MV Vanilla Acoustic바닐라 어쿠스틱 Like That같은 말

Hello Fanboys!

It's been a long long time. Been away from blogging for almost so many years, but while I was away from blogging games, I never stop playing new games. So for this 2017, I would like to blog again, Hoping... (^_^) And this is my first post for being away for so many years.

Xian Xia II. One of THE GIANT's title, from what I know, this game is based on the world of Xian Xia novel and film. This game uses HAVOK engine that made everything so beautiful. With the engines power of Physx making the game so good. That applies to clothing, scenes and some interactive contents and including boobies for the fanboys! achieving the best performance possible.  The graphics are its best. Top notched.

(sorry for the cropped screenshots, its whole though, just a problem on html codes) 

The got almost 8 classes to choose from. Every class has 4 genders in it. A Male Middle teen, A Male Adult, A Female Adult and a Female middle teen. (well that's how I describe it though...) Well, the DEVs heard yah fanboys!

Mage Sword - wielding a single handed weapon

Wushu master - wielding a double handed weapon - Pole

Axe Master - dual axe

Assassin - dual blade

Ranger - Bow and arrow

Music master - music as a weapon (sorry, couldn't translate it well)

This looks like GAARA from NARUTO though...

Warrior - wielding two handed sword

Wizard - Magic type

And there I was... Making my character. The game got alot of customization, from head to Toe. body measurements and some stuffs...

For appreciation feature. DEVs really made the breasts so perfectly natural. Not too exaggerating when you slide the options. Well you can really set it to full that will look like the size of D-cap if you like to.

The customization part is a nice option, you got about 9 presets to choose as a base, feels kinda BNS thing... though the models on BNS is pretty damn amazing and hot. Xian Xia 2 also has it on the level. The only thing I noticed on the models here is how the devs created the button part of the female, kinda awkward by looking at it from behind. but this changes when you finally get your 2nd costume. I'm no perv though, I'm just so perfectionist on female bodies... appreciation. Like BNS, Black Desert, Moonlight Blade, Bless online... well they have a great looking behind when you took off those clothes.  Anyway let's continue... The hair-do are kinda limited.. I guess... since the game is still in its Pre-Open beta stage... hope they put more hair options in the near future.

this is the room:

And this is my Final output. As you see... my character always a female. Why? because I just like it. There's nothing wrong with it right? to be able to control a female heroin is a nice thing. (^_^

The game has 2 modes. (1)Keyboard mode - WASD and (2) Point & Click - The old school mode. Both TAB targetting.

This reminds me of AION. At first controlling was really kinda awkward for me... since returning to this kind of controls is nostalgic. I was too used on the modern control though, BNS, Black Desert... although every gamer came from this line long way back before... Lineage 2, Aion thing controls... But as I progress into the game... It feels natural now...  and from time to time I switch control scheme too if I get ever bored on the other controls.

One of the main features of the game is the UNLIMITED FLYING mode. Yes, DEVs made this thing permanent... I mean you can fly anytime you want fanboys! anytime, anywhere! just like that!

but, there are places where flying is Automated. Just like this one.

Just like Blade and Soul, there's this portal to jump you to another higher places, so this flying mode is animated scene. Cannot control it. But there's this jump scene where you can control the camera angle.

Questing to this game is pretty easy. Yeah, DEVs heard yah fanboys! Questing made easy, its Auto-path-finding. can't argue with that anymore. I'm yet to explore the quests here, so I'm more into story mode rather than PVP mode... I'm a boring player, I'm no PVP master here FYI. I'm into exploring, and this game has it and I'm into it. I'm yet to explore the skill system and how the inventory system works... like crafting and stuffs... so I'll leave this open and to be continued...

And oh by the way, this is Pre-Open Beta. So anyone can play aslong as you have an activation code. But if you dont have it, I'm sure OBT is near for this game. TAH-TAH! Fanboys!

December 1, 2015

Been so busy at work again... I don't know... I couldn't feel the Christmas season lately... 

It's been a long long while World! Been so busy In life and I almost forgot my blog. I miss posting games here. But hope some days I could post some really cool game features again here. We'll see... (^_^)

DRAGONA!

Well hello guys! Its been a long time since I updated my blog... Its been a busy years for me, yet here I am giving you another update on Korean MMORPGs...

Recently, I've joined few CBT events on Korean mmorpg, I joined the new face and re-created Ragnarok online II: The Legend of the 2nd which i didnt even got the chance to play, since its only 7 days of game testing, plus, there's alot of major issues playing specially connecting into the game, lucky who're those that made it inside the game, although I could manage to lunch the game well, I still failed to get inside the game... too bad, my account also can play but for some reasons, I couldnt play... Oh well, I'll give it time, probably the next beta instead... they only have 4 hours of testing, which for a busy person like me, always out of home, there's no chance for me to play it... gosh... not so cool...

Good thing I manage to get in into the 2nd game I applied to... after the 30 days of attendance just to get into the CBT event for DRAGONA, I successfully got into the GAME!!! oh wow! now this is cool! I haven't completed the stamps though, i think i missed 4 or 5 attendance that time, from July 1~30, but hey! I was surprised I was also picked for the 2nd CBT event! thank goodness, my life is filled with colours again! haha...(^_^)...

Yes, about this game called DRAGONA: The Expedition of Bartan, published by GAMECLUB Korea, developed by LIVEPLEX & Studio Timber...

So what is DRAGONA? as I played and exprerienced it for a short period of time, DRAGONA: The Expedition of Bartan is one of the combination of post-apocalyptic and a taste of Futuristic world with post modern age... its about the world of Bartan, its about having a so-called Dragon Heart... And, They Transform into Different kind of DRAGONS! And this hybrid mmorpg can be categorized in adult genre, since the character design are bit exposed specially on the females side, also the NPCs, man, those chicks are HOT!!!

now let me jump into the test/gameplay:

first: The game consist of 4 Races

Although The 4th race is not yet implemented at this moment, so we can only create upto the 3rd race only. There are 3 races available at this moment, you can choose

HUMAN, ELDIN & KALI. Now, each race has 2 types of classes, from Human,

there is GUNNER(male), & SNIPER(Female),

from ELDIN, there is MAGICIAN(female), & RANGER(male), and

from KALI, there is ASSASSIN(female) & GUARDIAN(male).

They have their various skills each classes. As early as level 5, you can already gain around 7 skills and various passive skills... the stats system are fixed for all classes or races, so everything will vary on skill point attribution and armor stats enhancement/enchantment... the character customization if few and limited, there are only 3 types of Hair, Face & 24 color types for hair, can be customized also...

Now, after you created your 1st character, you can choose 1 of the 4 COREs that can be used on the game, this is where you can get a chance to transform yourself into something... you'll see that option just below the Gradient color picker on the character page creation... you can choose Core from Head, Arms, Chest and Legs, but only 1... I'm not sure if opun leveling up you can complete these COREs since they are 4 to complete and 1 is already can be used...

See these COREs types: Sample I

-------------------------------to be continued>>

scoops for TERA!!!

Recently, I've got a new scoops about Tera! woops! yah --- read more...

Developers vs Cybercriminals: Protecting your MMO from online crime - Presentation Transcript
Developers versus CybercriminalsProtecting your MMO from online crimePatrick WyattEn Masse EntertainmentCopyright March 2010 by En Masse Entertainment. This document is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States. Please see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ for further details.
Please note: this presentation differs from the one I gave at GDC 2010 by the inclusion of my notes in additional slides. All other content remains the same.
MMO profit potentialGame hackingGold farmingBilling fraudChat spamPhishingAccount theftGriefing
MMO profit potential - notesEveryone is aware of the amount of money that has been made by a few standout titles in the MMO space, and consequently there’s a lot of interest in challenging those front-runners by making a great game that users will love. But you can spend $30-70 million making a great MMO that users love to play that still won’t be successful unless you’re prepared to face a challenge that's unrelated to making a fun game: hacking.The problems associated with hacking can destroy the fun of your online world, cause paying customers to leave in rage, and result in billing fraud issues that can ruin your business.
BackgroundCreditsWarcraft: Orcs versus HumansWarcraft 2: Tides of DarknessWarcraft 2: Beyond the Dark PortalDiabloDiablo 2StarcraftStarcraft: Brood Warbattle.netGuild Wars PropheciesGuild Wars FactionsGuild Wars NightfallGuild Wars: Eye of the NorthAionTERA (releasing early 2011)http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,1019/
Threatmodeling / attack surface
Threatmodeling / attack surfaceIf you read security literature it seems incredibly abstract, with discussions about minimizing the “attack surface” exposed to hackers, but few practical examples about what to look for or how to fix the problems. This presentation is an attempt to eliminate the disconnect between the theoretical approaches and the problem we’re trying to solve: stopping hackers from ruining our games!
Game hackingHacking games is as easy as it was 20 years ago when I began hacking in earnest.My earliest successful attempt at game hacking was with a game called Armor Alley on the Macintosh. It was a hybrid 2D, side-scrolling helicopter simulator (similar to ChopLifter) coupled with a real-time strategy component where ground-units (infantry, tanks and anti-aircraft guns) could be purchased for cash. By simply changing the amount of cash in memory I was able to buy as many units as I liked and trivially win the game. But more to the point, I could do the same thing in a two-player game! It would have been easy for the developers to ensure that the other player’s computer validated that purchases were legal, and that the opponent was making a purchase that was backed up by money already in the account, but apparently it wasn’t considered important.The developers of Modern Warfare 2 seem to have taken the same approach to game hacking: ignoring it. Given that aimbot, wallhack, speedhack, field-of-view-hack, and many other hacks have been developed since the invention of First-Person Shooter games, they apparently spent little time developing solutions. Perhaps the most egregious hack was one where the hackers *tried* to get killed; every time they were killed by another player, instead of that player getting rewarded with kill-points, they would lose 800,000 points from their kill-score! This is simply a failure on the part of the developers. At the same time, since their game sold $1 billion dollars worth of product (perhaps more by the time you read this), it may not be critical for FPS games.In an online virtual world game, where our goal is to attract and *retain* players for long periods of time, stopping hacking is (apparently) more important.
How did my early attempts fare?With my early knowledge of game-hacking, and a Computer Science degree to my name, I thought I would be able to do a good job of preventing game exploits, but hacks affected my early attempts too.Warcraft (more specifically, Warcraft 1, Warcraft 2 and Starcraft, which all used the same engine) has a fully-synchronized network model that is “unhackable”. All actions from each player are simultaneously validated on every computer before they’re allowed to be activated, and invalid actions aren’t permitted. So if a hacker were to alter the amount of gold in his counting-house, while it would register on his own computer, other computers would disallow purchases which attempted to use the illegal gold. Unfortunately it turns out that, because every computer knows the entire state of the world in order to be able to validate player orders, it also means that it is possible to peek into the game state to see what the other player is buidling, how many units he has, and where they’re deployed, effectively destroying the fog-of-war that makes the game particularly hard (and fun). This is known as an information disclosure vulnerability, and means that the game needs trusted referees to be played securely.Another problem is creating a game-desynchronization bug to avoid a loss. If there are two computers in the game and they disagree about the state of the game, the only recourse is to throw away the results.Diablo was originally going to use the same network model as Warcraft, which would have prevented some amount of in-game cheating, but it was basically impossible to retrofit a secure networking model onto what was basically a giant hack to begin with. Consequently I had to invent what I now refer to as a “loosely synchronized network model”, where the first player who visits a level becomes the “level master”, and is responsible for tracking game state and performing some minimal level of validation of player actions. But because one player’s computer is the level master, that player has godlike powers to modify the game state as well as exploit or even kill other players. Repeated attempts to correct these problems were only moderately effective because the basic network model was flawed.
Hackers – Why do they do it?Rather than thinking about the “attack surface” of the game, I think a good conceptual way to start looking at the problem of hacking is to understand the motivations of hackers. There are lots of reasons that people hack, and we need to focus our efforts on the ones that have deleterious effects on the game-world: griefing, gold-farming and gray-sharding, which I’ll describe in the next few slides.EducationFunChallengeReducing grindCausing griefProfitOutright theft of business
GriefingGriefers get their jollies causing anguish. No, really!Exploiting game system weaknessesExploiting network protocol weaknessesExploiting operating system weaknesses!#*!!!What#?What?#*!!YouYou#
Griefing NotesGriefers like to make players angry; that's how they have their fun. Unfortunately their behavior is incredibly detrimental to the community, game stickiness and player longevity. Victims of griefing are more than unhappy; they can be so enraged they quit the game in anger. The behavior is so common it’s known as “rage-quitting”.Here are some methods that griefers have used to annoy gamers: Exploiting game mechanics:Spamming messages in chat channels to overwhelm legitimate chat.Substituting worthless or inexpensive items for valuable ones during trades.Blocking access to areas players would like to visit.Monopolizing game markets to prevent players from purchasing items they need.Many, many more.To address these types of exploits it’s necessary to hire designers who think about griefing. In fact, hiring one or more griefers on the design team will likely make for a better play experience for players because those designers will be more aware of the exploits of the systems they’re creating. Ultimately, play mechanics must be designed with the idea that players will attempt to exploit the game2. Exploiting game programming weaknesses:Send messages to appear to be from another player or from the server.Flood other players’ Internet connections to overwhelm their network router.Send messages that are designed to crash the game client or even the operating system. It was possible to send the so-called “Ping of Death” to Windows 95 computers that could crash the computer, and many games have similar bugs.Overwhelm servers with computation ("gray goo" in Second Life).It’s necessary for the programming team to develop strong network protocols that validate every message that’s sent to the server, and to ensure that client systems in peer-to-peer games can differentiate between messages sent by different players using a cryptographically secure mechanism.3. Meta-griefing or large-scale hacking:Distributed denial-of-service attack. (Aion was attacked on launch day by determined hackers who tried to flood it off the ‘net).Slowloris: too many connections from one or more computersThese types of hacks can be considerably more difficult to deal with, and can require coordinated efforts on the part of the development and network operations teams.
Why griefing is so perniciousVictims are mad and may leave the game = loss of revenueIt costs money to provide help to griefing victims = customer support costsIn addition to the loss of revenue that occurs when victims of griefing drop out of your game, it can cost more money when the Customer Support department is called in to help with the problem.
Gold Farming Notes$1B – $10B industry with many negative effects:Economic inflationGame exploitationChat spamBilling FraudPhishingAccount TheftPhysical Goods Theft
Gold FarmingThe next major area of hacking I’d like to address is gold farming.It's big business:- 400,000 - 1,000,000 professional gold-farmers worldwide- Somewhere between $1 - $10 billion dollar industry; potentially higher revenues than the game business!Why gold farming is a problem:- Economic inflation: games lack enough cash outflows because renting and leasing aren't "fun"; we're not playing Papers & Paychecks.- Design ideas have to be watered down because of the risks of exploitation by players.- Perception that rewards aren't earned diminishes the bragging rights associated with owning those rewards.- Gold farmers are in business to make money, and have no scruples about breaking terms-of-service and criminal laws:Account theftMasquerading as a figure of authority, like a GMPhishing emails, use of similar URLs, theft of account databasesFraudulent credit card and other payment methodsTheft of physical goods (trailer trucks of game boxes) There is no disincentive to stop: because they generally live in countries with minimal intellectual property rights (e.g. China, Russia, etc.) there are no criminal charges or fines; the only disincentive is the inability of the hackers to generate revenue and turn a profit.
Gold Farming: even worse than you thinkWhy gold farming is so pernicious:It costs money to help players get their accounts backPlayers who have been hacked are mad at the company and may leaveFraud costs money:
Financial transaction costs - credit-card and other payment fees are non-refundable; the company eats it
Prevention costs - licensing and per-transaction fees; technology integration and management costs
Loss of customers who appear to be fraudsters (false positives)
High chargeback rates lead to high fines (six figures or more) or revocation of the ability to take paymentThe console business model is based around a short shelf-life, but sales are critical to the life-cycle of MMOs because they need to continue to attract customers to stay healthy. Because games stay on retail shelves for such a short period of time, if the company can't sell the game online the game will die a certain death.
Gold-farming solutionsStopping the supply of illegal goldDevice fingerprintingProxy detectionPhishing site detection and takedownTransaction reviewTelephone verificationShipping address verificationTwo-factor authenticationAnalytics: Banning players who “fit the profile” of gold farmersThere are no easy solutions to stopping the *gold-supply* problem; it requires a substantial effort by an experienced security team that stays on top of phishing sites, tracks bot rings, reviews billing transactions, and analyzes player behavior to eliminate suspected gold-farmers from the player-base.Further, it’s necessary to consider how to reduce the risk that players lose their accounts to gold-farmers, so looking into solutions like two factor authentication using security tokens or mobile phone apps that can generate “one time passwords” (OTP) is a good idea.
Gold-farming solutionsA novel solution used in Eve Online is to reduce the “demand-side” part of the gold-farming problem; it’s called PLEX, which stands for Pilot License Extension. CCP Games allows players to purchase time-cards (using real-world money), and those time cards can be traded in the game world for gold (actually ISK in Eve). By creating a legitimate and safe market to purchase gold, players will use that market instead of resorting to the illegal market with all its attendant risks, including credit card fraud, phishing, and the risk of account ban.For more information PLEX, check out these articles:
http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=684
http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/30_days_Concord_Pilot_License_Extension
Gray ShardingProblem: theft of server binaries or codeMir and Lineage 2 binariesHalf Life 2 and Lineage 2 sourceInfocom floppy disks!?!Rewrite of Aion serverSolutions:Physical securitySeparate development networkTwo factor security for dev/opsDatacenter security/TPMBe nice to employees
Gray Sharding NotesGray shards (also known as “private servers”) are game worlds that are run by criminals for their own profit. Based on estimates of player populations, it’s likely that there are more gamers playing Lineage 2 on gray shards than there are playing on legitimate servers.Criminals get access to server binaries through a variety of methods; it’s the job of the game development and operations teams to ensure that they close these loopholes to prevent their game from leaking:
Theft from the datacenter. Lineage 2 binaries were stolen when a datacenter employee walked out with a mirrored hard drive.
Theft of the game source code. Valve Software lost the source code to Half Life 2 via a Trojan program sent via email.
Theft from the development studio. A million years ago when games were still released on floppy disks, armed robbers stole one of Infocom text-adventure games immediately prior to it’s commercial release.Some considerations regarding physical security
Consider isolating the development network, which contains source code and binaries, from the Internet.
Require operations staff use two-factor authentication when accessing servers to reduce the likelihood of Trojan attacks against datacenters.
Use TPM chips on hardware to encrypt the contents of hard-drives so that their theft doesn’t allow hackers to get access to code and/or binaries.
Be nice to your employees! Based on the employment horror stories that seem to be commonplace within the game industry, the possibility of leaks from disaffected employees is quite high. Employees should receive meaningful profit incentives tied to the success of their games and the development/publishing studio so that they’re partners in the success of the game.
Real live problemsGuild Wars “comps” exploitGuild Wars trader arbitrageLineage 2 SQL injectionAion Chat SpamAion “account services” site (phishing)PlayNC password reset “birthday” vulnerabilityGuild Wars fansite account database theftRockYou account database theftBrute force attack against common password choicesSarah Palin well-known information attackTheft of credentials by “power-leveling” servicesSingle sign-on weakest link attackNetwork protocol sniffing on shared networksTrojan player via Flash vulnerabilityGuild Wars network-fuzzing attackGaming the support department
Real live problems: notesGuild Wars “comps” exploit
A hacker discovered that the components (“comps”) used to craft an object were only properly validated on the game client; the game server’s validation code contained a bug which would allow the creation of new items without all the necessary components. It should have been the case that all of the validation code was on the server, and none on the client, as the client code masked the vulnerability.Guild Wars trader arbitrage
A failure of the server hosting the matchmaking service required that the operations team spin up a new server. Because there was no operations manual for creating a new matchmaking server, no one knew that the “trading service” needed to be initialized with the same data as all of the other live trading services. Consequently the European trading server had radically different pricing information than other servers, and players, in the best imitation of Wall Street traders, arbitraged the pricing difference. Three hours later it was necessary to roll back the game database because there was so much gold injected into the world economy. Failures: lack of good operational procedures, poor choices in the design of the trading service, no tools to automatically detect trade imbalances. Successes: database backup and rollback procedures were successful in restoring game state after an outage.
Real live problems: notesLineage 2 SQL injection
In-game forum postings were not properly validated to prevent SQL injection; hackers from a Russian IP address were able to delete the databases of Lineage 2 servers in North America and Europe, necessitating a database restore. Failures: never, never, never construct SQL statements using string concatenation; use parameterized SQL – it’s been around since like forever! A similar issue existed in Aion character names during beta; new development teams seem doomed to repeat the mistakes of their predecessors – learn from others!Aion Chat Spam
Why do Korean games imported to the West have huge problems with chat spam? Because in Korea people who play games are required to enter their citizenship ID number, which can be validated in real-time against a government registry. Players who misbehave are banned and can no longer play, but at the expense of having a strong government ID number, something abhorrent to many Westerners because of the potential for misuse by the criminals and the government (if that’s not redundant). Since chat-spam isn’t a problem in Korea, the developers haven’t spent the effort to develop strong anti-spam tools. This problem is eminently foreseeable, but requires that the development team is willing to implement appropriate solutions proposed by the local publishing organization.
The fundamental issue for Western games is to shorten the path to detecting and eliminating problem users. If it takes an hour for a report to make it through the petition-queue before a player is banned, he will already have had time to create another account to start spamming. It’s necessary to look at solutions that can immediately eliminate the problem.
Further, players must have tools to regulate the problem; if a player can’t squelch someone annoying the only alternatives are to accept the behavior or go somewhere else, maybe even out of the game. We don’t want that, right?
Real live problems: notesSome meta-game vulnerabilities used by hackers
Brute-force password guessing against authentication servers using multiple source computers and multiple destination login servers. Solution: you *did* implement rate-limiting, didn’t you?
Finding the weakest link for single sign-on services; there may be many different login gateways and one has weak authentication or rate-limiting. Solution: make sure all authentication gateways share a common pathway that monitors and prevents rapid account attacks.
Steal database with passwords stored in plaintext (compromised RockYou database contained 32 million passwords). Solution: use the SRP-6a password storage algorithm, puh-lease.
Password guessing against known accounts using common passwords (10% of users in one game I worked on used trivially weak passwords). Solution: like Twitter, you should disallow users from choosing weak passwords like “1234567”, “qwertyioup” and “password”.
Phishing: copy a real site and steal user credentials. Solution: your security team will need to seek out and report phishing sites daily.
Host a game forum and try logging in using the same credentials in the game. Solution: consider two-factor authentication.
Steal the accounts of users who sign up for your “power leveling” service. Solution: tell users to change their passwords after power-leveling; we don’t *want* them to power level, but like kids having sex, it’s gonna happen – do you want your high school kid to be pregnant, or use a condom?
Listen on unsecured channels; some college networks are sometimes weak. Solution: make sure you’re using good crypto to forestall listening attacks.
Use password reset process to get new password, because users many times choose bad password reset “hint” questions. This hack was used successfully to exploit Sarah Palin’s account; the hacker answered a security question about her mother's maiden name. Solution: try to select questions with answers that can’t be guessed by hackers using Google.
Scam other players by making modifications to the trade window. Solution: call out modifications to the trade window! Show players the estimated value of the trade they’re making (both what they’re giving and what they’re getting).
Don’t implement input filtering: UNICODE BOM (byte-object-marker character) crashed GW; smiley character crashed Aion. Solution: implement strong parameter validation, and perform “server fuzzing attacks” against your own servers to detect flaws.Even more compromises:
Session fixation vulnerability: if you don’t know what it is, read up.
Accounts hacked via Flash vulnerability; Guild Wars web site updated to detect obsolete Flash version and suggest that users upgrade.
The support department can be gamed by hackers just like users; make sure that the support team keeps notes on players so they can give customers good support, but detect when they’re being repeatedly socially-engineered by a bad-guy.
Two Factor Authentication: not a panacea
Two Factor Authentication: notesWhen I first prepared this presentation I was prepared to talk about an unexploited weakness of two-factor authentication, but in the four weeks since writing the talk (and delivering it to a test-audience of University of Washington students) a cybercriminal had already implemented and successfully deployed an attack program.It’s not a true “man-in-the-middle” exploit of two-factor authentication. Instead, the hacker manages to get a Trojan program installed on a gamer’s computer, and that program intercepts the security value intended to be used to authenticate the user, redirecting it to one owned by the hacker.What we need is two-channel authentication, for example, logging into both the game client and via a mobile phone to securely authenticate through two channels instead of just through two-factors.
Other possible solutions: notesStop designing exploitables and stop coding bugs?
Not possible!Legal solutions?
Blizzard was able to shut down BNetD (a battle.net clone) and WoW Glider (a game automation tool) but it isn’t an ideal solution. Not only is such a solution expensive as well as being ineffective outside of first-world countries, it’s also icky from an ethical perspective: the legal tools used to fight these cases – like the DMCA – have strengthened the rights of corporations at the expense of our rights as citizens.
Other possible solutions: notesProtect the game client using something like GameGuard or Warden?
Here are some examples of problems that have occurred in games that could potentially be defeated with client-side checking:World of Warcraft validated the altitude of the character on the game client; hackers could bypass that code to stand on tree branches, and fire spells down upon melee characters who couldn’t reach them.Aion validates the speed of animations, like running and sword-swinging, on the game client; by altering the animation speed values hackers could radically increase the rate of characters traveling around the world and the rate at which they can attack enemy mosters.
These hacks are great for griefers, PVP cheaters, and gold-farmers, so it’s obviously necessary to stop them! Let’s try executable packers, anti-debugging code, executable self-validation, in-memory checksums, process-monitoring, registry-reading, and rootkits!
Here are some examples hackers can use to perform speed hack in games that check animation speed on the client:Alter the return value from the “GetAnimationSpeed” function in the game code (the actual speedhack exploit in Aion).Hack places in the game that use the results of GetAnimationSpeed.Hack the animation data files to alter the animation speed.Change the data-file loader so that speeds are altered when the animation data files are loaded into memory.Set a hardware breakpoint to modify registers that contain the animation speed before it is used.Run the cheat code inside a separate process and periodically alter process memory.Run the cheat code in a rootkit or inside the processor hypervisor to make it undetectable.Don’t allow the monitor code to scan for alterations; modify page table entries so that the monitoring code "sees" the original, unaltered code, but the processor reads the modified (hacked) code.
Well shoot, all those mechanisms are invasive of users privacy, lead to system crashes, create false positives when working with some keyboard/mouse drivers, drive virus detectors crazy, and aren’t even successful at stopping the problem. See, detecting hacking is asymmetric warfare: hackers can hack all they want, but developers have to figure out how to detect and then prevent the hacking. In the meantime hackers can come up with new methods!
Other possible solutions: notesUse an authoritative server!
The right approach to solving game hacks is to use an authoritative server. For example, if the server is aware of – and enforces – animation timing, then modifying values on the client system ultimately has no effect.
Note that in some cases you may decide that the extra effort is not required for the game you're making: e.g. games for young kids. Make systematic measurements of the game environment:
Your game should be instrumented with code that logs “interesting” events. These events can be used to measure the amount of time players participate in various activities, how successful they are at harvesting gold and other resources, how much progress they’re making through the game, and where the most rewarding (and most deadly) areas of the game are. Using this data it is possible to construct reports that evaluate the likelihood that a players is a gold farmer. Make sure that your game is measuring useful information, but not so much that it overwhelms your analytics system. Collecting too much data is just as bad as collecting too little. If your system is spending all its time logging sword-swings you won’t have enough bandwidth left over to analyze the data.
Other possible solutions: notesPrepare to correct bugs rapidly using rapid build iteration and deployment:
I spent approximately one year (spread out over the development cycle) working on the build server, build tools, file-packing tools, revision-control-system integration, delta-file-patching, file-servers, game-server loaders and other components associated with building and deploying Guild Wars, and other programmers contributed substantial efforts in building additional components (delta-compression libraries, art-processing tools, etc.). But this work enabled the GW dev team to correct a defect in the source code, initiate a build process, and have the build deployed to end users in roughly five minutes. We averaged approximately 20 builds per work-day over the almost four-year external alpha test cycle prior to the launch of the game. We got really practiced at writing and deploying code “live” to users. This enabled us to avoid “patch paralysis”, which prevents some teams from correcting defects: the team fixes a patch, puts it into a full test-cycle, then fixes another bug, restarts the test-cycle, etc. I’ve seen some patches take months to release due to this cycle.Be prepared to roll back your game database when you discover a serious exploit!
You must have regular, reliable reports about the state of the game world and its associated economy. These reports must be read on a regular basis; you can’t come in Monday morning and discover that it’s necessary to roll the game back to Friday night, as it will piss off your users!
If your operations team hasn’t practiced a rollback, the likelihood is that you won’t be able to roll back; your backup process is probably broken.
Other possible solutions: notesYou must read security advisories for the software your company is using!
Curse.com was recently exploited because they were using out-of-date forum software that had known (published) security advisory.
Some software is buggier than others (I’m looking at you, PHP); make sure that you stay current.Think about protecting players from common mistakes exploited by hackers!
Don’t allow the use of common passwords
Make sure that security questions actually provide some security
Protect user information diligently with good information-security policies, strong cryptography, and good operational practices.
ConclusionTo ensure success you must prepare for failure: expect to be hackedYour security team needs to see into all areas of the businessSecurity through obscurity is not securityDefense in depthContinually monitor and improve game security; it’s never “done”Good luck!Developers vs. Cybercriminals is a case of co-evolution. As gazelles run faster, cheetahs adapt or die. We similarly have to expect that criminals will evolve their methods. And, as the German general von Moltke said "no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.”
Questions?

Developers vs Cybercriminals: Protecting your MMO from online crime

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Developers vs Cybercriminals: Protecting your MMO from online crime

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Red Blood Online Hot Hot this summer!

Alright people! After so many breaks, I'm now again putting some updates though this is not a fresh update anymore... We all heared about Red Blood from the last 3 years ago, from the very 1st public release screens and videos, some people critic it for having a similarity on our wall crawler, climbing prince hero, prince of persia... But as of now, The game is now kinda, or quire released a different scene now... more like, uhmmm, well, you know, Blade & soul, damn, characters are so hot and dangerous, now after that prince of persia clone thing, now it turned to be B&S --- thing... Lol... but what ever it may looks like, its still a new game that will starts its very 1st CBT this year! so, get your freaky spec heated on!

Character design is done by none other than B&S & Magna Carta character designer Kim Hyung-Taik!

Done by Gorilla Banana Studio, their 1st game developed for about quite a year now is been almost the top spotlight of Online magazines hit in Japan, China and Korea!

HOT Scenes from TERA!

So, what's hot this year? WELL.. its TERA Ofcourse! Let's see the Inside Looks on TERA: The Exiled Realms of arborea from character creation to in-game gameplay scenes... Here's the look.







So.. does it jaw-dropping scenes? well Im starting to get my lime on my mouth though, dropping a bit.. LOL!!!

These videos were taken from Youtube though... Im getting lazy at getting Vids on official TERA website... so the credits are to those who upload it...

T.E.R.A. : The Exiled Realms Of Arborea

Recently after my long absence on the NET, and Blogs... I revisited my old precious websites to look for some updates... well this is quite a few only... speaking of my precious websites, well they are all Korean website for BIG HIT AAA MMORPGs. Ok.

Starting from C9: Continent of the Ninth, They already Open for the public! Yes though this is already been casted around the world, and yah, for KOREA Only. (^_^), So, the game goes well in korea too. after the massive close beta phases... and good thing I still have my HANGAME Accounts! so anytime I could play the game too...

Another thing...

Mabinogi: Heroes is reacently.... well i guess Open or I think still close beta... hopefully I could test this one too since I still have my Nexon account intact. Cool...

so bad that my friend tested the CBT, then he said to me that it wasn't that cool... So the game is more like Dungeon instances at all... not so cool... only the cinematics... well compared to C9, C9 probably is the best than Mabinogi: Heroes... So, Im still gonna look and see it for my self if its really true.

and yes...

TERA: The Exiled realms of arborea has been recently announced the 2nd CBT for this month!

Oh... and its already open for invitiation for those who managed to entered the 1st close beta... Oh wow, so sweet. BUT! not all invited ones can join the 2nd CBT.. too bad and good luck for the inviters as well.

AND this is awesome!

the SPECS of TERA? DAMN! this is insane!

CPU: Interl core 2 duo/ Quad core AMD athlon 64 X2

OS: Microsoft Windows XP (Vista<---not sure with this one)

RAM: 2GB!

VGA card: Geforce Nvidia 9600 (hah, atleast)

DirectX 9.0c

HDD: 30GB! <--- now this is awesome catch... Damn!

So... Not all TERA Fans can play this one! So, Get that cash on and upgrade your PCs!

But I wont hold back to this game! Im pretty sure I can Play the Korean Version before the EUROPE release it by the next 2-3 years...

NED Fantasy is Back!

That's right, the long lost NED Fantasy Online is back again after a long lost gone from the land of MMORPG... As I recall my memories of it.. I had played the very 1st Korean close beta phase which we'll test the game's features and find bugs and review... So far, my experience on it is really fun... though that time the game have an issue on memory leaks... such a high end graphic detailed game... after the 4 days test, I thought that there's hope for the 2nd beta, but suddenly months and then years had passed, NED Fantasy Online dies... (T_T)... such a cool game, after that time, i never heard from the devs anymore... NED was abandoned... well atleast for a years and so...



But right now! Thanks to my friend Climbatiz! He told me that NED Fantasy is Back! seems WeMade Korea never left the game at all... but now NED Fantasy got evolved into a new type of MMORPG... From the OLD NED Fantasy which the character are cute child-like heroes and sweet harmony of mobs around to kick, and from the sweet detailed world and lands... Now NED Fantasy is never the old one again. So Goodbye Old NED and welcome the New and Re-modeled world, environment, mobs and characters of the new NED Fantasy Online.

Still.................. This is definitely The NED Fantasy from before but not the old Child-like models anymore.. the game is now evolved into a mature state world... from the old NED which is bright and sweet to a New NED which is now Darker scent of gameplay adding the new re-modeled darker Monsters... The game is pretty much control relaxing now... not like the old complecated controls on keyboard and mouse.

THIS IS GAME dot Com has already released the NEW VIDEO from G-star! take a look at the new NED Fantasy Online.

Compare the OLD NED Fantasy.. See the Difference from the New NED... Alot changed so many... I wonder if the New NED Fantasy Retain the AI system or MCC for it... because The Old NED that I played in CBT was Their Main feature of it is having 2 side-kick or AI in your side, well you only get those AIs if you successfully finished some quests for it... that's one of the cool features...

old NED Fantasy screens ( the difference )



But from what i've seen from the New NED, seems it falls down to the same MMORPG out there now... I mean Where's the AI system? Devs?

Though This AI system we all know that it came from other hit MMORPGs out there like 1st to have it; Granado Espada = human MCC, 2nd is Prius Online (ANIMA) = fairy + Giant MCC, and also 3rd AIKA = Fairy Ai(evolving AI)...

Now seems this System is really Missing on the spot...(x_x).. I wonder if it will still be implemented... well good luck Wemade devs for it... But surely I still LOVE WeMade Ned Fantasy!



I give credit for Climbatiz & Stepharu for sharing this video to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7WLrBo6cLU

Thanks man!


Wait for me NED Fantasy! im gonna play! the korean version next year!
Oh, I miss playing korean MMORPG like this, after playing Korean the Big hit MMORPG
AION: The tower of Eternity NCSoft Korea(finished playing).

Next on the lists next year! Good thing I have accounts on this Games!
TERA: The Exiled Realms of Arborea Hangame Korea
C9: The continent of Nine Hangame Korea
Aion EUROPE & North America version
Lime Oddessey Korea
DRAGON Nest Nexon korea

DragonBall Online Netmarble korea

Blade & soul NCSoft korea

NED Fantasy WeMade Korea

Kingdom Under file II - The update

Kingdom Under Fire II Q&A: Bringing Massively Multiplayer to RTS

The Kingdom Under Fire series is transforming again. Check out our Q&A with producer SangYoun Lee to see what changes are in store in KUFII.

No doubt about it: The Kingdom Under Fire series is always changing. After dabbling in action and role-playing elements in the traditionally real-time strategy series (even combining the two in the action-heavy Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom), developers are bringing it back home and online with the RTS- focused Kingdom Under Fire II. Revolving around a concept they're dubbing MOARTS (multiplayer online action real-time strategy, naturally), the game looks to be well on its way to once again redefining the KUF series. To get a better handle on the game's new direction, we spoke with Blueside's executive producer and director, SangYoun Lee.

GameSpot: How did you decide which direction to go in for a new KUF? The series has gone in a few different directions now, so how did you decide which way to go this time?

SangYoun Lee: Kingdom Under Fire II is the true sequel to Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders. It is being developed with the goal to perfect the genre of action real-time strategy, which was first introduced in The Crusaders. In order to achieve that goal, the elements of action and strategy must be fused perfectly well. We've implemented many deep and sophisticated game mechanics, so that the action in Kingdom Under Fire II can go beyond just delivering the fun of hack and slash; the game is designed in a way such that the action can add to the aspect of strategy by being part of its tactical gameplay. Also, we believe that the real excitement and fun of strategy games can be enjoyed when you play them with other people. To create a game that can be enjoyed by a lot of people and for a long time, we are re-creating and enhancing the online multiplayer portion of the game, to be presented with battles of unprecedented scales.

GS: How much did player feedback on the last game affect development on KUFII?

SL: A lot of user feedbacks were taken into consideration in development of the game. After the release of Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, many of those who played the game gave us lots of feedbacks, and we agreed with many of the points made in those feedbacks, and it helped us a great deal in making a better sequel. The tough learning curve of the game and the aspect of strategy being a little weak in online multiplayer were pointed out as things to be improved upon. And those improvements we've implemented in Kingdom Under Fire II. The steep learning curve is no more, and the new sequel will be more accessible than ever to all gamers. As for the multiplayer aspect, we've added a number of new concepts, such as "mothership," "providing support for troops," and "capturing of bases." The tactical aspect of gameplay, encouraging the players to exploit different geographical features of each battle map, which has already been introduced in Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, will also be present in the new sequel as well, and with all tactical elements mentioned above or to be revealed, Kingdom Under Fire II is going to test your tactical battle skills more rigorously than all other strategy games. You will be introduced to battles with the most extensive scope of strategic choices.

GS: How does this game differ from previous KUF games?

SL: The Kingdom Under Fire series is well known for its deep tactical gameplay and the intense hack-and-slash action with heroes. Kingdom Under Fire II improves upon the predecessors by showcasing blockbuster-scale battles with thousands of units rendered in more realistic and detailed graphics, all appearing onscreen simultaneously. You'll have seen nothing like it. Every controllable hero and unit comes alive with more realistic movements than ever, and the game more than doubles the number of troops that can be put under your command, therefore expanding the scope of warfare tactics. On top of that, in addition to the Human Alliance and the Dark Legion, a new third race called Encablossians will be introduced, and players will be able to choose new heroes and dozens of strange and alien-like units. Your heroes and troops can become stronger in many ways through the all-new electronic card system. All these aspects of games are there for you to enjoy in an MMO world occupied by thousands of players, and gamers will be able to go head-to-head in a variety of multiplayer online modes, such as War, Skirmish, Ladder games, and Castle Siege mode.

GS: Will the game's story have any connection to any of the previous games? If so, where does it fit in? Will we see any familiar characters from the previous game?

SL: Kingdom Under Fire II is set 150 years after the end of Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders. The story picks up after The Crusaders and Circle of Doom. At the end of the plotline covered in Circle of Doom, Regnier and Kendal emerge back into the present world after much struggle to escape from the dark dimension of Encablossa. They find out that 150 years have passed since the Encablossa War, and the world has been ravaged by Encablossians, mutated creatures born of the taint of the dark power from Encablossa. This time, Kendal plays a very important role storywise. As for which heroes from the predecessors will make a comeback, or what kinds of new heroes will be introduced, we'll reveal more information one bit at a time in the coming days.

GS: What can you tell us about the gameplay in this new KUF? How are you going to get so many players together online and still keep the action fun and playable?

SL: Numerous players will be able to maintain their presence in the online continent of Bersia. There are going to be more than 10 thousand players registered in each server, and players will be able to travel around the online world in something called a "mothership." The persistent online world will be rendered in full 3D, and on it you will see numerous ships flying and exploring. There are many cities in this world, and soon everyone will be engaged in territorial conquests. There will be guilds and factions that you can join, and you will partake in the campaign of territorial expansion for your group. In many different geographical locations, many types of battles will take place, including multiplayer field match, online co-op missions, and the all-new castle siege battle. We are preparing different types and sizes of battlefields: small ones for two-vs.-two and three-vs.-three, or huge maps to accommodate possibly a maximum of 15-vs.-15. The number of troops that can be assigned to each player will be determined by the size and type of map where the battle is fought. Based on the result, each player will be rewarded with items, war funds, and experience points. These small field battles are what make up the big war over the whole continent, and this is how guilds and factions will function and get involved in territorial conquests.
The Kingdom Under Fire series is transforming again. Check out our Q&A with producer SangYoun Lee to see what changes are in store in KUFII.

GS: Why did you decide to aim for a whole new genre for this game? How challenging is it going to be technically?

SL: Action RTS is not at all new to us, because it was us who first created and established this genre with Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders. In Kingdom Under Fire II, we are trying to achieve perfection of this action RTS genre by adding the new layer of multiplayer online mode with a persistent online world where numerous players can get together and engage one another in territorial conquests, thus expanding the horizon of strategic gameplay. Our biggest technical challenge was that in order to re-create battles of such unprecedented scale with an impressive presentation onscreen, we really needed a powerful and capable graphic engine. And this was accomplished as we created the FameTech 2 engine after putting in much effort and time. Another challenge that had to be resolved was related to proper handling of the network in order to deliver smooth action, even as multiple users control thousands of units simultaneously in online multiplayer, and this took a lot of thinking and tinkering.

GS: Do you foresee there being drastic differences between the console and PC versions of the game from an online perspective? Will they offer the same feature and mode set?

SL: The goal is to develop both versions to be almost alike in terms of online multiplayer. However, the control scheme of PC and that of consoles are quite different, so we expect there to be some small differences in that regard. Eventually, all game modes are to be available for both PC and consoles, but where we put the focus in the beginning will be quite different. For example, with the PC online version, the game is to be started off in the multiplayer online mode, and the aspect of online multiplayer holds much weight. As for the console version, we have set the direction of the development towards such that it will exploit all the strengths of consoles as platforms, so we can accommodate console gamers as another key group of our audience. Our plan is to have console versions support story campaigns with heroes as default.

GS: How much can you tell us about the single-player and multiplayer game modes? How robust will each be?

SL: The single-player mode of Kingdom Under Fire II is going to be bigger in scale than any of the campaigns in the predecessor games. In every aspect, it's going to be more vast and massive than the single-player of The Crusaders or Heroes. The online multiplayer will be presented in an epic and massive scale accompanied by numerous MMO contents to go along. There will be over 160 spots that are going to be hot spots for territorial conflicts and guild wars. The multiplayer online mode comes with countless quests and missions to be completed. Some are story-based quests that will let the players see a glimpse of the overarching plot. Some are to be enjoyed in co-op play, and there are those in which players will be facing off one another in team battles. Besides these missions and quests, you will also be able to join guilds, own and manage territories, trade and auction items, take jobs from other players as a mercenary and whatnot, and engage in other varieties of exciting activities that can be enjoyed in an MMO game. Moreover, we will have updates on a regular basis, so the game will keep on expanding contentwise.

GS: What's your favorite KUFII feature?

SL: Being able to play action RTS battles online! The scale of battle this game presents is unheard of in the history of wargames. With the FameTech 2 technology, a graphic engine developed in-house, soldiers of different races and fierce creatures, with breathtaking details, can appear onscreen in thousands as they engage in frantic battles. As you control your heroes, they will move in fluid and continuous movements, and you will have to maneuver skillfully to dodge hundreds of blades going for your throat. Upon selecting each set of units under your command, you will be put into their point of view and can give commands directly to focus fire on specific enemy targets. All of this can be enjoyed online, and the virtual online world of Kingdom Under Fire II will be filled with tens and thousands of players, each of his or her ambition. Organize guilds, manage your region of influence, cultivate and develop your lands. Engage in territorial conquests until one true ruler emerges in the online continent of Bersia. The game being MOARTS (multiplayer online action real-time strategy) is what will transcend the series to a whole other level.

GS: Can we expect some RPG elements in the game?

SL: The hero characters become increasingly powerful as they defeat more foes. Sub-commanding officers and troops also gain experience and level up through battles. With earned experience points you can boost up different stats of heroes, officers, and units. Plus, there are tons of skills and spells for them to learn in order to combat the enemies more effectively. Also, all kinds of different items usable by your hero characters exist throughout the continent of Bersia, and they can be purchased, acquired through battles, and upgraded in many ways. And, of course, having RPG elements means quests and missions to be completed based on the storyline. Each hero of Kingdom Under Fire II comes with a background story, and the world is set with these characters in the overarching plot. So, it is not just one battle after another; there will be numerous story- driven missions to be completed. All the RPG elements that were present in Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders will be there but with more improvements on every aspect. Any further details will be elaborated at an opportune time in the future.

GS: We've heard about the MOARTS concept in the game. What is it and how does it work in the game?

SL: The Kingdom Under Fire series has always offered online multiplayer since the beginning, so playing with or against other people is nothing new. What we are introducing this time, which is all new to the series, is a persistent world map, in which thousands of players will maintain their presence and have the scope of interactivity that are common in most MMO games. Now as for the official name of the genre, we've decided to call it MOARTS to prevent any players from being confused into thinking that hundreds of players will be able to fight everyone simultaneously in real time on the actual world map. The battles are handled through peer-to-peer sessions, but in terms of user-to-user interactions such as forming guilds, trading, and traveling in parties, Kingdom Under Fire II is MMO. Players will be able to form guilds, trade, and travel around the online continent of Bersia. A typical guild would have its region of influence, but at the same time, the land has to be protected from others. The guilds are encouraged to engage in territorial conquests to expand, and they gain more resources and prestige as the size of the land they control grows. The world map will be affected by the outcome of every battle that takes place among all participating players/guilds. That's the base of the online multiplayer mode.
The battles fought between players are commenced through peer-to-peer sessions. A war is declared from one guild to another (or one player to another), and the two sides will enter a multiplayer action RTS war. They battle it out until one side is defeated. Once the session is over, the region of control will change (or stay the same) in accordance with the fight's outcome.

GS: Thanks for your time.

From: GameSpot

thanks GameSpot for the update

Full Metal Alchemist 2 !!! Confirmed !!!

That's Right Fan! (including me!), FULL METAL ALCHEMIST now produced by Studio
BONES (EUREKA 7, SWORD OF A STRAINGER), is now set to release this comming APRIL 2009 Summer!!! seems, a New journey to our beloved brother in arms is going to strike back again with a re-tell from the manga version of Hit anime from the same name.

=================

Official website launched, tantalizing hints in trailer
Well, FMA fans, we now have a time frame. April is one of the two biggest months for anime releases in Japan (the other is October), so April of 2009 it is, for the new Fullmetal Alchemist series to start its TV run in that country.When will it appear in North America? There's been no announcement on that schedule yet. The assumption among fans, at least, tends to be that FUNimation will pick up this version of the series, as it did the first one, but no one can say anything for sure at the moment.The official website for the new series has now launched (in Japanese), and features a "teaser trailer" to get your enthusiasm roused. The site also indicates that more news is coming on December 12, in the January issue of Square Enix's Shonen Gangan magazine (again, the site is in Japanese). Hiromu Arakawa's serialization of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga that started everything is still going on in that publication, and gradually nearing a conclusion.According to the Anime News Network, the trailer from the website ran at the end of the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 season two episode last Sunday in Japan, with the voiceover saying, "New training...a fullmetal artificial limb, a body of armor...the brothers' journey begins. Fullmetal Alchemist: April 2009 Training.
In this palm, is there hope or despair?"And while the trailer doesn't give much direct information, it does at least hint at one or two possible answers to fans' questions that have been voiced ever since the new series was announced. The brief glimpse of the artwork suggests a style closer to the manga style than to that of the original anime. This could mean nothing more, though, than simply that there are different animators involved in this production. There's still not enough information there to indicate whether the series will somehow follow the first anime and movie, or will go back and tell the manga story instead. (The two diverge considerably after the episodes involving the Greed character.)There are three other hints, though, that may be significant. The first is that the character of Alphonse is shown in his armored body instead of the human body recovered at the end of the first anime. And the character of Roy Mustang does not look as he did at the end of the anime and in the movie. These two things could hint that we'll be going back to the manga story, or they could indicate merely the background of the anime story, which would then be further developed in the second anime. We just can't say yet.However, the voiceover itself, quoted in the ANN post, may give the strongest hint: "the brothers' journey begins." (Italics mine) Combine that with Alphonse's armor, and it may indeed be telling us that we're going to see a story that goes back to the beginning, therefore likely closer to the manga than to the first anime.The Fullmetal Alchemist story still intrigues thousands and thousands of fans all over the world. Now the information being gradually (tantalizingly!) revealed about the new series is kindling fresh enthusiasm, as FMA fans speculate about and anticipate the next stage of this marvelous adventure we're all on.

Source: FireFox News : http://firefox.org/news/articles/2307/1/Fullmetal-Alchemist-2-set-to-premiere-in-Japan-in-April/Page1.html

Aika The Big update!!!

AIKA presents ‘Battle Field’ and ‘Hell Mode’ in the Newest Update

Seoul, Korea – February 24, 2009 – HanbitSoft announced that AIKA ONLINE, a 1000 vs. 1000 massive battle MMORPG developed by JoyImpact, has updated newest features to the game. This is the first time since the open beta to update on new system features in large. Until now, AIKA had been making balance adjustments, adding items for user convenience and etc.

This most recent update focuses on strengthening the battle system. It includes:

- A new battle system called ‘Battle Field’. In Battle Field, compensations through war go directly to the gamers unlike other systems, where the nation or the master gets them all. Also, Battle Field eliminates the participants to 48 people at a time, in order to avoid unbalanced PvP. By having certain environment, players are encouraged to combat with more strategy and skill to win. Various missions such as Team Death Match, and customizing system, to allow the players to design their own field for more unique combat, will be added in the future.

- ‘Hell Mode’, the most difficult level in instant dungeon, is updated initially in Ushula Dungeon. Only the characters of at least level 50 can enter the dungeon, and only once in a day. In Hell Mode, players can win high-level items that are stronger and unique, and meet with stronger monsters.

There will be larger update next month. It will be larger in scale and various in details.

~From Jannelle's Espresso

GRANADO ESPADA !!! Reach the Peaks of 30 Billion Won in sales!

That's right, Granado Espada of Hanbitsoft reach 30 billion won in sales last year. Here is the news from Janelle of Hanbitsoft.

--------------

Granado Espada Breaks Through 30billion Accumulated Sales

Seoul, Korea – February 17, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc, announced that a well known MMORPG GRANADO ESPADA had exceeded 30billion won in the accumulated sales last year. This record was reached before it had its third anniversary in open beta in February of 2006. Shown by the accomplishment, Granado Espada now is one of the top sellers of the company.

Grandado Espada is currently played in 30 countries by more than 20milion subscribers around the world. The game is especially popular in Japan and South East countries, and more and more gamers join to play in Russia, North American and Europe every day.

~from Janelle's Espresso

-------

Granado Espada now reached RUSSIA! rejoice for the Russian Server built last year!

MABINOGI Heroes Soon calls for Close Beta!

MABINOGI Heroes Soon calls for Close Beta!

Period of Application for Close Beta Registration and Beta Test will be on March 6 ~ April 5.

Based on Press, Mabinogi Heroes Finally stated that 1st Beta Test for the game will be and expected between this March ~ April of this said year.

In the last 18 days, mmorpg game rating board, Mabinogi Heroes recieved the confirmation for Trial and review. NEXON announces the application for The Beta Test evaluation for the game will be (March 6 ~ April 5), and also announces; The game is now rated to +15 years old and above.

Through that Period of test and reviews, applicants will be given a chance to test the game freely. *Note: NEXON's offcial beta test is still unclear, this may still change in the near comming board results and may still come up with a new plan base on the situation, NEXON said.

The beta test for Mabinogi Heroes will be focusing on the reliability and services of the game.

Test results and the development of the service schedule will be determined depending on the circumstances.


Studio NEXON who also develop the 1st MABINOGI and MABINOGI HEROES is also a shared name of the popular fantasy world game style is ratherly categorized as MORPG, with the implementation of VALVE's ACTION SOURCE ENGINE, A powerful physics engine that applied to destroy most visible things and elements and can be used also directly as a material.


C9 will start its beta next week, until MABINOGI HEROES rises up slowly revealing the interrest of most gamers.

GAME BOARD RATING with MABINOGI HEROES, evaluation period of 3.6 ~ 4.5

A DARK & INTENSE ACTION Has opened the door of MABINOGI : HEROES.