OGPlanet has officially announced that the beta period for their new free-to-play shooter, Metro Conflict, will begin on June 22nd starting at 4PM Pacific Time. The beta will run for 1 full week to act as a server stress test and (assuming no critical issues) will be followed immediately by full release on the 29th of June.
 
Metro Conflict Beta Details
During the open beta period, there will be some small events held to encourage competition among players and their clans. Players will also be happy to hear that all progress made during the beta period will carry over into the full release, and as mentioned before, all players participating in the beta will receive a gold pixel-plated knife skin at full launch. Unfortunately, Metro Conflict will be exclusive to North American and European audiences to start off, but more servers are planned for the future, opening up the game to a much wider range of users.
 
Outside of the game launch, OGPlanet has announced a few initiatives to keep the community active and engaged with Metro Conflict. These initiatives include weekly “dev talks” which will be short videos featuring GMs addressing questions posed by players, a community twitter account to be hosted by a new player each week, and a video sharing site dedicated to Metro Conflict (aptly named mediaconflict.com) so you can share all your amazing moments.
 
Start your summer off with a bang and join the ranks of tomorrow’s top soldiers!

Frontier Developments plc (AIM: FDEV) will today release Elite: Dangerous – Powerplay free for all players.
 
Powerplay is the third major free update for Elite: Dangerous and the largest to date, introducing new ships, new features and an all-new strategic layer to the Elite: Dangerous galaxy.
 
In Powerplay, players can pledge allegiance to one of a number of galactic Powers and join the battle for interstellar conquest and control. Players can guide their chosen faction’s strategy, take on special objectives to advance their shared cause, and dominate Elite: Dangerous’ full-scale Milky Way galaxy together.
 
Players are rewarded with valuable perks, reputation bonuses and unique equipment for their allegiance as they defend their territory and conquer human space. Every action taken in Powerplay will have a direct and visible impact on the balance of galactic power for all players.
 
Powerplay’s new strategic layer connects with and enhances every aspect of the Elite: Dangerous experience, and headlines an immense free update containing hundreds of upgrades and new features, including:

• An enhanced mission system with new objectives and new ways to play.
• Three new ships: the Lakon Diamondback Scout, Lakon Diamondback Explorer and the Imperial Courier.
• Drones for cargo collection, fuel trading and prospecting.
• A new illustrated GalNet newsfeed, accessible directly in players’ ship UI.
• High and low intensity mining sites, adding risk to mining and increasing potential rewards.
• New minable commodities.
• An updated bounty system.
• Upgraded UI and animated emblems for ranking up.
• Numerous other improvements to gameplay and performance.

Mad Otter Games is very excited to announce Villagers and Heroes: REBORN, the latest in a long line of changes that brings a whole new life to the game. Not only can veteran players find exciting new content and features with this patch, but we have re-designed the entire game and especially the starter zone to make those first several hours in the game more exciting and immersive.
 

REBORN will launch on Monday, June 8th, at 11 am Eastern / 8 am Pacific.

REBORN includes these major new improvements:

· A Mystery to Solve – Who is the Malicious Miscreant, and why are citizens of Summer’s Hollow mysteriously disappearing?

· The Circle of Life – An all new gathering supply system that completely replaces the unpopular ENERGY / Vim system formerly featured in the game. Worms for fishing, Nectar for bug collecting, Grind Stones for your plant sickle, etc.

· Voice Acting and Musical Score – Professional voice actors for the major quests in the game.

· Complete Face Lift: Literally and otherwise- most of the world has been completely redone with new artwork (models and painted texture), completely new User Interface, and new character facial choices have been added.

· Wider Breadth of Choices for your Character – Apart from choosing your appearance and class specialization, you can now choose your personality type (complete with appropriate body pose), your origin, and your skills as a villager.

· Be Reborn! Enter the Temple of Rebirth to unlearn all your combat skills and start anew, but this time with the advantage of more skills to unlock, and without losing all of your character’s knowledge of gathering, crafting, gear and items, and greatly accelerated learning!

More information on REBORN can be found here: www.vhreborn.com

Playwith, an online PC game developer, has announced “R.O.H.A.N. II” will be coming to the western PC market in early 2016, as the true sequel to R.O.H.A.N: Blood Feud, a world acclaimed mega hit MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game).

The game promises to maintain its predecessor’s primary philosophy of intense PvP action, but manages to expand on the previous title’s gameplay by introducing fast paced MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) aspects along with RTS elements that enable players to command and control multiple troops.

“With R.O.H.A.N II, we set out to create unprecedented experience with the depth and quality that MMORPG fans expect. As much as R.O.H.A.N: Blood Feud has received significant appreciation throughout the world, we are preparing something above and beyond our player’s expectations. We are truly excited to invite all of you, especially our R.O.H.A.N. fans, to follow us as we reveal more and more information,” said the CEO of Playwith.

R.O.H.A.N. II is scheduled to arrive on the PC in early 2016. An English website is in the works and will soon be available at http://rohan2.playrohan.com, though the Korean site is here for the less patient of you.

Joycity has begun the pre-registration for Elemental Wings, a game featuring a combination of vertically scrolling flying shooter, collectable card game, and RPG genres. In Elemental Wings, the player takes on the role of an “Elemental Wing,” whose task is to fight corrupted Elementals that threaten the world where Elementals and humans once peacefully coexisted.
 
Players can control their characters by simply swiping left and right to dodge enemies and to collect “orbs” which activate the skills of equipped Elementals. Players can also “summon” and “evolve” Elementals of fire, water, and light to assemble the best possible party for each battle, adding a new layer of depth to the casual shooter. The game also features a social element, in which players can also invite and take along friends’ Elementals for extra help. Each Elemental card is beautifully illustrated, and endowed with different personalities and skills that befit their types, whether it’s fire, water, or light.
 
The game will be available soon worldwide on App Store and Google Play. Until then, players can visit the following link to sign up early and claim exclusive in-game currency at the release of the game: http://promotion.joycity.com/event/ew/ready
 

Independent developer Iron Bit today announced the release of a major update in its sci-fi action MMO-sandbox title, Colonies Online, currently available for PC on Steam Early Access. In Colonies Online players assume the role of space colonists, exploring huge and diverse distant planets, rich with fauna, resources and possibilities. With the new update released today, colonists can now build crafting stations in their colonies for to create weapons and armor. Three weapon archetypes have also been introduced: shotguns, pulse guns and rifles.
 
“We want to give players complete freedom of choice in creating their colonies, as well as encourage colonists to collaborate with each other to fill and enrich the game environment”, said Nick Borschew from Iron Bit. “The actions that players take leave visible marks on the world and can be easily seen by other players, so there is a strong sense of consequence and unpredictability in the Colonies. We are eager to see how many directions players take this in and how many interesting creations they build!”
 
In Colonies Online players find themselves far away from home, inhabiting a cluster of alien planets where they must gather resources to build a colony and survive in this harsh environment. In a persistent online game world with no restrictions, players must work with or against other players to build anything from trade outposts to full-scale cities with the intuitive construction system. By crafting weapons and armor to aid in a quest of survival and domination, players battle aliens and other colonists with a non-target combat system. Colonists can also improve their character with new abilities and team up with other players to further enhance a colony.
 
The major update launched today in Colonies Online includes two tentpole additions to the game. The first is the introduction of the crafting system; Colonies Online now features the full process of item-making. Earlier players were able to gather vast amounts of resources from deposits scattered over planets as well as extract the rare substance Xenodin from the largest and fiercest alien monsters. Now colonists are able to put these resources to use. By building new crafting stations they can create different types of weapons and armor with various attributes. Furthermore, players can now build another all-new construction named the Bonification station, which is used to add cool bonuses to previously crafted equipment. But this is just the first step, as Iron Bit plans to add crafting systems for almost every item in the game! The second addition is the introduction of weapon archetypes, which are now separated into three: shotguns for close-range combat, pulse guns for medium-range and rifles for long-range, with more to be added in the future.