Ragnarok Online

When worlds collide, continents shift and several unsuspecting people get smooshed between it all. When servers collide, the results can be both good and bad. Ragnarok Online has just announced that they are merging a few of their premium servers into a brand-new one, bringing with them all the current residents of Chaos, Loki and Iris. While there is no definite date for this event, the official merger FAQ pinpoints it down to this week.

Because of the merger, all guilds on the three previous servers will be dissolved and need to be recreated, although the Ragnarok team has created a "pre-list" for the purpose of staving off name sniping. "God items" will be broken back down into their component parts, which will require work to reconstruct them. Finally, all character names following the merge will be somewhat temporary until the GM team can figure out if there are any naming conflicts or not.

While server mergers can be unsettling, Ragnarok has a bit of upbeat news for players with their "Renewal" revamp, designed to eliminate a few glaring flaws and smooth over the entire gaming experience. Finally, players are encouraged to participate in Ragnarok's Dragon Hunting event during the entire month of May.

What was, perhaps, more unexpected was the consumer friendly price point of $199.00. Of course there are a few not-so-hidden caveats involved with that sweet price point. First you have to qualify for the subsidized price, then there's the mandatory two year contract with AT&T and an increase in the price of the iPhone's data plan. Regardless, what it means to gamers is a budding mobile gaming platform. The iPhone now has its own software developer's kit (SDK), 3G network capabilities, and is priced to sell. Increased accessibility, higher data transfer speeds, and the ability for developers to conjure up new applications can only mean good things for the future of mobile MMOGs – especially on the iPhone.

Of course, maybe the future of mobile MMOGs seems so bright because its current state is so dim. As someone who has never even attempted to play an MMOG on a mobile device, I'm curious as to what exactly is out there and if anything is worth my time. If you're curious too, join me for some more info on mobile MMOGs after the break. I'll discuss the current state and limitations of the platform, some existing offerings, and take a look at what the future might hold.

Continue Reading

There's been a recent personnel change to China's leading distributor of online gaming. The9 Limited has recently appointed Mr. George Lai as Chief Financial Officer after the resignation of Mr. Tony Tse, due to personal and family reasons. Mr. Lai brings several years of experience to the table, having worked previously at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu since 2000.

The9 Limited operates licensed MMORPGs for Chinese players, including World of Warcraft, Hellgate: London, Ragnarok Online 2, Huxley and many more. The9 Limited is also developing various proprietary games of their own including Warriors of Fate Online and Fantastic Melody Online.

Good news for any Europeans still enjoying Gravity's point-and-click MMORPG Ragnarok Online. Effective immediately, all subscriptions have undergone a price drop, and those with current subscriptions will be entitled to a number of free days play-time. The changes are as follows:

• 1 Month at €7 instead of €10.90, 10 days free for current subscribers
• 3 months at €18 instead of €29.70, 30 days free for current subscribers
• 6 months at €30 instead of €53.40, 70 days free for current subscribers
• 1 year at €60 instead of €72, and a starter pack offered. Current subscribers get 50 free days.

[Via IGN]

Gravity Interactive is the developer for the game Ragnarok Online, an extremely popular South Korean title. Gravity has announced that they've been working hard on another title for almost four years now, and it's nothing like the stylized cuteness of Ragnarok. Requiem: Bloodymare is the name of the new game, and it sounds about as different from Ragnarok as night is from day.

The game will make use of the high-tech Havok engine to portray a violent dystopian future. PCs will take the part of creatures forged via magic and technology to kill demons and undead creatures loosed by years of experimentation.

The article at Worlds in Motion includes commentary from Gravity's CEO Peter Kang about the company's goals, and their deliberate decision to move away from their past work. At the moment there's no expected release date, but one would expect to hear something soon; four years is a pretty good amount of game development time.

Forming a new game studio and want to build some instant cred in the industry? Following in the example of other companies who believe anything associated with the Blizzard name turns to gold, Gravity Interactive has announced the formation of a new subsidiary game studio called L5 Games, which is to be staffed by a sizable number of former Blizzard North employees. According to the story over at Gama, as many as half of the new staff has ten or more years of experience in the industry, with credits in such mega-hits as World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo.

It's not exactly standard practice to flaunt the resumes of new hires in the press, but well... it's Blizzard, alright? Giant Interactive, which plays both publisher and developer roles for Ragnarok Online over in South Korea, is looking to beef up its U.S. operations, which have largely floundered to date, despite their game's unmitigated success overseas. "We intend to develop online games targeting the North American market, one of the fastest growing online gaming markets, with the outstanding developers of L5 Games who have a successful track record and thorough understanding of the culture of the North American market," says Gravity CEO Il-Young Ryu.

While there's a temptation to be snarky about this, the fact of the matter is that they've successfully captured our intention. Now just don't disappoint us.

Shandra Interactive Entertainment, the Chinese operator of MapleStory, Dungeons & Dragons Online, The Legend of Mir, and the positively ginormous Ragnarok Online let the world know that its profits for Q3 2007 are up 66% vs. last year and that it is expecting further growth in coming months.

Shandra is the biggest publisher of online games in the Chinese market, and recently reached an agreement with NCsoft by which NCsoft will distribute its new title AION in China through Shandra instead of its old partner in the region, Sina (in which Shandra ironically holds a 20% stake).