If the SMART series wasn’t enough to send you into a Brink frenzy, Bethesda has a launch trailer that is certain to get you itching to get in on the action. The trailer shows the people of the Ark – an eco-paradise gone sour – on the brink (that’s the name) of an all out civil war between the security forces and the downtrodden immigrants.

If you’re a fan of first-person shooters then you’ve likely tested your skills against your fellow gamer online. Yes unloading clips on relative strangers can be quite the fun time out.

For established developer Splash Damage however, Brink represents a revolution in the way players experience the online shooter. Don’t be left behind.

Soldier. Medic. Engineer. Operative. In war, everyone has a role to play, and in Brink’s new trailer we can see how each class performs theirs.

The first-person shooter genre is one of the most dominant of this generation. The success of Call of Duty alone is staggering. Back in late December, Activision announced that Black Ops had surpassed $1bn in sales and that over 600m hours had been logged playing the game. The game is still topping the charts today. Call of Duty isn’t the only franchise flying the flag for first-person shooters either; there is also much fanfare for Killzone, Battlefield, Medal of Honor and Resistance, to name just a few of the big hitters.

Brutal Gamer has conducted an excellent interview with Neil Alphonso, lead level designer at Splash Damage, in which he shares lots of interesting details about Brink.

The interview covers the following topics: learning to work with Brink’s dynamic SMART button, radical ways to avoid spawn camping, the different approaches required for each level, and many other topics.

Brink’s exaggerated art style is a breath of fresh air in an environment where every developer appears to be striving for impeccable realism. Developers Splash Damage accentuate body parts in a way that reveals something about the characters in the game, and what you get from this is big guys with huge chins or massive hands. Yes, it can be comical, but this approach allows Brink to stand out in a way that few games can. It also looks very cool.

Another month of fantastic competition has passed and the time has come once again to name our Platinum Community Members of the Month! So who were the top dogs for October? Come on in and we’ll tell you.

If you’ve been following PS3 Attitude, you will know that we’ve been giving Brink a lot of coverage of late through our unabridged Brink Diaries series. Each article has covered a different aspect of the game, and for this article we will be learning more about Brink’s story and its setting, the floating city of Ark.

Splash Damage love class-based gameplay, and with Brink they’re looking to build on the great class-based experiences that they’ve offered in the past with Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.

Brink has your typical multiplayer classes: soldier, medic, engineer and operative; each offers different tactical advantages. It also has three body types: skinny, medium and heavy. Once again, each has their advantages and disadvantages. There are also 50 abilities (gained as you level up) to choose from.

With all this going on, the player has an incredible number of options at their disposal, so it’s unlikely you’ll ever see the same game twice. We’re speaking to Richard Ham, Splash Damage’s creative director, who is describing the many interesting things that they are doing with Brink’s classes, body types and abilities.

In last week’s Brink diary, Richard Ham explained how Splash Damage are catering for its hardcore audience, and, in another diary, he explained how they are trying to bridge the gap between single-player and multi-player. In theory, this shouldn’t work because a single-player game is a completely different experience from that of a multi-player game; they each require different skills. In addition to this, the multi-player arena is an intense and often hostile environment, so it’s not a great place to learn how to play properly.

Splash Damage have added many features to Brink that will make the game accessible to the softcore player: VOIP is automatically turned off , there are game balancing systems, and even the much talked about SMART (smooth movement across random terrain) button prevents the gamer from getting frustrated.

As good as these are for the novice, they aren’t music to the ears of the seasoned online pro who doesn’t want their hand being held. The hardcore gamer wants friendly fire turned on, and they want to be able to communicate with their team mates, amongst other things.

Brink is one of the most exciting and ambitious first-person shooters on the horizon, on any platform. Splash Damage have a track record of making first-rate multi-player FPSs (Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars) and with Brink they’re looking to take the genre further than anyone else.

One area where Splash Damage are pushing innovation, is in the way which they are looking to blend the single-player, co-op and multi-player experience, by allowing players to seamlessly jump from public to private matches.

PS3 Attitude caught up with Richard “Rahdo” Ham (Creative Director) and Edward ‘BongoBoy’ Stern (Lead Writer) at the Eurogamer Expo, and we discussed, at length, this aspect of Brink.

Trivia time: What’s better than reading about all the latest gaming news? You guessed it – being able to watch it instead of having to read like a sucker. If you’re the type that prefers moving pictures to words, then today is your day on PS3A. The most recent trailer we have of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is just another example of that.

Brink is one of the most exciting and ambitious first-person shooters on the horizon, on any platform. Splash Damage have a track record of making first-rate multi-player FPSs (Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars) and with Brink they’re looking to take the genre further than anyone else.