In a channeling agreement between Netgame and dme, players in Southeast Asia will be able to play on a brand new server through mobiusgames where they will all begin at the same level.

Hero Online from mobiusgames and Netgame

“As Hero Online has been available since 2006 in other countries outside of Southeast Asia, this will help in developing a strong community with new players who will be learning Hero Online at the same time,” the announcement story from Digital Media Exchange said.

Hero Online boasts five character classes that each have their own special skills and abilities:

The Master of Gunn – Gon, The Ruthless Blade. A contract killer, he is proficient in both long and short-ranged weapons such as the bow and sword. He excels in luring distant enemies close to kill them quickly. His combat abilities are average, but he can develop into a prominent force by hunting or taming animals or mining minerals.

Holy Oracle, The Elegant Mystic. Proficient with the Spear, Rod and Claws, she is excellent in close combat. She has the ability to learn medicine either to cure herself or others, or to attack using poison skills.

The Empress of Bo-Ta, The Piercing Eyes. The legendary sword artist of Bo-Ta Mountains, she mainly uses sword and has the ability to cloak herself. She can develop into a character that uses cloaked attacks or one that detects enemies that are cloaked.

Lord of Strengh, The Overseer of the Sky. He remains neutral in the ultimate war between Zuang and Shaopa. His life revolves only around martial arts. Swings only the Spear, Rod and Axe, he is the most powerful when it comes to combat abilities. Once developed, he can increase individual and group combat ratings.

Descendant of Hyun-Eum Tribe, Majestic Muse. She is the direct descendant and also the successor of the Hyun-Eum Tribe. She is usually a musician who travels around the world and visits taverns to play her instrument and sing. She has the ability to fight with instruments by loading the sound waves with energy to attack. Also, she is fluent with using dual swords. Her appearance is to reinforce and encourage defending heroes to withstand the impending doom.

Hero Online has one special feature that might pique the interest of die-hard fanatics of other MMORPGs: The Bounty System. Under this system, players are allowed to offer bounties for anyone willing and capable of taking down a targeted player.

Of course, Hero Online has its share of instance dungeons, cash shop, crafting system, and all of the usual fare that MMORPGs have to offer.

If you feel you have what it takes to be a hero, hie off to the official Hero Online website in Southeast Asia.

Post from: MMOtaku

According to Netgame, publisher of the game, Cloud Nine garnered a four-out-of-five score from players who participated in the open beta testing that began on November 25th, 2009.

“User reviews show that most players enjoy the unique monster card collection system where they are able to collect cards after defeating certain monsters,” said a press release from Digital Media Exchange, a global provider of online game services based in Southeast Asia.

Cloud Nine characters ham it up for the virtual camera

One cool feature that players are sure to be eager to try out is the unique transportation system in Cloud Nine that involves a cannon. A cannon? Yeah! To move to another location, your character hops into the barrel of a large cannon that catapults them long distances.

“Another feature that is unique from other MMORPGs is the Seven Sign Combo where if a party of seven is able to use seven unique skills, they are able to cast a very strong summoning system,” the statement added.

As to what they can summon, it’s better if you see and experience for yourself in-game.

Another bit of good news is the recent opening of the Cloud Nine cash shop, which adds a new dimension of gaming. All that is left is for the game to go commercial, and this is happening this December.

For more information about the game, hie off to the official Cloud Nine website or check out previous MMOtaku postings on Cloud Nine.

Post from: MMOtaku

I’m calling it Tideborn because that’s how the new race is being called by Level Up! Games, Perfect World’s publisher in the Philippines. It’s actually much better than simply calling the race “Mermen” because they are more than that. But that’s how the Chinese are calling them, Ren Yu Chuan Shuo.

Along with the new playable race, Perfect World is also introducing two new character classes in the Rising Tide patch, the Assassin and the Psychic. Of course, these new classes are exclusive to the Tideborn race. It is yet unknown if the classes are exclusive to gender, like the Yao Shou (Werebeast or Barbarian) and Yao Jing (Werefox or Venomancer) of the Beast race.

Dual-weapon fanatics may be delighted to know that the assassin class uses dual daggers as weapons with which they deal extreme damage in a short period of time. The downside is that assassins can only wear light armor (for obvious reasons). Oh, and their damage is based on dexterity, not strength, much like the Yumang (or Archer).

Perfect World Tideborn Assassin

Psychics, on the other hand, use magical orbs and use their skills to aid comrades in battle. Let’s take a look at some of the skills of this character class: Life Bubble (recovers 500 HP and increases MP recovery by 30 over 30 seconds), Freeze (deals water elemental damage and has a 50-percent chance to slow target for five seconds), Amplify Damage (adds 150 physical damage to attacks) … and a whole lot more.

Perfect World Tideborn Psychic

I’ll discuss the other skills in a later post as most of them are still subject to change. Let’s just hope the arrival of the Tideborn will usher in a renewed love for playing Perfect World. I’ll be sure to rejoin old friends in Perfect World Philippines if this patch is implemented.

Images downloaded from Perfect World International forums.

Post from: MMOtaku

4story character creation screen

Not that 4story is devoid of merits. Far from it. Despite a warning I’ve received from a fellow gamer and colleague in the gaming industry that I might end up disappointed if I start playing the game, I still pushed through. Obviously, from the title of this posting alone, one can discern that I’m not distressed with my choice.

Like I said, it’s almost—and I do mean ALMOST—like World of Warcraft, and indeed the game takes full advantage of this fact. Fortunately for Zemi Interactive, developer and publisher of 4story, the game has a few twists that may push it into the spotlight and grab the attention of MMORPG fans like yours truly.

Just like in other MMORPGs, I started my adventures in the world of 4story as a ranged class, an archer, for Craxion, the nation of mysterious magics. There are two other factions in the game: DeFugel, the nation of bravery soldiers, and Broa, the nation of strong troops.

These three nations are perpetually at war and every change in territory ownership in 4story affects the number of quests you can take on, the type of items you can recover, and of course the place you can go to. But that’s nothing new, I’m sure.

What’s new, however, is what Zemi Interactive calls the Real-Time Strategic Command System, or RSCS. It’s unique to 4story and it allows field commanders to command his troops much like a general in today’s real-world battlefield. With the aid of the mini-map, the commander can see where his soldiers are located, order them to move to specific areas, and talk to them.

Although the commander can always use chat to issue commands, the battlefield minimap has shortcut keys that mirror basic commands like “move out,” “hold position,” and “engage.”

Not bad … not bad at all. I’m sure it gives player-versus-player warfare a whole new dimension. Now, if only Zemi Interactive can sustain this and make 4story move out from the shadow of World of Warcraft, then we’ll have a truly great, free-to-play MMORPG to romp in.

Post from: MMOtaku

Oh, don’t bother looking for the advertisement; it’s long gone. NDOORS has probably found someone capable of running the show. The question, however, remains: A game master for what game? I fervently hope it’s Atlantica Online.

It’s not just wishful thinking, I assure you. Talk of online game publishers wanting to bring the hit strategic massively multiplayer online role-playing game to the Philippines has been circulating since last year. Has NDOORs finally found a local operator worthy of breathing life to Atlantica Online in another Asian country?

At present, Atlantica Online is operating out of three countries—the United States, South Korea and China. Only the North American server is accessible anywhere in the world.

The only thing putting a damper on my optimism that NDOORS is indeed launching Atlantica Online in the Philippines is the fact that another NDOORS-published online game, Wonderking Online, is about to go live. There is, however, no indication that NDOORS has a hand in Wonderking Online Philippines. Come to think of it, the game’s official website doesn’t even acknowledge any local online games publisher.

Arrgh! The suspense is killing me!

Post from: MMOtaku

Giant Online is, of course, citing only local (read: China online games industry) figures as free-to-play online games are, as far as I know, making a killing in other parts of the world. Korea, long acknowledged as the MMO capital of the world, is keen on pursuing the F2P model, with most online games coming out of it following either a pure free-to-play business model supported by item malls or one that engenders topping up for premium service.

Closer to home, in the Philippines, some online games operators and publishers have long since shifted their titles to the F2P model. Take Ragnarok Online, for example. Its Philippine publisher, Level Up! Games, has in recent years opened two free-to-play servers for the game. Another Level Up! title, Rising Force Online, or simply RF Online, adopted the F2P business model about two years ago but introduced a premium service wherein players can get more experience points.

Yes, Giant Online may be talking about the F2P scenario in China and not in other parts of the world, but the figures, citing a decline in market share of free-to-play online games from 80 percent to 60 percent in the past year, are enough to prompt the online games company to rethink the business model for one of its titles, ZT Online.

According to China-based online games portal 17173, Giant Online is mulling the launch of what it calls a “green” version of ZT Online in which, and I quote, “non-paying gamers can spend time in the game to obtain the same high-level virtual items as paying counterparts.”

It goes on to say that “the green version would encourage trades between paying and non-paying gamers, and allow non-paying gamers to earn currency by selling items to paying gamers via middlemen.”

I’m not sure whether Giant Online is considering the opening of a virtual items trading post or simply a forum where ZT Online players can hawk their wares. One thing is for sure, however: the face of MMOdom is changing once again.

Post from: MMOtaku

Either way, Perry hit the issue squarely, pointing out that developers of massively multiplayer online games in the West aren’t taking advantage of Asian markets and are missing out on open opportunities to monetize their games.

“Western developers just aren’t exploiting this anything like as much as they should,” Martin quoted Perry as saying. “That’s a bit of a scary trend. A lot of developers rushed off to make an MMO but what’s happening is they’re forgetting all about Asia.”

Perry further elaborated, “They (Western game developers) immediately start thinking ‘we’ll charge for a subscription, we’ll put it in retail,’ and what they do is kiss goodbye to China and Korea, and India—which is the new China. So they’re leaving tons of money on the table.”

What he didn’t mention is the fact that Western MMO developers are robbing Asian players of the opportunity to play a better variety of online games—that is, if Western MMOs are still better developed than their Asian counterparts.

Atlantica Online is an example of an Asian-made MMO that has found a niche in the world online games market.

Funny thing is, Asian online game developers are already hawking their wares in North America and Europe, and with spectacular results.

Is it because of the free-to-play business model? The micro transactions and the item malls? Does advergaming play a bigger picture in online games development now? Perhaps it’s all of these.

Regardless of the success factor, Perry’s point is clear: Evolve or die. Western online game developers should adapt—and adapt quickly—to the changing trends in the business and set their sights on Asia, which is clearly becoming the largest market for massively multiplayer online games.

Post from: MMOtaku

Thanks to this new government regulation, a China-based online games operator, Giant Interactive, has decided to shelve a “prize draw” in its in-house developed massively multiplayer online role-playing game ZT Online.

Here’s an excerpt from the story on online games portal 17173:

Giant Closes ZT Draw Citing Regs

Shanghai-based online game company Giant Interactive announced on June 26 that it plans to close in-house developed MMORPG ZT Online’s “prize draw” on July 6 following the release of a regulation to strengthen oversight on virtual currency in China.

According to the regulation, operators may not accept real or virtual payment for lucky draws or other random selections offering virtual currency or items.

China’s Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Culture issued the regulation on June 26 to prevent virtual currency from impacting the real economy.

Post from: MMOtaku

This “feeling” is heightened every time I catch a glimpse of the videos that Perfect World Entertainment, the North American operator and publisher of China-based Perfect World Co. Ltd.’s games, churns out. Take this, for example:

Yes, Philippine players of Perfect World, that’s what your lowly white and red fairies will eventually evolve into, something North American players call Genies.

Here’s a short description of Perfect World Genies courtesy of Perfect World International:

Before the worlds were created, the universe was in chaos, there were no elements, no creatures, no feeling, and no thought. As billions of years passed, things began to evolve. After the creation of Perfect World, creatures with intelligence appeared. At the same time, the five elements developed thoughts and wills of their own, and finally evolved into mystic beings known as Genies.

Genies are the children of the five elements. They know how to use elemental skills innately and have a basic instinct to maintain the balance between all of the worlds. Genies mainly live in the Elemental World, seldom can they be seen in Perfect World. However, things are changing.

In the endless war between the denizens of Perfect World and the Wraiths (known in Perfect World Philippines as “Souless”), the balance of the world has been tipped. The Gods have been absent, Wraiths have been endlessly attacking, and the armies of the Underworld have been rising. The Genies have risen to save Perfect World and begin the return to balance.

Genies are skilled with the elements, and wield mighty power in Elemental World. However, once in Perfect World, their ability to control elements will be diminished. In order to improve Genie’s ability, you will need to upgrade them by infusing your experience points or leting them eat experience pills.

Okay, enough of that. I’m revealing too much. Suffice it to say that I feel that players of Perfect World Philippines are getting the short end of the stick. Should the wheels of improvement start moving again, you can bet that I’ll be there in that Perfect World to see it happen.

Post from: MMOtaku

“I used to be good at this,” I tell myself repeatedly as I watch my avatar (character or toon) Cesky move into position for the tee off. “Used to be—the operative term.” Mumble, mumble.

The first hole is about 416 yards away. “Shouldn’t be too hard, considering it’s Par 4,” I tell my daughter, Cesky, as she watches attentively from the seat beside me. “Watch Dada sink this one with a Birdie.”

I press on the space bar and watch the indicator slide from 0 to 230 yards, the maximum distance allowed by a driver, without any bonuses from equipment and other gear. I hit the space bar again and, true enough, a chime rings indicating my swing is at maximum. “Now if I can only hit Pangya,” I manage to mutter as the slider moves back to zero and that small pink (purple?) area that will give me a good hit on the golf ball (or comet, in Pangya speak).

No go on the Pangya, but the club hits its mark. The comet soars across the course and lands on the fairway about 190 yards from the hole. “Good enough.”

My virtual self (a girl named after my daughter) goes through the same motions as in the tee off, this time sending the comet nearer the hole. The ball lands on the green, but still a few yards away from the hole. What happens next is the stuff of Tin Cup legends. I miss the hole twice! “Duh!”

Fortunately, the comet eventually rolls to a stop less than a yard from the hole.

Unfortunately, the two bungled shots resulted in a Bogey for me.

So much for my first day back on the Pangya fairways.

Post from: MMOtaku