Alpha is out!  Woohoo!

As many of you already know, Alpha keys were sent out to those that pre-ordered the special edition around 9 PM EST last night.  Most people have received their keys by now.  If you have not, try this link: http://bit.ly/tQ3EY

With that being said, NS2 is in an alpha stage.  The fact that we get to see this game at this level is exciting, but it does come with some responsibility.  You have to remember that this is the first build of the ALPHA stage.  The fact that anyone could connect to a single server last night straight up shocks me.  Our job now is to discuss features/find bugs and report them.  So, I figured we could get some solid conversations going here with people that are interested in following the development of this game from square one all the way to the final release (and to infinity and beyond).  So with each update, I'll hope to post what has changed and we can continue our discussion until the game really speaks for itself.  The official bug/suggestion method is to visit http://getsatisfaction.com/unknownworlds and provide your information.  However, here at [IAM], we can have our own discussion as our excitement continues to build towards the release of a completed NS2.

So, some of my observations from last night's FIRST alpha build:

-My game loaded up a lot faster than the engine test did.  I was personally unable to get into any multiplayer servers, but quickly hopped in a lan server and began to fool around.  A lot of people are having connection problems so this probably will be one of the first bugs they address.

-The alien commander is completely new and it seems that there are multiple types of resources now. 

-The gorge belly slide is awesome and surely will get you around quickly, albeit in straight lines. 

-The builder bots are interesting.  I wonder how much that will isolate the commander from their team.

What else did you guys notice?

HOOAH

First NS2 alpha patch will likely be released tonight - this will hopefully connect the major connectivity bugs many are experiencing.

I'm not sure if our server is up right now.  Anomaly was saying we were having rubber-banding issues.