Monthly Archives: January 2016

Blade & Soul Launch Raffle Event – Character Creation Contest

OnRPG’s Portal Manager DizzyPW managed to snag the last 2 NCCoin cards we could find in town to challenge our community to a contest of creativity and crafting… a Blade & Soul character creation launch event!

With one million concurrent active users on Blade & Soul in its first post-launch weekend. It’s no surprise that the queue times for this game are enormous! And not everyone has cash lying around (especially those jumping into a free to play MMORPG!) to buy into the premium membership to get into the queue. Luckily, the character creation system in the game does not suffer from the queue. And that’s where you chance to win your way past the queue comes in!

 

The rules are simple. Find a picture of your favorite celebrity or fictional character. Log into Blade & Soul. Make that character a reality in-game to the best of your ability. Take a screenshot and post it on our forum, along with the picture of your target person/caricature on the forum! You’re allowed to post one male and one female entry. On Wednesday night, January 27th, our staff will scroll through the entries and pick the best male and female entry to award a $25 NCCoin gift card! The code will be emailed to you at the email you used to register on our website Thursday morning.

To Enter:

  • Visit the official forum entry thread and sign-up for an account.
  • Download Blade & Soul and log-in.
  • Find a picture of your celebrity or cartoon character. Design your in-game model and take a screenshot.
  • Post both images as your entry on the thread.
  • One male and one female entry will be chosen Wednesday night. Winners will be emailed their NCCoin code Thursday morning! Don’t forget to make a male and female entry to double your chances to win!

Mobile MMORPG MU: Origin Begins Closed Beta

Mobile MMORPG MU: Origin Begins Closed Beta header

WEBZEN, a global developer and publisher of free-to-play games, announced today that the Closed Beta for its mobile MMORPG MU: Origin kicks off on Google Play on the Android mobile platform on the 25th of January (UTC).

The Closed Beta is limited to thousands selected testers who signed up for the early access. The beta testers can download the game fully localized into English, and total 3 servers- US WEST, US EAST, EUROPE are now available for the Closed Beta Test. The Closed Beta will be running from today until 1st February, 2016 (UTC). Upon its conclusion, player progress and characters will be wiped.

MU: Origin is a 100% Real-time mobile MMORPG, featuring fast paced easy levelling, endless levels and contents. MU: Origin is successfully transferred Full 3D PC MMORPG MU ONLINE’s enormous amount of contents and applied the latest mobile game trends: the game system and user interface which are optimized to mobile devices, and the splendid graphics. MU: Origin allows players to experience a full 3D PC quality real-time MMORPG on their mobile device.

Players can choose between a total of 3 distinct classes – Dark Knight, Dark Wizard, and Elf. The closed beta test gives players a first insight into the game’s settings and features, allowing them to progress their character and wings, and experience endless battles with thousands of players together in four dungeons including Story Dungeon, Daily Dungeon, Party Dungeon, and Endless Tower. PvP enthusiasts will be able to take part in Arena to defeat other players to win exclusive rewards.

In addition, 4 daily events such as Devil Square, Blood Castle, Angel Temple and Chaos Castle will open according to their schedule, and difficulties vary depending on character’s level. Players also will be able to get a number of valuable items dropped from World Boss, and tremendous amount of Zen from Golden Forces, and 8 times more EXP rates from Colosseum.

The Closed Beta registration hasn’t ended yet, and Closed Beta Sign-up will continue until the closed beta test ends on 1st February, 2016 (UTC). Any Android phone or tablet user who can access to Google Play and a compatible device in Europe, North and South America still can sign-up for Closed Beta on the official MU: Origin website at: http://muorigin.webzen.com/

Along with the Closed Beta, the MU: Origin team is organizing events such as Bug Report King and Give us your Feedback that players are encouraged to leave feedback and report any bugs they may encounter. Potential participants will be able to get special rewards, including Epic Tickets, Gold Bars and more items along with the official launch of the game.

Full release of the game is currently scheduled for spring 2016, as well as expansion into other platforms including iOS.

Firefall Launches Update 1.6

Firefall Launches Update 1.6 header

Firefall has launched update 1.6, bringing a host of new content to the game.

New in 1.6 is Jetball, a new Arena PvP mode; Holdout – Jericho, a new instanced PvE mode; and Titan Battle – Defense of Dredge, a new 10-pilot mission.

The update also introduces more story, difficulty modes for instanced missions, new operations, bounties, and many other tweaks and improvements. You can read more details here.

2016 MMO Predictions – China, The Rising King of Gaming

By Mike Tang, Guest Writer

2016 Predictions - Rise of China

When people say “mainstream gaming” most would presume that it’s based in South Korea or Japan. Both nations have had a significant influence on videogame culture and have brought competitive gaming to the world stage; however, there is one dark horse (or in this case, red) that has quickly solidified its status as the king of the gaming market – China.

In a 2015 report by the research firm Newzoo, China has the largest gaming market in the world. At the end of 2016, it pulled in a whopping $22.2 billion with a year-to-year growth of +23% since 2014. That tops the USA’s $22 billion with only a +3% year-to-year growth. China can still be considered the “new kid on the block,” however; it’s hard to deny the depth of its coffers and the significant influence on the market (in recent years and in the near future). With this newfound clout, what are China’s intentions and how will it affect the global gaming economy?

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Firstly, and quite obviously, China has a population of over 1.3 billion. Gamers account for an estimated 1 out of every 3 Chinese citizens. This gives China the ability to cater to local and international gaming markets, making it easy to acquire new audiences with existing contents from abroad and scale up quickly. The large pool would also mean that there will be millions of consumers and producers, making a boom in tech, art and design in the industry.

In 2000, the Chinese government lifted the ban on personal ownership of gaming consoles. The major console manufacturers (i.e. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo) wasted no time in making substantial investments in console production for the legion of Chinese consumers.

Over 100,000 Xbox One units were sold on the first day of its release in China, making its debut better received than in Japan. Microsoft will use this momentum to capture the recently “opened” console market with an extensive marketing campaign, localization of their gaming libraries and big PR ploys using local celebrities (from Hong Kong and the mainland) to brand the Xbox One as the definitive console to have. Since the release of the new generation of consoles, Microsoft has not yet been able to close the major gap between the numbers of Xbox One units sold to the number of Sony’s PlayStation 4 units sold. Not daunted by its limited initial success, Microsoft has set its sights on the promising and budding Chinese market, so as to gain as much ground as possible before its competitors can intervene.

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In spite of the console ban, Sony and Nintendo already had a strong brand presence in China. To compete, Microsoft will have to step up their marketing efforts and be more aggressive in a space where the Chinese are accustomed to playing computer games in internet cafes. On the other hand, it will be an uphill battle for the Japanese companies, since past and recent disputes have led to bad blood between the Japanese and Chinese governments. It will be interesting to see which new laws and regulations are placed on imported consoles and business in the coming months and how the console manufacturers adapt to them.

Home console systems are reported to have generated over $400 million and it will continue to increase in the near future. Curiously, the Chinese consoles are slightly marked up in comparison to their North American counterparts, which are also manufactured and assembled in China. Sony’s PS4 is priced at 2,899 yuan or about $468 USD, while it costs only $350 in the USA. The pricing difference is the same with the Nintendo and Microsoft consoles. On that note, it would be wiser for the console owners to lower their price points, since China is already obsessed with PC gaming, which is mostly free to play.

With the influx of console games, it is expected for the government to start regulating which content enters the country and ultimately what the public has access to. Restrictions in China have been lessened, but only to a certain extent. Government-related issues, sex, and violence are still at the top of the list of heavily censored content; however, there are opportunities for game developers to add new features, gameplay, and plot content to better suit the sensibilities of the target audience.

PC gaming is the dominating force in China. It had the greatest revenue generation at around $4.3 billion in the first half of 2015 with a 4.5% growth, according to Tech In Asia. Major players in this space are Riot’s own behemoth, “League of Legends,” South Korea’s “Dungeon & Fighter” and “Crossfire” and the long running MMORPG, “World of Warcraft.”  Other “top 10” titles from abroad are: “Guild Wars 2,” “Blade & Soul,” “World of Tanks” and even the 2014 released “Hearthstone.” Domestic games like “Demigods and Semi Devils” and “Fantasy Journey to the West 2” are among the hottest PC games in China. While the domestic titles aren’t ranked higher compared to some of their imported counterparts, it does show growing interest in more local and regional products.

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When one has a large sum of money, it is only natural to feel the need to spend it. That is what Tencent, the Chinese Internet Company, did. They own over 90% stake in Riot, the major investor for Blizzard Activision and Epic Games. This investment is in foreign gaming companies and it has paid off handsomely, thus far. The Chinese exclusive edition of Call of Duty Online shows the results of the partnership, and there will be more to come. Expect more cross pollination among the different companies where they will share of best business and game practice. Look forward to hearing news of more acquisitions of companies.

With China securing the biggest market in the world, there will be greater domestic development, as well as greater influence on gaming systems made abroad. International companies will continue to invest and establish themselves within the country. China will continue to shift its one-time “manufacturer of the world” image into a consumer powerhouse and immensely successful producer with the aid of the fastest growing middle class. In time, it won’t be a surprise that some of consumers’ favorite products will be Chinese sourced and made, including successful Chinese based games and gaming systems.

ChemCaper

ChemCaper is a mobile/PC fantasy RPG by ACE EdVenture Studio Production. As the worlds for chemistry RPG, ChemCaper plans to merge awesome gameplay with educational value.

Features:

Fun and Learning: ChemCaper brings together the best of both education and gaming. Kids get to engage the subject on a medium far cooler than any textbook ever could.

Traditional RPG combat: Enjoy a real-time battle system where tactics and strategy matters.

Mini-games: Enjoy mini-games that bring Chemistry topics, minus the bore, in-game with passive learning.

Petticle system: Create new allies called petticles and enjoy battle mechanics introduce Chemistry concepts through play!