MechWarrior 4 Free Release 'Cleared for Launch'

The free release of MechWarrior 4 and its expansions has finally gained a thumbs-up from publisher Microsoft's legal team and is cleared for launch, its distributor-to-be MekTek has declared, over nine months after the release was originally announced.

"After nearly a year since the announcement came, MekTek Studios is pleased to announce, that Microsoft Legal has given the all clear for the free release of Mechwarrior4," member 'Vam' writes. It's still not entirely clear what delayed the release for so long, though MekTek revealed earlier this month that Microsoft had required it "to insure our Studio at a premium rate to meet the Microsoft standard."

While there's still no launch date for the mech combat sim's free release--which will include all expansions as well as MekTek's own mods--it apparently "is now imminent."

A new, series-rebooting MechWarrior game is under development for PC and Xbox 360 in Unreal Engine 3 at Piranha Games, with plans for co-op and cross-platform play.