Monthly Archives: March 2015

Stormthrone Enters Second Alpha

Stormthrone

Global games publisher Reality Squared Games announced today the second phase of Alpha testing for Stormthrone. After much user feedback, the game has been rebalanced and reworked from the ground up to create the best experience possible for players. R2Games now invites players to rediscover Aeos, and see for yourself the changes made to the game. Servers will open on 10:00 AM, Friday, March 20th EST.

For more info, visit: http://stormthrone.r2games.com

Armored Warfare: Matchmaking System Revealed

Armored Warfare

Developer Obsidian Entertainment and publisher My.com are pleased to reveal today how matchmaking works in Armored Warfare, which is completely unique from matchmaking in other tank games. Instead of hard-coded vehicle tiers, the Armored Warfare matchmaking algorithm uses a system of battle ratings, which allows for a much more fluid and comprehensive mechanism that not only works fast, but is also easily customizable. This allows Armored Warfare to quickly adjust general tank balance and tune it in order to for players to have the most fluid experience possible.

For more info, visit: http://aw.my.com/us/news/general/matchmaking-armored-warfare-0

Warframe: Sanctuary Update Available

Warframe

Digital Extremes’ Warframe® continues to grow on the PC with its first major content update of 2015.

This exciting new Update — Sanctuary — brings plenty of new gameplay, new weapons, a new Warframe and more to PC players. Players can go on a Quest for the new Chroma Warframe, do honorable battle with fellow Tenno in PvP 2.0 or team up for eight-player Mission challenges.

Primary highlights of the Update include:

NEW WARFRAME – A master of the deadly elements, Chroma can alter his damage output by changing his coloring.

PvP 2.0 – Take on your fellow Tenno in a game of Cephalon Capture, try your hand at three new maps, conquer a variety of challenges and explore the exciting changes to the PvP Game Mode with PvP 2.0! Teshin, your new PvP guide, and the Conclave Syndicate have established their presence in the Relay. Syndicate rewards await for Tenno who compete in the Conclave, studying under Teshin’s Sigil.

NEW GAME MODE – For the first time ever, create a squad of EIGHT Tenno and work through Mission challenges.

NEW QUEST – THE NEW STRANGE: Work with Cephalon Simaris to find the source of a mysterious voice. Something is out there, and it is hunting. Work with Simaris to track it down and discover its true nature.

NEW TENNO REINFORCEMENTS – Load your Arsenal with these powerful new additions:
KOHMAK: Like the larger Kohm, this hand-shotgun doubles its volley with each successive shot.
RIPKAS: Tear the enemy down with these motorized saw fists.

NEW RELAY ROOM – Explore the Sanctuary and visit Cephalon Simaris. Track down unique targets to scan in a Codex shared by Tenno throughout the Solar System, and help unlock exciting new lore and Syndicate rewards.

NEW ENEMY – Dashing in for quick strikes before falling back to the shadows, the Grineer Manic is difficult to catch and deadly to ignore.

PC players can download the Sanctuary Update today! PlayStation®4 and Xbox One players will receive this Update in coming weeks. To learn more about Warframe, download the game and join the community — visit the official website at www.warframe.com

Starcraft 2: Season 1 Finals Coming Soon

Starcraft 2

ESL, the world’s largest eSports company, today announced that the Season 1 Finals for Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft® II World Championship Series will be held at Gamers Assembly in Poitiers, France. The top 16 players representing Europe, North America, Latin America, China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Oceania are set to converge on the French city from April 3–5 to battle it out for a total of $217,000 USD in prize money.

“France boasts one of the world’s most concentrated StarCraft II communities in the world,” said David Kugelmann, Product Manager at ESL. “Gamers Assembly, which has been steadily growing since its conception in the early 2000s, was the perfect choice of location for the Season 1 Finals as it offers a fantastic setting in which to have some of the world’s best players compete.”

The popular French broadcasting team O’Gaming will provide live commentary for the event and assist in hosting the World Championship Series stage at Gamers Assembly. Joining the French team will be a host of English-speaking StarCraft II commentators and analysts, to be announced in the coming days.

“Gamers Assembly is proud to host one of the most famous competitions in the world. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Blizzard and ESL for their confidence in our organization,” said Vincent Colas, President of FuturoLAN, organizers of Gamers Assembly. “We see it as recognition of years of work and passion provided by our volunteers who contributed to this event.”

Gamers Assembly 2015 will be a celebration of the gaming and eSports communities, featuring multiple gaming opportunities and avenues alongside the StarCraft II WCS Season 1 Finals, for which the following players will take to the stage:

  • Jens ‘Snute’ Aasgaard (Norway)
  • Choi ‘Polt’ Seong Hun (South Korea)
  • Grzegorz ‘MaNa’ Komincz (Poland)
  • Sam ‘Kane’ Morrissette (Canada)
  • Park ‘ForGG’ Ji Soo (South Korea)
  • Joona ‘Serral’ Sotala (Finland)
  • Wang ‘XiGua’ Lei (China)
  • Dario ‘TLO’ Wünsch (Germany)
  • Patrick ‘Bunny’ Brix (Denmark)
  • Jared ‘PiG’ Krensel (Australia)
  • Sébastien ‘FireCake’ Lebbe (France)
  • Ke ‘Has’ Yu Feng (Taiwan)
  • Tobias ‘ShoWTimE’ Sieber (Germany)
  • Shin ‘Hydra’ Dong Won (South Korea)
  • Vesa ‘Welmu’ Hovinen (Finland)
  • Hu ‘MacSed’ Xiang (China)

For more information, please visit www.eslgaming.com

Final Fantasy XI: Mobile Version Coming Soon by SE and Nexon

Final Fantasy XI

NEXON Co., Ltd (“Nexon”) (3659.TO), a worldwide leader in free-to-play online games, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, NEXON Korea Corporation (“Nexon Korea”), will develop a mobile version of the legendary MMORPG FINAL FANTASY ® XI with renowned Japanese game developer SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD (“SQUARE ENIX”). The game is expected to be released in 2016.

Nexon Korea will leverage FINAL FANTASY XI ’s compelling storyline, engaging content and impressive graphics while optimizing features for smartphone and mobile devices to create an immersive, responsive and dynamic experience for mobile users.  These optimizations will include improving party organizing systems, enriching solo-play functionality, improving battle functionality and enhancing in-game events and features.

“We are thrilled to partner with SQUARE ENIX to bring this amazing franchise to mobile audiences around the world,” said Owen Mahoney, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nexon.  “We are excited to strengthen our partnership with SQUARE ENIX by adding one of their most successful titles to our portfolio, as we continue to leverage our game development and global publishing expertise to provide high-quality experiences to gamers around the world.”

“Developing a high-quality mobile adaptation of FINAL FANTASY with Nexon, with an extensive track record of successfully collaborating with global partners, is a great opportunity for SQUARE ENIX,” said Yosuke Matsuda, President and Chief Executive Officer of SQUARE ENIX.  “Through this partnership, FINAL FANTASY XI, which has enjoyed 13 years of noteworthy success on game console and PC, will make a significant step onto the mobile platform.”

FINAL FANTASY XI Mobile will be available in Japan, Korea, North America, and other Europe and Asia area.

For more info, visit http://www.jp.square-enix.com/

Path of Exile: 2nd Season PvP Tournament Finale This Weekend

Path of Exile

March Madness means more than just basketball this weekend as the world’s best Path of Exile players battle to the death(s) in the award-winning action RPG Path of Exile’s Second Season PVP Invitational Tournament Finale.

Four Alienware gaming hardware packages will be awarded to the winners of the American PvP Invitational, European PvP Invitational and the top two participants in the Racing Invitational.  These prize packages consist of an Alienware Alpha gaming console, a TactX Keyboard and a TactX Mouse

Livestreamed on the official Path of Exile Twitch channel at twitch.tv/pathofexile with commentary from popular Path of Exile streamers WillyWonka and GreenDude, two invitational events will take place at the following scheduled times:

European PvP Season One Invitational

  • Sunday, March 22nd at 10:30am PDT/Sunday, March 22nd 6:30pm CET/
  • Monday, March 23rd at 6:30am  NZT

American PvP Season One Invitational

  • Sunday, March 22nd at 2pm PDT/Sunday, March 22nd at 10pm CET/
  • Monday, March 23rd at 10am NZT

For more information about the Path of Exile PvP Season Two America and Europe Invitationals, please visit: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1219103

Cabal 2: Dev Diary Explains Combat Mechanics

Cabal 2

ESTSoft, Inc. today released the first vignette in a four-part feature spotlight series focusing on the robust combat and adventure from the high-fantasy massively-multiplayer roleplaying game (MMORPG) CABAL 2.

Comprised of consecutive and trigger skills, combos, and battle mode, CABAL 2’s combat system provides an experience accessible enough for novice players to pick up, but with a depth that will have hardcore MMO veterans exploring the ins and outs to master.

In the first video, GM ICEE gives players an introduction to each battle element and how to use them to achieve maximum pwnage.  From the consecutive skills, abilities that can be chained together to create huge amounts of damage, to the insanely powerful battle mode, which temporarily turning characters into an indestructible force of power, all is explained  giving players the tips they’ll need to dominate when they dive in this spring.

For more info, visit www.cabal2.com

SEVENCORE: Application for German/French CBT Available

Sevencore

WEBZEN, a global developer and publisher of free-to-play games, announced today that free-to-play MMORPG SEVENCORE has begun accepting applications for German/French closed beta test.

From today through to 25th March (UTC), players with a WEBZEN account can apply for the closed beta test of German/French language servers. Players will not lose their progress made during the test period, and will even receive a special closed beta tester’s cape as a reward.

Potential participants for the German/French closed beta test can fill out an application form on the official SEVENCORE website:

http://en.sevencore.webzen.com/News/announcements/1424963/20-03-2015/SEVENCORE-German-French-Language-Server-CBT-Announcement

German/French closed beta test is set to run after our scheduled maintenance on Tuesday, 31 March (UTC) until our scheduled maintenance on Tuesday, 7 April.

More information on SEVENCORE’s German/French closed beta test is now available on the official SEVENCORE website: http://sevencore.webzen.com/

King of Wushu – Now Available on PS4 in China

King of Wushu

Just as Sony announced the first sales of their PlayStation game console in China, Chinese game developer Snail Games, known for martial arts MMORPG Age of Wushu, released the first edition of its new martial arts-themed MOBA for Play Station, King of Wushu.

The first edition of the game will be free to download from the PSN store in China. The initial version will features:

Glorious Peak – First 5 on 5 battle map, featuring lanes, jungles, and listing clouds circling the map.

9 Playable Heroes – Divided into “Dark” and “Light” factions, the first edition will feature 5 playable classes

Light

  • Sun Tzu – Tactician
  • Beggar Zao – Dragon Warrior
  • Master Chung – Daoist Knight
  • Lotus — Blade Disciple
  • Jasmine – Radiant Poet
  • Master Gongsun – The White Swordsman
  • Brother Wu – Stone Monk
  • Brother Lang – Shaolin Monk

Dark

  • Urul Khan – Berserker
  • Tang Yan — Assassin
  • Fang – Snake Charmer
  • Bloodmoon Li — Shaman
  • Xuling-Na – Witch
  • Captain Wong — Royal Guard
  • Gor Shan — Blademaster

In addition, the announcement also revealed plans for future maps and playable characters, which will be available for free to those who download the game now.

For more info, visit: http://games.snail.com/news/2015/0320/644.html