Yearly Archives: 2009

Cabal Online: Lost World expansion

A lost world has been discovered in CABAL Online, the massively multiplayer role-playing game from OGPlanet, and it’s up to the citizens of Nevareth to uncover all its mysteries.

In the just-launched Lost World expansion, CABAL players face the task of exploring the newly discovered island in the Sea of Fracia, facing opponents including pirates and mutants along the way. As the secrets of the island are unlocked, the dangers grow, and only the most skilled adventurers will triumph. Adventurers in the Lost World dungeon will have access to beautiful weapons created with the newly discovered SIG Metal.

Besides the introduction of the mysterious island, CABAL players will find other additions to the action-filled MMORPG in this update. The vast expansion of the title system rewards triumphant monster hunters, PVP fighters, and crafters with titles that offer bonuses to stats. The CABAL Online crafting system has also been improved, with a plethora of new recipes and drop locations, and an increased success rate. Players can also look forward to other cool additions including improved mini-maps and new skills for Force Shielders and Force Bladers.

Eudemons: Expansion Preview

In the new expansion of Eudemons Online – the Divine Path, the Twelve Olympians will descend to the mortal world, and seek the most powerful warrior. Those chosen ones will be gifted with god-like power, after they have passed the difficult test – the Apotheosis.

Only the strongest warriors on the continent of Yartland are permitted to the Apotheosis. The Apotheosis ritual is located on the peak of the holy Hirus Mountains. Adventurers pursuing divine power have to possess a loyal 40-star eudemon. To reach the Apotheosis Land where the ritual is held in the limited time of 60 minutes, the mortal warriors must pass the 5 shrines built by the Twelve Olympians on the Hirus Mountains. The 5 shrines are Ares Shrine of Power; Apollo Shrine of Agility; Poseidon Shrine of Stamina; Athena Shrine of Wisdom; and Hermes Shrine of Spirit.
Each of the shrines is guarded by divine servants. To get through the 5 shrines, the challengers must wipe out swarms of devils, dodgy lethal traps and defeat the 5 divine servants. If the adventurers are killed or unable to pass the 5 shrines within 60 minutes, the challenge is failed. Eventually, the Twelve Olympians have arranged the ultimate test for the challengers – the 9 strikes of thunder from Zeus. After enduring these incredible strikes, the challengers will have successful passed the whole test, and are able to finish the ritual of Apotheosis and choose your Godship. Your loyal eudemon who accompanied you and went through the gritty battles will also apotheosize into a divine eudemon.

After the apotheosis, you will master power beyond imagination, and the limitation of human beings is no longer holding you back. Utilize the mighty power to serve the Olympic gods and fulfill your destiny!

Galaxy Online: New Server and contest

Galaxy Online is very happy to announce that a new server named "Gemini" was launched on 4:00 a.m. (GMT-4), March 27th.
 
We thank all players’ wonderful support since Galaxy Online beta test. We are really heartened by this. Your encouragement also stimulates us to make further development. The existing "Aries" server is pushing its upper limit as most of lands have been conquered. In order to relieve population stress and offer better service as well as invite more new players to join Galaxy Online, a brand new server with untouched galaxies is now ready for new and experienced players to explore.
                                                                                                                  
As celebration for the launching of Gemini, we now have confirmed two exciting activities here:
Composite Strength Competition
In the game, the six factions do not usually compete with each other because they seldom leave their own territories. Now, we are excited to initiate a competition between the factions and reward the top 100 players. When the competition deadline expires, the players who rank 1st to 100th on the "Composite Strength" list in the game will be awarded different amounts of Mall Points.
 
Shootdowns Contest
When the event ends, the top 30 players on the "Shootdowns" list in the game will be the winners of the contest. The player who shoots down the most ships (excluding ships they’ve shot down while doing quests) will rank higher on the "Shootdowns" list. The top 10 players will be awarded 200 Mall Points each and those who rank 11th to 30th on the list will be awarded 100 Mall Points each.

CrimeCraft

CrimeCraft is a fast-paced third-person shooter set in the persistent world of Sunrise City, a gang-infested near-future metropolis reeling from the total collapse of the entire world economy. In its first major content expansion players experienced The New Age of Ruin through 10 consecutive episodes featuring story content from a lineup of comic book industry superstars. Recently Crimecraft unveiled the Gang Wars features, in which players do battle to lay claim to various regions of Sunrise City.

 

Features:

 

Territory Wars: Join a gang and fight for control of 20 combat zones, 3 social districts, and ultimately Sunrise City itself! Rule the streets with your gang’s logo displayed throughout and recieve valuable spoils.

Quickplay: Access CrimeCraft’s combat, character customization, equipment shops and social features in an easy to use interface that lets you shortcut the time consuming in-depth RPG gameplay. Players can switch between the streamlined Quickplay experience and the fully featured Sunrise City with the click of a button.

Unique Game Mode: Core Annihilation is an epic game mode that blends PvP and PvE combat. Players cooperate with AI controlled soldiers to destroy an opponent’s core while protecting their own.

La’Famiglia Compound: Recently added with the Gang Wars expansion, this 6-16 player combat zone is the epitome of lavish luxury and criminal greed… a mansion every gang dreams of controlling.

Champions Online Lemuria trailer

Champions Online is a MMORPG due to ship during June 2009, for PC and Xbox 360. Champions Online will offer immense character customization to provide a unique game experience. Gamers will be able to create their hero’s name, back story, costume, powers and abilities as well as design their own personal arch-enemy and his or her back story.

Cabal Online gameplay

Cabal Online brings many innovative features to the MMO industry, the combo system being its biggest pull. Cabal Online also has one of the best equipment designs seen in an F2P. Watch this video and see it for yourself!

MMORPGs Need To Change

By Joshua Temblett (Dontkillmydreams), Onrpg writer

MMORPGs need to change. That’s a well known fact. The question is, how do they change? The MMO is a great genre, as it doesn’t require any real skill with a keyboard and mouse but rather focuses more on tactical planning which makes it a great genre for people who are either really lazy or just in need of some relaxing, whilst playing a game of course. There are so many different directions the genre could go though, some of which developers may not have even thought about, and when the online RPG market is as cramped as it is, one needs to consider another way of approaching the existing market and reeling in new consumers.

 

1) Don’t block out the console gamers.

Console gaming is certainly on the rise, why block out that market? It’s true that nearly everyone in the modern world owns a PC; however why bother trying to get into a market that is so ambushed with the same type of game? Let’s just face it right now; World of Warcraft owns the market. There’s no point in denying that. So then why try to make a game similar to WoW? You’re not going to get anywhere near as many subscribers as the game dominating the market as it’s not only brilliantly designed but also very well managed and made. Unless you have a new idea (that works) you’re not going to get anywhere. This is where the console market comes in.

You don’t have to stick to point and click gameplay on consoles, and this is the beauty of them! I still can’t understand why no developer has tried to make a game with a similar control scheme to “The Legend of Zelda”, especially considering that it’s slow enough to not turn battles into button bashers, but fast enough to retain a good pace. Not only that, but there is a certain skill element required too. Console games cannot stick to the same design roots as PC games though (especially with a different control scheme), and this is where my second point comes in!

 

2) Don’t stick with the same old design.

Let’s assume for a minute that you’re making a game for a console, the way you design that game would have to be different from how you would make a PC MMO. That’s not only because of the control scheme available, but also playing on a console is a completely different experience. Final Fantasy XII (an MMO-styled RPG) is completely different to Guild Wars in terms of environment and general design. What about if you’re not making a game for a console but rather a PC? Don’t stick to the same old methods, move outside of the already tried and tested formula, create a game that plays differently and gives a new experience. There’s nothing stopping designers from mixing and matching genres. MMOFPS anyone?

 

3) Big games use the F2P scheme!

I mean seriously, why not? The economic climate is attacking us all; we don’t have the money to pay to play games every month! F2P games with an online market place opens up your title to more gamers, but at the same time if you put cool items and whatnot on that market place, players will no doubt buy them. But for God’s sake developers, let people buy items from your store using Paypal! Lots of people use it, it makes them feel safe with what they’re purchasing and that some random company isn’t going to take all their details.

 

4) Listen to your community.

The community play the game and know more about the game than the developers do, so why not listen to them? They’re the experts! If a marketing expert tells you what to do, you’re going to believe him and do what they say, so why not do the same with your audience? Also report to your community about your developments with the game and get their opinions on new features you’re adding or game balancing. I remember when I was part of the Wizard 101 Closed (and Open) Beta the developers would always report to the community about their current doings and this created a close community and a very good game.

To be honest, listening to your community is the best thing a developer can do to not only improve games but also to create new and exciting experiences and games within the genre.

Camon Hero gone Open Beta

HanbitSoft Inc. today released details of CAMON HERO, an highly anticipated online Card Collection MMORPG developed by T3 Entertainment Corp., which have begun open beta test on March 24th. CAMON HERO’s unique systems are combined with card and RPG features.
 
CAMON HERO’s character advancement system is not much different from other MMORPGs except after when the character is advanced, players will be able to experience strategic game-plays through interplay among characters and warriors of various roles. For players who play CAMON HERO for the first time, they all begin venturing the world as ‘adventurers’. And after awhile, characters are encouraged to advance into ‘heroes’ by rebirth and occupation change. At level 10, players choose character’s combat type through Rebirth System which there is three types choose from; physical, magical and summoning. At level 30, players will face ‘Secondary Occupation Change Stage’, where they get to choose another type from fighter, magician, and summoner. By choosing types that most fit their play style, players can make their character specialized in one unique characteristic or develop as hybrid shape as they uniquely create their own characters.
 
Uniquely created characters will explore the adventure with the warriors which are summoned by various cards. Warriors, players’ comrades, have various roles. ‘Warrior Private Warrior’ increases warrior’s skill rates, ‘Hero Private Warrior’ increases character’s skill rates, ‘Tanker’ takes monsters attacks instead of character, ‘Dealer’ attacks on behalf of character, ‘Healer’ heals character and warriors, and lastly, ‘Buffer’ give strengthening effects to both character and warriors. Players are encouraged to have a thorough knowledge of their characters’ qualities so that they would come up with good strategy of when to use what cards to summon which warriors that most likely be suitable for their characters.
 
In game BBS (Bulletin Board System) is another feature CAMON HERO is proud of. In BBS, players are able to choose various battle modes, by whichever game play styles they like. So far, there are three modes; Annihilation Battle Mode, Person to Person Battle Mode and Boss Battle Mode. In Annihilation Battle Mode, players have to kill the monsters in given amount of time, and in Person to Person Battle Mode, player who survives from the battle between the players wins. Each mode drops different item and cards, that in order to win various kinds of rare items and cards, players are encouraged to play in all modes and enjoy the fun of collecting the goods.

Gamepot: Japanese F2P publisher expands Gamepot USA

Gamepot, Inc., Tokyo, Japan, announces its launch of Gamepot USA, Inc., an expansion into the US and Global market.
Gamepot USA, Inc. will start conducting business in the USA and is now in the process of releasing its first title.
Gamepot, Inc., the headquarters of Gamepot USA, Inc., is located in Tokyo, Japan, and it became one of the leading ‘Free to Play’ online game publishers in Japan with 12 titles operating successfully.

The name “Gamepot” embodies a company which provides warm-hearted service to customers. The name symbolizes the warm feelings associated with a satisfying and warm feeling
like when you feel to taste soup of “pot”. Also, the collaboration of creative and innovative new games available to our customers
within this “pot” emphasizes the meaning behind “Gamepot”.

Gamepot USA, Inc. is launching its corporate site on March 25, 2009, and will be introducing fun new games with warm-hearted customer service.

This was the key factor for success in Japan, and will be the key to success in the US and with the start of the US office, Gamepot, Inc. is going to expand more global partnership with overseas online game companies more actively and more strategically.

Aeria Games Signs Hello Kitty Online

Sanrio Digital and Aeria Games & Entertainment Inc. today announced they are partnering to launch Hello Kitty Online in North America. The announcement was made at the 2009 Game Developer Conference. Hello Kitty Online is the eagerly anticipated official massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) of the Hello Kitty universe. Aeria Games will manage North American online publishing and game service operations for Hello Kitty Online. Sanrio Digital will manage retail publishing of the game and operate SanrioTown, the Sanrio-themed portal and social networking site integrated with Hello Kitty Online.

Hello Kitty Online is the official MMORPG based on the popular Sanrio characters. The game, currently in its beta stage, will launch in various territories throughout 2009, using a free-to-play model with optional premium upgrades. Players will explore and experience magnificent adventures in the magical and cute world of Sanrio Land as they interact with other players and more than a hundred Sanrio characters, including Hello Kitty, Badtz-Maru, Cinnamoroll, and many others.

Hello Kitty Online is one of few MMORPG titles targeting a female gaming audience. Aside from redefining traditional MMO gaming with the inclusion of integrated social media services provided by SanrioTown, Hello Kitty Online connects the virtual world with real world charity events: during past beta events, Sanrio Digital translated player activities into real donations to charities such as UNICEF. Sanrio Digital intends to continue charitable initiatives as part of North American strategy for Hello Kitty Online.