Alienware Arena Dragon Nest PvP Tournament Season 2 Report

The Alienware Arena Dragon Nest PvP Tournament Season 2 held over the weekend at the Alienware Arena in Lucky Chinatown, Singapore, was yet another jewel in Cherry Credits' crown of community events. Though Dragon Nest PvP action has alway been a crowd pleaser, especially with the addition of a seasoned caster this round, Cherry Credits outdid itself in terms of community engagement this time round.

Apart from the live cast of nailbiting PvP matches, free game time and an in-game pet was offered to Dragon Nest community members who came down to spectate. Hourly lucky draws for Ttesport peripherals and limited edition Dragon Nest plushies were also conducted for spectators who registered their attendance. At least 100 gamers were on site taking part in the festivities.

"The crowd is as good as our previous events," said GM Adriano of Cherry Credits. The Dragon Nest PvP Tournament Season 1 was held way back in November 2011, but participation has not dwindled in spite of the gap in between seasons. "Some players even came down from Kuala Lumpur to support the Malaysian team," Adriano added.

Though the Singapore Dragon Nest community is definitely not as big as the followings in neighbouring countries like the Philippines, it still encompasses a dedicated bunch of players, and this is all thanks to the effort Cherry Credits puts into engaging its community.

Dragon Nest, developed by Korean developers Eyedentity Games and published by Shanda Games in Singapore is a game that the latter firm believes is the best for promoting e-sports with, hence their focus on it. Apart from frequent big ticket scenarios that appear with certain patches, such as the upcoming Green Dragon S$20,000 boss-kill challenge, Cherry Credits also makes it a point to meet up frequently with the players.

"We have meet-the-player sessions whenever we have a big patch (like the Kali patch)," GM Adriano told us. "Our producer Addison Kang sends out invites to notable community members. In turn, these people share the invite with their guild. Everyone gathers at the session and we give them a game update and information on the patch."

Community engagement like that certainly paid off over the weekend. We counted no less than over 100 Dragon Nest gamers throughout last Saturday's event. Many satisfied participants walked away not just with their in-game Hound pets, but also with gaming gear and plushies.

Dragon Nest will undoubtedly continue to be one of the top games in Shanda Games' catalogue , with Marketing Manager of Cherry Credits, Cheryl Tan, adding that the team is "looking forward to the PvP tournament becoming an annual occasion."

Mary-Anne is a the Singapore Correspondence for IGN Asia Pacific. You can identify her by her Magikarp tattoo or her propensity to launch into fangirl mode over a certain icy game company. She someday hopes to actually finish the games she owns. Follow her on Twitter @missfors

 SOURCE: IGN

Dungeon Defenders 2 co-op gameplay revealed in first trailer

Earlier this week, Trendy Entertainment announced that Dungeon Defenders 2—a follow-up to the co-op action tower defense original—will be free-to-play and feature a competitive MOBA mode. The new mode is already in closed beta, but the continuation of DunDef’s co-op won’t be playable until later this year. Even so, Trendy has released a pre-alpha co-op gameplay trailer—it’s bigger and prettier, but doesn’t look to stray from the original in any fundamental way.

That’s what I want: more super-saturated tower defense. We’ve got a while to wait, though, so in the meantime we hope to test out the new competitive mode soon.

SOURCE: PCGamer

Dungeon Defenders 2 announced: free-to-play with a MOBA mode in closed beta now

Dungeon Defenders is a fun co-op action tower defense game. Dungeon Defenders II, announced today by Trendy Entertainment, is that idea give or take everything that’s happened in PC gaming over the past three years. It’s free-to-play with cross-platform multiplayer (PC, Mac, iOS, Android, and Web), and it’s launching in two parts: a new competitive MOBA mode that’s in closed beta now and will be playable at PAX East this week in Boston, and an update to the cooperative defense mode of the original, which is scheduled for beta late this year or early next. So, not much has changed.

The competitive mode, which Trendy happily labels a MOBA, is taking beta signups right now. It will initially feature just one 5v5 map, but on the hero side Trendy anticipates it will have amassed 24 to choose from by launch. Some of those will be paid heroes, but the rotating selection of free heroes is expected to match “similar free-to-play games.” Meaning League of Legends, of course.

And, as is now standard practice when announcing F2P games, Trendy already has an answer for the question: “Is the game pay-to-win?”

“Of course not!” reads the official FAQ. “As of this moment in development, everything sold in the game is obtainable through play. Furthermore, all stat giving items are awarded only through play, not pay. Like many other games in the genre though, you will be able to purchase boosts that will let you level faster or find better cosmetics.”

But why make a cooperative game into a MOBA in the first place? Answer us that, Trendy!

“During the development of Dungeon Defenders we constantly tried different multiplayer modes. Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, you name it. None of them really fit. When planning the sequel, we couldn’t drop the idea that a MOBA in the Dungeon Defenders universe would rock. Maybe it was all the after hour games of League we played in the office. We don’t know. But it fit well into the storyline and achieved a core goal of helping Dungeon Defenders players meet new players, so we went all in.”

Oh, well that makes sense. But what makes it different from League of Legends and Dota 2? Don’t have an answer for that, do you?

“Our take on the MOBA genre is more rpg-esque, with more hero customization, persistent hero leveling, loot and a town square where players can socialize, manage their heroes, shop, trade, and queue for matches. We’ve drastically simplified the item system, to reduce the learning curve for new players and are aiming for shorter total match times. We’re also experimenting with some other unique twists that you might find out about later (if they work!).”

Alright fine, announce your game with plenty of details and jump straight into closed beta like some kind of indie game studio that communicates frankly and only when it has something to show. See if thatworks. And while you’re at it, why not promise a gameplay reveal in the announcement post? Schedule it for this Friday, maybe? Yeah, I thought you would, and now I guess have to get real excited about it with no need for sarcasm, because it actually is pretty exciting.

I’m not a big MOBA fan, so I’m more excited to see more of Dungeon Defenders’ original co-op, but I’m willing to give the competitive mode a chance while I wait. What say you?

 SOURCE: PCGamer