These days, releasing a game without a serious multiplayer component is almost suicide, unless you come up with an incredible title that's able to chew countless hours of single player gaming, or has a short and amazing story that won't allow you to leave your computer until you get to the end... Anyway, now it's not about single player games, but about a long-awaited MMORPG, namely Rohan: Blood Feud from YNK Interactive, which is finally a few days away from the beginning of the Open Beta period!



<-250x250 Square - left->Today, YNK Interactive announced that Rohan: Blood Feud is going to reach Open Beta status on the Tuesday, May 27th at 6:00pm PST. Jun Lee, CEO for YNK Interactive, said "We are thrilled for the open beta to begin. The great responses we received after the closed beta testing from the game's already developed and continuously growing community enabled us to modify the game to fit the needs of our new market."

To find out all there is to know about the available classes and the gameplay, feel free to visit the official Rohan: Blood Feud site, but let me give you a quick hint: if your computer is very old, you may still have good odds on playing the game, because the minimum system requirements look like this: at least a Pentium 4 2.4GHz/AMD Sempron 2.0GHz processor with 512MB of memory, a GeForce FX or a Radeon 9600 card with 128MB of video memory, AC 97 compatible audio, DirectX 9.0c installed, and 6GB of free space(ouch!). The interesting part is that Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows 98 SE are supported by the game, which is something you don't get to see too often these days...

These being said, I hope we'll see each other in the game, starting on Tuesday, May 27th at 6:00pm PST. Just be there, because I know I will!

For the gaming industry, the Internet is a monster with two faces - while piracy can send a company straight into bankruptcy, a good game that managed to grab a large mass of players can be easily turned into a successful massive multiplayer title, if everything is done right. Today, the time has come to talk about Warhammer Online, and I am sure the name says it all, so let's see what's new about it, shall we?

Just before the end of last week, Electronic Arts announced that Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will arrive at the same time in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, as well as in U.S. and Europe. At the same time, a dedicated server will be launched in Australia for those in Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and other Southeast Asian territories.This way, at the time of the launch, "Oceanic players will experience the same quality of game play and customer service as North American players," as Mark Jacobs, VP and General Manager of EA Mythic said.

Unfortunately, there's still some time left until the release, scheduled to happen this Fall. Well, at least you'll have plenty of time for sunbathing, surfing and other interesting massive multiplayer...ehem, activities.

Today I have to confess something - while I enjoyed RPGs like Arcanum, Neverwinter Nights, Heroes of Might and Magic and Diablo A LOT, the Gothic series didn't impress me at all. In fact, I got bored after playing a few hours each of the 3 Gothic games released so far, but at least I had someone in the house who loves it, so the money for the purchase weren't "thrown off the window " at all. Expected to be released in 2010, Gothic 4 will come with a lot of changes, but first concept art pictures and even screenshots are already available!

<-250x250 Square - left->First of all, you should know that Gothic 4 will be called Arcania: A Gothic Tale, and Piranha Bytes won't be in charge any longer. In fact, the German developer that was behind the first 3 titles won't be involved at all in Arcania, because this time a German-French developer, Spellbound, will be the one to develop the universe around the same Nameless Hero as before.

The decision to move away from Piranha Bytes has a logical explanation, according to Dreamcatcher's global product marketing manager, Brian Gladman. "You could take a blank disc and put it in a paper bag and put Gothic 4 on the bag and you'd sell half a million units in Germany. The passion for the Gothic universe is at that level…The attachment to Piranha Bytes in German-speaking countries would be akin to the attachment to a BioWare in North America. Anything that Piranha Bytes does is gold in Germany, whereas here it's irrelevant. The decision to go with a new developer for this one was not taken lightly but taken with an eye to really reaching out," he said.

There are a lot of things left to find out about Arcania: A Gothic Tale, and you can bet we'll be there to tell you all about it, as soon as news emerge. Speaking for myself, I hardly wait to see first gameplay movies, because the screenshots look astonishing, as you can see in the two ones from this this article.

Founded back in 1943, in Älmhult, Småland, Sweden, IKEA grew up from a small company founded by the 17 years old Ingvar Kamprad to the giant with over 100,000 employees and a revenue of over $28 billion, today. The Sims franchise needs no introduction, but I am sure you are wondering about the link between these two, aren't you? Well, since the universe in this game is a reproduction of our world, they also have furniture, so...

<-250x250 Square - left->...why not IKEA furniture? Indeed, why not? That's exactly what those guys from Electronic Arts asked themselves too, and you'll get the answer as an update, next month!

Rod Humble, Head of The Sims Studio, said "The Sims is thrilled to collaborate with IKEA for more customization of your Sims’ homes, adding fun and inspirational design options for the bedroom, living room and home office.”

It's good to see that the new content will be available with a wide range of Sims 2 titles, including The Sims 2 Double Deluxe, The Sims 2 Deluxe, The Sims 2 Special DVD Edition, and even The Sims 2 Holiday Edition.

After The Sims 2: H&M Fashion Stuff, The Sims 2: IKEA Home Stuff is the second pack to include products from a real-world company. It seems we're getting closer and closer to reality here, and this is nothing else than great news for those that like to play God, or live the virtual world they are controlling.

"This new content will certainly contribute to the players’ ability to make their Sims’ dream home. The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff will expand creative opportunities and that is what The Sims is all about," concluded Rod Humble.

I guess you must have seen at least one vampire-movie. For your sake, I hope it was a good one, because a lot of hilarious such movies have been made so far, but let's not get into movies here, because it's not about them. Transylvania, the place were most vampire movies' action is set, can be easily visited, as long as you can afford the trip to Romania. You won't find any real vampires there, anyway, but if your time, money, or both of them won't allow you to get over here, you could easily go an visit an alternative realm involving vampires, namely Castlevania...

<-250x250 Square - left->Anyway, before moving on to our subject today, that being Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, we should talk for a little while about the Castlevania series, because there's quite a history behind this name. Are you ready? :)

Developed by Konami, the series debuted way back in September 1986, with the Demon Castle Dracula game for the Famicom Disk System (FDS), quickly followed by a version for the MSX 2 platform. This MSX 2 port was localized in Europe and Brazil as Vampire Killer, and was followed by a a long list of titles, available for most platforms you can think of, from Game Boy Advance and Playstation Portable to Commodore, MS-DOS and, of course, Microsoft Windows.

The stories of the titles in the series are orbiting around the war between the enchanted Belmondo family and Dracula, which is resurrected almost every hundred years, so that the Belmonts could defeat him once again, and Konami sells one more title. Good strategy for everyone, I guess, including the fans of the series....

Leaving history aside, today I have to tell you a few things about the game released last year for the Playstation Portable, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles.

Known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula X Chronicle, which translates to Demon Castle Dracula X Chronicle, the game is basically a remake of the 1993 game in the series, Demon Castle Dracula X Rondo of Blood (Akumajō Dracula X Chi no Rondo).

Although the new game uses the 3D graphics technology of the moment, it still has the 2D gameplay mechanics of the original, but comes with a few interesting additions, like the two new obstacles - a red skeleton barrier and an ice one, as well as a new boss, the Hydra. Other than that, some puzzles have been altered, while new dialogues scenes can be spotted here and there.

Rated by ESRB as "Teen," Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles is not one of those games for little kids, because some of the themes are clearly disturbing for them, but if you were a kid back in 1993 and would like live again the thrills of the Demon Castle Dracula X Rondo of Blood, this is a must have! Obviously, nobody says you shouldn't grab this title even if you're new to the series, and if you don't believe me, take a look at what Testfreaks have to say about it!