KingsIsle Entertainment has official opened enrollment for the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts as they announce the official launch of their card-based spellcasting battle MMO Wizard101. Choose from seven schools of magic, customize your avatar, adopt a magical pet, engage in puzzles and mini-games, and of course - take on all comers in online magical duels. The base game is completely free-to-play, with the full game offering new lands and features for the price of $9.99 a month, though they are offering a launch special year subscription for only $60, which seems like quite a deal.

The game is extremely family-friendly, right down to the pre-defined character name generator. Sure, my magical alter ego Fuckwad the Fantabulous can never know true life now, but if it means I'll never run across a Gandolff, Raestlyn, or Dughenning it's a small price to pay. Hit the jump for details on how to enroll.

KingsIsle Entertainment Launches Wizard101
Virtual Wizard School Now In Session

Plano, Texas — Sept 02, 2008 — Tweens are grabbing their best spell-casting gear and rushing off to school... wizard school, that is. Online entertainment company KingsIsle Entertainment, Inc. has officially opened the doors of its highly anticipated Wizard101 (www.wizard101.com) virtual world, a magical 3D environment where aspiring wizards gather to adventure with friends and save their world from creatures like a pumpkin-headed Harvest Lord and a zombie named Wormguts.

Michael Lafferty of GameZone commented, "The game is thoroughly delightful, exuding a youthful sense of fun and excitement... KingsIsle is on track to have a certified hit title."

Joe Blancato of GiantRealm said, "A kid-targeted [Massively Multiplayer Online Game] that's charming the beard off anyone who plays it, regardless of age."
Designed for pre-teens and attracting a wider audience of families and traditional gamers, Wizard101 features magical adventure and card style gameplay. Players enroll in the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts and begin a course of spell study. Immediately upon arrival at wizard school they are tapped by the Headmaster to help save the school from a renegade teacher who has disappeared but who seems to be behind some mysterious happenings.

Wizard101 features include:

* Extensive magical 3D worlds, each with its own creative theme such as a feudal countryside run by Samoorai cows, or an ancient Egyptian-inspired land where the treasured relics are being carted off by dogs from another world.
* More than 101 collectible spells that come to cinematic life as players learn to summon creatures such as Ninja Pigs and a Leprechaun that slides in on a rainbow and showers opponents with gold.
* Seven different schools of Magic, each with its own unique style and gameplay experience.
* The ability to adopt magical pets, like a flying dragon or a mischievous imp.
* A wide variety of outfits and accessories for customizable Wizard avatars.
* Puzzles and mini-games that challenge players and provide a place to rest and rejuvenate after duels.

Wizard101's collaborative play style supports an environment where players benefit from working together in adventure quests and lower level characters can play alongside higher level ones. A three-tiered chat system and pre-defined character name generator create a safe community for younger players. The game contains no blood, and characters don't die if they are defeated in a duel of spells-they simply go to a safe area on campus to regain health. An Arena provides a spot for more traditional gamers to show off their player versus player spell-casting skills. Wizard101 is free-to-play, with advanced play content available by subscription at the rate of $9.95 per month. Discounts are available for six-month and one-year subscriptions. For a limited time a 12 month subscription can be purchased for $60. Gift subscriptions are expected to be available online soon. To play, PC users may simply go to www.wizard101.com and download the game installer. A rating by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board is pending.

Perfect World Entertainment has kicked open the doors to the beta version of Perfect World international, the English-based version of popular 3D MMORPG Perfect World II. After a successful closed beta period, they're ready to let anyone and everyone step into the shoes of the Human, Winged Elf, or animalistic Untamed and explore the massive world on the back of their flying sword. The game features an extensive mount system which includes "the unique ability to mount and carry other players", and what's more fun than mounting other players?

Other features of PWI include a system of alignment that allows you to follow a good or evil path, customizable clothing, large-scale PVP battles and a Marriage System, which presumably comes into play after all that player mounting. Best of all, open beta characters carry over into launch, so for all intents and purposes this is less of a beta, more of a launch while we fix things sort of situation. Head over to the official website to sign up!

There is a hilarious article up on the Escapist on one MMO player's experience with Mabinogi, the Nexon free-to-play MMO that was released in North America earlier this year. I had to laugh because I'm not an MMO player and I've been having a culture shock experience of my own adjusting to a Western-style MMO. John Funk of WarCry admits that he's turned a blind eye to MMO offerings coming out of Asia, so a week in Mabinogi offered a lot of culture shock and total confusion:

So, as LALAa the 17-year-old human female entered the world of Mabinogi, I braced myself for whatever the game had in store for me.

Three hours later, I logged off feeling slightly like Gilligan and the Skipper - completely and irrevocably lost. I'd picked up the game's point-and-click interface fairly quickly (so I thought), but my confusion ran deeper than that. It wasn't even what I was being asked to do - the standard "go kill 10 (enemies)" or "bring me five (items)" are old hat to any MMOG player - as much as how I was being asked to do it.

While running aimlessly around the starting area, an owl suddenly flew by and dropped off a quest to bring five berries to a local NPC. I was baffled; what had I done to earn this quest? As far as I could tell, nothing, but a quest is a quest. The best way to gather berries in the world of Mabinogi, it turns out, is to attack bushes and trees over and over until they drop them - of course, they can also drop branches instead, I mercilessly clicked the local foliage in search of berries, unsure if I was doing this properly. What made me get a branch instead of a berry - was it random? Should I be focusing on bushes instead of trees? Upon gathering the berries and locating the NPC, I was informed that I'd taken too long to complete the quest, and it had expired. Naturally, I hadn't realized that the task was time-sensitive.

It felt like I was still in the tutorial phase, only they weren't explaining anything to me

After speaking to some avid Mabinogi players, Funk comes to the conclusion that he had approached the game in the wrong manner: it wasn't so much a Mabinogi problem as a problem of expectations. It's a funny look at getting outside your gaming comfort zone.

My Korean Fantasy Life [The Escapist]

Here's a video and some screens that highlight the player housing system in the upcoming MMORPG Runes of Magic. I talked at length about the housing features in my impressions of the title from the Games Convention last week, but I forgot to touch on several key points, such as everyone getting their own French maid who facilitates entering and leaving their home, or the fact that you can invite friends into your home, which certainly explains the very comfy bed seen in the clip. No more cybering in the subway tunnel between Ironforge and Stormwind for me people inclined to do such a thing!

Before I started my four-year run with the original Everquest, I spent a couple months in the world of Dereth in Asheron's Call. That was nine years and one failed sequel ago, and I was almost certain the game had long since faded away into nothingness. Apparently I was wrong, as the title is now celebrating its 100th update since release. Originally published my Microsoft, that company dropped the torch and Turbine picked it up and ran a very, very long way with it.

The latest update introduces a new faction system, two new PVP controlled towns, new areas, and level 8 spells. It's a mighty hefty amount of content for a game I was almost positive didn't exist anymore.

Release Notes - August [Asheron's Call via Eurogamer]

Remember that user-created-content for City of Heroes and City of Villains that I got so excited about back in April? The innovative feature that allows players to create and share their own in-game missions is officially on its way in Issue 13: Architect. Players will be able to pick the map, location, villains, objective, and then write your own fiction for the mission, and your peers will be able to rate your creations, with rewards for the highest rated creations.

The update will also introduce offline progression in the form of day jobs. Players determine what they do when they aren't playing superhero by the location they log out from. Logging out from City Hall makes your character a City Official, while logging out in a Hospital grants you the Caregiver day job. Day jobs offer thematically appropriate rewards - City Officials gain influence, Caregivers gain health buffs - and once you've spent enough time on the job you'll earn badges that can be combined to unlock Accolades and increase the amount of rewards you rake in.

All this, plus two new power sets - Shields for the melee classes and Pain Domination for the villainous Corruptors and Masterminds. Hit the link for the full details on this truly epic update.

City of Heroes Issue 13: Architect [Official Site]

The debate over RMT (real money transactions, or real money trade, or “Hey Mom! Can I borrow the credit card? I need ten gold and a mount!”) has been going on for quite some time, with both sides firmly entrenched in the foxholes of their position. I’m not here to attempt to change anyone’s mind, but this has to be the most interesting (and ridiculous) thing I’ve seen so far…interesting and ridiculous enough to make me break a long-standing rule on this site, and actually link to a gold-seller’s website. I’m going to do this only because you’re not going to believe me until you see this.

A gold-seller is giving away open beta keys for Warhammer Online.

Now, normally this would provoke a few cries of “What th’?!?,” a few comments along the lines of “They just bought 50 copies of the game to use for their ‘business’, and are giving away the beta key part,” or “Cool! Where do I sign up?”.

I’ve seen all three.

However, even that isn’t what I’m in complete amazement about here. No, the fact that’s caused my brain to melt is the fact that this gold seller is also selling open beta keys for $23.99.

Yes, that was enough to make me link to their site.

Now, the page linked to is somewhat unclear; I can’t tell if you’re actually buying a pre-order, or just a beta key. However, either one would be odd in the extreme:

• If you’re buying a pre-order, you’re getting a $50USD game for $23.99USD
• If you’re buying a beta key only, then EA Mythic is going to have their guts for garters.

My theory is that they’re basically buying a full pre-order for everyone that places a $23.99USD order, but only giving them the beta key. Then, they can use the “live” account to grind their gold for resale, having basically gotten it for half-price. Of course, it could just simply be a pre-order payment for a legitimate purchase of the game, like the $1 you can pay for a preorder at Target, or the $5 at Gamestop, etc.

Yeah, ri-i-i-i-i-g-h-h-h-t.

I sent an email to their customer support asking just that question…does the $23.99 get you the entire game, or just the beta key? If you need me, I’ll be over in the corner holding my breath until I turn greenskin.

With the game being in development for so very long, I wasn't sure what to expect when the nice gentlemen from Spellborn NV sat me down to give me a first hand look at their MMORPG The Chronicles of Spellborn. The game was being shown in publisher Frogster's booth, the very same booth where I got my first look at Runes of Magic. In stark contrast to that game, which endeavors to combine elements of many successful RPGs into one game, The Chronicles of Spellborn team's goal is to create an MmoRPG like nothing we've ever seen before.

Character Creation: My first stop was character creation. The team had already generated pre-made characters for the combat walkthrough, but you can't truly know an MMO until you've crafted the shoes you plan on walking a mile in. While Spellborn only has two races – the humans and the demonic daevi, the variations you can generate are nearly limitless. The body sliders in this game are not screwing around. Hitting the random button a few dozen times led to countless varieties of humans and daevi – long and lithe, grossly overweight, short and stumpy – anything is possible here.

Next you can select your clothing, which means a great deal more in Spellborn than most other MMO games. Clothing in the game has no stats, with attributes added by way of mystical sigils, so you never need to change your clothes if you don't want to, maintaining your own unique look throughout the length of the game. You can choose to be a mage in full armor, or a warrior wearing nothing but a codpiece, and people will be able to identify you by your particular style.

Finally you choose your archetype – warrior, spellcaster, or rogue, each having three disciplines they can focus in. I would have further explored character creation, but this demonstration wasn't about navigating menus. It was all about ...

Combat: This is where Spellborn really sets itself apart. Instead of clicking on an enemy and hitting the attack button, players actively target their enemies using the mouse cursor. If the enemies move, you need to follow. If you want to dodge, move out of the way of their attacks. If you are firing a bow at the caster in the back of an enemy group, make damn sure there aren't any mobs behind him, cause a miss with a ranged attack could very well strike another mob, pulling a whole other group down upon your head.

Spellborn also features a unique way to organize your combat skills as well. Dubbed the skilldeck, it consists of five rotating slots, in which you can place six skills each. It's up to the player to place six skills in any single slot that compliment each other, creating combos and effects that stack or amplify damage. As you fight, you can hit the 1 through 5 keys to make a slot active, and left clicking activates them in order. Think of it as five different revolvers with highly specialized bullets.

The warrior that the team provided me came complete with a melee slot that stacked attacks with bleed effects, a debuff slot that basically leeched life from our enemies, and a ranged slot, useful for taking out casters, especially with enemies as smart as these.

They're Thinking: In the combat demo I played through, my spellcaster companion and I faced groups of three mobs, generally consisting of a rogue, a warrior, and a spellcaster each. When we engaged in combat, the warrior and rogue immediately closed, blocking our path to the mage, forcing us to dodge around them to take him out with ranged attacks. If we tried to charge the caster, he backpedaled while the group's rogue slipped behind us to deal more damage and the warrior attempted to stay in our way. The enemy groups basically react like an adventuring party themselves. They'll attempt to dodge, slow you down, or even position themselves so a miscast spell will aggro other groups, forcing you to keep moving in order to avoid adds.

While we only fought human enemies in the demo, the team did mention that packs of wild animals had their own advanced pack behavior as well.

It took a little bit of getting used to, but soon I mastered the combat system, longing to get into my skills to see what combos I could create on the skilldeck, but we were on a timetable here and had to keep moving.

Quests: Spellborn has plenty of quests, each one mired in the story of the area you are in or the NPC you are helping at the time. You will find fetch quests, FedEx quests, and kill X number of mobs quests, but each one will have an underlying reason behind it. If you're interested in game lore, Spellborn is completely drenched in it.

The NPC I was currently assisting sent us off on a quest to set fire to an enemy commander's tent, forcing him out in the open in order to separate his life from his meaty bits. My mage co-pilot and I managed to take out several patrolling groups in no time flat, and I took out the commander on my own while she waited to recharge. Obviously I had gotten the hang of things, so it was time to move on to something more challenging.

Don't Touch The Egg: One last task lay ahead of me. The team teleported me onto a shard ship - a special sort of craft used to navigate the magical energies that suspend the shattered remains of a planet – where an ominous looking purple egg was sitting on deck, ignored by the crew. I noticed the slight grins on the faces around me as I clicked on the egg, only to be swarmed by various creatures that might not have defied description had I been paying less attention to staying alive. As this was a developer trap for unwary journalistic types, I died rather quickly.

What Lies Hidden: The tag line for The Chronicles of Spellborn is “What lies hidden must be found...”, and it applies just as readily to the game itself as it does the storyline. Hidden beneath the unique art direction, intriguing characters and flashy spell effects is an MMORPG that doesn't play quite like anything I've seen before.