All Posts by Szark

IGG has announced that they have partnered with ClickandBuy to provide another payment option in the Tales of Pirates Item Mall.

New Payment Method for Tales of Pirates Players

All Tales of Pirates friends will be delighted to hear the news that IGG has partnered with ClickandBuy, one of the market-dominating companies for Internet payment systems and enables profitable online business with e-commerce and paid content.

IGG, a new leading publisher and developer of online games announced that a new payment method for players--ClickandBuy has gone into effect in Tales of Pirates Item Mall from 10th, August.

ClickandBuy supports international and national Debit and Credit cards, Direct debit, Pay-per-Invoice, bank transfers, online money transfers and phone bills. Phone bill special: For UK, Switzerland and Mexico, ClickandBuy enables direct billing on the phone bill (No 0199-service numbers!) because of an exclusive agreement with the local Telcos (BT, Swisscom, Telmex). For the US, ClickandBuy provide billing items on phone bills for nearly all US states.

Read more here.

Please join us on Monday, August 13th at 7pm EST for another MMORPG.com Live Dev Chat!

Do you have a question for the minds behind Dungeon Runners? Now's the time to ask them, face to virtual face! Please join us in the MMORPG.com Live Chatroom starting at 7pm EST on 08/13/07 to chat with the team behind NCSoft's Dungeon Runners. Bring a question, bring a friend! After the chat, be sure to stick around for Dungeon Runners and other MMORPG discussion.

Users can also connect via any IRC client, to server irc.forthegamers.org or irc.eu.forthegamers.org (Euro). The chat will take place in #mmorpg.

Learn more about Dungeon Runners here here.

The Chronicles of Spellborn official site has been updated with a developer journal about what it takes to design in-game environments from an artist's point of view.

Let me start this journal by introducing myself. I am Sjoerd "Hourences" De Jong and I am responsible for a large number of the environments and levels in the game. I have been working on TCOS since day one, nearly 3 years ago and Slywood is my latest creation. As level designer and artist I process all separate art assets into a single environment, I create entire landscapes and decide on the general lay out, composition and styling of an environment. I place models and textures others have made, light the world out and I finish it all off with effects, day and night cycles, a skybox, shaders and so on. Also, I optimize all of it for in-game use. I am the last person in the environment art chain and it is my desk where all separate elements come together into a single consistent environment.

As a level designer and artist it is my responsibility to keep the overview of the entire environment. Where as the design document and the concept art already gives some info on the mood and visualization of an environment, it is my task to further develop those ideas and to retain technical feasibility of each every one of them. Some ideas may not be possible to do with the amount of time or developers, other ideas may not work all too well once implemented into a game or when combined with other elements. I visualize the environment by taking time and complexity, already existing assets, technical limitations, consistency and cliché elements into account.

Read the full article here.

Last Friday we reported on the announced delay of Age of Conan until March 25th of next year. Funcom has now updated the Age of Conan official site with a letter to the community, and a letter from the game director.

Hello everybody,

As you saw from the press release, we've decided to delay the game until March 25, 2008. As you all understand, this is obviously one of the hardest decisions we could've made as a company, but this is done to ensure that you all the get the best possible experience when the game is done next March.

While we have seen that the overall reactions to our game has in general been extremely favorable, we as a company can only go for the best possible experience for our users. We are a MMO company, and we know that the only thing which matters when building a long-term community is the quality of the game. When our beta testers have come back to us with concerns in a couple of different areas, we have therefore been listening. The feedback has especially been on the entry barriers to the game, and how people are learning and coping with the combat system in the first few hours of gameplay. While most are having a fantastic time with it once they learn it, we also see that it is new and different to a lot of people, and that it takes longer to get into than what we have anticipated. This means that we need to ease the barrier, and make the first few hours of gameplay more accessible.

After careful consideration we have therefore decided that this must be improved for the overall good of the game. We are now putting considerable extra efforts into improving the game, despite the fact that a whole world is raving about the qualities of what we have shown them. It was not an easy decision to make, but we felt it was necessary, both for you and ourselves.

Read the letter to the communoty here.

Read the letter form the Game Director here.

Turbine has announced that the release date for Book 10: The City of the Kings, the next free expansion for Lord of the Rings Online will be August 20th. The new expansion will feature a number of changes to monster play, as well as over 100 new quests, and the new reputation and barter systems.

WESTWOOD, MA - August 13, 2007 - Turbine, Inc. and Codemasters Online Gaming announced the details of the second free content update for subscribers to The Lord of the Rings OnlineTM: Shadows of AngmarTM. Book 10: The City of the Kings continues the epic story, adds over 100 new quests, implements significant enhancements to monster play and introduces the Reputation and Bartering systems. Book 10: The City of the Kings will be available to subscribers of The Lord of the Rings Online on August 20, 2007.

"Our first update significantly expanded the world of Middle-earth with new story arcs, quests, and exciting new kinds of gameplay," said Jeffrey Anderson, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. "For Book 10 we continue the epic story and introduce a ton of new content, but we also are introducing legendary play, a completely new way to experience monster play that enables you to play as a powerful Ranger of the North or a terrible Troll."

Beginning August 20th, heroes can join the battle in Book 10: The City of the Kings, the second of many free updates to The Lord of the Rings Online.

Read more about Book 10 here.

The Grab Bag returns this week to once again answer a myriad of miscellaneous questions from the Dark Age of Camelot community.

Q. My question is with all the new added dragon items and staffs there are a lot of items now with arcane siphon. If I have the new Staff of Ageless Power with a Greater Mytherian of Siphoning, and Jacinas Sash, do I get 3 chances at 10% to cast for no mana or 1 chance at 30% chance to cast for no mana or do they not work together?

A. Content Type Person Guy: They all stack together like any other bonus for a total possible Arcane Siphon bonus of 25%. (There is a cap at 25%)

Q. Heya, we were on Mid the other day doing a Levi/Kraken raid. After we killed them the first time we were wondering. After ToA was clustered and most of the spawn times were reduced, were the spawn times of Levi/Kraken reduced as well?

A. The Bearded Wonder says: It appears they were not lowered as part of the clustering work. I lowered the spawn times for both mobs.

See? Ask, and ye shall receive. Well, sometimes, anyway.

Q. With the new Theurgist pet cap, can we get some way to release pets? I'm thinking of something like animists' "release clump" spell.

A. The Redhead gives the solution: If you open up your pet window, target an elemental and hit the release button, it will kill it. This also works for animists. If you shift+click the release button, it will give you a button on your mouse pointer that you can put on your hotbar.

Read the Grab Bag here.

The latest edition of Game/On, MMORPG.com's weekly podcast is now available for your listening pleasure.

This week on Game/On, co-hosts Keith Cross and Jon Wood discuss a number of topics, including several recently announced game expansions, Age of Conan's recent delays, and the anticipation factor of waiting for the next big game.

You can listen to the podcast here.

Earlier this month Funcom announced that the All American Rejects would be headlining an in-game concert in Anarchy Online. They have now released more information on the concert event which will be held this Sunday.

Durham, USA - August 10, 2007 - Funcom is proud to reveal the world's first MMO concert delivered via in-game video feed delivery. The popular US band "All American Rejects" will have a unique virtual concert for the many citizens of Rubi-Ka this Sunday, perfectly merging technology and music from the 21 st century with a game set 25,000 years into the future.

While some games have had virtual avatars of bands performing in their virtual worlds, this will be the first known concert via dynamic mega size screens, delivered through technology developed by Microsoft Corp.'s Massive. Gamers will see the band's performance, hear them and be able to mingle in the giant concert arena specifically designed for this historical event.

The concert is available free of charge to all players of Anarchy Online, and all they need to do to see it is to opt to toggle on viewing of the commercial advertising billboards in the game during the event. New players to the game can simply go to http://www.anarchy-online.com to download the free client, but since the event is secured via a sponsorship deal with a major U.S Telecom provider it can only be seen by North American gamers. With time Funcom hope that it is possible to expand the offering to global users, as well as providing other encore events.

Craig Morrison, the Producer / Director on Anarchy Online stated, "Virtual world entertainment is definitively expanding, and this historical opportunity to bring a concert to our players is something we have wanted to do for years. We know how much our players love music, whether it's the award winning soundtracks from the game, listening to the in-game radio station GridStream or bringing their own, and now they will get to experience yet another level of interaction thanks to Microsoft Corp.'s Missive's unique technology."

Read more about Anachy Online here.

Sad but not entirely unexpected news for fans eagerly awaiting the release Age of Conan; Funcom has announced that the release date for Age of Conan has been pushed back again. The game which was originally set for release in the second half of 2007 now has a new release date of March 25th 2008.

Durham, USA - August 10th, 2007 - Funcom announce a new release date for 'Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures'. The highly anticipated MMO is now set to release on the 25th of March 2008. By setting a new release date for the game, Funcom can continue the focus on honing, polishing and improving the heralded qualities of the game, ensuring a fantastic MMO experience when it launches next spring.

"We naturally regret that we have to push back 'Age of Conan'. However, after careful consideration, and analysis of recent Beta feedback, we believe that the new release date is in the best interest of the gamers, our company and our owners," said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. "We are fully committed to delivering games with absolute qualities, and in the current MMO marketplace we know that only the best is good enough to truly succeed. With the new release date we have therefore given ourselves more time to meet and deliver on the massive expectations for the game. We are certain that our choice will ultimately pay off, and that all 'Age of Conan' players will get a special online experience."

Read the full release here.

Please join us on Monday, August 13th at 7pm EST for another MMORPG.com Live Dev Chat!

Do you have a question for the minds behind Dungeon Runners? Now's the time to ask them, face to virtual face! Please join us in the MMORPG.com Live Chatroom starting at 7pm EST on 08/13/07 to chat with the team behind NCSoft's Dungeon Runners. Bring a question, bring a friend! After the chat, be sure to stick around for Dungeon Runners and other MMORPG discussion.

Users can also connect via any IRC client, to server irc.forthegamers.org or irc.eu.forthegamers.org (Euro). The chat will take place in #mmorpg.

Learn more about Dungeon Runners here here.

SnailGame has announced that the second closed beta of Age of Armor has been postponed until the end of August.

2nd CB Delays until the end of August

As our servers in North America are very stable and the cable service is also splendid, we decide to add a dungeon area named "Exotic Planet" for those lvl15+ players.

For this reason, we have to upgrade our client to add the new item in it. Here we want to say sorry that the 2nd close beta test will be postponed. We do not want this happen, but to make sure everyone can enjoy the best content of AoA, we made this decision after serious discussion. We do not want to keep anyone waiting; we expect to see you in our game too. Many interesting activities have been arranged to make up the time that we have to wait for.

Thanks for your support to AoA. We will do our best to provide you an interesting game.

Read more the full announcement here.

This week's Friday Feature on the Star Wars Galaxies official site is a sneak peek at what's in store for Chapter 7, the next free expansion for Star Wars Galaxies.

During SOE Fan Faire 2007, the Star Wars Galaxies team shared a preview of Chapter 7 during the Galaxies Gathering session. If you didn't make it to Fan Faire this year, here's your chance to get an early look at the exciting new features planned for the next Chapter! Heroic encounters, a collection system, species origins, and more are all on deck for Chapter 7.

Heroic Encounters

A heroic encounter is a high-level challenge for a group of players looking to earn a huge reward. These encounters will take place in an instanced zone where players will take on challenging foes in epic battles like no other.

During the Galaxies Gathering, the team gave panel attendees a sneak peek at Axkva Min and her protectors.

Players who complete a quest or a series of quests can gain access to the underground caves where Axkva Min has been sealed after falling out of favor with the Nightsisters. The group of up to eight players will encounter multiple protectors, each with their own abilities, creating a series of boss fights culminating in a grand battle with a newly re-designed Axkva Min.

In these heroic encounters and quests, high level players can not only confront Axkva Min, but also a legion of Tusken warriors, as well as other familiar faces in the Star Wars universe.

Read more about Chapter 7 here.

The Camelot Herald has posted the patch notes form the most recent Dark Age of Camelot update.

SIEGECRAFTING

Siegecrafting has been completely revamped and fleshed out into a full tradeskill. Recipes now range from 5 to 1000 skill, covering everything from weak, makeshift devices to fully fortified engines of war. This even includes a few infernal devices discovered by making use of demon seal fragments scattered across Agramon.

No longer are unrelated tradeskills required to build these machines. All siege ingredient and apparatus recipes have been moved from the original, primary tradeskills into Siegecrafting. No longer are palintones restricted only to keep hookpoints. New palintone recipes are now available for normal construction. On top of all that, new ammunition types are now available for every siege engine (with the exception of rams). Greek fire, diseased carcasses, thunder bolts, toxic bolts, and many other varied ammunition types can now be made for greater flexibility and power.

- Each siege engine is now available in 10 different configurations that vary in power, from makeshift (the weakest) to fortified (the strongest). The better the configuration, the more damage the engine will do with its default ammunition and the more hitpoints it will take to destroy it.

- Ammunition is also now available in 10 different configurations that vary in power. The better the configuration, the more damage it will do.

- The previous method of combining deployed rams to build a battle ram, then a war ram has been eliminated. Battle Rams are now constructed by combining un-deployed siege ram apparatuses. War Rams are now constructed by combining un-deployed siege and battle ram apparatuses.

Read the full patch notes here.

ArenaNet has announced on the Guild Wars official site that there will be some changes made to the Favor of the Gods System.

Changes to Favor of the Gods

When adventurers accomplish heroic deeds, the gods grant blessings to their world, known as "favor of the gods." Soon, adventurers will have new ways to earn this blessing.

Originally, the favor of the gods was granted to a specific "region" of players based on events in the Hall of Heroes. As of August 9, 2007, the favor of the gods will affect all players in the game world, regardless of where they live in the real world.

Earning Achievements

Favor will now be granted based on character-driven achievements. Each time a character achieves the maximum rank in a qualifying title, the world will be one step closer to gaining the gods' favor.

When a character earns one of these achievements, that character's name and accomplishment will broadcast in seven locations: the Temple of the Ages, Lion's Arch, the Great Temple of Balthazar, Kaineng Center, Zin Ku Corridor, Kamadan, and the Chantry of Secrets.

After twenty announcements have been made, all Guild Wars players in all territories will be granted the gods' favor for one hour. If another character earns an achievement during that time, the favor of the gods will be extended for an additional three minutes.

Read more here.

10 new images have been added to our Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshot gallery.

To view the full size images, and to see the rest of the new screens, visit our gallery here.

IGG has announced that they will be holding another Voyage Century Online comic contest, with Voyage Century pets being the theme this time around.

Voyage Century: Pets Comic Spotlight

The VCO team has decided to hold a comic contest: "VCO pets" from August 9th, 2007 to September 9th, 2007. This one is a bit different from the long term one currently in the forum, this is an independent event. The winner will get precious Dragon Equipment.

This event is open to ALL players in Voyage Century

Reward:

• The first prize (3): A set of Golden Dragon Equipment(Helmet Armour weapon)
• The second prize (5): A set of Green Dragon Equipment(Helmet Armour weapon)
• The third prize (10): A set of Flame Dragon Equipment(Helmet Armour weapon)
• Honorable Mentions (20): A Gift Brochure

Read the contest rules here.

The folks over at Runescape have announced the addition of their new clan chat feature to their game.

This week we are pleased to announce the long-awaited release of Clan Chat for RuneScape.

Now, both Members and Free Players can have their very own channel for chatting to friends and talking as a group, and can even assign each other ranks. Players can setup and name their channel and, once up and running, other players can join in the fun. Joining someone's channel is as simple as typing their username in!

Like private chat, Clan Chat works whether you and your friends are on the same game world or all spread across many different worlds.

The new Clan Chat interface can be accessed by clicking on the two smiley faces at the bottom-left of your in-game controls.

Read more about clan chat here.

SOE and Virgin Comics have announced that they are teaming up to create an MMO based on the Ramayan 3392 A.D. comic book universe.

SAN DIEGO, California & NEW YORK, New York (AUGUST 9, 2007) -- Through a deal that joins two of the world's most innovative entertainment brands, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), a global leader in the online gaming industry, is teaming up with Sir Richard Branson and Deepak Chopra's Virgin Comics to bring the popular, India-based Ramayan 3392 A.D. comic book universe to life as an MMO video game initially for the PC.

The deal was announced today by John Smedley, President of SOE and Sharad Devarajan, Co-Founder and CEO of Virgin Comics.

"Ramayan has inspired the lives of millions of people through the ages. The re-imagining of this great ancient epic through the creativity of a game platform re-affirms the fact that Ramayan is one of the greatest stories ever told," said Deepak Chopra. "The fact that the same creative team of young Indians that created the story will be involved in working with SOE's game development team, is a testament to the innovative and mythic minds of these gifted Indian creators who will take a new generation to new frontiers across the seas of consciousness into new realms of mystery, magic, adventure, and transformation."

Read the full release here.

K2 Networks has announced that their upcoming fantasy mmorpg, red Stone is entering open beta.

IRVINE, Calif. - August 9, 2007 - K2 Network, Inc., an online game publisher announced today that its upcoming 2D Fantasy MMORPG, Red Stone is now in beta and open to the public. The game can be downloaded for free at Red Stone, a Free2Play, episodic MMORPG, offers players a unique fantasy experience with a deep and compelling storyline set in a detailed and dangerous setting. Offering 8 unique transforming character classes and compelling strategic missions, the player will seek to recover the lost shards of a powerful jewel in order to restore peace to the destroyed world.

"Red Stone's mesmeric storyline and highly original character set are just a few of the appealing ingredients," said Matt Norton, Senior Producer at K2 Network. "Add to that its Free2play element and classic style presentation and gameplay, we believe Red Stone has global appeal that will charm and captivate the MMORPG community."

K2 Network has also launched Red Stone's new website and forums which will play host to exciting promotions within the game. Valuable prizes, unique and rare items, as well as complete PC gaming packages from top companies will be awarded to gamers who reach a key milestone in the game.

Gamers will enjo