Pirates of the Burning Sea is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). The game is set in the Caribbean, during the Age of Sail (1720s). The game focuses around four warring factions; Britain, Spain, France, and Pirates. Each nation has multiple ports, and nearly all of them are able to be captured by enemy nations via port contention. There are many goals you can strive for in the game; you can become a wealthy trader, an infamous pirate, or an honorable naval officer.

Contrary to popular belief, Sony Online Entertainment does not develop Pirates of the Burning Sea; the game is developed by Flying Lab Software. Sony Online Entertainment handles marketing and billing for the game, and have zero involvement in the game development process. This deal is protected by a written contract, meaning there is no way Sony Online Entertainment can develop this game.

Flying Lab Software encourages people from other countries to play. However, all technical support and game content will be in English, so it is recommended that you have a general understanding of the English language. There are also Chinese and Russian versions of the game.

There will be no restrictions placed on which server you can join. So, Europeans are free to join North American servers, and vice versa.

Currently, neither of the servers are planned. Since Flying Lab Software has not seen how the game will work with thousands of people online, they have decided not to have either of those kinds of servers when they release. However, they do not seem closed to the idea of having those kinds of servers. We will have to wait and see what their decision is.

Pirates of the Burning Sea is slated for a Fall release, which is some time during Q4 2007.

You can sign up for the Pirates of the Burning Sea closed beta here. Remember, you must meet the requirements listed above the actual application on that page.

You will be notified via your email address you signed up on the forums with. All emails regarding Pirates of the Burning Sea will be sent from a flyinglab.com address, or a burningsea.com address. Any other email extension should be labeled as fake, and should be reported directly to the Flying Lab Software team. You can also check your [a href="http://www.flyinglab.com/pirates/beta.php]beta application[/b]. If you are accepted, your beta application will turn into an instructions page on how to gain entry to the game.

Depends on what the next invite process is. When you sign up, you are placed on a waiting list, and you may or may not be randomly selected from that list at any given time. Remember, patience is the key here. The only way you can improve your chances of gaining entry is with a beta key, which can be obtained from various contests, or by being an outstanding community member within the Flying Lab Software community.

All beta testers are forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so they are not allowed to discuss the game.

There is no official information on the exact price of the game or subscription. The general guess is the box version of the game will be in the $40-$60 USD range, and the subscription will be between $12-$15 USD. We will provide an update if a price is announced.

Pirates of the Burning Sea will be available through your local game store, and large outlet stores such as BestBuy. You will also be able to order the game through major online stores, like Amazon. If you do not want a box release, you will be able to pay for a digital download.

All subscriptions will go through Sony Online Entertainment's Station Pass system. You can pay with any major credit card, or a game card, if available.

You can choose from four nations currently; Britain, Spain, France, and Pirates. There are a few other nations within the game, but they are unplayable.

Pirates of the Burning Sea utilizes a character creation system which can be compared to City of Heroes/Villains. There are fourteen different aspects of your character that you can edit, and a variety of colors and trim colors you can choose from. Flying Lab Software claims that there are millions of possible combinations, and you are highly unlikely to see any character that looks the same as you.

The minimum requirements to play Pirates of the Burning Sea are as follows; a 1.5 GHz Processor, 512MB RAM, Windows XP or Vista, a 128MB Graphics Card that supports Pixel Shader 2.0, DirectX 9.0 or later, and a decent internet connection, such as DSL or Cable. Of course, this is what you need to play at the lowest quality settings; it is encouraged that you have higher-end specifications to play on medium or high quality.

To compare the minimum requirements to your specifications, do as follows. First, click "Start", then select "Run". You should now see a small window, type in "cmd", and press enter. Now, you will be faced with a black DOS prompt. Type in "dxdiag", and press enter. You will now have the DirectX diagnostic tool in front of you. You can find all your system specifications with this tool.

Pirates of the Burning Sea is designed for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Flying Lab Software will not provide support for any other operating systems. However, nothing stops you from trying to get the game to run on OS X, or a Linux distribution.

Ship combat is a rather unique feature in Pirates of the Burning Sea. This is one of the first well designed naval battle systems to hit the MMORPG market, due to the amount of depth involved. You can choose from over 60 different ships, and sail them on the sea. Each ship has different variants, and different outfittings you can place on them, creating an endless amount of combination possibilities. You have cannons placed on your ship, which can make use of a variety of different ammunition. Your aim is to take your cannons, and try to hit the enemy ship. Depending on your location in relation to the enemy ship, you can either hit the starboard, port, stern, or bow sides of the ship. You can also load up special ammunition to target the enemy's crew or masts.

You are given an unlimited amount of basic round shots for your cannons. You can buy different ammunition if you choose, such as; anti-personnel, heavy rounds, and dismantling shots.

Round shots are your basic form of ammunition. Ammunition that falls into this category aims at dealing direct damage to the ship's hull. These will be your most used form of ammunition on the seas.

Dismantling shots aim at damaging the masts and sails of a ship. If you are hit with a dismantling shot, your sails will become ridden with holes, which reduces your overall maneuverability.

Anti-personnel shots are designed to cause damage to your enemy's crew. When you hit someone with an anti-personnel shot, they will lose crew members. If you have less crew, you become less effective in boarding combat, and you also becoming lacking in overall sailing performance, and suffer reloading penalties.

There are over 60 different ships to choose from; they all vary in terms of sailing performance, amount of cannons, maximum cargo, maximum crew, and appearance. Each ship can fall into one of the following three categories; scouting ship, warship, and merchant ship. Scouting ships excel in maneuverability; they are able to do more daring sailing moves, and have an exceptionally high acceleration rate. Warships are large and clunky; they have high armor ratings, and tons of firepower. Merchant ships are designed to hold large amounts of cargo, and have a generous amount of firepower.

You can make both aesthetic and statistic modifications to your ship. You can change your sail and hull colors, and you can add your own personally designed flag. As for statistical modifications, your ship has six different slots for outfitting. You can add different pieces of outfitting that enhance certain variables in your ship's overall statistics; heavier fortified hulls and masts, streamlined hulls, better rudders, improved cannons, and much more.

Mastercraft ships are player-created ships that have enhanced statistics. The ships you gain from NPCs are "civilian", meaning they are the most basic form of that ship. You can upgrade to sleek ships, which have better handling, heavy ships, which have better armor ratings, and mastercraft ships, which excel in many different areas of performance.

There are three different careers you can choose from if you are a part of the three main nations; Navy Officer, Privateer, and Freetrader. If you are a Pirate, you are forced into the Pirate career. Each career dictates what sort of naval skills you have access to.

Navy Officers are the big damage dealing class. They have skills geared towards helping them fight in large warships.

Privateers are pirates endorsed by the federal government. They have skills geared towards boarding combat, evasion, and debuffing.

Freetraders have skills geared towards buffing their group, and increasing their profits.

Pirates have a variety of skills, and are able to mix and match to create their own form of a career. They have skills ranging from defense, offense, buffing, debuffing, and trading abilities.

Avatar combat, also known as swashbuckling, is using your character/avatar to fight other players or NPCs. You can make use of one of three different fighting schools, each with their own unique sets of skills.

You can choose from three different fighting styles; fencing, florentine, and dirty fighting.

Fencing is a fighting style that aims at dealing direct damage with a rapier. This is a refined and elegant style, you won't find any dirty tricks here.

Florentine is a fighting style that makes use of a dagger and short sword. This is a flashy style, and defensively inclined.

Dirty fighting is self-explanatory. You make use of a cutlass, and go about using your environment to weaken your opponent. You can toss sand in your opponent's eyes, step on their toes, or elbow them in the face. There are also some even more sinister moves, like throwing primitive grenades, and even firing a pistol!

Yes and no. There aren't actual potions, but you can heal yourself minimally with bandages. You will never rely fully on bandages, as they have a cooldown on them, which won't do you much good in a fight.

Yes. Each fighting school has 9 different skill trees of five skills each. You can max out five of these skill trees, or mix and match skills as you please. Skills are the basis of fighting, so you will constantly be using them. Having a high level will provide you with more skill points to invest in skills, which in turn makes you more combat efficient.