creating bread and pies for those with coin, you can still enroll and learn magic. Similarly you can also pick up a sword, grab a frying pan, try out enchanting, go fishing...the possibilities are endless and restricted only by time and your imagination.”

Here, Lietke paused to grab a bottle of water. On-screen, the scene had changed to a forested wood, where a young mage was attempting to fight off a small band of goblins. He was clearly in trouble as evidenced by the cuts visible on his forearms as he held out his hands to cast spell after spell, but the reason why became quickly evident as the screen panned around to reveal a terrified elven child hiding behind the mage. The audience watched spellbound as the mage fired off a fireball at a charging goblin.

Lietke smiled and resumed his speech, “As you can see the visuals and graphical effects of Fate are top notch. They are completely realistic and players will easily find themselves immersed in more than just a game, but a chance to change their fates. In real life, you may be a programmer, a journalist, a waiter, or even the heir to a large corporation. But in Fate, you can change that. Your fate is your own to choose in Fate, and I’m pleased to announce that the chance to change your fate is coming much sooner than you’d expect!”

Behind him, the scene on-screen changed again, this time revealing a dwarven craftsman sweating over a faintly glowing blade. As his hammer fell, the scene changed again, this time to a beautifully adorned ballroom. In the middle of the hall, a lithe elven maiden swirled gracefully between the participants. Again the scene changed…

“As you can see, Fate is truly a second world: each of the scenes you see onscreen is a live feed to some of our beta testers. Men and women just like you who have been selected to give feedback on all the game’s systems. We’ve selected people from all walks of life and made sure that they’ve tested as many of the incredible experiences Fate has to offer as they could,” Lietke continued. Behind him, the scene changed nonstop, scenes of intense combat, adventurers bartering with merchants, a naval vessel surging through the waves, a solitary wanderer making his way up the side of an enormous mountain, a church choir singing over the adorned body of a hero, a girl clutching a squirming cat, a pair of men singing loudly in a tavern.

Pausing for dramatic effect, Lietke stared at his audience, not a single person remained fully on their seat, everyone having moved to the edge if not having left it entirely. As if a spell had been cast over the audience, the entire auditorium had gone silent. With a flourish of his arms, the scene on the screens changed once more, this time to an elaborate hourglass. As the grains of sand slowly slid from the top to the bottom, a timer appeared underneath: 42D 2H 4M 16s it read, the last number slowly counting down.

With a jolt, Karl realized that it was a countdown timer. Slowly he managed to open his mouth, “Do you mean to say that this game releases in just over a month?” he managed to croak, breaking the silence.

Looking pleased, Lietke stared down at him from the stage, “Yes. Fate will be releasing on July 16th, 20XX. We hope that you can all join us in shaping the world of Fate!” With those closing words, Michael Lietke turned and left the stage, leaving behind only the slowly draining hourglass to illuminate the room.

For what felt like several long minutes, no one moved, until suddenly someone stood up and raced out the door. Jolting to alertness, Karl realized that this wasn’t just a big scoop, this might be the scoop of the century. Grabbing his bag, he whirled around and darted through the crowd, determined to post an article before anyone else. As he ran, Karl realized that the man he’d overheard outside had been correct, Hurricane had been up to something big. ‘However,’ Karl thought with a rueful grin, even that Hurricane fanboy couldn’t possibly have predicted just how big the project Hurricane had been working on was.