Chinese MMO developer Oak Pacific Interactive (OPI) has been enjoying great success at home, and now wants to expand that success. Their popular game Neverland Online, launched in China in June of 2008 is coming to North America and Europe in an English language version. Neverland Online is a browser based, side scrolling fantasy game set in a mythical ancient Chinese world. Your job is to defeat the threatening demon army with a wide array of pets and equipment to help you out.

Neverland Online is now in open beta, and you can register for an account here to give it a look. For a limited time, players can log in and receive a free "lucky bag" containing $100 worth of virtual items that will come in handy as you play. All beta accounts will be saved, so you will get to keep your freebies once the game goes live.

Well, yes, we are happy about this, but zOMG! is the name of the MMO, not an expression of our excitement. Vivox, the company that provides voice chat in quite a few of our favorite games, has added one more to their list. They've partnered with Gaia Online to provide in game voice chat for zOMG!, their free-to-play browser based MMO.

"Gaia Online has defined the social web experience for millions of teens and young adults," said Rob Seaver, CEO of Vivox. "And voice is the ultimate social glue. By adding voice chat to zOMG!, Gaia Online proves, again, its commitment to providing a truly social experience for its players."

Vivox voice chat is live in zOMG! now for players to "gab to your heart's content using the power of your own face-hole, saving valuable keystrokes for more efficient monster bashing," according to the zOMG! monthly newsletter. True to form, zOMG! has added their own twist on it as well: players can purchase voice fonts in the storefront to give their voice a unique twist. Congratulations to Gaia Online and Vivox for their partnership!

With the hugely successful RuneScape in their stable, we've known that Jagex has been doing well for a long time now. They've already been recognized outside of the immediate gaming world on numerous occasions: Guiness World Records awarded RuneScape the title of the world's largest free-to-play MMO, and in 2008 the word RuneScape was typed into Yahoo! Search more than Lindsay Lohan and Naruto. The company's latest accolade comes via the Sunday Times Tech Track 100, where they were just ranked at number 22 on the list of the fastest growing private technology companies in the UK.

The Tech Track 100 report states that Jagex's sales have grown 84% a year for the last few years, from £5.2 million in 2005 to £32.3 million in 2008. This is the first time they've made it on to the list since the company was founded in 2001. Jagex CEO Mark Gerhardt made a statement about his company's achievement, sounding particularly proud (and rightly so): At Jagex we are passionate about the games we make and the technology we have created to develop and deliver our games; creating fun is just part of our DNA. Our values and passion have allowed us to grow one of the largest player communities in the world." The full Tech Track 100 list is available online in .pdf form.

[Via GamesIndustry.Biz]

We're chalking this one up as a rumor for now, but word has it that Sony Online Entertainment is developing another Star Wars MMO property, a casual browser game specifically based on the Clone Wars IP. The info comes from Ten Ton Hammer's Cody Bye, who writes:

"Ten Ton Hammer has learned from an inside source that Sony Online Entertainment has once again partnered with LucasArts to do another Star Wars MMO. While we have not yet learned the title of the upcoming game, it sounds like SOE is planning to use the browser-based Free Realms engine to power the game, and the game's setting will be the Clone Wars."

Massively has not heard anything yet to corroborate this as fact, but let's face it -- this was just too juicy to ignore. If we hear more on this while we're at PAX and Dragon*Con, we'll be sure to let you know.

[Via Shacknews]

What's this taking up one of the center links on Fileplanet? Is it the upcoming MMO Earth Eternal? Why yes it is! Sparkplay Media's Earth Eternal has made it to the top of the free games listing... except for the fact that EE is still in closed beta.

Fileplanet's link, while enticing, will not get you instant access into the closed beta. What it will do, however, is sign you up for an account that will let you be eligible to be selected for the closed beta. It will not let you play the game immediately, but it will certainly net you a chance at playing sooner rather than later.

According to Sparkplay Media, Fileplanet will be involved with getting the game and the word out there, but it seems they've jumped the gun in releasing their link for the game. It's cool, we all make mistakes.

As to what special in-game items Fileplanet members will be receiving for signing up and playing, well, that's still a secret to everybody.

Browser-based MMO strategy game Freesky Online has just finished merging two of its servers to help bring the player population up. The Paradise and Canaan servers have been turned into a single server called Paradise&Canaan, and the server's map was made bigger and filled with more resources to give the inflated population a chance to prosper in their new environment. The hope is that a greater population will increase the amount of PvP action that goes on and offer new strategic alliance opportunities.

Along with the positive effects, the merge brought a lot of inconvenience to players: those that had a character on both servers were only able to keep one, and friends lists and existing alliances were deleted. Players were also unhappy about having their ongoing activities interrupted. To make up for all of this, the game's developers IGG have put together some compensatory goodies for affected players. There are two different gift packages; the players' reputation level affects which pack they will receive. To see what you might be entitled to, visit the news article about the merge at the game's official site.

It looks like we're not the only ones on the block to talk to Matt Mihaly, as Gamasutra has recently sat down with the Sparkplay Media CEO. The topic of the conversation: microtransactions.

Matt's no stranger to microtransactions, having utilized them back with Iron Realms Entertainment and their many MUD games. His talk with Gamasutra starts out focusing on how microtransactions can generate a very modest income, but mainly center on a small segment of the game's population paying the most to play the game.

Beyond microtransactions, Matt gives a few very interesting details about the development of Earth Eternal and how it reached the form it's in today. Did you know that originally Earth Eternal was going to be a hyper-violent and hyper-sexualized fantasy MMO before it evolved into the playful multi-race animal/fable theme? No? Then you might want to check out the full article, as there's more where that came from regarding the game's evolution.

GDC Austin has announced that SOE president John Smedley will be providing the keynote for the event, which takes place next month. Entitled: "From Daggers and Dragons to Kart Racing, Cooking and Concerts ... It's a Whole New World", the keynote -- which takes place on Wednesday 16 September -- is an obvious allusion to SOE's very own Free Realms, which has been one of the most hyped freemium PC MMOs of the year and will eventually see a PS3 release.

The keynote page goes a little more in-depth, informing attendees that they "will learn about the challenges and lessons learned when creating a full-blown MMO for kids together with a ground-breaking new business model; and how developers can re-educate their teams to move from stagnant and dated MMO design toward mass market success."

GDC Austin, which is taking place between 15th and 18th September in Austin, Texas, will also see a keynote, taking place the following day from Blizzard devs Frank Pearce and J. Allen Brack entitled "The Universe of the World of Warcraft".

[Via GameSetWatch]

Getting Jagex to even speak the name Mechscape is hard enough in itself, but Kieron Gillen was able to glean some facts from the Jagex staff at the recent DEVELOP conference in Brighton.

While Gillen's Rock, Paper, Shotgun piece centered mostly on Jagex's newest website, FunOrb, and their dedication to retro gaming, he was able to sneak in a few questions and learn a few key facts about Jagex's next browser-based MMO. Mechscape is not Runescape in space, but more of an evolution of "How can we avoid past mistakes?" One of the mistakes that many developers make is putting fantasy MMO mechanics into a sci-fi setting according to Henrique Olifiers, the head of Mechscape.

"The reason why many Sci-fi MMOs haven't worked is because they're fantasy games dressed up to look like Sci-fi games," said Olifiers to Gillen.

To this end, Mechscape has turned to sci-fi titles such as Ascendancy and Masters of Orion for inspiration in regards to their game mechanics. In addition, Mechscape will not be featuring experience points or levels, much like another game we just talked about.

Olifiers has stated that Mechscape is in the final polishing phases of development, but he will not put a date down on the game just yet, citing the age-old, "It will be done when it's done."

Just think about that title for a second. Of all the games genres you've played, isn't it MMOs that feel most like carbon copies of one another? Level systems, the character creation process and class archetypes are nearly universal, with hundreds of games sharing the same characteristics. Don't you sometimes wish that MMO developers would step back and reassess the genre they have collectively created? This week, as part of Massively's "Redefining MMOs" series, it's my turn to muse on a topic and I've chosen to look as whether it's time the MMO mould (or mold, as my American editors would say) should be broken and re-examined.

We kind of already knew this one was on the way, thanks to a listing on TurnOut Ventures' product page that was spotted last month, but now it's official: BEN 10 Omniverse will be coming to a browser near you in Q4 this year. TurnOut Ventures made the announcement and gave a description of what to expect from the free-to-play title:

BEN 10 Omniverse will let players participate in the evolving story arc of Cartoon Network's BEN 10 saga, featuring Ben Tennyson, a 10-year-old boy with the ability to morph into different aliens using a strange alien device called the Omnitrix.

They also mentioned that the game will be episodic in nature (the launch game will actually be called BEN 10 Omniverse Episode 1: Rise of Heroes), with content updates bringing new zones, quests and other additions on a regular basis. The gameplay will consist of both PvE and PvP, with each of these activities offering the opportunity to group up with other players. According to the official site for the show, a closed beta application process is coming soon.

Massively: Is there any MMO that has influenced your work on Earth Eternal, and if so how did it influence you?

Ryne Anderson, programmer: Absolutely! One of the most enjoyable aspects in working with games is digging into the titles that you really enjoy and seeing if you can't make them a bit better by throwing your own unique spin on them. Of note, World of Warcraft has been my shining beacon throughout the project. The simplicity of getting a player into the action opened the floodgates to people who might have previously been intimidated by the stigma that MMO's were for 'hardcore' players. Earth Eternal aims to not only meet, but exceed the accessibility of the current 3D MMOs, by not requiring a monthly subscription or up-front payment to play– all within a very polished game world that you can play in a browser.

What Earth Eternal race represents you the best and why?

Ryne: Being a technical guy myself, it is without a doubt the Clockwork. First and foremost, his look is amazingly different from all of the other races in Earth Eternal. Secondly, let's face it: robots are awesome! (Unfortunately though, I can't be a robot ninja in Earth Eternal...yet.)

If you could pick out your favorite part of Earth Eternal, what would it be and why?

Ryne: As hinted above, I'm really into accessibility for any type of player. To me, if we can get a player, from seeing our webpage, to in the game killing monsters in five minutes or less, that's a huge win for both us and the player. I believe we have succeeded in this, as our intro area not only looks beautiful, but gets players into the action right away.

What has been the most difficult obstacle for you to overcome in your work on Earth Eternal?

Ryne: Making any sort of game is always a learning process, and sometimes simple issues turn out to be much larger when you try to lay out all the details. For me, the most difficult part of making an MMO is keeping the client and server in sync at all times. It's a trade-off between being responsive to the commands issued by the player and validating that they are actually allowed to do those commands on the server.

What are some of the limitations/problems you encounter when coding for both a client and a browser-based game? How have you guys overcome that?

Ryne: Honestly, getting the game running in the browser isn't a monumental task. It requires a bit of touch-up every time a new browser version comes out, but the plugin we have is fairly solid. The difference between the browser and client version are pretty minimal. Having said that, since we are running in a browser we want the game to be able to run on as many computers as possible, and optimizing for all sorts of different configurations is always quite a challenge.

Thank you so much to the Sparkplay Team for lending the time to answer our questions! If you're interested in Earth Eternal or would like to put your name into the hat for the closed beta, stop by their website!

Massively: Is there any MMO that has influenced your work on Earth Eternal, and if so how did it influence you?

Alex Madrigal, Concept Artist: I've been pretty active with MMOs for about seven years now. I've played Final Fantasy XI the most, but I've spent a serious amount of time in World of Warcraft as well. I've dabbled in Everquest 2, Lineage II and most recently Dragonica. Artistically, I've picked something up from each of the games I've spent considerable amounts of time with.

What Earth Eternal race represents you the best and why?

Alex: I'd have to say that I'm probably most like the Ursine. I'm big, tough and hairy. Also...not so much tough, but definitely cuddly!

If you could pick out your favorite part of Earth Eternal, what would it be and why?

Alex: My monster designs. That will probably (definitely) come across as conceit, but the time spent with the team discussing, designing and fine tuning the monsters was probably the most fun I've had working on this game. To take something from a simply stated verbal concept and then see it grow through the stages of development is always exciting. Getting to draw strange things and seeing them show up in a 3D virtual space is a hoot. Plus it does my ego good when I hear people say that they think the designs are cool. And if you manage to find monsters you think aren't so cool – I didn't do those. [Laughs]

What has been the most difficult obstacle for you to overcome in your work on Earth Eternal?

Alex: Doing user interface work. Having come from an animation background, jumping headfirst into designing a UI was a hell of a hurdle. Dealing with a whole new set of technical limitations and rules was difficult at first. For my first UI, I'm pretty happy with the end result, but I prefer the pencil and paper/Photoshop route instead of shifting around tiny pixels.

What has influenced your art style for Earth Eternal? Why this art style?

Alex: I wish I could say that I was on the ground floor to help decide the artistic style for the game, but I actually came on as the concept artist about a year after the game's development started. I've been following a style set by another group of artists, but I have taken the opportunity to slather it in a healthy coating of my own personal style when possible. I'm heavily influenced by European graphic novel artists, and I really enjoy classic fairy tale illustrations. Things with visual texture and very rhythmic line work. Earth Eternal has rich lore and to me, it feels like a fairy tale world. I try to implement that kind of stuff wherever I can.

Come back tomorrow for part two, when we get to speak with the lead writer, Matt Mihaly, and one of the programmers, Ryne Anderson!