Posts Tagged ‘social interaction’

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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MindArk brings Entropia Universe to NASA

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

MindArk has recently been selected by NASA as one of three finalists to present to Entropia Universe to NASA Learning Technologies and the Innovative Program office on November 7th at the Goddard Space Flight Center.  The goal of the project is to create an exciting and interactive MMO educational game to enhance the real world education of teens in high school and college in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields.  Saber Astronautics, Nocturnal Entertainment, and Big World and Virtual Heroes and Project Whitecard will also be presenting.

As we talked about in the e-for-all in Los Angeles wrap up, Entropia Universe is a proprietary tech platform for interoperable virtual worlds.  Each world within the Entropia Universe has it’s own unique planet and associated characteristics.  These varied free-to-play worlds each contain secure micro-transaction marketplaces, highly developed media (with a CryEngine 2 graphics overhaul currently in the works), transaction methods for both real and virtual items, and full MMO features including social interaction between players.  Players spend PEDs, the Entropia in-game currency, on customizing and equipping their avatars at an exchange rate of 10:1, PED:$ respectively.

Swedish Based developers MindArk have been working on the Entropia Universe for over 10 years at a cost of over $40M.  Hitting the streets in 2003, MindArk’s flagship planet, Calypso has been turning a profit since 2004, and served at a fine-tuning platform for further planet developments.  The Entropia Universe now boasts approximately 780,000 registered accounts from over 200 countries globally.  In 2007, the Universe was responsible for over $400M of secondary market (player-to-player) trading.

“We are thrilled and honored to present Entropia Universe to NASA and to have been selected from over 100 interested parties which were present at the NASA MMO Workshop in April. It is an acknowledgement of our concept and progress, and shows the versatility of the platform we have spent a decade developing,” says MindArk CEO Jan Welter Timkrans.

MindArk Director of Special Projects, Christian Bjoerkman, continues, “this opportunity to build the NASA MMO is very much in line with our strategy to enhance the learning aspects of the Entropia Universe Platform. It is a perfect way for us to work in collaboration with top academics and scholars to create a stimulating, challenging and educational experience.”

NASA Learning Technologies sent out feelers at a workshop back in April in order to evaluate which companies and projects would be best suited to their desire to create a STEM-based MMO title.  Their goal is to create a fun, interactive and educational game that will enhance NASA’s educational goals.

To learn more about the STEM-MMO project, visit NASA at: http://ipp.gsfc.nasa.gov/mmo/
To learn more about MindArk visit them at: http://www.mindark.com/
To learn more about Entropia Universe visit them at: http://www.entropiauniverse.com/

MindArk Entropia Universe Trailer

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GoLive2 goes live with Stix compatible MMO Racing Game

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

GoLive2, an independent gaming of Playhut Inc. has announced today that their “GoLive2 Racing” MMO has officially released.  What seems to be a rising trend in MMO’s, this new racer has an extra advantage that others do not: GoLive2’s Stix Controller.

Developed by Finland based developer Chat Republic Games, GoLive2 Racing is a PC client/server free-to-play MMO racing game that also seeks to introduce a social interaction aspect to the game.  The Lounge, paddock, and garage areas are open to the public, and facilitate other racers meeting, socializing, scheduling races, and recruiting fellow team members.   The game also features the obligatory online portal including a forum and a front page ranking system for bragging rights.

Players square off on two different tracks, one short course, one long.  The game is free-to-play, but GoLive2 seeks to monetize the game via a premium subscription fee to unlock a much larger selection of tracks, avatar and car customizations.

“We are very excited about this game,” said Brian Zheng, President and CEO, Playhut. “This game combines Stix-compatible online competitive arcade style racing with a social networking component to create a very addictive and fun game. GoLive2 Racing is a great addition to our large offering of Stix-compatible online games.”

The Stix controller is somewhat of a Wii/iPhone hybrid, in so much as it is an interactive controller for PC that gives the feeling of console play.  The iPhone reference comes via the unique touch screen capabilities of the Stix.  The Stix essentially eliminates the need for both mouse and keyboard for gameplay.

Chat Republic Games’ CEO Lasse Hyyti adds, “Our team built an outstanding game that works great with a standard PC Windows platform with keyboard and mouse but GoLive2′s Stix 200 and 400 improves the player’s experience. It transforms the game from a standard PC game into a physical action-oriented sport.”

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