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Dungeon Fighter Online returns from the dead
It was a about a year ago that Dungeon Fighter Online closed up shop in North America, but the scrappy MMO might be back for round two. The resurrected version of Dungeon Fighter Online is being run by developer Neople, not Nexon. The studio plans to begin the alpha test of DFO tomorrow, May 15th. This will be an open alpha test requiring players to use their Facebook accounts to access. "As some of you rightly mentioned, this is an alpha test, not a full re-opening of the game," Neople cautioned on its Facebook page. "So there might be bits and pieces that don't go as smoothly as we want, and we sincerely hope the DFO community understands this." [Thanks to everyone who sent in this tip!]
Dungeon Fighter Online counts over 3 million concurrent Chinese users
Concurrency is a big deal for most MMOs. Total numbers of accounts and subscribers might tell you how many people play the game, but concurrency tells you how many people actually play the game on a regular basis. So when Dungeon Fighter Online breaks its previous concurrency record in China, that's good news for the game and the development team. After setting an earlier record with 2.6 million users, the game peaked at just over 3 million concurrent users in June. Neople, the developer of Dungeon Fighter Online and a subsidiary of Nexon, has been working with Tencent Games to help adapt the game for the Chinese audience, as China has a long list of rules about what is and is not acceptable in a game. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, you can play the game now on your PC or an XBox 360, depending on your preferred platform.
Nexon's Dungeon Fighter Online coming to Xbox Live Arcade later this year
One in six people in China have played Nexon's Dungeon Fighter Online -- the free-to-play 2D action PC MMORPG claimed over 200 million registered users even before its launch in North America, at one point seeing 2.2 million concurrent users. And now Nexon is reaching out for another audience entirely: It's announced that DFO is coming to Xbox Live later in 2011, published by none other than Microsoft Games Studios. The console version will be jointly developed by Nexon and Korean developer Softmax, and the game's original developer, Neople, will direct the project. There's no word on whether it will be free-to-play or microtransaction-based on Xbox Live Arcade or not -- the original game, like all of Nexon's titles, is supported by sales of in-game items, from gear and potions to XP boosts. Joystiq has contacted Nexon to find out more, and we'll let you know what we hear. This announcement could be huge -- a free-to-play MMO hit on consoles, especially in the west, would have big ramifications for the gaming industry at large. Update: "Nothing has been determined yet" about the model for this one, we're told. Nexon says it's too early in the process to talk about exactly how this version of the game will work.
Dungeon Fighter Online launches in North America
Nexon's MMORPBEUG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Beat 'Em Up Game) has finally made its way to North American hearts, minds and internets. After racking up more than 200 million players overseas, the free-to-play, genre-defying Dungeon Fighter Online is now available to download at no cost through Nexon America's site. If you're curious how an MMORPBEUG actually works, you can check out a whole gaggle of trailers over on the game's YouTube channel. Basically, it handles like Final Fight, only with a Diablo-esque user interface, and a Ragnarok-inspired art design, and World of Warcraft-esque character specialization trees. Yeah, it's all over the place.
Korea's Dungeon Fighter Online sets sights on the West
As graphics in massively multiplayer online games push ahead year after year, a few developers are taking a different approach to these games, some with a stylized 2-D look. "Different" is an understatement when it comes to Nexon's Dungeon Fighter Online -- a blending of an MMO with an old-school arcade game which Massively previewed at E3 2009. Although the side-scrolling action is reminiscent of games like Street Fighter, Dungeon Fighter Online will have classes and subclasses, skills, and a level-based system of advancement as with the majority of MMO titles. The game has done very well for itself in Korea (where it's known as Dungeon & Fighter) and is coming to North America, with a closed beta on the way.
