WEBZEN, a global developer and publisher of free-to-play games, is delighted to announce that free-to-play MMORPG SEVENCORE unleashed the latest content update with the brand-new class ‘Assassin’ today.

After the scheduled maintenance on Tuesday, 13 January, the Assassin is now available for both English and Spanish servers.

Assassins are masters of agility who fight using daggers or claws to eliminate their opponents. Assassins specialise in melee combat, dealing swift and deadly blows using Daggers or Claws. Assassins bring both a high critical chance and dodge rate to the table, allowing them to outmanoeuvre foes before landing the finishing blow.

Claw Assassins are powerful melee fighters with access to numerous abilities to boost their critical chance, as well as skills allowing them to deal quick attacks to numerous foes. Claws specialise in striking quickly, dealing a large number of small blows in a short period of time. Claws pierce their enemy’s defence by puncturing their armour, dealing critical damage.

Dagger Assassins rely more heavily on single target damage, with the ability to cloak themselves in order to deal powerful stealth attacks to unsuspecting enemies. Along with a strike from the shadows, exploiting your opponent’s weakness and dealing crippling blows, Daggers allow the Assassin to deal small, quick blow, while being more agile than their warrior counterparts.

With this new content update, SEVENCORE offers an increased level cap for characters in English Server, going from level 60 to level 80. In conjunction with this increase, players with level 80 character will be able to explore a new field, Ancile Islands.

From now until 27 January, the Dungeon Runner Event will be organised by the Sevencore Team. Once players accept an event quest from event NPC at Delos and clear the dungeon, they will get a special prize.

In addition, a brand-new item Mechanical Mount will be available to buy on limited offer until the scheduled maintenance on 27 January 2015 (UTC).

More information about the latest update for SEVENCORE can be found on the official SEVENCORE websites: http://en.sevencore.webzen.com and http://es.sevencore.webzen.com.

Kabam, Inc., today announced it has acquired Los Angeles-based games studios TapZen and Magic Pixel Games. The move will expand Kabam’s global presence directly into the entertainment capital, bolster the company’s AAA console quality development experience and add industry luminary Mike Verdu as a new executive on the Kabam team.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.  TapZen and Magic Pixel will be merged into a new Kabam branded Los Angeles studio near Culver City.

“Welcoming TapZen and Magic Pixel into the Kabam family is another significant milestone for Kabam,” said Co-Founder and CEO Kevin Chou. “The addition of Mike Verdu augments our world-class leadership team, and having a Los Angeles studio will strengthen Kabam’s already-deep relationships with our Hollywood partners.”

Mike Verdu is a standout among game industry veterans with both AAA console and free-to-play experience. Before founding TapZen, he was chief creative officer and co-president of Games at Zynga, where he launched new games like FrontierVille, CastleVille, and Empires & Allies as well as overseeing existing franchises such as Farmville, Zynga Poker, and Mafia Wars during his tenure. Prior to that, Verdu was Vice President and General Manager of Electronic Arts Los Angeles where he oversaw global franchises such as Command & Conquer, Medal of Honor, as well as Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth.

“Joining Kabam was an opportunity we could not pass up,” said Verdu. “I’ve been impressed at how Kabam has quickly become a leader in the free-to-play games space, and I look forward to helping the team drive the evolution of mobile games into the next generation.”

Verdu founded TapZen in 2012 and worked with Magic Pixel Games to create the bombastic mobile strategy game This Means War!.  As part of Kabam, both TapZen and Magic Pixel will continue to build out the company’s strategy game lineup, which already includes such durable franchises as Kingdoms of Camelot, Dragons of Atlantis, and The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth, each of which have generated more than $100 million in revenue.

“Kabam has a proven track record of bringing awesome strategy games to global audiences,” said Michael Seegers, Co-Founder of Magic Pixel. “We are thrilled to become a part of their team and bring our talents to an even bigger stage.”

Verdu is the latest games industry luminary to join Kabam. In November, the company added former Electronic Arts executive Nick Earl as president of Kabam Global Studios.  Prior to that, another Electronic Arts executive, Aaron Loeb, joined as senior vice president.

“This new troika of industry executives gives Kabam unprecedented AAA console quality game development experience and global management firepower that will propel Kabam Studios to the next level,” Chou said.

The addition of a Los Angeles-based studio will strengthen Kabam’s already robust relationships with Hollywood studios, a key driver of the company’s success. Kabam has launched free-to-play mobile hit games based on recognizable worldwide franchises by such studios as Disney, Warner Bros, MGM and Universal.

The acquisition of TapZen and Magic Pixel bring to nine the number of studios Kabam has acquired since 2010.  Earlier acquisitions include of Phoenix Age (2014), Exploding Barrel Games (2013), Gravity Bear, Fearless Studios, Wild Shadow and Balanced World Studio (2012), and Wonderhill (2010)

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

ArenaNet™, publisher and developer of the acclaimed Guild Wars franchise, is releasing “Point of No Return” for Guild Wars 2’s Living World today. As the conclusion of the Living World’s second season, the episode promises to be a memorable one. Earlier in the season players were warned that ‘the road to war is paved with points of no return’. Now, Tyria stands at that threshold, with the Pact Fleet poised to take the war to the Elder Dragon Mordremoth and his increasingly fierce forces, the Mordrem.

In addition to bringing the Season 2 storyline to its epic conclusion, “Point of No Return” delivers new game play and access to new treasures:

Time is Running Out

The Pact Fleet is poised to launch, and Glint’s egg is still missing. You have one last memory seed to plant, and the search through Caithe’s past has led you to a cave sealed shut with strange magic. The time for truth has come. Find a way to break the seal, enter the cave, and learn what happened all those years ago.

Ancient History

Marjory thinks Ogden Stonehealer might be able to shed some light on the origins of the seal on Wynne’s cave. The old dwarf has lived through events that have since become mere myths. Players must go to the Durmand Priory to seek his aid in understanding the seal’s ancient magic – and how to break it.

Mordrem Vinewrath

Players can take the next step in the war against the Mordrem by fighting the Vinewrath, a lieutenant of Mordremoth that has claimed a portion of the Silverwastes for its own. This fight will take the coordination of many heroes working together with the Pact to force their way down three separate lanes of attack and take out the Vinewrath’s three deadly champions.

Silverwastes Treasures

Players can round out their Carapace and Luminescent armor sets with the addition of the chest and headgear pieces in this episode. Complete the Points of No Return storyline to receive the Carapace headgear, and fight the Mordrem Vinewrath for a chance at the Carapace chest. Bandit Crest collectors now have Mordrem Bladder and Spleen Extraction Devices and a new ascended accessory for players to purchase.

To learn more about “Point of No Return,” check out the ArenaNet Releases tab at www.guildwars2.com

Gaijin Entertainment has released the full original War Thunder soundtrack to fans (http://warthunder.com/en/soundtrack). Split into two albums – Air Forces and Ground Forces – the soundtrack contains 50 inspiring orchestral tracks as featured in the epic, breath-taking battles in War Thunder. The soundtrack was created in collaboration with Strategic Music studio to produce an exquisite live-performed orchestral score, and can now be purchased from iTunes, Amazon and Google Play.

For more information, visit: http://warthunder.com/en/soundtrack

Kim Hakkyu, the Project Director of “Arcturus”, “Ragnarok Online”, “Granado Espada” and “Wolfknights” will be starting the first Closed Beta Testing (CBT) for his new MMORPG, Tree of Savior (TOS). The CBT will begin on January 15th to 18th for a total of four (4) days.

Tree of Savior is famous for being the predecessor of “Ragnarok Online (RO)”.Those who have played RO are familiar with its 2.5D graphics and an isometric viewpoint of the surrounding. Tree of Savior is similar, but with improved graphics. Gaming mechanics however resembles more of an earlier creation of Kim Hakkyu titled “Arcturus”.

A total of 3,000 participants will be chosen tomorrow to participate in the first CBT. The purpose of this CBT is to obtain determine the direction of the game and to obtain valuable feedback from the testers. Thus, only South Koreans were eligible to play in the first CBT. With that said, what can we expect from the first CBT?

For more info, visit: http://treeofsaviorgame.com/review/1197/ros-predecessor-tree-of-savior-first-cbt-preview/

Heroes Charge, uCool’s popular free to play MOBA/CCG, has released a major new update for January that adds legendaries, private duels, and more!

Legendary quests can be unlocked at level 90 & Orange. After beating the final boss, heroes will be transformed into a Legendary version with super-powerful skills. The first of the Legendary heroes available are Admiral, Shadowleaf, Drunken Master, Lightning Master, and Tusked Storm, along with special skins in the merchant store. These heroes should add a challenging twist to upcoming battles and showcase the talent of the truly elite.

Crusade now has a Fast Raiding feature, and players who have longed for some one-on-one can now enjoy private 1v1 friend battles! Challenge your rivals and learn from your friends in this fun new mode.

Three new heroes also debut with the January update:

• Phoenix – A midline strength-oriented mage with AoE damage output who revives from fire with his second skill. Phoenix is the January check-in hero who can be earned simply by playing seven days this month.
• Hidden Needle – A templar assassin with the ability to instantly deal a significant amount of damage from the midline.
• Disease Bringer – A backline mage who can heal the team during PvE battles and summon a powerful hellfire monster to fight for him.

“We’re so happy to be delivering hundreds of hours of fresh content each month. Community feedback has been amazing. We’re currently #1 in over 120 countries with over 200,000 player reviews rated 4.5 stars, and over 7 million players!” cheered Jim Ngui, Producer, Heroes Charge.

Heroes Charge will also be featured on NVIDIA’s Twitch channel during “Inside the Industry,” hosted by Natalie “ZombiUnicorn” Casanova, on Wednesday January 21 from 3 to 6pm Pacific. Heroes Charge developers and high ranking players will be sharing top strategies and showing off their tactics in live gameplay on NVIDIA Shield.