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  • Struggling MMO Horizons renamed "Istaria"

    by 
    Samuel Axon
    Samuel Axon
    04.15.2008

    Virtrium LLC, the new stewards of the MMO Horizons: Empire of Istaria, announced that Horizons will now be known by the name Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted. Virtrium President Rick Simmons explained in a press release blurb and also in an interview with RPG Vault's Jonric that the name was changed because the game is about the world of Istaria and its people, and because it has lived at the domain istaria.com since the beginning. "You have no idea how stupid I've felt explaining that the game was called Horizons, but you had to go to www.istaria.com," he told RPG Vault.Horizons -- err, Istaria -- has had a rough time of it. After some truly savage corporate politics in the original development studio, the game launched incomplete, buggy, and honestly ... well, lame. It does, however, feature a great crafting system, and it lets you play as a dragon. Simmons was eager to point out both of those things in the RPG Vault interview. It looks like Virtrium is doing as much as a small team can to make the game attractive. Simmons explained: "our niche is very much the crafter, non-competitive gamer, and we're very happy being in it." He also said that the game has seen a lot of fine tuning in recent months, and that its due for a big content expansion called "the Blighted Labyrinth."