Features

Recently, WarCry had the chance to talk to Acclaim CEO Howard Marks. We received an update on his company's quest to bring the Eastern MMO business model to Western shores and got a peek at how 2Moons, 9Dragons, BOTS!! and Dance! Online have fared on the open market.

9Dragons

What "free-to-play" really means is that all Acclaim's games are free to download and can be played without the player ever laying down a dime. In 2Moons, for example, the company makes money through in-game advertising that appears in the user interface. In 9Dragons, players can play for free, but also can buy upgrades and customization items securely through Acclaim.

Marks emphasized through that the company is committed to actual free-to-play. One common consumer complaint with the model is that while some games advertise their games as such, many build in an artificial gameplay wall where a player basically is forced to buy items or coin to progress in the game. He says that none of Acclaim's games do this, nor will there ever be any artificial walls.

Read more after the leap.

Today's Q&A focuses in on 2Moons, the second major MMORPG from resurrected Acclaim and the first adaptation from the brain of famed designer David Perry. The game promises adult, violent content and is North American adaptation of a Korean MMO.

WarCry: During closed beta, how pleased were you with the feedback you got from your testers?

Rusel DeMaria: One of Acclaim's major philosophies is to involve the game community fully in the process, through surveys, feedback on forums, beta testing and any suggestions they want to make. During our closed beta period, our testers gave us great feedback, directly in the game, in the forums and through our survey. We're working to implement improvements to the game and have already completely rewritten the story based on their feedback. Meanwhile, all-new features are going in that our players are going to love. We are particularly excited about the Dead Front events, which will involve up to four full parties in a mad-crazy series of battles and tasks, culminating in a huge boss battle, followed by a PvP free-for-all. It's a wild event, and open to players in various level ranges.

Read more after the click.

Today's Q&A focuses in on 2Moons, the second major MMORPG from resurrected Acclaim and the first adaptation from the brain of famed designer David Perry. The game promises adult, violent content and is North American adaptation of a Korean MMO.

WarCry: During closed beta, how pleased were you with the feedback you got from your testers?

Rusel DeMaria: One of Acclaim's major philosophies is to involve the game community fully in the process, through surveys, feedback on forums, beta testing and any suggestions they want to make. During our closed beta period, our testers gave us great feedback, directly in the game, in the forums and through our survey. We're working to implement improvements to the game and have already completely rewritten the story based on their feedback. Meanwhile, all-new features are going in that our players are going to love. We are particularly excited about the Dead Front events, which will involve up to four full parties in a mad-crazy series of battles and tasks, culminating in a huge boss battle, followed by a PvP free-for-all. It's a wild event, and open to players in various level ranges.

Read more after the click.

2Moons is the second major MMO headed our way from Acclaim this year. At GDC, we spoke to Howard Marks about this import being adapted for our audience by David Perry. The game promises a truly grown up and violent experience for its users.

While 9Dragons has blazed the advertising supported game trail, 2Moons has taken a more controversial approach. Both games feature advertisements built into the user interface and an item mall for an extra edge, but 2Moons seems to have struck a chord and inspired some emotions among the development community with their decision to go with optional advertisement display. The catch is that if a player chooses to turn their ads off, they do not gain experience as quickly as those who have them on.

At the Austin Game Conference last fall, famed game ranter, former Mythic Entertainment employee and current NCSoft MMO designer Scott Jennings openly ridiculed the plan during the MMO Rant session.

You can read more below.

David Perry is the Lead Designer of 2Moons, the North American adaptation of Dekaron. 2Moons promises to be the most violent MMO experience available online and is going to use advertising, rather than subscriptions to support itself. Perry, a former developer on titles like Earthworm Jim, answered our questions.

WarCry: When 2Moons was first announced, the fact that it is in reality an adaptation of an existing Asian MMORPG, Dekaron, was glossed over. How much will they two games have in common?

David Perry:Yeah, we clarified that point, and as you know our writer Henry Jones re-wrote the entire 4,000+ page story. We now have incredible feedback from our closed beta testing and I'm flying to Korea in two days to sit down with the team to discuss the changes that our audience wants. Our big technical decision has been how to make two entirely different versions and still find a way to share, so their gamers get to enjoy the changes the USA audience gets. It's been a complicated discussion as they keep adding very cool things on their end, that we want. So as we continue testing, we will be deciding how to manage this problem. (A game being designed from two ends.)

Read it all at the link below.

David Perry is the Lead Designer of 2Moons, the North American adaptation of Dekaron. 2Moons promises to be the most violent MMO experience available online and is going to use advertising, rather than subscriptions to support itself. Perry, a former developer on titles like Earthworm Jim, answered our questions.

WarCry: When 2Moons was first announced, the fact that it is in reality an adaptation of an existing Asian MMORPG, Dekaron, was glossed over. How much will they two games have in common?

David Perry:Yeah, we clarified that point, and as you know our writer Henry Jones re-wrote the entire 4,000+ page story. We now have incredible feedback from our closed beta testing and I'm flying to Korea in two days to sit down with the team to discuss the changes that our audience wants. Our big technical decision has been how to make two entirely different versions and still find a way to share, so their gamers get to enjoy the changes the USA audience gets. It's been a complicated discussion as they keep adding very cool things on their end, that we want. So as we continue testing, we will be deciding how to manage this problem. (A game being designed from two ends.)

Read it all at the link below.