In an attempt to leverage the current "RPG craze", the NS team announces today that can ignore this trend no longer. Team leader "Flayra" had this to say.

"After ripping Devour and Stomp from Warcraft III, I realized that the more 'RPG-goodness' I can put into NS, the bigger it will get. Neverwinter Nights, Everquest and Warcraft III all sold better then NS did, so this decision is totally justified."

RPG genre addition notes - New creep-based resource model. No more boring resource towers that churn away unrealistically. Players wander around the map and battle computer-controlled colonists and insect life. The more they kill, the more cash they get. - Alien players no longer choose when to morph to new lifeforms. Instead, as they battle the NPCs on the ship, they gain levels! I stole that cool "levelling-up" effect from Warcraft also. - There is now "upkeep" when too many players join the server. - Players that don't "role-play" their character (Olde English really helps) will be banned for rogue behavior. - To switch maps, players must now successfully complete "quests". These include: finding seven "power crystals" that have scattered about ns_hera, saving a local colony from unprecedented evil that's attacking relentlessly from nearby mountainous structures and protecting a baby lerk until it can be used as a "familiar". - The Onos has been renamed "Tauren Chieftain". - New "Dungeon Master Mode" where players can choose to run a server with their own house rules, print messages on the screen, modify game rules, kick players at will and generally act like a "Dungeon Master" in their own domain. - Players now have attributes that dictate their running speed, attack damage, encumberance, hit points and charisma. These are assigned randomly when joining a server and they all affect gameplay except charisma. - A third playable race has been added! Orcs are a must in every RPG, and Space Orks are already familiar to players so now it's now Marines vs. Aliens vs. Orkz! The Orkz have Gunz (33% chance of malfunction), War Wagonz (vehicles in Half-life!), Wyvern companions (lerk code reuse) and helmets with spikes (+2 charisma).

The NS team is really really excited to change the direction of NS. We're unsure whether 1.1 can be further bloated to incorporate these changes, but we're going to try our best. Viva la Orkz!

Blizzard Entertainment senior designer Rob Pardo had this to say regarding the announcement:

"I really respect the Natural Selection team. Never under-estimate the purchasing power of the orc."

Yes, it's that time of year again...