Thursday, November 22, 2007
GE China, Goes Commercial!
GRANADO ESPADA GOES COMMERCIAL IN CHINA
Seoul, Korea – November 23, 2007 – HanbitSoft today announced that the premier MMORPG Granado Espada has gone commercial in China.
Granado Espada is basically free to download and free to play. For those players who want to experience more, HanbitSoft is offering an optional item sale which will give players access to tremendous amounts of contents.
Even after only been less than a month since the game had gone open beta, more than 3million gamers joined to play Granado Espada, showing huge popularity among the Chinese gamers. It is now in fourth place for having the largest client download number in China.
The9 announced that nineteen worlds that are currently open are nearly full which proves the popularity. The9 will add six more worlds very soon to manage the increasing numbers of players.
“Granado Espada is a unique game that qualifies both fantastic graphic and strong contents” said Alex Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft. “We will strengthen contents that would please the Chinese gamers and concentrate more on localization to provide best quality.”
Granado Espada is a MMORPG developed by imcGAMES, a team of veteran developers led by Hak-kyu Kim, one of world famous developers. It is serviced in China by The9, one of largest online game publishers in China.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Hellgate: London gets 89.2 points from Korean Gamers
Korean Gamers Give 89.2Points for Hellgate: London
Seoul, Korea (November 22, 2007) – HanbitSoft today announced that Hellgate: London (www.hellgate.co.kr) received 89.2 points from average users rating in Korea.
The survey was took place at Hellgate: London’s Korean official website from November 9th until November 15th. Out of more than 250 thousand gamers who joined for Hellgate: London’s second closed beta test, 25,404 gamers participated. Average age of participants was 29.5, and 90.7 percent was male.
Gamers had total of five categories; graphic, addiction, fun, action and sound, and for each category they gave stars up to seven. The result shows that Korean gamers’ average rating is 89.2 points, 63.6 percent of the participants gave full points for graphic, which got the most points. Hellgate: London is the first online game to support Direct X-10 which features lively backgrounds such as raindrops popping on the ground, shaded characters at a beam of light and spreading smoke.
Even though it is not included in one of the rating categories, gamers also gave good reviews for stable service during the beta test. Hellgate: London finished its three-day-long test without going through any technical or network problems.
HanbitSoft announced that the final beta test for Hellgate: London will start shortly, and the company will schedule for the open beta according to the test results.
SPIKE GIRLS!!
Seoul, Korea – November 22, 2007 – HanbitSoft today announced that the company concluded on a publishing rights contract with Movon Corporation for a new online game Spike Girls.
Spike Girls is an online casual sports game with a theme about pretty teenage girls playing kickball. The game presents lively motions of actual kickball game, and strong single-play contents with diverse mini games. Using various skills and strategic team play, Spike Girls has every feature that a casual sports game should have. Collecting characters through special events, and dressing them up with various decorative items is one of features that gamers cannot miss.
Spike Girls is developed by a veteran team, led by Main Producer Kang Baek Ju who was the main director for main titles at NCsoft. Lee Seok Woo, who was lead art director for the popular Princess Maker3 is now the Art Director for Spike Girls.
“I think the most interesting part about Spike Girls is that it’s all about fun ideas. We are very happy to be publishing such great game” said Alex Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft. “Through great teamwork with Movon, we will show our Pangya legend once again.”
HanbitSoft opened community website for Spike Girls at HanbitOn, the company’s game portal site. For more details about Spike Girls, please visit www.hanbiton.com/parti/main.aspx?pid=41842
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
HGLD 2nd CBT SUCCESS!!
More Than 100 Thousand Gamers Join to Play Hellgate: London
Seoul, Korea (November 12, 2007) – HanbitSoft today announced that the second closed beta test for Hellgate: London(www.hellgate.co.kr) that had been going on from 9th until 11th finished with success.
Hellgate: London invited over 100 thousand gamers to join the second closed beta test, which is the largest number to participate in a test version game. For days, over 250 thousand gamers subscribed to join the beta test.
Gamers were able to download Hellgate: London’s client from 2 o’clock in the afternoon on the 8th, and over 5 thousand gamers rushed into the download site causing congestion troubles. HanbitSoft urgently had to add additional download roots to make traffic flow. Despite the Gstar2007 fever, gamers’ interest in Hellgate: London didn’t seem to get cold.
From the first day until the last, Hellgate: Lodon’s second closed beta test was over without any systematic problems. HanbitSoft announced that the company didn’t face any temporary checks or interface problem during the whole test. HanbitSoft also announced that the gamers who played the first day kept playing until the last day, which proves that the game has great potential of high absorption with great quality supported by stable management.
One of the most anticipated online RPGs of the year, Hellgate: London offers infinite re-playability with dynamically generated levels, items, ememies and events. The player creates a heroic character, completes quests, and battles through an innumerable amount of demons to advance through deep, rich story-driven campaign. A robust, flexible skill and spell system, highly customizable appearances, and a massive variety of randomly generated equipment allow each player to create his or her own unique hero. Hellgate: London represents the next evolution of the action RPG genre, combining the depth and addictive gameplay of traditional RPGs with the visceral action of first-person shooters.
New Mythos Movie Release
Mythos Creators Talk About What Mythos Is, and Will Be
Seoul, Korea (November 7th, 2007) – HanbitSoft, today released a new movie clip of Mythos(http://mythos.hanbiton.com), one of the most highly anticipated MMORPG of the year.
The 4minute 19second long movie clip presents the exciting playing scenes at recently updated areas of Zone2 which include Bloodbristle Heath and Tulin’s Hope. Appearances by Brock Jones and Marsh Lefler, two of the developers in part of Mythos project, make the clip more fun to watch.
Brock Jones, Producer at Flagship Studios, introduces Mythos as ‘a game that people are instantly familiar with, but at the same time very new’. He also mentions simplicity as one of strengths that Mythos has. “It’s click and fight,” he says. With Mythos, the players can get excited about and play in shot time span, rather than epic long games that take hours.
Marsh Lefler, Programmer at Flagship Studios, introduces the spectacular features of Zone2. Unlike Zone1, Zone2 has wider and massive quantity of monsters and items that players can experience. He also spills out the story how they intended the Zone2 would turn out to be, and what their next adventures will be like.
Mythos is an online, action role-playing game that is set in the land of Uld – a fantasy world arising from the ashes of an epoch-long war of darkness. Players assume the roles of fantasy heroes as they explore, adventure, and quest through entirely randomized dungeons and environments. With an elegant point-and-click interface and an accessible isometric perspective, Mythos is poised to have near-universal appeal. The game allows thousands of players to interact within the same world while using mostly "instanced" dungeons to create unique gaming experiences suited for both solo and group-minded players.
Mythos is developed by Flagship Seattle, a subsidiary of Flagship Studios. Mythos is currently exercising the online technology and services behind the multiplayer component of the highly-anticipated action role-playing game Hellgate: London. Mythos will be responsible for distributing Mythos in Asia, and digitally distributed in North America and Europe by Ping0.
HanbitSoft Games Swift Singapore!!
HANBITSOFT GAMES SWIFT SINGAPORE GAME MARKET
Granado Espada and Hellgate: London Occupy 60% of the Market
Seoul, Korea – November 2, 2007 – HanbitSoft today announced that the company’s premier titles, Granado Espada and Hellgate: London, are taking more than half of Singapore game market.
HanbitSoft has entered the market first with Granado Espada last year and made a stable stay. On October 31st, the company and IAH(Infocomm Asia Holdings), the local partner in charge of publishing both titles, introduced Hellgate: London’s Collectors Edition to the gamers.
According to GameShop, one of largest PC game merchandizing website, six out of ten best selling game products in Singapore is from HanbitSoft. The number one seller product is Granado Espada 1 Year Unlimited Play. Top four products were Granado Espada related products, and Hellgate: London’s Collector’s Edition made into top 10 just a day after its launch.
“In order for a game to be successful in overseas, it’s very important to have both faith and fame in the market,” said Alex Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft, “We are very lucky in that way because Granado Espada and Hellgate: London both qualify those needs. We are very proud.”
Granado Espada and Hellgate: London, both top selling titles by HanbitSoft is serviced in Singapore by IAH.
GE to Russia!!
GRANADO ESPADA ADVANCES INTO RUSSIA
HanbitSoft and Nival Online Shake Hands on Partnership for Granado Espada’s Publishing Rights in Russia
Seoul, Korea – November 1, 2007 – HanbitSoft announced that the company has made a publishing rights agreement with Nival Online, one of largest game publishers in Russia, on providing Granado Espada in Russia.
Granado Espada is a well-known online MMORPG developed by IMCgames, team led by Hak Kyu Kim, one of most popular game developers worldwide. The game offers great graphics with dynamic gameplay and unique systems such as MCC(Multi Control Content) which are appraised by gamers worldwide.
“We are extremely pleased about our partnership with HanbitSoft, one of the most successful MMO publishers in Korea,” said Sergey Orlovskiy, CEO of Nival Online. “Our mission is to deliver the best worldwide MMO brands to the Russian market and we are excited to have Granado Espada aboard for our 2008 lineup. I’m sure the game will find a lot of fans among Russian gamers.”
Granado Espada is already being published in countries in North America, South East Asia, China and etc. Through the contract agreement with Nival Online, HanbitSoft has now advanced into 18 different countries with Granado Espada.
“We are also very excited to introduce Granado Espada to gamers in Russia,” said Alex Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft. “It’s a thrill to meet Russian gamers for the first time. With our confidence in our game and our localization know-how, we will do our best to please them.”
Granado Espada will be launched in Russia by Nival Online next year.