Pirates of the Burning Sea is, at its core, Sid Meier crossed with World of Warcraft, an "If They Mated" experiment by developer Flying Lab. You choose one of four factions--French, Spanish, British, or Pirate--and fight for dominance across the Caribbean, collecting booty to outfit both your avatar and ship in the process. You complete quests. You stab guys. You say "Arrr" a lot. It's not that funny.

Flying Lab Software's swashbuckling PC MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea will launch worldwide on January 22, 2008. As has become commonplace, those who pre-order the title will net a boatload of goodies, including a powerful in-game weapon and a parrot, along with early access to the game's servers on January 7. Published under Sony Online Entertainment's Platform Publishing label, the game has players picking one of four factions--Pirate, English, French, and Spanish--and battling for dominance over the open sea. Said factions will constantly battle over ownership of the game's numerous ports, which affects the in-game economy. As with any good pirate-themed outing, combat occurs in both ship-to-ship and personal sword-swinging, pistol-firing varieties. "The vast amount of player-created content and the intense strategy required in Pirates of the Burning Sea sets it apart from any other MMO on the market," noted Sony Online Entertainment global brand manager D Tim Granich, Sr. Global Brand Manager. "Gamers will be donning their captain's gear and eagerly awaiting their next battle on land or sea."

MPOGD is the latest site with a Pirates of the Burning Sea Q&A, asking Rusty Williams of Flying Lab Software about their publishing deal with Sony Online Entertainment.

Pirates of the Burning Sea: Cross-Subject Q&A on MMORPG.com talks to producer John Scott Tynes about the recently announced publishing deal with SOE, game missions and beta progress. There's also a Q&A at WarCry.

Ten Ton Hammer has been updated with a Pirates of the Burning Sea Q&A. Lead designer Kevin Maginn is asked about various gameplay related things. It was announced yesterday that SOE will be publishing the game.

Sony Online Entertainment subsidiary Platform Publishing has formed a partnership with independent developer Flying Lab Software to publish the studio's upcoming pirate-themed MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea. The game--which is nearing completion--will take place in the Caribbean circa 1720, and will allow players to compete in ship-to-ship combat, complete over one thousand missions, and explore dozens of conquerable ports. "Platform Publishing and SOE possess a level of expertise and success in sales, marketing and distribution that makes them the perfect co-publisher for Pirates of the Burning Sea," said Flying Lab CEO Russell Williams. Based on past SOE public relations debacles over games such as Star Wars Galaxies, in addition to the company's recent acquisiton of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes developer Sigil Games Online, Flying Lab was quick to allay fears that the publisher would be gaining any power over the development of the game. "We're self-financed and beholden to no one," read a post by Williams on Flying Lab's website. "Flying Lab is in good shape. We made this decision because we wanted to, not because we had to." The developer went on to explain their new relationship with SOE, asserting that Flying Lab will retain complete ownership of the game and keep most of the revenue from sales. "If Pirates isn't good, if you don't like how the game is designed, or how the servers are operated, or how we interact with our community, it'll be our fault, not SOE's. We own the game and the buck stops here," added Williams. Pirates of the Burning Sea is due out this fall, with an expanded beta test scheduled to hit within the next few weeks. SOE sent along a few new screenshots of the game.