Yearly Archives: 2008

Hellgate London: NAMCO Announces Free Server Support Into 2009 for Hellgate

NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., today announced that they will continue to support customers of PC game Hellgate™: London with online server support and play through January 31, 2009 despite the closure of Flagship Studios. In a further gesture of support, Namco Bandai Games will provide this server support free of charge to all fans and players of the game up until the shut down date.



NAMCO BANDAI Games appreciate the enthusiasm of all the Hellgate: London players and looks forward to providing them with future entertainment products.



For questions regarding the shut down or additional information about Hellgate: London, please visit the game’s official website.

Online Game Ring Smuggled Out $38 Mln to China

Police have busted a criminal ring that circulated in Korea online game money generated in China and cashed it out of Korea.

The foreign affairs bureau of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said yesterday, “We arrested two individuals, including the ring leader who is a 37-year-old man named ‘Jeong.’ Jeong’s ring purchased game money in China between May last year and last month, then cashed the money through domestic game item brokerages.”

“They then illegally wired a combined 38 million dollars from Korea to China.”

Charges were also filed against 11 Koreans who allowed the scheme to use their bank accounts for money laundering.

Jeong and his ring reportedly sold the game money illegally produced in China using cheap labor and virus programs. They are believed to have taken a commission of three to five percent of the money traded to purchase game money.

The ring used bank accounts opened in the names of other individuals and wired money from the accounts to a Hong Kong-based paper company in the form of payments for product purchase.

A police source close to the case said, on the condition of anonymity, “The ring used a virtual private network for IP laundering. Using the network, the suspects hid their real location. The network made their China-based IP look like that of an Internet cafe in Korea.”

Source: donga.com.

Please also read the article: Onrpg Article: MMO Crime.

Onrpg Article: MMO Crime

By Ben Lamb, Onrpg Writer

Crime and gaming have gone hand in hand for many years. Everyone likes to play at being a gangster. But some people take their thieving a little more seriously.

In April 2005, a now very well known heist took place in the world of EVE online, with a coordinated and long-term operation resulting in the theft and destruction of a gigantic amount of in-game property. This was not the first time something like this had been perpetrated, nor would it be the last, but something about this act sent ripples flowing far beyond the murky pond that is EVE.

It started when the Guiding Hand Social Club, a name now notorious in EVE, were contracted to assassinate the head of a large corporation. Over the next few months they placed operatives throughout every level of their target’s organisation, with their main man attaining the rank of second-in-command.

When the day came, they raided every storehouse the corporation owned, destroyed their target’s ship and blasted her escape pod to pieces before she could log-out. Their haul netted them several times the original fee for the job, and earned them a place in gaming history.

The thieves’ announcement on the in-character boards elicited a huge wave of reaction, both praising and attacking the act. There was a massive outcry to the developers to bring the thieves to justice for what they saw as a very real crime. The developers won a lot of respect from another section of the community however, by declaring that those involved had acted entirely within the rules (and maybe even the spirit) of the game.

The makers of games spend a lot of time trying to make players feel comfortable in their environments. There has to be a sense of danger, granted, but there also has to be a sense of security to accompany the huge investment that players make in their online avatar. When you are reckless, or simply unlucky enough to get yourself killed, the game may take a chunk of your time, gold or experience, but the developers will usually go to great lengths to stop any other player from forcing this upon you. Player vs player combat especially rarely holds any significant losses for the loser.

Role-playing games are all about getting to do those things that you can’t do in real-life. Everyone likes to feel like they are the hero, but what about those people who want to play the villain? EVE’s set-up, right from the start, was one that allowed players an unusually large degree of freedom that rewarded those players who put in the effort. If you wanted to be a hero then you actually had to be a hero, not just follow all the steps on the ‘be a hero’ quest. And if you wanted to be a villain….

The concept of playing the villain starts to become harder to justify as in-game assets start to have real value outside of the game. There has long been a brisk trade between online and real currency. Although breaking the rules of the games, this has proved hard to stop in most cases. When you start to think of these thefts in the terms of tens of thousands of dollars, they suddenly feel a lot more real.

Most online gamers will be familiar with the term ‘gold farmer’. These are gangs of players, often from countries such as China, for whom the wealth generated from performing monotonous in-game ‘farming’ tasks can earn a decent real-world wage. These operations are often thought to run in conjunction with currency exchange websites and be connected to organized crime.

While this is clearly not in the spirit of the game, it’s a lot harder to monitor, as there is no specific victim. The damage is instead caused to the game economy as a whole. The people who really lose out, of course, are the poor sods killing virtual squirrels in 12-hour shifts for a few dollars a day. But this is simply a new iteration of a system going back a very, very long time.

So far, in all the major cases of in-game theft and fraud, the developers have kept a close eye on the accounts involved and made sure that none of the loot has left the game. But what about worlds like Second Life, where the transfer of money in and out of the game is encouraged?

Here theft is taken a lot more seriously. Second Life is a world for people who want to create something. There are a large number of businesses thriving in Linden’s world. People sell fashion, architecture, technology. All of these, of course, represented simply by a piece of code, and copying this code in order to profit is clearly stealing somebody’s intellectual property.

In 2007, an application was created for Second life called CopyBot. Originally intended as a back-up and debugging tool, it was quickly realised by players that it could be used to copy large amounts of other people’s creations without their permissions.

Linden Labs go to lengths to try and prevent this kind of behaviour but, so far, the authorities have declined to get too involved. And who can blame them? The whole copy-bot fiasco has led to nothing more than a few bans dished out by Linden, despite the amount of protest from users.

The much clearer case of Second Life fraud committed by Ginko Financial remained non punishable by even the developers. Ginko Financial was a player run banking enterprise which seems to have been a simple Ponzi scheme, where the interest players earned on their accounts was simply paid out of the accounts of new investors, until the owner of the bank declared himself insolvent and ran off with in-game money worth over half a million US dollars.

In Korea, where online gaming has always been one step ahead of the rest of the world, police keep a record of reported crimes that involve online games, and it’s a huge amount. Over half of all the virtual crimes reported deal with online games, but still rarely fall within their jurisdiction.

A lot of these old virtual crimes seem to find a natural home in online games. In one sense, these games can be seen simply as glorified chat rooms, and thus play host to all the usual dangers you are likely to find there.

With the large number of children playing these games, there is a very real danger here. Nobody would argue that using an online avatar to pick-up children, or scam people for their credit-card details, definitely constitutes a very real and serious crime. This, understandably, is an area where the police definitely do get involved. Due to the anonymity the internet can provide, it is still very difficult for the police to take action in a lot of these cases.

While these crimes are something to be wary of, they are nothing new when it comes to the internet. However, as virtual worlds become more real, and more people start to live virtual lives, it must only be a matter of time before all these crimes start to get a much close look from the authorities.

But when these in-game crimes are breaking no real laws, should they be subject to real policing? Can they be subject to real policing? In a lot of ways, no they can’t, and maybe they shouldn’t. Would players find the world of EVE half so exciting if they felt they were having their hand held all the way through?

One development which has emerged is the prospect of in-game police run not by the developers, but by the players themselves. If the players have no official protection from the thieves, then what protection can the thieves have against the vigilantes? While this may work in some cases, it’s generally impossible to scam a scammer.

Crime in online games is largely a grey-area, however you look at it, but still a very real area of concern all round. Developers must take very seriously the prospect of people breaking the rules of their games, just as players must always be on their guard.

The thought of policing online worlds raises a lot of difficult questions, which will divide the community many different ways. Should the developers try play God and catch all the petty crooks? Should the police get involved if someone steals your magic sword? Is it even possible to commit a real crime if everyone involved has signed up to the same game?

I’ll certainly be watching very closely over the coming years to see how these issues play out. Let’s just hope there will still be room at the end to play the villain.

Please also read the article: Online Game Ring Smuggled Out $38 Mln to China.

To comment, please visit the forum here.

HALLOW-WYD!

Come in for a spell. WYDians. Halloween is coming soon. The popular MMORPG WYD Global also get ready for the month-long event introducing new events, items and monsters. That will chill the spine of your gaming experience.
Wydians Grab your brooms since we will be having a FANG-tastic Halloween gaming experience this upcoming Tuesday after maintenance!
WYD Global players can expect season themed events and as well as in-game updates.

UPDATES:
Water Scroll (Normal)
• Monsters in the Underworld Map of the Khersup Continent can now possibly drop Water Scroll (Normal).
• New Costumes Available: Cat Man Set (30 days), Cat Woman Set (30 days)
EVENTS:
Test of Faith II
• Mirror… Mirror… on the wall who’s the strongest of them all? Do you have the guts to face up your inner shadows? This competition will allow you to fight to an exact clone of your character so it’s time to know “more” about yourself!
Trick or Treat
• People often said “What’s inside your Box?” During this Halloween season monsters around the Khershup continent will drop a treasure box. The content of the box might be a trick or a treat! But a little warning WYDIAN’s there’s a living creature inside that box!
Capture the Ghost
• Peek a Boo because a ghost will appear in front of you! So it’s time to play ala Ghost Buster and capture a quick screenshot of the ghost in ex-change for some fantastic treats!

Have a Happy Hallow-WYD wydian’s!

IGG Announces Its New MMORPG: Aurora Blade

A new browser based MMORPG from IGG, called Aurora Blade will be officially launched shortly in this coming November.

Aurora Blade aims to provide the healthy and easy internet game-playing environment for all gamers. It does not require any download or installation. Just simply open the link in a new browser window, and type your IGG account and password in to start. With every click of the mouse, you can be changed into different characters or hang out in game world with your friends.

Aurora Blade dazzles itself on its various feature systems, has formed its own unique game genre. There are four classes in Aurora Blade, Warrior, Mage, Knight and Priest. You can choose whichever one you like to enjoy the game. Each of the four classes has certain advantages over the others, but they are each balanced out by certain drawbacks as well. They are equipped with different gear and are clever at using their different skills. These inherent differences make attribute modification and stats bonuses varied, while also highlighting specific growth routes for specific character classes. All the different paths available for character growth make character building strategies extremely important.

Wondering which class you’re going to use? Jump right in and start exploring!

Aurora Blade

Aurora Blade is a cool, new role-playing web game. It does not require any download or installation. Simply open the link in a new browser window, and type your IGG account and password in to start. The main aim of this new game is to build a healthy internet game-playing environment for gamers. With every click of the mouse, you can be changed into different characters or hang out in Barlow Valley with your friends.

In Aurora Blade, whenever you come to a new place, you can step into more than one map to find adventure. On these maps, you may be attacked by aggressive monsters because you’ve invaded their territory or because they just don’t like you. They are monsters, after all. Some high level branch line quests will ask you to conduct exploration of these maps. These are the kind of quests where you can team up with friends to help you fight your way through. Also, the rewards you will get can be very attractive as well. You may be rewarded with Good Fellow Cards used to exchange for high level gear, mine for valuable ore, or the great drops that only come from BOSSes.

If you are not a social person and feel incredibly awkward when making friends with strangers, you can still have a good time in game and win Good Fellow Cards after completing quests. Or just play alone and show off your proficient skills in 1 VS 1, where its easy to win quality gear. Only a very small amount of branch line quests are marked as TEAM quests, which means they must be completed in party. So, even if you do not join any teams, you can still have a lot of fun in game. Your characters can even level up by themselves in case you are AFK for awhile. When you are occupied with something else, log into the game and watch how much your characters can progress by themselves!

Wonderland Online: Version 3.0 Mercenary System

The Wonderland Online Team has announced that the new Mercenary System will be out soon. Players can find Mercenaries in the capitol, Welling Village. Mercenaries are people who can help players to do quests and level up. Compared with other pets, during the employment time, the Mercenary will be loyal to the owner absolutely and even death will not decrease their amity, so the Mercenary will not leave their owner. The most important thing to remember is that the Mercenaries are experienced veterans who have great and cool skills. In this case, players with Mercenaries can use high level skills even from the beginning.



Warrior—Carl

Scurry Beating: Emerges from earth to defeat

Stone Wall: A wall against physical attack

Terrafication: Change target to stone



The firm Earth Skills let Carl stand before players like a strong shield. He is useful when doing quests and leveling up.



Mage—Miranda

Fire Stone Bead: Conjures four huge fire stones

Hot Fire Attack: Threefold energy attacks.

Mess Spell: Makes the target a mess.



Miranda has strong firepower which means she can deal with all blocks easily. What’s more, she is the only Mercenary who can use Fairy Skills.



Priest—Thewlien

Freezing: Attacks by freezing air.

Revival: Revives the dead.

Recovery: Recovers HP continually.



Death is nothing for players with Priest Thewlien, he can restore both the HP and EXP of the owner at the same time.



Players can choose the right Mercenary according to different situations. You will be able to have a lot more fun with the upcoming Mercenary System.

Myth War II Online: Quest Walkthrough – Dark Soul Stone

Last week, the Myth War Online team introduced the story of the Light Soul Stone. Today, they are again inviting you to embark upon another great crusade to fight evil, uphold justice, and gain honor and bountiful rewards. Now, pay close attention – your life is about to turn into a perilous adventure!

Players who have a Light Soul Stone will find they are much stronger than before. At this time, you are ready to begin saving innocent residents in Demon Square from untold miseries. Demon Square is in peril and people living there are suffering, so anyone who can help bring the Demon Square people through this crisis will be rewarded with a Black Soul Stone.

Quest details
Black Soul Stone-a tale of enchantment and heroic adventures
By pure chance you have come across the story of the unknown monsters in Demon Square. The governor there told you that these unknown monsters breezed in and then suddenly disappeared from sight. It was believed that they were engaged into an under-the-table deal, so armed adventurers were gathered together to try to discover these monster’s ugly secrets. Leaving no stone unturned, you started your own deep investigation and uncovered a tempting discovery that would entail danger for everyone involved. In the fine line between life and death, only a hero can realise their own salvation?

Quest steps
Step1: Talk to the Guard Captain(38, 40) in City Hall in Demon Square.
Step2: Talk to Sheet Michael (200, 96), Hammer Hans (235, 166), Cool Kewl (140, 340), Braggered Noel (185, 190), and Wily Carlton (56, 260) in Demon Square (You need to choose the third option in the dialogue box). Then fight with Captain?50,251? in Demon Square.
Step3: After finishing the above, you need to return to City Hall and talk to the Captain again. Then go find Legeoma(65,294) in Demon Square and fight with Vourk(219, 95) in Devil’s Gate.
Step4: Return to Demon Square and fight with Legeoma?65.294?and you will gain Soulstone of Dark when you defeat him.

Prizes
Black Soul Stone, Evil Index, Gold, Experience and level 2 Class Title.

After you have collected the Light Soul Stone and Black Soul Stone, you will surely have extensive knowledge of this game at your command. From here onwards, the elementary quests are finished, and you are compelled to take on tougher fights against more crushing opponents.

Freaky Creatures Video

Take a good look at all the amazing things you can do in Freaky Creatures. Make your own creatures and battle thousands of other players! With great environmental options and creature emotes. Don’t get too close, they bite!