A new action RPG is coming! Koramgame, a publishing company that specializes in browser-based games, is bringing a new action RPG to North America; Dragon Born. This new title will feature all that action RPG goodness you love, all distilled to play on your browser.

While the Dragon Born website is currently still down, you can head over to their Facebook page to check out some Dragon Born concept art and what appears to be some very pretty in-game environment screenshots. Just looking at those pictures has gotten me all nostalgic for a good RPG. 

Has all of our Guild Wars 2 beta coverage got you drooling to get into the game? Well, for the next 48 hours, ArenaNet is calling for all players to apply for the chance to participate in upcoming Guild Wars 2 beta events! All you need to do is head over to the Guild Wars 2 beta application page, submit your information via a DxDiag diagnostic tool (essentially a hardware scanner to make sure your computer specs match what ArenaNet wants), and then refresh your mailbox repeatedly from now until you get that golden ticket.

So get to that Guild Wars 2 beta application page to get started!

Ever since ArenaNet took to their blogs to discuss, at length, how they were going to challenge MMORPG stereotypes, Guild Wars 2 has walked the path of an exponential hype machine, doubling and tripling its expected potential each time a new post appeared. Heck, even as a cynical MMO gamer who's heard the term "revolutionary" so many times that I just want to buy everyone a thesaurus, I'll admit that, deep in my heart, a cautious optimism was feeding on the alluring rhetoric of those developer posts. Ultimately, I went into the Guild Wars 2 press beta with the mind of a cautious skeptic: I wanted to believe, but I really didn't know if ArenaNet could deliver on all those promises.

With so much Guild Wars 2 talk floating around the past two days, including a solid write-up from our new staff writer Gareth "Gazimoff" Harmer and Mike B.'s exceptional 20-minute preview video, I've decided that, for this preview, I'll focus more on my key experiences in Guild Wars 2 rather than a broad rundown of the game's features. Tomorrow we'll discuss, in depth, some of the core game mechanics of Guild Wars 2, so be sure to tune in then!

Trion Worlds has entered into an exclusive agreement with Asiasoft to release Rift in six Southeast Asian territories: Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. This follows the recent announcement of exclusive partnerships with CJ E&M Games and Shanda Games to bring Rift to Korea and China respectively.
 
"Trion has a global view when it comes to delivering  premium games, and our initiatives to bring Rift to Asia through some of the industry’s biggest collaborations sets Trion apart from other Western game developers," said Lars Buttler, Founder and CEO, Trion Worlds. "Asiasoft, with its deep reach into Southeast Asian countries, is an ideal partner to realize our goal of bringing original connected experiences like Rift to gamers everywhere."

The partnership appoints Asiasoft to exclusively distribute and resell the English version of Rift, and be responsible for its marketing and PR in all six territories. The partnerships with Asiasoft in Southeast Asia and Shanda Games in mainland China showcase Trion’s continued growth and expansion into Asian markets following the unparalleled success of Rift since launching last March. The company saw more than a million accounts activated in just four months and North American and European revenues of more than $100 million.

"We are delighted to be working with a company as innovative as Trion Worlds and are certain that this will be a mutually successful relationship that will benefit gamers in the region,” said Sherman Tan, Chairman of Asiasoft Corporation PLC. “We are very happy to introduce @Cash as a payment mode in order to allow more gamers in the region to enjoy the deep, immersive online gaming experience that Rift brings."

@Cash is AsiaSoft Online’s unique credit system used by AsiaSoft Passport. According to their website, AsiaSoft Passport members will be able to use @Cash to redeem for in-game cash that can be used in all games published by AsiaSoft Online.

Today’s news follows the company’s recent announcements of an $85 million round of strategic growth equity financing and a full-scale publishing and development platform, code-named Red Door, set to debut later this year. More details regarding the launch of Rift in Southeast Asian territories, including launch timing, will be announced at a later date.

When Sony Online Entertainment announced their partnership with ProSiebenSat.1 to distribute SOE games in Europe the SOE gaming communities exploded with questions and concerns. Today SOE released a FAQ which answers those questions.  Highlights include the segregation of Euroean and American servers, and the exclusion of the original EverQuest from the deal.

We highly recommend you read the ProSiebenSat.1 Games Group FAQ on the Station.com or your favorite SOE game forum. 

And the news is out! In a fresh press release, NCsoft has announced that their upcoming 3.0 update, Aion: Ascension, will not only be adding a plethora of content to the game, but it will also herald Aion's big shift to their "Truly Free" business model! Much like their "Truly Free" push for Lineage II, Aion: Ascension's new F2P model will grant players access to the entire game, including the two major expansions, Assault on Balaurea and The Promised Lands.

While it may have been an inevitable conclusion ever since NCsoft announced that Aion Europe would be going Free-to-Play back in December, this still comes as great news for Daevas around the world. Also, if you just can't wait for Aion to make its big shift this Spring, NCsoft is also rolling out a "Rallying the Troops" event, where new players can play on a no time limit trial up to level 40, and returning players will have a free 14 days of time to jump back in. In the meantime, check out Aion's touching new trailer heralding their upcoming changes. You can also read up on the lore of Ascension on the official Aion website.

With the first Closed Beta Weekend for Guild Wars 2 over, a lot of new information is now available. With that in mind, Lead Game Designer Eric Flannum has posted a blog with details from different developers on various improvements and additions that have gone into the game.

For starters, we got a detailed explanation of the unique "downed" mode where you will have the option to "Fight for Your Life" with a set of four skills. If you manage to kill an enemy while in this state, you will be resurrected and can continue the fight. If you are unfortunate enough to actually be downed, a random piece of you gear will be damaged. If you happen to die while all of your gear is damaged then pieces of gear will begin to break and cease to provide statistical buffs to your character. This differs from most other MMO systems as gear durability is only taxing upon death and thus can be avoided with skillful or careful play.

Other information posted in the blog pertains to changes and developments with the game's compass, hidden treasures, and even meta-events. For more details on all of these changes, be sure to check out the entire blog post here.