MMO updates

Duke of Mount Deer Online - Open Beta soon
Firefall - Red 5 and Webzen dispute set to end
Faxion Online - Layoffs hit developer
Webzen - A look into the company

Duke of Mount Deer Online - Open Beta soon

Posted: 19 Jul 2011 05:29 AM PDT

While I do not usually announce the Open Beta date for foreign games that frequently, Duke of Mount Deer by China developer ChangYou is not one to be missed. Having a development budget of over USD 80 million, the game is set to open up to Chinese players on 22nd July, which is this Friday. If anyone is interested, I might draw up a registration guide for the masses!

Duke of Mount Deer Online is set to release a similarly themed movie based on the game soon, with China's biggest period drama actor Hu Ge at the helm. The official game/ movie theme is sung by him as well, which you can see in the official music video below. For more on the game, click here and refer to my previous posts!

Firefall - Red 5 and Webzen dispute set to end

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 09:37 PM PDT

After months of argument between Webzen Korea and Red 5 Studios, with both companies filing lawsuits over the Asia Pacific publishing rights for Firefall, the whole matter is set to end. According to foreign reports, representatives from Webzen and Red 5 Studios are set to meet and make peace with each other, with both agreeing lawsuits and court appearances will do no good for either.There is no date mentioned on when the talks will happen, but it seems there is genuine interest in settling this issue peacefully. More about the conflict can be read here.

Faxion Online - Layoffs hit developer

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 05:50 PM PDT

(Source) Some weeks back, I played Faxion Online for a little while and immediately uninstalled the game. Yes, the game has a unique theme of Heaven vs Hell and some interesting features but when you can't get the basics right, the game doesn't deserve players. Awkward game design, blocky character models, a combat system rehashed from the 90s'... In fact, I was so pissed off by the game I did not post a small article about it after taking an ingame footage seen below.

UTV Ignition Games seem liked a really promising company at first, but since the release of Warrior Epic and Mytheon (selling the game with a ridiculously priced package at launch), I did not hold much hope for this blundering game developer. The management apparently has no idea what the market wants now and just try too hard to be "unique" in their games. Sorry, UTV Ignition Games, you deserve it. Enough of bashing, below is the whole article from Gamasutra.

Development and support staff from True Studios, developer of free-to-play MMO Faxion Online, were laid off last week as UTV Ignition continues to stray away from internal development.

Don Choi, VP of UTV Ignition's online division, confirmed the news to Gamasutra this morning, saying that a "fraction" of the True Studios staff had been laid off.

According to one of the affected employees, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the situation, that "fraction" actually represented the majority of the employees at the Austin-based True Games studio.

In addition to the development staff, our source tells us the platform team, the customer service division and all but one of the quality assurance staff was let go.The game's studio in China will "be closing in the next couple of weeks," our source reports.

According to Choi, Faxion Online "will continue to run and be updated frequently," despite the layoffs (Choi did not comment on the potential closure in China when asked). Additionally, he says the studio's multi-platform Planet Crashers remains in development.

"Their severance was a joke," our source tells us, saying that the layoffs demonstrate UTV Ignition's "clear and demonstrated inability to focus, plan or execute on many levels."

UTV Ignition has been cutting its internal development as part of a shift that sees it becoming a pure publisher, with the most recent layoffs hitting an Austin-based console team working on pre-production for an unannounced title.

Webzen - A look into the company

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 09:05 AM PDT

I am sure Webzen by now should be a name most online gamers will recognize. Starting years ago with MU Online, the Korean developer/ publisher has found much success in almost all its games. Well, according to a recent report, Webzen's games are not really popular in Korea itself since more than 50% of its earnings are from overseas servers.

More famous titles from Webzen over the years include MU Online, SUN Online and R2 Online. After buying over NHN Games, new titles such as the much anticipated action MMORPG Continent of the Ninth (C9) is added as well. Ok, enough with the introduction, let's take a look into the company!