Sad tidbit right here. If you've been following the progress of MMO titles like 9Dragons and Carpe Diem, then you might have heard that their developer, Persistent Worlds, has gone kaput. In their official website for 9Dragons, the only thing that's left for us to see is this vague and sad statement:

It is with regret that we have to announce that as of Jan 22nd Persistent Worlds has ceased trading. The servers will be shut down in due course.

As for the reason why this happened, nobody knows for now. From what we can see, 9Dragons and Carpe Diem get a lot of attention every time we feature something about it. The Martial Arts MMO 9Dragon indeed offers something different to players while the Fantasy MMO Carpe Diem is also making some noise in the scene. For now, we do not know what's gonna happen to them aside from the servers shutting down.

We'll give you more updates as things become clearer in the coming days.

Developer Persistent Worlds was very pleased to announce that Carpe Diem, its newest fantasy MMORPG offering, has entered its Alpha Stage today.

Alpha Testing, otherwise known as Acceptance Testing, is wherein a new product in pre-release is tested internally before testing it with outside users. Says Persistent Worlds' Director of Technology and Operations, Phil White, "The Alpha test will allow us to ensure that all servers, support and game play changes are working properly before moving to the next stage."

The Alpha Test appears to be going well so far, and they expect to go to closed beta in about two weeks. Already being highly-anticipated, Carpe Diem already has received heaps of requests from gamers who want to take part in the game's Beta test. The positive response from the beta test survey also contributes to the optimistic outlook of the game's developer.

Included in the game's features are several new innovations that have not been tried before in MMO gameplay. Its Unscripted Action feature allows gamers to unite to defeat the threat posed to Uzziel the Evoker's kingdom. As Uzziel is played in the game by a real person, and is able to set challenges for the players during gameplay, spontaneous and unexpected fun in the game is then guaranteed.

From the very early stages of the game, there already is a Mounted combat, where your personal mount has its own statistics and abilities. The Possession system, on the other hand, is unique as it allows to players to combine as one fighting unit. And finally, four unique weapons of legend can be found by the gamers, which if united, can challenge Uzziel himself!

Carpe Diem will surely seize the MMORPG world by storm the day it comes alive!

MMORPG.com has recently interviewed Ken Johnston, the CEO of Persistent Worlds about the company demographic, and their upcoming MMORPG Carpe Diem. From the screenshots, Carpe Diem looks a bit "backward" but the CEO states that certain features cannot be found in other MMOPRGs. One of the unique features that Carpe Diem has is that Uzziel, the big bad boss, is played by a real person, so expect a "real" challenge when facing him.

There is also a new system they call "possession" that enables users to morph with each other and become one fighting unit - kinda like the trading card game, Magic the Gathering's Banding ability. Unlike in other MMORPGs, mounts can be acquired early on in the game and can fight along side the owner when he acquires a high level riding skill. "Weapons of legends" are also up for grabs for for players to use against Uzziel. Pick from any of the 3 race namely Humans, Fey and the Dragonbloods. Just like your typical MMORPGs, this will have PvPs, parties and guilds.

When asked about plans for beta testing, he said "Things are going great at the moment. We are working on the game to try to give a really different MMO experience. So far, so good. We hope to be in closed beta in early summer with an open beta following in the late summer."

In closing, Ken stated "My personal belief is that MMO’s are the true future of gaming. Once you have played an MMO it is very hard to go back to a standard console game. The interaction with other people makes it such a different experience. Now with the online power of the XBox360 and the PS3, I predict that in three years time most games will be based on open worlds with a massively multiplayer feeling. I feel that instanced games may well prove to be the bridge between the PC and the console for MMO’s, even though I personally don’t like them so much. Overall, it leaves me with the feeling that this is a great part of the games market to be working in. And I love it."

Amen to that. Persistent Worlds hopes that they'll be able to release Carpe Diem by early autumn. Read on to see the full interview.