MechWarrior Online
Platform: PC
Developer: Piranha Games
Genre: Free-to-play sim
Release date: TBA 2012
Retro inspiration: MechWarrior's two through four

MechWarrior Online's world progresses in real time and the clock's already ticking. As of this writing, it's February 3049 in the game's universe -- just six months before biggest and most important event in the series' canon, the clan invasion. The war will progress in real time and the battles fought by players in-game will determine the outcome.

True to the classic MW games and to the free-to-play action genre, customizing your mech will play a big role in winning the first-person battles, something that will excite those that fondly remember shooting of LRMs in MechWarrior 2.

Reign of Thunder
Platform: TBA (but most likely PC)
Developer: Day 1 Studios
Genre: Free-to-play action
Release date: TBA
Retro inspiration: MechAssault

Reign of Thunder looks to be a MechAssault revival in all but name. Currently in development by the same studio that brought you those Xbox Live classics, Day 1, Reign of Thunder is also aiming for the free-to-play market, but separates itself from MWO with its fast-paced, arcade style gameplay that owes more to first-person-shooters than slow-paced sci-fi simulations like MechWarrior.

MechWarrior Tactics
Platform: PC
Developer: Roadhouse Interactive and Acronym Games
Genre: Free-to-play turn-based strategy
Release Date: TBA
Retro inspiration: BattleTech: Crecent Hawk's Inception

Unveiled today, MechWarrior Tactics ditches the real time mechanics of the classic MechCommander series for 4v4 turn-based battles -- something the series hasn't done since 1989. Both of the game's developers specialize in social games, and it's not clear yet whether MWT owes more to the early DOS BattleTech games or Farmville. It could turn out to be a rockin' revival of the earliest games in the series, it could also turn into a browser-based mess.