Yearly Archives: 2012

Forge of Empires: Closed Beta Start Announced

Forge of Empires: Closed Beta Start Announced

 

Forge of Empires

 

Today InnoGames announced that the brand new strategy browser game, Forge of Empires, will begin a closed beta on March 29. During this phase, a few thousand players will get the chance to try the game hands-on for the first time. Prior to the beta, 500 testers were providing InnoGames with valuable feedback in an “Exclusive Preview”.

 

 

With the start of the closed beta, Forge of Empires will also implement some fresh components. On top of improved battle mechanics and a messaging system, the new trading feature will allow players to finally exchange rare goods, like honey or gold – with NPCs as well as with other players. This allows one to focus on a limited number of various goods buildings. Additionally, InnoGames will add more features over the course of the closed beta, some of them in direct response to player feedback during the Exclusive Preview.

 

 

Forge of Empires is a browser-based strategy game that allows players to create a city and develop it from the Stone Age and onward throughout the centuries. Players can create a vast empire through military campaigns and skillful dealings. For a thorough look at the game check out OnRPG’s GDC write-up!

The Secret World to Offer First Public Hands-On at PAX East

The Secret World to Offer First Public Hands-On at PAX East

 

 

Funcom is excited to announce that the company is heading to PAX EAST on April 6th and will be bringing the upcoming, modern-day, massively multiplayer online game The Secret World to the show floor for public hands-on. For first time, fans of ‘The Secret World’ outside of the press and the closed beta get to play the game, and those heading to PAX can experience the full Templar starter experience in addition to the haunted town of Kingsmouth.

 

 

Funcom will be located at Booth 260 on the show floor. With ‘The Secret World’ playable on over 25 computers, Funcom will also be doing regular stage presentations of the game and giving away 10,000 Illuminati, Templar and Dragon dog tags. Along with each dog tag will be an exclusive key code that grants guaranteed access to the first of several upcoming public beta weekends. Details on the upcoming public beta will be announced later.

 

 

During the show, which runs from April 6th to April 8th, Funcom will be engaging with the online community surrounding ‘The Secret World’ through the official Twitter, Facebook and YouTube channels, and will be releasing daily video podcasts giving a glimpse into ‘The Secret World’ and life at the Funcom booth.

 

 

“Bringing the game to PAX and giving gamers there the opportunity to try it for themselves is something we are incredibly excited about,” says Senior Producer and Creative Director Ragnar Tørnquist. “Having members of the Funcom team at PAX East, engaging with players on the show floor and seeing first hand their reactions from playing the game will be very valuable. We are having a ton of fun playing the game these days, and we look forward to sharing that experience with gamers at PAX!”

 

 

‘The Secret World’ is consistently mentioned as one of the most anticipated MMOs in development. Feedback from media who have experienced the game themselves has been very positive, and the latest demonstrations at GDC 2012 in San Francisco resulted in another round of glowing previews (see the full list here). ‘The Secret World’ breaks new grounds and genre conventions by introducing a modern-day setting, a story-focused MMO experience, and a freeform progression system using no classes and no levels.

 

 

Recently Funcom announced that over 750,000 gamers are now registered for the ongoing beta testing. ‘The Secret World’ is published by Electronic Arts and will ship on June 19th, 2012.

Seven Souls Online: Bringing the Full Package

Seven Souls Online: Bringing the Full Package

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor) OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Seven Souls is a free-to-play 3D MMORPG made by the Korean publisher CR-Space. Neowiz has taken up on the job to publish the game for the western world and the game is currently in open beta for everyone. Since I heard about some great features such as special transformations and combo systems I was really curious to see what kind of Asian themed game it was. I was a bit cautious as I normally am when approaching an Asian developed MMORPG because most are all about the looks rather than the gameplay. Hopefully Seven Souls would be a different.

 

 

When creating my first character it became clear to me that this game was full of beautiful visualizations and animations to easily rival its competitors. Unfortunately I had some trouble running this game with the maximum graphics as details kept flickering in and out of focus, forcing me to lower the graphics in order to avoid a seizure. When I was creating my character I had the choice between three classes: The Imperial Guard, Exiled Avenger and the Manatech Rebel. These three characters are specialized into three weapons of personal use. I decided to go with the Manatech Rebel and katana because the katana is my favorite style of all swords.

 

 

When I got into the game I was forced to find my first quest giver without any prior background story offered. This quest giver was pretty useless too so I ended up heading to meet with the starting town’s chief to figure out what was going on. By this time I had mostly figured out the basic intuitive controls through random experimentation while running. You are able to move your character with the WASD keys or you could choose to point and click your way through the game. For the jumping freaks like me, you can hop around like crazy. Though be warned that this is limited due to many invisible walls that block you from jumping off cliffs or into other strange places you may find along your way.

 

 

After doing a couple of missions and learning a few skills, I became enamored by how smoothly the animations of each skill transition with each other. If you cast a spell or skill your character will do a lot of ninja styled moves to finish off his foe. Every class and weapon offered a unique series of animations, helping to differentiate other players visually. This is truly a major highlight of the game.

 

 

At the bottom left of your screen next to your character portrait and information you can find the Rage Gauge. This rage meter will automatically fill up if you are fighting monsters or other players. When the meter is full you are able to transform into a powerful creature which will buff up your character heavily. Your character will transform into a beast and, depending on your level, the duration of the Rage mode varies. I really love the immersion this feature gives. When you transform you really feel the rush of power that one of the great heroes of the Seven Souls story should have.

 

 

A nice side feature that keeps the game interesting is the Jackpot. After killing enough monsters or doing quests you will automatically receive jackpot points that can be gambled in an attempt to win special items. It’s a great game of chance to reward player activity.

 

 

Seven Souls also has plenty to keep players busy outside of monster slaying. Players are able to purchase various tools used to collect items scattered all over the map for special crafting recipes. In addition to gathering items on the open world, players can also pass the time fishing and mining. And if you are a big fan of PvP then you are really in luck since pvp is a major focus of the game. While some may pass the time with open world PvP, I found the battlegrounds to be the true meat of the game. In addition to standard team deathmatch, the battlegrounds also offer the real die-hard fans with tournaments to prove their skill.

 

 

Graphics

To run this beautiful Asian themed game you will need the following specifications to run this game:


Minimum Requirements

OS :Windows XP

CPU :Pentium 4 2.4GHz

RAM :1 GB (1.5 GB required for Windows Vista/ Windows 7 users)

VGA :NVIDIA Geforce 6600 with 128Mb / ATI Radeon x1300 with 128Mb

HDD :5GB available HD space    DirectX :DirectX 9.0c or higher.

 

Recommended System

OS :Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7

CPU :Pentium 4 Core 2 Duo 2.6GHz or higher

RAM :2 GB

VGA :NVIDIA Geforce 8600 with 256Mb / ATI Radeon x3600 with 256Mb

HDD :5GB available HD space or more

DirectX :DirectX 9.0c or higher

 

 

If you have no idea whatsoever what kind of computer rig you are running then I’d say everyone that anyone with a computer built in the last 6-7 years is easily able to play this game just fine without any trouble at all.

 

 

Conclusion

Seven Souls is an Asian themed game that doesn’t leave me feeling bogged down in an endless grind. This game offers just enough content and features to keep the game feeling fresh even after many hours of playtime. If awesome looking regions, smooth combat animations, and a strong developer focus on PvP are all major selling points for you, then Seven Souls won’t let you down.

TERA Announces CB 4 Details

TERA Announces CB 4 Details

 

 

En Masse Entertainment launched a new patch today in preparation for TERA’s 4th CB test happening this weekend. With it comes some major new areas like the Elin/Popori homeland of Pora Elinu and a level cap of 38!

 

 

One of the major complaints of people new to the game was that TERA has far too easy of a learning curve, despite its intense combat system catering more towards veteran MMO players tired of the typical online game. To rectify this, En Masse is lowering the max hp of characters below level 16 to make the starting zones a bit less forgiving on a new player. Once you hit 16 you’ll experience a sudden flux of HP gain each level until you hit standard growth at 20.

 

 

Tired of picking fights you can’t win? Starting this weekend you’ll be able to see the level of other players the same way you see the level of monsters. Since levels create a huge power difference between characters, En Masse decided this change was necessary for the current rule sets of PvP servers.

 

 

One final cool change is a new event beginning this weekend. Keep an eye open for Terron Treasure Troves because they contain amazing consumable items created by the Elin princesses themselves. But you’ll have to fight off the annoying Terron staying watch over it.. a task I doubt will be very difficult based on my experience with the race.

 

 

Does all of this mean nothing to you because you missed out on grabbing a beta key from the other websites? Well OnRPG has a couple lying around. How about the first 5 people to post on DizzyPW’s Profile Wall get keys to this weekend’s CB test? I have roughly 50 keys to giveaway so keep an eye on our twitter page tomorrow for more information on how to snag them!

Vanguard F2P Plans Revealed in Producer Letter

Vanguard F2P Plans Revealed in Producer Letter

 

 

In its March Producer Letter, Vanguard’s Director of Development (Andy Sites) revealed their plans to take Vanguard in the same direction as many other SOE intellectual properties including both Everquest games and DC Universe Online.

 

 

In addition to the new freemium model in the works, they are also ramping up hiring on new developers to start bringing regular patches back to the world of Vanguard. The last major patch to arrive was back in December so the combination of this new dedicated team and new influx of players could bring new life back into the game.

 

 

We’ll keep an eye out on his this plays out and get one of our writing staff into game once it goes F2P to let you know our impressions of the change.

Brick-Force Blasts Open Servers for Stress Testing

Brick-Force Blasts Open Servers for Stress Testing

 

 

Infernum, the Berlin based publisher and developer of cross-platform online games, announced today that close to 350,000 registered Brick-Force players will be granted advanced access to the game during several upcoming stress tests.

 

 

The first two worldwide stress tests will last 24 hours and will take place on this coming Thursday, 22nd and Tuesday the 27th of March. European and North American servers will be open to all registered players from 16:00 CET, 8:00 EDT and 8:00 PDT, respectively.

 

 

The final and most extensive stress test will begin on the 31st of March and will last four entire days. More detailed information can be found on www.brick-force.com, which recently was updated with an official forum!

 

 

Brick-Force is currently in closed beta, and the planned stress tests will provide important technical information for a successful launch of open beta this spring. Although the closed beta began only three weeks ago, the rapidly growing community has already achieved some impressive feats:

 

 

So far players have participated in over 600,000 shooter sessions in almost 10,000 maps, which have been built with a staggering 196,931,659 bricks. The leading map in terms of popularity is the Brick-Force remake of the Counter-Strike classic, “Dust 2”.

 

 

A fan created time lapse video of Brick-Force can be seen here.

AQ Worlds Hosts Magic Thief Event this Friday

AQ Worlds Hosts Magic Thief Event this Friday

 

 

Artix Entertainment, the indie game development studio that creates and publishes download-free, browser-based games to over 150 million registered players, today announced it will host an in-game event with author Sarah Prineas using characters from her Magic Thief children’s fantasy book series in the hit massively multiplayer role-playing game AdventureQuest Worlds.

 

 

Sarah Prineas is a children’s fantasy book author. Her novels include The Magic Thief, The Magic Thief: Lost, The Magic Thief: Found, and Winterling. She is currently working on a fourth Magic Thief novel.

 

 

The Magic Thief book series is about a young boy named Conn who accidentally becomes a wizard’s apprentice and helps a powerful wizard protect his city from dangerous and magical evils.

 

 

The Magic Thief in-game event will be the first of its kind in the MMORPG AdventureQuest Worlds. For the very first time, players will be able to adventure in Lore, the world inside AQWorlds, side-by-side with characters from a novel. The event will feature several characters from the Magic Thief series including: Conn, Rowan, Nevery, Benet, Pettivox, and the Duchess.

 

 

When players log in this Friday, they will receive an urgent message from King Alteon, the King of Lore.  The message states that all the most powerful mages in Lore are missing and it’s up to the players to investigate what is happening and, if possible, save them. The players team up with Conn, a young apprentice magician, and begin searching for clues. By using Conn’s sneaky lock-picking skills, they break into the dungeon of powerful magician Pettivox, who is one of the only mages not missing. There, they find what they were looking for…and more!

 

 

The missing mages are imprisoned, and players discover Pettivox’s plan to use their life force to permanently taint all of the magic on Lore, rendering it forever unusable. If the players and Conn don’t find a way to rescue them, stop the wizard-thief, and sever his connection to the essence of magic on Lore, Chaos will reign and Lore will never be the same.

 

 

WHAT: Magic Thief in-game event

 

WHEN: Friday, March 16th, 2011 @ 7 PM (EDT)

 

WHO: Conn, Pettivox, the AdventureQuest Worlds team, and YOU!

 

WHY: To stop Pettivox and save the magic of Lore from Chaos!

 

WHERE: In-game at www.AQ.com

Lucent Heart’s “Stadia” Expansion is Now Live

Gamania Launches Lucent Heart’s “Stadia” Expansion

 

Lucent Heart Stadia

 

Gamania Digital Entertainment today launched Lucent Heart’s highly anticipated Stadia expansion, bringing innovative new features and content to its free-to-play, social MMORPG. Accessible now to anyone with a beanfun! account, players can compete against their friends in exciting kart-style races, unlock Acadia’s new race of Tarot Battle Pets, and journey to new zones with epic bosses.

 

 

The Stadia expansion comes as a free update for Lucent Heart and includes the following additions:

 

 

Mount Races: Gamania has added a full-featured kart-style racing game to further enhance Lucent Heart’s social gameplay. Players can collect and choose from multiple mounts with varying stats, powerslide their way through five unique tracks filled with fun items, and collect Racing Points that can be turned in for huge rewards.

 

 

Tarot Battle Pets: A new race of Battle Pets have arrived. The Tarot Battle Pets are powerful companions armed with deadly weapons and unique skills. Players can collect these pets as they’re introduced, starting today.

 

 

Additional Content: A significant amount of new content has been added to Acadia including five zones, five tough bosses, high level equipment – even the Dance System has been updated with new moves and songs.