Dragon Oath is a massively multiplayer game focused on martial arts and community building. Based on the very popular Chinese novel “Tian Long Ba Bu” (Tale of Eight Demigods), it incorporates many missions and activities that follow the original storyline, which has also been adapted to add new features and characters. These elements allow players to develop their own personalized experiences, and also to foster virtual social relationships, which we have designed to appeal across a diverse range of interests.

The combination of martial arts and community building has strong appeal. Fighting-based games often have high player participation when they are launched due to the excitement level of the content, but users may leave rapidly as their initial enthusiasm fades. Conversely, community-based offerings can experience more gradual growth as they build their relationships with each other. However, they also tend to have longer life spans since these bonds strengthen over time.

This is the closed beta client for Dragon Oath, the upcoming MMORPG from ChangYou.com. It is available exclusively on FileFront.

Download the Beta Client Here

2029 Online is a massive online sci-fi based multiplayer experience set in a world ravaged by hatred throughout the Helen Continent, and never-ending conflicts between races and rebel forces. Players from across the globe come together online, fight for freedom and justice and combat against each other to uphold their faith and glory. Unlike other MMO games, as the game heats up, players will soon break away from killing mobs to level themselves and play the game with a PvP element. You will find your fun in the battlegrounds.

Your heroic exploits in the Helen Continent will give you access to a huge variety of class-specific skills. 2029 Online brings graphically visualized flamboyance back to your playing experience, featuring stunning 3D graphics and variable game modes. Sometimes, the game will go fullscreen, blending intense game play and fantasy appeal together into one work of art. You can create your own room in the game on the purpose of forging lasting bonds of friendship with heroes who share a dream and fight to turn sword and sorcery tales into a reality. With all of these different PvP modes, you can show off your combat skills and grow into a top PvPer under the help of these sworn brothers, your most powerful allies when in peril. The moment-to-moment interaction with the game and players will help increase the role playing appeal during periods of increased tension. Its quest system offers you assorted quests with a story element. Some of them are branched out and composed of many addictive branching quests. The interaction between NPCs and players has also been intensified. No matter if you are the pinnacle of virtue or a stellar scumbag, of great eminence or a nobody, the way to play the game is up to you.

This is the latest client for 2029 Online, IGG’s MMO that combines RTS and RPG elements. It also features five classes, three races, and a customized Fighting Vehicle leveling system.

Download the Client Here

I don’t know about you guys, but here at Gaming Today, we’re always up for a game that includes zombies. Of late, we’ve been playing Left 4 Dead, and keeping our eyes on Killing Floor, the upcoming release from Tripwire Interactive. Killing Floor isn’t exactly a zombie game, but genetically engineered zombies are close enough for us.

If you’re a Unreal Tournament player, you may remember Killing Floor as a mod for UT2K4. Since then, the mod team behind Killing Floor has teamed up Tripwire Interactive to bring their mod to retail release as a standalone title, and it looks to have some serious potential.

We recently had the opportunity to chat with a few of the people responsible for Killing Floor. Read on to find out a little bit more about the upcoming survival horror title.

Gaming Today: Let’s get the boilerplate stuff out of the way up front. Can you tell us who you are, what your role in the production of Killing Floor is?

Alan Wilson, VP of Tripwire Interactive. I get all the non-tech stuff to do. Some writing and design, bit of voice acting this time, project management, PR and trying to manage the testing.

I’m Alex Quick. I’ve worn a few hats over the course of KFs production, but primarily I’m working as a level designer, and texture artist. Oh, and the mod this game is based on was largely my undertaking, so I’ve been pretty active in gameplay design discussions for the sake of consistency.

Dayle Flowers, Senior Programmer at Tripwire Interactive. Aside from the typical working on game play, I get much of the highly technical stuff that many people overlook and simply expect to work. I was responsible for connecting Killing Floor to the Steam system to support Authentication, the Master Server, and Perks/Achievements. [Edit: and designing a lot of that stuff, too! AW]

Dan Nassick, audio designer and musician. I’ve worked on the Killing Floor mod since 2005 and my responsibility on the audio team has been to organize a complete audio overhaul in the transition from modification to commercial game.

Myles Lambert, part of the original mod team. I get to do a great mixture of work, environmental art and level design and when I’m not working on that I’m working on some future DLC map content.

GT: So, judging from everything I’ve seen, Killing Floor is a survival horror game featuring some very interesting adversaries. Can you tell us a little bit about these zombies?

Read the full article

Xbox LIVE’s Major Nelson has sent out the good word that Formal Wear for your avatar is here. If you’re celebrating a special occasion or just going for that killer look, there are several choices for both male and female avatars. Express your personal style with these new costume pieces.

For the gentlemen we have
Blue Tuxedo (save that one for prom season)
Black Tuxedo
Shirt with Cummerbund
Black Trilby
Bowler Hat

For the ladies we have:
Elegant Ball Gown
Little Black Dress
Formal Trouser Suit
Elegant Watch
Red 60’s Shades
Strappy High Heels
Platform Shoes

Look for the gold stars in your Avatar Editor to find these new items. Thanks for the heads up Major Nelson.

Activision Blizzard sure knows how to get the speculation ball rolling, and with this latest bit of teasers and confirmations from the company during yesterday’s Massive Inc. event (advertising summit really) what they had to say is really not much of a surprise.

This meeting basically showcases games that would be great vehicles for in-game advertising, and the biggest one mentioned was one called Guitar Hero 5 (working/speculative title at this point) which was revealed as a screenshot featuring a Burger Kings ad next to the scrolling notes.

ActiBliz also confirmed what we already knew about the upcoming Tony Hawk game slated for an October 2009 release when a spokesman stated: “You’re not going to be playing this game with a controller in your hands”. This, however is old news to gamers who have been in the know regarding a “skateboard type” peripheral which is supposed to come with the game.

Confirmed during the event was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for Fall 2009, and while no details were forthcoming on the upcoming Call of Duty title, ActiBliz did acknowledged Bizarre Creations’ “Bond Racing” (no tile was mentioned) style game which would be heading to stores sometime in September 2009. The good thing about this Bond game though, is that there is no movie tie-in associated with it and for fans of racing games, another one is in the works which is being hailed as a “Mario Kart meets Forza”.

So there ya have it. A few teasers, a few confirmations and the expectation that in-game advertising will be prevalent throughout each one of them. Hooray for greed and constantly being bombarded with advertising no matter where you look. Formally known as the American Way, it is now just the way of the world.

(MTV Multiplayer)

FileFront has received a bunch of demos and patches this past week, and for once, it seems like the demos are worth writing about. So, to kick things off, lets start with the patches that hit this week, just in case you were unaware that one was available for your game.

As always, for the full list of patches and games, hit the links.

Patches

• Legacy Interactive has released a patch updating The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes to v1.1.
• Codemasters has released a patch for ArchLord to adjust registry entry to point to correct location.
• Crytek has released a patch updating Crysis Wars to v1.2. This patch fixes various problems, but mainly addresses balancing issues.
• Electronic Arts has released a patch updating Spore to v1.03 with 24 new and exclusive exoskeleton limbs for the Creature Creator.

Demos

Strong Bad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3: Move over, James Bond! Strong Bad’s here to show you how it’s done in his hand-crafted cinematic masterpiece. You play Dangeresque, a dirty cop in pursuit of action and big sacks of cash. Can our hero defeat his arch-nemesis and save the world? Looks like he’s gonna have to jump.

7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven: In 7 Wonders, you have to build nine of the most intriguing structures throughout history. You have to match runes to break blocks and uncover the lock and keystone for each round.

Call of Atlantis: Takes players on a fascinating journey around the ancient lands of the Mediterranean to acquire seven mysterious crystals of power able to restore the Altar of Poseidon and save the fabled sunken city of Atlantis.

Ellen Whitaker’s Horse Life: PC demo which allows you to take care of your horse and complete certain tasks.

Murlikin Rescues His Estate: Aliens are threatening to occupy the Earth and the only one who can interfere with this evil plan is… a cat.

Five more demos listed after the jump.

Read the full article

Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People has a new episode coming up for which you can now get a free demo. Strong Bad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3 is James Bond meets Dirty Harry Strong Bad style. You’ll be playing the part of the part of dirty cop Dangeresque. Your mission is to defeat your arch-nemesis, grab some fat loot and save the world.

To try before you buy, grab the Strong Bad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3 Demo from FileFront. Check out the latest screenshots in Strong Bad’s gallery while you’re there.

It’s GameTap Thursday again folks, and you know what that means don’t you? Another new episode of American McGee’s Grimm Volume Two has arrived. Like all other episodes of Grimm it is free to play for the first 24-hours–after which, you will have to be a subscriber to continue playing it.

King Midas is a fairytale or more of a lesson handed down the centuries by the Greeks, and most people are familiar with the tale, but I will tell you more about it anyway. For ten days and ten nights the Greek god Dionysus’ teacher, a Satyr named Silenus, told King Midas wonderful tales. When he was ready to leave, the King had an escort take him back to Dionysus and his way of returning the favor was granting King Midas anything he wanted as a reward. He chose the golden touch. Unfortunately for him, this means that his food, drink, and everything thing else he needed to sustain him turned to gold. Starving, thirsty and depressed, his daughter hugged him and thus unwittingly turned herself into gold. Now, how in the world can Grimm make that even MORE diabolical and depressing? Well, as the saying goes, “you ain’t seen nothing yet” or was that a song by Bachman Turner Overdrive?

He was kind of like Goldfinger in the James Bond movie of the same name, but not evil–just not very smart. Also, he does not have a minion named Oddjob to do his bidding, and instead of painting things gold, King Midas actually turned things to gold. Come to think of it, he is nothing like Goldfinger…ok.. never mind then….

Also available this week to subscribers is Space Hack. Developed by Rebelmind, Space Hack is a Diablo-inspired action-RPG set in a science fiction world. Taking on the role of a warrior, players must hack their way through a spaceship full invading alien creatures in a desperate attempt to reach emergency transportation and escape their cruel fate. The game offers a diverse level of character development, allowing the player to solve problems in a variety of ways.

No new free games were added this week since King Midas is free to play for the first 24-hours. However, GameTap has loads of free games just ready for you to dive into. 143 of them to be exact, and included in those is the original Hitman and Fallout, so what are you waiting for? Head on over to the official website now and sign up.

Next week, Grimm tells the tale of Cinderella… poor girl. I can only imagine what the nasty little troll has in store for her.

Activision’s new Bond game Quantum of Solace, based upon the film of the same name and Casino Royale hit retail in Europe today, and while we will not see the game grace our shores until November 4, Activision is trying to pacify us with an extra treat for having to wait a few days longer than the rest.

On November 7, just three days after the release of Quantum of Solace, Guitar Hero: World Tour players will be able to download “Another Way to Die”, the theme from the movie, which is performed by none other than Jack White and Alicia Keys. The track will be available on Xbox Live Microsoft for 160 Microsoft Points ($2.00) and while no price was given for the track on PlayStation Store it will probably go for the usual $1.99.

The song is a bit of a departure from other Bond tracks and not only because it is the first duet to be featured as the theme song, but also because it is very experimental consisting of a fusion between jazz, rap, hip-hop, and rock genres. Now sure how many Guitar Hero aficionados will like the track, but if you are a fan of Jack White or Alicia Keys you will be placated.

It was revealed this morning on MTV Multiplayer that during a demo for the upcoming James Bond title Quantum of Solace, that Activision polled gamers in advance before starting development on the game. Slated for a Fall release on multiplatforms, the newest entry in the James Bond franchise was heavily researched by game developers Treyarch, and according to Josh Olin, the community manager for studio, the survey produced a 60/40 split; thus crowing “first-person” the winner.

However, fans of the third-person shooter should not fret, for while the game is indeed a FPS, when Bond takes cover or engages in hand-to-hand combat the view switches over into third-person mode. In doing so, Activision is banking on giving both genres the game they crave. Hopefully it will pay off for them, and the Bond franchise as whole.

The game Quantum of Solace will cover both the most recent Bond movie “Casino Royale” and its upcoming sequel, “Quantum of Solace”. The game will be run will use the Call of Duty 4 engine, and since the game will be released onto multiple platforms, it will be interesting to see how it will differ from port to port. COD4 was not released for the Wii, so I imagine (correct me if I am wrong) that either they will have to tweak things a bit or use a different engine for the Nintendo console. Plus, a myriad of developers will be creating the game for different versions: Treyarch (Xbox 360 and PS3), Vicarious Visions (handheld), Beenox (Wii) and Eurocom (PC).

What this means, is that like most multiplatform games, you can expect each one to look drastically different from the next. Unless of course you are looking at PC/PS3/360 comparisons, which mainly just differ in matters of clarity – or so I have found. Of course, this could be because I added a bit of whiskey to my espresso earlier.

With the ability to play the iconic British secret agent in both FPS and TPS, do you dear readers, think that it will give us the best of both worlds? Or will it just prove that sticking to one style throughout is the best route to go?