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.

I recently wrote about the upcoming CCP and EVE “Plex for good” community fundraiser. It was a live telethon, streamed through twitch, lasting over 8 hours. A total of USD$190.890 was raised, wow!

There were many things to watch, EVE developers pledged unique donations as fundraising milestones were hit. Some were developer boxing matches, male and female head-shaving, getting a full-arm tattoo, sparring versus a Tae Kwon Do champion and even getting shot with one paintball for every US$2,000 donated (One of my favourites!). Other programming included a guest appearance and “training session” by mixed martial arts phenom Gunnar “Gunni” Nelson, a developer cooking competition, Q&A sessions and a live sampling of the most exotic tastes of Icelandic cuisine.

Every milestone was reached and well surpassed. “We often talk about how EVE is ‘real’, a simulation of humanity where there are few rules and all the economic, political and social forces of human nature push the boundaries of morality in all directions,” said Hilmar Veigar Petursson, CEO of CCP, “We’ve seen the passionate side of our players over the past decade, but truly nothing could prepare us for this level of generosity from them. It is humbling. It is beautiful. It is what EVE is really about.”

Coupled with the other PLEX for GOOD efforts, EVE Fanfest silent auctions and other associated charity drives, the EVE community has been able to raise a total of over US$340,000 for charitable causes since EVE was released on May 6, 2003. If you ask me, that’s pretty good. Just imagine what we can do together as a community of gamers.

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You can see the full playlist of videos on YouTube here.

Today the Alpha backers of Elite Dangerous will be able to play the first phase of the Alpha process. Phase one – ‘Single Player Combat’ will be the first hands-on experience for gamers of Elite: Dangerous.

Backers who pledged for access to the Alpha release will experience different Alpha phases over the coming months, providing early access to Elite: Dangerous while it is being developed and the opportunity to give invaluable, focused feedback to Frontier and help further shape the game.

The aim of Phase One – ‘Single Player Combat’ is to test key aspects of ship control and combat systems. Piloting a Sidewinder with varying weapon configurations, players progress through 8 single player scenarios — initially designed to familiarize players with the controls, gradually increasing in difficulty and complexity.

Elite: Dangerous is the latest installment of the Elite gaming franchise and has garnered huge support from over 40,000 fans of Elite who have supported development of the game so far with both funding and feedback. So far they have raised an impressive $2.1 million!

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Sonic and Tails are back and they are coming to your mobile gaming platforms. This was a re-release I just had to tell you about, I grew up playing the Sonic games, they are some of the world’s most iconic platform games.

The game is available for the first time on Google Play, bringing a new way for fans to enjoy the classic game. This version is free as an update for fans that have already downloaded the game for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, don’t miss out! New players can purchase the re-mastered version from the App Store.

Speed run through the adrenaline pumping classic zones such as Emerald Hill, Chemical Plant and Casino Night (one of my favourites). Spin, dash and loop de loop with upgraded visuals and a silky smooth frame rate. Defeat deadly enemies as Sonic, Tails or Knuckles and even play the new content in the challenging Boss Attack Mode where you can now try and beat all of the game’s bosses in a single run.

The much rumoured and never-before-seen Hidden Palace Zone which was never included in the original Genesis version of the game, will now be playable for all. It features new enemies, hazards and an epic showdown with Dr. Eggman. (I’ve got to say, I’ll never get used to calling him “Eggman”. It’s Robotnik!)

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City of Steam: Arkadia is going live on Dec. 4th, 9PM, EST, along with new systems, new content and more.  For those unaware, after breaking ties to publisher R2 Games, the developer Mechanist has made huge changes to the game and is now self-publishing the game under the title City of Steam: Arkadia. We have teamed up with Mechanist games to secure our users 1000 gift keys to be given away immediately! Each key entitles you to a Growth Pack that contains the following;

• 10× Strong Health Quaff
• 10× Strong Steam Quaff
• 1× Level 1 Mod Box
• 5× Keys
• 5× Alloys
• 20× Transmuter Orb
• 2× Transmuter Coolant
• 1× Broadcast Ticket
• 100× Spiremarks
• 1× Spiked Goggles
• 1× Vented Goggles
• 1× Drum Tophat

To claim your key, enter your email address in the box below! (NOTE: Be sure to check spam folder if it does not appear in your inbox.)

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About City of Steam: Arkadia
City of Steam: Arkadia is a 3D industrial age fantasy MMORPG, the debut Unity3D-based MMO from Mechanist Games. It transports players to a world where clockworks, steam power, and arcane technologies suffuse every aspect of existence, from the half-organic, half-mechanical dwarves to the giant gears of the World Machine itself.

How to redeem your code:

1. After obtaining your gift code, go to City of Steam: Arkadia website here .
2. Register an account (or sign in if you already have one) and click on the ‘Play Now’ button when servers are up.
3. In game there is a Rewards window, and one of the selections there is a Promo Code option. Copy/paste your code into it, claim it, and check your backpack for the goodies!
4. Enjoy!

CCP and EVE Online are going to be hosting a 12 hour live streamed “telethon”, to raise money for the typhoon relief in the Philippines . By now I’m sure you have heard about the devastation over there. I respect how gamers and gaming companies can rally together to help our brothers and sisters around the world, I just had to tell you about this as soon as I heard about it.

“PLEX for good” has already raised over $43,000 USD, the 12 hour telethon will start at 13:00 UTC on December 7th, and can be watched live from here.

The schedule includes EVE developers getting shot with paint balls, having tattoos, shaving their heads, and my personal favourite, fighting Taekwondo masters! Find out more about the schedule here.

Lifeless, an up-coming MMO FPS zombie survival shooter created by Rigid-Soft studios is due for release sometime in 2014. We have obtained screenshots from this eagerly awaited game exclusively for the RaGEZONE audience.

For more information, visit the official website here.