Filed under: Bounty Bay Online

Bounty Bay Online's upcoming expansion to introduce PvP tournaments

by William Dobson Sep 30th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Historical, Expansions, PvP, News items, Bounty Bay Online

Beyond the Horizon, the free expansion to Bounty Bay Online, has been confirmed by Frogster as on track for its intended Q4 2009 launch. Along with this good news, they also updated their expansion teaser site with details that are sure to please PvPers. Beyond the Horizon will introduce a new weekly PvP tournament system, offering 1v1, 2v2 and 5v5 battles, with both prizes and a highly detailed ranking system.

But since Bounty Bay Online features sea and land combat, the question must be asked: which of these locations will the tournaments be held at? The answer is "both". Two new arenas will be added to the game, one for land and the other for sea combat. The player will get to choose which type of battle they want to register for, which is kind of too bad, from a comedy perspective -- imagine turning up for a sea battle without a boat.

Going "Beyond the Horizon" with Bounty Bay Online's next expansion

by Seraphina Brennan Sep 9th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Historical, Expansions, News items, Free-to-play, Bounty Bay Online

Arrrrrr matey! The pirates of Bounty Bay Online be going over the edge of the ocean in their new free expansion, "Beyond the Horizon!" Pirate captains will be happy to see the addition of a new area of the world and brand new character classes to the game.

If you were interested in checking out South America and perhaps circling past Cape Horn, then you can now rejoice as these new lands are available to you with the coming expansion. Further more, you can also now check out the Western US and visit the ports of San Diego and San Francisco. Players will also supposedly get to check out the "legendary lands" which will include parts of Europe.

Most importantly, five new character classes will be added to the game, including the military officer, imperial guardian, caribbean pirate, treasure hunter, and armed-businessman. But we won't hit you with all of the details here on this post. Set your sails for the Beyond the Horizon mini-site to claim all of the spoils and plunder!

Bounty Bay Online expansion "Beyond the Horizon" coming Q4 2009

by William Dobson Aug 8th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Historical, Classes, Expansions, Bounty Bay Online

Frogster has announced that the next Bounty Bay Online expansion, titled Beyond the Horizon, is just ... well, beyond the horizon. Beyond the Horizon will add six cities to the game, as well as five character classes of a brand new type called 'professions'. Our favorite of the new professions (based solely on the name) would have to be the 'Armed Businessman'. He's not a sleazy criminal, he's a businessman; but if a deal is going south, you better believe he's got the equipment to take care of himself. The other four professions are Treasure Hunter, Royal Military Officer, Imperial Guardian and Caribbean Pirate.

There's a whole host of other features planned for the free expansion: a wedding system, new merchant factions with rewarding quest-lines, extra mini-games, and pets. There will also be a rankings system to help sort the wheat from the chaff, showing who the richest players are, as well as the best guilds, fighters, and fishermen. Beyond the Horizon is scheduled to be released in Q4 this year. A new site devoted to the expansion is up, but it looks like most of the site's links aren't available just yet.

Frogster will drown you in new MMOs ... if you live in Europe

by Brenda Holloway Jul 22nd 2008 at 10:30AM

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Historical, Real life, Sports, Galleries, Expansions, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Chronicles of Spellborn, Casual, Stone Age 2, Bounty Bay Online, Runes of Magic

Frogster, noted European and Asian MMO publisher, has released a flying voidship-load of information about their upcoming MMOs for the European market.

Long awaited fantasy MMO The Chronicles of Spellborn is still due out late this year, with open beta to begin in October. We've been following this game closely for some time, but it looks like the rumored US publisher (given their prior relationship, perhaps Aeria Games) is not yet ready to announce North American release dates for the game. The World of Warcraft-ish Asian Import Runes of Magic, newly rescored and tuned toward Western tastes, will enter closed beta in September, for a European release about two months later. Isometric pet-raising, caveman-themed MMO StoneAge 2, already in open beta in North America, will be entering European closed beta in August ahead of a fall release. Next week, Frogster will release more information on its latest MMO, soccer-themed Kickster (formerly Kick Off). And they want us to keep an eye out for an expansion to the Bounty Bay Online pirate MMO.

Assuming you live in Europe, which ones should you particularly keep your eye on? If you bought a Gameboy just to play Pokemon, you might really enjoy StoneAge 2. If a subscription fee is keeping you from playing World of Warcraft, Runes of Magic might just be different enough to get you interested, and it will be free to play. If you liked Age of Conan's innovative combat system but couldn't get into the world of Hyboria, Spellborn's unique setting and combat system combined with its lush visuals might sell you.

Check out screenshots from each of these games in the gallery below.

Gallery: Frogster Fall Releases

Bounty Bay opens a free-to-play server

by Michael Zenke Apr 26th 2008 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Historical, Business models, Free-to-play, Bounty Bay Online

High seas sailing Bounty Bay Online just recently began releasing their client free of charge, and dropped a brand new island into the Atlantic. Developer Frogster is still changing things up, with the announcement that they're opening a brand new free-to-play server for the game. Despite the free client, the older servers require a subscription fee, and have no microtransaction component. This new game shard, named the "Mary Read", will require no regular fee and offers players several unique items via an in-game item store.

The store charges 3 cents and upwards for a variety of items, including potions, figureheads, and treasure maps. Players can buy points, which they can then exchange for in-game items. They are also selling items that will boost your level and character power, allowing you to purchase your way to a level of power comparable with your friends. BBO players on the older "William Blight" server should remain unaffected by this new game addition; items bought in the store are only available on Mary Read.