Yearly Archives: 2010

CardMon Hero

Assemble a powerful deck of summoning cards to do battle with in CardMon Hero. Summoning cards may be found in the field or crafted with materials, each with a unique set of abilities to maximize your strengths.

 

Game features include:

– Persistent and open 3D world: Adventure through a massive and beautiful world filled with quests, creatures and enemies just waiting to be discovered.
– Quests without the grind: Complete quests by adventuring through numerous zones and maps that don’t require players to grind. Level up through quests that Heroes can overcome on their own or challenging quests that will offer greater rewards with the cooperation of your friends.
– Extensive Hunting Mode: Join a party or band the guild to face strong monsters that yield unique rewards and rare items, scaling up in difficulty as you gain Mission Points.
– Unique battle strategy: Experience familiar game mechanics popular to MMOs while strategically creating, recruiting and customizing mercenaries to summon and aid you in battle.
– Endless Mercenaries: Discover new summoning cards, craft new mercenaries out of materials, upgrade mercenaries by combining cards with unique skill sets, and even recruit monsters that you encounter in Aria.
– Full customization: Create a Hero unique to your personality with selection of gender, faces, clothes, armor, weapons and shoes. Mix and match summoning cards to build out an army of mercenaries that complement your battling style and strategy.

The Synopsis of Anmynor

The Synopsis of Anmynor

 

Spaniard Blend has revealed today the synopsis of its first title, ANMYNOR, and the first screenshots of one of the 5 environments of the game, the “arena” of fire.

 

ANMYNOR is set in a magic world, ravaged by the war. In a time so far that nobody can remember, man discovered magic, until that moment savage and unknown, and this discovery became in source of wealth and prosperity for mankind; the alchemist masters, wise and hermit beings devoted to the art of magic, created the runes, powerful stones that contained magic.

 

Soon the greed of man interfered in the course of the History and centuries of wars amongst villages, cities and even civilizations devastated the earth and decimated mankind brutally. Man, full of yearning of revenge, found in magic the way in order to continue the fights and created the golems, magic beings built with runes, with incalculable and splendid powers and controlled by the mind of his masters.

 

From that moment, the battles of man were fought by the golems who fight to live or death in the “arenas”, parallel worlds created for the war.

 

To be the best master, the most powerful of the warriors, and the most respectful magician is the motivation for the men of ANMYNOR world, that are still fighting nowadays.

Mission Against Terror Announces Clan System

Mission Against Terror Announces Clan System


Mission Against Terror’s clan system has been unleashed. The results, as we’re sure you’ll agree, were worth the wait; get ready to lock and load, soldiers! The clan system is nothing short of comprehensive as players will find both a simple and engaging framework behind it.

 

How It Works:
Clan leaders will be required to be a seasoned veteran at Rank 20 to be able to create a clan, with members only requiring minimal battlefield experience at Rank 5 to join a clan. Up to 1200 soldiers in total can be enlisted at any given time. Players can send applications to clans completely within the system without the need to visit clan-specific forums or anything third party, and clan leaders can approve or deny applications with ease.

 

Mission Against Terror's clan system has been unleashed

 

The heart and soul of the clan system is the Clan Battle server, where clans can participate in 5v5 or 8v8 scrims. The process is simple: Players create a game much like a regular game room but only members of the same clan can join that room. Once the team of 5 or the team of 8 is all ready to go, the system will match the team with another team of the same size and the match will begin.

 

Results are tracked by the system and clans are ranked based on their performance, encouraging competitive play. There’s no need to set designated times or coordinate with other clans to get a clan match going, matchmaking is done in real-time and on-the-fly, allowing for less wasted time setting things up and more time taking each other down.

 

The Clan Battle server will be open every day from 4:00PM EDT(GMT -5) to 12:00 Midnight. Exciting times are near! Gear up, turn the safety off and fight your way to the top!

 

 

Die 2 Nite

Die2Nite is a free zombie survival game set in a hostile world inhabited by zombies.

 

The players (or citizens) are divided into groups and are allocated a small town where they must organise themselves each day in such a way as to survive as long as possible against the zombies. The last remaining survivor will become the Hero of the town.

 

You are free do do whatever you choose, and to go your own way, whenever you like !

 

Razer Hardware

“Razer is more than just the world’s leading brand in gaming.

We were founded in 1998 in San Diego, California by our CEO Min-Liang Tan and our President Robert “Razerguy” Krakoff in a tiny shared office with a couple other gamers. We have grown today to hundreds of employees worldwide with offices in seven cities, including San Francisco, Hamburg, Seoul, Shanghai and Singapore.

 

Our vision from the very beginning was to be the world’s greatest gaming brand and we’ve set out to achieve that by designing the best gaming products that any gamer has ever seen.

 

We believe that truly great products are based on technology, designed with extensive human factors and user ergonomic studies and then tested by the top professional gamers. In simpler terms, our own world class scientists and engineers develop cutting edge technology in-house or with partners, design phenomenal products around core technologies – and test the hell out of them in the field with our pro-gamers before we launch them.

We are the only gaming hardware company in the world with dedicated gaming user interface research and development labs, and our technology and designs are incubated in three dedicated design centers located in facilities in California, Singapore and Shenzhen. No other company boasts of technology like we do – because we’re the only guys who have what it takes under the hood.

 

We tell it like it is: some can pretend to co-develop products with professional gamers, but gamers don’t develop technology: scientists and engineers do (and ours just happen to be gamers as well). We develop and design our products in our own labs and then put them to the test with top professional gamers who use them in pro-level tournaments and then provide us with feedback. Then we iterate on the product, refining it with the feedback – over and over and over again. That’s how it’s done, that’s how a Razer product is built from ground up. No marketing BS and no hype.

 

We pioneered the eSports movement with the world’s first $100K tournament back in 2000 and we have continued to give back to the community by sponsoring top eSports athletes who give back to Razer by beta-testing our products. We remain one of the largest sponsors of eSports community sponsoring top global eSports teams worldwide.  

 

The people that work here at Razer are gamers just like you – some amateur, some ex-professional gamers, some just play for fun, just ask our CEO who will lay the smack down on you in Quake Live or our President, who has over ten level 80’s on his local server.  Hell, he will even take you on a raid in the middle of the work day. We are the same gamers who are told by the suits that we need adult supervision and we need a professional CEO or management team – and we’re the same gamers who tell the suits exactly where to shove it because we like doing what we do – and we do it on our own terms.

 

We hope our passion for gaming speaks to you like it does to us, through our products and we hope you enjoy the competitive edge we bring to your game.

 

For Gamers. By Gamers.
Team Razer”

Final Fantasy XIII

A New Fantasy Begins
Embark on an adventure beyond your wildest dreams – packed with breathtaking environments to explore, unique allies to befriend, and awe-inspiring enemies to conquer.

An Audio-Visual Benchmark

Harnessing the power of The Crystal Tools graphics engine, FINAL FANTASY XIII pushes the boundaries of high-definition cinematic presentation, sound and gameplay.

A Unity of Speed and Strategy
The familiar Active Time Battle system has evolved, granting players the freedom to execute numerous commands in a single turn in real-time. Now players can enjoy all the strategy and flexibility of a turn-based system, along with the visceral thrill of an action game.

Turn the Tide of Battle with Paradigms
A brand-new game mechanic known as the Paradigm System enables players to assign roles to their party members at any time during battle. By switching between a variety of roles – including Commando and Medic – players can respond instantly to the needs of an ever-changing battlefield, adapting their strategy to ensure victory.

Unleash Devastation with Enhanced Summoning
Introducing Gestalt Mode: an exhilarating take on FINAL FANTASY’s trademark summon system that elevates the action to a whole new level. In Gestalt Mode, the player uses simple button commands to unleash the combined might of the characters and their transformed Eidolons, inflicting massive damage to any who stand in their way.

Lose Yourself in the Drama

An immersive storyline draws the player ever closer to a cast of intriguing characters. Will they have the strength to face their fate, or are they doomed to destroy everything they love?

Darkfall Announces Offline Skilling

Darkfall Announces Offline Skilling

 

In a somewhat unexpected move Darkfall spokesperson Tasos has announced they will be introducing the ability to train certain character skills while offline. Is Darkfall trying to emulate EvE’s success with this system?

 

“The unnamed feature mentioned in the last activity report has to do with offline skilling. A lot of thought has gone into making this feature meaningful, useful, and balanced. The purpose of offline skilling is curbing macroing, giving newer players a better chance to close the gap, and to cut down on some of the tedious repetitive tasks that exist in the game.”


Is Darkfall trying to emulate EvE's success with this offline skilling system?

 

Tasos goes on to emphasize how careful they want to be with the introduction of this system:

“We’re hoping to launch it as soon as our next patch in a couple of weeks so there’s been a lot of activity around this feature, developer cooperation, feedback from everyone concerned, statistical analysis and all kinds of number crunching. Of course, the most important feedback will come from you, our players, and we’re sure there’s a lot more to be learned from your experience using this feature. We’ll also try to share more information with the community and get some feedback before we launch it.”


The fallout in the community was immediately felt and Talos quickly added a clarification:

“A small clarification: We’re not looking to upset the game’s balance by adding a convenience feature and this is why I mentioned there’s a lot of thought and balancing going into this. So on offline skilling, we’ll start with a small amount of skills and gradually expand it, and obviously many skills won’t be included.”


We’re curious to see how this will impact Darkfall in the long run.

Facebook As New Media For MMOs

Facebook As New Media For MMOs
By Kei Beneza (dividelife), OnRPG Journalist

 

One thing you just got to love about Facebook is that it’s not just a social networking site. Yes, compared to its predecessors, the site has indeed taken SOCIAL NETWORKING to a whole new level. Now people can upload videos, converse with a wide variety of people online, upload and tag photos, and… play MMOs? Come again?! Yep! That’s right! It would seem that social networking and massively multiplayer online gaming make a pretty good combination; in fact, getting people to play through Facebook messages seems to be more effective than through word of mouth. So what makes MMOs function so well in Facebook anyway? Let’s dive in and see, shall we?

 

And You Though It Was Just Quizzes and Comments

Heck even I was surprised after my friend invited me to Bite Fite, a Vampire vs Lycan web brower game now featured on  Facebook. In my opinion, promoting or having MMOs in social networking sites is a good idea, especially since people who are unaware of the game’s existence can try it out by simply logging on to their Facebook site. The best part about this is feature is that players are now free to try out different browser games in the comforts of their own personal page. There are tons of games in Facebook, and you can bet your arse there’s one for everybody. No installation required! Just log in, play, and enjoy. I myself have become addicted to their online poker game. Like I said, the site has more than just MMORPGS.

 

Just Quiz
Not just quizzes

 

Publish, Invite & Join

Need help? Is the Ice Queen too hard for you? Unlike other MMOs, you can actually request the aid of other people by sending them invitations which linkto your current situation. I’m not saying that people don’t regularly their email but after conducting a series of surveys, I managed to conclude that people tend check their social network pages more religiously than their email accounts. Come on! Would you ignore a friend in need? Baad friend… BaaAAAAd friend. Anyway aside from random invites, players can also publish their overall progress on their ‘wall’. It’s actually quite annoying at times, especially when your home page is flooded by updates like:

 

Publish Invite
Publish and invite

 

“Mandy has unlocked the A Valued Customer trophy. The Elders have bestowed Mandy with the gift of XP to share with their friends for a limited time.”

 

Free XP? I’m in! Apparently, each game has its own reward for new players, and since your friends are the ones earning it for you, it would be a shame to let these things go to waste. 😛

 

Graphics So Far

Alright, since it is STILL considered as a browser application, the graphics and visuals might not compete with existing client based MMOs, but seeing as how they are able to put Pet Forest in, I’d say there’s a bright future ahead of social networks (in terms of gaming, at least).

 

Graphics
Graphics so far

 

Quality of games featured in Facebook

Facebook caters to different types of target markets. You have the girly teens who are mostly inclined to be expressive of their newfound styles so some snazzy model agency network game might pique their interest like Glamour Age (rival modeling agency espionage and virtual catfight, anyone?). There are also the “old school” choose-your-faction games like Pirates vs Ninjas for those who are still hung up on that idea. For the enterprising types, games that need micromanagement skills have sprouted like Restaurant City, Cafe Life and-God forbid I forget, Farmville. Speaking of ‘quality’ I was actually amazed at how beautiful Facebook’s games were. After reviewing tons of browser-based games online, I can say that I am truly impressed by the MMOs in Facebook. Not only does it exercise recruitment a lot better than browser games that allow players to send invites through email, it’s also aesthetically beautiful in every way. Unlike other browser games that tend to make you read a load of combat descriptions, these games actually have awesome pictures to show, as well as a beautiful interface that matches the theme at hand. Come on! POX NORA in the comforts of your Facebook wall? Doesn’t that scream QUALEETEE already?

 

Quality of Games
Quality of games so far

 

No Fear In Trying

Perhaps one of the reasons why people don’t wanna try games is that they get in the way of their everyday tasks. Some are not even aware of its existence, which in this case hinders them from trying out different games that they may potentially enjoy. Since the games are now featured in Facebook, you could say that players can now enjoy modern browser gaming while moving on with their mundane lives. Another thing would be the stereotypical outlook of games. The influence factor of seeing your friends play a specific game without you is actually a good way of making people play. Farmville would probably be the best example as I’ve seen countless people play it after seeing their friend’s virtual crops.

 

Register

 

Last Remarks

It is quite astounding how games managed to grow this far, now stretching their overgrown tendrils towards the world of social networks. To be honest, I wasn’t really fond of Facebook games, that is, until my friends started to spam my wall with invites to Castle Age, Farmville, and Bite Fite. I suppose I was wrong to have judged these games so quickly, as they are definitely browser games of the highest quality. Oh! By the way, I’m not sure if most of you will agree, but the whole idea of auto registration is definitely a big plus for me. Once you allow the application to access your wall, you’ll be taken directly to the game with your real name and wall picture as your ingame name and character portrait. I’m a bit lazy when it comes to in game registrations so this system really worked for me. Anyway, to sum it all up, Facebook is a great place for MMOs. It has an effective recruitment system, an easy registration process, and most of all, a bunch of players to play with. It ain’t called Massively Multiplayer for nothing right? And how exactly could it be more MASSIVE than through a social networking site? 😉

 

Last Remarks

OC Racing Review: Who Said Racing Can’t Be Simple?

OC Racing Review: Who Said Racing can’t be simple?
By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), OnRPG Journalist

 

Racing games used to be the genre where the player’s goal was only to be the fastest and the best among the racers. However with the sudden success of underground racing games like the Need for Speed franchise, looking good while winning has never been so important.

 

OC Racing tries to deliver the thrill of the race and the satisfaction of having the most pimped up ride out there into a browser game.

 

Think of it and it shall happen

I have to make it clear though that when I said OC Racing tries to deliver, I really meant the game tries to deliver. The thing though is that the delivery of the racing and customizing experience fails to give you the experience you expect. Let’s start with the customization, usually when you have a car customization feature in any racing game, you get the preconceived idea that you would get to see how your car looks like when you purchase and attach the part to you car’s body. In OC Racing, you don’t. What the game does is give you a number of the customized parts you bought for your car with the default image of the car beside it. So the customization relies heavily on your imagination and nothing else.

 

OC

 

Race? What Race?

Your imagination is also heavily needed in terms of the game’s races. Unlike racing games you don’t   have control of your car when it goes to a race so it’s a stats game from start to finish. There are some random factors that the game takes into consideration but if you play your cards right you shouldn’t have to worry too much about losing to a carefully picked race. The idea of using your imagination and relying on stats and car capabilities seem to be a solid enough concept on paper, however, if you are a race game fan this doesn’t cut it. The game loses the biggest reason why racing games are sought for in the first place, actual human driving. However, the game in its entirety is not a total let down. It does redeem itself a little bit with other game features and it does provide at least a competitive atmosphere to keep you playing the game.

 

OC

 

Game Features

OC Racing not only provides browser-based racing and car customization, the game also provides alternative means of enjoyment as well. The first feature that is an entertainment feature is the racing team creation in OC Racing. You can look for or create a racing team of your own in OC Racing. There are no requirements except 10 credits which is the  in-game currency. Racing teams in OC Racing serve only as an identifying feature for players so that they can feel they “belong” to a group.

 

OC Racing also has a licensing system that gives you the drive to play the game longer. With the lack of any player control, the way for you to earn your licenses is to earn credits. Under normal circumstances, earning your license by credits or by any kind of currency is a blasphemy to racing games, however with the limitations of OC Racing, you can let this one transgression slide. The game also has an “underground” system where you get to pay and trade for illegal products such as weapons, drugs, booze and cigars. I think this is an attempt for OC Racing to be “hardcore” but the emphasis on numbers makes this attempt fall short in terms of providing you the “underground” experience it tries to provide.

 

Fuel

 

Another alternative for earning credits and provide you the “hardcore” feel of the Illegal Street racing lifestyle is the slot machines and dice games you can play in OC Racing. Personally, I do not see the point of including this into the game because it does not do anything significant save for an alternative source of credit.

 

The Good Side

With a lot of problems in terms of gameplay preference and even the delivery of any kind of experience to players, OC Racing has, in fairness to the game, a huge library of cars and parts you can choose from. This serves as the game’s saving grace, even though it fails significantly in the different aspects of gaming I can say that if you are a true car fan, you would enjoy the numerous car choices the games car shop has. Aside from the car choices, the cars are ranked in such a way that it would seem that the people behind the game did their research. The problem is that it may be quite possible that it could alienate some gamer car fans who are loyal to a certain car brand or make, there is a possibility that this could affect your view on the car categories and rankings. However I’m just nitpicking the tiny details that do not really affect the game’s overall fun factor.

 

OC

 

The other thing you have to look at in OC Racing is the depth of the game’s customization. You can customize your car with actual car parts of minus the brand. This gives the game a sort of “authentic” feel that makes it an enjoyable gaming experience.

 

Conclusion

Overall, I must say that OC Racing is a game that is appealing for a short while however, the lack of the experience of being behind the wheel eliminates half the fun of the game. I must really say that it is a nice attempt to mix the underground side of illegal street racing to the idea of OC Racing however it fails in the delivery.

 

There are times when I ask myself if this game is a racing game that tries to add the illegal aspect of racing or that if it’s actually an underground racing themed game. However you look at it though, I can say that car fans would enjoy this game more than your casual gamer so if you are it would not hurt to try this game out.

 

Pros:
– The huge car library can make a car fan squeal with delight
– The customization feels authentic up to a point
– There are other things you can do aside from racing

 

Cons:
– Lacks the racing feel
– Races are a numbers game hereby making it boring and dull
– You don’t see your car customizations on your car.