All Posts by Stradden

The good people at Myth War II have provided us with this overview of the Deity Beasts available in their game. At the same time, they've provided us with some interesating concept art to accompany it.

Deity Beasts are some of the rarest pets in Myth War II (http://mw2.igg.com/). Their 4 initial stats are far higher than other ordinary pets’. In addition, they can evolve twice, with each subsequent evolution making them more unique and powerful. Today, the Myth War team is proud to introduce these 4 rare deity beasts to you.

Berserker - A loyal Death World guardian with a short temper. It’s sharp, piercing gaze is matched only by its fearsome talons.

Growth Rate: 1350

Check it out here.

Demetrius Comes recently spoke with MMORPG.com's Jon Wood about the stealth system in Firesky's upcoming MMORPG, Stargate Worlds.

Stealth Interview

Demetrius Comes, the VP of technology for Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, explains the nitty gritty of the stealth system to be implemented into the upcoming MMORPG, Stargate Worlds.

Amid rumors of great difficulty at the company's Austin Studio, NCsoft has issued a press release talking about Gracia - Part One, a new update coming for Lineage II.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 13, 2008–NCsoft®, the world’s leading publisher and developer of online computer games, today announced major changes in its massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, Lineage®II. In an update from The Chaotic Throne™ series called Gracia™ – Part 1, players will find advancing in the game to be dramatically faster. This, plus a host of other changes to enhance the player experience, makes this update much more accessible to newer players than before.

The increase in leveling speed is due in part to a new Vitality system, which rewards the player with an experience bonus for time either spent away from the game or in safe zones. New characters will start out with maximum Vitality, so they can begin improving their character’s advancement within minutes. An increase in rewards for accomplishing quests, battling boss creatures, as well as greater accessibility of items also enable players to increase their character’s level more quickly.

“Gracia represents a huge change to Lineage II,” said Tim Tan, NCsoft’s North American producer. “The increase in leveling speed allows players to create new characters and advance nearly twice as fast as before. This will allow players to experience the meat of Lineage II quickly, giving them the ability to visit new and exciting areas and cool high-level content much quicker than before. While this game is still a hardcore game, these changes with Gracia – Part 1 make the game much more accessible to new players. I hope gamers will take another look at what Lineage II has to offer.”

Continuing the storyline and changes brought with the earlier expansions, this first of three updates involving the land of Gracia, introduces a new terror with the strange dream-like inter-dimensional world of Kamaloka. Adventurers of varying levels can easily travel to Kamaloka and face a series of incredibly potent creatures that are tailored to the experience of the players. The expansion also offers a selection of new and improved skills, many new items, and improvements to the Cruma Tower, as well as other hunting zones.

Read more here.

The new Ryzom team has issued a letter to players who are waiting to get back into their game. Ryzom has had a number of finacial issues.

In order to keep you informed on what is going on with the new Ryzom, we wanted first to tell you that we are all really very happy and very proud to work, and for some of us work again, on the magical world of Ryzom. We wanted also to sincerely apologize for not having been able to talk to you earlier. Unfortunately we had a lot of work to do to revive our fabulous planet; tonnes of terabytes of blood, sweat and tears... hard drives to recover, check, and deal with... countless Kami, Karavan, Kitins, and friends to find and put back in place, all in order to reawaken Ryzom and to prepare it for your next visit.

But now we are all very pleased to share with you our joy that the hardest part is behind us.

Yes, our servers have already been revived in a testing phase for several weeks now, and with the help of our great CSR team, we have worked hard to repair Ryzom to its former glory. We mowed lawns, trimmed hedges, pulled weeds, and fed the Yubos which were feeling very hungry and abandoned.

These past weeks we also re-opened the servers to our former Ryzom subscribers to thank them all for their patience with a totally free VIP access and as we are very happy with how this VIP phase progressed we have now decided to expand the access to our servers to everybody who already had an active account, free trial included. Yes, even if you previously only had a free trial you can now once more log into Ryzom for free with all your stored characters! The only restrictions still applied to the free trial accounts will be the level cap and the geographical limitation to the starter island "Ruins of Silan", but these restrictions will not last long either! We will keep you posted on all of this when the time comes.

ATTENTION for those of you waiting to step onto Atys for the first time, please don't forget that we are still in a re-launch and testing phase. This means that Ryzom is still closed to newcomers as the creation of new accounts is not yet permitted. If you don't already have an active Ryzom account you won't be able to play Ryzom yet.

Don't worry though, we plan to reopen the account activation pages shortly; once again, we will let you know as soon as it happens.

Thank you for your loyalty and above all for your patience. The new Ryzom team bids you a very warm welcome and is looking forward to seeing you again in our world...

Read more here.

The folks at IGG have announced the an event which had been taking place in their MMORPG Tales of Pirates, will continue until the end of the year.

In order to give something back to our players for their continued support, the Tales of Pirates (http://top.igg.com/) team will continue to hold the “Easy Credits for All” event until the end of this year to offer all TOP players a chance to obtain abundant credits. These credits can be exchanged for all kinds of equipment and items.

In the first week of August, all TOP players enjoyed a good week because they could obtain abundant credits very easily. If players have been online for 90 hours in July, they could obtain abundant credits the first week of August according to their characters level.

Until now, there have been more than ten thousand players who have shared millions of credits.

As a free-to-play MMORPG, TOP makes meeting all players requirements a top (no pun intended) priority. That’s why the TOP team would like to continue this event for the rest of the year! It means that every TOP player has at least 5 chances to obtain credits for free until the end of the year.

Read more here.

Gametribe has announced a newexapsnion for Deakron. The nee free addition is known as ACtion 4: The Expedition.

Gametribe are pleased to announce that their Premier Free-to-Play Action-based MMORPG Dekaron will be receiving its first major content update in the form of the brand-new, FREE Add-On Action 4: The  Expedition. Due to go live in September, Action 4: The Expedition adds a huge amount of FREE new  content to the game.

New features and content in Action 4: The Expedition includes:

2 all new dungeons – high level  12+ party dungeons
Brand new Party System– The Expedition (18 players raids)
Party versus Party Battle System – Gamble it all in our new Battle Arenas
Item Enchantment system – Improve your chances of upgrading your armor sets
Brand new Skills – All new skills for Segnale, Bagi Warrior and Vicious Summoner characters
All new Potions – New bigger and better potions
2 amazing new Pets – Demi and Kittay

“We’re excited to be releasing Action 4 to the Dekaron fans” commented Laurent Malek, Gametribes’ CEO, “the game has grown beyond our expectations since its launch earlier this year and the amount of free content to what is already a huge game is astounding and we’re confident it can take Dekaron to the next level”.

Dekaron is an Online Free-to-Play Action MMORPG, realistic environments and explosive action make this extraordinary game is much like participating in a fast-paced action movie.   Journey into this magical world with hundreds of other adventurers and explore perilous dungeons and amazing cities across the world of Trieste.

Dekaron is operated in Europe by Gametribe.com, the premier destination for Free-to-Play games.

To download and play Dekaron, please visit the game’s official website through www.gametribe.com.
 

Read more here.

While there are rumors floating around about the longevity of NCsoft's Austin Studio, MMORPG.com has been able to confirm that 21 people were laid off today from the Austin Office.

What this means for the future of the studio and the future of Dungeon Runners remains to be seen. What we can tell you at this time is that both Dungeon Runners and Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa are currently run out of the Austin studio.

MMORPG.com will continue to follow this story as it develops.

We are announcing that 21 positions are being eliminated in the Austin office of NCsoft in the area of product development. Primarily this is related to products which we have not previously announced and were in prototype phases. We are also cutting some positions on the Dungeon Runners team after deciding not to port the client to other platforms at this time.

- David Swafford, NCsoft

The folks at Nexon America have released some information about their new expansion, "The Crimsonwood Keep".

Nexon America Inc. unveils one of the largest expansions in the history of MapleStory, adding to the continent of Masteria and delivering a truly new gaming experience to one of the most beloved games in North America, with over 5.9 million players.

The “Crimsonwood Keep” expansion delivers a wealth of new content including 31 new maps, 11 unique enemies, 12 extensive, story-focused quests and a collection of new weapons and objects. The update will also give pets an additional skill and improve the user interface with language filter updates and additional platforming features.

MapleStory has amassed over 87 million users worldwide by creating a fantastical online world. One of the most popular places in the MapleWorld is the continent of Masteria. Here players will get a chance to explore the expanded Phantom Forest, which is filled with leprechauns, wraiths, the Headless Horseman and a new boss monster, Bigfoot.

Players who navigate their way through the forest will reach the Crimsonwood Mountain, featuring numerous new enemies and challenging platform-style game play.

MapleStory’s popularity has also led to the opening of a new server—Yellonde. To celebrate the new opening, Nexon will award the top 75 ranked players across the first month with prizes!

In addition to all the new content, MapleStory delivers the second part of its Summer Break Events, including two exciting video events. Participants can win a wide range of prizes and learn more about the events – and expansion – at http://maplestory.nexon.net.

Read more here.

If you were curious about the live events going on in ASDA Story, you're in luck, the developers over at gamescampus have sent along this list of events going on in-game right now.

San Jose, Calif. (August 13, 2008) - San Jose-based online game publisher, Gamescampus.com (www.gamescampus.com, run by OnNet USA), announced today that it is celebrating the open beta for Asda Story with several in-game events and lotteries with great prizes including iPod Nano's, Xbox 360 and Wii consoles and tons of campus cash for the winners.

Also, Don't forget! Gamecampus and Asda Story are hosting the Guaranteed Fun Promotion. The company is certain that players will be satisfied with their Asda Story game experience, so much so, that they are staking money on it. Any player who signs up for and plays the game (for free) for 30 days and reaches Level 40 and isn't satisfied with their experience can ask the company to pay them $30 USD. For the full details visit http://asdastory.gamescampus.com/event/fun.html.

Read about the events here.

MMORPG.com's Joe Iuliani had the opportunity recently to ask a few questions of Edwin Huang, the Product Manager for IGG's Wonderland Online.

MMORPG.com:

What makes Wonderland Online stand apart from the other IGG games?

Edwin Huang

Wonderland Online (http://wl.igg.com/) differs from other IGG games for many reasons. For example, its unique Interior Decoration system, which is not available in most MMORPGs at present.

Players in Wonderland Online (http://wl.igg.com/) can obtain a tent by finishing a simple quest and then manufacturing all kinds of furniture with the help of the Manufacturing System. These kinds of furniture are not only decorations, but also relate directly to the game. For example, the Bathtub can help restore players’ HP and the Hearth can be used to cook all kinds of food. In addition, players can take the tent with them everywhere at any moment. If players would like to hold a party, they can invite their friends as well. The Interior Decoration system has attracted many players.

Read more here.

In his debut Correspondent article, Dustin Onesti writes this response to the most recent Book update from Lord of the Rings Online and even gives some strategy tips for defeating the boss in Book 14 Chapter 1, The Heraldry of Lindon.

A Small Introduction

Welcome fellow MMORPGers, I feel that an introduction is in order. First of all, to clear the murky water, a game correspondent does not work for mmorpg.com or the companies that develop and publish the game. I am here writing articles purely out of the goodness of my heart to keep avid gamers up to date with the current state of the game. Enjoy the article and hopefully many more to come!

The journey begins…sort of

Preparations are made and finally the fellowship is saying goodbye to the valley of Rivendell. This is a little side storyline Turbine has provided to their players. It makes perfect sense…wait what? That was pretty much my reaction when I first read about time sensitive instances. Basically, they decided putting a date on the bottom when you walk in a time sensitive instance would explain some things. Now don't get me wrong, even though I think that the idea is plain and uncreative, it works well enough to shrug your shoulder and say, "Meh whatever." It can kill your immersion if you think about it too much, so don't.

Read the whole article here.

The folks from Turbine have been kind enough to provide us with these new screenshots depicting Hollin Gate, the entrance to the Mines of Moria.

Check out all three here.

Chris Dye, the Community Manager for Realtime Worlds' upcoming MMORPG APB pens this developer journal that brings us up to speed on APB's development, their absence from this year's E3 and beta sign-ups.

It’s been a busy few weeks here at Realtime Worlds, so we felt it was time for an update to pull all the various news snippets together, along with some initial news regarding the highly anticipated beta phase of APB.

We start with the news that at the 2008 Develop awards Realtime Worlds won the Industry excellence award for business development, this was a big achievement for the company and we feel it supports the work we have, and continue to put into all aspects of the development of our projects like APB.

Over the past few weeks our Studio manager Colin Macdonald has been chatting with videogaming247 regarding various aspects of APB, from its origins tracing back all the way to DMA Design, to the news that the launch of APB is “closer than many thought”, these articles can be read at the below links and hold some interesting insights into Realtime Worlds and the progress of APB.

Check it out here.

MMORPG.com Vangaurd Correspondent Warren Bennett pens this editorial about what drew him back into the world of Vanguard after leaving the game due to an unsatisifying earlier experience.

I will start out by saying that “once upon a time even I” considered the purchase of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes to be my worst video game purchase ever. That's right, as “in my whole life I have never had a more disappointing experience.” The reason wasn't with the game itself, the core game I really enjoyed. In fact, I wanted to be able to get past the unfinished feel of Vanguard and be able to play the game I wanted to love. However, as a person that played the open beta and stayed for two months after, I just couldn't find my way past the bugs and glitches that seemed to be everywhere. Couple that with the drama that seemed to surround the development team and I just felt, for the first time in a long time, that I had been burned on a purchase. Vanguard was uninstalled and tucked back in to the case it came in and thrown among the unsorted box of games.

Read it all here.

Today, we present you with part two of our SOE Block Party look at Free Realms. This part of the interview focuses in on combat in the game.

A Look at Free Realms Part Two MMORPG.com's Managing Editor recently caught up with the folks from SOE's made-for-kids MMO Free Realms. In part two of our interview, Chris Malina guides us through combat in the game.

Originally posted by mike470

Originally posted by Tyres100

Hmm those screens are old, I remember seeing them on their site awhile back. I guess they re release things as new *shrug*

 

Lol?

The developers never announced these screenshots new.  MMORPG.com just added screenshots to the gallery that weren't there before, which makes them 'new' to the gallery, even though they have been on the site for awhile.

Yup. I was checking thorugh some sites today and saw that we didn't have those screens. Seemed like a good time to add them and let everyone know.

Today, we have added these six new screenshots to our Citadel of Sorcery Gallery.

Check out all six here.

On Sunday, Cryptic Studios Chief Creative Officer Jack Emmert officially unveiled Star Trek Online to a Trek convention in Vegas. Fortunately for those of us not in attendance, the event was available for viewing online. During the presentation, Emmert revealed some details about the highly anticipated upcoming MMORPG.

On Sunday, Cryptic Studios made their very first public presentation concerning the recently announced Star Trek Online. The presentation was made in Las Vegas appropriately, at a Star Trek convention. This was smart for a number of reasons including the fact that in a crowded MMORPG market, the core fans of the IP are an important demographic for the upcoming game. Then, or course, there’s the fact that at a Star Trek convention, you can have your game introduced by Leonard Nimoy, the original Mr. Spock.

Before continuing, I should make it clear that the full presentation has been made available via www.startrekonline.com if you’re interested in watching the whole 43 minute long presentation. For those of you who aren’t, I’m going to try to cover the most important bits:

Check it out here.

MMORPG.com City of Heroes Correspondent Michael Mcnutt writes this article muising on superheroes both on the big screen and our video game monitors as he writes his introductory article.

I'm feeling very nostalgic today. Maybe it's the sudden surge of Super Hero movies dominating the big screens all around theaters this week, or the mere fact that in the last 2 hours of playing City of Heroes, I've seen 3 wannabe Batmans, 2 Supermans, and 5 mean, green Hulks sifting through Atlas, on their never ending quest to fight evil, one level-up at a time. Of course the character names are different for Licensing reasons but fear not, we are in the midst of doppelgangers, both near and far. And that's not a bad thing.

As for myself, it feels just like yesterday, that I draped the family- sized beach towel around my neck, my father's leather work gloves, and a self-made utility belt filled with Jolly Ranchers, a few feet of clothesline, and plastic handcuffs in my plight to apprehend the known criminals of my neighborhood.

Check it out here.