Brink shown exclusively at Multiplay i42 – hands on!

As if coming along to the UK’s number one LAN party 3 times a year for the chance to win huge cash prizes wasn’t enough, the Multiplay team insist on bringing more and more exclusive content to the event every time. KitGuru sneaks under the red rope and risks getting thumped by a huge security dude (picture of said dude below).

When Brink developer Jamie Manson grew up on the streets of Edinburgh, did he ever imagine that he would be designing and delivering some of the most eagerly awaited gaming code on the planet? Probably not – but that’s exactly what has happened.

Given the way that most development companies operate, Jamie is probably shackled to an enormous desk in the bowels of Bethesda Softworks – so it must have been nice for him to get out (at all) and to actually see enormous queues of pro-gamers forming in seconds – just for a chance to get hands-on with this latest creation.

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Bethesda is part of ZeniMax and ZeniMax has people like Jerry Bruckbeimer on its board – so you can see the level that Jamie and Co are batting at.

Given Jamie’s origins, it’s hard to know why his latest creation is set on an Ark that’s trying to survive in a hostile world full of serious and threatening environmental issues. I mean, come on – he wasn’t born in Glasgow.

As a quick background on the game’s story – for those who have not been following closely:

Built in the near-future as part of a contemporary green vision, the Ark was a model for sustainable living. The massive man-made floating city became a home to the scientists and thinkers focused on making the vision a reality, while its wealthy patrons built a recreational paradise.

But soon the threat of a global environmental crisis became real: glaciers melted, sea levels rose, and the very survival of humanity was threatened. Thousands from around the globe fled to the Ark as a last hope. Refugees clung to survival however they could, while the original founders and their descendants struggled to maintain the island.

Now, the Ark has lost contact with what remained of the mainland and exists in total isolation. As the Ark's supposedly renewable resources dwindle, the balance of power threatens to unravel and throw competing social factions into a horrific conflict.

With tensions growing, Security and Resistance forces are locked in a heated battle for control of the Ark. Which side will you choose?

Brink’s web site lists all of the platforms you would expect for a modern game. When we spoke with Jamie, he told us that one of the key issues they faced is the disparity between the capabilities and processing power of the various platforms. Specifically, that the gap between console and PC capabilities is now very significant. It seems that top game developers like the idea of starting with the PC – to really let their dreams fly – and then scale back to what’s possible on something like a PlayStation.

With Elder Scrolls IV and Fallout 3 under Bethesda’s belt, the bar has been raised pretty high for Brink, but – if the faces of the gamers we saw at Multiplay i42 were anything to go by – Jamie and his team have a winner on their hands.

Speaking of bars, the Rob and the clever folks in Bethesda's marketing team managed to message the more mature gamer ‘where they live'.

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According to the Brink web site, the game will be available in Spring 2011, but we guess it will depend on when you believe Spring ends.

Now, let's have a look at the Multiplay i42 pro-gamer scramble for Brink seats, shall we?

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KitGuru says: Looking at not only the length of the queue, but how fast it formed and the smiling happy faces of those who got to sit and shoot first, Brink will be hard to beat in the quarter after it launches.

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