Game Espresso

Goodbye for now

2010-02-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, this is Janelle.

This post will probably be the last one written by me because I'm leaving HanbitSoft as of this Friday. I am very sorry I wasn't so much of an active blogger, and also thank you guys for comming by to check out our news.

It was truly amazing to meet you from all around the world, and share the love for the games.

Although I'm leaving, Game Espresso will be here as always.

So please stop by from time to time!!

And if you have any questions about HanbitSoft, Hellgate, Mythos and more,

please contact PR manager B.K Yoon(fortune@hanbitsoft.co.kr) or Jisu Kim(jadusalgu@hanbitsoft.co.kr). They will be the messengers from now on. ^^

I wish you all well and happy new year!

Thanks again for your loving supports and great interests in our games.

Bye.

Janelle.

At last! Hellgate available worldwide!

2010-01-18T19:56:00.000-08:00

HanbitSoft Acquires Worldwide Publishing Rights for HELLGATE

Seoul, Korea – January 18, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc., announced today that the company has obtained the publishing rights for Hellgate in North America, Europe and Japan from NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.. HanbitSoft and NAMCO BANDAI Games America, the formal owner of the publishing rights in these regions, have entered into an agreement for the game to be distributed by HanbitSoft in the future.

Since October 2007, the sensational popularity of Hellgate: London has attracted many RPG gamers. When Flagship Studios closed its doors, the online portion of the game was suspended indefinitely in the relevant regions. Through this agreement, HanbitSoft now owns the worldwide publishing rights for the Hellgate franchise. HanbitSoft will roll out the launch of Hellgate overseas in 2010, starting with China, Taiwan, and South East Asia followed by North America, Europe, and Japan.

“We would like to thank NAMCO BANDAI Games America for allowing us to acquire the Hellgate publishing rights and are thrilled to have eager gamers worldwide return and enjoy the franchise,” said Kee-Young Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft, and added “Hellgate: Resurrection is heading towards success in Korea such that we decided to push ahead with launching the game overseas next year. We will do our best to get the game to the fans as soon as possible.”

“We are pleased to participate in the revitalization of Hellgate through this agreement and are deeply gratified to allow Hanbitsoft to take the lead on this franchise and bring this game to the people who seek it,” said Zack Karlsson, senior director of business development at NAMCO BANDAI Games America.

In July 2008, T3 Entertainment acquired HanbitSoft which held Hellgate’s IP and publishing rights in Asia. In collaboration with Hanbitsoft, T3 Entertainment utilized its team of excellent developers to continuously improve Hellgate. For over a year, the development team consistently provided a game with strong online features and user convenience systems. Recently, HanbitSoft launched a new, upgraded version of Hellgate called Hellgate: Resurrection in Korea which includes a free-to-play model. HanbitSoft also announced that the Korean gamers are welcoming the return of the new Hellgate, and the rapidly increasing number of users shows that Hellgate is in good hands.

For more information, visit the official Hellgate: London website at http://hg.hanbiton.com or contact Janelle Ha at hBonkiE@hanbitsoft.co.kr.

Mythos Final Beta Test in Korea

2009-12-10T16:34:00.000-08:00

Mythos is also having a busy December this year. After releasing the newest playmovie at Gstar2009, the game immediately announced its date for Final Beta Test. The test will be held from December 18th to December 21st.

All zone1, 2 and the new zone3 will be open with new monsters and items.

Here are the latest screenshots of Zone3 we released yesterday.

Mythos is also having a closed beta test in America.
For more information, visit www.mythos.com

Thanks!!

Hi guys

2009-12-08T16:52:00.000-08:00

Hello, this is Janelle. I got many e-mails and comments from Hellgate fans all over the world.

I truly apologize for not keeping my word. I know I promised I will keep you up with constant updates and more details, but I couldnt. We had busy months for launching the new Hellgate in Korea, and also present our new comming games at Gstar2009.

About Hellgate, here is the latest news.

On November 12th, 2009 HanbitSoft held a press conference and announced 'Hellgate: Resurrection'. There, we made large development issues including opening a new world(2.0 version, which is named Hellgate: Resurrection) and will be FREE to PLAY. We are going to have an Abyss Chronicle Patch on 22nd of December, and more updates will be continued from then including Hellgate: Tokyo which is planned to open next spring.

Here is the new image of Hellgate we released.

Yesterday, we opened our new world, Hellgate: Resurrection, in Korea and the gamers seem happy about the new stuff. More simplified UI, strengthened tutorial systems for new gamers!

I know there have been some rumors about HanbitSoft will service Hellgate in NA and EU, but nothing has been decided yet. For now, we are concentrating on the Korean Hellgate. We will release more information on overseas service in the future, if any.

Thanks.

And, again, sorry for the late updates. T.T

What's new?

2009-09-07T23:48:00.000-07:00

Dear visitors of Game Espresso

Hi guys
This is Janelle. Long time no see, huh!?!
I was really really busy with taking care of things here in Korea, and didn't have much time to update the news for you guys. Please forgive me for my laziness.

Now that I have a new assistant, I will make sure to share the fresh news with you all.

Since May, we had many things going on.

First of all, Mythos had its first closed beta test in Korea. The test was called 'World Preview Test'. We opened zone1 and introduced newly developed world of Uld. Testers' responses were mostly positive, but some wanted the old version of what it used to look like last year during the beta service in the US. We announced that second beta test is going to be in a month or two.
I will let you know when the actual schedule gets announced.

Another big event was the launch of Hellgate: London's 1.5Patch. We had a little systematic problems here and there, but its doing just fine now. Every content is open for free during the weekends. This promotion will last pretty long I think. There isn't any other update schedules for near future.

I know many of you visit my blog for HGLD and Mythos news. But we have many other games that are just as fun and amazing and exciting! So just give it a try and peak at some other posts too. ^^

From now on, I will make sure to let you know details of our news.

Bye

HanbitSoft Speeds up Oversea Expansion

2009-05-14T23:30:00.001-07:00

HanbitSoft Inc. announced today that the company started to accelerate overseas expansion with its new titles, and that they have more unannounced titles ready to launch this year.

The company has been launching new titles since last December, and that they are ready to go abroad.

AIKA Online Advances into Taiwan, North America and Japan

AIKA Online, a massive battle MMORPG developed by Joy Impact, started its open beta last December, and successfully positioned as well made MMORPG in Korean market. Currently the game succeeded in advancing into Taiwan, North America and Japan.

The game will be distributed to North American gamers by Gala-Net, Inc., and to Japan by Hanbit Ubiquitous Entertainment this fall. HanbitSoft announced that several other oversea plans are in process right now, and that they are going very well so far. The company hopes to advance into more than 5 regions in the first half of this year.

“Unlike other new MMORPGs with heavy clients, AIKA Online has a light client of only 300MB” said Ki Young KIM, CEO of HanbitSoft, and added “We believe AIKA has more potential in insuring more wide and diverse gamers than most other MMORPGs. We will strengthen its competitive power and make this game globally popular.”

Audition2 Advances into Indonesia (Below is the image from Auditon)

HanbitSoft announced May 7th, 2009 that AUDITION2 will be serviced in Indonesia by PT.Megaxus InfoTech. Auditon2 is the second serious of Audition, the most popular online rhythm dance game with over 150 million subscribers world-wide.

T3 Entertainment is developing Audition2 strictly privately, and nothing specific about the game has yet been revealed. HanbitSoft explained that this latest contract is only the beginning of the games oversea expansion, and that the company is making progress in multiple discussions concerning advancing other regions.

Other New Titles to Go

HanbitSoft also has many other plans for more new titles.

Spike Girls, online kickball game, CAMON HERO, a card collecting MMORPG had also been launched this spring. The company plans to take more aggressive actions with making expansion to overseas with those titles. HanbitSoft also has unrevealed titles that are in development.

HanbitSoft also opened developers note page on Korean offical website of Mythos last month. Mythos is currently developed by T3, and will be introduced pretty soon. HanbitSoft has not mentioned about schedule for oversea service, but stated that the game is being reconstructed to become globally popular.

There will also be more new MMORPGs, Trolling Game planned to be launched this year.

Letter from MYTHOS Designer Alboos

2009-05-06T23:32:00.001-07:00

Here is the translated version of the original letter from Alboos

MYTHOS Developers Note #001
April 22, 2009

Hello

I’m Alboos from development team of MYTHOS. It’s exciting to have finally met you.

From now on, I will be introducing you the most current status of MYTHOS’ development, and tell you the details how the MYTHOS world will turn out.

First, I would like to introduce myself briefly. I am Designer in MYTHOS develop team, and I will be ‘Sage’ in MYTHOS world. That’s why I named myself as Alboos for Developers Note.

I know that many gamers are waiting to play MYTHOS. The reason why we didn’t give out any news for such a long time is because we wanted to wait until we are able to open the most accurate information.

Right now, MYTHOS is in good condition where it’s being reconstructed to become more suitable as online game. We are trying to keep the strengths that the game used to have, and make them even stronger, while eliminating its weaknesses.

As many of you already know, MYTHOS has come from .We are trying to inherit those thing you enjoyed, and loved about Diablo, and put more contents for more exciting multi plays.

Our current developing plan is focused on how to make the game enjoyed by you and your friends, colleagues, and family.

Well, this is it for today. Today, I just wanted to let you know that MYTHOS is being developed in good condition.

In my next letter, I will give you brief explanations about world of MYTHOS.

Have a great day!

HanbitSoft Opens Public Develop Status of MYTHOS

2009-05-06T23:28:00.000-07:00

Many of you wondered what happened to Mythos, since we were so quiet about it for almost a year. And we finally have something to tell you. Here are the details!

HanbitSoft Inc. announced today that the company is revealing the development status of MYTHOS, a highly anticipated MMORPG developed by T3 Entertainment and Redbana US, through ‘Developers Note Page’ on the games Korean official website.

HanbitSoft launched ‘Developer’s Note Page’ in the Korean official website of MYTHOS on April 30th, and started to open public how the game is being developed. The company plans to introduce the world view, background story and class details of MYTHOS, starting with a letter from a developer in T3. The letter is written by a MYTHOS Designer with the nickname of ‘Alboos’. In the opening letter, Alboos mentioned that “MYTHOS is currently in a good condition where it’s being reconstructed. We are trying to keep the strengths that MYTHOS used to have, and strengthen them even more to make more suited as an online game.”

“MYTHOS is developed mainly by T3 and supported by Redbana. We are putting the development this way to embrace all kinds of systems that will work globally” said Yoora KIM. CMO of HanbitSoft, and added “many gamers have been worrying and wondering about MYTHOS, but they don’t have to worry now. We are doing our best to develop the game globally popular.”

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.

Hellgate: London 1.5Patch - New Monsters

2009-04-28T22:59:00.001-07:00

HanbitSoft Inc. announced that the company released details and images of seven new monsters that will be included in explosive 1.5Patch for HELLGATE: LONDON, an online action RPG developed by Redbana US Studio, at Hellgate’s Korean official website on April 24th.

Korean Hellgate fans are especially excited about a particular general monster called ‘Dragoon (tentative name)’ because of its name. ‘Dragoon’ has a huge sword with hideous nails, and it gives other monsters strengthening effects. When allies are down, ‘Dragoon’ starts to dash at a player and starts using magic and up-close attack skills. When ‘Dragoon’ is in the herd of demons, it’s more difficult to defeat them. ‘Rider’, ‘Lancer’ which attacks with huge spear, ‘Succubae’ that flies up the sky and attacks with keen claws, and Mummies will be updated.

Boss monsters are ‘Arachtonas’ and ‘Ruriel’. ‘Arachtonas’ is monster that will appear in one of new maps, Tower Bridge, attacking with enormous tentacles on its back. ‘Ruriel’ will be put in Act5. Ruriel is the boss of Ruriel corpses that attacks players by summoning all kinds of Zombies and piles of corpses.

The revealed monsters are only few of new monsters that will be included in 1.5Patch. Different boss monsters will be put into for each Act. HanbitSoft has been introducing 1.5Patch details every week, and next week will be on new items, which is the most wanted information by gamers. For more details about the previous announcements, visit http://hg.hanbiton.com/, or contact Janelle HA at hBonkiE@hanbitsoft.co.kr.

HGLD 1.5Patch Announcement Preview

2009-04-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

HanbitSoft also revealed an image of a new monster that will be included in 1.5Patch. Details and more images will be released this Friday, April 24th at Hellgate's Korean official website.

HGLD 1.5Patch - Tower Bridge

2009-04-21T21:48:00.001-07:00

HanbitSoft Inc. announced today that the company released screen shots of Tower Bridge map for HELLGATE: LONDON, an online action RPG developed by Redbana US Studio, at Hellgate’s Korean official website last Friday (April 17th).

Tower Bridge is not the first new map HanbitSoft released. The company already revealed screen shots of Training Ground and Maritime Museum on April 10th. All revealed maps will be included in Hellgate: London’s 1.5Patch later this year.

The released screen shots show the disrupted Tower Bridge which also has a distinct vive from the other maps. HanbitSoft announced that as of 1.5Patch, Hellgate will have each act very unique environment. Training Ground, Maritime Museum, and Tower Bridge give out different atmosphere, which will allow players to enjoy freshness each time they enter to a different map.

CAMON HERO UPDATE

2009-04-21T02:25:00.001-07:00

CAMON HERO, a highly anticipated online Card Collection MMORPG developed by T3 Entertainment Corp., revealed large scale update for high-level players.

CAMON HERO raised its highest level limit from level 32 to 50. Players who had gone through ‘Secondary Occupation Change’ can now meet with new items of higher level. When players reach to level 50, they have to go through another occupation change, and receive ultimate property card for the first time. New items include weapons, various accessories, and more than 100 kinds of new solider & skill cards such as ‘Chaotic Witch Card’ and ‘Shermasty Card’.

CAMON HERO also opened new areas. Players are encouraged to battle stronger monsters from 40 new areas of ‘Meta D Force’ and ‘Vical’. There will be new 40 level BB (Bulletin Board) contents for high level players. CAMON HERO’s unique feature, Card Book, has also begun its first season with new card book point items. Players will be able to get them by taking card book points from collecting cards.

For more information, visit CAMON HERO’s Korean official website at

http://camon.hanbiton.com

HGLD 1.5patch news

2009-04-14T22:08:00.001-07:00

HanbitSoft Releases New Maps Details of Hellgate: London

Seoul, Korea – April 15, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc. announced that HELLGATE: LONDON, an online action RPG developed by Redbana US Studio, will present new maps in its up-coming 1.5Patch, and released screenshots of them.

The revealed maps are Training Grounds and Maritime Museum. Training Ground will become the new starting area of Hellgate, which gives bright, outdoor spirit to the game. There, players will see many NPCs holding weapons and training the players. After players accomplished the training part, they will be able to go on to the next new map called Maritime Museum.

Maritime Museum is a huge building with two stories. Maritime Museum is expected to become the new center base of the game with various quests and convenience systems. First of all, Marketplace will be placed in Maritime Museum, so players will constantly come in and go out for items exchange and communication with other players. Also, there will be new quests, and Arena Terminal to activated PvP mode that will give both entertainment and convenience to the gamers.

HanbitSoft also revealed screenshots of new maps, items and a boss monster which include Guardian’s Two-handed sword and axe and Arachtonas, one of new boss monsters. Revealed images are just part of many that will be updated through 1.5Patch, and details of the rest will also be revealed very soon.

This is the sixth announcement of Hellgates 1.5Patch details, and Korean gamers’ anticipation is reaching to its climax as outline of the Patch becomes clearer each week.

More about GRAND MER!!

2009-04-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

BACKGROUND STORY
For many years, the earth suffered from severe global warming and long heavy rains and eventually in the year 2108, the earth was covered by a grand ocean and became NEOCEAN WORLD.

After few decades later, the unusual weather cooled down, and lands that had sunk over the years started to appear again. Humans called them NEWTERRA, and began settling in the new land. However it was too early to cultivate or hunt, so humans had to depend on fishery to survive. In this age, race and nationally don’t matter. Only those clubs that fish the best become rich and powerful. That made clubs to battle for the good fishing points where many large species inhabit, and to win the battle, clubs have invented better Trolling equipments and techniques. They call the best angler in NEOCEAN, the LORDAN. All the anglers are fighting to become LORDAN, for wealth and reputation. Are you ready to become the LORDAN?

CHARACTERS

ROY

SEX: Male

AGE: 21

HEIGHT: 177cm

Roy is from a very small, isolated island. He lost his father by great white shark attack. He wants to become the LORDAN and kill the great white shark, the largest species in NEOCEAN, for revenge. He is young and confident. But he has a temper that makes him fish with his power, not techniques. When he loses a fish, he loses his temper too.

STELLAR

SEX: Female

AGE: 25

HEIGHT: 170cm

Stellars dad used to be a powerful club leader, but now new club owns their spot. She keeps entering the tournaments to win her dads glory back. She is live and optimistic. She’s weaker than many other anglers, but she pulls off great techniques that were taught from her dad.

(There are 6characters so far, but only these two are open to play in the up-coming test)

ITEMS
ACCESSORIES
Players can accessorize their characters with various Glasses, Tops, Pants and more.

BOATS
GRAND MER has various kinds of boats from normal to futuristic. Players can buy them at in-game Boat Shop with game money (Pearl) that they obtained through fishing. Only standard boat is open this time.

There are also various kinds of equipments like fishing rods, reels, lures and etc. (These are not included in first CBT.)

MAPS
Every map in GRAND MER has its own unique concept. Fishing games provide similar maps that have different names, so players can’t really tell the difference between one another. In GRAND MERs uniquely created maps, players will be able to feel the cultural essence of each country. In first closed beta test, players will meet with five fascinating maps.

Mantra Sea

It is a historical site of ancient China, where people used to pray for their wishes. It’s called for place of prayers.

Matryoshka Sea

It used to be an industrial area in old Siberia. Most of glacier melted down by global warming, but remaining iceberg became an island. It has low population because of the cold temperature.

Shogun Sea

It’s the only remaining island of old Japanese islands. People built a statue of Shogun to honor the ancient ancestors.

Fishing System

1. Move by Boat Get on the boat, and go to place where you want to fish.

2. Casting Throw out the lure into the water with the casting key on your keyboard.

3. Fighting When a fish bites your lure, pull the rod and wind up the line. When fish is too strong, loosen up the line to avoid from being cut.

4. Landing If you were successful in fighting, take the fish out of the water.

5. Supply When you’re done fishing, find a Supplying Dock in the mini map. Go to the place and register your fish.

There have been lots of online fishing games, but gamers shouldn’t expect same from GRAND MER. With GRAND MER gamers will be able to have a whole different experience. GRAND MER will offer them indescribable thrill and excitement of Trolling with extraordinary effects and unique features. Developed by veterans who have been focusing only on fishing games for 10 years, GRAND MER will present the decisive charm of playing online fishing game. Its first closed beta test begins on April 17th in Korea.

GRAND MER OVERVIEW

2009-04-10T00:11:00.000-07:00

HanbitSoft announced the first closed beta test date for world’s first online trolling game, GRAND MER on April 9th, 2009. The company is inviting gamers who’d join the test which will be held from April 17th until April 19th this spring. In addition to the announcement, spec of games closed beta test version was revealed. This test is only available to gamers with HanbitOn accounts in Korea for now, but I prepared the overview for those out of Korea who are eager to know more about this game. ENJOY!!

INTRODUCTION

GRAND MER is a classic online Trolling game for gamers all over the world. Trolling is method of fishing that is known for best fishing leisure sports. Trolling is to catch large open-water species such as tuna and marlin in a moving boat out in the ocean. (Trolling is often confused with trawling which is a completely different type of fishing. Trolling is used for both recreational and commercial fishing using lines whereas Trawling is used mainly for commercial fishing using nets.) Any angler would want to experience the thrill and excitement of Trolling, and they can with GRAND MER. With GRAND MER, gamers will be able to experience a complete pleasure of Trolling online, at homes or offices, when or wherever they want to, without worrying any weather problems.

SPECIAL FEATURES

A. World’s First Online Trolling Recreation Sports Game

GRAND MER is world’s first online Saltwater Trolling game that invites gamers to a spectacular excitement of deadly struggle with enormous fish which reach up to 8 meters long. GRAND MER emerged from tension focused fishing systems, and introduces classic Trolling that allows gamers to feel the comprehensive situation in fishing.

B. Simple Control System

GRAND MER introduces simple control system so that gamers can easily understand and play the game. Gamers don’t need any professional knowledge to enjoy. Simple control system allows players to enjoy the game by falling into the great suspense and pleasure of fishing itself. In other existing fishing games, players easily get tired of all the hard work of level ups and catching fish and they don’t have anything else to do, whereas GRAND MER is not all about catching large fish. The game continuously provides new challenges with various modes and tournaments that allow players to have new goals and be motivated at all times. So players can decide on their own goals that most fit their characteristics.

C. Various Camera View Angles
GRAND MER has various camera angles which provide live and realistic views. Players can see the delicate expressions of rock on the waves and lively moving fish. These diverse sceneries make the game more real and dynamic. D. Striking Effects Players will be hallucinated by GRAND MER’s extraordinary effects. The game maximizes the joy of fishing with realistic displays of surrounding environments. Players can see movements of waves, shadows on water surface, islands, and color of water changes by time and weather changes. Every fish moves with motion pattern AI, and sometimes funny situations like a fish that player is trying to catch gets eaten by a shark happen.

E. Existing Large Open-water Species
In GRAND MER, players will meet with great numbers of large open-water fish that actually exist in the Five Oceans. Most existing fishing games provide sixty kinds at most whereas GRAND MER has over eighty kinds which are completely developed. Only thirty of them are revealed in the first closed beta test, however more than 200 kinds are planned to be developed in future. Each different species has own unique movements which make GRAND MERs fishing more spectacular. You can say that almost all movements are realized in game.

Other fishing games have three to five motions. GRAND MER has various motions of moving forwards and backwards, many types of jumping, rotating, turning, biting, struggling and etc.

F. Trolling Tournament

GRAND MER is a Trolling tournament game. Any player can open a tournament, and anyone can join the game right away even if it’s already begun. Tournament is divided according to certain conditions. There are three types; Big Game, Star Game, and Super Game. In order to participate in high level tournaments, players have to achieve certain qualifications from lower level tournaments. From various tournaments, players will be entertained with challenging goals and glory that is more than just fishing as one of recreation sports.

G. Community and Competitions Between Clubs

GRAND MER introduces various community systems; messenger, search my friend, club, transactions and etc. Through club competition, winners get possessory rights over certain maps which many benefits.

CAMON HERO's Card Book!

2009-04-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

CAMON HERO Introduces Fascinating Card Book System

Seoul, Korea – April 8th, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc. announced today that CAMON HERO, a highly anticipated online Card Collection MMORPG developed by T3 Entertainment Corp., introduced its Card Book System yesterday, which will bring the true excitement of collecting cards.

Card Book is a place where players can store their cards. However it also brings excitement of competing others with its unique Card Book Points for rank and rare items. Gamers can put 100 cards in one Card Book in one season, and they will be given points according to their collection. By collection, it means the number and rarity the collected cards have. The rank will be set by the Card Book Points. Ranking gets updated every 4:00am, so gamers will be able to see how they did last night, and how their ranking improved. Players can also see the Card Books of other players, and compete with strategy. After season is over, the one player who ranked in first place will be awarded with various rare items, and those who completed the Card Book with 100 cards will be given other compensations.

Players can also purchase unique items with the Card Book Points. Those items are also introduced in recent update. Players will meet with swimsuit items for both male and female characters, various Solider Cards that you cannot find with game-play.

For more information, visit CAMON HERO’s Korean official website at http://camon.hanbiton.com, or contact Janelle HA at hBonkiE@hanbitsoft.co.kr.

CAMON HERO Announces First Update

2009-04-02T23:28:00.000-07:00

CAMON HERO Presents First Update Only a Week After OBT Started

Seoul, Korea – April 3rd, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc. today announced that CAMON HERO, a highly anticipated online Card Collection MMORPG developed by T3 Entertainment Corp., went on its first update on March 31st in Korea. This is first update in only a week after the game started open beta service.

The update includes new play modes and several items. In ‘Luxurious Toy’ mode, players will meet with a huge boss monster called ‘Luxurious Toy’. Here, the players must kill the monster with a joined party, so good cooperation play is very important. In ‘Master Sandman’ mode, players are encouraged to occupy a boss moster ‘Slow’ which uses special magic. Both modes allow only 30 level characters.

For new items, ‘Guild Stone’ and new weapon set is added. ‘Guild Stone’ is an item which increases the guild point. Guild points are needed for growing the guild. New weapon sets are ‘God’s Rage’ and ‘Godess’s Rage’. ‘God’s Rage’ is a both handed swords which randomly creates thunderstorms when its used. ‘Goddess’s Rage’ is a cane which also makes thunderstorms randomly when it’s used.

With great responses by the gamers, CAMON HERO’s open beta is on a good pace. After 2hours of open beta, HanbitSoft had to set up ten additional channels, and for continuous new comers, the company is planning to add more. CAMON HERO is introducing its most important system, Card Book System, next week, and release bigger updates from then.

Hellgate NEWS

2009-04-01T01:52:00.000-07:00

HELLGATE: LONDON Will Have Stronger PvP System

Seoul, Korea – April 1st, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc. announced that HELLGATE: LONDON, an online action RPG developed by Redbana US Studio, will have stronger PvP system after its extensive 1.5 Patch.

Hellgate: London’s 1.5 Patch will introduce various PvP Modes such as ‘Team Death Match’, and a dueling system. Players will be able to choose a mode that best fits their play style, and experience diversity of PvP game-plays. There will be plenty of options to apply when players create the room which will allow the players to enjoy PvP in most favorable conditions. Another remarkable difference is that players will be able to play in 1:1 to 5:5 at most depending on the different modes. A button for inviting guild members will be updated to allow players to easily join their guild members. HanbitSoft added the announced details may change in future.

HanbitSoft posted the general introduction of 1.5 Patch on March 6th through Hellgate’s Korean official website, and is updating the details every Friday. So far, the company announced that there will be Mode Merger, Achievement Reward System, Instance Swtiching and Item Linking, and Consignment House. The company will be revealing more details every week on rest of 1.5 patch contents through Hellgate’s Korean official website.

HanbitSoft also made announcement regarding service in outside of Korea. “There have been many inquiries from US and European Hellgate players surrounding the availability of the game in those respective territories” said Kee Young KIM, CEO of HanbitSoft, and added “HanbitSoft does own the intellectual property of Hellgate: London and is interested in providing the game in the US and Europe, but is unable to do so at this time because Namco Bandai has the publishing rights for those regions. We cannot open up the server in Korea to allow access by US and European players as this will constitute infringing upon Namco Bandai’s publishing rights in the US and Europe. HanbitSoft is currently doing its best to improve the game.”

GRAND MER Teaser Movie

2009-03-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

Check out the teaser movie of GRAND MER.

This game just opened its official website in Korea.

http://gm.hanbiton.com

If you want to see more images, click here

Check out our new online trolling game

2009-03-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

HanbitSoft Announces World’s First Online Trolling Game GRAND MER

Seoul, Korea – April 1st, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc. announced the new title GRAND MER, world’s first online trolling game developed by T3 Entertainment Corp., and released artworks for the first time. Official website (http://gm.hanbiton.com) also opened yesterday.

According to HanbitSoft, GRAND MER, in French, means Large Sea. GRAND MER will bring about the fantastic world of trolling; a highly energetic sport that requires speed and power, into 3D online game. The game concentrated embodying the unique sense of fishing into online, which is the essence of fishing. For this, developers are currently working on making a fishing controller that will heat up the pleasure of fishing.

Gamers who don’t have any trolling or even general fishing experience can easily play the game. The game provides system that anyone who doesn’t have any knowledge of fishing can enjoy with simple control. Gamers will meet with grand fish that actually exist such as sharks, spearfish, giant blue fin tuna and more. From normal ones to futuristic ones, players can play with various kinds of boats and equipments, and experience the excitement of trolling as if they are out at the sea.

HanbitSoft also released exquisite art works, screen shots and teaser movie for the first time. Images show visual of six individual characters and the lively created oceans. From the images, gamers will be able to grasp the general concept of GRAND MER.

“GRAND MER is developed by masters of fishing games who have been working on only fishing games for almost 10 years. With their extraordinary record and passion, development is going very well, and we expect to release the game very soon” said Yoora Kim, CMO of HanbitSoft, and added, “We will put best efforts to bring out GRAND MER soon with distinctive visuals and dynamic thrill of trolling all together.”

GRAND MER is developed by T3 Entertainment, a team of veterans who made VIRTUAL DEEP SEA FISHING, a great hit fishing game, which was also published in the U.S in 1998.

CAMON HERO OBT news

2009-03-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

CAMON HERO’s OBT is Doing Great!
HanbitSoft had to Expanded 10 channels 2hours After Open

Seoul, Korea – March 26th, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc. today announced that CAMON HERO, an highly anticipated online Card Collection MMORPG developed by T3 Entertainment Corp., had a great start in its open beta service on March 24th, and that it is quietly drawing gamers’ attention.

CAMON HERO had attracted gamers with its rather peculiar concept as ‘Card Collection MMORPG’ since Gstar. According to HanbitSoft, CAMON HERO had to expand seven channels in an hour after it had begun its Open Beta Service because of the sudden crowding. In first two hours, HanbitSoft added more channels and operated with 10 channels to manage continuously increasing gamers’ access.

Players who joined in CAMON HERO’s open beta started posting positive responses on its official website, such as “It is more fun than I expected. It’s a well made game”, “CAMON HERO is juicy and speedy!” and “Entertaining! Especially collecting cards!”

“Despite the unfavorable condition, we are very excited to see gamers come constantly and leave with satisfaction. Because March is known as slack season in online game industry and CAMON HERO stuck to its plan to open during the weekday at day time, we are very satisfied about the current status. It is so much more than we had expected especially when we didn’t really do any particular marketing activities” said Yoora Kim, CMO of HanbitSoft, and added “more and more new players are joining the game, and we are preparing a new server for them. We are very thankful to those gamers who kept their royalty and waited for CAMON HERO’s open.”

After its final test in November last year, CAMON HERO quietly went through an extensive modification, and improved its quality by running number of Focus Group Tests. With its come back, CAMON HERO is now tempting the gamers with its familiar systems and a bulk of fresh and new contents.

For more information, visit CAMON HERO’s official website in Korea at http://camon.hanbiton.com, or contact Janelle HA at hBonkiE@hanbitsoft.co.kr.

CAMON HERO, HERE WE GO~

2009-03-19T21:37:00.001-07:00

HanbitSoft Releases CAMON HERO OBT Details

HanbitSoft Inc. today released details of CAMON HERO, an highly anticipated online Card Collection MMORPG developed by T3 Entertainment Corp., which will begin open beta test on March 24th. From March 24th, players will be able to meet with CAMON HERO’s unique systems that are combined with card and RPG features.

CAMON HERO’s character advancement system is not much different from other MMORPGs except after when the character is advanced, players will be able to experience strategic game-plays through interplay among characters and warriors of various roles. For players who play CAMON HERO for the first time, they all begin venturing the world as ‘adventurers’. And after awhile, characters are encouraged to advance into ‘heroes’ by rebirth and occupation change. At level 10, players choose character’s combat type through Rebirth System which there is three types choose from; physical, magical and summoning. At level 30, players will face ‘Secondary Occupation Change Stage’, where they get to choose another type from fighter, magician, and summoner. By choosing types that most fit their play style, players can make their character specialized in one unique characteristic or develop as hybrid shape as they uniquely create their own characters.

Uniquely created characters will explore the adventure with the warriors which are summoned by various cards. Warriors, players’ comrades, have various roles. ‘Warrior Private Warrior’ increases warrior’s skill rates, ‘Hero Private Warrior’ increases character’s skill rates, ‘Tanker’ takes monsters attacks instead of character, ‘Dealer’ attacks on behalf of character, ‘Healer’ heals character and warriors, and lastly, ‘Buffer’ give strengthening effects to both character and warriors. Players are encouraged to have a thorough knowledge of their characters’ qualities so that they would come up with good strategy of when to use what cards to summon which warriors that most likely be suitable for their characters.

In game BBS (Bulletin Board System) is another feature CAMON HERO is proud of. In BBS, players are able to choose various battle modes, by whichever game play styles they like. So far, there are three modes; Annihilation Battle Mode, Person to Person Battle Mode and Boss Battle Mode. In Annihilation Battle Mode, players have to kill the monsters in given amount of time, and in Person to Person Battle Mode, player who survives from the battle between the players wins. Each mode drops different item and cards, that in order to win various kinds of rare items and cards, players are encouraged to play in all modes and enjoy the fun of collecting the goods.

For more information, visit official website at http://camon.hanbiton.com/, or contact Janelle N.E HA at hBonkiE@hanbitsoft.co.kr.

2009-03-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

CAMON HERO Starts Open Beta Test on March 24th

Seoul, Korea – March 17th, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc. announced today that CAMON HERO, an Online Card Collection MMORPG developed by T3 Entertainment Corp., is starting open beta service in Korea on March 24th.

CAMON HERO is a MMORPG for light gamers especially who are tired of playing same, ordinary MMORPGs. CAMON HERO presents unique system combined by card and RPG features that anyone who are interested in online games can easily learn and enjoy. From the beginning to the end, the game focuses on cards, since each feature is both directly and indirectly related to card system. Players are encouraged to use various cards for summoning warriors and activating skills, and adventure the world of ‘Continent of Aria’ with their characters.

On March 24, CAMON HERO will offer full of entertainment with strengthened card features. Players may experience strategic game-plays through summoning and combining various warriors of different roles, and using cooperation of character and warriors. There will also be a new tutorial that introduces scenario and control system of the game to let the players feel comfortable to learn and play.

“HanbitSoft’s three out of five games that have been shown in last year’s Gstar are now in commercial service and they are in good shape” said Yoora Kim, CMO of HanbitSoft, and added, “we expect CAMON HERO to be the next success. We have put a lot of efforts to strengthen the core features and upgrade the quality since Gstar, I hope Korean gamers will enjoy it.”

HanbitSoft added that CAMON HERO’s friendly graphic images and simply unique Card System have captured foreign buyers’ interests, and the company has been receiving many inquiries recently that oversea expansion will precede fairly fast.

** Do you want to know more about CAMON HERO?? Please leave your comments!!

HGLD 1.5 Patch NEWS #1

2009-03-16T02:23:00.000-07:00

Another news on Hellgate: London. There will be 1.5 Patch in Korea pretty soon (not sure when), since HanbitSoft decided to reveal the details through its Korean Hellgate official website every week. Each week, there will be introductions on details of upcomming changes. I received many mails and posts concerning the last I left here on the blog, HanbitSoft's standpoint stays the same for now.

HanbitSoft is interested in providing the game in the US and Europe, but we are unable to do so at this time, due to the fact that Namco Bandai has the publishing rights for those region. HanbitSoft is currently doing best to make the game better. Thanks, and enjoy the news^^

HanbitSoft Reveals 1.5 Patch Details of Hellgate: London

Seoul, Korea – March 16th, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc. announced today that the company is revealing 1.5 patch details of Hellgate: London, an online action RPG developed by Redbana US Studio, every week through the game’s Korean official website. HanbitSoft and developers in Redbana has been preparing 1.5 patch since last year, as soon as the developing crew had been formed. It is planned to be an extensive update to reinforce Hellgate’s reputation. HanbitSoft announcing that the company will be posting the patch details in weekly basis suggests that the update date is getting close.

HanbitSoft posted the general introduction of 1.5 patch on March 6th through Hellgate’s official website, and mentioned that there will be Mode Merger, Consignment House, and various kinds of PvP features, etc. On March 13th, the company revealed parts of the patch contents in details: Mode Merger, Achievement Reward System, Instance Swtiching and Item Linking.

After 1.5 patch, all modes will be merged. In current Hellgate, players play either in Normal Mode or Elite Mode, but later on, the two modes will be combined and all players will be playing the game together. Players who are playing in Elite Mode will be able to keep the Elite mark next to their names, and granted with special titles.

Achievement Reward System is a system that rewards the players who accomplish the challenge achievements, with ‘- + To all attributes’, ‘Health injectors’ and etc. Instance Switching will also be added for easier channel shift. Instance Switching is designed with simple User Interface, so that any player can easily transfer to the place where the player he wants to play with is. Ultimately, it will also strengthen the community by providing convenient system for more active interactions between players. With Item Linking, players can link their items to chatting window, and show off their luxury items. It will make the item trade a lot easier.

HanbitSoft will be revealing more details on rest of 1.5 patch contents step by step every week through Hellgate’s Korean official website.

*** HanbitSoft has any and all rights to distribute and service Hellgate:London in South Korea and certain part of Asia excluding Japan. ***

NEO STEAM oversea

2009-03-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

Seoul, Korea – February 24, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc. announced that Neo Steam, a MMORPG with the unique genre of steampunk developed by JoyImpact, will be published by Atlus Online for players in North America, South America, and anywhere else in the world, except Europe.

“It’s always overwhelming to see our games go overseas to meet new gamers around the world” said Kee Young Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft Inc. and G10 Entertainment Corp., and added “Neo Steam has many unique qualities that MMO players out there will love. HanbitSoft and Atlus Online will make best effort to bring out the best service for them.”

“With an engaging, steampunk-inspired storyline and aesthetic, Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent is a fresh take on the standard ‘fantasy’ MMO game genre,” said Shinichi Suzuki, president and CEO, Atlus. “Atlus Online is excited to bring this popular game in its new incarnation to a wide range of players around the world. Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent is a great first entertainment experience to lay the foundation of the unparalleled content and unmatched social interaction planned for the Atlus Online portal.”

Set in the world of 19th century where steam-based technology meets fantasy inventions, Neo Steam delivers players to a world where two nations battle over a precious resource called Neo Steam. As players battle to expand their nation’s resources and protect their territories, they must learn to upgrade their weapons, equip new abilities, and become a good controller.
By exploring Neo Steam’s steampunk fantasy world, the game also features various forms of steam-based machines and vehicles for faster in-game traveling.

Korean Hellgate: London Fans Welcome the Recent Update

2009-03-04T00:36:00.000-08:00

Hi, Hellgate: London fans^^
Hellgate: London recently had an update in Korea, and Korean fans are loving it!
Just to be accurate, the update news mentioned below is only related to Hellgate: London serviced in Korea. HanbitSoft do not hold the publishing right in the US or Europe for Hellgate: London, therefore I am not authorized to respond to gamers in those territories. I know there are many fans who are from US and Europe, who have many Hellgate inquiries. You guys should contact the person in charge at Namco directly, you should be able to get the answers from them.

Sorry about the long intro, enjoy the news!!

Seoul, Korea – March 4th, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc announced that Korean gamers are welcoming the recent updates of Hellgate: London, an online action RPG developed by Redbana US Studio.

HanbitSoft announced 1.35b patch notes through the official webpage on February 17th, and updated the game on February 24th. The specifics of 1.35b update are as follows.

· One-time ‘Unique Skill Retrainer’ is awarded to all characters of all accounts that login within a specific award event interval.
· Moloch now has a small chance to drop a Lesser Seal from each Invasion Act when he dies.
· Any Champion monster that has a chance of dropping a Lesser Seal now has an additional chance to drop a second Lesser Seal of the same Act.

Gamers who are pleased about the current updates are constantly posting messages on the game’s Korean official website, complementing on the quality and encouraged about having more such updates. According to HanbitSoft, the reason the gamers are so pleased about the recent update is that the company had tried to develop new contents by embracing the gamers’ needs and listening to what they are asking for.

“Hellgate: London is currently in good shape, strengthening online features, and most of the ideas come from gamers’ suggestions. I guess that’s why gamers are more pleased with the current changes” said Yoo-Ra Kim, Chief Marketing Officer of HanbitSoft, and added “we want to thank all the gamers who have been supportive. In return, we will do our best to bring out the upgraded Hellgate: London very soon.”

Hellgate: London is currently preparing for the next update for the 1.5 version, which will be open to public in Korea very soon.

***HanbitSoft has any and all rights to distribute and service Hellgate:London in South Korea and certain part of Asia excluding Japan.***

2009-02-27T01:02:00.001-08:00

Spike Girls Opens Item Shop Today!

Seoul, Korea - February 24, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc, announced today that Spike Girls, online character sports game developed by Movon, opened its item shop and officially began commercial service.

Spike Girls started its open beta on February 5th with new features for the beginners strengthening its tutorial systems and single play mini games and received positive responses from the gamers. Spike Girls fans were constantly asking for new costume items, and finally their wish has come true.

Spike Girls have two different item shops, and each shop sell different kinds of items. In ‘Cleo’, the accessories and costume items and background skin items are sold. In the recent update, Spike Girls revealed various designs of school girl look costume items. In ‘Happy Vox’, gamers can by variety of consuming items such as ‘permit for rename’ item which allows changing the name of a character, and a ‘Speed Gun’ which shows the speed of a ball, ‘Booster Item’ which increases gamers experience rate and Ring (Game Money) and etc.

Spike Girls is an online kickball game played by cute teenage girl characters. There are four characters, Yuna, Alice, Dorothy, Shu. Each character has unique features both visually and internally. All four characters are equally loved by the gamers, and the new character will be updated soon.

AIKA Update NEWS!!

2009-02-27T01:01:00.000-08:00

AIKA presents ‘Battle Field’ and ‘Hell Mode’ in the Newest Update

Seoul, Korea – February 24, 2009 – HanbitSoft announced that AIKA ONLINE, a 1000 vs. 1000 massive battle MMORPG developed by JoyImpact, has updated newest features to the game. This is the first time since the open beta to update on new system features in large. Until now, AIKA had been making balance adjustments, adding items for user convenience and etc.

This most recent update focuses on strengthening the battle system. It includes:

- A new battle system called ‘Battle Field’. In Battle Field, compensations through war go directly to the gamers unlike other systems, where the nation or the master gets them all. Also, Battle Field eliminates the participants to 48 people at a time, in order to avoid unbalanced PvP. By having certain environment, players are encouraged to combat with more strategy and skill to win. Various missions such as Team Death Match, and customizing system, to allow the players to design their own field for more unique combat, will be added in the future.

- ‘Hell Mode’, the most difficult level in instant dungeon, is updated initially in Ushula Dungeon. Only the characters of at least level 50 can enter the dungeon, and only once in a day. In Hell Mode, players can win high-level items that are stronger and unique, and meet with stronger monsters.

There will be larger update next month. It will be larger in scale and various in details.

GE NEWS

2009-02-27T00:59:00.000-08:00

Granado Espada Breaks Through 30billion Accumulated Sales

Seoul, Korea – February 17, 2009 – HanbitSoft Inc, announced that a well known MMORPG GRANADO ESPADA had exceeded 30billion won in the accumulated sales last year. This record was reached before it had its third anniversary in open beta in February of 2006. Shown by the accomplishment, Granado Espada now is one of the top sellers of the company.

Grandado Espada is currently played in 30 countries by more than 20milion subscribers around the world. The game is especially popular in Japan and South East countries, and more and more gamers join to play in Russia, North American and Europe every day.

Spike Girls Starts OBT!!

2009-02-05T20:05:00.000-08:00

Spike Girls Starts Open Beta Service in Korea

Seoul, Korea - February 6, 2009 – HanbitSoft, Inc. announced today that online character sports game Spike Girls had started its open beta service in Korea.

Updates for first trial gamers

Spike Girls began its open beta on 5th in Korea with various new updates. Many new skills were updated for low level users to high level users, and tutorial system had been strengthened since the last closed beta.

Spike Girls fans have been urging the development department to upgrade the control system so that first trial gamers can easily adapt to the game. These requests have been applied to the game, showing the whole new game features such as ‘challenge mode’ and ‘replay system’. Challenge mode is for new gamers who are afraid to play against other gamers.

Through playing in challenge mode, gamers can play the game with the computer and practice without any pressure of loosing. Replay system is for gamers who want to see how they played during the last game. By using replay system, the player can easily find out what mistakes were made.

About Spike Girls
Spike Girls is an online character sports game developed by Movon. With Spike Girls, gameers can play kickball with cute teenage girls. Players who don’t know the rules for kickball can also play without any difficulty. There are various kinds of modes that can be chosen by preference, and varieties of special items are set up for those who want to dress up the characters.

For more information, visit www.hanbiton.com or contact Janelle HA at hBonkiE@hanbitsoft.co.kr.

HGLD Updates!

2009-01-22T23:39:00.000-08:00

Hellgate: London, Future Updates are All About Stronger Community

Seoul, Korea - January 23, 2009 – HanbitSoft, Inc. announced today that Hellgate: London, an online action RPG developed by Redbana US Studio, will focus its future updates on strengthening community features. During Hellgate: London’s meeting with fan gamers on the 16th, producers and marketing managers revealed plans regarding the direction of future development and new features to be updated.

Maintaining the Speedy, Thrilling Action Game Elements and Strengthening the Community System

Hellgate: London’s future development direction will be focused on strengthening community features while maintaining the speedy and thrilling action game elements, as many users have wanted better community functionality for quite some time. HanbitSoft revealed the new content that is to be included in the next large-scale patch, which is expected to be released soon. In the upcoming update, HanbitSoft plans to combine the two game play modes, unifying the split two communities into one. Also planned are class balance improvements and differentiation of each of the 5 acts. Gamers who attended the conference applauded this announcement.

Hellgate: London Switches Over to a Free-to-Play Model

During the conference, HanbitSoft also announced that Hellgate: London will soon be serviced in a free-to-play model. This was the first time that any related official announcements had been made. HanbitSoft explained that by switching over to a free-to-play model, users will feel less burdened, opening the doors to a larger, more diverse gaming community. The date of the free-to-play switch over is undetermined at this point, but HanbitSoft stated that more news will be released through the official Hellgate: London website soon.

For more information, visit the official Hellgate: London website at http://hg.hanbiton.com/ or contact Janelle Ha at hBonkiE@hanbitsoft.co.kr.

Which Celebrity looks like Spike Girls Characters?

2009-01-20T22:29:00.000-08:00

Do you remeber Spike Girls?

Spike Girls is an online kick ball game. Kick ball is better known as a Guy Sport to most people, but in Spike Girls, pretty girls are the ones who play extreme kick ball.

There are four characters in Spike Girls.
Yuna is one with long straight hair. She is energetic, playful character.
Shu is the one who seems shy.
Elis is the sexy one. She's tall, tough and sexy.
Dorothy is the mean one. She's a younger sister to Elis. She is selfish and likes to be alone.

http://nownews.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20090120603009>

Spike Girls had a survey in official website asking the gamers which celebrities these characters look alike. Gamers chose Yon Ye Jin for Yuna, Moon Gun Young for Shu, Han Chae Young for Elis and So Hee for Dorothy. Take a look at the photos and see if you feel the same! ^^

Spike Girls is going on open beta service on February 5th.

Lunar New Year Events!

2009-01-20T22:08:00.000-08:00

Happy (Lunar) NEW YEAR!!
In Korea we cellebrate lunar new year's day, and this year it's January 26th. HanbitSoft games are having various events to cellebrate new years day. We created cow costumes to cellebrate the year of OX!

Here are some of the cute images.

AIKA goes ABROAD!!

2009-01-15T20:57:00.000-08:00

There's great news on AIKA for gamers who've been wondering when this game will be available other than Korea. Well, AIKA has started to reach overseas, starting from Taiwan this spring, AIKA is ready to go wide.

AIKA will be published by Redbana Taiwan which is the local subsidiary of T3 Entertainment.

AIKA is in open beta service in Korea, and its ready to go commercial. For more information, check out the press release below.

AIKA ONLINE Seeks to go Abroad by Starting Oversea Service in Taiwan this Spring

Seoul, Korea - January 16, 2009 – HanbitSoft, Inc. today announced that the company and Redbana Taiwan, T3 Entertainment, Inc.(“T3”)’s local subsidiary, have made an agreement on publishing rights of AIKA ONLINE(“AIKA”), 1000 vs 1000 massive battle MMORPG, in Taiwanese market. Starting from Taiwan this spring, AIKA will push to go into other foreign markets.

“This is just a beginning” said Ki Young KIM, CEO of HanbitSoft, and added “AIKA has a battle system that no other MMOs have shown before. We are confident that AIKA will be successful in Taiwan and other regions. Even before its open beta, the title has been receiving many love calls from all over the world.”

“Many MMOs with battle play have been very successful in Taiwan, so we have huge expectation on AIKA” said Bruce YOON, CEO of Redbana Taiwan, and added “AIKA provides a unique massive battle system with low client which is customized to local environment. We are sure it will be successful in Taiwan.”

AIKA is in open beta service in Korea updating every week for game balance and customization. The game will be going commercial next month.

For more information, visit http://aika.hanbiton.com, an official site for AIKA in Korea.

AIKA's new Trailer

2008-12-03T23:39:00.001-08:00

AIKA ONLINE PRESENTS
BLOCKBUSTER TRAILER of 1000 vs 1000 BATTLE

Seoul, Korea - December 4, 2008 – HanbitSoft today released a preview trailer of massive war MMORPG AIKA ONLINE(hereinafter AIKA). The Trailer of AIKA focuses on massive wars, which is one of the core systems in the game. It is highly noted from the fact that the scenes of the massive war was taken from the actual battle during the last closed beta test. Watching the trailer, gamers can pre-experience the thrill of being in the largest battle field in online game history.

HanbitSoft announced last week that AIKA will be starting open beta service on December 18th, and showed no fear of being part of the recent struggles of MMORPGs. The company added that after the announcement many greedy foreign buyers have been calling to set up meeting for AIKA, which leads to good possibility of success in oversea as well.

“AIKA is the one and only MMORPG that manages massive war of 1000 vs 1000. It’s the largest scale in online game history, and gamers will be blown away by its excitement” said Yoora Kim, Online Business Director of HanbitSoft, and added “AIKA’s unique features are strong, and we are not afraid of any competition.”

Before the open beta, AIKA opens its upgraded official website on 5th and reveals its feature information in details.

HGLD Update News

2008-12-03T01:05:00.000-08:00

Here's some good news to those who've been craving for Hellgate: London updates.
The message was officially released out to Asian partners(/publishers of Hellgate: London), but I thought you might be interested too! (click image for better view)

Letter from HGLD Product Manager

2008-10-30T23:19:00.000-07:00

Hi, This is Janelle.

I just received a letter from Hellgate: London Product Manager,
and i hope this will help you with your inquiries.

Below is the original message.

To the fans of Hellgate: London,

We wish to express our gratitude to all the fans for showing your passion and dedication to Hellgate: London.

Since acquiring the intellectual property rights, HanbitSoft Inc., the publisher and distributor of Hellgate: London in Asia, has concentrated on the development of Hellgate: London, and has received many inquiries regarding new updates. Our US development studio is currently working on an update that is to surpass “The Abyss Chronicles.” This game will be available through our Web site. We thank you once again for showing your interest and ask for your continuous support for Hellgate: London, as we hope to bring good news shortly. In the meantime, we will continue developing the world’s best game!

Sincerely,
Hellgate: London Product Manager - also a fellow user that loves to play Hellgate: London

Meet STARCRASH

2008-10-26T21:22:00.001-07:00

POPOMING starts over with new name "STARCRASH"

Do you remember a fruity jucy colorful game POPOMING?

This colorful action RPG had finished its 4th closed beta tests and several internal tests during the past two years, and now announces that it's ready for release.

Before the release, the game has changed its name into Starcrash which shows more about the game. (The chacter has to punch and crash the color boxes of stars to transform into different color bodies which have different skills and abilities)

Anyway, Starcrash is ready to rock now. It is preparing new contents before open beta comming soon, and has already opened a new official website. I will let you know the updates as soon as they're ready. ^^

GE 3.1 UPDATE

2008-10-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

Granado Espada Announced a new version GE 3.1

GE brought up a new sensation to the core GE fans with 3.0 version update last August, revealing high level contents in two and a half years. This very recent version is quite different from the last one. This update focused on contents for light players who don't have much time to sit for MMORPG. The ideas were adopted by the requests from the players, which concentrates on "convenience" than "entertainment" features.

The main update is the "GEMOCON", the web control system which stands for "GE Remote Control". This is a system that will let you check how your character is doing, whether it's dead, or doing hunting while you're out. You can do it everywhere, where there is internet. You can also chat with other players through this system which will allow you to strengthen your community activity online.

HanbitSoft Gains HGLD & Mythos IP

2008-10-26T21:06:00.000-07:00

Hellgate and Mythos Both in HanbitSofts Hands

HanbitSoft now owns both Hellgate: London, online action RPG and Mythos, casual MMORPG, once used to be developed by Flagship Studios. HanbitSoft now acquires IP (Intellectual Property) including the engines and source codes of both well made titles.

This means that HanbitSoft is now the owner of all the titles that Flagship Studios had been working on, and both titles will be developed in newly established studio in the U.S. HanbitSoft expects that full possession of these titles will not only bring them larger portion of the earnings but also upgrade the quality of contents fit for online games.

HanbitSoft had constantly tried to gain the IP of two titles after Flagship Studios shutdown. The company announced recently that the regarding issues are now all settled, and only thing left is to focus on developing the titles the best way possible.

“Hellgate: London is now HanbitSoft’s game, and we have already formed a team. They are doing hard work for updates and patches. Service in Asia including Korea is in good hands” said Gi-Young Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft, and added “I believe Mythos is a very attractive MMORPG, just gaining large fans from couple of beta tests. It has a lot of potential and it will also be developed at studio in San Francisco with Hellgate: London. Both titles will be presented soon with upgraded features.”

Experience HELL again

2008-09-10T23:34:00.000-07:00

HELLGATE is BACK!!

Many of you may heard about the sad news of Flagship's shutdown.

But the good news is that Hellgate will go on with the new crew. HanbitSoft announced that T3 Entertainment recruited some of the best developers from Flagship Studios, Blizzard and formed a team with developers of their own. They will be carrying on where the last crew left off.

Hellgate also decided to go partly FREE in Korea. Don't be too excited. It's not ALL FREE.

Act1 and Act2 is open for everyone who wants to experience Hellgate, and only players who choose go on are asked to pay. HanbitSoft introduced various types of price models with a huge bargain, up to 67% OFF at most!

Just wait for the Hellgate's Comeback.

You'll be more than surprised!!

GE 3.0

2008-09-10T00:47:00.000-07:00

GE is BACK with 3.0 UPDATE!
Check out the first highlevel region, weapons and skills
update in a year!

Granado Espada is back with a whole new world. 3.0 is all about .

The new region "Errac" and new recruitable NPCs takes place in the time ages and ages before the new civilization began, and focus on solving the mysteries of unsolved problems. 3.0 update also strengthened the main scenario, and let you explore the advantures.

You can experience both traditional GE and newly born GE at the same time. The best news about 3.0 update is that it's for high level players who had been craving for higher level contents. For more than a year, GE had to concentrate ensuring low and middle level contents for majority, but this time the developers took a chance.

This time, you can explore very strong and very new weapons with different skills.

Remember. They're really really strong.^^

But dont worry beginners. GE has now new experience point system that will allow to speed up your level-up.

Just be patient, then you can enjoy these stuff in no time~

GE also opened up bran new server called "Errac" for those who want to start GE all over again.

Beginners are also welcome.

CAMON HERO on CBT

2008-07-30T00:42:00.000-07:00

Camon Hero Starts 1st CBT Today
From July 30th to August 5th!!
HanbitSoft announced that Camon Hero, Card summoning MMORPG developed by T3Entertainment, is starting its first closed beta test through HanbitOn today until 5th of August.

Camon Hero is a MMORPG which is mainly about heroes(characters) fighting against monsters with cards. Camon Hero is revealing over 10thousand items, 700 kinds of different monsters, and 100 different maps with fields and dungeons. The amount of contents is the largest in online game history to be open in the first closed beta test. Players will be able to explore diverse modes and systems without any level limits.

2008-07-24T22:16:00.000-07:00

HanbitSoft Signs World Wide Publishing Rights Contract of ‘WarCry’, New Fantasy FPS Blockbuster Developed by T3 Entertainment

Seoul Korea, July 24 2008 – HanbitSoft announced today that the company has acquired worldwide publishing rights of WarCry, the new fantasy FPS blockbuster developed by T3 Entertainment.

WarCry is an online Third person Shooting Game(TSG), based on a fantasy world. Players can choose a class out of twelve heroes, and experience fierce battle with sixteen other players in various maps. Players can not only enjoy the battles between the other fighters, but also explore the thrill of Real Time Strategy(RTS) and shooting game plays. According to HanbitSoft, WarCry is expected to be open to public during this third quarter through HanbitOn, the company’s game community portal site.

“WarCry represents our motto, which is to develop fun and new game each and every time” said Ki Young Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft, and added “We believe WarCry has great potential in both domestic and international market”

HanbitSoft announced that additional games that are being developed by T3 will also be published by HanbitSoft in the future.

2008-07-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

HanbitSoft secures global license of ‘Audition2’ and ‘Camon Hero’

HanbitSoft announced it made contract with T3 entertainment for securing global license of ‘Audition2’ and ‘Camon Hero’ on July 17th. With this contract, HanbitSoft holds global license excluding some areas already contracted with Yedang Online. It also secured world-wide license of ‘Camon Hero’, except for two areas of China and Taiwan, that already been exported to by T3.

Kim Ki-Young, CEO of HanbitSoft said, “These two games show proven game quality through previous export contract and now we can expect additional revenue by exposing games to 8 million HanbitOn(http://audition.hanbiton.com) users and starting new service in other overseas market.” He also added, “This contract is the first step of the sequential synergy coming upon the unification of HanbitSoft and T3 Entertainment.”

‘Audition2‘ is receiving high attention of market for it advanced the compatibility between online game and web community to the upper level more like ‘Social Network Service’. The prior title, Audition1 recorded over 350 billion won accumulated revenue and Audition2 is expected to show greater success under this assumption. HanbitOn will start Audition2 channeling service within the 3rd quarter of this year.

‘Camon Hero’ is a unique game title combining role playing type and real time simulation type. It shows differentiated card system and is going to provide domestic service within the 3rd quarter. It is also being prepared for local service in China and Taiwan.

With this contract, HanbiSoft took a step forward for securing new growth engine. It’s said their synergy effect will be proliferated when HanbitSoft launches new pipe-line of T3 Entertainment and it puts spurs to global service.

HGLD for TEENS

2008-07-20T18:35:00.000-07:00

Comming SOON: Hellgate: London for TEENS

HanbitSoft announced on June 20, 2008 that teen version of Hellgate: London will be launched in Korea this summer.

Hellgate: London's teen version is for gamers at least 15years old, and the game has been retouched for them. Too much blood effects and explosion scenes were revised or deleted from the game. Some violent vocabulary used in the game was also purified.

Hellgate: London's teen version will be launched in Korea no matter the Flagship Studio's shut down. HanbitSoft stated that they already have received a build, and update schedule will be stayed as planned.

2008-07-20T18:14:00.000-07:00

AIKA ONLINE - SURPRISE TEST on July4

Aika Online had a surprise test for two days. Only the ones who had participated on the last two closed beta tests and those who were invited by the members were able to join the test. The test was operated only for two days just to concentrate on its battle system, which is the core system in the game. Project manager at HanbitSoft in charge of Aika stated that "this test is only for testing battel system in order to get ready for the third closed beta test which is planned in very near future."

The test went very well, and Aika will be introduced in upgraded form very soon.

NEOSTEAM in TAIWAN

2008-07-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

NEO STEAM HOT, WOW in FEAR in Taiwan
NEO STEAM Competes Against WOW on 1st Place of Taiwanese Top Game Portal Site

Seoul, Korea – June 26, 2008 – HanbitSoft today announced that steam punk RPG NEO STEAM is in commercial service with popular responses in Taiwan.NEO STEAM has started its commercial service on 19th of June, and achieved more than 25thousand CCPU in a week which is the number twice as big as the one from the closed beta test.

NEO STEAM at first began the service with 13 worlds, but had to add two more during its first week to manage rapidly increasing gamers.In one of Taiwans famous game portal site(www.gamer.com.tw), NEO STEAM now competes against WORLD of WARCRAFT on first place of the rank, and another game magazine reported that guidebook for NEO STEAM is very popular among the gamers.

"Around 7thousand copies of starters package are being sold every day at SEVEN-ELEVEN, and according to gamers, they have to visit 2~3 stores in a day just to get one package" said Howard Chang, Manager of NEO STEAM service at X-Legend Entertainment, and added "We are happy about the results so far. We will do our best to make this popularity long run."

HanbitSoft announced that the reasons for NEO STEAMs such success in Taiwan, are the international service know-how the company has learned through previous services in Japan and China, and preparation of sufficient contents for gamers to enjoy. HanbitSoft added that with X-Legend, both companies will put best effort on providing sustainable updates to bring satisfying service to Taiwanese gamers.

2008-07-18T00:19:00.000-07:00

Some of you may be surprised, some of you may worry, and some of you may be up beat to hear the shocking news coming from us every week.This week has been all about Flagship Studios Shut Down, and IP law suits over HGLD and Mythos. This is the Translation of our press release put out on July 16th, 2008 in Korea.

Bill Roper and Directors of Flagship Studios Bear Responsibility

Last weekend, Flagship Studios announced that former employees were fired and HanbitSoft mentioned that all measures were proceeding as planned to the benefit of players (in Korea) to ensure that continued service of Hellgate: London would be seamless despite the current problems at its development studio. In addition, HanbitSoft holds the executives of Flagship Studios fully responsible for the incident towards the rights and interests of the users and stakeholders, including shareholders and other parties involved. HanbitSoft is considering taking strong legal action against Flagship Studios in order to take them to task for their responsibilities.

HanbitSoft does not expect to have any difficulty in securing the exclusive intellectual property rights related to Mythos. HanbitSoft is prepared to deal with Comerica bank in a local visit to them next week in order to secure and acquire the intellectual property rights of Hellgate: London. HanbitSoft believes that the game has nothing to do with the aforementioned bank as HanbitSoft already holds the rights to the game in Asia. HanbitSoft believes it has a strong possibility of acquiring the intellectual property of Hellgate: London in the United States and the rest of the world.

HanbitSoft stated that they will be devising a plan to continue work on the games with local (Korean) game developers in order to see the game through.

HanbitSoft’s CEO Kim Ki-Young stated, “Hellgate: London has a strong possibility of being ‘reborn’ into an excellent game with an outstanding product life,” he continued to say that “With more than 500 people at its disposal, both in-house and outsourced contracts who are veteran developers of every genre ranging from casual games to hardcore MMORPGs, we are ready to recreate Hellgate: London into an excellent game.”

He continued, “We don’t have to recruit existing developers, however if we could do so, we could shorten the time for analysis and developing for users. Although we are trying our best, since Flagship Studios doesn’t want to cooperate, we have no choice.”

According to HanbitSoft, they offered several methods and the means to keep Flagship alive in consideration of the users, but Flagship majorly lacked in effort. Hanbitsoft already has offered large amounts of investments but Flagship replied with ridiculous counter-offers and the negotiations went south. Even so, HanbitSoft continued to make investment offers which were all rejected, leading to the lay-offs of all of the Flagship employees.

HanbitSoft also stated, “Flagship not only lacked effort, but were only looking for personal gain. Firing all of the Flagship employees in order to protect the personal interests of its founding members only shows how selfish and irresponsible they are.”

Flagship Studios is an incorporated company. Hence if any problems occur within this company, it doesn’t affect the finances of any of Flagship Studios’ founders.

HanbitSoft said they are going to take legal proceedings as Flagship Studios is legally responsible for a serious breach of duty in not protecting their stockholder’s rights. The legal proceedings will be done against Flagship’s founders and management people for their intellectual property. HanbitSoft currently owns a 9.5% stake in Flagship Studios.

You can also read this piece at http://hellgateguru.com/2008/07/hanbitsoft-flagship-is-selfish-and-irresponsible/

2008-07-18T00:16:00.000-07:00

T3 Entertainment Becomes the Largest Stockholder of HanbitSoft

As you may have heard from the various news, T3 Entertainment, the developing company very well known for Audition, online casual dance game, has acquired controlling stake in HanbitSoft on May 19, 2008 and have become the largest stockholder of the company.

The following is part the press release put out on the announcement day in Korea.

HanbitSoft announced today(May 19, 2008) that T3 Entertainment(hereinafter T3) has become the largest stockholder of the company.

HanbitSoft assigned 25% of Alex Kim’s share, who had been CEO and the largest stockholder of HanbitSoft, to T3.

HanbitSoft stated that this strategic coalition between the two companies will bring great synergy to the whole industry. Games that are developed by T3 will be serviced through HanbitOn, game portal site of 8million accounts, which will eventually brought up to be one of largest game portal sites in Korea.

T3 seeks to brighten up the domestic market by strengthening HanbitOn, and global market through strong international network HanbitSoft have built so far.

“Despite the ownership of the company, I will continue to devote my all passion and my know hows for HanbitSoft’s better future” said Alex Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft, and added “we decided to go for ‘changing the largest stockholder’ other than any other possible ways to go, because we agreed it is the best way to be. We believe our deal will bring positive energy to struggling industry.”

2008-06-18T00:36:00.001-07:00

Spike Girls, had successfully finished its 3rd closed beta test.

Many gamers thought the game had improved in its overall quality especially in community systems. There will be more cute characters with variety of items they can wear comming up for its next milestone.

2008-06-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

NEOSTEAM TAKES GREAT START IN TAIWAN
NEOSTEAM Fascinates Taiwanese Gamers

on its First Day of Closed Beta Test,
Sweeping Top Ranks of Major Sites in Country

Seoul Korea, June 13 2008 – HanbitSoft announced today that its steam punk RPG NEOSTEAM had successfully terminated its first closed beta test in Taiwan.

NEOSTEAM had its first closed beta test started on 4th of June with tremendous popularity. X-Legend Entertainment, publisher of NEOSTEAM in Taiwan, announced that during the test, over 34,000 gamers participated the test which is approximately 80% of the total distributed accounts, and set a record of 10,000 CCU on its first day sweeping top ranks of most popular game sites in country.

“We are all very surprised about the successful result. We Howard Chang, Head Manager of NEOSTEAM service in X-Legend Entertainment, and added “one of famous game magazines reviewed NEOSTEAM as the most promising Korean game in Taiwan, and expect big success.”

Even after the closed beta test, Taiwanese gamers still crave for NEOSTEAM. NEOSTEAM is still in top ranks in major websites with stable increase of page views.

NEOSTEAM will begin open beta service from June 19th in Taiwan.

AIKA ONLINE UPDATE

2008-05-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

AIKA ONLINE has recently introduced new character called 'Dual Gunner'

During the first closed beta test, AIKA ONLINE revealed three characters out of six, and promised to introduce them in its next test. The next closed beta test expected very soon, AIKA ONLINE revealed 'Dual Gunner'. Dual Gunner is especially good with guns as you can see from its name. They are fast and furious.

AIKA ONLINE is expecting its second closed beta test during May, and players will be able to exprience all six characters then.

Invitation to GE 3.0

2008-05-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

GE announced its road map for 3.0 version on April 15th.
Hakkyu Kim says "3.0 is not about major updates. It's more about how to make the UI more convinient for gamers, and trying new things."

In GE3.0, gamers are invited to the Third Civilization where a whole different area with new monsters and items appear. There is also a new currency system called FESO. This will allow gamers to get cash items without spending any cash. There also will be updates on pet system, scret guard system and etc.

For more information, please hold on to our next update news!

Thanks!!

MYTHOS ZONE3

2008-05-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

Check out Mythos' ZONE3.

Zone3 introduces the Umbral Peaks and the towns of Mistglade and Arcled. There are quest contents that allow players to progress up to level30, and many more new features. New features include the introduction of a new character race, the Cyclops, crafting system, in-game mail, socketable armor and trinkets and stat bonuses for skill tier investment. Also, players can participate in PvP dueling for the first time, with the unveiling of a dedicated PvP world the Shadowlands.

PANGYA SEASON4: Delight, Already HOT in Japan

2008-03-13T00:19:00.000-07:00

This is a review article from GameWatch, one of top web magazines in Japan. Here you can find a story about Pangya Season4: Delight. Pangya's new season will be open in Japan soon, but Japanese gamers are already eager to know what it's like! This article is written by Dong Soo Han, a correspondent from Game Watch.

Here is what the beginning of the article says....

HanbitSoft, Pangya Season4,

Report on user original costume making system, new character and more!

Developed by Ntreev and published by HanbitSoft, Pangya brought out a new season called . Here you can not only find new character and new course, but also unique UCC systems. Especially, Self Design System, one of UCC contents, is a system where player can design their own clothes and wear them.

for more information please click here and check out the original article:

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080313/korea_23.htm

AIKA ONLINE IN CBT

2008-03-06T01:37:00.000-08:00

AIKA ONLINEs First Closed Beta Test Starts Today

Seoul, Korea – March 6, 2008 – HanbitSoft announced today that the company’s new MMORPG, AIKA ONLINE (hereinafter AIKA, http://www.aika.co.kr/) is starting its first closed beta test from March 6th to March 8th.

The first closed beta test of AIKA will start this afternoon at 5pm until 10pm. Today, AIKA will be testing mainly on PRAN system, which is a kind of pet system that is one of the main featuring. Instant dungeons will be tested on the second day, same time for 5hours. On the last day, AIKA will focus on testing the massive battle system which is the core feature in the game.

AIKA is also having events to celebrate its first closed beta test, and to thank all the gamers who joined to participate on the test.

AIKA is developed by JoyImpact, the veteran team who developed WYDFC2 and Tantra. AIKA had been revealed to public last year, during the early development at Gstar2006.

TESTERS SAY POPOMING IS "GREAT"

2008-03-05T21:08:00.000-08:00

POPOMING Finishes 2nd Closed Beta, Testers Response “Great”

Seoul, Korea – March 6, 2008 – HanbitSoft announced today that online transforming action game POPOMING had successfully ended its second closed beta test.

POPOMING’s second closed beta test was operated from February 28th until March 2nd. During the test, POPOMING presented newly added contents. Running race, one of mini games in the game was especially popular among the testers for its simplicity and educational contents. Testers gave high scores to the newly added contents and asked for more community contents such as messengers.

“I don’t play online games that much, but POPOMING was very fun to play and I couldn’t stop” said one of the testers (ID: ed333) and added “characters had various transforming specialties and it was fun.”

HanbitSoft announced that POPOMING will be going through the internal testings and may open the game sooner that the company has planned because gamers comments were so great. HanbitSoft will announce the next milestone of POPOMING in short future.

POPOMING is a new project developed at JoyImpact by veteran developers, whom they are known for Fortress which was hit title in all over Asia. POPOMING is set in future at Bugi Bugi Island, and its main storyline is the main characters fighting against Dr. Frank who invades their island.

For more information on POPOMING, visit its official website at http://www.popoming.com/

POPOMING on GAMEBASE

2008-03-03T21:52:00.001-08:00

POPOMING, HanbitSoft's new transforming action game has gone to 2nd closed beta test last week, and Gamebase has also written about it.

AIKA on TOP at GAMEBASE

2008-03-03T21:48:00.000-08:00

AIKA is on TOP page of Gamebase right now. You can also check out the movie trailers from there!AIKA is operating its first closed beta test in Korea this wednsday! We'll keep you up with the latest news. Thanks!

AIKA TRAILER on GNN

2008-03-03T21:19:00.000-08:00

Aika released its first preview trailer about the three characters and PRAN.

You can check out the article on GNN, and also visit to take a look at the trailer!

link: http://gnn.gamer.com.tw/9/29509.html

AIKA MOVIE TRAILER

2008-03-03T21:16:00.000-08:00

AIKA ONLINE REVEALS TRAILERS OF
CHARACTER INTRODUCTION

Seoul, Korea – February 29, 2008 – HanbitSoft today revealed latest movie trailer of introducing characters of MMORPG AIKA ONLINE(hereinafter AIKA).

AIKA released total four kinds of trailers which include three characters and PRAN. Three characters; Warrior, Sniper and Priest are the ones able to be played during the first closed beta test. Warrior is the fighter class who shows specialty in short range fights, and Sniper uses rifles in long ranges. Priest is character with spell powers.

Among six characters, three will be opened to play during the test, and the rest of the characters will be introduced during the second closed beta which is set to be operated in short future.

AIKA is inviting players to join the first official test right now, and the test will start on 6th of March for three days. During the test, AIKA will be mainly tested on Princess of Air Nymph(PRAN) System, and instant dungeon for few days, and lastly on massive battle which is the core featuring in the game.

AIKA is developed by JoyImpact, the veteran team who developed WYDFC2 and Tantra. AIKA had been revealed to public last year, during the early development at Gstar2006.

Newly Released Screen Shots of MYTHOS

2008-01-28T22:30:00.000-08:00

Hellgate Goes Wild!

2008-01-28T22:25:00.000-08:00

Chinese web magazine, 17173.com released an article about Hellgate: London yesterday.
The article says that open beta in Korea is going very well with CCPU of 100thousand.
It is true Hellgate: London is having a great start so far, however note that HanbitSoft has not yet announced the CCPU number for several reasons. HanbitSoft is willing to announce it at the right time, and hopely with higher number than that.
If you want to read the original article, visit here.
http://news.17173.com/content/2008-01-28/20080128103818022,1.shtml

HGLD after OPEN

2008-01-23T03:16:00.000-08:00

What has been going on to Hellgate: London after open beta?

Seoul, Korea (January 18, 2008) – HanbitSoft announced that Flagship Studios will be updating Stonehenge Chronicle in North America tomorrow, 22nd in Korean time.

Stonehenge is a huge outdoor hub accessed through a special portal in Templar Base, connecting players to several new and exciting quests. Heroes will find themselves in completely new open, outdoor wilderness areas unlike anything seen within the city limits of London, battling terrifying new demons and bosses and finding new items very distinct in their appearance. Stonehenge Chronicle will be updated in Korea this February.

After open beta from 15th, Hellgate: London went to the first update on 19th. This updated includes hard core, elite modes which will challenge the gamers only who are over level 20 can play. HanbitSoft also released the latest screen shots of Act4, which will be updated tomorrow, the 22nd in Korea.

After the open beta, Hellgate: London ranks in first place for more than a week among the open beta games at Game Trics, Game Report and other game rank research sites. Also, Hellgate: London has made a contract with Massive on in-game advertisement. Based on this contract, Massive will manage in-game advertisemnet sales for Hanbitsoft and all aspects of the dynamic in-game advertising processes. Hellgate:London features London city surroundings such as museums, Bloomsbury, Piccadilly and so on, making the game suitable for natural and effective advertising.

Mythos News on Game4v

2008-01-14T22:56:00.000-08:00

Here is News from Game4v, one of web magazines in Vietnam!

if you are interested for more details, click here ->

http://www.game4v.vn/yega/showthread.php?t=51784

Mythos Fan Site in Germany

2008-01-14T22:54:00.001-08:00

Visit Mythos Fan site in Germany!
Here's the link. You can get translation help from google.
http://www.mythos-kingdom.de/

DX10 Screen Shot of HGLD

2008-01-14T22:47:00.000-08:00

News on GameENET

HanbitSoft released DX-10 Screen Shots of Hellgate: London.

With co-work with Nvidia, DX10 and Geforce8800GT graphic card makes Hellgate: London a whole new game.

http://games.enet.com.cn/article/A4320080110001.html

Cabalist Model at the Festival

2008-01-13T01:09:00.000-08:00

HGLD festival summary

2008-01-13T01:00:00.001-08:00

Hellgate: London Open Festival Summary

Seoul, Korea (January 13, 2008) – HanbitSoft today announced that launch party for Hellgate: London had been a great success.

Over two thousand guests filled the scene. People who wanted to get in first came six hours before the entrance time, in snowy weather. HanbitSoft’s staff in charge of the festival had to let the people in 30minuties before schedule because of cold, snowy weather.

Hellgate: London Launch Festival began on time with Bill Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios and Alex Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft performing ‘the very first log-in” show. After the show, Bill Roper himself came up to the stage and made a presentation on Stonehenge Episode which will be added after the open beta. Later, Eric Liu and Jin Kim of Flagship Studios made introduction. Eric is International Producer who communicates with International producers of Asian partners, and Jin is Korean concept artist who works on Hellgate: London.

In the second half of the show, Korean musicians Girls Generation, Yunha and DJ DOC performed. Bill Roper also came up the stage and performed to thank the fans who made to the festival.

On January 12th, Bill Roper also had a meeting with his fan gamers at HanbitSoft conference room. There, he talked about Hellgate: London, and further more about the game industry with his fans. “I had a really good time with our fans. They are so mature, and their depth of understanding the game just surprises me all the time,” said Bill Roper, “I was moved when one of the gamers made presentation on Hellgate: London in English.”

Despite hard schedule, Bill visited one of internet cafes after servers for pre open of Hellgate: London opened at four. He requested to visit internet café while he’s in Korea during the pre-open service to see players playing Hellgate: London for himself. “I understand how internet café industry is important in Korean online game industry” said Bill Roper, and added “like Starcraft contributed to booming the internet café culture and economy, HanbitSoft and Flagship Studio will make Hellgate: London the next legendary title that boosts the whole industry.”

Hellgate: London had its pre-open beta yesterday, January 12th, for 24hours to run the final check before its grand opening on January 15th.

Girl Generation vs Yunha

2008-01-13T00:52:00.000-08:00

Girls Generation vs Yunha at Hellgate Launching Festival

Seoul, Korea- January 13, 2008- Korea’s one of most popular singing group and a well known global star each performed at the Hellgate: London Launching Festival last Friday, January 11th, in Seoul.

During Hellgate: London’s Launching Festival, Girls Generation and Yunha were asked which their favorite character is in Hellgate: London. Their different answers caught the attention to the audiences and it is now in hot topics.

“We like to play games in our spare time, and we are always excited to know the new titles that are out there” said Girls Generation, “In Hellgate: London, our favorite is Templar.”

On the other hand, “I don’t really know what the name is, but I like the one with a tattoo on its shoulders” said Yunha. The character she picked out which she meant by Cabalist, was her favorite.

Strangely enough to believe it was a coincidence, but both character classes they chose reflects on their features right now. Girls Generation is formed by nine members and Templars, fight the best when they fight in groups. They both need team work and strategy to bring out their potentials.

Yunha, a solo singer chose Cabalist which uses healers and various kinds of sorcery and usually works alone. They too share some common features in their fields.

“We saw the movie trailer while we were waiting back stage, and it was awesome” said Girls Generation, “It was like blockbuster movie. We can’t wait for Hellgate: London’s open beta. We will definitely try it later.”

HanbitSoft announced that pre-open service of Hellgate: London that had been on for 24hours since yesterday was closed today with out any server or network problems. Hellgate: London will begin open beta service on January 15th, according to the schedule.

Hellgate: London Celebrates Open Beta

2008-01-13T00:50:00.000-08:00

Hellgate: London Celebrates the Grand Open

Seoul, Korea (January 11, 2008) – HanbitSoft today announced that Hellgate: London starts its pre-open beta service on January 12th.

Hellgate: London is starting its pre-open beta tomorrow for 24hours to run the final check before its grand opening on January 15th. Pre-open service will be a great chance for players who want to create their characters as soon as possible, which will be available after the official open. Sooner you create, better name you can get. Players can create up to 24 characters, and HanbitSoft will choose the ones who have the most unique character names present Hellgate: London figure.

HanbitSoft also revealed the latest play movie and preview trailer of Stonehenge Episode, the biggest update after the open beta. Stonehenge is the extensive land outside the ruined London city, where it has stronger community features than any other areas. Stonehenge asks for more players for more party plays, and more repeatable play is supported which provides better experience of Hellgate: London as online game. Stonehenge will be updated in mid January in North America and Europe, and February in Korea.

Before the pre-open service, HanbitSoft is opening a grand launching Festival tonight in Seoul. Bill Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios, Eric Liu, International Producer and Jin Kim, Graphic Artist is joining the party and popular music artists Girls Generation, Yunha, and DJ DOC are also invited to the event for performance.

HGLD Launch Party PREVIEW articles

2008-01-13T00:46:00.000-08:00

Mythos Advances into SEA

2008-01-13T00:44:00.000-08:00

Mythos, developed by Flagship Studios and distributed by HanbitSoft advance to SEA market.

Spike Girls!!

2008-01-13T00:40:00.000-08:00

Spike Girls news on Daily Metro, and the City News.
Spike Girls is a game with girl characters only. Cute and pretty faces with unique style, and actively playing mens sports caught peoples attention.

UPDATE NEWS on GE

2008-01-07T23:13:00.001-08:00

Granado Espada has gone through first update this year. The new region called for high level gamers.
takes place inside a body of a Giant, and has one field, and three dungeons. Here you get to face high level monsters(level 120) and its almost impossible to beat them alone. This is where you need team work! HanbitSoft has made a promotion movie trail on , and it will be introduced tomorrow! So don't miss it!

INVITATION

2008-01-07T23:09:00.000-08:00

Hellgate: London is opening a party this Friday to celebrate its open beta service,
And we hope you could join us!

Date: January 11th, 2008 (Friday)
Time: 7:30 pm. ~ 9:30 pm.
Place: Melon Ax Hall (Kwang Jin Gu, Seoul Korea)
VIPs: Bill Roper, Eric Liu, Aletheia Simonson from Flagship Studios
Special Guests: Various Korean music artists

Please refer to attached file and event URL.
Event page: http://hg.hanbiton.com/News/EventView.aspx?eid=61&etype=0

Play Groove Party in Korea from Today!

2008-01-07T23:05:00.000-08:00

Groove Party Opens in Korea

Seoul, Korea – January 8, 2008 – HanbitSoft announced today that online dance game Groove Party (www.grooveparty.co.kr) is having its pre-open beta service started today for Korean market.

Groove Party tested its system and network quality through focus group test last December and it is now ready for the open beta. Groove Party opens its client download site at noon today, to prevent the overflow of the download, and starts its pre open service at four in the evening. Groove Party’s pre open lasts until the game starts official open beta, which will be announced shortly.

Groove Party is currently in open beta service in China, with big supports from Chinese players. Groove Party also advanced into Taiwan last week, and will be distributed to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

“It is more than grateful to have Groove Party finally present to Korean gamers,” said Alex Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft, and added “it took us a long way to finally open Groove Party in Korea because we wanted to make sure we have what gamers want. From the help of gamers who have been waiting for Groove Party’s open, we could achieve what we wanted. I hope they will like it.”

HanbitSoft announced that they will announce the date for Groove Party’s open beta service in Korea as soon as they review the systems and network status from pre open beta service.

Groove Party Enters Taiwan

2008-01-07T23:03:00.000-08:00

Groove Party Enters Taiwanese Market
From December 20th until 23rd, All HanbitOn Members Are Invited

Seoul, Korea – January 7, 2008 – HanbitSoft announced today that online dance game Groove Party (www.grooveparty.co.kr) has entered into Taiwanese game market.

HanbitSoft has made a publishing rights contract with Taiwan Index Inc., for publishing Groove Party in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

“We are excited to publish Groove Party here in Taiwan. I heard Groove Party is loved by many gamers in Korea and China,” said Po-Yuan Lui, CEO of Taiwan Index, “With HanbitSoft, we will perform our very best.”

Taiwan Index is the subsidiary Gamania Digital Entertainment Co. Ltd., which has wide experience with high ability of publishing various Korean online games.

Groove Party is upgraded with stable service and updates of contents through service in China, and there is much more chances to go more abroad,” said Alex Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft, “Groove Party started its service in overseas market China first before home base in Korea, which is very rare in this industry. We believe Groove Party’s previous experience in China will lead to success in Korea as well.”

Groove Party is an online rhythm action dance game developed by ZNE Entertainment. Groove Party will start its pre-open beta service in Korea tomorrow, January 8th, and move on to the next milestone.

Mythos Breaks into SEA

2008-01-03T18:39:00.001-08:00

MYTHOS BREAKS INTO SEA
HanbitSoft and AsiaSoft signs $7million publishing rights contract

Seoul, Korea (January 4, 2008) – HanbitSoft, today announced that the company has signed a publishing rights contract with AsiaSoft, for introducing Mythos to South East Asia.

The total amount of the contract is 7million US with 21percent of running royalty from gross sales. Through this contract agreement with AsiaSoft, Mythos will be distributed to 10 different South East Asian countries including Thailand, Vietnam, and Philippines.

“Clearly, South East Asian market had changed in the last few years influenced by increasing imports of foreign games,” commented Richard Sung, head of Business Development Division of HanbitSoft, and added “strong contents developed by Flagship Studios and good reputation of HanbitSoft in the territory mad the Mythos deal go quite positively even in the very competitive and tough market status.”

Developed by Flagship Seattle, a subsidiary of Flagship Studios, 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.

“While Hellgate: London is an action RPG with massive scale, Mythos is more of a light and casual MMORPG,” said Alex Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft, “we hope that gamers in South East Asia will enjoy both of these games.”

“We are very happy to be the one to introduce Mythos to South East Asian gamers,” said Sherman Tan, Chariman of AsiaSoft, “we are very confident of our partnership with HanbitSoft and Flagship Studios, and we are going to make it successful.”

Mythos is currently exercising the online technology and services behind the multiplayer component of the highly-anticipated action role-playing game Hellgate: London. HanbitSoft will be responsible for distributing Mythos in Asia, and digitally distributed in North America and Europe by Ping0.

For more information please visit the official Mythos website: www.mythos.hanbiton.com

GE on PCgamer

2007-12-17T00:26:00.000-08:00

GE gets 90points from PCGamer REVIEW

NeoSteam to Taiwan!

2007-12-12T16:26:00.000-08:00

HanbitSoft’s NeoSteam Advances into Taiwan

Seoul, Korea – December 12, 2007 – HanbitSoft today announced that the company has made a publishing rights agreement with X-Legend Entertainment on providing NeoSteam in Taiwan.

In present NeoSteam, online steam punk RPG is serviced in three countries, including China and Japan. By advancing into Taiwan, NeoSteam has now made into three major online game markets in Asia. Through this opportunity, HanbitSoft will now be cooperating with X-Legend Entertainment for successful launch of NeoSteam in Taiwan.

“We are truly happy to have the chance to publish NeoSteam in Taiwan,” said Nelson Chang, CEO of X-Legend Entertainment Taiwan, “We are very confident with the title, and our partner HanbitSoft. HanbitSoft has great manpower of technique and ideas, and I am sure our cooperation will bring great success of NeoSteam.”

“This partnership is very special for us since we have made into all major markets in Asia,” said Alex Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft, “With great teamwork with X-Legend Entertainment, we are going to make NeoSteam succeed.”

Currently, NeoSteam is commercialized in all countries. NeoSteam will start Christmas events and New Year celebration in Japan from December 18th.

Get Ready to Meet AIKA

2007-12-09T23:41:00.001-08:00

HanbitSoft Announces New MMORPG, AIKA

Seoul, Korea – December 10, 2007 – HanbitSoft today announced future schedule for the premier MMORPG, AIKA.

HanbitSoft announced that AIKA is ready for the Focus Group Test which will start on December 18th and end on December 20th. The Focus Group Test will be operated with the members of Hanbit Game Testers, who have been chosen for tests of HanbitSoft games. They have participated to tests for Mythos and Takedown previously.

HanbitSoft will be collecting the feedbacks from testers who participate on AIKA’s first Focus Group Test, and share them during the Users Conference which will be held on the 20th, the last of the test.
At the Users Conference, HanbitSoft will be showing the new clips of recent movie trailer, and have a discussion time with the developers and the testers.

AIKA is developed by JoyImpact, the veteran team who developed WYDFC2 and Tantra. AIKA had been revealed to public last year, during the early development at Gstar2006. This will be the second time to be revealed officially to the public, only it is now ready for the real service.

HanbitSoft announced that AIKA is ready to be out, and will be announcing more updates very soon.

GE China, Goes Commercial!

2007-11-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

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.

Hellgate: London gets 89.2 points from Korean Gamers

2007-11-21T22:57:00.000-08:00

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!!

2007-11-21T22:41:00.000-08:00

HANBITSOFT ANNOUNCES SPIKE GIRLS FOR NEW LINE UP

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

Hellgate Cover

2007-11-20T21:22:00.000-08:00

HGLD on OnPlayer December!

HGLD 2nd CBT SUCCESS!!

2007-11-20T21:18:00.000-08:00

Hellgate: London Successfully Finishes Second Closed Beta Test in Korea
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

2007-11-20T21:10:00.000-08:00

HANBITSOFT RELEASES NEW CLIPS OF MYTHOS
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!!

2007-11-20T21:03:00.000-08:00

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!!

2007-11-20T20:56:00.000-08:00

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.

HGLD on the Cover!!

2007-10-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

Check out the cover page of this month's PC Gamer!

HGLD Music Interview

2007-10-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

Retrieved from http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/830/830934p1.html

Jonric: For readers who aren't familiar with Sascha Dikiciyan, Cris Velasco or your past work, what are your backgrounds as composers for games?

Sascha Dikiciyan: I started my career in 1997 with id Software's Quake 2. From there, I scored Quake 3, James Bond and a few other titles. Things really picked up when Cris and I teamed up, and we've been working together ever since. Some of my personal favorites we scored to date include Haze, Beowulf, Dark Messiah, Splinter Cell 4 and of course, Hellgate: London.

this game was just a perfect match for us.

I really saw the opportunity to create something non-typical for Hellgate.

Flagship gave us all the freedom we needed.

Cris Velasco: I'm relatively new to the game scoring community. While I spent many years paying my dues and trying to get a foot in the door, I've actually been composing for games professionally for about four years now. My initial claim to fame was as one of the composers for the God of War franchise. I also recently was able to work with Clive Barker on Jericho. This was a big moment for me as it has always been a dream of mine to work with him. Other than that, Sascha and I have been very fortunate to be so busy since we teamed up. We've worked together on over a dozen games in the last two years including Stranglehold, Dark Messiah, TMNT, and Beowulf.

For more, visit http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/830/830934p1.html

Hellgate: London in Singapore!

2007-10-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

Meet Hellgate in Singapore!!
IAH holds Hellgate: London's Launch Party

IAH Games is holding the SEA launch of Hellgate: London at Funan as part of the worldwide launch of the game. At the launch, gamers will be able to purchase the collector's edition of Hellgate: London, additionally, the first 100 customers will also get the opportunity to get their Hellgate: London collector's edition box signed by Erich and Max Schaefer, two members of Flagship Studios who are the creators of Hellgate: London.

What's more, if you are one of the first 500 customers buying the collector's edition, you will receive a Hellgate: London goodie bag. Also for launch day only, Hellgate: London Templar figures will be sold at 30% off, the offer is only available at the IAH Games Cyber Cafe at #B1-03B.

Retrieved from http://www.gxleague.com/league/news.asp?id=1471&sec=0&typ=0

Play Groove Party and Win 2008 Beijing Olympics Ticket

2007-10-25T17:27:00.000-07:00

Download and Play Groove Party

Win 2008 Beijing Olympic Tickets!!

Groove Party currently on OBT in China is starting a new event.

During the event, for those who download the game client and play, SunShine will draw a lottery every week for two lucky people to give out 2008 Beijing Olympics tickets.

For more details, please visit http://gp.higame.com.cn/obt/gp/event/jhxzyl07/index.html

GE OBT China Starts OCT. 31

2007-10-25T17:21:00.000-07:00

GRANADO ESPADA
OBT in China Starts on Oct. 31st

The9 announced that Granado Espada's OBT in China is delayed to October 31st.
They havent explain the reason for delay. With the official announcement, they made apologies and asked for understanding. They will update 6 more servers, opening total 15 servers.

Visit http://news.17173.com/content/2007-10-24/20071024111806960,1.shtml
for more details from the original article at 17173.com

GE Phone by NOKIA

2007-10-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

GE phone by NOKIA,
Limited Edition now on sale in Taiwan
Retreived from www.gamer.com.tw

One of the biggest cellular phone company NOKIA has released N81 phone, game feature strengthend phone, for Taiwanese gamers. NOKIA has also released limited package of Granado Espada phone(N81 8GB). GE phone will be on sale with exclusive contents, rare items and GE souvenir. Only 5 thousand is made.

For more information, please visit http://gnn.gamer.com.tw/0/28230.html

GE celebrates Halloween!!!

2007-10-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

GE introduces 2.5 version Updates
Premium PCbang Promotion & Halloween Event Starts Today!!

GE, today, introduced 2.5version updates. Two new zones and quests were added including exclusive items just for "Family".

PCbang Promotion starts from today also. Those who play GE at Premium PCbangs, GE will provide them rare items exclusively made just for PCbang players. The more they play, the better they will get!!

Halloween event is also starting today. Until November 6th, there will be scarecrows spread in every area, and players who collect those will get specially made Pumpkin hat items.

For more details, visit GE official site www.granadoespada.com

MYTHOS, Latest Updates!!

2007-10-19T00:48:00.000-07:00

HanbitSoft Announces Mythos Updates
Flagship Seattle introduces new zone and content for Mythos

Seoul, Korea (October 19, 2007) – HanbitSoft, today announced the expansion of the closed beta program for the highly anticipated MMORPG Mythos™.

The expansion of the closed beta program introduces a new zone, Bloodbristle Heath, and the outpost town of Tulin’s Hope. Doubling the size of the Mythos universe, this new content will include new levels, monsters, quests, items, and skills.

“Since testing began in July, the team at Flagship Seattle has been working with our dedicated community to fine-tune the Mythos experience. With its addictive Diablo-style gameplay and simple learning curve, Mythos can be enjoyed in short bursts or for hours on end,” said Max Schaefer, Executive Producer of Mythos and founding member of Flagship Studios. “We look forward to the continued support of our community and welcome new testers to Mythos' world of Uld.”

Mythos is an online action role-playing game 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.

For more information please visit the official Mythos website: http://www.mythos.com/

POPOMING PREVIEW!!

2007-10-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

Game About, one of most popular webzines in Korea introduced POPOMING review before the first closed beta test.

Here is the link!

http://www.gameabout.com/review/view.ga?cate=&id=30&news_id=11819&listpage=1