Yearly Archives: 2009

Fiesta, Wind Slayer and Project Powder news and events

Fiesta: Prepare to embark on the next stage of your adventure! The forces of Teva have traveled beyond the borders surrounding our familiar land and discovered new territory. Breathtaking landscapes, dark dungeons and extravagant creatures await. Are you ready? Fetch your allies, sharpen your sword and stock up on potions as you prepare to reach the new pinnacle of greatness in Fiesta. The new level cap of 105 awaits! Click here to find out more about Fiesta.
Click here to find out more about Fiesta
Project Powder: We’re proud to release Open Beta 2 for Project Powder! Check out the changes and additions to the game as well as the new character Nikki, who is only available with in game gold so your gonna have to earn your opportunity to play as her!
Wind Slayer: The Guild system has arrived, making it so players can join and create their own guilds! The guild system in Wind Slayer is very unique, involving purchasing advertisements and placing them around the world so that other players can click on them.
Wind Slayer Raffle: From now until the end of the month (April 30), all players that spend 3,500 SparkCash will automatically get a ticket entered into the Slayer Soup Raffle, where 1st place (1 winner) receives a Razor Arctosa Keyboard, 2nd place (10 winners) receive a Real Life Monster Hat, and 3rd place (50 winners) receive an in-game Cuckoo Hat. Enjoy, and good luck! Click here to see images of the prizes and more.

Maple Story Europe: Wedding Bells, Windmills and Tulips

NEXON Europe announced today the launch of the in-game wedding system and a special event to celebrate the Dutch Queen’s Day.
Couples who are ready to say “I do” can now visit the Wedding Town “Amoria” and celebrate a romantic wedding of their own, witnessed by fellow players who have received an invitation by the bride and groom. But before they can walk down the aisle, couples have to complete various quests and different types of wedding tickets can be purchased from the in-game Cash Shop to prepare a ceremony after their fancy and budget.
Now having placed as an anticipated tradition, MapleStory Europe continues this year with celebrating the Dutch Queen’s Day as part of its series of special events based on major European cultural festivals.  During this 3-week event, all trading activities within the game will be free of charge and players will receive a special discount when creating a guild or changing the guild emblem to cherish the traditional “Free Market” being held all over the country on Queen’s Day.
Players can further participate at a special event quest to be picked up by the ever-present Event-NPC Charles, who will send players to a huge special Tulip Map to master a few tasks for him.
MapleStory originally launched in South Korea in April 2003 and quickly went on to become one of the most successful online games of all time, with over 92million registered accounts across the world. MapleStory Europe, which launched in May 2007, is the latest iteration of the completely free to play franchise, and offers gamers in Europe the chance to play MapleStory in five different languages – English, French, German, Spanish and Dutch.

Patents in Gaming

By Ben Lamb (BGLamb), Onrpg writer
 
In the fast-moving world of modern software, patents provide developers with a valuable defence against the theft of their ideas. More than this however, they are used as streams of revenue for small innovative businesses, and big bullying sticks for the big corporations.
 
Companies or individuals can register a patent for a particular invention, whether that invention be a physical object or simply a way of doing things that is considered particularly original. In this way they are different from a ‘copyright’, which would only apply to a specific work. This broadness of their nature makes them a very tricky customer in the world of law(craft), and lawsuits for the infringement of a patent are far more common than the relatively easily avoidable ‘copyright’ lawsuits. In fact, in the software industry, it is often said that it is impossible to write any piece of software without infringing a patent somewhere.
 
Due to the nature of the technology they generally apply to, the lifetime of a patent is much less than that of a copyright. They can apply to almost everything and there are thousands of patents relevant to gaming today. They cover everything from the hardware of the various consoles, the software that runs on them, right up to the very ideas behind games.
 
The big names in computer gaming today each own hundreds of patents. They continually licence out, either to each other or to smaller firms (if they can afford the fee) like one big, legalistic group-hug. There are also a plethora of smaller companies whose efforts would otherwise have been forgotten had they not patented an idea that would turn out to be essential to the industry, and which would then sit in the corner like a proverbial golden hen, shitting them out billions.
 
Many people (me among them) like to point out some of the innovations to the industry that Nintendo have rolled out across the ages. The first to use a d-pad instead of a huge joystick The first to use a standardised pause button The first to have shoulder buttons. First to have rumble. First to take that d-pad and make it an analogue thumbstick. First to make a balance-board yoga ‘game’ (errr….yeah, I’ll stop there). But despite the fact that Nintendo made all of these popular, they are often not the original inventors and have had to pay for many licences for them.
 
In the arena of the console controller (one of the most popular fighting grounds), a company called Anascape is currently causing loads of trouble for the big boys. They’ve claimed patents on a whole range of controller functions, from things like pressure sensitive buttons and analogue sticks, to very confusing sounding inventions like the “Variable Conductance Sensor with Elastomeric Dome Cap”.
 
Whilst Microsoft has been happy to pay them their due, Nintendo have been taking it to the courts and, mostly, getting their arses handed to them. And much as Sony like to claim that they didn’t include rumble in the PS3 controller due to interference with their motion sensing kit, they are currently facing a ruling that may force them to stop selling any rumble related hardware at all. This includes the PS2.
 
There is almost no area of gaming that remains untouched by these patents, as almost any good idea in a game can (and usually will) be patented. For instance, you know the way that, in almost every 3D game, the camera is attached to the mouse and moves in a sphere around the player character? That’s patented. So next time you run across a game with an infuriatingly bad camera set-up and can’t help but rage at the developers, it’s usually lack of funds, rather than common sense that led the developers down the path of poor camera management.
 
MMORPGs, despite seeming at times to all be slight variations on the exact same theme done and re-done a thousand times, have been relatively free from concerns about patents. That is, until recently. A hugely important lawsuit is currently in progress in America concerning Worlds.com and NCSoft. NCSoft being the creators of the wonderful MMO City of Heroes (& Villains), and Worlds.com being money grabbing bastards.
 
Broadly, their patent covers the sending of packets of data back and forth between a client and a server, where the packets represent the positions of objects in a persistent 3D world. Now it doesn’t take long to realise that this covers not only every MMO ever made, but also a huge number of other games, right back to Doom (and beyond!). In fact, it’s essentially impossible for an MMO to work without this software.
 
So why have they picked on NCSoft? Well Worlds.com has decided that they are the easiest target to go for first. A win against NCSoft would provide Worlds.com with the precedence needed to attempt to take on the heavyweights of the industry. Namely Blizzard (World of Warcraft) and Linden Labs (Second Life). There’s no reason for them to stop there though. If they win, they will likely take on every MMO out there, one at a time.
 
So what does this mean for MMOs? Well first off, Worlds aren’t going to attempt to restrict the usage of their patent, they are simply going to try and extract a large amount of money for it. Due to the fact that there are a huge number of companies with a huge number of games relevant to this lawsuit, the infringements are gigantic. This could, however, work in NCSoft’s favour. Their main defence will be that Worlds.com kept very quiet about their lawsuit for a very long time. It’s considered very bad play to sit on your patent until a company (or, in this case, an entire industry) has built a reliance on it, and then try and claim exorbitant amounts.
 
The outcome of the initial case is, apparently, too close to call, even for those with an eye for these things. One thing is agreed though. If Worlds.com win this case, they should have very little trouble extracting money from every single MMO out there and making a gigantic swimming-pool of money to bathe in, laughing maniacally.
 
Understandably, every eye in gaming is turned towards this case, and yours should be too. Watch this space!
 
To discuss this further, go to this Forum Thread.

Adventure Quest Worlds Review: Beat the Dragons!

By Mohammed Afzal (MageMoa), Onrpg writer

Introduction

 
Adventure Quest Worlds is an MMORPG created by Atrix Entertainment. The game is based on the original ‘Adventure Quest’ which already was a stunning browser MMORPG.
In Adventure Quest Worlds, you will start in a magical world where you have to battle monsters, finish many quests, unlock lots of features, battle against your friends and protect your citizens! Adventure Quest Worlds will bring your imagination alive!

Gameplay

 
When you load the game, you will have to register before being able to log on. The registration is easy and you can finish it in a minute or two. After signing up, you will be able to log on. There are 8 servers you can choose from. Some of them have chat limits and some of them are only accessable if you are a member.
If you are ingame, you will notice that the movement can be pretty choppy. You have to walk by clicking on the ground. This can be pretty annoying after a while, because your fingers will hurt.
 
The gameplay of Adventure Quest Worlds differs from Adventure Quest. The combat is not turnbased anymore and you stay in the same dimension when attacking a monster. You can attack and use magic by pressing the hotkeys. The only downside of this is that this function doesn’t always work if you alt+tab.
The other thing that you might notice after alt+tabbing is that you will lag, even on the fastest computer. This can only be fixed by reloading the game.
 
You will be able to choose between four classes; priest, mage, warrior and rogue.
The priest is the healing class of the game. They may be a bit hard to train in the beginning, but you will be fine at higher levels. The warriors are the best tanks in the game. They have a high amount of defense and health and they can handle many kinds of weapons. Rogues are the long range class of the game and they mainly specialize in archery. Mages are the least balanced class. The skills are not quite original and you will have some mana problems if you start out as a mage.
 
The game has two kinds of ranks. You will be able to level your regular level by gaining experience from killing monsters and finishing quests, but you can also level your job level. This can be increased by using your skills or finishing some quests.
 
The storyline of the game is pretty amusing. You are a warrior that has to help the citizens and the king! You will have to defeat hundreds of monsters through the storyline including dragons, skeletons and much more!
 
The regular and storyline quests can work on your nerves. Most of the quests tell you to kill an X amount of monsters which will be rewarded with a small amount of gold and experience. There are also many missions including riddles and treasure hunts which can only be solved if you use your brains.
 

Unique features

You will be able to enchant your gears to make them stronger by going to the enchantment store. You can also get pets to accompany you during fights and you can fight against your friends. The PvP (Player Versus Player) in Adventure Quest Worlds is pretty amusing and you will be amazed by the skill it actually requires to beat your opponent.
Adventure Quest Worlds also offers us some nice actions and funny moves such as dancing!
 
The customization in Adventure Quest Worlds is pretty decent. Despite the fact that you are limited when creating a character, you will be able to change a lot ingame. There is a barber in every town where you can cut your hair and your beard.
The equipments in Adventure Quest Worlds are very unique. There are a lot of different kinds of armors and weapons. Some of the gear has the ability to change its form or color!
Sadly, the game’s customization also has it’s downsides. Due to bugs, you will not be able to wear some of the equipment. It might also happen that your bought armor disappears.
 
The graphics of the game are pretty decent for a browser based MMORPG. The world is very colorful but more than just eyecandy! Your character will have a bright side and a dark side ingame. This might look a bit weird in the beginning, but you will get used to it.
The sound of the game is disappointing. There is practically no background music and the other sounds are amaturistic. Keep your iTunes ready when you are going to play this game!

Membership

 
There is a possibility to pay an amount of money to become a member. As a member you will get many extras. You will be able to unlock the chat, equip pets, use special armor, enter exclusive areas, access the member-only server and much more!
You will also get an amount of “adventure coins” when you subscribe. You can use these to buy rare items, special equipment and you will be able to increase your inventory with them soon! Adventure Quest World will be even more fun if you subscribe!

Summary

 
Adventure Quest Worlds is a great game which offers us to play with our friends without downloading anything. The game gives us the opportunity to do many different things such as exploring the world and having fun, but it needs to be updated and the bugs should be fixed. Another downside would be that you will not be able to be the best without subscribing. AQW has great features but it is missing a lot of valuable points which every MMO should have.

Personal opinion

 
Adventure Quest Worlds will be loved by you if you liked Adventure Quest. I would recommend you all to try it out, because it doesn’t take long to get ingame at all and it is noobfriendly, so definitely worth a try!
You will also be able to move your characters from Adventure Quest to Adventure Quest Worlds soon, so that means you will not have to start over again!
 
Pros:
– No download
– Decent graphics
– Great customization
– Appealing features
– Nice PvP
– Autoloot
 
Cons:
– Laggy gameplay
– Boring quests
– Bad sound
– Buggy

Luminary: Rise of the Goonzu

Luminary is a mixture of Community, Artisan, and Politics, where all of these elements are blended to make this wonderful game. Best of all it’s Free to Play!

In the Game of Luminary, the goal of all characters is to learn about your character and the weapons that are provided, Join a town community and guild community where you will interact with other Players, Afterward you will trying to level up your character in manufacturing where you can make Weapons, Armors, Foods, Medications, Ironware, Tools, Etc, for yourself and even others. Some people also make a goal to be the “GoonZu”, a character that is elected by their fellow players to guide everyone and do the job of the GoonZu.
Game Features
• Social MMORPG
• Attractive anime-style graphics
• Cute pets
• Never ending quest system
• PVP / Siege War
• Many ways to make money including manufacturing, cooking, fishing, mining, farming
• Stock market and advanced player-run market economy
• Deep political system – Run for “Goonzu”

Earthrise

The official trailer for the upcoming 3D sci-fi MMORPG Earthrise! Over two minutes of cinematic and in-game footage that gives a good preview of the atmosphere for the much anticipated MMO. Very nice video, watch it now!

World of Kung Fu Gets New Server and New Version

The Free-to-Play Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) from VestGame Entertainment will open a new server in Seattle of the United States. World of Kung Fu players will benefit from enhanced performance and increased access speed. The new server is planned to begin operation on April 28th.
VestGame Entertainment will open a new server to keep pace with the large number of new accounts. The new server will increase speed and access times for all players. The new server will be endowed with a special name “Emerald Tiger”.
 
At the same time, a new version1.0.46 expected by players is about to release on April 28th. This coming version will give players absolutely fresh experience in the new adventure.
The most amazing section is that there will be two brand new maps and two Instances. The two new maps are separately named Mangrove and Piao Miao Zhou.
 
Mangrove used to be an import part of our beloved Middle Kingdom. A river goes around it used to be the only way to get into and out of Mangrove, the most beautiful forest in the world. As soon as Mangrove was occupied by monsters, danger stealthily comes to this river. And the Ship names “Piao Miao Zhou” is the last merchantman in this river.
 
The two Instances are coded Ancient Hill of Mixiang and Stone Fort. 
 
Ancient hill is in the deep of mangrove. A famous couple, Sui Feng and Ting Yu tried their best to beat monsters and protect the villagers on the hill. Before they left, they took some rosemary to villagers. In order to thank them, villagers get the name from the special flavor of rosemary and called the hill “Ancient Hill of Mixiang”.
 
About Stone Fort, there is another heroical story. The Wans was once the landowner of the Liuli Pool. The suzerain of Wans built a stone fort and trained many soldiers. So they can climb and protect villagers around the fort when they were attacked.

Lineage II The Chaotic Throne: Gracia Final

Dev Diary # 2: Changes to Combat with Gracia Final
Written by: The Lineage II NCsoft West Team
 
Changes to Combat with Gracia Final
 
The Lineage II Gracia Final expansion has added some exciting new content in regards to combat. Along with the brand new continent a new aerial PvP combat arena has been added and there have also been some fantastic additions to the Olympiad tournament that incorporates three versus three competition!
The Aerial Cleft takes PvP to the skies of the Gracia continent.
 
Participation in this aerial PvP is exclusively for players who are on the Gracia continent and who register in the Aerial Cleft region. Once registered, two randomly assembled teams are thrust into an exciting twenty-five minute battle. During that time players will need to master their fear, flying prowess and new aerial skills to win. Not only is brute force required to be victorious, but you’ll have to work together with your new found teammates in order to successfully shatter the crystal cores and score points for your team. At the end of the twenty-five minutes the team with the most points wins. To the victors go valuable Emery pieces which can be used in concert with Star Stone pieces that winners can harvest after the match to create attribute crystals. The meek will not survive in this arena and the strong will continue to fight for the Cleft’s riches.
 
To accompany the aerial combat of the Cleft, there has also been a unique change to the existing Olympiad. You and two other companions can now form a three player group and compete in a no holds barred no class restrictions PvP competition! This competition pits six potential heroes against one another in a three versus three Olympiad, but it’s up to you to find the deadly combination of strategy and skill with your partners in order to be victorious. However, choose your companions wisely, as their point totals will be added to yours, so their failure is your loss. On the other hand, if you and your teammates triumph, your team will receive the spoils of the Olympiad tournament and collect Olympiad tokens. Use these tokens, now the prizes for all Olympiad victors, to purchase a variety of new rewards!
 
From expanding a time honored classic PvP tournament such as the Olympiad, to adding the Aerial Cleft arena for aerial PvP combat, the new Gracia Final expansion for Lineage II offers multiple new ways for players to compete with one another and experience the thrill of PvP.

Chaos Online Closed Beta 2

Ingle Games is glad to announce that Chaos online, No-Wipe Closed Beta 2 Test will start at 7:00PM on 24th of April (PST). In order to prepare for Closed Beta 2 test, server will be brought down at 7:00PM on 23rd of April (PST) and will be opened at 7:00PM on 24th of April (PST). So total estimated down time is 24 hours.
 
Chaos Online is a free to play massively multi-player online role-playing game with the latest 2.5D engine: SancoX – specializing in magnificent effects and expansibility. The game is published by Ingle Games, implementing many new features into the game – You can experience modern technology vs. ancient magic! For example, you are able to cast your powerful spells while riding on a modern motorcycle! Chaos Online is also the first MMORPG that brings in-game credit card system, which means the purchase of items in game is really optional since you will get in-game money from time to time.
 
We thank the players who participated in Stage 1 of Chaos Online Closed Beta. We have incorporated a lot of stuff into the game during the first stage of closed beta and a lot of changes are based on your suggestions! Meanwhile, many new features are introduced into our game, such as Wing and flying mount, newbie code system, Treasure Map Challenge and Pharaoh Revive Challenge. We thank you so much for your great efforts, and we hope we can make our game more perfect!
 
We also invite players who are seeking for better quality games to participate in Closed Beta 2. We need different opinions, suggestions and ideas to make the game better during CB2. Impossible is nothing, imagination is everything here in Chaos Online!