Rumors have been circulating that CCP, developer of the successful EVE Online MMORPG, is actually working on an MMO based on the World Of Darkness Universe. World of Darkness is a popular roleplaying game setting focusing on supernatural monsters and their interactions with the human world and its universe has already been used for the Vampire: The Masquerade games for PC, released a few years ago.

The rumors have originated from a document from CCP that seems to indicate that a massively multiplayer online game based on White Wolf’s World of Darkness universe could appear as soon as next year. The news is particularly interesting considering that White Wolf, owner of the World of Darkness brand, merged with CCP in 2006.
The document in question, anyway, was created in July 08, well before CCP announced its plans for the EVE expansion.

Here’s an exceprt from the document:

The setting for this game shares the same history, culture and geography as modern day Earth. On the surface, the inhabitants of this fictional world live as we do; yet here, the shadows are deeper, the nights are darker, and the fog is thicker. But most importantly, monsters exist. Beneath the thin film of civilization, Vampires thrive on the blood of humans, Werewolves prowl for carnage in the darkest forests, and Mages scheme to bend reality to their will.

In the World of Darkness, you are the monster, struggling to remember the memory of your humanity while you struggle against the evil that lurks within us all. CCP and White Wolf are now hard at work in pre-production on the World of Darkness the persistent world. Given the World of Darkness legacy, its large fan base, and proven appeal to both genders, we estimate the subscriber potential of this product to be two to three times that of EVE Online, without competing head on with CCP’s existing products thus enabling wider total appeal.

January 26th is the beginning of the 2009 Chinese New Year! Chinese New Year, also refered to as Spring Festival, is the most important of the Chinese holidays, and it is a time of feasting with family, a grand celebration, fireworks, and gift-giving.

To celebrate this gallant festival and to let players from different parts of the world experience the long history involved with Chinese culture; Conquer Online will release the Chinese New Year Special Quests.

Duration: Jan, 24th to Jan, 31st
Requirement: Level 20 or above.

The quest series consists of 4 quests, all relating to the traditional festivities of the Spring Festival. In these elaborate quests, players can set off fireworks for a new year blessing, join the imperial parade in Twin City, greet friends in disguise of an ox as 2009 is the year of the ox, and slay the evil Predators pestering the residents of Twin City!

From the quests, you can not only win rich rewards, such as Fortune Packs, Fireworks and Double Exp, etc. but also experience game versions of some customary Chinese New Year traditions.

Happy Chinese New Year!

The most ancient and strongest of the human feelings is fear, especially the fear of the unknown. It can paralyze a person from action and leave them defenseless. When the Hades Fire Beast is summoned into battle and you are facing down it’s dark visage and bone white teeth, what will you do? What is the Hades Fire Beast? What does it bring to the Secondary World from hell? Let’s take a walk on the wild side and grab a more detailed look at the Hades Fire Beast, a new Summoner minion which will be released in the new version of Zu Online.

A Force from Hell
The Hades Fire Beast is the most evil monster there is in hell. It has giant horns and the sharpest tusks. Dark, mysterious and incomprehensible hierograms are tattoed across its back and it is constantly surrounded by purple hellfire which can swallow souls.
Thus, it is appropriately called the Hades Fire Beast.

The Hades Fire Beast was originally the Chief Devil’s mount. It is extremely bloodthirsty and is able to swallow souls in seconds. In those years when the evil forces invaded the Secondary World led by the Chief Devil, the High Summoner put his life at risk and tried his best to seal the Chief Devil in his body. After that, the High Summoner sought to research spells to resist the power of ghosts. One day, he successfully summoned the Hades Fire Beast from hell and sealed it using hierograms.

The End of Summoners’ 1v1 Fight:
After the release of the new version, Level 240+ Summoners can purchase the book to learn the spell to summon a Hades Fire Beast from Summoner trainers.The Hades Fire Beast masters three melee attacks which are all area of effect spells. So, with the release of the Hades Fire Beast, Summoners do not need to fight their enemies one by one anymore.

The Myth War series will eventually consist of three main games, each of them self-contained. People who have participated in the development of Myth War and Myth War II may already have a good insight into this brand new episode, Myth War III. If all goes well, we aim to release the new episode during Christmas 2009.

Continuing the themes of the previous Myth War episodes, Myth War III develops the storyline as players are forced to battle against powerful eternals. In this new episode, you will be led by the five soul stones to the Rarus Continent in 1900BC, a time of great turmoil where myths become reality. You will fight against Gods, evil Mages and corrupted Witches, all powered by a real time 3D graphics engine to generate amazing visual effects in the game.

In the new episode, you will be able to preview your characters before they are geared up or riding on pets, to help you choose more easily. The game features 3D lighting techniques where every object becomes more lifelike, even changing as the time passes from day to night. We are also excited to let players know about the new Homeland Construction and Collection and Production features, as well as newly developed dungeon areas.

Uforia, Inc., a new online game publisher specializing in massively multiplayer online games, today announced that they will extend its firesale event on UFOs to celebrate the launch of its first MMORPG title, Nostale : Global through next Monday (11:59pm PST), January 26, 2009. The promotion provides gamers up to 50% off, using the game’s currency in Uforia’s Item Mall. Additionally, Uforia confirmed today that a second event featuring a scavenger hunt has just been added and will begin at 4 p.m. PST tomorrow, Tuesday, January 20.

“Due to the great response we have received on our launch, we have decided to extend the firesale event through this week to ensure our whole community gets a chance to take part, said Mike Min, Game Operations Producer of Nostale: Global. “And, as another thank you to our new community, we also thought it would be a great time to add a scavenger hunt for the chance to win prizes, have fun and explore the world of Nostale.”

Nostale: Global is a unique MMORPG with easy-to-access events which allow players to interact with other players in PvP and survival objectives. Gamers in North America can play Nostale: Global by going to Uforia’s website at nostale.uforia.com. While the game is free to play, the firesale event on UFOs offers players who want to purchase and maximize their character the opportunity to do so. For example, players who spend $9 will get $10 worth of UFOs at an 11% bonus from Uforia, while $25 will give players $30 worth of UFOs, and $50 will net gamers with $75 worth of UFOs at a 50% bonus!

Continuing to build upon a strong Nostale community, the second event for players is the scavenger hunt taking place tomorrow, Tuesday, January 20th at 4 p.m. (PST). Designed for Uforia users, the hunt will take place at Noscamp where the GM will meet up with players over at the Time Circle. There, the GM will provide players a clue regarding what he wants the players to go out and hunt for. The players who can figure out what the GM is asking for and can bring him five of those items before 10 minutes has passed will receive 10,000 UFOs!