Yearly Archives: 2009

Runes Of Magic: Secret of the Treasure Trove revealed

The ghost ship the ‘Black Mary’ will soon lie awaiting daring adventurers in a dark sinister grotto. In the very near future, the entrance to the high level dungeon ‘Treasure Trove’ with its long-forgotten pirate gold will open. The new instance is found in the online world of Runes of Magic in the newly created Ravenfell territory and furthers the story of the area’s involvement with the Black Sail Pirates. Currently, the Treasure Trove is undergoing final tuning on the test server.
A huge branching cave system awaits adventurers, its inhabitants; however, have long since said farewell to the world of the living. The entrance is guarded by undead pirates. The further players dive into the secret of the Treasure Trove, the more they will encounter ‘Bashing Drybone’ and skeletal warriors. Those who master this challenge will discover an abundant treasure trove on their quest for pirate gold. But be careful: one false step and players will find themselves waylaid by the giant octopus ‘Will’s Curse’.
The final battle awaits adventurer groups on board the ‘Black Mary’. The vanished pirate leader ‘Snow Blake’ and her company will square off against intruders in her cabin, where she will employ all of her undead phantom abilities to finish them off.

Richard Garriott suing NCSoft

Ultima and Tabula Rasa designer, Richard Garriott is suing former employer NCSoft for $27 million. The reason is ‘breach of contract, fraud, and/or negligent misrepresentation’. It seems that Garriorr waws cut loose from NCSoft whil still in quarantine following hit trip into space.
 
Below you can read some excerpts from the complaint:
In… November 2008, Chris Chung, President of NCSoft’s North American operations, informed Mr. Garriott that NCSoft has decided to “part company.” Although Mr. Garriott objected to his dismissal, Mr. Chung insisted that the decision was final – Mr. Garriott had to go.
 
As Mr. Garriott prepared to leave NCSoft, however, Mr. Garriott learned that NCsoft had internally re-characterized his termination by Mr. Chung as a “voluntary” resignation… This mischaracterization had profound and detrimental effects on Mr. Garriott’s stock options: if NCsoft terminated Mr. Garriott’s employment (which it did) then the options – worth tens of millions of dollars – would remain in effect until 2011; but if Mr. Garriott resigned voluntarily (which he did not), then NCsoft might have terminated those options… within ninety days of his departure…
 
NCsoft forced Mr. Garriott into a Hobson’s choice of exercising his options… and forced him to sell into one of the worst equity markets in modern history…
 
(…)
 
Following the lauch of the Tabula Rasa game, Mr. Garriott took a leave of absence… to pursue a different kind of launch… Mr. Garriott used the considerable media coverage surrounding his space-launch to publicize and promote Tabula Rasa for NCsoft. For example, Mr. Garriott send a coded message to the Tabula Rasa player base during his space launch…
 
NCsoft terminated Mr. Garriott’s employment while he was still in quarantine from his space flight…
 
Despite Mr. Garriott’s repeated objections, NCsoft refused to retract its misstatements regarding the nature of Mr. Garriott’s departure and the cancellation of his stock options…

Dragonsky gameplay

DragonSky is a modern, fast-paced action game with a ton of features including crafting, bounty hunting, massive PvP battles, guild commitments, and more. Be immersed in a fantastic world by watching this nice gameplay video!

How To Get Rid Of Annoying MMO Characters

By Mohammed Afzal (MageMoa), Onrpg journalist
In this new and modern world, gaming has become a noble hobby which you cannot avoid. It is something we all must have experienced at least once in our life. Massive Multiplayer Online games have taken gaming to a next level. People are willing to ruin their social life and marry with an unknown player. Others spend their whole income to customize their character. Some people don’t even eat when they are not able to play their precious game. But there is more than that. You would expect that these extreme gamers are the lowest level of every MMO, but that’s not true… Each MMO has its own storyline. These storylines are mostly filled with unique and amusing characters, but there are some exceptions. I’d like to warn you before reading the next part of this article. It may contain some irritating characters which might ruin your love for MMOs and which might lead to a visit to the therapist.

Dream Of Mirror Online – The Chasm King

 
The Chasm King is one of the most annoying MMO characters.  He is one of the first NPCs you will meet in DOMO and he will be your personal guide until level 20. He is supposed to be a helpful guide, which he isn’t. If you decide to ignore one of his calls, he will stalk you through the whole game and he will do everything to talk to you! He is the reason why many people quit a great game like DOMO. How would I get rid of this Chasm King? Well, that is really easy! His name says it already. Chasm is another word for gorge, so I would push him off a cliff into a gorge!
 

Dream Of Mirror Online – The Cows

Another thing that bothers me in DOMO must be the cows. The cows in DOMO aren’t regular cows. Whenever you talk to them, they will always answer with “Meow”. This is incredibly weird and annoying. Has the intelligence on the internet sunk that low that developers of a game can’t see the difference between a cat and a cow? But that’s not everything! Almost all the animals in DOMO have some kind of an identity crisis. Another example would be the ducks. The ducks in DOMO neigh… You see, I understand it if you mix  “meow” and “moo”, but if you can’t see the difference between “quack” and “neigh”, then there’s something really, really, really wrong… How would I get rid of these ‘identity crisis animals’? Well, that’s not really hard. I would create a big event in DOMO and allow all the members to have a nice dinner together. The menu will be: Duck, cow and bull.

Shin Megami Tensei (Imagine Online) – Snakeman

His name says enough. This creepy NPC which can be found in Home III, one of the towns in Shin Megami Tensei; Imagine, will freak you out from the beginning of the game. Snakeman can be seen as the main NPC for the storyline quests. He is supposed to guide you through the game and help you become stronger, but this NPC has clearly some other intentions… He is a thief. He gives you a nice pet at the beginning of the game and you will be allowed to take care of this wounded ‘dog/lion’. And then he will take it back from you when the pet is strong again. He basically makes you take care of his little pet, which is as creepy as he is, and then he will just take him back while leaving you with a demonic red dog. How would I get rid of him? Well, you don’t have to. Just send him on a vacation with two nice girls and he’ll be fine and you’ll never see him again.

Luna Online – Female characters

We are living in the 21st century and everything has changed. There are new gadgets, new television shows, new games and new hypes. Luna Online is a game with cute graphics which mostly targets young children. You would think that the game is alright since it has a helpful community and nice GMs. Sadly, this is not quite true. The problems with Luna Online start right when you run the game. The pop-up of the game shows us shocking material, especially for younger children. One of the backgrounds of the pop-up screen has two hugely breasted girls, which are still minors, showing off in their swimsuits. Sadly, that’s not everything. When you enter the game, you’ll notice many loading screens and NPCs with breast implantations. This could ‘affect’ younger children and it is really disturbing to see this when you are trying to play the game. How to get rid of them? That’s a hard one since I’m not allowed to harm minors. I would just poke them with a pushpin and I would put some clothes on them.

World of Warcraft – Ringo

A small green creature called Ringo asks for your help in WoW. He seems all right and every kind soul would help him and accept his mission. Ringo wants you to escort him to some place. While escorting him, you will be attacked and you have to protect him. This doesn’t sound like a hard job, but it is. This small, ugly green devil faints of heat whenever he feels like it. This is incredibly annoying and it will make it almost impossible to finish the quest since you will have to revive him in the most annoying places. You would think that I would come up with a complex but effective way to get rid of him, but I wouldn’t bother about it. Just smash him with a big hammer and you will never have to see this little monster again. Do you want to finish the quest before smashing him with a hammer? Then I would recommend you to freeze him with an ice spell and carry him on your mount. When the quest is done, you can smash his ice sculpture with the big hammer without making the carpet dirty. Now that’s effective!

Other annoying characters

There are many other characters in MMOs that are pretty disturbing. I don’t want to remind you of them, since you might hate me for doing that. Other than MMOs, there are many single player RPGs with unpleasant characters. There is one I would like to mention, because it is simply the winner. The characters I want to mention are the fairies in the Zelda/Link games. These fairies keep bothering you every minute by screaming “Hey listen!” over and over. This freaks you out and you would like to punch your fairy in its small face to make it shut up. Despite your utter frustration, this is not possible and you will have to live with the fact that this little monster will stay with you forever. And here comes my favorite part! How to get rid of this creature? I would split the fairy’s wings from its body and then I would torture it with needles. You have to keep in mind that you will have to tape its mouth before torturing it or else it will keep bothering you.
 

In Short…

There will always be games with annoying NPCs. The only way to get rid of them will be to ignore them when they are near you or you could just avoid them whenever you can. If this is impossible, you will have to quit the game and find something else to spend time with. And if you can’t live with that? Well, let your fantasy on the loose and think of your own ways to get rid of these horrible creatures and whenever you will see them ingame, you will enjoy their presence because you know very well how to get rid of them!

The Request

This video by Suruxia ended up in third place in the OnRPG.com Blue Dragon Plus Video Contest! Here’s the description given by the author:
A slice-of-life look at the day of what seems to be an alarming majority of OnRPG.com posters. But really, how many times a day do you see this on the boards? Too many to count right? Yeah, I thought so too.

Atlantica Online selected for Game World Championship 2009

NDOORS Interactive today announced that Atlantica Online has been selected as an official title at the Game & Game World Championship (GNGWC) 2009.
Celebrating its fourth year, GNGWC is a game competition that invites gamers from all over the world to compete against one another while playing an active role in promoting the booming Korean online games industry to overseas markets.
Selected as a GNGWC title for the second year in a row, Atlantica Online features a revolutionary turn-based battle system that utilizes free PvP leagues and a new 100v100 tactical battle system for PvP combat. Atlantica has proven to be an ideal title for e-sports competitions with its unique PvP combat.
“It is a great honor to be selected by GNGWC for a second consecutive year and to be an integral part of the competitive gaming landscape in Korea,” said Peter Kang, CEO of NDOORS Interactive. “Atlantica has had tremendous success in many countries including Korea, Japan, and the U.S. and we are happy to partner with GNGWC to present Atlantica players the opportunity to meet in person and battle each other in a worldwide tournament.”
In addition to Atlantica’s inclusion in the GNGWC, NDOORS announced that aggressive expansion plans in Taiwan and Vietnam are currently underway. On April 3, NDOORS finalized a deal with VTC Games to publish Atlantica Online in Vietnam. On April 23, Gamania, Taiwan’s largest games publisher, launched its open beta.
“With the current expansion efforts in Taiwan and Vietnam and plans for China in the near future, Atlantica will truly become a global game,” added Mr. Kang. “Our goal is to offer an unmatched gaming experience to gamers all over the world. With our recent addition of the Titan Server and our strong expansion plans, players worldwide will be able to share the enjoyment of Atlantica.”
Recognized as one of the best free-to-play MMORPGs, Atlantica Online has received critical acclaim for its quality, accessibility, and entertainment value. The recently announced addition of the Titan Server enables interaction among players from all Atlantica servers, creating the first true test of who is the best of the best.

Dragonica Closed Beta Test Begins on May 13th

gPotato Europe is proud to announce that Dragonica, the new free arcade-style 3D side-scrolling MMORPG, is to enter closed beta testing on the 13th of May. From the 13th to the 22nd of May, all users in possession of a beta-key or chosen by lottery from those already pre-registered at the official website will be able to download and play the game for free from the gpotato.eu game portal.
 
European gamers will soon be able to play in this brand new online world, where 3D side-scrolling combo-based combat sits alongside cutting edge massively multiplayer online gameplay, free of charge and without subscriptions. Dragonica simply requires a broadband connection, and works across a wide variety of notebook, desktop and netbook computers.
 
Dragonica uses only the keyboard for precise combos and accessible combat. As you train your character from one of the starting classes to stronger versions, you will gain access to more powerful weapons and train up a wide variety of hilarious skills to develop your own fighting style. It also includes a fast-paced arcade-style ten player multiplayer mode, party support for up to four players, a couple system granting additional powers to pairs of players, and all the guild, trade, communication and quest fun that players expect from a top MMORPG.
 
As soon as servers open, the Dragonica team has a packed schedule of events planned for the ten day Closed Beta. There are plenty of great prizes up for grabs, so if you want to start off the June’s Open Beta in style, entering the CBT events is the best way to earn some unique items to make you stand out. The team will be “meeting and greeting” players at the start to welcome and help them into the game. After the festivities die down, we’re getting straight into the action with combo competitions, challenges to beat the games bosses, PvP tournaments and lots more. Keep an eye on the Dragonica website for full details.
 
The Dragonica Closed beta commences on Wednesday 13th of May, and runs for ten days until Friday 22nd May. It will then be available to everybody with a free gPotato.eu account in June, for free, for life.

Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss Coming Summer 2009

Mythic Entertainment officially announced Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss the upcoming expansion to legendary MMORPG Ultima Online. Slated for release this summer, Stygian Abyss will be the eighth expansion to one of the longest-running MMORPGs in the genre’s history. The expansion will introduce a flood of new content for the citizens of Britannia to explore and conquer.
Stygian Abyss revolves around the introduction of the playable Gargoyle race. Since taking center stage in the original Ultima series, Gargoyles have been a fascinating part of the Ultima story – now, Ultima Online players can enjoy Gargoyles firsthand, with a variety of unique skills, including Throwing, Imbuing and Mysticism.
Players will find expansive new areas to explore, including Ter Mur, the Gargoyle homeland, and the Stygian Abyss dungeon itself – the largest dungeon area ever introduced to Ultima Online. The dungeon will contain new boss monsters of unparalleled difficulty including the Medusa, Primeval Lich and the Stygian Dragon, as well as Player vs. Player zones where adventurers will be turned against each other.

Project Powder, Wind Slayer and SoS news

Project Powder: The highly anticipated commercial release is coming this Thursday, May 7. The web store will be released along with tons of new gear! Customize your character with different stylin’ outfits, accessories, and a variety of extreme boards. Also check out the amazing new map. Challenge yourself to find speedy shortcuts by taking advantage of the jumps along the mountain.
Wind Slayer: A new map, The Serien Cave, is being released! This cave contains all sorts of unique creatures and challenging quest objectives. Also the Mystery Cube system is coming out. There will be Cubes that can either be created from in game materials or bought with SparkCash and they have a chance to contain special, rare items that can only be found within the cubes!
Solstice: A house system will be coming out shortly where players can decorate and hang out with friends inside their own house. The release date will most likely be around two weeks from now so keep an eye out for more information.