nexon-america posts

Nexon's popular free-to-play first person shooter Combat Arms regularly pushes out content and feature updates to its players. This month, in addition to new weapons and a new map (Operation: Dredge which you can check out in more detail here) players can now record video of their in-game matches and post them directly to the YouTube web site.

The game's official web site goes into detail on how the new YouTube video recording feature works. The Character Information tab now has the video feature added which lets players set the video quality they want to capture. When that's set up they can enter a game and start recording by pressing the "Page Up" button on their keyboard. They can stop recording by pushing the same keyboard button. They can then upload the video directly from the game's interface to their YouTube account.

The free-to-play game business continues to be a solid one for Nexon America. According to Gamasutra, the US subsidiary of the Korean-based Nexon reported that revenues from its various games generated 26 percent more revenue for its second quarter that ended on June 30. Specific revenue and profit numbers were not revealed.

This seems to continue a trend of increasing revenues for Nexon America as its games like the MMO Maple Story, the first person shooter Combat Arms and the recently launched Dungeon Fighter Online add new players. The next game that Nexon America plans to launch is the fantasy MMO Vindictus which should officially launch by the end of the year.

We have already mentioned that Combat Arms is getting a new weapon, the Kriss, but that's not the only thing that the free multiplayer shooter from Nexon is adding to the title. The latest content update to the game also adds a new map, Sector 25. There are also some new weapons being added such as the Ultimax 100 machine gun, the DSR-1 sniper rifle and the M416 CQB assault rifle.

Nexon is also letting players of Combat Arms recruit friends to play the game. Naturally those players will receive in game rewards the more friends they bring in and the friends will get some special gear and items as well.

The folks at Nexon have been nice enough to send Big Download this new and exclusive video showing off one of the new weapons the development team will be adding to its free-to-play first person shooter Combat Arms. The above footage shows off the new Kriss sub-machine gun in action.

As Nexon tells us the Kriss was "developed for military and police forces, chambered specifically for .45 ACP rounds. Its unique operating mechanism is designed to provide stability by absorbing recoil when firing." There is also a modified version of the weapon called the Kriss SpecOps. This version "features an integrated dot-sight and a suppressor. The stability, damage potential and magazine have all been enhanced."

Last week we exclusively revealed that Nexon's popular free-to-play first person shooter Combat Arms would be getting a new map called Dark Forest in its latest content update. But that's not all that players of the game are getting in this new upgrade. There's also a new server called Papa Server that will be home to a new set of gameplay rules. These new Recreation Rules sound like they are made for the more casual player with lower weapon recoil as well as bigger hit-boxes

The new server is also home to the new Super Soldiers gameplay mode where boxes are dropped on the map and players will have 10 second to grab one. Each box has a special player boost (one makes you immune to damage, one increases speed and stamina and so on). Finally there are 30 optional Mini-Missions that players can choose to complete to increase their experience points.

One of the more impressive MMO games shown at E3 2010 last month was Vindictus, a action-based free to play title from the team at Nexon. Now the game's official web site has announced that sign ups for the game's upcoming closed beta are currently being taken at the site.

You have until July 19 to sign up for the beta and Nexon will let folks know who has been accepted on July 22. The game itself, which uses Valve's Source Engine, is being hyped up for its use of realistic destructible environments and more freedom in combat than in most other MMOs. The game is scheduled to officially launch by the end of 2010.

After a long period of closed and open beta testing, Nexon America has now officially launched the US version of Dungeon Fighter Online. This is the latest free-to-play MMO from the company who previously launched titles like Combat Arms and Maple Story.

The 2D fantasy MMO can now be played online at the game's official web site. The title combines RPG with some side-scrolling fighting-brawler features. Nexon has a number of launch events for the game planned and have also launched the sixth player class today, the Female Gunner, which joined the previous Male Gunner, Mage, Priest and Slayer classes.

Download the Dungeon Fighter Online client at Big Download (1.1 GB)

For a publisher that works on free-to-play titles, Nexon is bringing in lots of money. Today the Korean-based company announced that its worldwide revenues for 2009 went up a massive 56 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Even more significant is that for the first time in the company's history the majority of its revenues came from outside South Korea.

Nexon America increased its revenues by 31 percent in 2009 thanks to the popularity of games like the free-to-play shooter Combat Arms. Nd it looks like the money shows no signs of slowing as the company announced that already in the first quarter of 2010 Nexon America increased its revenues by 28 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

Nexon also announced that its next game, Dungeon Fighter Online, will officially launch in the US on June 9 after several months of beta testing. It will be showing off two upcoming games at next month's E3: Vindictus (due out in late 2010) and Dragon Nest (due in 2011).

Last March, the free-to-play game publisher Nexon announced its plans for The Nexon Initiative which will give prospective game developers a chance for their ideas to be co-developed and published by Nexon. Today Nexon sent over word that the company has received a final total of 115 game submissions for The Nexon Initiative.

Now Nexon must pick which of the submissions they want to continue to develop and later publish. The game developers who have their ideas picked will get a share of $1 million from Nexon for their ideas. Nexon has not said how many games they intent t to pick but that the final winners will be announced in June.

[Via email press release]

It looks like the free-to-play PC game industry is in the midst of some consolidation. Earlier this week Korean-based Nexon, who develop and publish such games like Combat Arms and Dungeon Fighter Online, announced that it was purchasing NDOORS, another Korean free-to-play games publisher. They are best known here in the US for their fantasy MMO Atlantica Online. Specific financial terms were not disclosed.

But Nexon isn't done yet, according to the Venture Beat web site. They are reporting that Nexon is in talks to acquire GameHI, yet another free-to-play game publisher that's best know here for their first person shooter Sudden Attack. There's no word on when this new deal will be complete.