Yearly Archives: 2013

Camelot Unchained Releases First Class Concept Reveal – Helbound

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), General Manager

Camelot Unchained Helbound Concept Art2

If you’re like me and chomping at the bit for some real “Meat N Potatoes” game concepts from CityState Entertainment’s Camelot Unchained, Mark Jacobs has come through at last. With the certain intention of honoring National “Talk like a Pirate Day” the first class concept reveal focuses on the Viking faction, true innovators of the pirate world.

Camelot Unchained Helbound Concept Art1

Despite their intimidating appearance, the Helbound is hinted in its lore as a healing class focusing on channeling the Greater Power of a demi-goddess named Hel to support their allies in battle. Or players can follow the darker runes to gain attunement with the veil, perhaps hinting that this class can double as a Veil Stalker archetype responsible for countering the subversion efforts of enemy Veil Walkers.

Camelot Unchained Helbound Concept Art Weapons

Choice seems to be a primary factor of the class with lasting consequences looming for players after each major decision. And beyond the two primary trees hinted at, players will have another unusual option to consider. Do you channel your soul into your weapon to increase its power over time? This sounds like a viable route for attaining boosted magical might but at the cost of losing it when forced to start over with a higher tier weapon. Or you could engrave the runes of Hel into your hands, boosting your might by directly channeling said power into your core.

Camelot Unchained Helbound Mask1

One final point of awesome comes in the form of half-face masks and body mutilation players will suffer the further into Hel’s grasp they travel. The masks themselves seem to even transform to reflect various magic players are utilizing, a nice touch for a PvP focused game looking to offer counterplay for enemies facing a Helbound.

Camelot Unchained Helbound Mask Summon1

Though the details remain Cryptic, feel free to check them out and come to your own conclusions on the official posting.

Kabam Announces Heroes of Camelot for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

Heroes of Camelot

 

Kabam, the leader in the western world for free-to-play core games, today announced the launch of Heroes of Camelot for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, with an Android release coming soon on Google Play. A spinoff of the wildly popular Kingdoms of Camelot franchise, Heroes of Camelot brings the magic and mystery of King Arthur’s world to life through a battle card action game that features strong role-playing game (RPG) elements and live player-versus-player battles. The game is also optimized to take advantage of the new motion effects API transforming the land of Camelot into a three-dimensional world that comes alive through parallax in iOS 7.

 

Kingdoms of Camelot has grown to be Kabam’s top franchise, grossing more than $250 million in less than four years,” said Andrew Sheppard, president of Kabam Studios. “The franchise’s tens of millions of players around the world have demonstrated an insatiable appetite for new experiences within the universe.  For our players, we’ve grown Kingdoms of Camelot from a Web game in 2009 to Battle for the North, the top-grossing  app on the iPhone, in 2012, and now into a new genre with Heroes of Camelot.”

Heroes of Camelot Balzathar

 

Heroes of Camelot is a multiplayer role-playing battle card game where dragons and medieval mythological figures dominate. Camelot has suddenly been invaded by the forces of evil. Players will battle for survival and grow their power by collecting, evolving, and enhancing hundreds of visually stunning cards, each representing a hero endowed with distinct abilities and powers. Players can form teams to unleash unique strategic passive or active combos and skills in combat, and compete with thousands of players around the world in a live player-versus-player arena to take back Camelot. Game features include:

  • Recruit an army of heroes: Follow a quest system through five Arthurian Britain cities and over 40 stages; strategically form up to three teams to simultaneously battle against demons and dragons– each team creates unique combos and skills.
  • Manage your deck: Enhance the abilities of every single hero and evolve them into stunning-looking cards; discover the rarest cards to uncover the most unique abilities.
  • Strategize your battles in live chat: Compete with thousands of players from around the world while joining a community of fellow Knights and Druids.
  • Animated live battles: Showcase your deck’s power in the Camelot arena with visualized battles.

Kingdoms of Camelot has grossed more than $250 million to date and is one of Kabam’s four $100 million franchises. Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North was the App Store’s top grossing iPhone app of 2012; the game continues to have a top presence on the App Store’s top grossing chart.
The Heroes of Camelot App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or at http://AppStore.com/heroesofcamelot.

 

Hi-Rez Announces SMITE 24-Hour Charity Live Stream and eSports Event

smite challenge for charity

Hi-Rez Studios today announced the “SMITE Challenge For Charity,” a 24-hour charity live stream of the online game SMITE that will culminate in an eSports competition between the top two professional SMITE teams in North America: Team Dignitas and Denial eSports.

The eSports competition event will be played on Saturday, October 5th at 8 p.m. in front of a live audience at the Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo (SIEGE) which takes place at the Atlanta Marriott NW in Atlanta, Georgia.

“As the South’s leading gaming and interactive conference, SIEGE brings together figures from across the region for industry keynotes, panels, networking events, parties and more,” said Andrew Greenberg, President of the Georgia Game Developer Association.

“This year we are thrilled to showcase the SMITE Challenge For Charity as a great event for spectators and a celebration of the power of games to improve lives.”

All event ticket proceeds and online donations will go to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta via their participation in Child’s Play, a non-profit charity dedicated to improving the lives of sick children by providing toys and games to a network of hospitals.  Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has participated in the Child’s Play network since 2007.

“Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is honored to be selected as the beneficiary for the SMITE Challenge for Charity,” said Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Development Officer Melisa Morrow. “As one of the largest pediatric clinical care providers in the country, we service over 800,000 patient visits every year. Many of these patients just need a distraction or a little bit of normalcy added back into their routine which is where an item like a Wii or Nintendo DS help to ease a sick child’s nerves or pass the time when sitting through a chemo treatment. Your support means so much to the patients and families at Children’s.”

 

Smite battleground of the gods
Tickets to the SMITE eSports event can be obtained via a charity donation at: http://smite.eventbrite.com/.

Alternatively, spectators can view the competition online (including the prior 24-hour stream) beginning October 4th at 8 p.m. at   http://www.twitch.tv/smitegame.  The stream will be free but spectators from around the world are encouraged to donate to this great cause.

YouTube coverage of the SMITE Challenge For Charity event will be provided by The Creatures, a gaming group with over 6,000,000 subscribers to their collective YouTube channels.

Heva Clonia Online First Beta Test Begins Today

Heva Clonia Lineup

OGPlanet is proud to announce the first beta test for the Free-to-Play MMORPG, Heva Clonia Online. The beta testing phase for North America is for a limited time only, and will run from September 19-30. Be the first to play this new, epic MMORPG adventure when servers officially open at 4:00PM PT / 7:00PM ET today!

To celebrate the launch of Heva Clonia Online’s first beta test, OGPlanet is hosting the Play Heva Clonia Online & Win Event. Players will have a chance to win 1 of 10 PC Gamepad Controllers that OGPlanet is giving away. All players need to do to have a chance to win is reach level 10 in-game by the end of the beta testing period. Experience this unique MMORPG by signing up for the beta test at http://www.HevaCloniaOnline.com now and download the game to start playing any time after 4:00PM PT / 7:00PM ET today through September 30!

Japanese Armored Vehicles to Enter Combat

World of Tanks Ha Go Render

Wargaming today announced that its highly acclaimed action game, World of Tanks, will soon be joined by war machines from Japan.

“The introduction of Japanese tanks allows us to explore the design and innovation of a number of legendary armored vehicles and give players the chance to experience their technological evolution throughout the mid-20th century,” said World of Tanks Producer Mikhail Zhivets. “Tank models based on original designs of Japanese engineers will offer players a wide selection of authentic upgrade schemes, each tailored for particular combat objectives.”

The Japanese line will initially field two branches with nine medium and five light machines, including such fabled models as the Chi-Ri prototype, the first post-war Japanese design Type 61, the light Type 95 Ha-Go and the medium Chi-Ha tanks. Developed during the late 1950s, the Type 64 (STB-1) will become the Tier 10 medium model.

Along with existing armored vehicles from the USA, China, France, Great Britain, Germany and the USSR, the new tech tree coming one of the forthcoming updates will become the 7th national line introduced into the game.

Wargaming is also proud to announce that World of Tanks has been nominated for Best Online Game at this year’s 31st annual Golden Joystick Awards, the world’s second oldest gaming award ceremony, awarding the best computer and video games of the year.

Warhammer: Age of Reckoning Announces its Final Weeks

It’s been a long time coming but Warhammer: Age of Reckoning is finally closing its doors in December. The title that revolutionized and coined a name for the feature of public questing will at last end its five year long war as Mythic and Games Workshop have decided to part ways. This comes not long after the closure of its MOBA-esque spinoff, Wrath of Heroes.

Warhammer Online Announces Closure

A heartfelt write-up from Producer Carrie Guoskos demonstrates the amount of effort and dedication the team has put into this game over the years. Hopefully future titles will learn from their mistakes and emulate their masterful successes to bring the level of immersion Warhammer offered.