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KingsIsle brings Wizard101 goodies to Canada
KingsIsle Entertainment, maker of the very popular card-based freemium title Wizard101, announced today that it will be releasing a brand-new mega-bundle pre-paid card to stores across the country. Here's how the cards work: Players pay a set amount and receive a card with a code that, once redeemed in-game, can add all sorts of gold, goodies, and other options. The new card features a new flying carpet mount, a massive sultan's palace complete with a mirage, 5000 crowns to be used in the cash shop, and several other fun items. It's no wonder the cards have become one of the best-selling cards at Gamestop -- they offer an all-in-one package that is easy to pick up. Canadians worried about getting their hands on these cards can rest easy -- KingsIsle is pushing the cards into major Canadian retailers this fall. Concerned players who have been "surprisingly vocal" about the lack of card access will also get the chance to own exclusive pets available only in their area. This move will bring Wizard101's combined retail presence to over 50,000 stores. Not bad -- not bad at all. So, what's next for the freemium giant? Well, KingsIsle just partnered with Gameforge to bring the game overseas. Interesting things happen when you have to port a fully voice-acted game like Wizard101 to a place like Germany. The UI and map has to be tweaked to allow room for the longer written language, and everything needs to be localized. There are also cultural differences to consider, and the cash shop can be received differently than here in the U.S. The new game cards will be offered for $39, but the items included are valued at over $100.
E3 2011: A look at Star Trek: Infinite Space
Engagieren! At this year's E3, German game developer Keen Games (under the production of Gameforge) brought us to warp speed and gave us a first look at the upcoming browser-based MMO Star Trek: Infinite Space. Powered by the Unity 3D engine, the latest game in the Trek franchise will be free-to-play by the end of 2011. The devs are calling it an "action-tactic" MMO, and it title will hopefully give players just what they have been asking for in a Trek MMO. Set in the Deep Space Nine timeline, the game allows players to create custom characters and immediately begin to pilot their own ships. Right from the beginning, a player can start as either a Starfleet or a Klingon officer. To our surprise, the game's development is being fully supervised by Mike and Denise Okuda, Star Trek experts who have been involved in the franchise's many movies and television shows. Star Trek: Infinite Space is currently in closed beta but has a cinematic trailer that is sure to give any Trekker or Trekkie goosebumps. Check it out after the break! Massively's on the ground in Los Angeles during the week of June 6-9, bringing you all the best news from E3 2011. Whether you're dying to know more about Star Wars: The Old Republic, RIFT, or any MMO in between, you can bet we'll have it covered! %Gallery-125755%
Star Trek: Infinite Space explores browser-based gaming in 2011
Star Trek: Infinite Space is a free-to-play, casual browser-based game launching in the summer of 2011. Published by Gameforge (don't worry, you've likely never heard of 'em) and developed by Keen (What's Cooking? With Jamie Oliver, Anno on Wii and DS), it's set during the Deep Space Nine timeline. Keen Games creative director Antony Christoulakis says, "We consider ourselves very lucky to have this opportunity and we are highly committed to delivering a Star Trek experience fans can be proud of." Wouldn't it be awkward if this freemium game ends up being more compelling than the for-pay (for-now) Star Trek Online?
Frogster cuts senior management staff
Things at Frogster have been pretty busy lately with publishing projects like Runes of Magic, Mythos and TERA. Since Gameforge purchased a majority stake in the company early last month, it's made another offer to remaining Frogster shareholders in order to solidify its position. Things changed even more today. Three senior Frogster staffers have been relieved of their duties at the company, including two former Gameforge employees. CFO Ralf Kloppel, Frogster America CEO Lars Koschin (ex-Gameforge staff) and board member Bjorn Koschin have all been let go. There are no details forthcoming at the moment, but we'll keep you up-to-date on any developments. [via gameindustry.biz]
PAX 2010: Selena Gomez is Wizard101's new damsel in distress
She plays a fledgling spellcaster in Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place, but soon Selena Gomez will be taking it to the next level. KingsIsle just announced that Gomez will be coming to the magical world of Wizard101 as a princess in distress who needs a bit of saving. The actress-musician agreed to be featured in Wizard101 as a sort of cross-promotion for her latest album. The story goes that nefarious forces have kidnapped Gomez from our world into the layered realms of Wizard101, and she must be rescued and returned to Earth so that she can finish her epic video. As our world is part of the spiral (Earth is just non-magical, hence why Professor Ambrose is so startled when player characters arrive at Wizard City), this crossover doesn't break the lore of the game. Instead, KingsIsle hopes that the popular star will appeal to its core tween demographic. Hit the jump for even more juicy tidbits from PAX Prime!
Wizard101 teleports across the pond
KingsIsle Entertainment and Gameforge have joined forces to expand the kid-friendly MMO Wizard101 to a European audience. "This partnership is an important first step in our strategy to expand beyond the domestic US market and bring Wizard101 to an international audience," says KingsIsle CEO Elie Akilian. The 2-year old title, which has netted Texas-based KingsIsle over 10 million registered players, features a magical world called Wizard City as well as player housing, pets, and seven combat classes presented in the form of distinct magical schools. Wizard101 features free access to portions of the game world, while players wishing to experience the complete title can purchase subscription time or use the Crowns system to pay a la carte. Gameforge, a German publisher of free-to-play titles, currently boasts a stable of over 20 games, including Cabal Online, Gladiatus, and Couch Potatoes.
Gameforge buys majority stake in Frogster
MMO business news isn't normally as sexy as the latest press release from BioWare or as divisive as the newest F2P conversion announcement. That said, occasionally an industry-related story comes along that indicates something equally big is in the water. Today's announcement of Gameforge's bid to take control of noted free-to-play publisher Frogster seems destined to turn a few industry heads, including ours. Gameforge, which heretofore has specialized in smallish F2P games like Cabal, has just acquired a 60 percent majority holding in Frogster, the German publisher known primarily for distributing Runes of Magic. The purchase deal went through at $33 US a share, which places Frogster's overall value in the neighborhood of $85 million US. Frogster, and now Gameforge, is looking to grow its portfolio not only with Runes of Magic but also by publishing the forthcoming Mythos dungeon crawler as well as by securing the European publishing rights to the highly anticipated TERA action MMO from Bluehole Studio. The Gameforge folks have been busy little bees this summer, as they earlier announced an agreement with CBS to publish several browser-based games centered around the Star Trek intellectual property.
New Star Trek MMO in dry dock courtesy of Gameforge
"Boldly going where one MMO has gone before!" doesn't quite have a ring to it, but that's not deterring German developer Gameforge from grabbing a slice of the Star Trek IP for a new MMO. Gameforge hasn't exactly been a household name up to this point, with titles such as Gates of Andaron and Ikariam, but it seems like that might change now that they have a crack at one of the most recognizable science fiction franchises in the world. The unnamed Star Trek MMO will be -- yes -- a free-to-play browser title, so don't expect it to directly compete with Cryptic's own Star Trek Online. TrekWeb reports that Gameforge signed a worldwide licensing agreement with CBS Consumer Products to develop the game in the original Star Trek universe, from the classic era of Captain Kirk up through the days of Deep Space Nine. However, Atari will still hold the exclusive MMO rights to Star Trek.
Gameforge introduces Gates of Andaron in developer tour
Gates of Andaron, the free to play MMO from German developer Gameforge, recently arrived in North America, and we were fortunate enough to take a tour of the game. Community Manager Ben Buchwald and Senior Marketing and PR Manager Marcel Jung were our guides, showing us around and giving us some insight into the land of Iberia. Follow along after the jump for a look.
Frogster America gets a new CEO
No big company shake-ups here, folks. Although this is news nonetheless, as Frogster America -- publisher of Runes of Magic -- has selected Lars Koschin as its new CEO, replacing founding CEO Sean Kauppinen. The reason this isn't a big deal for the company is because Kauppinen's role was transitional in nature, and the appointment of a more permanent person was always the assumption.For those of you wondering who this Lars guy is, other than someone with an awesome name, let us point you to a little company called GameForge. Here is where Lars was previously in charge of such titles such as Ikariam and other yet-to-be-translated browser based online games were, um, forged. Sorry, we couldn't help ourselves.The move is an interesting one considering that Koschin likely had a firm hand in the creation and direction of several of these free-to-play titles. Runes of Magic continues to become curiouser and curiouser as time marches forwards.
Tabula Rasa: Saving the game
Between desperate battles against the Bane, about all anyone can talk about in Tabula Rasa right now is the impending shutdown of the game service. Website efforts are being touted to solicit ideas for rescuing the game from shutdown, people are discussing the operating costs for the game, some are hoping that Richard Garriott might rescue the game from NCsoft, while others blame him personally for the game's shutdown. Some are hoping that a player consortium can raise enough capital to buy the game assets from NCsoft itself, much as was attempted with Ryzom (and very nearly worked, until they were outbid by another company which resurrected that game anyway). Low signup rates have largely been balanced out by attrition from a lack of ongoing endgame content. The focus on trying to improve early and midlevel experience, which caused uncertain, multiple rebalancings of the game six to eight months ago left top tier players, well, falling off the end a bit. "People had done it all," says level 50 player Paddy Oshea, "I know I was one of them."
Gamasutra interviews Ikariam's Gameforge
Coinciding with Gameforge's recent announcement that it will open a new studio in San Francisco as part of its push into the North American market, Gamasutra has interviewed Gameforge Productions Inc. President Lars Koschin. Some of the topics covered include the continuing perception that web-based MMOs are simple, mini-game affairs; and how Gameforge's games differ in essence from more traditional, accepted brands like World of Warcraft.It's not terribly lengthy, but there is some meat here to chew over. Certainly one of the barriers a web-based game initially overcomes is the sometimes-inaccessible system requirements a more 3D-heavy MMO might require of its players. Add to that the platform-agnostic nature of these games, and the potential audience can be much greater than many PC-only titles.
The saga of the Saga of Ryzom: Not over yet
The Saga of Ryzom (or just Ryzom for marketing purposes), has had a pretty rocky time in the market, struggling and never quite taking off. Poor Ryzom, even spiffy advertising on Penny Arcade could not save you. As we posted back in early February, things were starting to fall apart, and servers beginning to close. The last of them finally did in mid-February. Game over, right? Well, maybe not.
Saga of Ryzom may be going sunset
The rocky road Saga of Ryzom has walked over the past four years appears to be drawing to a close. The game, originally launched in 2004, is a unique approach to the Science Fiction genre. Over the years the game has prompted a number of interesting innovations in online games, including the user-content generation system Ryzom Ring and advances in streaming art content to the user. Still, financial problems have plagued the game almost as long. Nevrax, the original developer of the title, filed for bankruptcy near the end of 2006. The German company GameForge stepped in to run the service in a sort of reduced capacity, and has been keeping the servers live for players since. GameForge's French outfit, which ran the game, then ran into financial problems themselves in October of last year. Ryzom players were made aware that time may have been running out for the game.A discussion of the current state of the servers is below.
