Posts Tagged ‘gameplay’

Nival Online and Gala Networks Europe to launch Allods Online – Autumn 2009

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

Known as Rage of Mages in Europe and North America, Russian developers Nival Online and Europe’s go to free-to-play publisher Gala Networks are proud to announce that they’re making Allods Online available via the gPotatoe.eu gaming portal.  Allods Online is an MMORPG based on Russia’s most successful gaming series.

allodsWith purse strings in the $12m range, this new title marks the largest budget title in Russian game development in history.  The Nival Online time has recently received the ‘Best Online Game’ and ‘Best Game Developer’ awards at the 2008 Russian Game Development Conference.

This f2p brings European MMO fans into a unique universe of epic fantasy and intense conflict woven into a deep and well-developed storyline.  The setting of this “Fantasy meets Space Opera” struggle takes place on the post-apocalypse planet of Sarnout, and the subsequent formation of the Allod islands.  These islands float in the Astral, a massive living substance that up the game world.  Gameplay takes place on these Allods, where players explore and battle monsters, beasts, and even each other.  Players will also have the opportunity to put their wits and brawn to the test with larger than life Astral Battles, those that occur between various ‘Astral Ships’ manned by multiple players, focusing on cooperative teamwork to achieve victory.

Staying true to the genre, Allods Online features fantasy MMORPG play, with numerous quests, PVP combat, massive exploration opportunities, character development, and plenty o’ social interaction with other players.  Players may choose between six races and eight character classes before having to decide on their faction: The League or The Empire.

“We have spiced up a full-blown fantasy MMORPG with the most compelling elements of space opera and science fiction, with epic battles between huge Astral ships,” said Sergey Orlovskiy, founder of Nival Online. “At the same time, we are keeping a deep focus on characters. Allods Online is not about Astral ships, but about the people on them.”

“We are excited to work with Nival Online who has proved their mastery of PC and online games for over a decade” said Hyun Hur, CEO of Gala Networks Europe. “We are confident that Allods Online will have a major impact on the overall online games industry and demonstrates that top quality games can be free, giving players a strong alternative to subscription-based MMORPGs.”

Mark those calendars now, as Allods Online comes online in autumn 2009, and will be available in German, French, and English via the gPotato.eu gaming portal.  Keep up to date at: allods.gpotato.eu.

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THQ and Massively sign multi-year exclusive in-game advertising deal

Thursday, November 27th, 2008

THQ.  It’s been a banner year for them.  From opening a new office in Shanghai, to bringing Dragonica to the North American market, these guys are on a roll.  So it should come as no great surprise to hear that THQ has yet again taken things to the next level.  They’ve recently announced their signing of a multi-year deal with Microsoft owned, in-game advertising network Massively.

This agreement will place Massively as THQ’s exclusive in-game advertising partner for all upcoming PC and Xbox video game titles.  The agreement will provide for in-game advertising inclusion in a number of THQ’s existing titles including “Saints Row” and “Saints Row 2”, which shipped over 2M units globally during the first 2 weeks of it’s October release.

“By aligning with THQ, Massive is now poised to represent new content and franchises that are realizing enormous market success globally,” said Eric Bassman, COO of Massive. “And with an open-world, mission-based game such as “Saints Row 2″ coming into the Massive network, we can work creatively with advertisers to place their brands in new, edgy environments.”

THQ EVP of publishing Scott Guthrie adds, “We have entered into a strategic agreement with Massive because it is a leader in the emerging industry of in-game advertising.”

“The Massive team has a strong track record of collaborating with game developers, sports leagues and advertisers to find a unique way to place brands and products that enhance the gameplay experience.”

By adding THQ to their already impressive roster, Massively now has even more leverage and more importantly, eyeballs, on it’s in-game ads.  THQ’s inventory extends across a wide range of game titles, and varied demographics, thereby offering new advertising opportunities to brands seeking to reach a traditionally difficult market.

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Acclaim released more info about Spellborn, tags it Freemium

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Acclaim has recently released more info about Frogster’s Chronicles of Spellborn, the highly anticipated free-to-play, or Freemium as Acclaim has recently dubbed it, MMORPG.  The closed beta testing is scheduled to get underway starting November 27th, and has a release date of January 2009.  Acclaim has licenses for Spellborn in North America, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and South America.

European countries will go live on the 27th of November, while Acclaim plans a simultaneous closed beta opening.  Both launches will have the exact same product featuring identical Freemium (read: free-to-play, microtransaction monetization models) models, but the Europeans will act as guinea pigs, ensuring that everything is smooth sailing before the Acclaim launch.

The game has undergone some key upgrades and enhancements, now allowing more players to participate and enjoy the game.  Spellborn will feature a Freemium model whereby the game will start with a free-to-play zone, but a Premium subscription service will be required to unlock additional zone of play.

The Spellborn client will be free to download and install, and will feature said free-to-play zone with no time restrictions.  Spellborn will however, impose a level limit before kicking in the ‘Want to play more?  Pay up’ process.  Some key features of this free-to-play zone include:

  • Free players are limited to the starting zones Hawksmouth and Aldenvault.
  • A gameplay limit occurs at Fame level 7, when free players have progressed approximately 90% towards Fame level 8.
  • Upon reaching this limit, all character progression is blocked and the player will receive a pop-up informing them of this block and what is obtainable beyond this with a premium subscription.

Some element will specifically be blocked including:

  • Players will be unable to gain Fame in any way or form, frozen at a fixed amount.
  • The player will be able to accept quests, but not able to complete any objectives/quests.
  • Able to kill mobs, but the player will receive no kill credit. This means, no fame reward, no pep reward and no item reward.

Unable to travel beyond the zones Hakwsmouth and Aldenvault.

Acclaim’s freemium model is moderately priced, clocking in a $15/month to open all game content.  A decent break from the standard $30 $15 or so per month (Thanks Aetherworld and Armory Light for the catch) most MMO players are used to via World of Warcraft.    Feedback thus far has been outstanding, while MMORPG.com places Chronicles of Spellborn at #3 over the past 30 days (WoW ranks #8!), and developers have been keen to incorporate this feedback.  The hype machine is gearing up, and all I can say is, it’s worth it.  I personally played Chronicles of Spellborn at the Games Convention in Leipzig, and had a full walk through with Frogster Developers.  Spellborn really is delivering what they’ve promised; a top notch MMO at an amazing price, with a ton of features that you’d expect at this level of development.

For more, visit Chronicles of Spellborn at: www.tcos.com

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KinsIsle Entertainment brings microtransactions AND subscriptions to Wizard101

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

Want to plunk down your monthly fee and play as much as you want?  That’s fine.  Want to use microtransactions to buy individual pieces and areas of the game?  That’s also fine.  Texas based KingsIsle Entertainment has set out on an interesting experiment whereby they’re now offering players of Wizard 101 the option to play via a subscription payment OR utilize microtransactions to purchase additional areas of the game.

The game’s main features will remain free-to-play but players may now either pay a monthly fee of $6.95 – $9.95 per month to access additional gameplay, or pay as little as $1/ transaction to open smaller, bit sized portions of the game.  Here’s a perfect example of players with plenty of time to play (subscription players) AND casual players that don’t want to commit to a subscription, but still want to enjoy the same level of gameplay (microtransaction players).

“We looked at our feedback and found that half the people liked subscriptions and another group wanted micro-transactions,” said Elie Akilian, chief executive of KingsIsle

Wizard101 is a spell-casting adventure and card-style game.  The game has family focused play style (lining up perfectly between parents and teens), a chat system with a number of options and a character name selector.  The game contains no blood, and characters do not die if defeated in a duel of spells – they are simply returned to a safe area to regain health.

In a recent interview with Dean Takahashi at VentureBeat, Akilian said that the teen niche hasn’t been well served by the game industry.  He points out that games such as World of Warcraft feature plenty of blood and gore, where players can run rampant, while on the opposite side of the spectrum, there are other games with much tighter controls, Disney’s Club Penguin for example.  Wizard101 is rated for everyone 10 and old, and KindsIsle has seen a number of families playing together.  The switch to a flexible pricing model shout increase not only the number of teens playing, but also the number of overall players.

Wizard101 currently features approximately 300 hours of playtime in four worlds.  KingsIsle plans on expanding this content over time.  The game currently features 170 different spell combinations, but has limited pvp combat; presumably do to the kid/family friendly rating.

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