Monthly Archives: June 2014

Tanki Online Launches World Cup Event

Tanki Online

AlternativaPlatform, one of Russia’s leading developers for massively multiplayer online games are currently giving fans the opportunity to support their favourite World Cup team inside their favourite Tank action browser game.

For a limited time before the biggest tournament in football got underway, 32 new paint jobs were made available in the Tanki Online garage – one for each team competing in the World Cup. Players chose their home teams, or simply the team they thought had the best chance of winning the tournament. AlternativaPlatform will award successful tankers with a massive bonus equal to 50% of all the crystals they have spent between 13th June and 12th July should their team be victorious. Second place will get 30% and third place will get 20%.

Results of the event will be published on 15th July. Follow the World Cup, play Tanki Online, support your team and stock up on equipment to give yourself the best chance of winning a huge bonus.

For more info, visit https://www.facebook.com/TankiOnlineen

Archlord 2: Now in Closed Beta

Archlord 2

WEBZEN, a global developer and publisher of online games announces today that the Closed Beta test for the long awaited dynamic PvP MMO Archlord 2 is now available.

Starting today, players who redeemed their Archlord 2 CBT keys and received CBT access conformation can access the game. After downloading the client (available on the official website at http://archlord2.webzen.com/Download) and installing the game, users will have to login to the service using their WEBZEN account credentials, and after that they will be able to choose the server, start creating their in-game character and enjoy the game. To create a new WEBZEN account, potential players should visit the WEBZEN gaming portal at www.webzen.com

It is still possible to join the CBT phase, as access keys are still being distributed through WEBZEN’s media partners (see an overview here: http://archlord2.webzen.com/news/all/6563/are-you-still-looking-for-a-beta-key) and the official Archlord 2 Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/archlord2.

In the Closed Beta test, players will have access to a total of 5 servers, based on different regions and languages. They can select between two different factions with one race supporting each faction. Character progression will be capped at Level 30 and there will be a character wipe after the CBT ends.

More information on the specifics of the CBT can be found on the official Archlord 2 website here: http://archlord2.webzen.com/news/all/6571/the-closed-beta-test-is-opening-next-tuesday-june-17th-get-ready

E3 2014 Recap – Guild Wars 2 Season 2

By Tyler Wood (Zelus Craft), Site Engineer

 

We sat down with ArenaNet’s Associate Game Director, Steve Waller, and Design Director, Chris Whiteside, at E3 last week and previewed a trailer for the upcoming Living World Season 2 Update for Guild Wars 2. We also saw an impressive look back at the story so far alongside the reveal of the Living Journal update I will get to in a second.

 

 

The upcoming update will focus on the resolution and aftermath of the events that transpired in Season 1, as well as introduce more content for players’ personal stories, develop world characters and events further, and introduce new features such as the Story Journal.

 

For those who have somehow forgotten what occurred in the climactic end of Season 1: Scarlet Briar is dead, Lion’s Arch was destroyed and is now being reconstructed, and something has let out a deafening roar across Tyria.

 

It’s noteworthy that players are omniscient to what’s shown in the trailer – none of the game’s cast knows what’s happening just yet – but the trailer does not reveal everything that’s to come in Season 2. Both Steve and Chris expressed they are trilled that the community has already jumped into theory crafting what’s to come for Season 2, and love the incoming player input regarding upcoming features.

 

In our sit down we also discussed an upcoming feature: The Story Journal. The Story Journal itself will allow players to switch between their Hero’s Personal Story and the Living World Story, as well as enable replay of previous episodes in the Living World Story. Use of the Story Journal effectively grants players the ability to re-experience previous episodes of the Living World with different gear and party members, or just revisit content for remembering’s sake. Steve Waller likened this feature to TV-series content; “You can go back and re-watch your favorite parts of a show that you have recorded or bought in a set, and we want to offer that kind of experience along with the new content.”

 

We’re pretty excited to see how the new content for Guild Wars 2 unfolds – the Living World Season 2 update launches on July 1, 2014.

E3 2014 Recap – CineMagic

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), General Manager

 

Sometimes it’s the simplest concepts that have the most impact in the gaming industry. And go figure the game that made my team smile the most at E3 was one we weren’t even scheduled to see. In the back corner of the private Bandai Namco booth we met with Joe, senior producer of an upcoming free mobile game called CineMagic. Before you read on I have to offer a disclaimer though. This game is addicting, so play at your own discretion.

Cinemagic E3 1

The concept of CineMagic is pretty plain. Play a match-3 style mobile game in the vein of Bejeweled and all the others that came before it. Doing so will give you the tools to beat a rival producer in creating the #1 film at the box office that weekend. Overall it’s pretty casual friendly and the type of game most people could push at their mom or aunt and expect them to get it. But when you dive into the details, there is some serious humor to be found and fun to be had.

In CineMagic you start off as a bottom of the rung director with a limited repertoire of film plots and ideas. There’s going to be no funds in your war chest so you will be producing one star budget films to get your name out there. No worries though as your competition in the early missions will feel like something straight off the sci-fi channel, such as StarSharks 5 in the case of our demonstration. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the space water…

Cinemagic E3 2

Now starting with no budget isn’t the end of the world. It just limits the kinds of cards you can acquire and some of the freedom of movie production that you can acquire by putting your money where your movie is. Well we cheated and put up $100 million in budget to produce a five star film in our demo, and snagged the Time Travel plot as our initial building block. This goes beyond your start though as you’ll soon find out when acquiring new cards in the match 3 part of the puzzle.

When the game starts, you’re limited to having up to 5 cards in your hand and five placements on your film. New cards are acquired by matching the green question mark mystery boxes in the match 3 game. If you reach a full 5 cards in your hand, you have to choose to discard cards if you want to bring a new one in. Each card in your hand can be put into play in the film in exchange for expending resource points. These are broken into plot points, setting points, actor points, filmography points, and special effect points. Different cards require different points and some cards even require a combination of the two to put into play, and when put into play, a card takes those points out of your pool, forcing you to make some tough decisions as the match plays out.

Cinemagic E3 3

And by tough decisions I mean to say your decisions are just fun random combinations. Each card actually has synergy with other cards such as certain actors specializing in certain genres of film, or certain settings being ideal for certain plot points. We scored massive multipliers in our film by compiling a futuristic metropolis with our time travel plot, an actor with a super hero skin modifier, and a time paradox plot twist. The system is easy to understand and all based on 1-5 stars so it isn’t too hard to figure out. But in the end comes down to gambling as you only have a set number of turns in the match 3 battle before you’re forced to push your film out to the public as is.

Once in the public view, you will see critics responding to your film as well as get an overall rating via Sour Grapes. Then you can earn some bonus cash as the theatre seats start to fill up with people. If all goes well, they will fill up enough to net you more cash than your opponent’s film and unlock the next level! After beating each mission, you get to roll to acquire some of the cards used by your rival director to utilize in future films as well!

Cinemagic E3 4

While this game sounds ideal for multiplayer action, there is no head to head mode planned for launch. Though they certainly want to make it happen if their launch is successful enough. In the meantime though you will be able to unlock bomb cards to mess with your friend’s movie attempts by either knocking a star actor out of their line-up or force a certain plot or setting on their film to watch them squirm while they roll with the punches!

The monetization will mostly be around convenience, such as unlocking packs of genre cards to speed up the number of plots you can utilize in the game. Launch will feature 6 to 7 genre packs each containing 50-80 plot cards, along with countless spoof actors and modifier cards. And a Bollywood genre addition is planned as the first content update shortly after launch! There will be plenty of bonus features in the game by launch as well including special sound tracks to add a theme to each type of genre you produce, and even a gallery to review your past movie productions to see how you’ve progressed from simple roots to blockbuster films.

Cinemagic E3 5

All-in-all the game is incredibly addicting and makes me sad that I’m stuck waiting till Thanksgiving to get my hands on it once more. I look forward to sharing my upcoming Bollywood time travel comedy musical set in ancient Japan in our full review.

Battlecry

Battlecry is a free to play, third-person battle arena supporting up to 32 players in a single battle. Choose a warrior from across multiple factions and battle for bloody victory.

Features:

Competitive Multiplayer: Prepare for action-packed 32-player battles across multiple game modes, with dynamic movement and engaging combat thati ncludes grapples, evasion, adrenaline, and more.

True Warriors: Choose to play from classes that include the sword-wielding Enforcer, the Tech Archer, or the Duelist. Progress your character and unlock new abilities and effects through each rank you gain.

No Guns: While there’s no gunpowder, combat is still intense and vicious as weapons that use iron, energy, transformation, armor-piercing, electricution, and more are all at your disposal.

Chaos Fighters

Chaos Fighters is an online multiplayer RPG for mobile devices.Choose from hundreds of unique fighters to battle your way to greatness.

Features:

Dozens of unique skills: Combine them for cool combos and powerful strategies.

Hundreds of different fighter: Each with their own strengths and gameplay styles.

Competitive multiplayer: Take on players from around the world in massive tournaments and earn epic rewards.

Social options: Influence other players by making friends, imprisoning your enemies, recruiting mercenaries and joining guilds.

iMiGAME Releases New MMORPG Knights Fable

Knights Fable Artwork

iMiGAME is excited to announce that a new browser MMORPG Knight’s Fable will be released in North America, at 9:00 AM (EDT), Jun. 18! Knight’s Fable will feature all the great features that fans of MMORPG’s love, such as an expansive loot system, tons of rare gear, gems, heroes, trainable beasts, and a PvP arena. Players looking for a new challenge and wanting to get their hands on the game as soon as possible are invited to sign up at http://www.imigame.com.

Knight’s Fable promises to bring players a brand new experience, full of features that are widely unknown to typical MMORPG’s. The game combines the fast paced turn-based combat, with beautiful hand drawn art. Knight’s Fable promises to be a hit for any fan of browser-based MMORPGs.