It's been a while since the last episode of AGN Instant Action. In this video Hamma talks about an issue which he believes was one of the core problems with PlanetSide 2 New Player Experience and the new Player Tutorial on Public Test. Check out the video below or click here.

Check out the comments thread or the comments on YouTube to give post your thoughts. And don't forget to subscribe to our channel on YouTube 

SOE has announced that there will be a new Hotfix on May 9th at at 6:00 AM PDT and on May 13th the Terran Republic Commissar Hat will be added to the store to mark Armistice Day. They also note that the Vanu and New Conglomerate will have their own special holidays and items.

A new Hotfix has been deployed, it contains some new cosmetic items for the Harasser and some bug fixes.

• Lumifber should now appear correclty on the Harasser.
• The Stats Miscellaneous tab will now display ribbons.
• The Horn bundle contents have been clarified so it’s clear which vehicles they are for.
• Disabled concussion and flash grenades in VR Training

Check out the hotfix notes in our Wiki and on the Official forums. Armistice Day will be May 13th:

Armistice Day marks the anniversary of the end of humanity’s last great war on Earth and the birth of the Terran Republic. Armistice Day serves to remind the people of the TR what they are fighting for – to bring peace and unity to Auraxis.

Check out the official post here and hit up the comments to discuss.

As promised we have posted the recording of Saturdays AGN Squad Beacon with special guest Matt Higby! Apologies for the delay on posting, we ran into a variety of technical issues. Many topics were covered including Game Update 08, Empire Specific Fighters, New Weapon Sounds, Hossin, Lattice and much more. Check out the full video below or click through to YouTube where we have placed shortcuts to the topics in the video description.

A variety of new details were revealed including Interlink Facilities are planned to be on all continents and a sound pass is being done on Vanu weapons. Hit up the comments thread or the comments on YouTube and let us know what you think! And don't forget to subscribe to our channel and never miss another video again! Don't forget to follow us on Twitch.tv as well and never miss a broadcast!

SOE has announced PlanetSide 2 Respawn! All players, past present and future will get free Premium Memberhip from May 3rd to June 1st.

Your account has been granted Premium Membership for FREE between May 3RD, 2013 and June 1ST, 2013. Log in to the game now to get the most out of your free time and get your free in-game reward!

They are also offering a $9.99 a month deal for three month subscription. Which if you already have a subscription it will add on to your existing, that offer expires June 1st. Head on over to PlanetSide 2 Respawn for more details!

RoyAwesome is out with his latest Unreleased Content Analysis this time for today's Game Update 08. This GU contained some Hossin Tweaks in the game files as well as the addition of some new things including the appearance of new faction specific pistols.

Almost sneaking past me this week were the models for the next round of Faction Specific Pistols. On the Roadmap these are listed as a fully automatic pistol for the TR, a shotgun pistol for the NC, and a charge-up pistol for the VS

Check out the full content analysis here.

As promised yesterday Game Update 08 is currently being released to live servers. The patch notes were over 600 lines long and included a massive variety of weapon balance changes, the new Harasser and much more including Tank Armor Changes.

Tank Armor Changes. In general the below changes will allow tanks to sustain one more anti-tank round to the front and sides and about 1.5 to 2 more tank rounds to the rear. Armor certifications are listed as decreasing, this was to keep them able to absorb roughly one addition anti-tank round to that side. Also smoothed out some unnecessary inconsistencies between the tanks.

You can find the re-formatted full patch notes in our wiki or on the official forums. And as always hit up the comments thread to discuss the updates during todays downtime.

Higby has announced on the official forums that Game Update 08 will be coming Tomorrow Morning at 5AM PDT! It includes a massive amount of changes to Infantry Weapons and some new Cosmetics, MAX Weapons and of course the long awaited Harasser.

GU08 is also bringing a substantial balance pass on many infantry weapons, virtually all carbines, LMGs, Assault Rifles and SMGs are being touched in one way or another, as well as many of the attachments. The exact changes will be available in the patch notes, but the general idea of this tuning is to carve out specific roles for each weapons, ensure that the weapons intended to shine at long range are doing just that, and that the ones that are supposed to be close quarters slayers aren't dominating in the medium and long ranges as well. This is being done in pursuit of a goal for us to lessen the dominance of any "one-size-fits-all" weapons in the game.

Hit up the comments thread or the Official Forums to talk about the upcoming changes!

SOE has officially opened registration for SOE Live! This year's event will take place at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, NV. They have posted a lineup of some things they have planned as well as some details about the new venue.

Join us this summer at our new SOE Live venue - Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas! Here are some highlights about our new home for these four fun-filled days in August:

The Pleasure Pool – Our annual pool party will be taking place at Planet Hollywood's pool, "The Pleasure Pool," located on a sixth-floor rooftop! The pool area offers breathtaking views of the Las Vegas strip, including sights of the famous Bellagio fountains, located across the street.

Miracle Mile Shops – Planet Hollywood is connected to the Miracle Mile of Shops, a grand shopping experience with a variety of stores and dining options, as well as live shows in the V Theater.

Early registration is $129 USD and you can take advantage of that price until May 22nd 2013.

SOE is currently deploying a new hotfix that resolves a variety of bugs and adds the new Lumifiber Trim customization for the Galaxy, Liberator, Mosquito, Scythe, and Reaver.

• Show your aircraft some love with Lumifiber Trim in the Depot. Equipable for the Galaxy, Liberator, Mosquito, Scythe, and Reaver.
• Fixed the issue with players that are stuck with two helmets equipped on top of each other. Note that you will need to re-equip your helmet if you were affected by this issue.
• The Rashnu Bio Lab forward spawns should once again be able to be captured
• Instant action and squad deploy timers are no longer tied to the normal facility respawn timer

Check out the full patch notes here in our wiki and head on over to the forums to discuss.

We will be having another Squad Beacon on May 4th at 3PM CDT! Why 3PM you ask? We would like to give our European Counterparts a chance to participate and 3PM CDT translates to 8PM GMT. Not sure what time that is for you? Hit up the time zone converter. Here are a few topics that will be discussed:

• New Lattice Discussion
• Last few months of Game Updates
• GU08, Harasser and More!
• Overall thoughts 6 months after release.

Suggestions for a topic? Hit up the comment thread and let us know! Recordings will be available later on YouTube and live video feeds will be available. Viewers can tune in at live.planetside-universe.com. 

The panel is coming together! Don't forget to tune in next week!

• basti from Vanu Corporation (VS Miler)
• robocpf from GOTR (VS Mattherson)
• RoyAwesome TEST (VS Mattherson)

Matt Higby will be on hand to represent the New Conglomerate and the PlanaetSide 2 development team be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel where you can participate live in the discussions! And of course Hamma and Jennyboo representing the AGN and Terran Republic.

Remember to subscribe to us on YouTube and follow us on TwitchTV and you will never miss any of our exclusive AGN Events!

We are happy to announce we will be joined by PlanetSide 2 Creative Director Matt Higby for the show! If you aren't on the panel be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel where you can participate live in the discussions.

SOE is doing a focus playtest on the test server coming up later today!

Focus test is for the Indar rush lane battle flow and recent UI improvements.

19:00 UTC on Saturday April 20th

For North Americans, that's... Noon Pacific 2pm Central 3pm Eastern

We may have some surprises for you if all goes well, so be sure to patch early and bring your outfit and your friends!

So be sure to jump on the test server coming up in a few hours! Hit up the comments thread for test client download links and start downloading as soon as you can. And of course check out our clock below for the current time UTC.

SOE has released PlanetSide 2 Game Update 07. As with most major Game Updates this one has a vast amount of changes including the new Weapon Information Screens, NS Revolvers, Vehicle and Weapon Balance, New Map and UI changes and the long awaited Camo Preview option.

• New Weapon Stats are now available! Damage Range, Reload time, and every thing else you need to know about your weapons is now at your fingertips.
• Want to see how that Desert Scrub will look on your Sunderer or Character? Now you can with our preview feature!
• Active Heavy Assault Shields and flak armor will no longer stack.
• Jump Jet audio has been increased in volume.
• Grenades are now thrown directly at the aim point. The arc has been slightly modified to work with this change.
• Tanks mines have been increased in size.
• Removed the forced weapon swap after deploying an object.
• Lock-on rocket launchers can no longer lock on to turrets.

Above is just a very small snippet from the full patch notes. Check out the full notes on our wiki and of course, hit up the comment thread to discuss during the server downtime.

The Mittani.com interviewed Matt Higby regarding a large variety of things including MLG, Weapons and the Alerts System. Matt revealed a Battle Islands type system that will go hand in hand with eSports.

Those outfits who wish to participate in MLG events and who have high enough leaderboard rankings will be able to sign up to be seeded into a competitive bracket. Matches from that bracket will be played throughout the course of a season with each outfit fielding a platoon of players against the other outfit’s platoon and battling it out on brand new competition focused battle island maps that we are creating and which support competitive objectives, win conditions and hopefully create an exciting viewership experience. The finals and maybe even semi-finals will be played live at forthcoming MLG events.

Check out the full interview here and hit up the comments thread to discuss.

The long awaited PlanetSide 2 Mobile app has appeared in the iTunes and Android App Stores. 

The app features a comprehensive guide to weapons, vehicles, classes and more. Receive near real time character stats, leaderboards, and updates from PlanetSide 2. Plus voice chat to your character's outfit in the game!

There is an expansive library of community content as well.

Features at a Glance:

It also features PS2 News Feeds, Backgrounds, and a live dynamic map. Check out the full list of features in iTunes and Google Play.

Edge Online put together a great article about the making of PlanetSide 1. They interviewed several of the original development team members including Kevin McCann and Rich Lawrence. They touched on several aspects including the plan to have AI NPCs in the game world and even the ability to restructure supply lines.

Given the limits of the technology at the time of release, Planetside’s scope was incredibly, perhaps even foolishly, ambitious. Each game server ran on ten Pentium III PCs. “There was no unique server hardware,” recalls Lawrence wryly. “It was just off-the-rack kind of equipment. To achieve the feel of an army on that kind of hardware was a tremendously consumptive technical problem. We spent, oh, I don’t know, probably two years of focus technology development on that alone.” With a sizeable percentage of players connecting on dial-up modems, bandwidth was a killer, and networking issues ate up a huge chunk of the dev team’s time. “It was a tremendous headache,” says Lawrence. “We would sit and talk about ways we could slice just two bits of information from the data stream that was going to the player.”

Definitely worth a read for fans of the original PlanetSide, head on over and check it out.