In honor of BattleTech‘s 25th anniversary, Smith & Tinker has authorized MekTek.net and MekTek Studios to distribute MechWarrior 4 (along with its expansion packs) completely free. For years, MekTek.net has been the central point for online distribution of MechWarrior 4 expansion packs. Now they can provide the core game free to the fans as well. Keep an eye on BattleTech.com—the free download will be available soon!
About Smith & Tinker
Smith & Tinker is an inventor of kid-focused entertainment products that create a new play experience for the connected generation. The company’s toys and games encourage social interaction and play among kids by bridging the Internet and physical world. Founded in 2008 by executives who share a passion for reinventing play for today’s tech-savvy generation Smith & Tinker is led by executives from some of the world’s top brands including Cranium Inc., Hasbro Inc., The Walt Disney Company and Microsoft. Smith & Tinker was founded by Jordan Weisman, creator of the MechWarrior gaming franchise, which has sold over 11 million PC games worldwide. More information is available at www.smithandtinker.com.
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would be a good deal!
and yeah the trailer is way too awesome!
so lets all wait together!
I’ll hold your hand if you hold mine! 😛
When God When Wil Those of Us That have Lost there MW4 CD Be able to Kill for free.
The World Is Waiting!
Dude…i have been waiting FAR too long for this MW4 free and a re-launch of the series!! HOLY F***IN S**T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just can’t wait. ))
thats awsome i been trying to find my old cd’s so far all i can find is mech 2 and i cant get it to install on xp or win 7 rc1 ultra 64bit
i hope this new mech is more like a sim and not an arcade game like it was becoming
what ya mean by *more like a sim* ?!
cuz @ the moment I’m thinking bout *The sims*… wich is F-word gay.
By ‘sim’ they mean ‘simulation,’ not like the sims. Like a simulation of mechanized warfare.
The new one looks great, glad they made this one free for all, just cant wait for the release of it. This wait is punishment.
I am loving the cockpit view, that is just an awesome touch. no more 3rd person. It was great in the origional but I have been wanting something more true to what it would be.
I agree, the third person was good on the original, but I been waiting for a long time for the cockpit view.
OMG where is it ?!! 😀
Where is it, i need it NOW… >.> <.< GAH I CANT WAIT ANYMORE WHERE IS IT. XD
So this is what angst feels like! No, you heard right – not anxiousness — angst! Must! Have! Download! (lost my mw4 discs so long ago…)
Diddo! Moved twice since last playing that game. Would love this download! Can not wait for MW5!!!
The least they could do is give us an ETA…not a simple: oh, it’ll be here soon.
I want MW4 LAN! 🙂
At first I thought:
They’re being really nice, create some excitement for an upcoming game by releasing the old MW4.
Then I realised that they are (paraphrased) “talking to and looking for publishers” and “included development goals will depend on budgeting from the publisher.”
What better way to increase a budget from a prospective publisher than showing them there is a huge want for this product (with the old carrot on a string trick).
Yep, we’re all donkeys, but we’ll get the carrot… someday 😉
haha didn’t see it that way but it makes sense! anyway! we’ll play WM4 whatever happens! 😛
great news cant wait to download then get the cobwebs of and start kicking mech ass also cant wait for the new mechwarrior should be GREAT
watch this, they will wait till the last day of this month to have it available for download, just to tease us.
I got tired and by the time of all this wait I torrented mw4 with all the expansions already.
…But I can’t install mekpaks… I’ll need this. (WHY?!)
Mechwarrior 4… For free? O_O
Can’t… Wait…
Granted- my only experience with the mechwarrior series has been the mechwarrior 3 demo (which I really liked), but I can’t afford to miss this free chance to finally truly get into the franchise… 😀
That said- I did find something about an ETA for the Mechwarrior 4 free-re-release from the battletech wiki. (Can’t say if it’s accurate or not)
They say that MekTek hopes to have the download ready by mid-august. (Info taken from this link: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/MechWarrior_4 , Again, since it’s from a wiki- there is a decent chance it’s inaccurate)
No idea as to what could take them more than a month to post the download… But as long as it eventually DOES become available- it shouldn’t be a problem.
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/MechWarrior_IV#MechWarrior_IV
fixt.
Mid-august please god let it be wrong, i’m to impatient to wait that long arg
wow, I hope it’s sooner than that!
If they do take that long, I hope it’s because they’re doing cool things to it (remember, they probably have the source code now, and no legal restrictions):
1. Bundle MW4, BK and Mercs campaigns into 1 game to run.
2. Bundle in IS and Clan Mech Paks.
3. Bundle in MekTek MekPak3.
4. Add better campaign support for MekPak mechs into Mercs.
5. Fix it to point to a real game server.
6. Add better modding support.
7. HD and widescreen resolution support.
8. No need for discs, out of the box.
9. Other cool stuff! Any other ideas? Let’s all get our hopes really high and pray they won’t be dashed!
is that all you want lol.
dude… u need to give me wht ur smokin..
9. New 4-player-or-more Co-op missions for me, thanks! 😀
If only it were true. Its a stuff of dreams I’m afraid. Mind giving me what your smokin’?
aww c’mon! It sounds like 1,2,3,5 and 8 are happening, anyway! Check out the thread on mektek.net: http://tinyurl.com/l9shm8
That’s it right there. They need to bundle the original game data from all major games into one executable. But they also have to re-do the intro screens and might be adding a new intro video. They are 99.9% likely adding the MechWarrior movie they just released, with “click here for more info” to try to get some pageclicks going. They may even provide -which we all hope for- a single EXE option for hardcore fans. Having them separate and altogether is a good way of telling how many people really are pumped about getting them all. If a high percentage of all downloaders nab the LOADED package then that is great market data for S&T to get a good publisher and budget. If they release it then everyone better download it from every IP they have, from every friends house.
GET YOUR FRIEND INSTALLED even if they don’t like it.
Mybad. I meant if they release a single EXE for all game material.
I can’t wait!!!!!!!!!!!!
..I wonder will their download server hold all the traffic… assuming there will be a mass of us attacking it for the file hehehe..
I want to play the multiplayer mod and kick some ass.
Anyone know where to find a complete list of all the mechs and stats for all expansions, and if possible 3rd party mechpacks?
http://www.mechwarriorleagues.com/cgi-bin/ops/mech.cgi?action=listTRO
Yeah I too tried to dig up my old Mechwarrior cds and came up empty handed… or empty boxed I should say. I kept all the cover art etc, but no cds… lol!
So cmon! Re-release it already. All this new MW5/3015 talk has got me itching again and I think this is just the thing to renew the interest.
I’m ready to shell out some bucks for a new Mechwarrior game!
I just about had a moment when I heard about “5”, and the free download. I haven’t looked for the old CD’s. I guess I know what I’m doing, tonight.
Geez, now that I have kids, I’m going to have to buy 3 copies of this game when it comes out.
Check out the mektek.net thread:
http://tinyurl.com/l9shm8
wait when are the releasing it!?!?! i didnt see it in the thread
All i will say is thanks for this :}
Finally a game that will run on my laptop 🙂
I just hope the game is tweaked to run on today’s machines. It was a sad day for me when I found out that a lot of old games are cheap because they won’t run anything less than 4 years old.
mw4 with no modifications runs fine on Vista…it doesn’t need any tweaking. It’s never had any problems (that I know of).
MW4 mercs runs fine on mine. I have both mechpacks too. I’m thinking of experementing with the mektek mekpaks to see if it works. But I’m not sure it will.
BTW. My machine is WinXp SP3
Very nice idea. The new generation of gamers should be introduced to the wonderful world of Battletech.
This rocks, I may have to grab a machine and install win98 so I can use my old mercenaries disk. Hope they post a release date for 4 soon.
Cool stuff! I just dug up my old disks yesterday, looking forward to getting some of the mekpacks and such in the game.
I am so excited, I can’t wait. I hope they figure it out soon.
oh! when? date? I need it ^___^
?_?
OK, in one of the later posts in the forum topic from mektek.net…
One of the guys says:
“we will not be releasing Vengeance of BK. We do not have the technology to support it or the capabilities to remove the copy protection and everything else that goes along with these.”
So it’s not a full re-release? It’s only going to be MW4: Mercs?
That’s still pretty nice- but I was thinking they’d re-release all 3 games… 🙁
you’re right, they just today updated that the release will not include vengeance or black knight. The thread gives the reason why.
Oh well. 🙁 The problems their having with the copy protection for Vengeance and Black Knight must be a very recent development.
Still- a free re-release of MW4:Mercs is neat. 🙂
Can’t wait. 😛
yeah lol…
Anyway MW4:M is the best solo since MW2:M wich I miss alot haha!
but still I’d like to play it on MP … the bad thing is was msn gaming zone and they dropped it.
so… no more multiplayer unless you play via LAN or TCP/IP wich sucks.
sry my english sucks…
Ummm…that’s misinformation. MekTek has had an update for awhile that replaces zonematch with mekmatch, which works for mp.
and where do I get this ?! and how do I play on it ?
That’s BS. The copyright protection on these games is far from perfect. It’s not unbreakable for us back at home, let alone for DEVELOPERS.
Aye but its not legal to go around an copy protection if i am recalling from an old post from the web somewhere out int eh space.
But in this case, does it matter?
They’re being distributed as freeware, and so it’s Legal now to own a digital copy, without having the original disk.
I hope they post these downloads soon! The only disk I can’t find is the clan mech pack. Can’t wait for the new game. 😀
http://www.mektek.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=138700
visit ^^^^^ fr all the “updates”
thanks this was helpfull. Im still not sure if they have tackled the whole will it work on vista thing yet.
it has always worked on vista…there has never been a problem with it working on vista. I don’t know what you’re talking about! Are you thinking of MW2:mercs? Do you have UAC turned on or something?
It’ll work perfectly on vista & WIn7 Both x32 &x64
anybody else having trouble getting onto mektek.net right now?
can’t wait to play one
Are we there yet? …
Are we there yet? …
Are we there yet? …
Add kicking in i need that fix soon!(1)
(1) see http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soon
Can we have a release date for this please, it’s all good and well that it will eventually occur. But We would all like to know when.
Any Updates ??
Anything new?
I am too impatient at the idea of playing again in this splendid game!
It will allow us to wait the new mech warrior!
this will be so great when come out!
i have been waiting for this for way to long i can’t wait!
also is there an expected date MW4? because i am losing my mind there!
the big question is WHEN? when can we hope to see Mech4 for free? i wanted to play my friends but only have one copy of the originals. and would love to be able to turn them on to the world of giant battleing robots. and any idea of the new Mechs release dates?
Well, this is incorrect. Mek-tek has said it cannot offer either Mech4 vengence or Black knight. Only Merc4. Which I allready have. So this is all a waste of time. Alot of hype for nothing. BAH…………
MW4 for FREE will be coming out in August. there’s a link on this thread that will tell you.
Those of you screaming for it to be out now be patient. Mektek is doing what they can. They’re working on their servers to be able to handle all the traffic that will be coming when they release this. And don’t forget those of you that have been with mektek for a long time would know that mektek is also getting ready to finalize and release their fourth Mech pack for Mercenaries. When that will be out not even I know. All I know is that it will be soon
The way it is or seems to be, is When its ready, its ready. I just like to see it sooner then later.
i wait to make just a bite of rock and rolla!!! on my mech
What makes this even better is that if we play this for a while we can move on to the new mechwarrior, get acquainted with the sytem again.
Perfect!!! =D
Way to hype up everyone and then leave us all waiting so long that those of us with other stuff to do FORGET all about this site and the free release. Wonderful marketing plan if your fricken clown shoes. so who is the idiot that made this press release and then failed to deliver in a timely manner. LAME
calm down, just put the site on ur fav and take a look everyday or you can wait by mid august and come back to see if it’s there.
Wow Phil, try decaf sometime. It’ll help give you an attention span longer than a gnat’s.
Dont worry about “waiting so long” because obviously you are waaay to busy to play a new video game.
Ouch, that one gotta hurt! 😛
Nice one Nekron
S&T turned the property over the MekTek to distribute, the ball is in MekTek’s court. Maybe S&T should have let MekTek set the date for the announcement when they had finished wedging all their addon’s into the distribution. If you check MekTek you will see they are working on a single install that will give you Mercs, Clan/IS Packs, and MekTeks addon’s without having to run through the nightmarish update failures that were not uncommon, especially with the Clan/IS paks.
Don’t ask MekTek when it will be ready though, they get a little prickly when asked about release dates.
that’s why everybody should just pick a number and wait for MekTek to tell us it’s now locked and loaded so ready to download.
I cant wait for this.