Posts Tagged ‘MMORPG’

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Funcom eyes free-to-play as Age of Conan comes up short

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

Late last week, Funcom released their financial report and presentation for Q4 2008.  While there’s plenty of info about Age of Conan not living up to expectations (see below), there is a silver lining to be found in the Sturm und Drang.  In the report, Funcom revealed that they have two, count ‘em; Two free-to-play titles in the works.  Both are MMORPG’s that will monetize via a combination of microtransactions, in-game advertising, and subscriptions.  Both are yet-to-be-named, but one is a Java based MMO aimed at a youth market, while the other is a browser-based MMO targeting a more general, all encompassing market.  Funcom’s Java product has a team of 17 dedicated devs., and the browser based MMO gets 14 of Funcom’s brilliant minds.  These numbers sound good, but – to put things in perspective, Funcom’s upcoming subscription (only) based title; The Secret World has a dedicated team of 80.  Am I on the only one raising the ‘what?’ flag?

royal-failAnd now for the bad news: Age of Conan – fail.  Most of Funcom’s report focuses on how AoC has not lived up to previous hype, and how this will affect Funcom’s future.  Their Q4 gross revenue topped out around $8.7M, which was in fact within the expected parameters of between $8-10M, but obviously, board members were hoping closer to 10 than 8.  In comparison, Q2 saw $12.2M line the coffers, while Q3 really brought home the bacon with $18M.  And while it’s true that Q4 revenues represent a $7.5M increase YOY from 2007, most of this was generated by Age of Conan players’ subscription fees.  Whether or not these players remain or return to play is yet to be seen.

Funcom notes in the report that subscription retention rates were lower than expected.  One key factor was players’ dissatisfaction with the game.  They claim that retention rates are stabilizing and that player activity is on the rise, but are “uncertain” about future usage levels, and how the product will be able to successfully attract new players moving forward.

Given that Funcom recently pulled the plug on over half of Age of Conan’s servers, one can only wonder what metrics they’re using to justify ‘increased player activity’?  Sure, if you remove half the available options, any activity is going to look like increased activity.  And lest we forget, in late 2008 Age of Conan director Gaute Godgar called it a day with Conan, citing his dissatisfaction with the title’s quality.  And to add just a bit more icing to the cake, Funcom’s CFO Olav Sandnes resigned after a $23.3M loss (what was that about following the money?).

While Age of Conan may have been the third best selling PC title of 2008 (World of Warcraft and Spore took the top two spots, respectively), DFC Intelligence reports that Age of Conan put less coinage in the bank than Warhammer Online and Lord of The Rings.  And now for the kicker: AoC was out-earned by several free-to-play, microtransaction-based titles including Runescape, Maple Story, and Club Penguin.

Funcom’s now investing in two free-to-play’s after what come might consider a disastrous year.  Coincidence?  I think not.  The report says that both of Funcom’s free-to-play’s are expected to be in beta status by Q4 2009.  While they did not disclose details as to when development had started on these projects, 9 months to turn out 2 free-to-play, microtransaction driven titles with just 31 people involved?  Sounds like a rush job to me.  Remember, Funcom’s upcoming subscription based title; The Secret World has a team of 80 concentrating on it.  One might think that after devoting so much time and development work to a title that’s delivered ‘Meh’ performance, wouldn’t it be time for Funcom to take a second, look in the mirror (and the balance sheets) and refocus their efforts on products that can really make an ROI?

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Frogster announces free-to-play Runes of Magic release date

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

Mark your gaming calendars folks, as Frogster Interactive has announced the official release date for their highly anticipated free-to-play MMORPG Runes of Magic: March 19th.  During their three month open beta, Frogster has seen over 450,000 players explore and battle their way through Taborea, and it’s time to bring the title out of beta, and into the full light of day.

“Since the open beta test launch is December, the population of Taborea has soared and we have been working closely with our community to fine tune the  Runes of Magic  experience”, said Daniel Ullrich, Director of Product Management at Frogster, “We look forward to welcoming thousands of new players to Taborea during the next few weeks, as we get ready to fully launch  Runes of Magic “.

Seeking to redefine the free-to-play genre, Runes of Magic offers players a host of extensive features.  With already over 1000 quests for players to venture forth on, Runes of Magic portrays a thrilling story line set in an atmospheric fantasy setting.  Players have six main classes to choose from, and when combined with a secondary skill class, players are presented with 30 different possible character combinations.  Frogster is banking some of there revenue on customizations to player’s individual virtual homes, which they can then decorate via microtransaction purchases.  Naturally, Runes of Magic incorporates today’s ‘standard’ MMORPG features including a crafting and reputation system, PVP, and dungeons and boss-monsters.

Developed by Taiwanese Runewalker Entertainment Ltd. in just three years, the studio will provide players with fresh content updates scheduled every three to four months, including fee add-ons and updates.

Features

  • Free2play: no monthly fees, free download
  • More than 1.000 quests and quest series on launch
  • Versatile spell- and attack-combinations
  • No zone boundaries thanks to seamless architecture
  • Dungeons: Instanced and tile based as well as persistent
  • Individually developable skills and spells
  • Dynamic item system with hundreds of runes for upgrading
  • Optional PvP system with arena battles and guild wars
  • Epic crafting system with the chance to improve existing items
  • Personalization of player houses through individual furnishing
  • Customisable user interface with the option to use Add-Ons
  • Map and radar system to find dealers, resources and quests easily
  • In-game auction houses for trading items

Runes of Magic kicked open the beta doors, in both German and English in mid December 2008.  Interested parties can download the game client and start their free-to-play adventure at www.runesofmagic.com.

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SOE Prez John Smedley on microtransactions

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

We’ve both talked and read a lot about John Smedley over the years, and the Sony Online Entertainment President is rapidly becoming an outspoken voice in the microtransaction field.  Our friends over at Virtual Goods News recently had an outstanding Q&A with John, revealing some insight and thoughts, along with where Sony is headed with microtransactions.

John is credited as being one of the many people responsible for the current state of the MMORPG genre, thanks to his work on the original EverQuest.  In 2007 as President of SOE, he announced that the company would begin looking at and pursuing an interest in this up and coming business model known as microtransactions.

“We’ve been intrigued watching the Asian free-to-play model for awhile and got interested in that. The sales data we get out of the Denver studio is just shocking. People have money to spend and they want to spend it on something cool.”

John’ quick to point out the differences between the free-to-play, microtransaction supported business model, and microtransactions as an additional revenue stream.

“I think a lot of people are wondering if StationCash signals that we’ll make EverQuest and EverQuest II free-to-play, and that’s not correct,” says Smedley. “The reason for the StationCash store is very simple. It’s an additional revenue stream that gives customers something they want. The evidence of that is the sales numbers we’re seeing.”

Beating the critics to the punch, Smedley also comments on one of the most common complaints heard from gamers: microtransactions create an unfair game balance between those that have disposable income and little time, vs. those that have a great deal of time vs. little cash.

“So, we did some surveys of our players at FanFare 2008 – we got criticized for this – but we wanted to talk to our hardest-core fans and hardest critics. We got feedback that was very strongly “Yeah, as long as you don’t sell power, I’d give it a try.” We thought that the time was right.”

Speaking to SOE’s flagship microtransactions title ‘FreeRealms’, Smedley comments,

“FreeRealms has a StationCash store built right into it. The items include potions, outfits, pets. It’s designed with microtransactions from the ground up.”

And again addressing the ‘pay to pwn’ theory, it looks like there’s an option to buy ‘power’, but Smedley doesn’t see it this way,

“I wouldn’t call it power. We’re selling convenience. There will be some items there that you can buy. It’s primarily a microtransaction game, but it’s selling health potions and things like that.”

Over the past few months there’ve been rumblings about the anticipated upcoming spy based title ‘The Agency’ featuring microtransactions.  John sets the record straight with a simple “We’re not sure yet”,

“We haven’t made any announcements yet, but that’s because we haven’t made up our minds yet. It’s skill-based, so we can’t sell anything that confers player advantage. What that specifically means, I don’t know yet. We’re still experimenting.”

Looking forward, John is asked where he sees SOE in five years’ time.  Not surprisingly, he doesn’t see microtransactions becoming a core business model for SOE, but rather an additional revenue stream,

“I think we’re going to continue to expand virtual goods as part of our business, but it won’t be the core of our business. You’ll see it in new titles to different extents where appropriate.”

When asked his opinion on where the MMO scene in general will be in the next five years and where virtual goods factor into it, he comments,

“I think it is slowly but surely making its way in. It’s coming into everyday normal, MMOs. It’s just an ancillary revenue stream, a convenience for players, and I think people will gradually get used to it provided companies are careful with how they integrate it. I think over time it’s going to become a mainstream thing.”

To read the entire interview, be sure to visit Virtual Goods News.

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Free-to-play Maple Story ranks among top moneymaking MMO’s of 2008.

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

DFC Intelligence is gearing up to publish a comprehensive study of MMO worlds next month, according to GigaOm.  Wagner James Au got a special preview of the report and shares some initial estimates.

DFC’s David Cole says that the 2008 numbers are on the “very conservative” side, indicating that the 2008 numbers are still being crunched, and more exact numbers will be reflected in the February 16th reports.  “We indicate ranges because these numbers are estimates for 2008 based on where we think these products will end up,” said Cole.  And while the numbers are still being tallied, Cole estimates that the rankings should stay more or less the same, with “maybe a slot here or there” changing.

And while it shouldn’t come as a shock that the Blizzard powerhouse World of Warcraft takes the number one spot, Cole believes that if viewed from a pure profit margin, WoW wouldn’t be taking home the gold.  Asian MMO’s, which are traditionally developed at far lower budgets, have a much higher profit margin.  “Profit margin on Asian games is incredibly high,” says Cole, noting that Asian MMOs charge on or around 5-6 cents per hour with prepaid usage cards, a business model that has yet to proliferate the western gaming market.

What’s interesting to note in this projected report is the high ranking of Nexon’s free-to-play Maple Story (supported by microtransactions, prepaid cards, and international licensing), and the catalogue of Shanda’s games (Virtual item sales, prepaid cards, and freemium subscriptions).

1. World of Warcraft, launched 2004
Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG; client install with 3D graphics
Revenue sources: Monthly subscription, retails sales, prepaid cards (in Asia)
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $500 million-plus

2. Fantasy Westward Journey, launched 2004
Genre/Platform: Asian MMORPG, client install with 2.5D graphics
Revenue sources: Prepaid cards
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $150-$500 million

3. Maple Story, launched 2003
Genre/Platform: Asian MMORPG for kids, client install with 2D graphics
Revenue sources: Microtransactions, prepaid cards, international licensing
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $150-$500 million

4. Shanda (company, includes Legend of Mir and World of Legend series), launched 2003
Genre/Platform: Asian MMORPG, client install with 2.5 graphics
Revenue sources: Prepaid cards, virtual item sales, freemium subscriptions
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $150-$500 million

5. Lineage I and Lineage II , launched 1998 and 2003
Genre/Platform: Asian MMORPG, client install with 2.5 graphics (Lineage) and 3D graphics (Lineage II)
Revenue sources: Subscription, prepaid cards
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $150-$500 million

6. Runescape
Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG for kids, web-based with 2.5D graphics
Revenue sources: Premium subscription, prepaid cards, real-world advertising
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

7. Club Penguin, launched 2006
Genre/Platform: Virtual world for kids, web-based 2.5D graphics
Revenue sources: Premium subscriptions, prepaid game cards
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

8. Lord of the Ring Online
Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG, client install with 3D graphics
Revenue sources: Subscription, retail sales
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

9. Warhammer Online
Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG, client install with 3D graphics
Revenue sources: Subscription, retail sales
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

10. Age of Conan
Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG, client install with 3D graphics
Revenue sources: Subscription, retail sales
DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

Wagner continues his conversation with Cole around the most popular, in terms of active players, MMO of 2008.  To answer this question, we’ve got to go even a bit further out on the speculation branch, but Cole points out that Fantasy Westward Journey registered 2-3 million concurrent players back in August.  And although Warcraft likes to beat it’s own drum regarding their estimated 11 million+ players, “You’re lucky to get 5-10 percent [of them] playing at the same time,” says Cole.  Minho Kim, developer of Maple Story said in December that the title has 87+ million registrations, but wouldn’t comment on how many of these registered users were/are active monthly users.  Joost van Dreunen from DFC’ estimates the number to be more in the 13 – 17.4 million regular Maple Story players, roughly 15-20 percent of Kim’s estimation.

Cole admits that this year’s list looks remarkably similar to the 2007 list with Conan and Warhammer being released in 2008.  And while only 2 of the top 10 contain some type of microtransaction support, I’d estimate that this list might look very different one year from now with a number of highly anticipated (think Free Realms and Battlefield Heroes) free-to-plays coming online in ’09.

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Funcom’s Age of Conan servers to be halved

Thursday, January 15th, 2009
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

Funcom has just announced their list of planned server merges, with over half falling by the wayside.  Of the current 49 servers in action, post mergers, funcom’s MMO Age of Conan will be reduced to only 18.

While European servers will see the least drastic of the changes, with 12 servers remaining open due to the language variety (Age of Conan is currently available in English, French, German, and Spanish), the North American and Oceanic regions will be hardest hit.  The current 24 servers operating in these areas will be reduced to six, with only one PvP, and two PvE servers remaining open in the United States.  Each of the 3 servers will combine populations of the six or seven currently operating servers.

Funcom tested this move last week, with a successful merger of the Oceanic servers, and is expected to roll out the US and European mergers this week.

This is a significant point in it’s own right, as this is the first quasi-indication from funcom on how AoC’s numbers have dwindled since launch.  The silver lining in this cloud is that dedicated fans, and even those that may be new to the game will see a much increased server population, thus leading to much player-to-player interactions, and naturally a boosted in-game economy (man, I can’t WAIT to see prices on the Auction House explode).

Funcom says that they’re pushing forward with the high level and end game content (a comment we heard directly from funcom representatives at the Leipzig GC), as well as the first expansion pack.

In some ways I’m a bit taken back by this, in other ways, not.  Funcom’s Age of Conan made a lot of noise prior to the launch, won Voodoo Extreme’s MMORPG of the year 2008, and who could forget Keaira’s playboy appearance?  I personally have only spent a few days with Age of Conan, but found the gameplay and graphics to be stellar.  As noted above, I did hear it directly from funcom reps that the biggest problem they’d experienced with the AoC community were complaints about not enough end-game/epic materials and dungeons.  The last I knew, they were working on this content last summer, but weren’t giving out any definitive dates as to when the content would be released.  Another fact to consider is AoC/funcom’s timing.  When AoC was first released, we knew that Blizzard was rapidly moving forward with the WotLK, but hadn’t given any indications to it’s release date.  Funcom nailed the AoC release date; in so much as WoW players (myself included) had cleared a number of heroic dungeons, collected their purples, and were, well, to be quite honest, a bit bored.  Age of Conan fit the bill and filled the void.  Given the massive numbers that Blizzard is yet again reaching with Lich King success, could many others like me have simply moved AoC down the list again?

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MindArk launches First Planet Company to oversee Planet Calypso

Friday, January 9th, 2009

Entropia Universe virtual world platform developers MindArk have recently announced the creation of First Planet Company AB to oversee the operation, development and marketing of the MMORPG “Planet Calypso”.

Former CIO of MindArk, Marco Behrmann will take the reigns as CEO and Creative Director at First Planet Company.  He started his career with MindArk in 2002 working as a concept writer, game designer, community director and information officer (umm…when does this man sleep?).  Prior to MindArk, Behrmann worked with lifestyle magazine Codex in the role of Marketing Director, as well as Lead Designer and PR Manager at the game studio, Computer House.  Adding to his credits, Behrmann is also a co-founder of one of Sweden’s most popular tabletop role-playing game studios, Neogames AB.  If this wasn’t enough, he’s also authored over 20 books.  Again – does this man sleep?

“My vision is to supply the resources needed to allow the creative team the freedom and time to create interesting short- and long-term storylines, enhance and polish game-play, add role-playing aspects, and cater to events,” says Marco Behrmann. “My role and objective is to bring and maintain a coherency to the Planet Calypso history and storyline. We are dedicated to achieving our over-arching goal of making Planet Calypso a truly outstanding Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game.”

The appointment of Behrmann and creation of First Planet Company AB is a win-win situation for MindArk.  This new company will allow Behrmann and his team to focus solely on the development of the end-user experience for MindArk’s popular Planet Calypso MMO, while at the same time MindArk itself now has a new source of available resources that can be dedicated solely to the development of the award winning 3D online virtual universe.

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Acclaim announces new free-to-play – Knight’s Blood

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

Just in time to fill your holiday vacation with enough adventure to keep those visiting relatives at bay, free-to-play giant Acclaim has recently introduced their newest offering: Knight’s Blood.

A new free-to-play browser based MMORPG where player’s battle for honor and coinage, Knight’s Blood is yet another offering in Acclaim commitment to browser based fun for all.  Players swear their oath of knighthood and alla ‘choose your own adventure’ style, these new knights develop their own storylines based upon the choices they make in game.

Character creation starts with an overview page, complete with important information and more interesting – your own personal link.  According to Acclaim, you can convert knaves to knights online by ‘placing the link appropriately’.  The way I’m reading this is ‘recruit your friends and others to Knight’s Blood via viral messaging and/or other media, and win some in game currency’.  Maybe I’m wrong.  Players may also challenge other knights to duels, but no word of an official PvP system.  As with all Acclaim games, Acclaim coins (their native form of in game currency) can be purchased (microtransaction) via the Acclaim site.  This currency may then be spent on in game character upgrades.  Upgrades include hundreds of weapons, suits of armor, shields, amulets and rings, all designed to improve fighting abilities.  Players also have the option to customize their avatar and even create their own coat of arms.

Again along the lines of a ‘choose your own adventure’ theme, Knight’s Blood will allow players to choose the good or evil aspects of missions that they choose to accept; either via the Knight of Light path, or the Horde of Darkness.

While at the time of writing this, www.knightsblood.com appears to be down.  Either a ‘d’oh!’ on Acclaims end, or perhaps an overwhelming response?  From the concept and premise of the game, I’m not sure it’s going to pull me away from the three other MMO’s I’m playing right now, but I certainly could see it as a nice ‘lunch break’ at the office kind of game.  At least until Quake Live arrives.

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OMG! zOMG! nets half a million signups!

Monday, December 8th, 2008

OMG rly?  Gaia Onlines’ first entry to the casual MMO space has certainly stuck a chord with audiences world wide, with Gaia recently reporting that zOMG! has reached the 500,000 player benchmark – clearly indicating that they’re onto something good.  Something VERY good.

The new MMO entered it’s open beta testing phase on November 6th, and in just over a month Gaia has seen a landslide of registrations and active players on it’s servers.

As discussed in our coverage of the opening of the beta, zOMG! is flash based a casual MMORPG that pits players against monsters and enemies in 16 different zones with a wide variety of battle rings and recipes to choose from.  The main story centers around the unexplained transformation of inanimate objects into now living beings bent on wiping out the human race.  The ‘Animated’, as they’re know in-game consist of yard flamingos, gnomes, plungers, etc. can only be defeated by characters equipping themselves with magical rings and battling it out.

Existing zOMG! players now have an entire new army of fellow players to engage and play with in their ongoing campaign to smash the evildoers and live in peace and harmony.  And it’s not all just smash and grab in the land of zOMG! as the game also incorporates elements of social networking and entertainment, streaming music, and naturally, Gaia Online’s in-game, microtransaction based item mall.

When zOMG! went into an open beta phase, Senior Producer David Georgeson stated,

“Our top priority is providing a high-quality MMO gaming experience that’s fun and challenging, and also user-friendly for all levels of players.  We received a lot of great feedback from gamers during our Closed Beta, so we’re throwing open the doors as we update the game with new features and additional content.”

It seems like Gaia and company are and have been listening to players’ feedback,

“Positive feedback from satisfied players not only aids our team in modifying and ultimately perfecting the zOMG!! gameplay experience; it is truly rewarding,” said David Georgeson, Senior Producer of zOMG!! at Gaia Online. “After a lengthy development process, it’s almost surreal to watch players dig right into the storyline and begin realizing the game’s full potential.”

While Gaia Online is no stranger to massive usership, currently home to seven million plus gamers that enjoy Gaia’s wide selection of free-to-play titles, another 500,000 players in the zOMG! space doesn’t hurt anything.

Given the troubling financial climate, Gaia Online is also attributing a bit of the success of zOMG! to the inherent nature of the business model: Free-to-play.  If the price wasn’t enough of a selling point, providing a feature rich game in a browser based format makes adventuring through zOMG! even easier with no download, or credit card required.

Learn more and take zOMG! for a spin on your own over at zOMG.com.

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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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Free to Play World of Kung Fu partners with MMOsite for Giveaways

Monday, November 17th, 2008

VestGame Entertainment, publisher of free-to-play martial arts MMORPG ‘World of Kung Fu’, has recently announced a partnership with MMOsite to host a giveaway of valuable items from the WoKF item mall.

Coincidentally riding on the heels of Nexon’s 7-Eleven announcement (bad timing?), VestGame Entertaintainment is partnering up with popular gaming portal MMOsite.com and will be giving away a ton of new in-game items (read: WotLK just came out – where did everyone go?).

World of Kung Fu has approximately 250,000 registered users that adventure and explore the 3D virtual world of ancient China.  The game takes place in a fantasy land steeped in ancient Kung Fu morals of justice and heroism.  Both hard core and casual gamers are enveloped in Chinese Kung Fu philosophy, grasshopper, with graphics inspired by landscapes and open countryside settings portrayed in traditional Chinese artwork.

Players visiting MMOsite.com can take advantage of these free, in-game promos by visiting the contest section of MMOsite.  Items to be given away include:

  1. Gallant Steed – Fast moving white horse. Lasts 7 days.
  2. Novice Tai Yi Pill – Ancient medicine that restores 50,000 Hit Points.
  3. Wooden Waist Pendant – Nice accoutrement. HP +20.
  4. Small Experience Charm (5) – Gain 120% experience for 1 hour.
  5. Deepfried Steamed Bun (5) – Restores 150 HP over 15 seconds.
  6. Novice Lion Toy (5) – Enables player to revive at current location.

“We are happy to see so many new players in World of Kung Fu, and would like to take this opportunity to show our appreciation for their support”, says Zhenghua Zhuang, Head of North American Operations at VestGame.

“MMOsite was chosen to host this event because of their long standing support of World of Kung Fu as well as for their credibility in the MMORPG community”, he added.

I gave World of Kung Fu a whirl over the weekend, and while my comments above regarding Lich King is out – where did everyone go? are meant as a slight jab to the MMO community in general for all of a sudden grinding back to life, I found WoKF quite enjoyable.  Granted, there wasn’t the massive server population as experienced in WoW, which actually made the game quiet nice.  The scenery and graphics are well executed, and the storyline is pretty interesting.  Would I make this my main go-to M-F?  Probably not – but at a free-to-play price, and now including free goodie bags, it might be enough to get me started on an alternate project while I’m waiting 45+ minutes to log onto a WoW server just to see what all the excitement is about.

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