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Dungeon Fighter Online heading to land of comics and cosplay next week
Nexon is taking Dungeon Fighter Online to Comic-Con next week with a preview of the game, plus contests and -- surprise -- girls dressed in game-related costumes. We had a pleasant experience with the game at E3, so if you're attending and wondering whether or not you should go, we'd recommend stopping by to play a little.Oh yeah, those girls dressed in Dungeon Fighter Online costumes? They'll be handing out discs with five bucks of Nexon cash. Additionally, Nexon will be making daily presentations at 1pm where fans can learn more about DFO and it's arcade-y, hacking, slashing and looting ways. So drop on by, grab some loot (we heard game posters will be at the booth) and enjoy yourselves. We'll just be sitting here letting our envy slowly overtake us until we destroy an inanimate object in a fit of jealousy.%Gallery-65064%
AT&T mobile users to get MapleStory on their phones
Normally we'd be somewhat cynical when talking about an MMO going to a phone. World of Warcraft on an iPhone just seems complicated, while Second Life on a phone just seems unusual. But for MapleStory going to a phone, well, we just can't see much wrong with that. It just seems to make sense, with the 2-D side scrolling action being perfectly at home on a mobile device.However, don't jump for joy just yet, it's only a version of that's making it to the MapleStoryAT&T media mall. MapleStory: Warrior is the same MapleStory gameplay, just condensed down for your phone. It's sadly not online, but it does connect to your MapleStory account to give you a brand new in-game item. So if you ever need that MapleStory fix and you're just not anywhere near a PC or internet connection, now you have options. Downside, those options are all warrior-based options.
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.
Nexon opens Dungeon Fighter Online beta application
Do you like arcade fighters? Do you like Diablo? How about MMOs? Wait, you love all those things? Then you really should sign up for Dungeon Fighter Online's beta program -- which just opened up -- and get in on that action early. If you're looking for some hands-on information with the game, we've got you covered there, too.Something tells us that we lost most of you with, "beta" and the rest of you with, "-just opened up" But that's okay, we'll just spend the rest of our time talking about poppyseed muffins. You see, the best muffins are poppyseed and that's a fact. Sure, you've got your chocolate and blueberry muffins -- which are delicious when warmed up in a microwave -- but nothing beats a freshly baked poppyseed. Its arguably the king of muffins, unless someone figures out how to bake edible gold flakes into muffins.If you get into the Dungeon Fighter Online beta and were signing up while eating a poppyseed muffin, we wouldn't be too surprised.
Dungeon Fighter Online beta applications now open
Nexon's bizarre free-to-play MMORPG, Dungeon Fighter Online, mixes Golden Axe style side-scrolling gameplay with 2D cartoon artwork and massively multiplayer persistent RPG elements. You can try it for yourself on your PC by signing up for the closed beta on the official Dungeon Fighter Online website. Sign-ups end on July 6. Nexon will announce the dates of the beta at a later time. Meanwhile, feel free to read up on the various classes or Massively's hands-on impressions of the game from E3.[Via Big Download]
E3 2009: Dungeon Fighter Online impressions
Nexon's upcoming free to play title Dungeon Fighter Online isn't quite like anything we've seen before -- and at the same time, it's a lot like things we've seen before. At first glance, DFO mimics old-school, style-arcade action-adventure games, the sort of thing you might have been pumping quarters into a decade ago.Not so old-school, however, are the game's MMO features: a persistent, shared world, character advancement, quests, and loot. These aren't features we'd have ever thought of putting together, but we can assure you that the resulting low-rez adventure is fast-paced and fun. Best of all? You won't need a pocket full of quarters to enjoy it.%Gallery-65064%
MapleStory joins the wild world of Twitter
Twitter needs to be classified as an addictive drug, we think. We seem to be using it, and we just can't stop ourselves anymore. We keep telling ourselves that it's just a simple RSS feed where we're limited in what we can type out to others, yet we keep going back to that internet street corner, begging for just one more tweet...But hey, we've gotten company recently! MapleStory has created their own Twitter page as well, joining the rest of the world in answering the question "what are you doing right now?" If you're interested in the 2D MMO, just drop by their page and sign up for their tweets to stay atop of in-game news. Right now, they seem to be flaunting their recent gold farmer bannings (remind us to never get on MapleStory's badside), as well as talking to some of their fans regarding their MapleStory achievements.Now, if you could excuse us, we feel we need to tweet again.
The Digital Continuum: Business as unusual
The subject of microtransactions has long been a point of contention. Not only do some people feel that the practice somehow lessens a game's worth, they consider the very act to be malicious in nature. Other people seem to be welcoming the idea with open arms, and more and more game developers are redoubling their efforts in North America and Europe. The reason? They don't want to get left behind.
MapleStory announces over 92 million users worldwide, 4 year anniversary
We often marvel at the sheer numbers of subscribers and users some MMOs and virtual worlds are able to reach. You can look at a title like World of Warcraft, with over 11 million subscribers and just picture a massive green tidal wave made of dollar bills sweeping over Blizzard HQ. Every month. But WoW's millions of customers, while impressive, pales in comparison with what Nexon announced this week with MapleStory: 92 million users worldwide, with 6 million users in North America alone. Sure, comparing success stories of a subscription title with a free-to-play game is a bit like comparing apples and oranges. Each of those 92 million "Maplers" probably isn't dropping $15 each month to play, but the fact remains that many of those users are paying real money for their virtual goods. The numbers we ran for MapleStory's virtual items sales in the US, roughly one year ago, had 5.9 million US users spending USD 29.3 million on these goods.
Anti-Aliased: Five free to play MMOs that are ahead of the class pt. 2
#3 -- MabinogiYes, Mabinogi is one of our all time favorite free to play MMOs. This is probably obvious by now, but we're fans of the game. The design of Mabinogi really stands out when compared to all of the other free to play MMOs because it's so open. You can take up day jobs, gossip with townsfolk, make NPC friends, engage in a wide variety of crafting, go exploring for monuments, and even terraform the land to find buried treasures. And I haven't even mentioned combat once!It's this wealth of options that makes Mabinogi a gem for the free to play market. Certainly there is an amount of grind to the game, but the grind is not focused in just one area. This is a game where you will find yourself doing a wide variety of activities if you should choose. It's not all about going out and beating on the nearest snow wolf so you can gain access to the next dungeon (though you can if you want to.) If you don't want to do it, Mabinogi doesn't force you to do it. That's the beauty of it.Our downside to Mabinogi? The spam. Gold farmers like to infest this game for some reason, and it just gets to the point over overwhelming your chat box at times. We love the game, we're just not that keen about the farmers.#2 - Runes of MagicIt's a game that steals all the best aspects of every other game! And if you think I'm kidding, I'm totally not!No, really, Runes of Magic has gone around and pulled the best of the best and smashed it into a form of their original game. While this sounds kind of offensive at first, it actually comes out pretty nicely, especially as the game is free to play. RoM features very polished features similar to World of Warcraft. The game plays through completing questlines and killing monsters as you level up from 1 to 50. But, the game also features player housing, a dual-class system so you can have two classes instead of one, some awesome choices for character and weapon customization, and Warhammer-esque public quests. If you're looking for something to take the edge off of your WoW addiction for cheap, then you certainly want to check out Runes of Magic.#1 -- Free Realms If you didn't see this coming, then you need to drive your browser to the Free Realms site right now. Yeah, sure, it's targeted at kids. Yeah, sure, it's a little overly cartoony. But if you want a game that's going to hold your attention and provide more than an endless grind all for the low price of free, then this is the one. It has kart racing, mini-games, silly quests, and an enjoyable atmosphere. You can grab a variety of professions from brawler to cook and find quests for all of them. Yet, most of all, it's an enjoyable game. You don't have to worry about racing to endgame or drilling for the best items or trying to find someplace to have some fun. In Free Realms, you literally trip over fun at every corner. Inventive gameplay, a wide variety of fun activities, great graphics that run well on most machines, and it's free. You just can't argue with that. Colin Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who doesn't want money to get in the way of good games. When he's not writing here for Massively, he's rambling on his personal blog, The Experience Curve. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com. You can also follow him on Twitter through Massively, or through his personal feed.
Combat Arms introduces 'Nut Shot' instant kill
Getting hit in the nuts isn't just for AFV anymore, as free online FPS Combat Arms has recently employed such a technique. Whenever a male player is shot, uh, down there, the words "Nut Shot" will appear at the top of the screen, next to a pair of shattered walnuts. Min Kim, director of Nexon America, told MTV Multiplayer that including this helps the game stand out from all of the other FPS titles on the market, allowing Combat Arms to be more "Jackie Chan" than "Bruce Lee," with the latter being used to label your more traditional FPS games such as Call of Duty and Counter Strike.If you're playing a female character, however, you're immune to the Nut Shot ... for obvious reasons. And if you're already playing as a dude, well, it's possible to change genders in the game. If Nexon doesn't come up with a female equivalent, we expect most players will stick to being girls.
March 11th is Free Items Day for every single MapleStory player
Tomorrow is going to be a big day for players of Nexon's MapleStory. For one day only, all items in the cape, overall, hat or shoe category will be completely free. You just simply visit the in-game "cash shop" to customize your avatar and try on whatever new looks you want -- and all without dropping a single penny.Now we can finally get that toy we always pined for as children, if even for only one day!This is actually a pretty cool gesture from Nexon, and we think it'll probably make for one of the busiest days in MapleStory quite some time. Now, if you'll excuse us we have to go try out that "Spaceballs! The Flame Thrower!" on a few zombies...
Mabinogi's associate producer helps us pioneer our way through Iria
Mabinogi's latest expansion, Pioneers of Iria, has recently gone live on the servers after much anticipation by the fans. Now players are able to not only explore the brand new continent of Iria, but also able to take advantage of new races in character creation, such as the giant and the elf, and the brand new exploration system.We here at Massively recently had a chance to catch up with Nexon's Matthew McCullough, the associate producer on the North American version of Mabinogi, to ask him some questions about their brand new release. Is all of this new content truly real? Is it really free? Can elves and giants live together with one another in harmony?Hit the continue reading link below, if you want the answers to these burning questions! Also, if you're a Mabinogi fan, look forward to our hands on with the Pioneers of Iria expansion later on in the week!
Nexon America appoints new CEO
Nexon, creators of popular MMO titles such as MapleStory and Mabinogi, announced today that they've appointed a new CEO for Nexon America. Chris Remo reports for Gamasutra that Daniel S. Kim has been named as the CEO of Nexon's US subsidiary. Kim isn't new to the company, having already served as executive VP with Nexon's global strategy group in Korea, Gamasutra reports. Kim is stepping into the role previously held by Nexon America's former president and CEO John H. Chi, who is no longer with the company.
Mabinogi expansion "Pioneers of Iria" set for February 26th
The massive content addition Pioneers of Iria is set to go live for Mabinogi users on February 26th, introducing two new races and a brand new continent for the low, low cost of free.Information about Iria has been slowly released over time on the Erinn Walker website, which has revealed even more interesting things about the new expansion. Iria will be featuring more field bosses to take on in large groups, like giant wooly mammoths, yetis, sandworms, dragons and even Ifrit himself. The new races, elves and giants, will also be able to take advantage of transformation techniques and enter "beast mode" to deal more damage to enemies around them.Nexon has also released a new trailer for Iria, which we've embedded for your viewing pleasure after the break. For more information on what Iria has in store for players, check out the Iria website and stay tuned to Massively.com.
MapleStory celebrating Valentine's Day with in-game event
Love is in the air in MapleStory, as they're joining other massively multiplayer online games in celebrating Valentine's Day. The festivities will run through February 24th, and will include a mix of unique in-game items and quests for the lovey-dovey crowd. On that note, players who want to tie the knot in-game also receive 15% off on their wedding tickets. Nexon provided the run-down of what's in store for MapleStory players with this extended Valentine's Day event. You can check out the details after the jump:
The Digital Continuum: Five criminally unused MMO settings
var digg_url = 'digg.com/pc_games/Five_Criminally_Unused_MMO_settings'; Conventionally, an overlooked setting or genre for MMOs is considered science fiction, but that's quickly becoming an invalid argument. Instead, a spotlight on some very specific IPs and settings left to collect dust was in order.The goal I set out with was to pick concepts that were both deserving but also not immediately obvious to every person. So I hope that after checking out what's after the break, you'll find at least one or two setting you may not have considered until today.
MapleStory dev's Vancouver studio shuttered
We're sure you've all heard of Nexon Vancouver (a.k.a. Humanature), the Canadian branch of Korean MapleStory creator, Nexon. Oh, you haven't. That's likely because it hadn't produced any games. And now it's been closed, as confirmed by Gamasutra.The studio had been working on a free-to-play MMO titled Sugar Rush (not to be confused with the BBC series) and was headed up by Relic Entertainment co-founder, Alex Garden. Upwards of 90 employees have reportedly been let go in the closure, which Nexon has attributed to "today's economic landscape and the need to secure Nexon's core business for the long term."Nexon's Los Angeles operation will remain open and, according to the company, "will continue to work on our existing titles as well as upcoming titles for 2009." (Unlike the now-defunct Vancouver unit, the folks at Nexon L.A. aren't developing original content -- they perform localization of Nexon's Korean language titles for the US.) For those keeping tabs on the Great Games Industry Bloodletting of Ought-Nine, we're up to three studio closures (Black Box, Pandemic Brisbane, Humanature) and some 335 jobs lost -- not counting the ones EA and Microsoft won't disclose.
Nexon to close their Vancouver studio in economic wake
Originally reported by Kotaku and now verified by Gamasutra, Nexon is shuttering the doors on Nexon Vancouver, leaving 90 employees without jobs. The Vancouver group, also known as Humanature Studios, was unable to release one of their own games under the Nexon flag, but was involved in the development of Klei Entertainment's Sugar Rush title. The studio was headed up by Alex Garden, co-founder of PC developer Relic Entertainment (Homeworld, Company of Heroes.)Nexon is retaining their Los Angeles studio, keeping a base of operations available in North America.The company has confirmed the closure, saying that it was a difficult decision due to the dedication of the staff and all of their hard work, but necessary given the current economic conditions and the need to secure Nexon's core business.
Private MapleStory servers targeted for shutdown
In news that should surprise precisely nobody at all, AsiaSoft, an Eastern distributor of Nexon's MapleStory, has started targeting private MapleStory servers for shutdown. According to Asiaone Digital, it seems that one such person named Sean Lee is now under scrutiny by AsiaSoft for running a fairly popular server in Singapore. What started as a server run out of his bedroom for a handful of friends has blossomed into a server supporting 32,000 MapleStory players just a few short months later. Sure, it may not sound like much - until you realize that of the people polled for the story, half said they play on private servers. When faced with potentially as much as 50% of your userbase playing on private servers, you're talking about a very significant loss of revenue for AsiaSoft, and in turn, Nexon. That said, Sean is awaiting a formal take-down from AsiaSoft, even knowing he's currently being targeted along with several others for running illicit MapleStory servers. He stated that he's continuing to run it for the players because "If [he shuts] it down, [he] will be letting them down." Additionally, his parents allow him to run the server with full knowledge of what he's doing, so long as he agrees to take it down when AsiaSoft asks him to. Perhaps it's just us, but if we knew we were about to get a visit from men in nice suits who had legal documents that talked about things like "seeking financial damages", we'd be out of the pirated game server business quickly. Still, it's an interesting read, so be sure to check out the full story. [Via Kotaku]
