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Battle of the Immortals Soul Gear

Jan 31, 2010 Articles Recommend|600views

Here we are yet another week closer to the Battle of the Immortals Closed Beta!  (February 10th)  A lot of players in the BoI Forums have been inquiring about various sets of armor, specifically Soul Gear.  We had some time during our rigorous testing schedule this week to capture some screenshots of the various classes wearing these glorious sets of armor and I’m here to share them with you today.  Let’s take a look.

This Berzerker set is themed with iron dragons.  The dragons on each shoulder occasionally open and breathe fire, while the rest of the set glows with an eerie red.

This Champion set has an electric theme too it.  The shoulders and sword actually have turbines on them that turn and rotate.  The sword also is capable of opening up, revealing it’s electric core.  Pretty snazy I must say.

This Heretic set has a holy paladin look and feel to it.  The shield opens up, as do the shoulders.  What’s really cool about this set is that the staff extends itself via an unknown holy energy.

This Magus set has a frosty feel to it.  The shoulders are set low, but occasionally rise up with swirls of cold wind.  The visor drops down in order to give you a more menacing look.

This Slayer set is one of my personal favorites.  The entire set is surrounded by floating chains that rotate and turn around the player’s body.  The gigantic daggers flip out like huge switchblades, while the gears at the top of the hilt turn.

These are only a few sets of armor and weapons from the arsenal of BoI.  There’s plenty more where this came from folks.

Early next week, we’ll be giving you guys a preview of the mount/pet system in BoI.  Until then, make sure you have a BoI key activated on your account, and mark your calendars, February 10th!

Tags: Battle of the Immortals, Soul Gear

Warhammer 40K MMO

Jan 30, 2010 Articles Recommend|339views

Tags: MMO, WarHammer, Warhammer 40K

The worrying future of Final Fantasy XI

Jan 30, 2010 FFXI|280views

There’s a growing unease in the Final Fantasy XI community. It’s one of those subtle things that no one is willing to outright talk about, but it’s still there, just beneath the surface of a surprising number of discussions. And it’s a bit unusual for an MMO, because it’s not fear or anxiousness about something being broken from the last update or an upcoming update.

No, it’s more about the question of whether the upcoming updates will be the last, or if there will even be any changes that could break something. There is an elephant in the room with a big number fourteen on its side, and while few fans of the game are upset that Final Fantasy XIV is coming… well, it raises no shortage of questions about the future of the game we’re already playing.

And it’s not new. People were saying as far back as the leadup to the July update that something was rotten in the state of Jeuno. But when coupled with the promise that Final Fantasy XI isn’t over… well, there’s an excellent article that almost every fan needs to read on Allakhazam, summarizing what no small number of fans have been thinking. Where are we actually going to be when the dust clears?
Let’s be perfectly clear about something: no one is forecasting the absolute death of FFXI. EverQuest is still running along and getting expansions, and that game isn’t precisely attracting new players at an alarming rate. One might argue that part of the reason is that the entire Station Pass concept makes also playing EverQuest on occasion far less daunting than having a completely separate subscription, but that’s a discussion for another time — and really, would it be so difficult for Square-Enix to give us an FFXI subscription along with Final Fantasy XIV?

Probably not. But there isn’t a whole lot to indicate that we’ll get any such thing, which leads us to the problem of how closed FFXI is becoming to new adventurers.

When I started a new account, it was after a long break, and I was immediately struck by how much smaller the world felt. Not that I think the game has hemorrhaged players too badly — it makes money back for Square quite handily — but if you’re starting the game, just think about all of the things you need to do right out of the gate. You need your subjob. You need your airship passes, both to Kazham and to the capitals. You need a pass to get on the boat to Al Zahbi, and you need a chocobo license. You have fourteen advanced jobs to unlock, Tenshodo reputation to gain, and a whole boatload of spells to buy.

All of this is going to cost you a lot of money, and several of these things are going to all but require the help of other players. Your subjob items are unobtainable solo until Level 25 or so, and if you think you can hit 25 easily with no sub, I envy your skill at overcoming obstacles. Oh, and let’s not forget that you also need to do several missions and travel through time for several of these, while shedding a silent tear for those people who don’t know to run through Garlaige Citadel in the past.

We have a lot of barriers to helping new players get to a point where they can just start experimenting with options. We don’t think about these things that much, because we didn’t have to do them all at once. If you’ve been playing for most of the game’s lifespan, you just had to do one or two new things each expansion.

The bonus is that there is a real sense of having reached new and expanding plateaus even if you already had jobs at 75. The downside is that it makes the game an increasingly closed system. High-level players are much less willing to help a low-level character get their subjob garbage or kill that stupid wyvern so they can become a Dragoon, because it’s old hat. There’s enough of a top-end population that they don’t need to sweat it all that much.

From the perspective of Square, I can’t imagine the game looks all that salvagable. They’re not seeing huge numbers of players leave, but they’re probably seeing a slow trickle down with the occasional slight trend back up. New players are going to have a very long climb ahead of them.

If we want FFXI to stick around after FFXIV launches, some of that climb should be — must be — removed.

Make subjobs more obtainable. Make it possible to travel to Al Zahbi and Kazham without so many hoops to jump through. Make the rank missions below 6 or so soloable at a reasonable level — or, heck, just make all of a nation’s missions soloable. The vast majority of people playing the game have been sitting at Rank 10 or near enough for an eternity. The time when gathering these things was an accomplishment is long past, replaced with a time when these things are absolutely mandatory to your play experience.

Yes, the endgame is wonderful and engaging, but most new players aren’t ever going to get there at this rate. They’re going to quest a bit, get discouraged when they see the slog that’s awaiting them, and then they will leave. And by all indications, FFXIV will not have this barrier to entry. The designers have said that they disliked the forced group leveling mechanics and that they want to do away with it. People will have a much easier time picking up and playing.

And similarly… yes, we do need a new expansion. These things should really go hand in hand. One of the wonderful things I remember about the launch of Treasures of Aht Urghan’s launch was the fact that everyone, no matter the level, was diving in together. People were playing new jobs at low levels, or taking the chance to level another job because it would set them apart from a sea of pirates, blue mages, and monks playing with dolls. People were exploring and trying new things, at all levels, because the content was all there.

That, to me, is the sort of thing we really need to hear to confirm that there’s life left in FFXI. At this point, the critical mass at endgame is simply unavoidable. And if it’s only targeted by making a new area to travel to, well, it’s going to become yet another barrier to entry in a game with too many of them. Over the game’s lifespan so far Square has consistently turned out expansions that were deep, immersive, and full of content and additions that were relevant to everyone, enforcing the idea that a Level 15 WAR/MNK and a Level 75 DRG/SAM were both, at the end of the day, adventurers with common goals and shared hopes.

Of course, the flip side is that they’re just going to spend the whole time telling us how awesome FFXIV is going to be and when it’s getting released. Which, as consolation prizes go, isn’t all that bad after all.

Tags: Expansion, Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV, Opinion

Get WOW Game Card by playing DC

Jan 28, 2010 Articles Recommend|301views

EverDream Studio is teaming up with many game medias to hold WOW Pre-paid Game Card Free Giveaway events. Now you will have a chance to gain a 60-day free tour in the behemoth of gaming industry - World of Warcraft, if you participate in these events. To be more specific, all you need to do is simply register and login the free webgame - Dragon’s Call, play for a while, and then wait for the final lucky draw.

Wait, so how were these two games related? It might come from the rumor that many white collars play Dragon’s Call during the daytime and play WOW at night. Or probably, it’s not a rumor. Reply in the comment if you’re one of them. But don’t forget to use a fake name, because your boss might be reading this now!

Enter the official contest page for more details

About EverDream Studio
EverDream Studio was founded in 2008 as a small independent studio and then expanded itself into a much bigger one in 2009. Now they are a globalized team with more than 30 people and concentrating on browser-based game development. But more than that, a cutting-edge gaming platform is on their schedule and they intend to become a significant role in all the major gaming markets worldwide..

Tags: DC, Dragon's Call, WOW Game Card

Battle of the Immortals classes preview

Jan 27, 2010 Articles Recommend|1,899views

Perfect World Entertainment has spent a fair amount of time talking up their upcoming PvP-focused game, Battle of the Immortals. The game certainly looks gorgeous, but we’ve only heard bits and pieces about how it will actually play. The most recent update, however, certainly provides a fair bit more information on how the game, as it details the game’s classes — Berzerker, Heretic, Magus, Slayer, and Champion. Each class is given a brief writeup of their strengths, weaknesses, and preferred opponents.

Berzerkers concentrate almost exclusively on causing physical damage.  Berzerkers still wear light armor, which gives them decent defense against physical attacks; however they are extremely susceptible to magical damage.  Usually Berzerkers are found in the middle of a fight, never on its edges.  Several Berzerker skills focus on weakening targets in terms of speed and/or defense.

Focusing almost entirely on defensive ability, Champions suffer slightly in terms of damage.  Most of a Champion’s abilities focus on being in the center of the fight.  Area of effect (AoE) taunts to save your friends from monsters, or even in some cases immobilizing their targets, Champions are invaluable tanks.

Heretics come from a long line of religious fanatics.  Once holy men, have now melded dark magic with light magic.  Capable of dealing medium levels of magic damage, Heretics also have the ability to use magic defensively.  Many of their abilities are capable of buffing or healing the caster.  Heretics are a key component to any group encounter, whether it be against monsters or other players.

Magi are the masters of the elemental magic, utilizing them in order to create destruction and chaos.  Maintaining distance from your enemies is essential in order to be successful as a Magus.  Many of abilities of the Magi focus on crowd control and snaring/immobilizing your opponents, making this task much easier.  Magi are also one of the more area of affect (AoE) focused classes, allowing them to take on multiple monsters at the same time with relative ease.

Slayers spend a large majority of their training focusing on what makes things “tick”.  They then spend an even larger amount of time studying on how to make the “ticking” stop.  Many Slayer abilities utilize poisons and the elements in order to cause a blend of both physical and magical damage.  While being fragile and weak in terms of defense, their offensive ability is almost unmatched.

well, okay, they’re kind of obvious. Berzerkers have an errant “z” in their name and focus on dealing out physical damage at the cost of some defense, and Champions wield a weapon and shield to be all but indestructible. The classes seem set to provide a fair mix of the usual “holy trinity” mechanics and PvP skills, so take a look at the official preview to get a clearer picture of what you might want to play once the game goes live.

Tags: Battle of the Immortals, classes, Fantasy, Free-to-play, Preview, PvP

Dragon Oath Expansion Age of Destiny Preview

Jan 26, 2010 Articles Recommend|631views

Our Forum volunteer Kevin has been one of the 36 lucky players who have been chosen by the ChangYou team to enter Dragon Oath’s upcoming expansion Age of Destiny before the official launch, earlier than anyone else. He brings us this in-depth preview. Check out what he thinks of Age of Destiny!

I played the new Dragon Oath expansion and it seems pretty chill. They really added a lot of content this time around which was surprising, I was constantly busy with all of the new quests and events going on. The best things about the new expansion, in my opinion are the Artifact Weapons. It feels awesome to have an immensely powerful weapon that looks cool at the same time. It’s also nice that they added multiple ways to get those weapons, so that it doesn’t boil down to a dogpile of people trying to do the same quests.

The Yan Tomb instance is really challenging, but really rewarding at the same time. It’s like 9 levels deep with tons and TONS of enemies to mow through on your way to the final boss. In addition to those enemies, there’s a mini boss on each stage that blocks you from getting to the next level. Fighting King Yan himself is a grueling task that really requires you to be on your toes the entire fight. Not to mention the fact that your group has to be well equipped to deal with such a powerful boss. All in all, it was one of the best dungeons that I’ve ever played through in ANY game.

I spent a little time in that Ice Space zone and I think it’s a really cool idea that should be implemented into more games. It’s just a mellow zone where you can go to collect experience. Sometimes players want to get their consistent experience, but relax a bit at the same time. This was made for those people (myself included) and I definitely approve. The amount of money that you have to pay to get in is pretty fair too (I think it’s like 3 Gold), so you don’t really get robbed of your funds too badly.

I’ve always been a bit fan of PVP, so I decided to do the Arena Chest event one day and it turned out to be a lot of fun. All I had to do was group up with a few people and then we hopped right into the PVP zone. Once inside, I was shocked at how quickly I was thrown into an all out fight for my life. Tons of people were fighting it out for the huge treasure chest in the Arena and it eventually became a scramble to see who could stand next to the chest and defend it the longest. Honestly, doing that event was a breath of fresh air for a PVP enthusiast such as myself. Far too often, people are put in PVP situations where they’re expected to just mindlessly fight it out over nothing. It’s cool to finally see an objective that isn’t just “kill those guys”.

The coolest quest that I took part in was the Swallow’s Dock series. When I hopped into this quest I felt like I was taking part in an epic movie battle. Hopping from boat to boat in a race to protect a high ranking military soldier, scrambling to intercept bandits while fortifying defense structures, fighting off warlords with devastating magic attacks, this quest has it ALL.  Even though the quest itself is challenging to complete, you never stop having fun, which is what makes it awesome in my opinion.

Overall, this new Dragon Oath content is gonna make a lot of players very happy. I think that these new editions are definitely something that will keep the veteran players engaged and bring in a lot of new players at the same time. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve spent a long time on a F2P MMO, but I’m having such a good time with Dragon oath that I really don’t even notice how quickly time is flying by. I encourage everyone to try this stuff out, it’s definitely worth it.

Tags: Age of Destiny, Dragon Oath, Expansion, Preview

The Cardassians generally aren’t listed in the same breath

Jan 24, 2010 Articles Recommend|324views

In the Star Trek universe, the Cardassians generally aren’t listed in the same breath as the Klingons or the Romulans as adversaries. That is, unless you’ve seen Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Then you likely won’t stop going on about the rigid and hidebound social structure and the backstabbing government plots, or even just about Elim Garak. The Cardassian faction was hinted at some time ago in Star Trek Online, but while the official page hasn’t yet filled out the page, we do have a fair amount of information on the faction. And while it may or may not satisfy everyone looking forward to the faction, there’s plenty for fans of the game to get excited about.

At this point, the once-grand empire has been reduced to a difficult existence trying to rebuild the government and society after the events of the Dominion War, recounted on the game’s official timeline. The socially-minded Detapa Council, however, is facing opposition from the True Way, an organization seeking a return to Cardassia Prime’s more militaristic society. There are also rumors that the Obsidian Order might be still running around, something that almost any fan of the series would have expected. Star Trek Online looks to have plans for the Cardassians, and while it probably won’t involve a tailor on the bridge crew, we can only hope.

Click past the break for a short official video giving a peek of the Cardassians in action, as well as the in-universe dossiers by Starfleet and the Klingon Empire.

From Commander Bradden, Starfleet Intelligence:
The Cardassians are a warlike and xenophobic people. Once they ruled a far reaching star empire with an iron fist, dominating the various native populations they conquered. They were a fierce military force. However, they are now a people barely surviving. Their ill-fated alliance with Dominion forces during the Dominion War resulted in near total destruction to the Cardassian homeworld and decimated their population. The Detapa Council, a civilian, democratic organization, came into power following the Dominion War, and has attempted to rebuild both the agriculture of the planet and the economy. Unfortunately, the council has faced considerable opposition from a group known as the True Way.

The True Way aims to return to the military order. While the Detapa Council leads Cardassia, and, indeed, the Cardassian Union, the True Way has a large and impassioned following. Quite regrettably, Cardassians have a history of turning to a strictly regimented military in times of trouble. Their homeworld has never been plentiful, resulting in a period of famine in their early history. To resolve the lack of natural resources on Cardassia Prime, the military decided to expand outward and appropriate the resources of other planets and peoples. They treated subjugated peoples as slave labor, regularly committing atrocities against the native populations. For that matter, the military government spied upon and, by many accounts, tortured their own citizens using an intelligence organization known as the Obsidian Order*.

Most unfortunately, this has limited the amount of aid that the Federation has been able to offer the Cardassians. The Federation has, naturally, made an attempt to assist in reconstruction efforts. The Andak Project, lead by Federation botanist Keiko O’Brien, is one of the few such attempts the Cardassians have allowed. The Andak project has provided agricultural assistance in rehabilitating Cardassia Prime’s depleted food resources. However, there is far more work to do to rebuild the planet.

It is worth noting that while the Cardassians have engendered animosity in numerous other species, the conflict between Bajorans and Cardassians is particularly bitter due to the brutal Cardassian Occupation of Bajor from 2328 to 2369.

*It is worth noting that the Obsidian Order seemed to be an equivalent institution to the Romulan Tal Shiar. However, the Obsidian Order was supposedly destroyed by the military government in 2371. My sources indicate that one of the current leaders of the Detapa Council is actually a former Obsidian Order operative.

From Commander Korak, Klingon Intelligence:
The Cardassians are worthy opponents in battle. They are fierce warriors and fight with honor. We fought, and defeated, them in the Dominion War. The Dominion suckered them, the poor bastards. They had no chance once they allied with those honorless targs.

Now, the Cardassians are trying to rebuild their empire on a lifeless ball of rock. It would be a miracle if they succeeded, after the Dominion bombarded their planet at the end of the war. They rebelled against the Dominion at the end, which helped us. Distract the enemy, leave them open to attack! Yes, the Cardassians were useful. Misguided at times, but useful.

We shall see if they regain their military might, though I doubt it. I doubt it greatly. Their leading council now is far more concerned with agriculture and kowtowing to the Federation. Pah! Although rumor does say that Gul Madred is leading a potential military force known as the True Way. These next few years should be interesting for the Cardassians, if they don’t die out first.

Tags: Cardassians, faction, Star Trek Online, Star Trek universe

Star Trek Online Currency

Jan 22, 2010 Articles Recommend|395views

There are three types of currency in Star Trek Online:

• Energy Credits
• Starfleet Merits
• Explorer Badges

Energy Credits

Energy credits are the primary currency in STO. You earn energy credits by completing missions and selling the items that you get via drops from mobs (both ground and space). The various vendors around space stations like Stardock and K7 will sell you moderately good gear in exchange for your energy credits.

The best way to sell items to earn energy credits is to go to a space station and sell them to a vendor instead of selling them to your replicator. If you sell them to your personal replicator (which you can access via your inventory when not at a space station) you end up taking about a 20% hit versus selling it directly to a space station vendor.

The other big thing you can use energy credits for is buying ships. Each ship costs 20,000 energy credits and can be purchased at any space station. However, it’s important to remember that you automatically get one free ship each time you advance in rank (from lieutenant to lieutenant commander, for instance). Chance are you won’t have to buy any ships until later in end-game when you want a different ship with different abilities.

Save your energy credits for that, and you’ll be so rich you’ll make even the Ferengi jealous.

Energy credits are tradeable with other players.

Starfleet Merits

Starfleet merits are earned through completing missions. You don’t get them for killing mobs, you can’t trade them with other players. You have to earn them through your own hard work. Starfleet merits are harder to come by than energy credits. For instance, by the time I leveled up to a lieutenant commander, I had about 25,000 energy credits and about 1,800 Starfleet merits.

You can use Starfleet merits to buy bridge officers (which make your ship and away team crews more powerful) as well as train them with new ground and space combat skills. The primary way you’ll spend your Starfleet merits is by purchasing these bridge officer upgrades. Expect to do this a lot, especially as you progress and your character develops into a more specialized role.

The other thing Starfleet merits are used for is to rename your ship and character, but that isn’t something you’re likely going to do more than once or twice — if that.

Explorer Badges

We don’t know a whole lot about these yet, but we do know that they’ll be exchanged for some of the best gear available in the game (right now). The latest open beta patch began allowing us to collect them from completing exploration missions. There are four tiers of badges right now, presumably each different tier will equate to a different tier of ship/rank (ie: Captain, Admiral).

There’s a lot of potential for these badges (especially higher level ones) to be used like WoW’s badge system — fill in the gear gaps that players may encounter in order to ease end-game gearing curves. If Cryptic is going to use them in this way, it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out in the end-game once STO has been active for a bit.

Tags: Energy Credits, Explorer Badges, Star Trek Online, Starfleet Merits

Dragon Oath-Age of Destiny, which is given by a player

Jan 20, 2010 Articles Recommend|344views

Jever EverJest, a player of the Free-to-Play Martial Arts MMORPG, Dragon Oath, revealed that his suggestion for the game’s upcoming major expansion was the chosen one. His idea Age of Destiny was picked by the game’s publisher, and he was very excited to know that he contributed to changing the face of gaming.

The Dragon Oath team recently announced that they were looking for some cool name ideas for their recent expansion. The expansion includes some very exciting content such as highly sought after new areas, extremely powerful weapons, unique pets, and access to several new events. After getting hundreds of submissions from very enthusiastic players, Jever EverJest’s was selected: Dragon Oath: Age of Destiny!

“It just seemed to fit, given the content that [is being] implemented in game, the opening of this content fulfills a destiny most players are waiting for,” he said.

Jever EverJest has been playing Dragon Oath since the end of Nov 09 - right after Open Beta began. “I was looking for a game to play and I came across an ad for D.O. on Facebook and I have been hooked ever since,” he said.

“This game has the most content I have seen in a MMO - the quest systems/pets/breeding/crafting/casting/sewing - it all reminds me of a MMO I used to play - which is most likely why I am hooked on it — the other MMO was Ultima Online, which I played for over 15yrs,” he said.

Jever EverJest has made an everlasting contribution to a game he loves playing, and you can too. Every player can make a difference!

Tags: Age of Destiny, Dragon Oath

All New Union War in CroNous

Jan 19, 2010 Articles Recommend|364views

Seoul, Korea – January 21, 2010 – Cronous is introducing a new Union War system. Finally, the spectacular revolution will begin. There will be unprecedented changes to the Cronous war system, including rewards for both winning and losing sides.

In the new Union War system, with each Union consisting of five guilds, a defending Union will have to confront the two besieging Union. The ultimate goal of the defending Union will be to prevent the besieging Union from performing the 30 second Will of the King ceremony for 100 minutes. For the besieging Union to perform the Will of the King ceremony, they will have to pass the Outer Gate, Inner Gate and the Two Guard Tower. However, they are expected to meet fierce resistance from the defending Union.

If the besieging Union wins the war, they will become the new owner of the castle, and the right to tax players will be bestowed upon them with the Union Leader being granted a crown to be worn until the next Union war. For each win, the Union members, who have acquired more than 2000 honor points during the relevant Union War, will also be given 3 points for their victory. Furthermore, the honor points gained during the Union War will be available for use to purchase items in the Honor Point Item Shop. Also, with enough Honor Points, the players will be granted a rank in the following order: Caim, Berial, Beelzebub, Astaroth, Lucifuge, Marves and Lucifer.

For more information, please visit http://www.cronous.com.

Tags: Cronous, Union War

Dragon’s Call Open Beta Test Launch Now!

Jan 19, 2010 Articles Recommend|412views

Let the roar of dragons awaken your gloomy mind! The most entertaining fantasy browser RPG Dragon’s Call announced that their Open Beta Test had launched on Monday, Jan. 18th, 2010 - EST 8:00 PM.

After a successful closed beta test, Dragon’s Call has got many high compliments from players and was the winner of the BBGsite Best New Browser Game of 2009 event. Without any doubt, Dragon’s Call would be a perfect choice for you to get a breath of fresh air!

In order to give Dragon’s Call players a big surprise, EverDream Studio has prepared several new systems and many events for you! The most exciting “Avatar System”(Soul Power System) will go live and more secret updates will be unveiled. The events on the first week of the OBT are also abundant, including:

1.   Starter Kit Event.
2.   Gold Blessing Package Event.
3.   Payment Extra Bonus Event.
4.   Soul Stone Package Event.
5.   Soul Power Event.

One week later, Dragon’s Call will hold other events especially a great Free WOW Time Card Giveaway event, all players in Dragon’s Call will have the same opportunity to be the lucky one. The winners will be rewarded with a 60-day Pre-paid Game Card (North American and Oceanic region) or 800 Dragon Gold. Are you crazy now? Pull out your sword and staff, Dragon’s Call is waiting for you! For more detailed event information, please visit the official site at http://dc.gamedp.com

Tags: Dragon's Call, Open Beta

Hello Kitty Online, beyond the pink hearts and stars motif

Jan 18, 2010 Articles Recommend|385views

One of the things that’s different about Hello Kitty Online, beyond the pink hearts and stars motif, is that the game ties in with some great charitable causes. Now Sanrio Digital has announced the “Food for Friends 2″ guild competition, an event that lets guilds compete for Loyalty Point prizes for use in the Hello Kitty Online item mall while helping people in the real world. Players from select regions (North America, Europe, Singapore, Malaysia) who participate in Food for Friends 2 will generate real money donations (from event sponsors) through their gameplay that will help disaster relief efforts in Haiti.

Food for Friends 2 runs from January 21-30 and getting involved is very simple. Players can log in and head on over to Hello Kitty Online’s version of London to speak with an NPC named Cinnamaroll. He’s collecting crafted consumable items for the needy. The more people from your guild who donate these items, the higher your guild’s point standings increase.

Tags: Hello Kitty Online

A First Look at NBA Jam for the Wii

Jan 17, 2010 Articles Recommend|1,868views

EA Sports gave an exclusive first look at NBA Jam to Nintendo Power, and judging by a scan that’s circled the earth about three times now, a zany visual style should accompany its boom-shakalaka gameplay.

That image above was first circulated by Go Nintendo. As you can see, it looks like the players will have 3D bodies and 2D heads, (think Monty Python, or the cutscene animations in Mythbusters.) According to a reader on NeoGAF, “The faces are actual photograph captures, each character has multiple faces, three faces while running the court, two dunk faces, and a positive and negative face.” Sounds delightful. In fact, it wasn’t that far off from Ripten’s artist’s conception published when the game was announced earlier this week.

For those curious about how the game will be controlled, NBA Jam will support motion control; players may also control it holding the Wiimote sideways to use the D-pad and buttons. No mention was made of the Classic Controller.

Of course, the power-ups and unlockables are what made NBA Jam such a raucous hit, and the Nintendo Power article listed these: Fire; Shattering Backboard; Cheats; Flashing Shoes; Flashing ball; Big Head Mode; Legends; Playable Mascots; Secret Characters.

Big Head mode, combined with these graphics, sounds like a riot. The secret characters were a show-stealer on the original, but they came before everyone got super uptight about licensing and use of likenesses in games. I have to wonder who they’ve brought in.

Tags: NBA Jam, Wii

You Can Get Dragon’s Call Open Beta Starter Kit Card Code Here

Jan 16, 2010 Articles Recommend|1,983views

Thank you everyone this event is complete.

Dragon’s Call is on Open Beta Test now(Dragon’s Call open beta test will launch on Jan 18th), more and more players are coming to the popular game! As a newbie, you can get the Starter Kit card code from our site. After that, you can claim the Starter Kit in game.

Follow this guide to redeem your Starter Kit Package.

1.  Get the card code from us,send mail to proposal@top1gaming.com to get free Starter Kit card code.

2.  Register and logo in Dragon’s Call from here for free.

3.  Simply click the Gift button to enter the claim page.

4.  Enter the Starter Kit card code you got from our site and click Claim Now button.

5.  After that, the Starter Kit will be shown on the Claim Your Gift Package page, you just need to find it and click the Claim button.

6.  Then you will see the detailed items you can got from the Starter Kit, simply click the Confirm button to finish the last step.

7.  Enjoy your fantastic journey in Dragon’s Call with 10 thousand players come from different countries.

Note: the Starter Kit Codes would be available after Dragon’s Call open beta test launch (Jan 18th)

About Dragon’s Call

Dragon’s Call, a brand new browser MMORPG has stunning graphics and a large variety of ways to play. Your character will be equipped with an variety of weapons, skills and magical abilities to help you in your journey through quests across the mysterious lands.

You will not only encounter wild animals but also PVP with real players. Your role is to defend the lands with justice. Choose your side and build alliances.

Many exclusive features, including Auto-fight, Instance and Divine systems are going to create a wonderful game experience for you.

About Ever Dream Studio

Ever Dream Studio was founded in 2008 as a small independent studio which expanded into a much bigger one in 2009. We are a global team consisted of 30-plus staff and we specialize in Massively Multiplayer Online Game development.

Tags: Dragon’s Call, Open Beta, Starter Kit Card

Some previews with NetDevil MMO, Lego Universe.

Jan 15, 2010 Articles Recommend|271views

Team members of LUPs - Lego Universe Partners were on hand at CES 2010 to show off Lego Universe together with Lego and NetDevil. These are adult volunteers that are assisting Lego and NetDevil to playtest and refine Lego Universe. The team number about 50 adult Lego builders and all were invited by Lego to participate in the LUP program to provide feedback and suggestions. I met Joel Hoornbeck who was happy to show me the Lego Digital Design program, a free download that’s available from www.lego.com and how it was used and integrated into Lego Universe.

Targeted at boys aged eight to twelve, Lego Universe will also appeal to Lego fans who are gamers and perhaps MMO fans who also enjoy the building brick toy. To begin with, it’s a PvE world. Much like many other Lego branded games such as Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones, you take on the persona of a Lego mini-fig and go about whacking Lego monsters which break down into component parts, some which can then be used to build other helpful objects such as a turret.

Darkling forces have damaged the happy world of Wonderland and you, the intrepid mini-fig have been called upon to defend your world, rebuild what has been destroyed and build more of the world. Lego Universe is very much a platforming style game and because of the target age, it is interesting to see how complex the world is for a kid’s game. The UI is amazingly simple and tool-tips let you know when an object may be interacted with and all actions are accessed with the same key. Quests are the usual kill this, deliver that, but you won’t see walls of text, just simple sentences and eventually some voice-over will be built into the game as well. Instead of a trail of breadcrumbs, NetDevil uses camera tricks such as a zoom to a location or NPC to show the player where he needs to go when he first accepts a quest. Binoculars in game allow players to get a closer look at the next area, and Lego animals abound, many tamable as long as you visit Pet Rock and learn the skill to acquire a pet.

There are three stats: life, armor and imagination. Imagination is gained as you explore, interact, build and even smash enemies, but it is also used in interaction and building objects. It definitely is similar to a “boost bar” that you fill in order to access special actions, which in Lego Universe, is the building of objects such as a bridge across the canyon or a tower to reach a higher level. It is also a social world and special rewards and actions can only be attained if you do things in-games with your friends. Players cannot build an item together, but coordinated efforts such as one building a platform and another building the next will yield special rewards. Some quests involve exploration, some involve mini-games and like all good adventures, side-quests are myriad and varied.

The goal of the game is exploration and players will likely develop pack-rat tendencies as everything that is dropped has a use. It may not be immediately apparent but as you explore an area, that banana you picked up just might be the enticement for that monkey to give you the key he’s holding; the key that just might open up that door that just might lead to another fascinating area with plenty of quests.

There are no levels, but pieces you find that you can equip. Some equipment pieces contain skills and we activated a Pirate Hat’s dance command in a circle of Alpha testers, complete with music, prompting other players to go, “How did you do that??” There is no death, but your mini-fig can get smashed and all you have to do is rebuild it and you spawn again in a safe location. You might lose a few coins and a few minutes of time, but your creative spark lives on to build again. Speaking of building, let’s circle back to the Lego Digital Design program. In game, players gain bricks as rewards and loot drops. With them, they can build things, and they can display them in display showcases as well as in their own player properties. Not only that, there are Widgets, which are behaviors that can be applied to items in your property. In the demo, we saw a Lego windmill that turned slowly and a Lego elephant that circled it. We applied other behaviors such as the jump behavior which can be activated upon approach of a player or a click of the mouse. Behaviors are not consumed and as you gain them, may be re-used and layered on each other. Bricks however, are when used to build objects, but never fear, you can always break them down to reclaim your bricks.

Anyone who has ever played any of the Lego games will immediately find Lego Universe familiar. There are treasure chests to be smashed and looted, coins and bricks fly around, mini-figs get smashed with a rather horrifying scream (but kids just love that…) and get re-built, and there’s so much to collect and so much to build.

Last but certainly not least, we saw many of the internet safety features built into the game. Parents can choose for their kids only to use and see menu-chat, all names go through moderation, and objects built for display will not be seen by anyone else until they have been optimized by the server and have passed a visual check. No, no bouncing phallic symbols ala Spore creatures in this world!

Tags: Lego Universe, NetDevil MMO, previews