mmorpg

You've been eternally patient, young grasshopper, but now your wait is over. After several years of nail-biting anticipation, Aeria Games' Kitsu Saga is finally in closed beta, and you're invited to join in on the adventure -- if you have the right stuff to save the world, that is. So take the next week off school or work, and prepare to play until your eyeballs explode with joy!

Okay, we've never heard of this game either, but that doesn't mean it's not worth a bit of MMO recon work. So go forth, Massively scouts, and let us know what this Asian martial arts title is like!

Kitsu Saga is being developed by X-Legend, who also made Grand Fantasia. Players join a faction and train as fledgling martial artists under the care of their masters. They also are befriended by a Kitsu -- a mischievous fox spirit of sorts that travels with adventurers and lends a hand (or at least color commentary). Aside from the Kitsu companions, the game also features little bonuses like being able to choose your character's age. You can enter the beta over at Aeria Games.Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, New titles, Free-to-playKitsu Saga marches into closed beta originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

[New import publisher Carpe Fulgur has brought quirky Japanese 'item shop' indie RPG, Recettear, to PC digital distribution services, and talks to Gamasutra about localization challenges and plans.] Indie games have had a major presence on the major American digital distribution channels for a while now. But indie games from Japan are a bit harder to find on these services, with companies like Rockin' Android localizing shooters for PC and PSN, but very little support ...

[Gamasutra rounds up the week's top news and reviews from sister iPhone and iPad site FingerGaming, as written by editor in chief Danny Cowan and authors Tucker Dean, Jason Johnson, and Ryan Hibbeler.] This week, FingerGaming covers notable releases like Super Mega Worm, Puzzle Agent, and Mirror's Edge. We also round up lists for top-grossing, most-downloaded free and paid Apps from Apple's store, as well as a review for The Incident. Here are the top ...

[This week, our partnership with game criticism site Critical Distance brings us notable game writing picks, as Ian Cheong fills in for Ben Abraham this week to bring us a fresh round-up spanning Morrowind, World War II games, Flower and the perennial SimCity.] Starting our round-up of the latest and most interesting pieces of analysis and criticism from all across the gaming blogosphere, Kate Simpson at Falling Awkwardly has started a new series of articles ...

In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including scheduling necessities, time management in MMOs, and the unfair disdain toward social games. In our weekly Best of Expert Blogs column, we showcase notable pieces of writing from members of the game development community who maintain Expert Blogs on Gamasutra. Member Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while the invitation-only Expert Blogs are written ...

Indie games have had a major presence on the major American digital distribution channels for a while now. But indie games from Japan are a bit harder to find on these services. A pair of independent American localizers are setting out to change that state of affairs, however, by forming a new company, Carpe Fulgur, focused on bringing doujin (Japanese indie games) to English-speaking audiences. Carpe Fulgur Project Director Andrew Dice says it's been his ...

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Previews, News items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV
One of the defining elements of Final Fantasy XI was the attention to detail, with every area of the world carefully crafted for maximum verisimilitude. It's a tradition that has been carried on to Final Fantasy XIV, with the game's art direction as one of its primary selling point. Akihiko Yoshida, the art director for the game, shares his thoughts on the design of the game and his hopes for the player experience in the newest Making of Eorzea video, embedded after the cut.

Yoshida discusses the added challenges experienced with the game's dynamic format, as well as the many ways that the team has tried to expand upon the lessons learned from Final Fantasy XI. Players of the open beta have no doubt noticed the amount of detail going into each environment, and it helps make even mundane tasks more enjoyable. See what Yoshida has to say about designing Final Fantasy XIV's visuals after the cut, and keep your eyes open as the open beta continues (Square-Enix has been rolling out a new patch nearly every day).Continue reading The art director speaks in the latest video for Final Fantasy XIVThe art director speaks in the latest video for Final Fantasy XIV originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

Paulina Bozek, former head of Atari's London-based online and casual gaming studio, has launched a start-up company focusing on social games. Based in Shoreditch, London, the developer, Inensu, wants to build "social and innovative games for the connected generation." Bozek left Atari in April this year following the resignation of Phil Harrison, alongside whom she joined Atari less than two years ago. Previous to that role, she had worked with Harrison at Sony, where she ...

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Events, real-world, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, The Daily Grind, Star Wars: The Old Republic, RIFT: Planes of Telara, TERA
While many of the Massively staffers weren't able to make it to Seattle for the recently concluded PAX Prime event, all of us followed the coverage smorgasbord in anticipation of learning just a little bit more about all of the new MMORPGs coming down the pipe.

Whether it was Guild Wars 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic, TERA, or Rift: Planes of Telara, the convention featured a little something for all of us. The question of the day, dear readers, is all about you. Were there any juicy PAX revelations that tickled your fancy? Did anything change your mind, make you more or less excited, or come completely out of left field?

Inquiring Massively minds want to know.The Daily Grind: What was your favorite PAX revelation? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

As Summer of Arcade continued with Monday Night Combat and a new Lara Croft title, GamerBytes editor Ryan Langley offers charts and leaderboard data to get an idea of which titles are hits on the service this summer.] With the third Summer Of Arcade now over, and following our in-depth Xbox Live Arcade stat examination for July, we take our analysis for August 2010's Xbox 360 downloadable games to new ground -- showing just how ...

The number of females employed in the UK video game industry has fallen from 12% in 2006 to just 4% in 2009, claims a report highlighted by the British Sociological Association. The report, based on research carried out by University Of Liverpool PhD student Julie Prescott, attributes the decline to the industry's long working hours and dissatisfaction with companies and their working environments. 450 women were surveyed for the report, with 43 percent claiming the ...

Organizers of the Fifth Annual I/ITSEC Serious Games Showcase & Challenge announced that the game submission deadline for this year's event has been extended to September 30th, giving developers two additional weeks to polish up their entries. The Serious Games Showcase & Challenge offers students and independent developers a chance to show off their submitted training applications to an expected crowd of over 18,000 attendees at the upcoming Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference in ...