Posts Tagged ‘clan system’

Cross Fire nets 25,000 users in 3 weeks

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

It looks like 2009 is quickly shaping up to be the year of free-to-play first-person-shooters (FPS).  Admittedly, the timing of Subagames’ release of their open beta stats is slightly suspect, appearing just one day after Nexon had released their whopping 2 million North American player stats.  However, Cross Fire’s numbers are quite impressive in their own respect: netting 25,000 registered players since the opening of the beta on January 30, 2009.  The open beta runs through the end of February, and if G4BOX Inc. and Wicked Interactive Ltd., the North American publishers of Cross Fire stay on target they could end up doubling this number.

Chief Executive Officer of Wicked Interactive Garvin Yeung says, “We knew there was an audience out there that was really anticipating Cross Fire, so we expected a good result.”

G4BOX CEO Howard He adds, “But even we are amazed by the overwhelming response that Cross Fire has garnered thus far.”

As previously reported, the Cross Fire website had received 1.9M hits prior to the November 7th closed beta launch, two-thirds of which came from the US.  Cross Fire has been a success in Asian markets, with an excess of 500,000 users simultaneously playing.  The North American open beta introduced new features including an in-game friends list, new maps, weapons, and items.  In addition, a military ranking and stat-tracking package has been introduced.  Wicked and G4BOX have started tracking players’ progress and activity since the open beta onward so that players are able to accurately gauge their skills against the rest of the Cross Fire community.  And as with any respectable MMO, Cross Fire now features a clan system whereby players can band together to play in persistent teams.  Supported by a Subagames clan page, this feature maintains rankings of all clans not only active in Cross Fire, but across the entire catalogue of Subagames’ free MMO’s.

Developed by SmileGate and Neowiz, Cross Fire is an online military FPS developed for the PC platform.  Players choose their role in this conflict scenario shooter, either Black List or Global Risk mercenaries.  They are then thrown into the thick of battle by joining a combat team that must cooperatively work together in order to complete objective based operations.  And while Cross Fire does sound a bit like the rising number of free-to-play FPS’s currently making their way to market, their standout feature is the unique “Ghost Mode”.  In this mode, one team is in possession of a top-secret cloaking device that allows them to become invisible to the opposing team.  “Ghost” teams are armed only with knives, and must utilize stealth tactics to hunt and track the other team.  Other play modes available include Team Death Match, Search and Destroy and Elimination modes.

Naturally, as with most free-to-plays, Cross Fire features an extensive set of character customization and upgrade options.  This in-game currency used in Cross Fire, may also be used in any of Subagames’ other titles including Metin2, ACE Online and Prison Tale, as well as the upcoming Prison Tale 2.

Sign up and join the trigger pulling fun at crossfire.subagames.com.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

Combat Arms goes live with microtransactions October 1st

Saturday, September 27th, 2008

Nexon’s first person shooter, Combat Arms will open the doors for in game customizations starting this October 1st.

A highly customizable, free-to-play online FPS, Combat Arms launches players into a war zone filled with enemy soldiers of fortune on the hunt for the good guys – you.  Nexon has been pushing the traditional boundaries of  the FPS genre, by way of a highly customizable interface and in game appearance/equipment.  This deadly arsenal includes weapons modifications ranging from scopes and silencers to extended magazines and other optional equipment.

Signaling the completion of a successful beta phase, Combat Arms’ ingame market place, appropriately entitled the Black Market will offer players even more customizations.  Starting October 1st, players will have the option of utilizing make and female mercenary characters as well as equipable items such as hats, masks, and backpacks.  These mercenary characters can be hired for 30 days and come with 50,000 gear points packed in their gWallet.  Basically, the update will serve to offer players even more options to distinguish themselves on the battlefield.  With an obvious clan system aspect to a FPS, these customizations will certainly help clan players readily identify other team members in the fog of war.

Nexon North America’s Min Kim commented, “Combat Arms had a great beta run, with players of all levels loving the fast-action FPS game play and in-game community features for ranking and challenging other players. With this launch, gamers now have access to additional play options that help the player stand out without compromising the fairness of play.”

Microtransactions are not the only feature going live October 1st.  The game will now feature a revamped melee system, and include some new weapons including the ninjato and a machete.  If players are unhappy with their current statistical build, that can also used Nexon Cash to relearn their talent tree.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

Combat Arms set to take Europe by storm

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

Nexon Europe Limited, the European branch of top free-to-play publisher Nexon recently announced that they plan on launching ‘Combat Arms Europe’ via a closed beta test starting in late October of this year.

Combat Arms is a multi-player first person shooter that has already received praise far and wide, and features non-stop action in various battlefields where players engage enemies in different game modes.  Not just your typical FPS, Combat Arms takes the genre to a new level by allowing for massive character customizations, as well as a weapon modification system.  This modification tool allows players to attach various enhancements to their weapon(s) of choice including, scopes, silencers, and extra ammo.  Combat Arms also features a unique backpack system which allows players to combine various sets of weapons, thereby creating their own customized bringer of death.

My own personal experience with Combat Arms matches up with company jargon – it is rather easy to pick up and learn the basic and more advanced controls, thereby allowing just about anyone to have a fair chance at fragging goodness.  Racking up some in-game spendable cash is easily obtainable, but also providing a decent challenge.  Experience points and cash are handed out based on the number of victories and kills shots made.  Once accumulated, these cash points allow players to rank up and acquire mounts and new weapons and equipment.  As with most MMO’s, Combat Arms features a full clan system, allowing players to recruit, manage, and communicate with other clan members.

“The FPS genre is traditionally an area for hardcore gamers with a steep learning curve, but Combat Arms takes it to another level, offering a low barrier of entry with its free-to-play offering and low system requirements,” says Sung-Jin Kim, Manager of Europe Business Team at Nexon. “Yet, the sophisticated graphics and in-depth gameplay mechanics do not fall behind the FPS titles that are out in the market, and can therefore accommodate beginners as well as hardcore gamers at the same time. The response to Combat Arms in the North American region was huge, and we have experienced a great demand from the European audience to set up a service for Europe. Now we are happy that we are just about to bring the title to the European continent, starting with the closed beta in late October”.

Nexon’s Combat Arms is free-to-play and financed via various cosmetic microtransactions.  If you’re living in North America, or don’t mind a bit of lag with your frag, you can pick up the combat arms client at: http://combatarms.nexon.net/.  The client is currently available only to PC users, but runs just fine in either Parallels or VMWare on Mac.

While most of Nexon’s titles focus around ‘fun’ and ‘play’ offering a first person shooter is certainly a great way for Nexon to expand it’s portfolio and start bringing in a completely different type of gamer.  Response thus far as been mostly positive, from an often skeptical target audience.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | 4 Comments »