Frogster America, Inc. today announced the start of the open beta for Runes of Magic, its highly anticipated free-to-play Massively-Multiplayer Online (MMO) game being created by Runewaker Entertainment. With more than 190,000 players already registered, Runes of Magic is ready to put the final tests in place to ensure the game is ready for release to the public later this year.
In the coming weeks, Frogster will activate all of the content currently implemented, including the item-shop, where players can buy items to support their questing, adventuring and battles within the game. Since all player accounts were reset at the end of the closed beta, everyone will be able to create new characters and begin their adventures at level one. Read more
Burda:ic, a publisher of online games worldwide, today released a major update for the free-to-play, maritime MMORPG Florensia. The update includes a number of smaller changes, from land quest balancing to slight modifications to the user interface, but the biggest addition comes in the form of elemental resistances and attributes. These additions permeate the structure of the entire game so players both new and old will find the fantasy world of Florensia an exciting and dangerous place to adventure.
Each skill in the game has been assigned an elemental aspect like Fire, Ice, or Holy. In addition, monsters and characters now carry resistances to the various elements. Thus, players in Florensia should be wary in choosing their foes, as they might find they just aren’t doing as much damage as expected. Parties no longer simply mean strength in numbers; they mean a wider range of damage across the elemental spectrum. Read more
Last month we learned exactly how the connectivity between the Wii and DS would work in the upcoming Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, but if the latest rumor from Quartermann in the the January issue of EGM is to be believed, Square Enix will not stop there with the new technology. Our favorite gossip master has heard that the RPG giant will be bringing Dragon Quest IX: Protectors of the Starry Sky to the Wii as well as the DS.
While Dragon Quest IX being announced for the DS rather than a home console was a big enough surprise in the first place, fans of the long-running series were even more shocked to discover that this latest entry will sport faster-paced gameplay and a surprising MMO-lite option to play with up to four friends. Assuming this multiplayer mode works similarly to the DS-and-Wii-linking Echoes of Time, it makes sense that Square would bring DQIX to the console as well.
Last August, Las Vegas-based developer Petroglyph unintentionally made headlines. The shop, which traditionally specialized in such real-time strategy games as Star Wars: Empire at War and Universe at War: Earth Assault, posted a job listing for a massively multiplayer online role-playing game designer.
The position’s duties were described in detail, with the hire being “responsible for understanding, refining, maintaining, and disseminating the game design vision, game design, mission building, gameplay balancing, and game proposal development of a massive multiplayer online game.”
The update you’ve all been waiting for, 1.0.6, is almost here! We wanted to thank everyone who tested and provided feedback on this update’s content.
On Tuesday, 12/2/08 all servers will be brought offline to begin the update. North American servers will be brought down at 6:30AM EST with Oceanic servers to follow at 9:00AM EST.
This is our biggest update yet! It’s chock-full of exciting career changes and heralds the debut of the highly anticipated Black Guard and Knight of the Blazing Sun careers.
Word is spreading throughout the Internets that LucasArts and BioWare are at long last prepared to pull the curtain and speak more about the long-awaited co-project between the two companies.
The event, which many suspect will be the official announcement of the Knights of the Old Republic MMO, begins on October 21, 2008. Invitations were already dispatched and now the package is all but unwrapped.
You know what the best part is? None of you are invited (and neither are we).
MindFuse announces that they have secured $1 million in convertible note funding from Keiretsu Forum angel investors for the development of massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) and virtual worlds. The company has raised a total of $1.75 million since inception in 2006. MindFuse was founded by industry veterans Matthew Le Merle and Joseph Walters, formerly of Shockwave and Skunk Studios and.
"The richest massively multiplayer universes have been largely violent fantasy worlds", said Joseph Walters, Chief Executive of MindFuse. "Casual, friendly games on the other hand feel more like a snack than a feast. MindFuse is going to bring the two types of gameplay and players together – simple, compelling games embedded in a deep three dimensional world".
Nothing can prepare you for the journey that is unfolding… The Galaxy is in a fragile state, balancing on the brink of War and Peace. New threats are emerging from the untouched regions of space that threaten with an iron grip to bring the known inhabitants to their knees.
Will you aid your faction when duty calls? Or will you serve your own needs?
