World of Warships alpha testing coming spring or summer 2013

Wargaming.net's massively multiplayer online game World of Warships will enter its alpha phase in spring or summer of next year, the developer announced today on the company's Overlord's Blog.

The game will be the third piece in the Wargaming MMO trifecta, which currently includes World of Warplanes and World of Tanks. World of Warships will let players harness battleships and battlecruisers, aircraft carriers and destroyers in attempts to out-maneuver and prevail against other players' ships in naval battle.

Maneuvering will be a huge part of the game, according to Wargaming's Dmitry Yudo in his post on the Overlord's Blog. Players must maneuver to avoid incoming shells and ships. The game will launch the United States and Japan as playable factions and with a "capture the base" mode similar to that in World of Tanks, as well as a few other modes the developer is not ready to announce.

Ship's main fighting capabilities will be pre-configured, though players can customize certain elements. Players will be able to research and upgrade the planes used on their aircraft carries, much like how guns and turrets are upgraded in World of Tanks.

Most information on what will be available in the World of Warships alpha at launch can be found on the game's official forums.