Monthly Archives: March 2014

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen – Now a “Crowd-Developed” MMO

Pantheon

Visionary Realms is taking a new look at how games are designed and developed from the ground up by deeply involving the community. The team for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is taking things a big step further by involving the community by allowing members to:

  • Build a wiki for the game
  • Participate in design discussions with the developers through the forums and chat channel
  • Present and vote on ideas through a Think Tank
  • Create their own guilds and recruit members
  • Write their own blogs
  • Participate in weekly roundtable discussions with the developers

And a whole lot more. Visionary Realms is taking ideas directly from the feedback and suggestions the community has been offering and working those ideas and concepts directly into the game.

For more info, visit: https://www.pantheonrotf.com/

Stronghold Kingdoms Hits 3,000,000 Players

Stronghold 3K

Firefly Studios has just announced that their popular MMORTS Stronghold Kingdoms has attracted more than three million players since launch. For more than two years Kingdoms has ranked in the top 10 most popular free-to-play games on Steam and in the top 50 games overall by current player count.

With more than 3000 games available on Steam, the enduring popularity of Stronghold Kingdoms is a remarkable achievement for the independent developer. Supporting Firefly Studios’ transition to digital self-publishing, the free-to-play model of Stronghold Kingdoms has allowed the company to stay healthy and keep growing. With the help of Steam Kingdoms has become one of the most actively played games on the platform, with more daily concurrent users than other MMOs with the backing of heavyweight IPs such as Marvel Heroes and Star Trek Online.

Stronghold Kingdoms has also thrived thanks to its passionate players, all of whom have input on the game’s monthly content updates. This worldwide audience hails from over 100 different countries, with more than 200,000 monthly active users sharing 22 game worlds. They have played a pivotal role in the continued growth of the game, with hundreds of thousands of players signing up to play Stronghold Kingdoms as a direct result of friend invites.

Stronghold Kingdoms allows players to enjoy classic Stronghold gameplay in a highly interactive and competitive MMORTS environment. Set across a number of different medieval countries, players build their thriving empires on game worlds that feature actual villages, towns and cities. Last month Firefly added a ‘Europe’ world, where more than 30,000 players are currently forming alliances and fighting for control of 33 countries in one huge game world.

Black Gold Online Reveals Beastmaster Class

Black Gold Online

Black Gold Online is getting a new class called Beastmaster, which features a variety of powerful melee attacks, summon skills, and special crowd control abilities that protects them from external threat.

The Beastmaster is a champion of nature, unleashing the harsh chill of the wilderness upon their unsuspecting enemies. Years of wrangling powerful animals have made them strong, and with the aid of Black Gold enhancements these brave huntsmen command the beasts themselves. With ferocious companions at their side, the Beastmasters march confidently into battle, for they face not enemies on the field, but prey ready for the slaughter.

For more info, visit http://bg.snailgame.com/news/view/62

The Aftermath of Guild Wars 2: Battle for Lion’s Arch

GW2 BattleLA Finale Poster Frame

The battle is over. Scarlet Briar is dead.  Tyria’s noblest warriors have done what they can to save the beloved city of Lion’s Arch.

 

But have they truly saved it?

 

Word of Scarlet’s demise has spread like wildfire throughout the wards of the city and all across Tyria. The heroes of Lion’s Arch, the Lionguard, and Order forces have driven out the remainder of Scarlet’s armies, their morale and ranks shattered. All the while, the Breachmaker—Scarlet’s enormous airship looming over Sanctum Harbor—continues to drill uncontrollably without its pilot at the helm.

 

One thing is certain – Tyria is scarred.  With today’s release, “Aftermath,” players will discover the depth of those wounds and the legacy left behind by Scarlet’s campaign of terror.

 

To commemorate today’s finale in a storyline that began more than a year ago in Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet has released the final cinematic from “Battle for Lion’s Arch.”  Relive Scarlet’s death and the moments that followed, setting the stage for what’s to come.  Then check out “Aftermath” to see how Tyria’s living world will never be the same.

Webzen annouces Archlord II for North & South America

Archlord II

WEBZEN announces the upcoming European and North/South American release of the highly anticipated PvP MMORPG, Archlord II. The game will be available in French, German and English language versions in 2014.

Archlord II is a medieval fantasy-based MMORPG, featuring vibrant in-game graphics and a mesmerizing soundtrack performed by Cris Velasco, the multi-award winning composer for more than 40 video games. This free-to-play title brings MMO fans across Europe and both Americas into a fantasy world shattered by the endless conflict between two opposing factions. Soon, players will be able to enjoy enormous Player vs Player battles, fighting to claim the ultimate prize and to become the Archlord – the world’s supreme ruler.

Running on the Gamebryo Engine, Archlord II will feature numerous great looking and unique battlegrounds designed for massive battles, holding up to 400 players. A classless character system will allow players to create unique and personalized gameplay styles.

For more info, visit http://archlord2.webzen.com/

Lost Saga (EU) open beta details announced

Today, Nexon Europe has announced further details about the highly anticipated Lost Saga open beta, inviting all newcomers to join in the multiplayer brawler action as from 24th April.

A number of changes have been made based on player feedback from the closed beta. In particular, 15 new playable characters have been added such as Reaper, Rock Star, Ninja Assassin, Monkey King, Zorro, Dartagnan, King Arthur V-Mechanic, Gladiator, and so on.

Moreover, new maps including Angkor Wat and Construction Site, and new modes including Crusade (21st Floor), PVE Deep Forest, and Boss Raid will be updated.

There will also be a special gift available to those players that took part in the closed beta, in the form of The Hero Scroll. Worth 3000 Peso (game points), the Hero Scroll grants the player access to one of the many available characters for a certain amount of time, be it two hours, ten hours, thirty hours or, if players are really lucky, permanently. Both the choice of character granted and the amount of time the character is available for will be randomly generated.

Participants that reached level 5 in the closed beta will receive their Hero Scroll in the first week of the open beta, while those that reached level 10 will be granted two Scrolls in the first week.

Lost Saga will be available in 6 languages: English, German, French, Italian, Polish, and Turkish.
The official Lost Saga site can be found at lostsaga.nexoneu.com

Full Details for Wargaming.net League Grand Finals Announced

Wargaming League

Wargaming today shared additional information regarding the Wargaming.net Grand Finals, taking place April 4 – 6 at the Multikino Zlote Tarasy in Warsaw, Poland, including details on the $300,000 prize pool up for grabs by the competitors.

“Events like this help build the popularity of cybersports by not only providing players with incentive to participate but also quality entertainment for the spectators,” said Jonghyuk Baak, Global eSports Director at Wargaming. “We want to thank all of the players, teams, and partners involved in the Grand Finals for their generosity in assisting us in organizing a world class event that will turn Warsaw into the eSports capital of the world this April.”

The seeding ceremony will be held on March 24, 2014 at ESL studio in Cologne, Germany. To maximize geographic separation, 14 teams will be drawn into two groups using a “controlled random” system. On March 25, ESL will broadcast the video on the Wargaming.net League EU twitch channel at 19:00 CET. Then, the video will be uploaded on YouTube, news portals, and to social networks.

For more information on the Wargaming.net League Grand Finals, please visit www.thegrandfinals.com

Legend of Silkroad

Legend of Silkroad is a MMORPG by JC Planet. Join the resurrection of the great legend and battle between three kingdoms to hold supremacy of SlikRoad.

Features:

Trade & Various Attractive Battles: Battle for Caravans, Guilds, Fortresses and Kingdoms.

Fantastic Skills: Use various skills for attacks, control (Defense) and assistance (Traps).

Auto-balanced dungeon & Creative Quest: Enjoy play in auto balanced dungeons and real historical quests and create quests as you wish.

Various PvP & PK: Force PK, Assassin, Punishment, Dueling and Sparring.

Ghost Recon Online Is Now Ghost Recon Phantoms

Ghost Recon Phantoms

Ghost Recon Online has been preparing for its official launch on April 10, and today Ubisoft revealed a new name for the game: Ghost Recon Phantoms.

Producer Corey Facteau commented that the game needed a “fresh identity” to break free from the starting point to the game’s current progression, and added that the title will bring “a narrative layer to the game based around The Phantos, ex-Ghosts and current adversaries who left The Ghost to pursue personal agendas.”

The game’s launch will also include new character and device design for all three classes as it heads in a new art direction; changes to matchmaking to take in account skill and gear; and the introduction of “Mod Master” and weapon camo systems. Further features will also be added and revealed after the game’s launch to keep gameplay dynamic and balanced.

More details about the upcoming changes and launch are on the game’s dev blog.