Digital Extremes announces Warframe, an upcoming free-to-play co-op shooter from this studio that's contributed to the Unreal, Gears of War, and BioShock franchises. The Warframe website has a pre-alpha trailer, word that the game is this winter, and a signup form to reserve your in-game alias and possibly beta test the game this fall. Here's the announcement:

Today Digital Extremes provided a first look of WARFRAMET, a fast-paced co-op shooter currently in development and set to hit the Free-To-Play PC market this winter. A stopped-in-mid-action diorama has gone live on playwarframe.com that gives gamers an appetite-whetting glimpse into the WARFRAME world. It also signals an open call for gamers worldwide to register at playwarframe.com for their chance to help shape the game during the closed Beta Test this fall.

Set in the far reaches of outer space during a new Dark Age, WARFRAME introduces the Tenno, a race on the brink of extinction after being enslaved by the Grineer for centuries. Players enter WARFRAME on the cusp of the Grineer's victory over the Tenno until they begin to arm themselves with WARFRAMES - an ancient exo-skeletal technology only they can operate. Hidden within the Orokin Derelicts of a lost civilization, new WARFRAMES lie dormant and undiscovered. These artifacts are the Tenno's only hope for survival.

WARFRAME is a fast-action PvE shooter set in an evolving sci-fi world. Some would call it MMO-Lite as squads of four players band together to advance their characters and battle the oppression of the genocidal Grineer. Throughout their combat missions, players will continually increase the power and abilities of their WARFRAME and weapons. Players will raid new areas of space searching for exotic and powerful weapons and WARFRAME augmentations to customize their arsenal. With WARFRAME's Automatic Mission Generator, the game will offer endless replay as levels are procedurally configured for a unique raid -- every time.

"WARFRAME is a new name for an old game," explained Steve Sinclair, chief creative director at Digital Extremes. "It was a shelved concept we kept coming back to. High-tech machine-gun Ninjas set in a far-future, over-hyphenated, Manga-Dune mash-up. Free-to-play lets us take risks. It allows us to build WARFRAME with our players."

Upon its release this winter, WARFRAME will be completely free- to-play to anyone who registers an account at playwarframe.com. After a quick free download, players can enter WARFRAME and enjoy all attributes of the game's world for as long as they like or can choose to participate in the game's marketplace where various enhancements to the game will be offered.

"We've heard for years now that PC gaming is dead. It isn't dead; it just went underground for a few years and is now re- emerging with this massively growing free-to-play market that has matured to the point where the quality of games we're seeing rivals many AAA retail games," said James Schmalz, CEO of Digital Extremes. "In many ways, we're going back to our PC action-based roots. Free-to-play is like shareware 2.0! Once again, we're connected directly to our end-user. They decide whether or not to pay for their experience and we listen to their feedback and continually improve the experience to make it worth paying for. Game development as it should be."

Registration is now open on playwarframe.com where gamers can reserve their 'alias' in the game and will have a chance at joining the Closed Beta Test slated for this fall. In addition, they will receive a free pre-launch only weapon that will be added to their account just for signing up. Further details of the Closed Beta Test will be announced this summer.