Posts Tagged ‘Taiwan’

Asian Media Development Group enters free-to-play territory with Exteel

Friday, October 24th, 2008

Philippine-based Asian Media Development Group (AsianMedia) has inked a deal with Korean developer NCSoft to bring Exteel to the massive Philippine, Singapore, and Malaysian gaming markets in a free-to-play format.  AsianMedia is the operator responsible for bringing Lineage II and GuildWars to the Philippine market.  This announcement signals AsianMedia’s first free-to-play title and is NCSoft’s first time allowing an in-house developed titles to be serviced by a partner abroad.

Founded in 1999, AsianMedia is a Philippine based company, but is rapidly expanding into the Singapore and Malaysian markets.  The Asian Media Development Group is the largest PC games distributor in the Philippines and host a diverse cyber café network, 90% of which is currently in the Philippines, along with over 200 retail outlets.

Exteel is not a new game, having been released on December 4, 2007, but is currently unavailable in the Philippines/Singapore/Malaysia market.  The game has been successfully serviced in South Korea, Taiwan, a number of European countries, and North America.  In these markets, Exteel operates on a free-to-play basis and is funded via in-game item mall microtransactions using NCcoins.  In North America, real world money can be used via NCSoft pre-paid gaming cards available at Best Buy and Target locations.  No word yet on how the microtransaction model will function in these markets.

Exteel is a third person shooter online game where players command mechanaughts, or human robots, and battle other mechanuaghts.  The game features fast action, easy arcade controls, and a massive selection of items available for players to customize their killing machine.  The two companies plan on expanding gamer’s experience.

AsianMedia has already made tentative plans to begin closed beta testing in the Philippine market as early as Q1 2009.  Philippine gamers will be given first hand experience with Exteels powerful Unreal Engine 2.0 graphics engine, interactivity and gameplay.

In an interview with Alex Villafania from inquirer.net, AsianMedia COO Ronald Allan Aquino said:

“…the decision to go free-to-play was due to the huge market for such games.”

While the games’ local portal is still under development, interested gamers can check in at the North American home of exteel at: exteel.com.

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gPotato serves up free-to-play cart racing MMO Tales Runner

Friday, October 17th, 2008

Gala-Net Inc. has recently announced that the beta doors are open on the North American version of it’s new cart racing title: Tales Runner.  Developed by Rhaon Entertainment, players can sign up and download the game client at Gala-Net’s gpotato.com portal.

Originally inspired by Nintendo’s Mario Kart, Tales Runner is a free-to-play cart racer MMO focuses on a number of unique features and distinguishes itself from the crowd with a unique community interaction experience.  Racing events are not arbitrary, as Tales Runner places players in teams, encouraging community interaction, cooperation, and good sportsmanship.

Additional differentiators include:

  • The Item Alchemy: This crafting system allows players to collect special cards at the end of each race. Combining these cards creates the most powerful and unique weapons in the game.
  • The Tales Runner Leveling System: Tales Runner features a unique, rewarding leveling system. Each time a player reaches a new level they are rewarded with in-game currency as well as access to new racing rooms.
  • Customization: With 4 starting characters to choose from, 4 more to be released, and hundreds of different items, accessories and outfits
  • Tales Land Park: A central “Town” where players can hang out, show off their gear, and exchange tips with each other. There are also mini games within the park that rewards players with items and in-game currency.
  • Unique Racing Modes: There are several race modes available to players; 8 Player Mode, Team Mode, Relay Race, 30 Player Mode, and the crowd favorite, Survival Mode, where players must race toward their screen rather than away. Each Survival Mode course features a Boss Monster that eliminates players from the race with the slightest touch

A runaway hit in it’s home Korean market as well as in Japan and Taiwan, Tales Runner features reoccurring characters that take part in races based on a selection of maps inspired by fairy tales ranging from The Frog Prince to Momotaro, a Japanese favorite.  Supporting up to 30 players in individual and team modes, players will face obstacles, ski slopws and even monsters in their races.

And as with any good MMO, Gala-Net Inc. plans on rolling out a number of new content additions via in-game ‘Chapters’ through out the year.  These content updates are slated to include a number of new maps, items (for sale of course) and features.    Updates will also include a function similar to an achievment system along with alchemy, couple, fortune and family features.

When asked about the microtransactions present within Tales Racer and if they will present a playing advantage, Rhaon Entertainment producer Alan Hardie says,

…We don’t want to favor our cash users by giving them an advantage over the others. We consider all of them to be valuable, and we want to treat each one fairly.
There will be some things that can only be purchased with gPotatoes, but they are mainly of a cosmetic nature. Some provide various stats or bonuses, but we will offset this advantage by providing similar ones anyone can obtain…

Tales Runner is now open for beta testing in the North American market via Gala-Net Inc’s portal gPotato.  To sign up and download the client, visit Tales Runner at talesrunner.gpotato.com.

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