Aeria Games has announced the start of Open Beta testing for Aura Kingdom, their new massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) with a gorgeous anime art style.

The open beta comes right after several closed testing periods in which thousands of players were able to get a first taste of Aura Kingdom’s rich world and styled gameplay. During the course of Founder’s Beta, Closed Beta, and Stress Test, players collectively created over 170,000 characters and logged nearly 1,000,000 hours in the game, that’s pretty impressive. Now the gates are opening to everyone to help finish testing before Aura Kingdom goes live.

“We’ve seen an incredibly positive response and outpouring of enthusiasm from our community after Aura Kingdom’s Closed Beta,” said Tom Nichols, Vice President of PC Games, Aeria Games. “Now we’re happy to finally announce that players all over the world can experience for themselves this great game from our fan-favorite developer X-Legend.”

Game Masters will be on hand to run in-game events every day throughout Open Beta. These events will range from huge monster and boss spawns, to contests to snap a screenshot of a GM running at superhuman speed. The events offer valuable in-game items and currency as prizes. For new players, there will be welcome sessions during which GMs focus on answering player questions, as well as live tutorials on their Twitch.tv.

Aura Kingdom is free to download, and play. Players can enter Azuria now at the official site.

DeadBreed is a new action MOBA that will be coming to us very soon. It’s based around matches with teams of three vs three, but unlike other MOBA games, there is a much stronger RPG element and character customization in DeadBreed.

There will be elements of crafting finite artifacts and summoning pets to fight beside you. Each game your team will pick an end match sentinel to fight. The boss then appears at the end of the game for you to try and bring down as a team.

Deadbreed, is the first release from the Swedish stealth startup. “I wanted to play a MOBA where I could totally customize how my hero looked and, more importantly played, but I couldn’t find one,” explains Stefan Ljungqvist, developer at the Stockholm based studio.

“Talking to friends, I realized I wasn’t the only one wanting this, so we decided to make it. Also, this was our chance to make a darker themed MOBA for hardcore gamers like ourselves and bring in some additional RPG gameplay features.” The response from Deadbreed’s weeks old Steam Greenlight campaign and community feedback indicate that many gamers seem to agree.

“After a decade of making triple A action console games, it feels good to return to your roots,” continues Stefan, who also has a background as a pen-and-paper RPG and miniatures games designer. “It feels great to make monsters again!”

Go to the official site for more info and beta sign-ups.

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Skara is a new game that features team based hand to hand combat with an FPS style view. It’s currently in alpha testing. Skara, The Blade Remains has released it’s first alpha live action video with full graphics. We get to see two Skara races, the Durno and the Khärn, meet to do battle in the Zem Moorlands Arena. It’s and 8v8 battle which will be one of the team sizes in the free to play game. Featured are some of the unique fighting combinations you will be able to use in game.

My first thoughts when I saw Skara was that it reminds me of Chivalry: Medieval Warfare. Let’s hope they keep up the good work and we can start to see more quality team based, FPS style, hand to hand combat games.

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Official site.

Webzen have just confirmed that next month players of (C9) will be able to play the new class – The Mystic.The release of the mystic is part of the fourth major expansion to (C9), which started last month.

The Mystics were created as keepers of magic, after the first war between the Gods of good and evil. They are a melee class with a badass hammer to bust out dangerous attacks in all directions. A mixture of stuns and powerful attacks make them a powerful class.

Check out the trailer below, I LOVE the attack animations.

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Official site.

There can be only one emperor in Tamriel, only the most powerful of individuals can rule over the lands, and only one may wear the emperor’s armour.

“The one who sits on the Ruby Throne cuts an imposing figure, driving enemies to flee in fear and inspiring allies to even greater deeds of conquest. When the emperor strides onto the battlefield, everyone takes notice–and few foes will survive to warn their allies. Below, you’ll see concept art for armor that only the emperor can wear, intricately worked from the strongest materials and valuable beyond measure.”

I can only imagine the fighting and politics that will be raging on to seat a favoured individual, or even yourself as emperor. To see the emperor arrive on the battle field will be quite a sight, to be the emperor will be quite another.

As always I’m excited to hear news about ESO and would love to have a hand in securing a pace as emperor for an ally of mine. How far will you go? Will you fight to win the seat for yourself or friends? Will you fight with or against the emperor?

Source.

It’s a chance to get some of your favourite characters and their alternate launch costumes at a big discount. I’m always in favour of cosmetic micro purchases over pay to win. Marvel Heroes players will be able to secure new champions before they are released. If you know you are going to buy the characters and skins anyway, it will save you a lot of money.

By taking an advance pack you will get the new characters from your pack as they are released, no need to wait! Their website says:

”

DOCTOR STRANGE, Sorcerer Supreme ♦ JUGGERNAUT, the Unstoppable Force

MAGNETO, Master of Magnetism ♦ MOON KNIGHT, the Fist of Khonshu

NIGHTCRAWLER, Master Swordsman, Fuzzy Elf ♦ PSYLOCKE, the Psychic Ninja

SILVER SURFER, Herald of Galactus ♦ SUE STORM, the Invisible Woman

STAR-LORD, Leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy ♦ VENOM, the Lethal Protector ..and MORE!

All of these heroes are included in the Marvel Heroes Advance Pack!

The Marvel Heroes Advance Pack is a combination of amazing access and spectacular savings for a limited time only.

As an extra bonus, the Advance Pack Deluxe Edition includes a complimentary Wolverine “Fear Itself” costume and Gambit’s “As Death” Enhanced costume, one month before they are officially released. The Deluxe Edition also includes a free alternate costume for each of 12 heroes, two retcon potions for each hero, and 24 copies of Fortune Card Mark IV, Mark V and Mark VI.

… And, as a limited-time holiday bonus thank you to Marvel Heroes players, order the Deluxe Edition by December 31st plus Avengers Slot and receive a full Ghost Rider hero bundle, including both Ghost Rider costumes, his hero stash tab, and fortune cards. Some of the Advance Pack – Deluxe Edition content even begins shipping this month!“

The open beta of Alfheim Tales Online is going smoothly, you can still get beta keys from the official site. Alfheim Tales Online is lively, cute, and plenty of fun. Their dev team have prepared a string of events that will be running all day.

Heath Beach oozes level one MMO character all over – “It used to be a popular resort, but is now a mess because of a lobsters and hermit crab infestation. Please team up with your friends to flush out the lobsters and hermit crabs and return the beach to a peaceful state. Slay all the monsters and their leaders on the beach to win the chests, and then you shall sit down and enjoy a peaceful free exp time for a while.”

PvP fans can now battle it out in the Arena. Anyone above level 25 can fight other players in the arena matches, earning Victory Badges fow winning, or receive a Death Badge for your troubles. The badges are use to enter the daily arena quest, it’s a lottery for pretty cool prizes. Being a PvP fan myself, I love any mechanics to make it more popular in MMO’s.

If you want adventure instead you should talk to Treasure Hunter in Star City. You’ll be given up to 10 old maps each day, which can be used to get a complete treasure map, where you can find the best loot. Chests containing coins, gems, pet enhancement stones and lot more precious items are waiting to be found. The keys to the chests can be obtained by slaying monsters in the trial ground or even purchased from other players.

Players who have reached lvl 20 may team up with one other person to enter the Candy Garden and be awarded extra EXP. Apparently teams made up of different gender players will be rewarded with more EXP, two person teams only.

And for those who pursuit fame and reputation, Chess Hall is the place you want to go. Paris, The King of Chess, appears in Star City at the same time every day. Players who have reached level 25 may team up with 2 or more other players to enter the instance by talking to him at the harbor of Star City. Those who defeat all the 100 chess pieces and the traitorous General will be awarded huge amounts of EXP. (Note: Paris appears in the chess hall from 12:00 – 13:00; 20:30 – 21:30. Each player is allowed to enter the instance once a day.)

WinterClash

Tactical Intervention players who wish to test their skills on the competitive scene now have the perfect opportunity. On December 21, the first tournament of the Tactical Intervention WinterClash is going to take place. The online tournament will offer plenty of regular matches for players all over Europe. Teams will compete on bombing scenarios across a variety of maps with winners taking home cash prizes. To enter and to find all the rules, go here.

Questing System

With the introduction of a quest system, Tactical Intervention will become even more varied. By completing missions players can earn badges, gear, weapons, perks and other valuable items. Assignments will vary in duration and scope: daily quests are acquired with Game Points and include smaller missions. In addition, players can also decide to take on larger quests; the objectives will be far more extensive and more difficult to master, but also promise greater rewards!

New Maps

FIX Korea and 1337 Games are always working to produce new maps. In addition to new maps – Inner City, Castalla and Airport, the next maps are almost ready for release: In Milan, players must place and defuse bombs throughout gorgeous renaissance buildings, while Monaco has players swerving through midnight traffic in wild car chases.

New looks

Tactical Intervention now offers more opportunities to customize the look of the characters. The existing character models were supplemented by four additional ones with more to follow in the upcoming weeks. But that’s not all, weapons will also be receiving a facelift, with skins currently in the works for all weapons.

Official site.

With only 17 hours left to pick up Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics for free you really need to get on over to GOG.com This is a winter series giveaway and it’s free! Free is my favourite price!

Don’t forget we have our own giveaways on the RaGEZONE forum too, go to this thread for more details.

Happy holidays my RaGEZONE friends!

Aeria Games have started selling Founder’s Packs for Aura Kingdoms, which is due to go into closed beta very soon. The Founder’s packs allow users to get into the “Founder’s Beta” which is due to start on the 16th December. Shortly after the founder’s beta, the closed beta will start, followed by more stress tests and an open beta period. Anyone will be able to register and play from the open stress test and onwards, but if you want to get in early, the Founder’s packs are a good option for some.

Aura Kingdom Founders will be rewarded with exclusive in-game titles, items, and the ability to reserve their character name before launch. There are four different Founder’s Pack options for people to buy, they all include access into the exclusive Founder’s Beta phase. All Founders are also guaranteed access into Aura Kingdom’s restricted Closed Beta, which will follow shortly after the Founder’s Beta concludes.

No Founder’s Pack could be complete without an assortment of cool items. Several vanity items such as a Tanuki pet and Phantom Wolf mount are available, as well as an exclusive in-game Eidolon that will never be available again! Diamond packs also offer physical items on top of the virtual goods, including a cute plushie and limited-edition Aura Kingdom playing cards featuring unique artwork on each individual card.

Official site.