Long standing MMORPG receives largest update in the games history
Aeria Games announced today that the launch of Expansion Pack 1 for Last Chaos Global. The long standing massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) Last Chaos has received the largest content update in the game's history.
Expansion Pack 1 is the first of a series of expansions that will be released throughout the next year. The expansion includes:
Automated Market System
• For the first time in Last Chaos history players can now set up their items in a fully automated market system that allows for competitive pricing, and removes the requirement that players remain online to sell their wares! • Prevents scamming as level of items/quantity/seller/prize are displayed prominently • Frees up server space causing less lag
New Skills level 90-100
• Increases potential for group play, as new skills are focused on supplementing raid groups • Long awaited, player suggested skills being implemented • Rare skill books now drop in game offering players a chance to get the most powerful skills before everyone else!
New Armor and Weapons
• Visible Helmets for all player classes • New Seal Combinations that add surprise stats and effects to weapons and armor • New armor skins and glow effects make customizing your avatar easier than ever before.
Extreme Cube System
• The first ever instanced dungeon that pits players against one another AND evil hordes of monsters. Only the strongest will survive the chaos. • Allows players to fight one another, and NPC's in a battle to advance through the cube system • Players can participate with a Group or in the massive Guild versus Guild battles for supreme domination of the cube. • Dungeons are randomized and relative to player levels
New Dungeons
• Two new high level dungeons the Ebony Mines and MistyCanyon introduce new monsters, and party play that will keep game play exciting for hours. • The level cap for players has been increased to 140
With a community of 5+ million members, offices in both the United States and Germany, and a diversified portfolio of MMO games, Aeria Games is one of the fastest growing publishers of Free-to-Play online games.
Our goal is to provide the best Free-to-Play games and top notch customer service to every one of our community members. With games covering all genres from all ends of the world, players are sure to find a unique game that will be exactly what they are looking for, with the quality customer service they deserve.
Founded in 2006, Aeria Games & Entertainment, Inc. is based in Silicon Valley, California.
Discover more about Crime Scene trough this exclusive batch of screenshots. Meet the main characters of this breathtaking scenario and learn all the game mechanics. Turn your Nintendo DS into a crime lab and become the best forensic agent in town.
- Main characters
Matt Simmons (the hero) Young detective recently promoted from forensics. You will play the part of this dynamic and efficient officer.
Peter Wayne (colleague) Incompetent detective who is nearing retirement. He is there to help you throughout all your investigations.
Alexandra Malone (the boss) The superintendent in charge of investigations. You must frequently provide her with progress reports on your cases; in exchange, she gets search warrants for you!
- Game mechanics
1- Discovery of the crime scene 2- Initial assessment and removal of clues 3- Analysis of the clues and the incriminating evidence 4- Comparisons and analyses of the results 5- Development of the forensic case and identification of the potential suspect
Examine crime scenes with a fine-tooth comb! 9 tools to remove clues with using your stylus: UV lamp and spray to reveal clues, tweezers (for hairs, bullets, fragments etc), swabs (cotton buds) for lifting liquids, brush, powder, adhesive strip for prints...
Analyse clues using hi-tech hardware. 6 tools to analyse clues with using your stylus: blood, sweat and DNA analysis, hair analysis, ballistic analysis and weapons comparison, photo scanning, digital print database, composition analysis (earth, mud, drink)...
Lead the interrogation of witnesses and suspects: Question 19 charismatic characters. An interesting multiple choice dialogue will aid you and certain secrets you discover will help to expose the culprit!
Don't lose your boss's respect: A gauge assesses you according to any handling or judgement errors you make… Be careful, if you are too hasty you could compromise the entire investigation. It's up to you to convince your boss that you have enough evidence to mount a case!
FEATURES REMINDER
A forensic agent’s best tool? Your Nintendo DS™! The best agent to take point on the mission? You!
A city where crime runs rampant… A corrupt justice system… Illegal human test subjects… A dead cop…
With one suspicious event after the other and clues hard to come by, it’s time for the forensic investigation to begin!
In Crime Scene you are part of the forensic police department and have to find and analyze clues with sophisticated equipment, interrogate witnesses and suspects, build a file with enough proof so there is no room for doubt and condemn the guilty!
A fully fledged crime lab on your Nintendo DS!
Crime Scene is no simple point and click game! Thanks to your stylus and your Nintendo DS™, take part in an immersive and breathtaking adventure where it will take everything you’ve got to uncover the hidden truth and put the bad guys behind bars!
About the game
Genre: Police investigation / Adventure Publishor: Nobilis Developer: White Birds Platform: Nintendo DS™ Release date: Q2 2009 PEGI: +7 Official website: www.crimescene-thegame.com
A new multiplayer mode, called Don Control, will be coming to The Godfather II game. This new mode will be available as a free downloadable* patch right when the game releases on April 7th in North America and April 10th in Europe. Don Control takes the “Think Like a Don” strategic gameplay into an online environment and allows players to build a family, command them in battle and view the action from a bird’s eye view above.
Don Control introduces an additional layer of gameplay on top of the four multiplayer modes and six maps already available in the game and invites players to compete to see who is the ultimate Don of Dons. Players can now challenge one another in 16-player battles for their in-game currency from the single-player game. As a Don online, players can recruit others to join their family by giving them a cut of the profits. But if a player loses as Don, the in-game currency they wagered will be removed in their single-player campaign and their empire can come crumbling down.
The Godfather II takes the open-world genre in an entirely new direction by blending the furious combat of being a mobster with the strategic thinking of being a Don both offline and online. As a Don in the Corleone family, The Godfather II lets the player carve out their own story of deception, betrayal, and conquest in a 1960’s organized crime world. Players will have to build and invest in their family, command their crew, and manage their family business, all of which is done through the revolutionary Don’s View. The Don’s View is a 3D representation of the player's criminal empire, putting the player in the Don’s mindset; it allows them to coordinate their strategy, plan hits on rival made men, attack enemy rackets, and much more.
The Godfather II game from Electronic Arts and Paramount Digital Entertainment will be available on the Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, and PC. The game has been rated M for Mature by the ESRB and 18+ for PEGI. Players who pre-order The Godfather II at participating retailers worldwide will receive an exclusive crew member, named Tommy Cipolla, to hire into their family.
Apple have assured their iPhone is a viable game platform with over 30 million phones sold and easy access to games over their Apple Store downloads.
Add to that online access and the possibilities are opening up to developers. Yesterday's news on games content downloads and multiplayer options the future looks bright.
Look forward to the big guns developing for the iPhone and iPod Touch over the coming months...
The latest EVE Online expansion pack increases the game’s universe by 41% with the addition of more than 2,400 new solar systems. You can only access them through wormholes that randomly appear and last a certain period of time, but they contain powerful technologies that allow you to design and manufacture next-generation starships. To obtain that new treasure, however, you must defeat a vicious race known as the Sleepers.
Tiga, the UK trade association for game developers, today called on Members of the Scottish Parliament to support a tax break for games development. Tiga made the call in advance of today’s debate in the Scottish Parliament about the Scottish games development sector.
Richard Wilson, CEO of Tiga, said:
“The game development sector is one of the pearls of the Scottish economy. Scotland has some excellent games developers, including Realtime Worlds, Denki, Dynamo Games and Tag Games in Dundee, Firebrand Games in Glasgow and Rockstar North and Outerlight in Edinburgh. The Scottish games industry also provides a model of industry-academia collaboration. Abertay University at Dundee provides some of the finest higher education games courses in the world and has excellent links with games development businesses.
“Yet Scottish game developers are competing on an uneven playing field. Our principal competitors in Australia, Canada, China, France, South Korea, Singapore and the USA all receive national or regional/state tax breaks for games production. No tax breaks for games production exist in the UK.
“If we want the Scottish games industry in particular and the UK games industry in general to stay ahead of the pack then we must introduce a tax break for games production similar to the European Union approved French tax credit. Industry research indicates that if a 20% production tax credit was introduced, investment would increase by £220 million over five years, generating a further 1,600 graduate jobs over the same period. This tax break would cost HM Treasury £150 million over five years.
“A tax break for game production would enable the UK games development sector to remain one of the top five countries for games development in the world. It would also safeguard the games industry’s substantial contribution to the economy, which in 2008 represented £1 billion in Gross Domestic Product, £419 million in tax revenues to HM Treasury and 28,000 jobs (10,000 in games development). Conversely, if a tax break for games production is not introduced, the resulting decline in economic activity in the games development sector is anticipated to lead to a fall of £145 million to HM Treasury revenues in 2013 alone.
“Video game development is an industry of the future. It is export oriented, research intensive, inherently creative and the UK is a world leader. Now is the time for the Scottish Parliament to send a powerful message to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget on April 22nd: claim this future industry for the UK by investing in a tax break for games development.”
Final Fantasy maker - and soon to be Tomb Raider publisher - Square Enix has signed a licensing deal with Emergent Game Technologies for its Gamebryo engine. So? Well, the deal is very specific to a single "yet-to-be-announced project". Says Square, "This project is part of Square Enix’s efforts to grow its business further in all major global markets."
Says Emergent, "Are you building a world-class RPG or a First-Person Shooter? A small casual game or an MMO? A visual simulation or a training application? And are you targeting the PC, PlayStation 3, Wii or Xbox 360– or a combination of platforms? In any and all cases, Emergent can help"...
What major global market has it not managed to extract much cash from thus far? Well, Xbox 360 is building for the company with Infinite Undiscovery, Tales of Vesperia and, of course, Final Fantasy on the 360.
Sure, the Gamebryo engine has been used to develop Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning as well as Civilization Revolution, and it was also used on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. But you'd have to ask yourself why Square would need additional help with MMOs, RPGs or RTSs?
What of the Wii and DS? Well, we already have Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time with its Wii/DS "cross-platform multiplayer" action using the Pollux Engine. There's also Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy Fables for Wii.
The fact that the deal relates to an un-announced project would appear to discount any relationship to the "carelessness" in debugging of FFXIII that has delayed the game.
So, what of the PlayStation 3?
According to the information to hand, "Gamebryo will allow Square Enix’s creators to dedicate their time to innovative design, and immersive gameplay, rather than on technical issues. Designed to provide developers with the framework they need to quickly bring high-quality games to the market, Gamebryo’s flexible architecture will make it possible for Square Enix to easily add their internally-developed technology to the engine’s pipeline."
Still nothing outstanding as to platform or game-type there.
John Yamamoto, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix is equally guarded, saying, "Gamebryo offers a flexible framework, allowing us to develop effectively and efficiently for any target platforms."
Niall Ferguson collaborates with Muzzy Lane to deliver WWII game
Muzzy Lane Software, an innovative developer of 3D single and multiplayer games has announced today the next game in its acclaimed MAKING HISTORY Series: MAKING HISTORY II: "The War of the World", created in partnership with renowned economic historian and policy icon Niall Ferguson. MAKING HISTORY II (MHII) lets grand strategy players experience the role of a WWII era national leader embroiled in the toxic mix of waning empires, economic crisis, and ethnic "fault lines" that famously resulted in a global war that transformed the world. Now armchair generals and grand strategy masters can attempt to write their own history, and choose to either defend the world from tyranny or embark on a quest for global conquest.
The idea that true grand strategy is as much about economic strength as well as military power is one of the reasons Professor Ferguson chose to collaborate with Muzzy Lane. "Economic instability is one of the primary reasons a nation can turn to an extreme ideology. That’s exactly what happened in the 1930s,” says Ferguson. "And of course economic resources were decisive in the outcome of the war. By giving equal measure to economic as well as military components, MAKING HISTORY II presents a more complete model of the driving forces behind WWII."
Challenging decisions and interesting choices are the heart of any good strategy game, and MHII delivers by putting the ultimate control in the hands of each player. There are diplomatic decisions about everything from alliances to colonization, such as whether you grant full independence or create a puppet state. Cities are customizable via a series of constructible add-on buildings, allowing you to build a giant shipyard in New York or a munitions factory in Stuttgart. Military forces can be upgraded, repaired and reinforced and veteran units develop experience over time. Every nation in the world is playable, but the choices and strategy can be vastly different. The choice is up to each player to determine how they wish to develop their nation, thereby creating their own winning strategy.
MHII offers a completely redesigned interface, with a brand new 3D world map. "We wanted our players to have a more immersive experience without sacrificing the depth of play that strategy gamers have come to expect,” says Chris Parsons, Muzzy Lane Product Manager. "To do so we've created a dynamic map that conveys important information to the player without large blocks of text. Terrain, icons, units, cities, and other objects are all designed to deliver information in a visual and intuitive way."
The accompanying MAKING HISTORY Gaming Headquarters website adds much more to the player experience by offering free content and updates, access to user-created mods, and a dramatic new multiplayer service that launches from the web browser. It will find games, match players, track scores and player ranking, and connect to email or players' favorite social network site to notify them to take their turn. To visit the website, go to www.making-history.com.
From the home front to the battlefront, in MAKING HISTORY II: "The War of the World" history is not inevitable. Once the game starts, history is yours to make.
MAKING HISTORY II: "The War of the World" will be released in the fall of 2009.
Axis is an award winning animation studio, based in Glasgow, Scotland, dedicated to creating the best in animation and visual effects for commercials, broadcast, film and interactive entertainment. Recent credits include BAFTA winning Colin and Cumberland for the BBC, D&AD nominated Codehunters short film for MTV Asia and video game trailers for Colin McRae DiRT, Heavenly Sword, Crysis, Motorstorm Pacific Rift and Killzone.
Watch the trailer...
Axis back in the Killzone
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Guerrilla Games called on Axis yet again to deliver a breathtaking sequence for the next installment of the epic Killzone game franchise. Killzone 2 is set two years after the Helghast assault on Vekta and the ISA are now taking the fight to the enemy’s home world of Helghan.
Directed at Axis by Stuart Aitken this cinematic intro saw Aitken and the Axis team execute one of their most ambitious projects to date. Sony’s Creative Services Group, who had been developing the creative idea and script alongside the team at Guerrilla, initially approached Axis with their ideas. It was then that Aitken became involved with further development being done between the three companies.
The sequence starts with the familiar tones of Brian Cox reprising his role as the Helghan leader Scolar Visari. Echoing the cinematic intro to the first Killzone game, also created by the Axis team, Visari's impassioned speech to the Helghan people provides an emotional backdrop to the entire sequence.
The opening camera pullback soon reveals that Visari is in fact being televised via an ISA news report within ISA command, watched intently by Killzone 2's principle character, Sev. From this initial shot the camera continues in one three minute long unbroken cut, taking the viewer on an epic journey as we follow the ISA invasion fleet departing from their base on Vekta, out into interplanetary space and down into the hostile atmosphere of the planet Helghan.
‘When we were offered the opportunity to work with Sony and Guerrilla again on Killzone we jumped at the chance’ says Axis Executive Producer Richard Scott. ‘We spent a lot of time during the pitch phase exploring different styles and look development for the intro and it was clear to Sony that we were passionate about the project’.
Following the pitch phase and with the decisions made as to the look of the intro, Aitken and his team launched into the pre-production stages working on storyboards and 2d animatics. This process allowed them to plan how the single camera move would work.
‘The storyboarding and development of the 2d animatic was just the start of a long road to getting the camera move to work’ says Aitken. ‘After we had the 2d animatic working in terms of overall framing and timing we moved over to 3d layout where we had to work very hard to get the camera motion to work across the vast distances and changes of scale involved. In one shot we go from a scale where one persons eye fills the entire frame to sweeping past planets alongside tumbling mile long spaceships and back again – this was definitely the most challenging camera move we had ever attempted!’ he continued.
There were other major challenges to be faced by the Axis team. The sequence features some of the studios best character work, especially visible on the Scolar Visari character that bookends the intro at the start and in a final reprise at the end. The fact that he is seen in extreme close up with all the focus on his performance that this entails, meant that the team had to pay a lot of attention, to wrinkles, blemishes, skin shaders and facial deformation to ensure a suitably impressive result.
In addition the sequence features a huge range of complex visual effects including dramatic ship explosions, dense planetary atmospheres filled with storm clouds, battlefield smoke, slow motion ground explosions and gruesome blood splatters. ‘Working in the Killzone world is always a challenge and a pleasure.’ says Axis Producer Debbie Ross. ‘It is so rich in terms of back story and detail. Guerilla always work very hard to establish a distinct look and style that it is important for us to follow – its always clear which direction the look should take.’
The Axis team was supplied with some game assets to work from, which were converted for use within the studios pipeline, including converting the game engine normal maps into true detailed displacements to increase the levels of detail. Axis also had to pay a lot of attention to recreating the visual look of the game, as the player would experience it on the PlayStation 3 platform. However not all the assets required for the intro existed at the time of production so it was down to the Axis modeling team to create models for various characters, locations and vehicles including Visari, the ISA Command base and various the spacecraft.
‘Killzone 2 was being described as one of the best games visually on a console and it was important that we delivered all of that quality and more’ Ross continued.
Axis worked with their motion capture partners Audiomotion to deliver all the character animation and then created additional keyframe animation where required.
This additional animation was accomplished via Axis' in-house rigging setup that allows additive manual edits to be seamlessly layered on top of the underlying motion captured data. All of the facial animation, including that of Scolar Visari, was keyframed and needed complex muscle setup to get a full range of facial movement. The Axis pipeline, which had to deliver to the highest level on all fronts for this project, combines several off the shelf 3d tools with proprietary plug-in additions and scripted stages to transfer data from one package to another.
Assets were processed and created in Modo, Z-brush and Maya, exported to Maya, where they were rigged and animated, then exported to Houdini which was used as the primary 3d application for all the final stages in the project including shading, lighting, rendering and visual effects. All layers where rendered using Mantra, Houdini's own renderer before being composited in Digital Fusion.
Grading and finishing was done on Flame at Scramble in London and the very talented team in-house at Guerrilla Games completed all sound design and music.
‘We have been blown away by the amazing reaction from both the client and the game buying public to this piece of work,’ says Richard Scott. ‘We always look forward to a huge challenge and this project definitely threw a lot of those our way!’
Best Overall Game of 2008 Introduces New Content Update for Subscribers
Codemasters Online and Turbine announced the details of the latest major update for subscribers of The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria (LOTRO). Book 7: Leaves of Lórien is the latest of Turbine’s frequent and substantial updates to the Best MMORPG of 2008**. Book 7 delivers the next installment to the epic story for Volume II of LOTRO including a new 12-player raid, major gameplay enhancements, the Spring Festival and access to the full region of Lothlórien. Book 7: Leaves of Lórien will be available to subscribers of The Lord of the Rings Online on March 17, 2009 in North America and shortly after this date in Europe.
“The launch of our first expansion, Mines of Moria, has been a huge success and has firmly established the game as one of the premier MMOs in the world,” said Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. “For nearly two years LOTRO has been one of the fastest growing games in the industry and with Book 7 we continue to expand the world with the expansion of Lothlórien, the legendary home of Galadriel and the elves and the introduction of new tools and improvements based on player feedback including a new Quest Guide and an enhanced new player experience.”
New Features In Book 7: Leaves Of Lórien:
• The Epic Journey Continues – The first update to Volume II, Book 7 will take LOTRO’s unique storytelling to a new level as it introduces a new reputation faction, the reclusive elves of Lothlórien. Players will need to gain their trust in order to continue their adventure. After earning their favour, players are reunited with the Fellowship and begin a series of quests to root out the Orc influence within Moria ending with a climactic battle against the forces of Mazog and an audience with Celeborn and the Lady Galadriel back in their kingdom of Lothlórien. • New 12-player Raid – Book 7 introduces Strange Happenings, a new quest arc that begins deep within the Waterworks of Moria. Players will need to team up to unravel a mystery surrounding a newly revealed source corruption in Moria, engaging in a fierce battle with another monstrous threat to Middle-earth. • New Gameplay Enhancements – LOTRO continues to augment its award-winning experience for players with major improvements such as new daily solo quests for crafters that are very useful and fun and a significantly revamped new player experience for the Dwarves, Elves and Man races. Book 7 also introduces the new Quest Guide, a new set of features designed to make navigating through Middle-earth easier and more fun including display of quest locations on both the mini-map and main map. The Quest Guide will launch with the introduction of Book 7. • Celebrate the Spring Festival! – The Spring Festival will return to Middle-earth at the end of March. The world will explode in celebration as the free people of Middle-earth ring in the season with special decorations, festive costumes and special quests including a challenging new hedge maze.
The Lord of the Rings Online is the ultimate interactive adventure. This award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game delivers an interactive experience brimming with life and filled with the familiar people, places and monsters from the most beloved fantasy of all time. From the picturesque surroundings of the Shire to Moria, the most fearsome underground realm ever imagined, players will experience the world of Middle-earth as never before. The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Complete Edition, which includes the original game, The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ (Volume I), all content updates released since launch, and Mines of Moria (Volume II) is now available for purchase at major retailers across Europe. For more information or to download a free trial, visit www.lotro-europe.com.
