Age of Ascent Takes a Shot at a World Record

If you’ve ever wanted to be a part of something record breaking, here’s your chance.

Illyriad Games has announced that on Friday, March 14th, they’ll be taking a shot at the world record for World’s Largest Videogame PvP Battle. The record is currently held by Eve Online, which boasted an impressive 4,075 pilots in a single battle.

To break this record, Illyriad will be conducting a public alpha test of the PvP component of their new space-based MMO, Age of Ascent. According to Illyriad CEO James Niesewand, “[We] have been working with Microsoft to develop a cloud-based architecture for MMOs” that will be capable of the scale they are envisioning. “We like to think it’s going to usher in a new genre of gaming that we’ve called the ‘Ultra MMO’.”

The full game is expected to launch in early 2015.  But in the short term, Illyriad simply hopes to break the record. It will be an official world record attempt, with an adjudicator from the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS present in the control room. The alpha will be streamed live from Microsoft’s United Kingdom headquarters. It will be conducted in real time – as Niesewand says, with “no time dilation” – with direct-piloted dogfighting for all players.

The game has been written in HTML5 WebGL, which he says will allow it to run in any up-to-date web browser (“but not Safari”) without a need for any plugins, downloads, or installations. As long as a player has an internet connection and a modern browser, he or she can participate – and it’s completely free to boot.

To be a part of the record attempt, players should read the Age of Ascent website for all the details and instructions. The developers have created a forum thread where they will answer questions regarding the game. You can keep tabs on announcements related to Age of Ascent and other games from Illyriad by watching their Twitter.