Games Industry Wire

NCsoft Corporation say they saw sales of $78.6 million in the second quarter of 2008, a seven percent increase over the previous year, though their operating profit, pre-tax profit and net income all dropped, 25%, 31%, 42%, respectively, according to the South Korean company’s second quarter financials released last night.
The news comes during a week of rumblings that NCsoft’s Austin office may be on the verge of laying off staff or closing, a rumor that NCsoft vehemently denies.
Lineage and Lineage II both saw a drop in sales compared to last quarter as did Guild Wars, while City of Heroes and …read more

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Looks like the PC version of GTA 4 will arrive officially on the PC. A recent ESRB ratings update lists both Grand Theft Auto IV and Bully: Scholarship Edition for the “Windows PC” platform, which constitutes the first solid confirmation the two titles are heading to the PC. Grand Theft Auto IV has long been assumed to make the jump from consoles, as most major releases of the franchise, from the first Grand Theft Auto through Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, have eventually shown up on the platform. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Grand Theft Auto IV …read more

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IGG has announced that a new “Leo” Server will be added into Wonderland Online.

Wonderland Online officials will be launching a new US server named “LEO” after the weekly server maintenance on August 5th EDT (GMT-4). The new server has 3 server branches and its name will be at the top of the Server List. Therefore, players can have more server options when entering the game and the population stress on Aries server will be relieved.

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“World of Kung Fu” (WoKF), the martial arts online game from VestGame Entertainment has emerged from a successful open beta testing period and is now officially launched. A second server has been added to accommodate the new influx of players. The released version contains a multitude of new maps, quests, and enhancements to gameplay.
“The launch of World of Kung Fu into Western markets represents the culmination of many months of strenuous effort, and is a real milestone for VestGame. It’s great to see so many new players enjoying the fruits of our labor”, said Jonathan Seidenfeld, VestGame’s Director of Business …read more

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IGG has announced that they will be starting the open beta for the Wonderland Online European Server.
In order to offer players better service, IGG will be launching the European Server open beta and releasing new servers soon. Players will then have the option of choosing a server close to their country when playing Wonderland Online. In the future, IGG will also be releasing more servers for different areas so that players can fully enjoy Wonderland Online.

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Wow! It looks like the rumors were true, after all. Cryptic, creator of all things superhero MMO related, is indeed developing Star Trek Online or more sexily known as just “STO”.
Cryptic Studios™, a leading developer and publisher of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), announced today that it has secured the global rights to develop and publish Star Trek® Online, a massively multiplayer online game based on the legendary Star Trek franchise, from CBS Consumer Products.
Cryptic will unveil the first Star Trek Online gameplay footage as well as details about this highly anticipated MMO at the annual Star Trek Convention …read more

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Flagship Studios has also put its other MMO, Mythos, on indefinite hold following reports that the company has laid off most of it’s staff and has shut down Hellgate London.

We regretfully announce that on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 11:59 CST the world of Uld known as Mythos will be going on hiatus. On behalf of all of the Devs and Community team we want to thank you to everyone for their support and assistance with Mythos Alpha and Beta testing and we hope to see you soon.
I loved Mythos much more than Hellgate and if some developers/publisher would pick …read more

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EA confirms KOTOR MMO is in the works! Should World of Warcraft be worried?
In an interview at E3 2008, Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello said that EA is working on the next version of Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic, and it will most certainly have a massively multiplayer online component to it.
“We’ve got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development,” said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. “And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about — in partnership with Lucas, …read more

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2K Games has announced that it will be the North American and international publisher for Cryptic Studios’ newest MMO, Champions Online for the Xbox 360 and PC. Champions Online is scheduled for release in spring of 2009.
“2K Games is excited to work with such a talented group as Cryptic Studios,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Given their stellar pedigree and amazing grasp of the MMO genre, we are confident that Champions Online will deliver an innovative and exciting action MMO experience to gamers.”
If Cryptic has learned a thing or two since COH/COV launched, then we may just be in …read more

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Here is the latest sales stats by Gamasutra that shows an upsurge in the seven year old Diablo 2 (!!!) Battlechest sales:
PC
North America: 1. Diablo Battle Chest (Blizzard), 2. World of Warcraft Battle Chest (Blizzard), 3. The Sims 2: IKEA Home Stuff (EA Games), 4. Spore Creature Creator (EA Games), 5. The Orange Box (EA Games).

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