MMO publisher OGPlanet has announced the launch of side-scrolling MMORPG La Tale simultaneously to a worldwide audience. In addition to being available to North America-based gamers, La Tale is available to players in any country that does not have its own version of the game.

Originally developed by the Korea-based Actoz Soft for the Korean market, La Tale is similar in content and style to MapleStory – plus is also free-to-play with in-game items purchasable using microtransactions.

OGPlanet's recently announced game cards, available at Blockbuster, are usable with La Tale.

"La Tale is a perfect addition to our portfolio of multiplayer games and a great first step into the international market," said Ross Park, the producer of La Tale. "The depth of the La Tale world, with its diverse environments, charming characters and engaging gameplay, will please OGPlanet fans old and new."

Vanilla Live Games has announced the launch of the massively multiplayer online racing game BETandRACE in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In BETandRACE, players racing against other human opponents for real money, on tracks set in locations including Berlin and Vienna using real-world vehicles such as the Golf GTI.

The "real money" mode is voluntary (and only for players aged 18+) – the game is free-to-play in the "play money" mode. In the real money mode, players can turn their winnings into cash to be paid out at any time, similar to gambling websites.

"BETandRACE captivates by its excellent 3D graphics, fast and easy entry and short, but very action-packed races," said a BETandRACE representative.

Acclaim Games has announced the official launch of Tribal Nations, a free-to-play browser-based multiplayer online role-playing game.

The world of Tribal Nations is the 15th century "new world" of the Americas, where Aztecs, Mayans and Native Americans struggled for control of the continent. In the game, players create a profile for a character and interact with other players and NPCs, and can farm land, raise livestock, run a tavern, work in a temple, a mine, or as a warrior.

As with other Acclaim titles, players can also purchase items (such as food, raw materials, special items, and weapons) and additional in-game currency using Acclaim Coins.

“We are excited by our new ‘Play Now – Play Anywhere – Play Free’ initiative and Tribal Nations is one of the titles to really deliver that message. It’s a deep, rich experience in a very easy to access form, and it costs absolutely nothing to try it out!” said David Perry, the Chief Creative Officer of Acclaim.

Vivaty have launched Vivaty Everywhere, a new addition to the web-based virtual world platform Vivaty Scenes. It allows Vivaty Scenes to be embedded into any blog or website, over and above the previously-available capability to be embedded on Facebook and AOL's Instant Messenger.

Thanks to the new addition, Vivaty scenes are being embedded by Universal Music Group -- to advertise the new album release by Queen + Paul Rogers -- and by political satirists Barely Political.

We last mentioned Vivaty in mid-August, when they announced Vivaty Create and more functionality including virtual pets and avatar customization features.

"Our vision is to make virtual experiences as accessible, engaging and easy to use as a Web page," said Keith McCurdy, Vivaty CEO and co-founder. "Vivaty Everywhere gives brands, fan sites and bloggers a rich, engaging way to inject their sites with social experiences that reflect their media and style choices."

A few months back developer Funtactix unveiled its "cross-gaming universe" Moondo, and they've got in touch to let us know that the game has left beta and is now officially launched.

To celebrate the launch they're holding a "Moondo Eclipse", a ten day celebration event including tournaments and new items and power-ups for avatars.

Moondo currently offers shooting, racing, and sports games, and the free-to-play browser-based games work on a proprietary technology that streams graphics and audio data to PCs, and the browser window can be scaled to any screen size.

“Many mainstream gamers do not have the time to invest in MMO games or the budget for a high-end console,” said Sam Glassenberg, head of the studio behind Moondo. “The beauty of Moondo is that anyone can jump into one of its free online games and experience 3D visually intense, action-packed game sessions unlike any other casual game on the web. We welcome any gamer who feels they have skills to check out this exciting new universe of games.”

It's been a while since we've heard from IMVU, the company behind the "virtual spaces destination" of the same name, but that's apparently because they've been hard at work on IMVU Music, a just-launched addition which allows members to buy songs, create playlists and share music in a 3D environment with other IMVU members.

IMVU Music offers members access to music from the major music labels EMI, Sony BMG, Warner and Universal, as well as a selection of independen music distributors such as IODA, Redeye, GetUPlayed, Tunecore, Iris, Song and artists from CDBaby. In total, IMVU Music has launched with over one million songs in its catalog.

IMVU members can also purchase DRM-free downloads of songs from the catalog, so they can listen to the songs on a wide range of devices, including iPod and MP3 players.

“IMVU Music makes the 3D experience even more compelling,” said Cary Rosenzweig, CEO of IMVU. “People can have their avatars dance to the music or talk about the music. Music helps people be more expressive and emotionally engaged.”

New virtual world Music Mogul has launched, billing itself "the world's first online music world" in a blustery launch announcement that includes claims that the world is to "make a mark on the music industry and social networks" with "ground-breaking design".

"For the first time," they rave, "social networkers can experience the music lifestyle through a virtual living world," that is "set to alter the face of music engagement".

The company was founded by names including Nicolas Longano (former president of in-game advertising network Massive) Rodney Jerkins (a Grammy winning music producer).

"I've been looking for the next big thing to come out of music," said Jerkins. "I found it through games."

As a result of Jerkins' astonishing belief in the virtual world, each quarter a user of Music Mogul will be chosen to receive a three song demo deal with Darkchild Productions.

Music Mogul is being developed by iLemon and in the world users can either audition, promote and perform their music for the other users or simply explore the world, with the ability to establish and decorate their own (and we emphasize this is the release's words, not ours) "cribs". The game is also to feature microtransactions, powered by Aria Systems.

"Music Mogul's attention to realism and detail is pushing the boundaries of virtual worlds. Music Mogul will be a showcase of not only the future of virtual worlds, but how users will experience music and connect with each other. It is unique, focused and compelling," said iLemon President and Founder, Jouni Keranen.

Pre-paid card publisher GMG Entertainment has launched a new line of currency cards for OnNet USA’s GamesCampus, K2 Network’s GamersFirst and Octopi’s PoxNora.

Of those partners, Octopi are probably the most interesting to be launching a currency card as it is one of their first major announcements since reacquiring their assets from FUN Technologies.

In particular, founder and CEO Dan Kopycienski said, “Octopi is pleased to partner with GMG Entertainment in order to provide our PoxNora players prepaid digital cards and exclusive content through retail establishments,” which implies that they will include exclusive items on pre-paid cards, something that GMG Entertainment have noted is a major part of their retail strategy.

”GMG is excited to provide consumers with even more offerings brought forth by our new partners,” said Rob Goldberg, Founder and CEO of GMG Entertainment. “GamesCampus, GamersFirst and oxNora are innovative suppliers of some of the industry’s most compelling online games content, and we are thrilled to launch their brands nationwide through top tier retailers.”

/>"The time has come for the first MMO online game in Arabic to be published in the Middle East and North Africa region," declared the press release announcing the fact that Dubai-based publisher Game Power 7 has launched a closed beta of an Arabic version of Korean MMO Rappelz in the region, and hey, we completely agree—though it's a shame that it's simply a translation rather than a whole new game.

The title is a free-to-play MMO very much in the style of something like Lineage, and it has previously been released in over ten other regions including the the US, France, Germany and Russia.

The commercial launch of Rappelz from Game Power 7 is expected by the end of January 2009.

"The launch was highly welcomed by Arab gamers who had been looking for an Arabic MMO game for a long time," concluded the release.

We've been visibly big fans of Avaloop's unique MMO Papermint for quite some time, and though they've had little news to report recently—I think the last time we mentioned them was when lead artist Barbara Lippe detailed the game at ICE 08—the company has announced that the title has now entered open beta.

Papermint is a free-to-play, browser-based 3D MMO that combines casual gaming and social networking. Players create an avatar from "paper cut-outs" and can then play mini-games, design objects and decorate their personal space, and get involved in family networks, roughly described as " a web of fictional family relationships between players"—which can include the possibility of getting married and having children, which are in turn new players in the world.

Avaloop are a fully independent company working out of a "former local cinema" in
Vienna, Austria, and Papermint has been in development since May 2006 and was in closed beta since May 2008.

The game world is modular, consisting of an ocean with different islands created in collaboration with different artists and illustrators, which allows "microlocalisation of in-game communities according to geographic and thematic differences," with different islands for nationalities or common interests.

"Papermint is 100% pure brash indie spirit," said Lippe. "Two and a half years of intense effort, sweat and tears and the unbreakable will to not to give up were the ingredients that enabled Avaloop, a small independent team in Vienna to create a truly innovative web 2.0 experience—with no investor money or any big publisher at hand! Papermint's unmistakeable flavour and immense potential has of course raised the interest of the biggest computer and media companies today—but Papermint was and is a true child of independence."

Outspark (Fiesta, Secret of the Solstice) really like sending out press releases recently, and here's the latest one—the announcement that they've relaunched Outspark.com as a community portal, allowing users to create profiles and friends lists "in order to share stories, user generated videos and more".

Makes sense, especially after they announced the appointment of a new director of community!

The site is to use the open API from YouTube to host and embed user generated videos directly, and are to roll out "additional video features" in the coming months. Other features on offer to users include the ability to "gift" premium cash items to other community members.

“It’s been our vision from the beginning to create an online playground where our community can play games, make friends and share online experiences beyond the games,” said Susan Choe, CEO and founder of Outspark. “The launch of the portal opens the door for us to implement a world of interactive features and tools that our growing community can use to experience the virtual playground we have created. In the near future, we can help other game publishers or even developers introduce their games into our portal.”

Acclaim Games has announced the launch of Knight's Blood, a browser-based, free-to-play MMORPG, developed by the Germany-based RedMoon Studios.

The game is part of Acclaim’s strategy to offer more browser-based game experiences, and in the game players take the roles of knights in a fantasy land, choosing an allegiance to good or evil—as a Knight of the Light or a member of the Horde of Darkness—and can invest gold in training their characters or buy equipment including weapons, armor and amulets.

Players can purchase items and additional in-game currency using Acclaim's micro-transaction system, Acclaim Coins.

"Swear your oath of knighthood and choose your own destiny and allegiance through the decisions you make in-game!" said an Acclaim representative. "The decision rests in your hand!"

Vancouver-based web startup Leap In Entertainment has announced that its new "3D social media site" Just Leap In has entered public beta. The goal of the world is to "broaden the appeal of web-based 3D for a mainstream social media audience," particularly concentrating on the 18-34 demographic.

The world offers a RSSable newsfeed that syndicates events within the 3D world, and asynchronous browsing to allow the world to work akin to a YouTube video embed on blogs or webpages.

In addition, the world currently doesn't feature any advertising and is currently cross-platform across Mac and PC.

"Teens are already well served by entrenched players like IMVU and Gaia and Habbo," explained creative director Michael Griffin in a launch statement. "Most our users are over 18, have never spent much time in a virtual world before, but are avid users of Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube who are totally interested in swapping to a 3D environment. If you listen to those kinds of users, they want to do stuff like browse for friends and share photos and videos online. Other virtual worlds don't actually make that stuff easy to do. So we've grown organically to make those key activities as simple as possible."

Acclaim Games has announced the launch of Muniz Online, a "community-based online game" which provides "the best of online games and communities to provide a rich multimedia experience to teens."

How does it do this? Well, apparently by offering the traditionally expected MMO features—custom avatars and homes, chat, mini-games, quests and social networking features—so we're not entirely sure what sets this free-to-play game apart from the many others available to the 13 to 17 set.

The social aspect of the world does seem to involve some more thought than some, however, with players able to "vote" for others, with the ultimate aim of becoming "The King" of Muniz Online—not that kings are normally democratically elected by votes, admittedly. Mini-games seem to be the formulaic usual—an Asteroids clone, a Snake clone, etc.

However, according to a representative, "Muniz Online is a virtual world of entertainment and fun, so head on over and see if you have what it takes to Become the King of Muniz Online!"

Apparently we managed to completely miss that CyberSports' long-awaited free-to-play MMOG Football Superstars has been launched. Delayed until "late 2008" it made its debut last November, and has since seen 250,000 registrations.

The interesting thing about their release celebrating this fact is that they reveal the majority of these registrations were made before the game was officially available, with over 100,000 users registering by October, thanks to a marketing campaign that began in May.

However, in the eight weeks since launch, they're keen to stress, 220,000 individual games of football have already been played.

Phil Booker, CyberSports Head of Sales and Marketing, said: “Breaking the 250,000 barrier is an incredible achievement. It’s fantastic to see the results of the combination of strategic partnerships that we have set up and our marketing strategy using PPC, SEO and viral marketing paying off with such a large number of registrations. We’ve had great support from DBD Media and Infectious Media amongst others, and with their continued support, the registrations will continue to grow and Football Superstars will be the success that our hard work promises.”

Payment system provider PayByCash—behind the MMO prepaid card Ultimate Game Card—has announced that its services are now available to Indian customers in over 20,000 retail locations, where they can use PayByCash for games and other online goods and services.

Why is this notable? Well, because India has "extremely" low credit card penetration, and as one of the growing markets for onling gaming and virtual goods (according to the India technology trade organization, Nasscom, the entertainment video gaming industry in India exceeds $212 million, and is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 50%) it's "imperative" for online companies that non-card payments are made possible in the country.

The news follows other recent PayByCash announcements, such as the launch of PaxGuard, a system to reduce payment fraud-related expenses and lost revenue.

“It’s always been our mission to give gamers every opportunity to enjoy online entertainment no matter where they live,” said Kevin Higgins, President of PayByCash. “Our expansion into India enables its millions of consumers to experience and purchase the over 300 games, virtual worlds, and premium content of our PayByCash publishers as well as providing other types of merchants with a new revenue stream.”

Pirates of the Burning Sea developer Flying Lab Software announced the launch of a new division, Flying Lab Casual, which will develop casual gaming MMO environments "from the ground up."

The casual arm's first project is a family-friendly universe built in partnership with sports trading cards collectibles company Upper Deck. Further details behind the new title will be announced in the next couple of weeks.

Founded in 1997 and based in Seattle, Flying Lab Software was comprised of three development teams and 83 employees before the new division was revealed. The studio says that Flying Lab Casual, like its parent company, will "always create original games that feature expansive universes to explore"

"Flying Lab Casual gives our company and its partners the ability to take our vast online experience and apply it to other arenas, in this case a more family-friendly MMO environment," says Flying Lab CEO Russell Williams.

"The Casual division has its own core team that has grown out of the talented development team and success of Pirates of the Burning Sea," he adds. "This new division not only expands our company and its audience reach, but also gives our developers a chance to work on new genres and different types of games."

Flying Lab Software is best known for its PC MMORPG, Pirates of the Burning Sea, published by Sony Online Entertainment in January 2008. The title combines naval and swashbuckling combat, and is set in the Caribbean of the 1720s.

The developer is celebrating Pirates' one-year anniversary with a revamped sword-fighting system, and new skirmish and player-governed ports under development.

[The preceding article by Eric Caoili also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

MMO publisher Aeria Games (Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online, Dream of Mirror Online) has announced that its free-to-play MMORPG Last Chaos is now successful enough to require a new European server group for English speaking players. The European group is to feature its own in-game events, promotions and support orientated towards players connecting during European gaming hours.

To celebrate the launch of the European server, Aeria Games has also announced that they are giving away £10,000 in prizes to players during the first month of EU server promotions.

The news follows previous Last Chaos announcements, such as upcoming revisions and content expansion for the title.

"English-speaking European players have long come to Aeria's North American servers because of our first-class support, daily player events and, of course, the great gameplay of Last Chaos," stated Susan Revelt, producer for Last Chaos. "With the new European channel, Last Chaos players can enjoy the game alongside their continental friends with promotions and events designed around peak European playing hours."

Publisher Atlus USA Atlus (Persona 4, Trauma Center) announced a new online-focused business division for PC online games, with a community anime and game-focused portal alongside it.

The new division, Atlus Online will launch and manage the company's new Atlus Online portal, which promises to incorporate rich community features and social networking elements -- in addition to giving registrants access to the division's first online game, not yet announced.

The new division plans to launch services globally, and the portal's PC online games will operate on a hybrid subscription model, supported by multiple payment options, according to an official announcement.

Tyler Kim, whose previous experience in the online games space includes positions at K2 Network and Arenanet, will serve as Online Games director at the new branch. Jamie Ortiz, who has worked at Atlus USA as a project lead for four years now, is now head of Business Operations.

Jun Hyun Kim, formerly COO at Webzen America, will head Atlus Online's game operations, while Kevin Crawford, who helped produce K2 Network's flagship title Knight Online, will work as online project manager.

"Atlus has long wanted to create an online portal that would become the daily destination for anyone looking for a fresh and engaging online entertainment experience," says Atlus CEO and president Shinichi Suzuki. "Atlus Online will emerge as an extremely user-focused destination that is fully accessible to each and every one of its members."

"From amazing games to play to exciting contests, exceptional content and great community interaction, we are convinced that Atlus Online will be a premiere interactive entertainment destination for online gamers and anime fans alike."

[The preceding article by Eric Caoili also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

You may remember our Q&A with RocketOn's founders, Steve Hoffman and Eric Hayashi—performed while the title was still in closed alpha testing. The San Francisco-based company has now announced that it has begun to roll out its "parallel virtual world" platform by embedding it on partner site.

The services currently has six partnerships (exposing the virtual world to over 2 million users, according to RocketOn) with partners including Comedy.com, Hypster, HotSpot and faceDub, with additional partnerships to be announced in future.

The goal of the partnership is to "build social interaction and community on partners' websites, thereby weaving a virtual environment into the very fabric of the Web."

"What caught our attention about RocketOn is the potential for a new type of real-time social interaction on our site," says Cahit Onur, CEO of partner Online Flash Games. "We felt this would help build customer loyalty and extend our brand into the virtual world space. We're happy to be working with RocketOn and are open minded about new projects and ideas."

More free-to-play games doing well enough to open more servers—San Jose-based publisher/portal GamesCampus has announced that its MMO golf simulator, Shot Online, has received a new server and that they are holding in-game events to celebrate.

Events include offering free green fees for all courses and a tournament giving away prizes including virtual club sets.

This is, surprisingly, the first news we've published relating to GamesCampus in ages—the last time we mentioned them was in relation to their agreement with Major League Baseball over their upcoming title MLB Dugout Heroes.

"Opening a new server is just like launching a whole new version of Shot Online," said Tony Liu, producer of Shot Online. "The new server benefits all players by providing a fresh start to new gamers, and allowing existing players to meet new people, new friends, and new rivals at the same time!"

Casual game developer and publisher Phantom EFX has announced the launch of a casino-themed virtual world, Reel Deal Live!. Offering casino play without wagering real money, the company claim it is " suitable for people of all ages."

Though it's largely a gambling title, according to the developer, players are given "casino quests" on the road from "simple tourist in a casino" to "one of the most powerful gamblers around."

The game is a subscription-based title, starting at $8.99 a month, and users who are willing to sign up for a year are given an "exclusive slot machine" as well as savings on the subscription.

“In these tough economic times, destination hot spots like Las Vegas and Atlantic City might seem a little too rich for most pocketbooks,” said Phantom EFX CEO Aaron Schurman. “With Reel Deal LIVE, people can get that same big casino style excitement without the cost of a trip or the risk that comes with wagering real money. And for those looking to learn the ropes in a risk free environment, this is a great learning tool.”

Online casual game publisher iWin has announced the launch of Hotel iWin, a virtual world based around downloadable casual games.

Within the world, players can create an avatar with a public profile, expressing their interests and hobbies, and create friends lists, and can also decorate their own "hotel room" using items purchased from shops within the world, and the developers have stated that since the beta launch over 50,000 rooms have been created and 100,000 virtual items have been purchased using the Hotel Win virtual currency Opals.

Players earn Opals by playing games, and earning enough Opals can unlock new floors in the hotel. Games on offer include ad-supported, free-to-play titles, but also time limited titles, and multiplayer "online party" games such as Family Feud Online Party.

"Playing casual games today is a fairly solitary experience, especially for our guests who typically download single-player PC casual games," Nathan Fahrenthold, Senior Producer for Hotel iWin said. "Hotel iWin creates a riveting social and community experience around these single-player games which is unlike anything else in the market today."

Germany-based MMO publisher eFusion MMOG has announced that they have launched a new server and the latest patch for their intriguing Navy combat/strategy simulator Navy Field Europe.

The server launch is being celebrated with events including double experience, credits and points for a month, plus in-game events for players to participate in, where players can win premium items like "Navy Field Crystals".

The patch includes a new third generation of submarines, new weapons and additional functionality for submarine captains, plus a new "night battle" mode, with another patch to include special game modes for light and heavy cruisers.

A further patch has been announced to balance battleships.

Virtual world platform publisher RocketOn—a venture-funded startup located in San Francisco—has announced it is rolling out its virtual world platform by layering "virtual stores" across the Web.

Users who browse the web via the RocketOn "parallel virtual world" can encounter these virtual stores which can be hair salons, clothing stores, costume shops or other locations which can offer virtual goods for RocketOn users' avatars.

The virtual goods are sold for real money as well as points that users earn by using RocketOn.

"We view the Web as a virtual landscape that's now undergoing a real estate boom," says Steven Hoffman, cofounder and CEO of RocketOn. "A few years from now, we'll have tens of thousands of virtual stores and objects placed all across cyberspace, so every location you think of as a major destination will also have a corresponding virtual environment waiting to be explored and experienced."

Developer Tilted Mill Entertainment has announced that its browser-based MMO strategy title Immortal Cities: Nile Online has now gone live after a four month beta.

Nile Online is free-to-play and features an ancient Egyptian setting where players begin by building a single city, harvesting local resources and turning them into goods and structures, so they can conduct trade with their neighbors along the Nile. Players can expand their empire to include several cities, and build monuments to become the Pharaoh.

“We are very proud of the innovations we have brought to this genre” said Chris Beatrice, president of Tilted Mill Entertainment. “With a consistent setting, the ability to win, and no un-earned advantages, we think of this as a social Strategy game that happens to be played in a browser.”

New York-based Rebel Monkey has launched its casual web-based MMO CampFu, as well as the Monkey Wrench platform on which it runs.

CampFu had been running in beta form since February, racking up some 30,000 players. The free-to-play game allows players to join teams and participate in cooperative challenges, as well as purchase in-game items.

The Monkey Wrench platform itself forms the backbone of the game's social community, and powers numerous games within CampFu including FunGeez, WordMob, Critter Smackdown, and Veg-Out. Its APIs are not yet available to outside developers, but the company plans to allow externally-created games to plug into CampFu once Monkey Wrench is released more broadly.

"Monkey Wrench makes CampFu possible -- allowing for rapid, scalable and cost-effective deployment of real-time multiplayer content," said CEO Margaret Wallace.

"We've taken care of all the technical heavy-lifting and intend to make the Monkey Wrench application programming interface available to developers for launching their own co-op games on CampFu."

[The preceding article by Chris Remo also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Korean game publisher HanbitSoft has said that it "is interested" in recommencing Hellgate: London's service in the U.S. and Europe, but "unable to do so" due to Namco Bandai's Western publishing deal for the troubled title.

The T3 Entertainment-owned Korean firm acquired the IP of Hellgate has set up a San Francisco-based development studio, Redbana U.S. Corporation, in order to continue development on the PC MMO after the demise of original developer, Flagship Studios.

After previous English-language announcements that it would continue to operate Hellgate: London in Korea, Hanbit's 'Game Espresso' weblog has published another English-language statement about the game.

Kee Young Kim, the CEO of HanbitSoft, was cited as explaining: "There have been many inquiries from US and European Hellgate players surrounding the availability of the game in those respective territories."

He continued: "HanbitSoft does own the intellectual property of Hellgate: London and is interested in providing the game in the US and Europe, but is unable to do so at this time because Namco Bandai has the publishing rights for those regions."

The HanbitSoft executive concluded: "We cannot open up the server in Korea to allow access by US and European players as this will constitute infringing upon Namco Bandai’s publishing rights in the US and Europe. HanbitSoft is currently doing its best to improve the game."

Following HanbitSoft's acquisition of the Hellgate IP, Namco Bandai made it clear multiple times that it was shutting the Western Hellgate: London servers on January 31st, 2009 and was not intending to re-open them.

MMO portal MMOABC has announced that Ultimate Soccer Boss, its MMO soccer management title has been publically launched in North America.

The title is a free-to-play, browser-based football management title powered by Digenetics technology, which allows players and clubs to evolve over time, affected by variables such as number of plays, training matches, and club management.

The most recent updates to the title during its beta have included new payment options, evolving player traits, tactics, game flow, shop items, commerce system, and stadium upgrades, and future updates to the live game are to include game play animation, game flow overlay, player evolution charts, club statistics, game music, and an updated friendship invitation system.

“The closed and open beta events were a major milestone and success for all partners involved in Ultimate Soccer Boss,” said MMOABC CEO Andy Tong. “Many critical features have been refined since open beta and we believe that thousands of both current and new managers will enjoy these updated features.”

San Jose-based online game publisher, OnNet USA (which runs the MMO portal GamesCampus) has announced that its licensed baseball title, MLB Dugout Heroes, has officially launched, with a new item mall available for microtransaction purchases.

In the item mall players can purchase items such as Power Grips, Batter/Pitcher slots, Team Name Changers and Coaches' Advice, and GamesCampus is to give away millions of bonus "Nuts", MLB Dugout Heroes' in-game currency, to those who purchase their microtransaction currency Campus Credits.

MLB Dugout Heroes is also launching an affiliate marketing program through Sharesale, where GamesCampus will accept affiliate partner applications from sports content-driven websites, blogs and online stores. Once approved, GamesCampus affiliates can begin earning commission payments from their websites.

In other news, OnNet USA has announced that it has launched a second closed beta for its pool simulation MMO Cue Online, and that it has launched a new Player vs. Player test server for its MMORPG Asda Story.

MMO publisher Ntreev USA has announced that it has re-launched Pangya, the online casual golf game, in North America.

Previously known as Albatross18 in North America, the new beta for Pangya includes the content from "Season 3", a newer version of the game than was previously available, and Ntreev USA have stated that Season 4 is to be launched "before summer" featuring new characters, locations and customization features.

Members who previously had accounts for Albatross18 are to be able to transfer their accounts over to Pangya, and all accounts setup during this beta phase are to transfer over when the game launches commercially in May.

"Pangya has enjoyed worldwide success and popularity, including its tremendous mainstream popularity in the U.S. market," said Chris Lee, CEO at Ntreev USA. "Pangya offers a unique golf experience that is easy to pick-up-and-play, and appeals to a wide variety of skilled and casual players alike. We are excited that we could bring it back to the North American players who love it."