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The Art of Wushu: Paying doesn't mean winning
Age of Wushu has come under a lot of fire as a pay-to-win game. There are ways to get in-game power for out-of-game money, so there are a lot of reasons to assume that real cash can turn you into one of the top fighters in Jianghu. Fortunately for the dedicated players (and to the chagrin of cash shop whales), the truth is a bit more skewed. There are varying degrees of pay-to-win cash shops, but Age of Wushu's cash shop provides very few outlets to directly buy power. The main culprit is the simple fact that spending real money can give a player silver to spend on anything he or she wants. Silver is king in Age of Wushu. The entire player market revolves around silver, and the largest source of it comes from the cash shop. Does this mean you need to pay to have a chance?
First impressions from the Age of Wushu beta
When I first started playing the Age of Wushu beta, I had a lot of expectations. As I first started playing, the game felt ho-hum. It was clumsy, the translation wasn't very good, and the combat felt clunky. My friends saved an infamous IM conversation during which I expressed how the game was a let-down. I had heard a lot about the skill-based martial arts battles, but the combat and movement felt so clumsy. There were some interesting features for sure, but my expectations soon faded, and I mostly kept playing out of a sense of obligation, to see whether there was anything hidden beyond the awkward translation and uninspired gameplay. Three days later, I was a believer. Age of Wushu's combat, while awkward at first, proved to be incredibly deep and allowed for endless variations of personal expression. Mastery of battle wasn't just about abusing a broken mechanic, and the foundations of the game's economy soon proved to threaten the hold that EVE Online currently has on the sandbox market. Open PVP with real consequences, horizontal character progression, a player-driven economy, and the best combat system in any MMO ever -- you'll find it all in Age of Wushu.
Massively Exclusive: Age of Wushu's launch trailer flips over the heads of the competition
Tomorrow, Snail Games USA will officially announce its newest title, Age of Wushu -- but we've got an exclusive sneak peek to share with you before that happens! Sporting heavy Chinese themes and aesthetics, Age of Wushu is designed to allow players to pull off mystical, physics-defying martial arts moves like those you would see in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (or, really, any Kung Fu film). The official trailer for the title, which you can see after the jump, showcases Age of Wushu's beauty and grace... as well as its lethal underpinnings. Characters attack in slow-motion while performing seemingly impossible Matrix-like jumps through space. We'll be looking forward to seeing if the allure of fantastic martial arts will be enough to set Age of Wushu apart from the pack, but considering that the devs are promising that we can run up the sides of buildings, we suspect it might be one to check out no matter what. Plus, "wushu" is way fun to say.
Behind the Mask: How tanking got easier
I've mused for a long time about the problems with tanking in Champions Online, since it's my preferred PvE role. Gold members can build freeform characters with everything one would need for a tank, leaving only skill as a requirement. On the other hand, Silver members have been left out in the cold. It's unfortunate, but there has simply been no decent archetype tank. This all changed with the launch of the Master, a martial arts-themed melee fighter with everything needed to compete in the toughest lairs. Although he isn't a perfect tanking package, he is completely functional and does his job well. He's the Mind of tanking archetypes: He soaks damage, he owns face, and he isn't reliant on a healer for sustainability. I think I'm in love. Although he is not a free archetype, unlocking the Master is a one-time purchase. If you're into the tank playstyle but you're not into a subscription, this archetype is for you.
More Age of Wulin closed beta videos revealed
Another day, another set of videos from the Age of Wulin Chinese beta. MMO Culture has the game covered, and today's installment features a bit of commentary on the title's PvP-centric design as well as a brief look at weapon enhancement functionality. Age of Wulin eschews the traditional +1 system of gear upgrading and instead opts for an interesting mechanic that basically boils down to meeting whatever requirements are described when you mouse over a weapon. The stated example involves reaching level 10 in a particular life skill as well as possessing certain inventory items. While we're a bit dubious about the fact that your cooking prowess may relate to your ability to wield a sword, we're also cognizant of the fact that it's an early Chinese beta build, so we're looking forward to seeing the system develop. Head past the cut for a combat video and some clips of Wudang.
Age of Wulin closed beta begins
Age of Wulin's Chinese closed beta kicked off this weekend and according to a report at MMO Culture, it's been a "less than enjoyable" experience. The free-to-play fantasy sandbox has an ambitious feature list, and Snail Games has attracted a lot of players anxious to get their hands on the upcoming title. Said gamers flooded the beta shard, which occasionally buckled under the onslaught and served up disconnects, stuck characters, and more byproducts of the early testing phase. The good news is that MMO Culture's coverage features a ton of embedded video, and you can get a look at the title's character creation process, some beginner areas, and the accessory training interface after the break. [Thanks to Chris for the tip!]
GamesCampus to take over 9Dragons in September
Free-to-play MMO publisher GamesCampus announced today that it will be taking control of martial arts MMO 9Dragons' North American operation. The game is currently provided by GamersFirst, but GamesCampus will begin its run with the game on September 20th. GamesCampus has stated that it will allow any player with an account in good standing to transfer his or her character, complete with any purchased items, as long as players opt-in by September 15th. The GamesCampus launch of 9Dragons will introduce the new region of Tibet, which will include additional content for each faction. So remember, 9Dragons players, if you want to keep your precious accounts intact, opt-in with GamesCampus prior to September 15th, and be ready to jump into Tibet on the 20th.
Duke of Mount Deer announces Chinese open beta, releases new screenshots
ChangYou announced today that its most recent in-house-developed MMORPG, called Duke of Mount Deer, will be entering closed beta in China on July 22nd. The game takes place within the martial arts fantasy universe of Louis Cha's novel The Deer and the Cauldron (which should help to explain the somewhat bizarre name). Duke of Mount Deer boasts "beautifully rendered, cinematic quality graphics" as well as the ability for players to move from server to server at-will in order to play with friends and hunt down their enemies. Players are able to choose one of six classes, each with its own signature weapon, and set out on adventures with hundreds of other players. For more information on this upcoming title, head on over to the official site, and be sure to check out the gallery below for more screenshots. %Gallery-127604%
Tian Long Ba Bu introduces two new mounts and celebratory mount sale
Attention all wanna-be Tian Long Ba Bu Kung-Fu masters: Are you tired of having to run all over the place? After all, you need to conserve your energy for dramatically roundhouse-kicking people in the face, so you can't go tiring out your legs with something as mundane as walking. Luckily, ChangYou has a deal for you! In celebration of the introduction of two new mounts -- the aptly named Black Beast and White Beast -- all mounts in the item shop are being sold for up to 50% off. The deal begins tomorrow and will run only for a short period of time, so if you want to cash in on this special offer, you had better crane-kick and tiger-uppercut your way over to the TLBB official site.
The Game Archaeologist jacks into The Matrix Online: Jamming with Ben 'Rarebit' Chamberlain
When we started into The Matrix Online month last week on The Game Archaeologist, one of the comments caught my eye. Massively reader stealthrider wrote: Please, please do a tribute to Rarebit. MxO was his baby, and no one took its death worse than he. He did everything for that game, much of it single-handedly. Everything from playing the canon characters and co-writing the story to fixing hundreds of bugs and even creating a new zone from scratch. Not to mention developing and implementing the story missions, new items, the RP item vendors, and pretty much everything else in MxO's final couple of years. He even implemented and moderated a player-created minigame as part of the official story. He retired from game development in the months before MxO's shutdown. He was that dedicated to this game that he couldn't work on anything else afterward. He's a god among developers, and he is as sorely missed as the game itself. I think this sums up how many Matrix Online vets feel about Ben "Rarebit" Chamberlain. So instead of a mere tribute, we drove the MassivelyMobile over to Chamberlain's house (read: send a polite email request), and he graciously said he'd be glad to reminisce with us. So hit that jump to find out the last word on MxO from the dev who held it together!
The Game Archaeologist jacks into The Matrix Online: The highlights
It's not every year that a movie comes along that captures the pop culture zeitgeist so powerfully and so quickly as The Matrix did. I recall lugging a few college friends along to see this in 1999 -- having heard only a few sparse details about it beforehand -- and coming out of the theater feeling as if we we'd been electrified. The bold mix of science fiction, martial arts, philosophy, action, and leather ensembles became the smash hit of the year, and a franchise was born. And while we had great hopes that this would be this generation's Star Wars, The Matrix ultimately proved to be a lightning-in-a-bottle phenomenon, impossible to recapture once unleashed. Sequels, animated shorts, video games, comic books -- none rose to the height of the original film, and eventually the franchise petered out. During this period, an odd duck of an MMO was born: The Matrix Online. When you think about it, an online virtual world where people log in and fight against programs was a really short hop from the movie series. MxO, as it was abbreviated, was an audacious game with unique features, story-centric gameplay and a sci-fi bent in a field of fantasy competitors, and while it only lasted four years, it was enough to make a huge impression for its community. So by popular demand, this month we're going to revisit the 1s and 0s of The Matrix Online to see just how deep the rabbit hole (and well-worn cliche) goes -- and what made this game stand out!
A catastrophe waiting to happen: Martial Empires expands
The Cataclysm may have passed, but we still have a catastrophe to survive. The Catastrophe of Babylon, Martial Empires' newest expansion, is slated to arrive at the end of the month. Gamigo's free-to-play martial arts MMO already offers all the kung fu action you can handle, but now it will be fleshed out with much-anticipated (and needed) additions. One of the biggest features on Babylon's plate is the implementation of the long-awaited guild wars. High-level guilds will finally be able to go head-to-head with each other in brutal guild battles. Victorious guilds will be showered with long-term buffs and plenty of gold, which should be enough incentive for truly competitive fights. Babylon will also overhaul Martial Empires' graphics with a new rendering engine, and many of the monsters will be given makeovers to fit in better and boost their self-esteem. Players can anticipate exploring a number of additional dungeons in Babylon as well. Gamigo plans to hold an event to award access to the test servers for The Catastrophe of Babylon in the near future.
Conquer Online is ready for kung-fu fighting
It's been a very long time since we looked into Conquer Online, but the game is approaching its next major update, dubbed "Returning Light." This update features the addition of a new playable class, the Monk, which makes up the sixth entry into the game's mix of classes. While these ascetic disciples of elemental harmony have long remained isolated from the rest of the world, the events of the upcoming patch will force Monks into combat once again, much to the benefit of players. Monks are capable of bestowing a number of beneficial effects upon party members, healing and supporting others through their elemental skills. But the class is also capable of moving into the fray via powerful martial arts, allowing players to split their time between the class functions or pick one as a specialty. The official preview for the Monk is already available, so Conquer Online players should look forward to the currently scheduled release of December 16th for the patch.
Get your closed beta test keys for Blade Wars here!
Thank god it's Friday, am I right? The week is gone, but we're not done at Massively yet! We've got some beta keys to hand out to you loyal readers, and what better day to do it than on a Friday! This time around we've scored 2,000 keys to ChangYou's new offering to the F2P MMO market, Blade Wars. This game is another revival of the 2 1/2D form of MMO play, but with a few fun twists. A combo system has been added to the attack system, so if you love racking up chains of attacks then you're going to enjoy this. The game also features a weapon creation system, which allows you to cobble together your own weapons from pieces you find throughout the world. If you're interested, then head on over here and grab a key! You can redeem it and play the game immediately, so have fun making your own Kung-Fu combos this weekend!
Kung Fu Panda World starts sneak peek
What's more dangerous than a bear, tiger or monkey? A bear, tiger or monkey trained in deadly martial arts and given the slavish adoration of millions of small children everywhere, of course. So there's really no point in resisting Kung Fu Panda World, but we're sure that many kids won't want to anyway. This browser-based MMO moved into a "sneak peek" phase, enabling players everywhere to get a taste of the good life. Just plug into the website and start training up an animal in mystical Eastern fighting styles.
Get your Kung Fu on in City of Heroes
Do you sometimes wish that when everybody is kung fu fighting they didn't all look so alike? NCsoft seems to feel the same way, because they've now made available the City of Heroes Super Booster IV: Martial Arts for ten bucks. Yes, now when you're fighting foes with malicious martial intent you'll look "spiffy" and whatever other adjective you feel like tossing into the equation. The booster comes with more than costume pieces, however. It also contains ninja-theme costume change animations and a ninja running power. There's also two new emotes for roleplayers, who tend to be the biggest emote fans. This makes the fourth booster pack since the original (or microtransaction bundle, if you like) for City of Heroes and you can bet there will be plenty more as long as these continue to sell. Our guess for the next addition? Mutants would be a safe bet; mutants or zombies.
Pandaren in the World of Warcraft
In among all of the "omg fake pets for real money" drama from this week's announcement, we may have missed something big: the Pandaren are now live in the World of Warcraft. The Pandaren are my favorite Azerothian race, even though they're essentially a joke -- Samwise Didier just loves pandas, and he made art for an April Fool's joke that Chris Metzen loved so much they decided to include the bears as real characters in Warcraft III. Since then, they've become fan favorites (not least of all, especially for me, because alcohol and ale are a big part of their culture), but we've only seen hints of them in World of Warcraft. There was a rumor going around a while back that they would never appear in the game because China didn't allow depictions of violence against the bears, but that was just a rumor. Still, the Pandaren have existed in WoW only as a Blizzard in-joke. We assume they're out there somewhere, but until now, no one has ever seen one. Of course we say "until now" because there are now little Pandaren monk noncombat pets running around, bowing, and doing magical kung-fu. Does this mean that the future Emerald Dream expansion will have us all playing as Brewmasters? While yes that would be awesome, not so fast again: Diablo and the Zergling from Starcraft are both in the game as noncombat pets, and they don't mean anything at all (although they were both included in the game before the announcements of Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 -- maybe Blizzard is working on a Pandaren-based puzzle game? Conspiracy theorists, assemble!). And just because we all have Grunty doesn't mean murlocs are suddenly going to take to spaceships with battle rifles in the official lore. But it's cool to see Pandaren actually in the game, even in pet form, and who knows, maybe we will one day find the legendary realm of Pandaria in our own version of Azeroth.
Stereotypes (and Sackboys!) in new Rag Doll Kung Fu trailer
Sony's prepping one of its next big PSN downloads: Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic. The follow-up to Mark Healey's PC game takes full advantage of the PS3 controller, encouraging gamers to tilt and move the SIXAXIS to unleash wacky kung-fu combos. A new trailer (available after the break) highlights the game's zany characters. Pay close attention and you'll see a customizable Sackboy in the trailer as well.The game will be available for download off the PlayStation Store in less than one month: April 9th. A demo should provide players a good taste of all the offline-only multiplayer the game has to offer.%Gallery-27901%
World of Kung Fu to launch August 1st
The team at World of Kung Fu have sent word that their free-to-play martial arts MMO will officially launch on the 1st of August, a mere week from now. To prepare for the launch, a new patch has gone in today that expands the game's playable area by 25%, with 8 additional areas to explore. The patch also features new quests and an increase to the level cap, and an extra server has been added to accommodate newcomers.We're sure that many of you haven't seen this title in action yet, so we've embedded a short gameplay clip from Youtube. The game strongly adheres to its ancient Chinese setting, and players must specialize in particular weapon styles such as Spear, Hook, and Broadsword, and hone their Kung Fu while traveling through Zhong Guo (better known in the western world as China). With the release of the latest patch, and the launch next week, this might be a nice title to check out -- especially for those WAR-waiters and AoC-leavers.
World of Kung Fu announces new daily events
World of Kung Fu is the radical 3d martial arts MMORPG that utilizes Chinese mythology and themes for its setting. The game is free to play, and uses a micro-transactions to sustain development costs. It's important to stress that goods purchased in the "item mall" are not required to complete any quests or objectives in the game. New players also receive three "novice cards" that can be traded for in game items or cash including the following: Earth temple, which grants instant travel to any city already visited. Lion Toy, which will resurrect your character. And the Tai Yi Pill, which grants full healing. To keep player s busy over the summer VestGame Entertainment has announced regularly scheduled events, which World of Warcraft players would recognize as daily quests. However, the daily events in World of Kung Fu aren't just your run of the mill fair, one is a trivial pursuit type of challenge. Quests are given out by Town Crier in the city of Liuhe and their rewards will range from experience, cash, and even rare items. Hey, it's free, and worth checking out if you are struggling to find something to play this summer.
