Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates |
- Rumor
- Shadow Company heads to The Philippines
- World of Warcraft
- Complete Gacha Ban Would Spell Bad News for the Social Games Business
- Why Zelda Still Rules the Action RPG
- Eve Online’s UK subscriptions now 20% cheaper
- Dungeon Hero (KR)
- DK Online (KR)
- Blade & Soul (KR)
| Posted: 09 May 2012 03:26 AM PDT
As part of restructuring efforts at Neowiz Games,300 employees will be retrenched while there will be many changes made to the management and executive teams as well. There are rumors all is not well within the company, as they were accused of bribing executives of the Korea Baseball Organization over games contract. The relationship between Neowiz Games and Korea Baseball Organization is said to at an all time low.
|
| Shadow Company heads to The Philippines Posted: 08 May 2012 11:57 PM PDT
As posted previously (link), Shadow Company features a Battle Squad mode 4-team system, unlike most online shooters where maps are limited to just 2 teams. Both companies’ representatives are delighted with the deal, with aims to make Shadow Company the top MMOFPS in the region. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2011/10/shadow-company-heads-to-philippines.html |
| Posted: 08 May 2012 09:27 PM PDT
Similar Article can be found at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/05/world-of-warcraft-major-server-merges.html |
| Complete Gacha Ban Would Spell Bad News for the Social Games Business Posted: 08 May 2012 09:27 PM PDT The social games business is still very young, meaning there are a lot of things still to be worked out as certain Japanese companies are finding out right now. A highly profitable sales tactic employed heavily by companies like GREE and DeNA may soon be deemed illegal in Japan, a move which would certainly put a damper on what is a rapidly-expanding portion of the industry in that country. The issue involves complete gacha, also referred to as compugacha or konpu gacha in Japan. Gacha on its own involves money being handed over in exchange for a random item; this is acceptable in a legal sense. Where complete gacha becomes problematic is in the way it rewards players with a special item for completing a set of items which are obtained randomly. This can, as you might imagine, become an expensive proposition as attempting to collect all the parts of a set can require countless transactions. Comparisons have been drawn between it and gambling, which is largely illegal in Japan. Over the weekend The Daily Yomiuri reported (via Wired) that sources had indicated Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency reached the conclusion that complete gacha is in violation of the law. The issue was raised after an increasing number of complaints were received from players who were subjected to high charges or, in some cases, from parents complaining about their children becoming addicted and spending enormous amounts of money. Five such complaints were filed in the 2010 fiscal year, but that number jumped up to 58 in fiscal 2011 as the practice became far more commonplace. The sources indicated social game companies would be told to stop using these sales methods or face punishment of some sort. The CAA confirmed an investigation was taking place, Nikkei reported yesterday, although the agency claimed it had not yet rendered a decision. Yomiuri recounted the stories of two young boys, one who spent 400,000 yen (approximately $5,012) in one month, and another who spent 120,000 yen ($1,504) in only three days on games containing complete gacha. Bloomberg also mentioned one user who managed to rack up a whopping 4 million yen ($50,107) in charges over a two-month span. The games themselves are often free to play, although the charges players can accrue are anything but. These are extreme examples, to be sure, yet it’s important to note that complete gacha is an important aspect of these companies’ bottom lines. The stock for both GREE (owner of the mobile-focused social networking service of the same name) and DeNA (owner of the Mobage cell phone social gaming network) have taken a significant hit, with each falling the maximum 500 yen on Monday before rebounding a small amount today. Those declines represented a 20 percent drop for DeNA and 23 percent for GREE; the latter resulted in founder Yoshikazu Tanaka, Japan’s youngest billionaire, losing $704 million according to Bloomberg. The two, and mobile/social games in Japan as a whole, have been massively successful as of late — a rare bright spot for the Japanese gaming industry, and in fact its entire technology industry. Following their rise to prominence in Japan, overseas expansion has been targeted: GREE recently purchased U.S. developer Funzio, while DeNA obtained U.S. developer ngmoco and its Plus+ social gaming network in 2010 before signing a deal with Disney to develop mobile games earlier this year. But if the companies suddenly find themselves losing out on a significant revenue stream, that could put a real damper on their plans to grow internationally. GREE and DeNA each instituted a limit on spending for teenagers last month so that, depending upon a player’s age, he or she could spend no more than 5,000-10,000 yen ($63-$126) per month. That may not be enough to save the companies from having the Japanese government intervene, which seems like a strong possibility, and analysts do not paint an optimistic picture if the CAA does indeed decide to ban complete gacha. “This raises questions about whether the sector’s growth in Japan is sustainable,” analyst Yusuke Tsunoda told Nikkei. Another analyst, Mitsuo Shimizu, told Bloomberg, “The situation remains severe,” also adding, “Their profitability is at risk, depending on the government’s decision.” Makoto Sengoku agreed, stating, “The market for social games may shrink if the warning is issued.” While DeNA would not comment on the matter, GREE expectedly attempted to downplay the impact of a complete gacha ban. “Even if the ‘complete gacha’ is abandoned, it won’t rock the foundation of GREE,” said Ryutaro Shima. “We will consider introducing new services to spur sales.” Upheaval in the social/mobile games market would not be shocking in the slightest given its relatively young age. Just last year, concerns were raised about free-to-play game players in the U.S. spending large sums of money on microtransactions/in-app purchases, some of which can cost as much as $100. Complaints about this led to an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. With the Japanese games business hardly at its peak, this could prove to be a major setback for one avenue that it was doing exceptionally well in. And it’s not only companies focused on this market that will be impacted — Konami and Capcom are among more traditional game makers with intentions of exploring the space, and so they too would be losing out with a ban on complete gacha (which was reflected when their respective stock prices took a hit yesterday). This might please gamers who don’t wish to see these companies spending any resources on what they don’t consider to be “real” games, although publishers will no doubt look to find other revenues streams beyond complete gacha if that is no longer an option for social/mobile games. Whether they’re able to do so as effectively as they can now, however, is something we’ll have to wait to see. [Complete gacha example image courtesy of The Daily Yomiuri.] Similar Article can be found at: http://www.1up.com/news/japan-gree-dena-complete-gacha-ban |
| Why Zelda Still Rules the Action RPG Posted: 08 May 2012 09:26 PM PDT 1UP, we confess, has not been the kindest friend to the Legend of Zelda series of late. In fact, one might even assume that we have some sort of dark agenda against the games. That we’re out to perform a cruel hit job. To poison the shape of public discourse about Nintendo’s work and undermine the very foundations of the franchise by eroding the world’s affection for and confidence in Zelda! But let’s not be silly. We’ve had some critical words for Zelda over the past few months, it’s true, but those criticisms come from precisely the opposite place of whatever grim land of hatred Zelda’s more ardent defenders may have concocted in their minds. We tend to put Zelda under harsh scrutiny not because we want to trash it but rather because we love it. Bob Mackey won’t shut up about how Majora’s Mask is probably the greatest game ever to spring from human minds, and I can bore you with hours of nonstop reminiscence about my experiences with the original NES game. We love Zelda, and we want it to be wonderful. Sometimes it falls short of our expectations; and sometimes in the process of starting up a conversation about these things, you have to play the role of devil’s advocate, and then people misinterpret your opinion as being a lot more negative than it really is. But you know, we’re not heartless. We sincerely enjoy the Zelda games, and even if certain among our ranks (who will go unnamed) have a bit of grudge against Skyward Sword, the simple fact is that Zelda still rules the action-RPG genre… or whatever genre you want to call it, if you’re the sort of person who gets bent out of shape when someone describes a game without overt stats as an RPG. That genre where you go on a huge, story-driven adventure equipped with a full arsenal of weapons and gear, exploring dungeons and fighting bosses and performing mundane tasks for idiot villagers in order to procure all manner of extra tools and perks. You know it? Whatever you call that style of game, Zelda is still top dog more than a quarter of a century after inventing it. Plenty of competitors give the series a run for its money — Darksiders, Okami, etc. — but Zelda is still the king that everyone aims to topple. It offers players an industry-standard tool setI’ve complained that Zelda’s gear has become overly templated — that Nintendo’s reluctance to diverge from the weapons and equipment codified in A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time suffocates the series with a sense of formulaic stagnation. And maybe that’s true. At the same time, I get where Nintendo is coming from. The standard Zelda tool set works. It covers all your bases, offers a huge variety of abilities, and it serves a triple purpose: Combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving. Link’s sword works perfectly for basic fighting, offering a fast, responsive, and incredibly versatile means of warding off foes. Its abilities can be further expanded through more advanced techniques, whether that takes the form of Wind Waker’s fluid counter-based system or Skyward Sword’s precision mechanics. Beyond the sword, though, Link’s standard arsenal opens up a number of possibilities. The boomerang, slingshot, and bow-and-arrows (or their analogues) provide a suite of ranged combat options, each with its own perks. The boomerang generally can do little more than stun foes; the slingshot offers quick but weak precise fire; and the arrows are more powerful while requiring more attention to aiming. The hook shot allows Link to grapple with foes, stunning or disarming them, while simultaneously providing a shortcut for navigation. An ever-changing array of magical devices — from rods to songs — open up any number of possibilities from direct offense to tremendous transformational effects that reshape the world around the hero. Yes, the tools in a Zelda game can tend towards the predictable at times… but the capabilities they unlock remain integral to the series’ play mechanics. On top of that, you’d be hard-pressed to find many Zelda-inspired games that don’t crib directly from Link’s tool set, and quite unashamedly at that. For example, Wind Waker introduced a camera; lo and behold, Beyond Good and Evil arrived a year and a half later with its photojournalist heroine. Sure, Zelda’s slow to change… but when you’re doing the heavy lifting for an entire genre, you probably deserve a bit of slack. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.1up.com/features/zelda-rules-action-rpg |
| Eve Online’s UK subscriptions now 20% cheaper Posted: 08 May 2012 03:26 PM PDT CCP has today announced that its UK players are now able to pay in pounds and pence for their Eve Online subscription. The new subscription, £9.99 per month, was introduced in direct response to demand from Eve's UK community, the third largest player-base behind USA and Germany. The switch-over from Euros to Pounds results in an approximate 20% price reduction and players can pre-pay for three, six and 12 months saving still more money. Eve Online's next expansion, Inferno, is due to go live on the 22nd May, while its pre-cursor update, Escalation, is already in place and paving the way for amazing new features and fixes. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.totalpcgaming.com/latest-pc-news/eve-onlines-uk-subscriptions-now-20-cheaper/ |
| Posted: 08 May 2012 03:25 PM PDT
In an interview a couple of days back, a couple of Dungeon Hero’s team members sat down with Korean gaming website, ThisIsGame, for a quick interview. More information was revealed, so read on! A: Dungeon Hero is an online game in development for the past 2 and a half to 3 years. The main features of the game includes a strengthened guild system and improved social system, and the route for Dungeon Hero is for it to be an easy game to pick up. The game will support a 100 Vs 100 guild battle. Dungeons in Dungeon Hero will also scale difficulty levels according to how many players are there in a party. Ever class will have flexibility in combat, for example, a healer class may also dish out considerable amount of damage and able to solo as well. A: We actually used Dynasty Warriors as an example for endgame content. What we focus on for Dungeon Hero is to let players enjoy the fast combat and relief stress, not for them to feel nervous and stressed. The endgame content will not be that hard, but there will still be extremely challenging dungeons and boss fights. Bosses will require different tactics to overcome. A: We were never in touch with the team which worked on Legend of Edda, I guess it is because both games are of the same cute design. A: We did not actually push for a cute design, but as Legend of Edda is doing very well in areas such as Taiwan, the management decided to continue the same style. Before Legend of Edda, EyaSoft did develop non-cute design games, but the lack of experience showed. Some other teams in EyaSoft are currently developing games which are more teen and adult oriented in terms of design. A: There are now over 80 dungeons in the game. Although the initial ones are small, they do get gradually much bigger as players progress. A: As the game’s title suggests, Dungeon Hero is all about dungeons. Before actual development started on game content, we first produced a dungeon-making software, followed by 6 major environment settings such as mines, deserts and later adding in the details. A: First, players who are not happy with the rewards such as items after completing a dungeon can withhold from getting them. The next time the same dungeon is completed, they will get better rewards (snowball system). Players can also conquer dungeons and claim them as their own. For example, the player who completes Dungeon A within the fastest time will become its owner. Whenever other players completes the dungeon, the owner will collect some tax money. A: Hitting max level will be faster compared to other games, with around 60 hours needed. We have prepared a PvP arena for the max level players, and we encourage them to build more than 1 characters to try out the arena. The battle arena is built with reference from the AOS (Aeon of Strife, like Dota). I can only reveal that there is a 3-team mode now. A: There are 3 beginner classes, each continued with 2 more 1st advanced classes. The game will have 2nd advanced classes as well, so we are looking at around 20 classes in total. A: Yes, in Heroic Mode, players can temporarily be possessed by a Hero’s spirit for combat. A: We are planning for September, but nothing is confirmed until we find a publisher for the game. A: Dungeon Hero will have the unique dungeon conquer system, large scale guild PvP, AOS PvP arena and social features. For social features, we are planning to have the game integrate with various social platforms, including smartphone apps. A: It must be Dungeon Striker (link). Our development team got a shock when its trailer was released, as the cute design and dungeon-centric style were almost similar. I feel that the action combat in the game is done pretty well. After Dungeon Striker’s announcement, our team got an adrenaline rush and worked even harder to make sure Dungeon Hero is better. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/05/dungeon-hero-kr-brief-interview-with.html |
| Posted: 08 May 2012 11:58 AM PDT
Similar Article can be found at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2011/10/dk-online-kr-seeking-glory-through.html |
| Posted: 08 May 2012 09:25 AM PDT
The earlier part of the video actually talks about designing dresses for the Secret girls based on in-game designs. Awesome eh? Closed Beta 3 is currently ongoing for selected users, with the official CBT 3 phase beginning tomorrow iirc, also for selected users. For game footage of the new Summoner class, they are available here (link). Similar Article can be found at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/05/blade-soul-kr-secret-story.html |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Gameforumer: Latest Video Games News and Press Releases To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
