dungeon-keeper-online posts

In December 2008 it was revealed that the Dungeon Keeper franchise was being revived but as an Asian-based MMO game. There hasn't been any word on the progress of that game since that announcement but this week some info and concept images from the title have come forward.

The game's official web site has gone live that show some concept art that at least look somewhat like what we would imagine a Dungeon Keeper Online game might look like but with an Asian art twist. MMO Culture has translated what's on the site for us English users, saying the game will be a full 3D title and will keep the original game's premise of playing a bad guy that is building his underground dungeon empire. There's no word on when the game might launch or if it will come to the US.

[Via Rock Paper Shotgun]

One of the most beloved PC game franchises in history is coming back, but not in the form that most gamers might have wanted. The franchise is Dungeon Keeper, the strategy game where you are the bad guy in a fantasy universe setting traps and monsters to defeat the AI controlled heroes. Developed by Peter Molyneux at his original game developer Bullfrog, the original game was released in 1997 with a sequel released in 1999 (Molyneux had left Bullfrog to form Lionhead Studios soon after the completion of the first game in the series)

Today the Chinese game publisher NetDragon Websoft announced that it has acquired the rights from Dungeon Keeper's current owner Electronic Arts to create Dungeon Keeper Online, an MMO title that will be made strictly for the Asian game market (although the press release does say it's possible it could be released to other markets as well). Details of the game itself haven't been revealed but the license allows NetDragon to use the "themes, characters and other game content" of the Dungeon Keeper series. In the meantime Western gamers will have to make due with the Overlord games which have some of the themes of Dungeon Keeper.