Yearly Archives: 2007

Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa Stops by Sony Online Entertainment Early to Deliver Presents to the Gamers on His List

Players will spend the holiday season in a virtual winter-wonderland surrounded by
new adventures, gifts, mounts and holiday cheer

SAN DIEGO, CA – December 12, 2007 – Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is decking the halls this holiday season with in-game activities and festive themed events in many of its live titles.
EverQuest ®and EverQuest ®II players will enjoy yet another year of the Frostfell celebration while the popular EverQuest online trading card game, Legends of Norrath™, will start a new tradition. Not to be outshone by its Norrathian counterpart, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes™ is celebrating the holiday season in Telon, and in a galaxy far, far away; Star Wars Galaxiesplayers will enjoy the spectacular experience of Wookiee Life Day.

“This holiday season our development teams have donned their elf outfits and really gotten into the holiday spirit by creating some of the most vibrant virtual holiday content ever,” said Russell Shanks, COO and Vice President, Sony Online Entertainment. “It’s a joy for us to provide players with reindeer mounts, snowball fights and even a gift-giving tree, all of which can be found throughout these extravagantly decorated worlds.”

Holiday Game Play Features:
EverQuest
Winter brings many joyful celebrations to locations around the globe, and the world of Norrath is no exception. This year’s Frostfell promises festive décor and special events within EverQuest. Starting mid- December, EverQuest players will face new challenges as the holidays approach, along with a very special rescue. It appears that someone has been kidnapping the Snowdwarves of Norrath, Santug’s toy-making helpers. Without these helpers, Santug cannot make his deliveries to all good Norrathian girls and boys, preventing the festival of Frostfell. Without Frostfell, winter will never end and Norrath will be trapped in an endless season of cold and darkness! Zoog in Great Divide is seeking help to discover where Santug’s helpers have been taken, free them, and ultimately face the one who is behind this sinister plot.

EverQuest II
Frostfell is set to begin on December 12th in EverQuest II and boasts new recipes, decorations and quests to be discovered by curious residents. Players will encounter gift-giving Gigglegibber within Freeport, Qeynos, Kelethin, Neriak and Gorowyn handing out daily gifts to all. Players will be able to enter the Frostfell zone via closets within Freeport, Qeynos, Kelethin, Neriak and Gorowyn.  Within each zone, residents will find holiday themed fun for tradeskillers and quest goers alike.  There will be something new for everyone, as well as the return of some previous favorites!

Legends of Norrath
This holiday season Legends of Norrath players will be able to save the jolliest of Norrath denizens, Santug Claugg, from the clutches of the cold-hearted Grinnuch. Starting December 21, players will be overcome with the holiday spirit thanks to a special Legends of Norrath holiday story, featuring The Grinnuch and his army of miscreants as they try to ruin Frostfell for all the girls and boys of Norrath. Each time you defeat The Grinnuch in the “Saving Santug” scenario with a new deck archetype, you will free Santug and earn a special Santug Claugg promotional card!



Star Wars Galaxies
Citizens of Star Wars Galaxies will have even more to enjoy this year as they celebrate Wookiee Life Day across the galaxy in mid-December.  Major cities in the galaxy will light up with the dazzling glow of the gigantic Wroshyr Tree, which offers gifts to all who visit it!  This year’s celebration will feature an incredible visual spectacle centered on the tree itself with its dazzling display of light effects and beautiful holiday melodies performed by the Figrin D’an band to accompany this phenomenal display. Gifts galore will bring the festive air of this fantastic holiday to each and every citizen. 

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
This year, the holidays will bring great joy to the heroes of Telon, who will be richly rewarded for their brave deeds and loyal service throughout the year. The spectacular rewards, kicking off mid-month, include a variety of special items such as a new Reindeer mount which, for a limited time, gains the magical ability to fly. To brighten everyone’s day, or night rather, certain cities will be decorated with holiday lights bringing the joy of the holidays to every citizen. If players have been good the past year, they might even find themselves presented with gifts when near such decorations. Finally, just wandering around the countryside this holiday will be rewarding as heroic helpers, also known as Customer Service Reps, will be dropping holiday-themed items such as cookies that will offer special buffs and bonuses. 

Pirates Constructible Strategy Game Online
This holiday season Pirates Constructible Strategy Game Online players will be able to deck their opponent’s halls with the mighty Zeus!  A special digital promotional ship, the Zeus, and its captain, King Blackheart, will be gifted with each purchase of ten Pirates digital game packs from the Pirates CSG Online Store between December 21, 2007 and January 7, 2008.  The Zeus is a 10-masted Chinese junk ship that has been captured by King Blackheart to use in his nefarious schemes. If a player’s Zeus wins a boarding roll you can take as much treasure as you want from your opponent’s ship. King Blackheart gives gifts just like Santa Claus!  Blackheart can give the Zeus or any ship in your fleet an extra action.  That means you can fire all ten of the Zeus’ cannons twice!  Not many fleets can withstand that kind of pounding.

SeasonÂ’s Greetings, Soldiers! Richard GarriottÂ’s Tabula Rasa is Home for the Holidays

December is a busy month for the AFS in Tabula Rasa! Recruits have a lot to look forward to over the holidays, with contests, in-game events, and lots of action. Those who have yet to join the fight against the dreaded Bane will be able to enlist in an exclusive free trial on December 13! Details to come.

During the week of December 17, players will enjoy festive holiday items in the next update, including Holiday hats, Holiday Trees and an exclusive holiday emote. Between December 21 and January 1, those players participating on the Public Test Server for more than two consecutive hours will receive 10 bonus black armor dyekits on the live servers and have a chance to win prizes such as t-shirts, strategy guides and posters signed by the development team.

In-game events will also be taking place over the holidays. On December 21 there will be a memorial service hosted by TabulaRasaRoleplayers in honor of Defeat of Earth Day (DE Day), with special appearances by Sarah Morrison and General British. On December 22, known as Resurgence Day, players will have the opportunity to defend Foreas base as the Bane try take it back from the AFS.

NCsoft Launches Chunk 2, adding advertising, new content to Dungeon Runners game

AUSTIN, Texas, December 11,  2007 – NCsoft® today announced the release of Chunk 2, the second content update for its successful free-to-download and play game, Dungeon Runners™. This update includes in-game advertising in non-member worlds, more bank space for members, item trading, increased access to prime loot, and overall Player versus Environment (PvE) and Player versus Player (PvP) balance refinements.

            Dungeon Runners is a free to download and play online multiplayer role playing game in a satirical, fast-paced sword-and-shield setting, where defeating monsters and evil enemies results in piles of loot, treasure, and non-stop fun.     
The hallmark of Chunk 2 is in-game advertising which will help fund future development of the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) and keep it free for players. The in-game advertising will be visible to non-members in loading screens and in a banner that sits on top of the game window during play. Dungeon Runners members, who can subscribe to the game for only $4.99 per month, will not see any of the advertising.

Advertising in Dungeon Runners will open up new content and functionality for all players. Non-member players will gain access to new content previously unavailable to them, including dungeons and valuable items. Also, non-members will now have access to one page of bank slots, enabling them to store more items. Members will increase their bank storage space from one to three pages.

Also, by popular demand, a secure trade system has been added to Dungeon Runners. This new feature allows everyone to easily trade items (with the exception of gold) with other players through a simple interface.   
“Chunk 2 unlocks an enormous amount of playable content for non-members that they didn’t have access to before thanks to the addition of in-game advertising,” said Stephen Nichols, NCsoft’s producer and lead programmer for Dungeon Runners. “Our non-member players are very happy they can now use what was previously members-only loot, and our members are really excited about receiving additional bank slots to hold their items. These changes, plus our new secure trade system, make this update a win-win for everyone!”

Further enhancements include increased rare item drops and stackable potions for members and non-members alike, which lead to more success in this hack–and-slash game.
Dungeon Runners can be downloaded for free at http://www.dungeonrunners.com/join.html. Players can play for free or subscribe to the members version at any point for $4.99 a month. Members have access to such benefits as log-in queue priority, members-only servers, and the most powerful items, weapons and armor. Membership status also includes three bank pages for hundreds of loot items and the ability to stack potions in one inventory slot to save room for even more loot.

Zu Online Open Beta Date Announced

IGG is announcing the start of Open Beta testing for Zu Online(http://zu.igg.com/), a Chinese Kung-fu Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). The Open Beta testing will start at 8:00 pm EST (GMT-5) on December 14th 2007.

Open Beta Test client and Register System will also be released soon, please stay tuned to official Zu Online website for the latest information.

For more information please visit the official website:
http://zu.igg.com/news/newscon.php?aid=225

Elf Close Beta Salary Payment

Elf Online Close Beta is progressing smoothly, tons of positive suggestions are sent to us. To express our gratitude to our close beta tests, Elf Online decided to pay them for their test. There will be GM in game and give “salary” to the players who could meet the requirement.

More information about Elf Online salary event, please click here

Join Elf Online close beta, generous gifts are waiting for you.

Zu Online: New Scenes Preview

If a player has taken part in the Zu Online (http://zu.igg.com/) Alpha Test before then they should be pleasantly surprised by the new elements added to the Open Beta Test. If they enjoyed playing in the variety of situations and killing the bosses then the following content is a must for them to read.

Eight fantastic new sites have been added for the Open Beta Test and the Zu Team is giving you a little preview of these magical and mysterious places.

Amusement Park
In the Amusement Park is a calm bamboo forest, a beautiful graceful lotus pond, a very unique pavilion and a majestic waterfall. The player may be awestruck at just how special the scenery is, upon their first visit. This place can be reached via the Wine Immortal in Holy City or in Desert City, once the player has reached level 45+

Little Sky
It has been said that the Boulder Immortal sealed up the Seven Northern Immortals in the Little Sky. The way there is a twisting cloud path that winds through a silent bamboo forest and Starfalling Cliff.

Hexad Region
The imposing Telepath Palace is the very centre of the Hexad Region. Around it are placed six pavilions, hence the name. The player may travel to Wu, Tai or Xun to chat with other players from the different factions via the Telepath Palace.

Wan Mountain
After Bilin and the Flame Master had left Wan Mountain, the place became desolate. This was further added to by the Flame Master, who after being driven mad by the evil scriptures he had studied, also brought destruction to the surrounding area.

Thunder Peak
On Thunder Peak the player may become startled and disorientated by the deafening thunder and shocking lightening. This place is not for the faint hearted; even the most powerful Immortals have been known to feel fear here!

Trueflame Furnace
At this place the player will soon discover that everything is connected to fire. Monsters will spit fire and the furnaces are full of boiling magma. There are also the Blaze Platform, the Heart-Burning Steps and the Fire Lord’s Palace.

Righteous Pagoda
The righteous Pagoda is a site in which, according to legends, has extremely vicious Demons sealed inside. Here the places are ominously named; the Blood Pool, the Blood Corridor it is also littered with countless rusty swords and is the hiding place for many Evil Ghosts. The player may only try their luck here if they reach level 70+ and there are 20+ sign up players.
Maze
This maze was specially designed to bamboozle and confuse. All players will first appear on the first floor of the Sinuous Maze, which is made up of nine floors. There are eight different directions to go and at the end of each path there is a Diagram Stone. This is essential for the player to enter another floor, leave the maze or to claim their reward.

Visit Official Zu Online for the pictures:
http://zu.igg.com/news/newscon.php?aid=210

Angels Online: Closed Beta Test ending and Open Beta Test Coming

During the Angels Online (http://ao.igg.com) Closed Beta Test, we were pleasantly surprised by players’ enthusiasm. With players’ support, the Closed Beta Test was going smoothly, and ended at 8:00 pm EST on Dec 10th 2007. Because of our players’ strong support, we have decided that players’ character information including levels and items will be permanently kept.

The Angels Online Open Beta Test already started at 10:00 pm on Dec 10. To ensure a smooth and happy Open Beta Test, players need to download the update patch here http://ao.igg.com/download/downloadpatch.php.

For more information please visit the official site at
http://ao.igg.com/news/news.php?aid=63

Open Beta Starts

Greetings from the land of Xen!
                          
Outspark, a leading publisher and operator of free online community games available through an engaging virtual playground, is pleased to announce the open beta release of its newest game Secret of the Solstice. Set in the fantasy world of Xen, Secret of the Solstice is the second game in Outspark’s growing portfolio and takes players to a faraway kingdom threatened by a mysterious dark force. On her 18th birthday, Princess Adeline received a special gift from her parents – the Solstice Sphere, a strange and powerful relic entrusted to the king of Xen by the gods.  But it was far from a glorious occasion.  A series of horrific events would soon take place and ultimately drench the land in the suffering it knows today. Come join other adventurers on a quest to save the world!

Featuring hundreds of gorgeous environments filled with fanciful creatures and a classic feel, Secret of the Solstice is a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game inviting players to create a character and explore a richly-detailed game world. Aspiring heroes have access to hundreds of in-game quests, different items for customizing the appearance of their character and an innovative smelting system for upgrading equipment. Coupled with a crew of friendly game masters operating dynamic in-game events in which participants contribute to the evolution of the storyline, Secret of the Solstice offers players a completely new way of commanding their in-game destiny. The game is developed by DnC Entertainment of Seoul, South Korea and published by Outspark.

In celebration of the open beta, Outspark has unlocked the gates leading to the all-new cities Candyvault and Eir. Players can also access the second tier for each character class and explore a set of completely new dungeons.

Elf Online Interview

Questions by Brian Perry Jr.
Answers by William, Head Director of Happymmo

Onrpg: Can you give us a brief description of Elf Online please?
The extremely spoofed game —“ELF Online” is a massively multiplayer online pet game. Its creative design makes the pet system outstanding from others. It is not exaggerated to say that ELF Online is a masterpiece in the present market of online pet games. The large-scale pet branch?tremendous pet type and various nurturances make ELF Online a colorful pet kingdom. As a masterwork of Q version Online game in 2007, ELF Online has won numerous compliments from players through its unique charm and healthy image. Those characteristics such as unparalleled semi-real-time fighting mode, perfect pet system, large quest system of inimitable style, architecture design combined with the east and west style are just a portion of the game. ELF Online completely frees from the traditional cliché of online game through absurd quest conveying truth and superior equipments of different styles. You can meet lots of players who carrying sausage?drumstick of coffin as weapons everywhere. You may come across some masters wearing a vest and slippers to challenge the BOSS and even a handsome boy in sand beach pants and Chinese tunic suit on the way for a date… All the spoofed equipments will stimulate your nerves and make you hysterical.

Onrpg: What sort of options does a player have when creating a character? (appearance, class, race, etc.)
The players can select their gender, face, hairstyle, etc. When players create their character, they start off as a newbie and are able to choose from a variety of classes upon reaching level 9.

Onrpg: What is the ultimate goal that players are trying to accomplish?
The players can feed their favorite pet, craft cool equipments of their own, challenge BOSS of different levels, develop their guild in the play. What’s more important is, ELF Online can offer a platform for players to make friends or even find your love through simple operation and relaxing game mode.

Onrpg: Will there be any way to craft equipment and items within Elf Online?
There are abundant source in the production system, including hunting?mining?collecting?forging?fabricating and cooking. The players can get equipments and items they need through combining those production systems. In addition, the specified NPC can get some superior equipments can be gotten through finishing quest?fighting against BOSS as well.


Onrpg: One of the features of Elf Online is “Absurd Epic Quests”. Can you elaborate on that please?

Unlike other traditional online games which force players to rescue the world and eliminate the devil under the cover of various quests or impose the settled track to players beneath the disguise of glory and honor, ELF Online can offer different play mode for players to choose. Numerous funny quest dialogues in the game will make players 100% relax. The player may receive some trick quest such as to rip the ad bill or to paste some ad bills illegally from prissy NPC; sometimes you may receive the appreciation from the evil after you rescued the wordy princess; some bully NPC may even frame on you… Whatever, after finished those funny or annoying quests, you will get some illuminations: this seemingly absurd fairyland is actually the epitome of reality!


Onrpg: What are some other features that help set Elf Online apart from other games?

One of this game’s bright spots is the extremely spoofed quest system: the humorous?jocose and absurd epic quests are praised by all players participated in the close beta. The special story background of ELF Online can relax the players in the adventure journey and a mass of trick elements will free the players from the solemn and serious duties. This characteristic is against the popular “classic masterpiece” of traditional online game in silence.

Onrpg: How many people will be able to be on a single server simultaneously?
About 3000 players can be on a single server simultaneously.


Onrpg: Will there be events run on a regular basis by the GMs?

GMs not only instruct the newbie how to play and answer questions from players, but also hold some activities to interact and communicate with players.

Onrpg: How often do you expect to have new content available for players?
As for the interval of refreshing the content, it will depend on the players’ need. We will listen attentively to players’ advices and perfect the game content and system service during operating the game.

Onrpg: Are there any other titles your company is looking at publishing in the near future?
New titles are prepared according to our schedule and they will be presented before the public in the near future.