Tabula Rasa to move, Dungeon Runners to die

Rumor is going around that NCSoft is going to close its Austin game development studio and lay off all staff there. Tabula Rasa is said to be handed over to Seattle-based Arena.net (Guild Wars) and Dungeon Runners apparently just couldn't run fast enough. This comes as a bit of a surprise overall, because Tabula Rasa got a mention in the Q2 reports - something generally considered a good sign.

Future development of Tabula Rasa will reportedly be handed over to Seattle-based Guild Wars creator Arena.net, with Massively reporting that the title may meet a similar fate as Dungeon Runners if it "fails to turn the tide of subscribers and expectations." It has also learned that any future collaboration between NCsoft and Tabula Rasa principals Richard and Robert Garriot will be "limited in scope," due to a souring of relations with the Korean management team over their title's lackluster performance.

With regard to City of Heroes, a source at NCsoft's Bay Area studio confirmed with us that its development staff will be completely unaffected by the events transpiring in Austin, saying that the title's status is "sound.&

Both World of Warcraft and Age of Conan have announced imminent plans to open shop in Russia.

Age of Conan announced that they will ship and support their game in conjunction with 1C Company (who is the marketing genius there?) and will roll out AoC in the fourth quarter of 2008. Age of Conan has launched and topped the charts in more than 17 countries including Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, but they realize localization is a key ingredient to increase and maintain its customer base.

Not to be outdone, World of Warcraft will start its servers in Russia next week (August 6th). Those playing on European accounts will have the option of playing on the new Russian servers including a free transfer.

For more information, become fluent in Russian and then peruse the World of Wacraft Russian website.

And for information on the Age of Conan release in Russia, you can read the English version at Funcom's website.

Atlantica Online has been chosen as an official game of GNGWC 2008 (Game and Game World Championship 2008) which will be hosted by KIPA and sponsored by KT Corporation. This year will mark the 3rd GNGWC. A total of 6 countries, including Brazil and Singapore newly added this year, will be holding local contests with the final match being held in Korea this November.

£ Atlantica was chosen as an official game of GNGWC. What is the contest process?

We have already developed a military match system in the game. With this system, gamers will participate in online preliminary contests from each country. The top gamers of each preliminary contest will join the local preliminary contest, and then the winners from the local contests will compete within the final match, which will be held in Korea. We thought about the GNGWC contest from the start of developing Atlantica. Eventually, it depends on how well we will be able to utilize the existing systems.

£ How will it go in the final match?

The final match will be offline. The winners from each country will establish their equipment in the server and match for the game. The gamer winning 2 out of 3 games will be the final winner.

Specifically designed to set itself apart from other MMOs with its unique combat, mercenary, and city/country management systems, Atlantica takes players through ancient settings and civilizations, such as Hanyang (Korea), Indus Valley (India and Pakistan), Mesopotamia (Iraq, Syria and Turkey), and Egypt.

The turn-based combat system allows players to plot the movements and strategies of nine characters in their group. Players can form teams of three to bring 27 controllable characters into combat.

Gamescampus.com and MaxOn soft partner to bring the popular fantasy anime MMORPG to North America later this year.

San Jose, Calif. (June 24, 2008) - San Jose-based online game publisher, Gamescampus.com (www.gamescampus.com, run by OnNet USA), announced a publishing deal with MaxOn Soft Corporation to launch its newest game, Asda Story, in the U.S. market. The game will launch
later this fall.

"We are very pleased to announce our new partnership with MaxOn Soft which allows us to bring this wonderful product to the U.S. market, "said David Chang, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Gamescampus.com. "Asda Story has already built a successful following in Korea and Japan. It is an exciting and innovative 3D MMORPG, and we have every confidence it will be a major success in the U.S."

Based on a colorful, bright and cheerful world, Asda Story is a free to play exciting fantasy-style anime 3D MMORPG game that features a unique 'Soul Mate System.' The unique party system offers two players the ability to align to become 'soul mates' and allows them to wear unique costumes and use special skills. Another key feature of the game is the '

The unnamed MMO was revealed by CEO Geoff Iddison during a panel discussion at today’s GameHorizon Conference in Newcastle.

Dubbed ‘Nextscape’ by Iddison, the game was said to incorporate – as Runescape does – a variety of business and subscription models to drive consumer engagement, he said.

However, although the company has run its successful Runescape MMO since 2001 – offering biweekly content updates - with the new property due to join it early next year, Iddison said that Jagex’ real value isn’t its IP, but its infrastructure.

“We’ve got an infrastructure behind Runescape which is the real silver of the Jagex, the value of the company,” said Iddison. “It’s not the game, the game is going to come and go,” he said.

“The infrastructure is the thing that can scale. Runescape has 10 years of good growth – but the infrastructure is infinitely scalable,” he added of Jagex’ vast operation of servers and online support teams.

Although Jagex employs 400 people at its Cambridge, UK HQ, only 25 per cent are dedicated to development. Half the staff are focused on content and support whi