The Hero Online Open Beta kicked off on June 30 and will end on July 29, giving participants a whole month to brush up on their sword-wielding, nunchuk-swinging, and shuriken-hurling skills. Before you get too caught up with the game, it's best to read up on what the Open Beta has to offer. MGames has added many new features that were not available during the Closed Beta. That alone should make you want to get in on the action!

The Closed Beta introduced the normal Quest, the Legend quests, and the Side Story quests. With Open Beta, two more chapters of the Legends quests and more normal quests will be added. We'll also see the first story arch of the Love Story quests, which are written by some of the greatest martial arts novelists of our time.

Of course, with so many quests it's just fitting to open more maps, including high level areas and PvP zones. The PvP element of the game has been enhanced with the addition of the dueling system, bounty hunting system, the zone PvP, and faction warfare.

The dueling system has been implemented for players to test their strength and skills against each other, while faction warfare allows players to group together in mass armies to battle each other for glory, honor, karma, and power. The most interesting among the systems is bounty hunting, where players can set rewards or bounties for the PK-ing of other players. A related feature would be Karma system, where players can earn titles and rank depending on how they go about with their PvP. Players can be the new Legendary Hero to the most detested Demon of them all.

Hero Online Open Beta also added the messenger system to create friend-lists and communicate with each other via whispers, tells, carrier pigeons, and more! With all these new features, Hero Online guarantees players a truly amazing martial arts experience.

The Hero Online Closed Beta is officially finished now, and Netgame has now not only announced an Open Beta, they'll also be giving veteran players who continue playing the interesting MMO a nice present - the "Special Closed Beta Item". We have no idea what item exactly it's going to be, but the game's website will have more information regarding this event soon. In order to be eligible, it's enough to have participated in only one of the two Closed Betas, but you must have at least one character that reached past the 3rd Dan - which shouldn't be a problem for anyone who has played the Closed Beta regularly. Also, there'll only be one item per account, regardless of how many characters you have.

The Open Beta will launch on June 30, lasting for a full month. This is the opportunity for anyone to try out the game based on ancient Chinese culture. It's story was written by an acclaimed novelist, supporting the action-heavy gameplay where players can choose from a variety of realistic moves and attacks rooted in martial arts. The aesthetics and creativity of this fighting style make Hero Online a very special MMO experience.

 

   
 

Erik 'Nann-E' 't Sas, busy working on the development of The Chronicles of Spellborn has written an open letter to all fans still eagerly anticipating the final release. The subject is where the project stands currently; if you don't have time to read the entire missive, here are some highlights.

" Hello all,

"Summer has hit Holland. While I am writing this letter, the beach outside my window is flooded with people enjoying the thirty plus degrees. Around me a large group of very dedicated people is hard at work at finalizing what must be one of the most amazing projects I have ever been part of. When we set out to create The Chronicles of Spellborn many years ago, none of us ever expected that we would actually end up creating a game that will potentially cause quite a revolution within the MMO genre."

Since the initial beta testing ended in April, they've been busy ironing out a few glitches. They have also entered into a partnership that will ultimately enable the release of a new, "full-blown open beta" before the final release. What folks are wondering most is "what's new?" Erik's answer:

"Not much. The ideas we had when we started are all still in there. Some have been slightly altered, and most have actually been expanded upon; The crafting system, for example, has been slightly redesigned to offer exciting crafting possibilities for those that enjoy the more intricate side of crafting; While weapons and armour are still designed to create a unique preferred look, we added a whole layer of sigil slotting that enables players to define a statistic build to specialize their play style; We have designed over 1400 quests that together bring the world and its history alive in a way never before experienced in any MMORPG."

Of course...if it ain't broke, don't fix it!! (A good rule for ALL programmers and code warriors...)

The most exciting addition, apparently, is the addition of the musical score by Jasper Kyd. In conjunction with what promises to be a massive marketing campaign, the European rock group "Within Temptation" is recording some tracks to support the upcoming Beta version, with one song to be released as a single, complete with video clip.

EverQuest II: Fallen Dynasty Open Beta has begun and reports of bugs have been pouring in. The legions of EverQuest fans have been dead serious in trapping these bugs and sending them over to developers for immediate fixes. It helps that the game has forum threads dedicated to bug reporting and plain old feedback. The best part is that the people directly involved in the development and design of the game have been responding promptly to numerous inquiries. This is a great way to get some tips and tricks as well.

The Village of Shin thread has gotten more activity than the Nizara and Mystic Lake bugs thread. This implies that there's a higher concentration of bugs in that area. There have been reports of missing tables, difficulty finding the yellow fruits, broken quests, unknown zones, and lagging time. It's a developer's nightmare. But these things are to be expected; after all, the game is still on its beta stage. Join the fray and head on to the official Fallen Dynasty forum.

The EverQuest II: Fallen Dynasty adventure pack introduces new quests and challenging battles for players as they explore new adventures and journey into the once peaceful island now plagued with bloodthirsty pirates of Gunthak.

Currently in its Open Beta, The Legend of Ares released three new screenshots of Hershal, a new area in the 3D medieval fantasy-action game.

Hershal, a territory of Rozen kingdom, worships Perton, God of the Sea. The area used to be peaceful and abundant, but as a result of the revenge of Hemoria kingdom's Ruen prince, the seal of the deep sea was released. Since then, the area has become full of evil creatures. The residents of Bruel village and the warriors of Rozen kingdom continue to fight this evil, with the help of new adventurers.