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MapleStory patch 0.56 adds desert region, rad surfboard drops
MapleStory's 0.56 patch has gone live! The patch's additions are impressively robust; they include a new region and town, guild alliance support, windowed mode support, auto-inventory sorting, macros, and extra party search features.The new area is called Ariant. You'll find it on the continent of Ossyria. Apparently it's some kind of Arabian Nights-esque desert setting (summer, desert; they're both hot -- get it?). A whole slew of new quests, NPCs, monsters, and items have been introduced as well. Of course, the shop has been updated, too. A special event begins with this patch -- summer-themed items like surfboards will drop throughout the season.Dude, that's like totally rad! Um, sorry. You're right; that was uncalled for.
Nexon's new western targeted MMOG Sugar Rush in closed beta
Nexon America's Min Kim dropped a hint in late May that an upcoming MMO title was in development in their Vancouver studio. The big secret is Sugar Rush, a new casual based MMO romp and stomp with coin collection mixed into the fray. It is the first MMOG from that studio that is intended specifically for North American audiences. While Sugar Rush is free to play, it will sustain development costs via a microtransaction model "item mall" similar to many other free to play MMOs. The game is currently in closed beta and Nexon America is not accepting applications at this time, but we hear it may launch in the very near future. The development team working on Sugar Rush is based in Vancouver, Canada and includes former Electronic Arts Worldwide Studios Group vice president and creative director Steve Rechtschaffner, as well as studio Klei Entertainment. Headed by Jamie Cheng, Klei Entertainment previously developed and published Eets, a 2D puzzle game for PCs which was later revamped for Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade.It will be interesting to see how Sugar Rush does in North America. MapleStory is unquestionably highly successful. It put Nexon on the global radar and shocked the naysayers when MapleStory earned 29 million dollars in revenue -- not bad for a free to play MMOG! The whole western and eastern MMOG market juxtaposition is fascinating; many have shunned a lot of eastern games in discussing the western market and vice-versa. A video from the closed beta showcasing game play is after the jump. Let us know what you think.
MapleStory product coordinator talks cake monsters, weddings and doom flounders
Over at WarCry, Sheloman Byrd - the product coordinator for free 2d MMORPG MapleStory - has been giving the lowdown on the game and its lighthearted approach. Popular among gamers around the 17-18 year old range and extraordinarily successful economically, MapleStory offers side-scrolling anime-inspired action with a heavy emphasis on quirky fun. Weddings have been a surprisingly popular element of the game (a phenomenon we also saw with Angels Online) with the choice of either a Vegas style wedding or a Cathedral one. The latter even involves quests, with the groom having to hunt for items and the bride seeking the blessing of her parents. Married couples in the game also have exclusive content, including a Party Quest of their own. There's clearly demand out there for wedding content in MMOs - at least the bright and bouncy teen-market kind. CoX released a Wedding Pack containing exclusive costumes and emotes not so long ago, although weddings there are still purely roleplaying affairs, as they are in WoW. We can't help but wonder what the result would be if more games supported in-game marriage. Is that what the teen demographic really wants?
The Social Gaming Summit: Casual MMOs and Immersive Worlds
Friday the 13th: An inauspicious day for the superstitious crowd, but a great day for attendees of the Social Gaming Summit, held in San Francisco. The day saw a schedule full of great panels, populated by some of the industry's finest movers and shakers, among them representatives from Gaia Online, Nexon, Three Rings, and Gamasutra, among others too numerous to list here.A particular highlight of the conference for this blogger was the panel entitled "Casual MMOs and Immersive Worlds", which provided a lively discussion on what it means to create a virtual social space, how to monetize free-to-play content, and what exactly is a casual MMO? Trying to divide attention between listening raptly and taking notes is difficult; here is the result, along with the panelists, after the jump.
Mabinogi introduces furry friends
Just when we thought Mabinogi couldn't get any cuter, the latest update has us reaching for our diabeetis medicine. So what's new? Pets! Players now can choose between one of five animals: 2 types of cats, a dog, a fox, and a wolf, with more types to come. These pets will follow you around, fight alongside you, and even level up like you do.Each pet is distinctive, with its own set of unique skills, whether melée or magic-based. Available to every player through the Nexon Cash Shop, no one is barred from gaining a constant companion for life. You can check out the pets trailer after the jump, and watch for the next big Mabinogi content update, due June 25th, featuring more pets, a new dungeon, new boss monster, and a new spell for players to learn![Thanks, Robert!]
MapleStory reaps over $29 million in U.S. virtual item sales
2007 proved to be a good year for Nexon in the United States, particularly with its free-to-play MapleStory. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that the although the game has 85 million users worldwide, only 5.9 million of them are U.S. players. Given the relatively small percentage of its player base located in the United States, it's surprising that MapleStory made an absolute killing on in-world transactions in 2007; the WSJ reports that 'Nexon's U.S. revenue last year more than tripled to $29.3 million from $8.5 million the prior year.'Jeremy Liew provides some additional commentary on the Nexon windfall over at Lightspeed: "With $30m in US sales and 6m US registered users, assuming a 20% "active player" rate and 10% "buyer rate", that implies an ARPU of $20/mth which sounds about right and is consistent with number we've seen from games in Asia. It sounds like the US will be following very similar models of virtual goods monetization that we've seen in Asia." It's interesting that the predominantly Asian business model of legitimized RMT is already gaining some degree of acceptance in the United States, albeit a slow acceptance. Via PlayNoEvil
An ION 08 interview with Nexon America's Min Kim [Updated]
In a recent interview at Ten Ton Hammer, Nexon America's Min Kim spoke out about some of the company's plans for upcoming games, including their online FPS entitled Combat Arms which will be entering closed beta next week. He also talks a bit about another upcoming MMO title being produced by their Vancouver studio, but details are still not available.In addition, Min Kim speaks at great length about some of the existing titles they have have available in Korea, that they're hoping to port to the North American audience, including the wildly-popular Korean title KartRider. To garner interest with North American players, Min Kim realizes that the audiences are different, and social competition is where it's at. No other information was said about KartRider's introduction to North America, but he says more details will be available soon.Update: Though we initially listed both Audition and KartRider as games Nexon was looking to bring to North America, Audition has been available to North American audiences for some time now, complete with a catalog of familiar songs!
New FPS/MMO enters closed beta
From Nexon America, the publisher of the wildly successful MapleStory, comes Combat Arms, a new free-to-play online first-person shooter which shares many qualities of both an MMO and an FPS in one. With persistent worlds, customizable characters (and equipment) and the opportunity for players to track their performance against others in the Combat Arms community, the game should prove to be a contender for those seeking something new in the free-to-play market.The game will be entering the closed beta phase on May 30th, which will be available for one week exclusively through FilePlanet. According to Nexon America's vice president of marketing Min Kim, "Competition in video games among friends is always fun, but Combat Arms takes it to another level by letting gamers frag for free. Combat Arms delivers all the great socialization elements found in other popular Nexon Games and presents them in one of the most popular gaming genres in North America."
Mabinogi progresses with Generation 2: Paladin
It's been a while since we last spoke of Mabinogi, but that doesn't mean that Nexon has stopped developing it. In fact, the game's grown a bit, and offers players a new Generation (the Mabinogi equivalent of Chapters) in Paladin. The new content features a new town, Emain Macha (continuing the Celtic theme), new dungeons, new equipment and spells, and the eponymous Paladin abilities. If you have no knowledge of what Mabinogi's all about, you can check out our First Impressions piece for ideas on what to expect. Herald in the next generation with Paladin![Thanks, Robert!]
Anti-Aliased: How to pick the MMO for you
Let's be honest for a moment - there are a ton of MMOs out there. We have everything from fantasy, to dystopian future, to fantasy, to horror, to fantasy, to pirates, to fantasy, to sci-fi, and even all the way down to fantasy. While this is great for people who love choice, this is a complete nightmare (or should I say Bloodymare, ha ha, gaming puns) for anyone who's new to the genre or wants to start off with a fresh game that's different from what they're playing.How do you separate the good from the bad? How do you know if you'll stick to a game? You don't want to gamble with an expensive game only to find out that you totally hate it and wish it would burn in the deepest depths of hell. (I'm looking at you, Risk Your Life.) So, do you rely on what your friends tell you or what reviewers tell you?In my opinion, no one knows you except you. So when you sit down and want to pick the right game the first time, here's a few pointers and suggestions to get you started.
Celebrate Maple Story's 3rd anniversary with Big Puff Daddy
Nexon's super-popular MMO Maple Story is celebrating its third anniversary with a slew of new content. Among the new items and events players can look forward to are the ability to temporarily become a monster, a series of special Maple weapon drops, Boss Clones combat, the new Yakuza-themed region called Showa, and a unique Maple Story Anniversary Hat.But perhaps best of all, a rampaging attack by the cake-based monster called Big Puff Daddy! No longer will his people be oppressed, devoured at will simply because they're delicious! (Note: while we do not have a photo of BPD, chances are good that it will look nothing like the photo to the right) If you're a member, enjoy the new content. If not, now would be a great time to join![Thanks, Robert!]
Nexon coils up the Long Tail at VIDFEST 2008
The Vancouver International Digital Festival, or VIDFEST, is an event for digital media professionals. This covers all aspects of media, including animation, Web 2.0, and gaming. Nexon, makers of Maple Story and Mabinogi, among others, will have a presence there, and in fact have managed to get Chris Anderson, Wired magazine editor -in-chief, and author of The Long Tail and the upcoming Free: Why $0.00 is the Future of Business to speak at the keynote address on the 23rd of May.It's easy to see the connection; Nexon has proved that the free-to-play/microtransactions model can be a successful one. American MMOs are still reluctant to try this out, preferring the standard subscription model instead. Perhaps Anderson can sway the hearts and minds of the captains of the digital industry?[Thanks, Robert!]
Nexon's Min Kim on the importance of Target to free to play gaming
Today Gamasutra has up a massive interview with Min Kim, public face for the Korean gaming powerhouse Nexon. Kim has spoken on numerous occasions at various industry events on overcoming challenges for free to play gaming. Those challenges have translated into huge opportunities, with games like MapleStory, Kart Rider, Mabinogi, and Audition earning Nexon big money. According to Kim, the microtransaction business model the company uses across its titles is responsible for that success. Many other MMO developers have attempted to emulate that success, but their entrenched position 'since the late 90s', has made that difficult.Some of Kim's most interesting statements surround their interactions with brick-and-mortar retail outlets. "We didn't really take off until we got the cards into Target and Best Buy and 7-Eleven. Over 50 percent of our player base doesn't have access to plastic, between 13 and 17. They just couldn't pay, so we'd effectively lose more than half our business. So that payment side is, I think, one of the biggest battles that people will fight." He goes on to discuss the possibility of Nexon games on the Xbox 360, the role of games in South Korea, and the misconceptions Western developers have when entering the free-to-play marketplace.
Craig Sherman: WoW not a success
It appears that Gaia's Craig Sherman thinks that World of Warcraft isn't a success when compared to the hundreds of millions of "willing-to-play" teenagers it hasn't managed to claim as subscribers. A ridiculous claim, as success is a relative term -- especially when comparing free-to-play titles with something like World of Warcraft. We're not saying that games like Maple Story or Puzzle Pirates aren't good, they're just a different breed of MMOs.Maybe we should measure MMO success by degree of pop-culture status: Has Maple Story had commercials featuring William Shatner, Mr. T and Vern Troyer? Will Puzzle Pirates become a theatrical film anytime soon? No, but that doesn't make these games any less successful in their own right. Plus, that's a ridiculous way of measuring success. There's a lot of differences in these games, but one thing is for sure -- World of Warcraft is definitely a successful game.
MapleStory, Nexon's hidden juggernaut
The Korea Times has up a piece on Nexon's MapleStory, a title that the article refers to as a homegrown success story. Though it's long been known that the game has runaway worldwide popularity, the article adds some concrete numbers to that perception. How accurate the numbers are, of course, is only for Nexon to know. They're still food for thought. According to the Times, Nexon just recently signed contracts to spread MapleStory into a total of 60 countries. Brazil and Vietnam are the 59th and 60th. They also claim the game has 83 million players overall. 18 million are in South Korea alone.They also touch on the game's success outside of the online games arena. There are over 700 MapleStory-related products, from comics to card games, on the market right now. My favorite factoid: the highest-level character in the game is played by a man in his 40s who runs a pizza joint. He lives in the city of Gwangju.[Via PlayNoEvil]
Massively's Visual History of MMORPGs, Part I
The MMORPG genre has come so far in these past few decades, it's almost difficult to believe. The journey from text MUDs to America Online-based dungeon crawlers, and all the way up to Age of Conan and Warhammer Online has been a truly impressive one. We here at Massively would like to invite you to step into the time machine with us and take a visual tour of that journey. We're taking a close look at the most important titles in online role-playing game history!What was the first MUD? Howabout the first 3D MMO? When did these games transition from niche curiosities to global, cultural phenomenons, and who's responsible? In this series, we'll tackle all those questions and more. Plus, we'll see just how far these fancy graphics have come over the years! Sound like fun? Jump into the gallery!%Gallery-19479%
Exalight brings a new term: MMORG
In the world of MMO development, the pursuit of The New is a hard road to travel. French broadband provider Neuf Cegetel, however, is not only driving down that road, but racing along it. Jointly developed with virtual world development company F4, Exalight is a massively multiplayer online racing game -- an MMORG -- with an aesthetic and game mechanics that differentiates it from, say, Nexon's Kart Rider.From the referring site: 'Each player takes on the identity of a racing driver chosen to personal taste from the members of the three clans that populate the Exalight universe. A highly sophisticated customization system means that each player's avatar gets a unique appearance. Players' experience, talent and skills increase as familiarity with the Exalight universe builds up, and as more races are run. The very challenging racetracks require drivers to show tactical intelligence, making perceptive use of special powers and, above all, outsmarting the traps laid for them and the manoeuvres of rival runners.'More information is available at exalight.fr, but keep in mind that the site is in French only.[Via easybourse.com]
GDC08 Highlights: The future of Virtual Worlds and the end of GDC08
The Future of MMOs The Future of MMOs panel liveblogTeam Massively was there to live blog one of the most anticipated panels of GDC08. On it were a few names you might have heard of, like Cryptic Studios' Jack Emmert, Nexon's Min Kim, BioWare's Ray Muzyka, and Rob Pardo (who has apparently worked on some sort of popular fantasy game). We blogged a blow-by-blow account of the jabs, cuts, and parries from these Massive genre heavyweights. %Gallery-16640%
Mabinogi in open beta in March; Euros and Ozzies left out
Nexon, maker of Maple Story and other, weirder MMOs, has announced that their intriguing title Mabinogi will hit North America with an open beta on March 5th. However, this is for residents of North America only; gamers in Europe and Australia will be s.o.l. [note: adult language] until such time as Nexon feels they're ready to hit the rest of the world.There's apparently more to Mabinogi than previously suspected -- more than just aging the character over weeks, time is a much more involved element to the game. The storyline itself will evolve over generations, and a character's diet also affects its appearance. I'm all crazygonuts excited to play this, so expect a First Impressions from me shortly after launch!And make sure you check out the videos on their website -- they're short tutorials on how to get around and do things in the world, presented by a girl and her sheep. While a little broad in its humor, it's still cute and has some good tips in between the silliness.
Microtransactions, an Asian perspective
One question that has showed up more than a few times at the recently concluded GDC08 is the viability of microtransactions in MMOs. What are microtransactions, anyway? For those not too familiar with the term, it refers to an interesting game revenue model whereby users pay for individual game components, whether it be items, unlocking new levels, access to dungeons, etc. When the question about microtransactions was brought up at the Future of MMOs panel, there were many strong reactions from the panelists. Most of them scoffed at the idea, Blizzard -- supposedly popular for creating some sort of fantasy MMO -- in fact, has already officially rejected the model. Cryptic Studios' Jack Emmert called microtransactions "the biggest bunch of nonsense," (some transcripts show that he had harsher words for it) and that they "make (him) want to die". Although I can't attribute this quote directly to anyone, microtransactions have been defined as "any transaction whose value is currently too small to be worth bothering with" -- pegged at somewhere below US $1. The only one at the panel who defended the revenue model was Nexon's Min Kim, notably the only Asian among the panelists. Why is this notable? Well, Blizzard's Rob Pardo defined it as an "East vs West question", which Emmert dismisses. But Pardo is actually on to something, and I'll try to explain why.Free-to-play MMOs supported by microtransactions is the dominant revenue model in Asia. This isn't an accident of design. It's an evolution of revenue philosophy shaped by social and economic conditions. Let's put that in perspective. Most people in the world do not have computers let alone an Internet connection. This is why Internet Cafés are so prominent in Asia. In South Korea, these Internet Cafés, or PC baangs, are ubiquitous, with more than 20,000 serving up games and other Internet content all over the country. Although of course, South Korea is exceptional. 90% of the population is wired and PC baangs became popular because of LAN games. But elsewhere in Asia, Internet Cafés or LAN rooms are a popular, if not dominant, way to access LAN game and MMOs particularly China, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
