Yearly Archives: 2008

First virtual world for Muslims debuts

BBC News is reporting this news about Muxlim virtual world:

Called Muxlim Pal, it allows Muslims to look after a cartoon avatar that inhabits the virtual world.

Based loosely on other virtual worlds such as The Sims, Muxlim Pal lets members customise the look of their avatar and its private room.

Aimed at Muslims in Western nations, Muxlim Pal’s creators hope it will also foster understanding among non-Muslims.

“We are not a religious site, we are a site that is focused on the lifestyle,” said Mohamed El-Fatatry, founder of Muxlim.com – the parent site of Muxlim Pal.

“This is for anyone who is remotely interested in the Muslim culture and the Muslim lifestyle,” he said.

“From what we have seen from our market research is that most Muslims have a lifestyle that is not so different from everybody else,” he said. “They all share the core values which are from Islam then beyond that they actually have made identities, they have many interests.”

Mr El-Fatatry said the virtual world had 26 different categories of content, only one of which was religion. He said he hoped it would help Muslims meet and talk to others that shared their interests.

This is nowhere near the vision of where it will be someday
Mohamed El-Fatatry, Muxlim.com

Those joining the site will get to control the life of a cartoonish avatar or pal that they can then use as a proxy to explore the Muxlim Pal virtual world – which has a beach bar, arena and shopping areas.

Character development
The pal or avatar that members control has several “meters” governing its happiness, fitness, knowledge and spirituality that change when the character carries out tasks in the social world.
“How it differs from The Sims is that it is social,” said Mr El-Fatatry. “So you can actually be with other people at the same time, interact, and see what their characters are doing.”
The browser-based virtual world can be used for free but alongside will go some premium services that will help users do more with their avatar and personal room.

Those joining Muxlim Pal get a few virtual coins to spend in the online world’s shops – to clothe their avatar or decorate their room. Real cash can be used to buy more virtual coins. So far no exchange rates have been given for swapping real for virtual coins.

Muxlim screenshot (Muxlim)
The site hopes to foster understanding among Muslims and non-Muslims alike
Mr El-Fatatry said the impetus to create Muxlim Pal grew out of observing what Muxlim.com’s 1.5m monthly users spent most time on.

He said: “We were seeing that our users were enjoying certain character developing elements of Muxlim.com, and as no other virtual world offers a family-friendly environment for our community, we felt there was a need to cater for the people who were being left out.”

Mr El-Fatatry said because the trial version was only six months old it was likely to change significantly before the public launch in 2009. Muxlim was investigating whether members want to be able to create their own content, such as chairs or clothes, and be able to share those with other users.

“This is nowhere near the vision of where it will be someday,” he said. “It is very important to put things out and listen to how people interact with it. What feedback they give us and then that will play a big role in which direction we take the product in.”

Bounty Bay Online: Colony add-on on sight

On January 15th of 2009, Frogster is going to launch the free colony add-on for Bounty Bay Online. With this comprehensive expansion, player guilds will be able to establish their own colonies with towns and harbours in the historical sailor world. Once created, guilds decide not only upon their appearance but also upon their in-game progress and their commercial policy. Mighty guilds hereby create their individual home territory and retreat as well as a profitable trading base. The colony add-on of roundabout 500 MB size will be installed automatically by the patcher tool when starting Bounty Bay Online. Existing characters and accounts can be used further on unrestrictedly.

With the colony add-on players can establish colonies in 33 coastal regions all over the virtual sailor world. After completing a series of colony quests, successful guild leaders will
receive a harbour foundation stone, with which the guild can establish a colony on any free colony ground. Founding a new colony requires that the guild has reached guild level 5 at
least and does not possess another colony already. Once the colony is established, the guild has 48 hours time to expand it to level 1. If the player group cannot manage to achieve that
goal, the colony will destroy itself and all allocated resources will be lost. The guild can choose one of four development paths after the successful foundation of a colony. However, in order to change this path later on players will have to spend a big amount of in-game
currency.

– Industrial Harbor: Specializes in the research of weapons, armor and the trade of pets.
– Business Harbor: Specializes in the trade of materials between the different colonies.
– Collectors Harbor: Specializes in importing and gathering of materials which can normally only be bought from NPC’s.
– Military Harbor: Specializes in the research of new ships, new ship features, canons and ammunition.

The new colony harbour system offers players a new anchor point for their worldwide trade. Moreover, a colony opens up the possibility to create a controlled sphere of influence and to
store large amounts of resources. Feeble warrior guilds can use outposts for the regeneration of their forces as well as to secure important stock. By increasing the overall level of a colony city, all guild members gain enhanced character attributes like better endurance of their ships, increased regeneration rates, raised manoeuvrability of their
vessels and heightened defensive attributes of their land characters.

As soon as the foundation stone for a colony is laid, the guild can choose one of three basic appearance types. Rural village, industry town or pirate nest can be selected, but the look of
a colony town has no effect on its development. Established colony cities have to be well supplied with resources to not go bankrupt and thus to dismantle. But a guild can abandon
their colony on purpose by decomposing the guild or by dismissing the colony themselves.

Aurora Blade: Feature System Preview – Sweet, Sweet Love

Today, the Aurora Blade team is giving a brief introduction about the marriage system in game.

Marriage is a holy word. No matter whether you are a newbie player who met your first love in game or you have married many times in different games, a wedding is always a special but troublesome event. Does that mean that no one will bother with getting married anymore? No way!

In Aurora Blade, a sweet marriage system is available to all players. They can buy a pair of wedding rings from the NPC “Love Sister” in the Aurora Seaport and then propose to their soulmates.

After the wedding, all Wedding Rings have a “Love Teleportation” function which lets players summon their soulmates at will, except for Glass Wedding Rings. According to the marriage duration, there are 28 ranks of marriage in Aurora Blade. Players can view their marriage information from character status. If you are heartbroken and would like to forget the past, you can go find the “Love Sister” and then, the problem will be solved.

Aurora Blade is the first browser-based 2D RPG brought to you by IGG and distinguishes itself as a simple yet exciting game with immersive storylines for players of all ages and skill levels.

Conquer Online: New Dynasty – Ninja Approaching Part IV PvP Benchmark

The most anticipated feature of the New Dynasty expansion, the Ninja, is scheduled to be released around this Christmas. It will be our greatest gift to a faithful and loyal playership, complete with our best wishes and season’s greetings, of course!
From previous introductory articles, players have become knowledgeable in the basic concepts of Ninja lore, ninja equipment and ninja skills. However, some secrets of this shadowy assassin have yet to be unveiled.

The ninja is the 2nd dual-wielding class with fabled gear and mighty skills. It’s undeniable that Ninja is designed to be a powerhouse in PvP. Many players are worrying that Ninja will be overpowered, which would break the game balance. On the other hand, some suggest the light armor and lowest HP would make the Ninja easy to get one-hit killed by an archer’s cross-fire.
The rumors and predictions can stop here. TQ has already run the ninja PK Benchmark!

Now you can stop making prediction based on the bare statistics and literal description. TQ team is glad to provide you with exclusive ninja PK trailer. In the trailer, Ninjas are confronting other classes, which can give players some basic ninja PvP tactics!

Ogame

OGame brings space themed strategy to your browser or iOS mobile device. Send your fleets out into the stars to conquer your foes and expand the might of your intergalactic empire.

Business Model: Free to Play

Microtransactions: Yes – Players purchase Dark Matter, with which they can purchase resource acquisition boosts.

Key Features:

Collect Resources: Whether through mining planets and moons or by taking from other players, you’ll need resources to build your empire.

Form Alliances: It’s dangerous to go alone, take this!

Trade: We’re not playing with sheep and wood, here. Trade resources with your friends to build up the strongest fleet you can.

Wonderland Online: Rebirth Quest Strategy

In Wonderland Online version 3, players who have reached Level 100+ are able to be reborn. However, it’s not easy to finish the rebirth quest; a lot depends on excellent team work and cooperation among all group members. To assist with this extraordinary quest, we are giving a detailed strategy guide for players to use.

Location: Bangkok
Quest Name: Test from the Sunlight God

Process as below:

1st Round: One Boss Moai + Seven Moai (easy to finish)

2nd Round: Shading Puppet Lord (Water, Water Thunder Attack mastery, Level 10 Sleep and Water Shield) + Shading Puca*7 (In this round, you can kill the Boss first or the other monsters)

3rd Round: One Androsphinx + Anubis*2+ Scorpion King*3
FYI: In this round, Earth players can use Terrafication to stone the targets, after that kill the Scorpion King first, and then combat the Anubis, finally, kill the BOSS. Generally speaking, the Mage in the team should be good at MATK, the more the better.

4th Round: Kenter*1 + Terma Dragon*2 (Earth) + Water Dragon *1 (Sleep mastery)
FYI: Kill the Terma Dragon first, because it can use it’s Terrafication skill. If players have Shrink skill, you can use it to decrease their attack and defense. But more players should be alternates in case of a team member’s death.

5th Round (Valid within 2 hours): Dragon God (Wind, level 180) + Door Gods *3
FYI: Kill the Water Door God or Earth Door God first. The Water and Earth Door Gods can use Terrafication skill so they must be taken out first.

Final Round: Mahabrahman + Governors of Test Arena
FYI: 1. It never works when you activate Hot Potato to deplete Mahabrahman’s spirit. His physical attacks will deal huge damage.
2. Leave these three holy beasts alone. Their death will generate high level mobs to attack you.
Rewards: Profession Transfer
3. This is the most difficult over all, so players should prepare many alternates. Additionally, the time for this round is 2 hours.
Final Words: It’s difficult to finish the rebirth quest. However, the most important thing is players enjoy the feeling of victory after finishing the quest.

Myth War II Online: Pet Animation and Game Music #3

Myth War II Online is a MMORPG classic that integrates the charm of mythological creatures, an enticing quest system, and excellent pet animation. Last week, the game designers offered us a glimpse into their keyframe-based pet animation. Now, it’s time again to refresh and update our knowledge about pets in game while enjoying the subtle and soothing beauty of the in game music.

Humanoid Pets Animation:
Humanoid pets are agile and physically strong. They will deal your opponents a hard blow using their physical power as well as utilizing the legendary cunning and wisdom of Human’s.

Ghost Warrior
Ghost Warriors are dead soldier-assassins whose spirits were incarnated into human bodies. If the dead could feel pride they would probably feel good about defending their homeland and protecting their masters. They show no mercy and fight without fear. Many gamers even find their graceful samurai style intimidating.

Eye Kicker
Eye Kicker’s are a titan humanoid pet and are grotesque enough to have a developed a devoted following among numerous gamers. There big battle axe provides a strong and highly visible deterrent force. One of chop of his powerful axe will easily cleave flesh from bone. Teaming up with such a combative pet, you’re sure to survive any attack.For more info, check out their official website:
http://mw2.igg.com/guide/guide.php?acid=74&aid=149

Game Music:
1)
This track is a melodious breakbeat experience that will take you into the jungle. The inspirational choir and orchestral melody matched by the lively drum beat declare that danger is approaching. Click on the below link to listen and download the soundtrack: http://flv.iggcn.com/mw2/mp3/Mus007.mp3

2) The heart tugging emotion created by the electronic bass and drum arrangements as well as the mixing of select sound effects delivers euphoric pleasure when adventuring in game. The gushy lines of the melody are emotionally manipulative and impossible to resist. Click on the below link to listen and download the soundtrack http://flv.iggcn.com/mw2/mp3/Mus023.mp3

History of Phantasy Star Online

by Joshua Temblett, Onrpg Writer

The Dreamcast started off as a shiny beam of hope for its developer Sega; however the light gradually faded on the new console as Sony’s latest demon (the PS2) began to walk over the horizon and straight towards the little box of gold that was Sega’s new console. Whilst the Dreamcast may not have lasted very long in the gaming world, it played host to a huge variety of mind blowing games and the console definitely made huge steps that not only defined console gaming but also helped to kick it out of the door into the beauty that was “next gen”.

So to say there were no good games for the Dreamcast not only shows sheer incompetence as a gamer but also a lack of history and knowledge about gaming. “Jet Set Radio”, “Shenmue”, “Powerstone”, “Chu Chu Rocket” and “Skies of Arcadia” are but a few of the games you should know about should you take your hobby seriously. There was one title however that stood out among the rest. This was Phantasy Star Online. PSO was Sonic Team’s first attempt at an online RPG, and to say the least, they succeeded. Whilst the gameplay did have some issues and bugs (then again, what Sonic Team game does not have bugs?), the concept and the design were more than enough to get this game off shelves and into people’s homes.

Phantasy Star Online had three classes, these being Hunter, Ranger and Force. The title also had a wealth of customisation options and not to mention a whole host of cool weaponry to play about with. The game focused on player versus environment (PVE) and required the player to team up with three other likeminded gamers to fight back the monsters of Ragol and to get to the bosses and eventually defeat them in order to complete the strangely compelling storyline. This title was indeed a hit as it boasted a chat translation system (to break down the language barriers), a simple way to connect up online and of course free online gameplay.

Despite its success the game did have some negative points which reviewers quickly caught onto. Most of these problems only related to the offline mode available in the game, as the dungeons become quickly repetitive and that the quests were generally very boring. However most reviewers said that these problems seemed to disappear during online play due to how incredibly fun the game was online. The game’s success was no doubt going to spawn some sort of sequel, and hence Phantasy Star Online: Version 2 enters the lime light.
This new title was an update of the original which featured an easier offline experience with easier levelling up, a new security system in an attempt to stop hackers, some new content, a new level cap, some other tweaks and of course the ever infamous pay to play charge.

Whilst the original version was free to play, Version 2 bought about a monthly charge of $15 per month. A lot of players questioned this move and to whether the content and online play was really worth the monthly payment and some players go as far to claim that the monthly fee killed the game. Of course other players embraced it. Whether or not you were a fan of Version 2’s P2P scheme, the updates were definitely welcome.

Following Version 2’s release to the world the game eventually branched out onto the PC, Gamecube and Xbox allowing even more gamers to explore the sci-fi world of Ragol. There was even a sequel up to the series on the Gamecube entitled Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution, which featured an entirely new card-based battle system and a storyline that was based on two warring factions. The title’s main focus was on the offline aspect of the game yet the online mode still gave the player the ability to spar with other players and participate in online battles. After the release of the latest episode in the PSO series, online gamers were hit with another updated episode. This was Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst which was only available on the PC and offered the new Episode IV along with Episode I & II.

After a long and fairly prosperous life Phantasy Star Online server’s slowly but surely got removed by Sega. Some of the dates for the servers getting disconnected were not honoured, with some of the servers shutting down a week or so before the official date. By 22 April 2008 all of the PSO servers had been shut down, making online gameplay impossible.

Whilst the servers may be officially down, lots of private servers still exist, the most popular of these being the Schthack private server which allows gamers from the Dreamcast, Gamecube and PC versions to play together. The system works surprisingly well and the server has a brilliant community surrounding it making reliving the world of Phantasy Star Online a fun and nostalgic experience. Of course, Phantasy Star Online was not the last game in the Phantasy Star series. Phantasy Star Universe hit US and European stores on October 24th, 2006 and November 24th. PSU featured a lot more features and different gameplay mechanics. However the gameplay was still hack and slash based. The offline storyline was also a lot more fleshed out with 40+ hours of gameplay and the online mode was cited as being as addictive as its predecessor. The title was thoroughly criticised for its lack of content at release and its lag filled servers. The monthly fee was also questioned as the title was not an MMORPG, but more like Guild Wars (which does not require a monthly fee).

Critics argued that the title was not as much as a revolution, like PSO, but more of an upgrade of the Dreamcast classic. Despite this the game still goes on and with the latest expansion pack Amibition of the Illuminus attempting to carry on the trend.

Phantasy Star Online may well be down and the servers may not exist however its legacy and indeed the steps it took to change not only console online gaming but online RPG console gaming are still visible in the world of gaming today and stand as a credibility to Sega’s ideas and the company’s manipulation of those ideas.

Hattrick

Hattrick is the world’s greatest and most popular online football manager game.

And it’s completely free!

In Hattrick, you run your own football team and compete against 929 567 human users from all over the world. All you need is a web browser.
Matches are played in real time a couple of times a week. You can log on at any time to check the status of your team, issue training orders, trade players – or just hang out with other Hattrick users.

IGG Raises over $ 10 Million in Series B Financing

IGG Inc., the leading online game publisher/operator, today announced that the company has closed a Series B round of financing from two prominent venture capital firms and an existing investor.

The privately owned online game company did not disclose specific figures of the financing, but COO Kevin Xu said the funding was “in excess of $10 million” and was led by Vertex Group and joined by Hearst Interactive Media and IDGVC.
“The global experience of Vertex will greatly bolster our international capabilities, and Hearst’s vast connection in the media world is the perfect support that we need to expand our business globally. It’s great to have our original funding partner IDG on board again as well.” said Kevin Xu. He added that the new funds will be used to expand sales and marketing into Asia and Europe, to establish strategic partnerships with developers and publishers worldwide, and to further the development of more innovative and entertaining games in house. Furthermore, the funds will be used to explore more regions and reach out to players of different languages.

Dedicated to serve worldwide players with the best multiplayer online games, IGG Inc. launched its first MMORPG in May 2006. Since then, IGG has successfully released and operated 8 MMORPGs through www.igg.com. With over 8 million registered users as of Q4 2008, IGG has established its reputation as a world-class publisher rising to meet the demand of players of different ages, culture and favors.

“IGG has a unique differentiated business model and a very strong and experienced team.” said Mr Chua Kee Lock, Group President & CEO of Vertex Group. “We are very excited with the investment in IGG and we look forward to working closely with the company and bring it to a greater growth as it expands its business and geographic presence,” added Mr Chua Kee Lock.