The BISBOG Group, an international publisher of online and mobile games, today announced a licensing partnership with Cyprus-based Tartezal Holidings to publish Astro Lords: Oort Cloud for English, German and French language territories. Developed by Aratog Studios, Astro Lords is a free-to-play science fiction, massively multiplayer online game running on Unity 3D.

Astro Lords is the first MMORTS to combine three major game genres in a consistent world: construction management, arcade-style shooting, and strategic raid warfare. Balancing these different genres in one single, cohesive experience was no easy feat – developer Aratog had a full-time team of twenty who spent three years to complete work on this game.

Astro Lords is both a browser and a client game that offers MMO fans a deep and diverse gaming experience. Players manage and grow their asteroid base, their generals board spaceships to shoot and destroy enemy spaceships and bosses, and they raid other asteroids to loot or capture them.

With its focus on delivering high-quality, fun and free games to massively multiplayer audiences, BISBOG sought out the relationship with Tartezal to grow its current offering. Astro Lords is tentatively slated to begin North American and European closed beta testing (CBT) on June 10^th, open beta testing (OBT) on June 17^th and official launch on July 1^st. Beta testers will receive special rewards at launch, like extra in-game currency and other high-priced virtual items.

Learn more and register for the beta: https://astrolords.bisbog.com/

Aventurine S.A. has announced Custom Roles for Darkfall Unholy Wars. Custom Roles let players customize their character any way they choose, instead of using the preset character roles available currently. This represents a core change to the Darkfall Unholy Wars mechanics, and heads further toward the sandbox vision of the game. Players are also getting the opportunity to redistribute prowess points so they can develop existing characters under the new system.

The new system makes skill selection completely the choice of the player, letting players select any nine school skills, onyl one of which can be the ultimate skill. All common skills are available to players, and players can activate a total of 16 combined skills for a custom build. The changes will also see adjustments to stat distribution, boosters, armor bonuses, and the removal of wobble. The full change announcement can be read here.

Mousee Games today announced the launch of Battle for Gea in North America and all English-speaking territories. One year after the fall of the Veil, the forces of heaven and hell wage war across Gea in a struggle for human souls. Designed by a dedicated team of trading card game fans, Battle for Gea ramps up the strategic depth by letting players manage attack and defense positions on the game board in addition to deck building.

“We’re proud to be partnering with Iron Belt to bring Battle for Gea to English-language gamers,” said Irina Kudosova, president of Mousee Games. “The game has been a finalist in several award categories, and the developers’ passion for the trading card genre really shows in the product. We love online trading card game and Battle for Gea has combined the classic mechanism of decks managing with a game board and strategic skills.”

What makes Battle for Gea different from many other online trading card games is the strategic skills needed by players; in fact, cards are placed on a board and both the positioning and the choice in attacking and defending order is crucial for success.

Featuring over 300 cards across nine armies in the starting collection, with new cards being added each month, Battle for Gea offers powerful flexibility in building an army and designing strategies to crush the opponent. Players may test themselves in the single player campaign and daily quests, or challenge other players from around the world in the war rooms. Regular events present numerous opportunities for players to reap rich rewards for their tactical genius.

For more information, please visit www.battleforgea.us.

Perhaps setting the standard for strangest skin addition yet, the God of Bees, Ah Muzen Cab, will now double as Cthulu with the newest epic skin added to HiRez Studios third person MOBA, SMITE.

This patch also sees the removal of Bastet’s new epic skin, Night Prowler, with refunds promised to those who purchased. Various QoL balance changes also impact new god, Osiris, Sobek, Artemis, Thanatos, and a few others. Bastet’s untouchable pounce has also received a noticeable nerf, making the jump back cancelled by CC during seconds 2-4 of the duration.

Catch the full patch notes here or catch them live every week on SMITE’s Twitch stream.

Perfect World Entertainment, Inc. and Cryptic Studios are pleased to announce that the widely-acclaimed free-to-play action MMORPG Neverwinter, set in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms universe from Wizards of the Coast, has launched its third free Module, Curse of Icewind Dale. In this latest free update, players explore iconic Icewind Dale locations, participate in open world PvP, mine the land for Black Ice, and experience all new quests known as Heroic Encounters while working for one of the new opposing groups, the Ten-Towners or the Arcane Brotherhood.

“Releasing our third major update less than a year after launch is substantial achievement” said Cryptic Studios Executive Producer and COO, Craig Zinkievich. “Many compelling new features have been added into this latest Module, including new open world PvP and PvE content. We’re committed to continually bringing our Neverwinter players high-quality and engaging new content, and our players will discover great new gameplay and story content in Curse of Icewind Dale.”

Curse of Icewind Dale, the third Module for Neverwinter, is a free content expansion that introduces all new open world PvP and PvE content, while incentivizing players to battle over Black Ice, a new resource necessary to craft some of the most powerful items in the game. Found throughout the Icewind Dale region, players may risk their life to earn this resource faster in the dangerous open world PvP areas. Join one of the two new opposing groups, the steadfast Ten-Towners or the ambitious Arcane Brotherhood, and take on new bosses, new encounters, and new iconic locations. Players will also have new end-game advancement opportunities with the new Hunter Ranger Paragon Path, offering enhanced survivability and utility.