utv-true-games posts

2010 was a very rough year for publisher Ignition Entertainment. The publisher shut down its Florida-based development studios and greatly reduced its London offices. The US operations of the company are now in Austin, Texas which are shared by its sister company, the free-to-play game developer-publisher UTV True Games.

In an interview at Siliconera, Ignition Entertainment exec Shane Bettenhausen states, "We're kind of combining our resources and re-upping and rebuilding Ignition. Clearly, I think we have a big lineup coming, throughout the year and we're going to be announcing more titles at E3."

True Games finally launched its free-to-play game Mytheon earlier this year and has another game, Faxion Online, in beta testing.

After launching its closed beta test over a month ago, developer and publisher UTV True Games will begin the open beta phase for its free-to-play fantasy MMO Faxion Online on Thursday, March 10. The closed beta players for the game will experience a character wipe just before the game goes into open beta which means everyone will be on equal footing in the game on Thursday.

The open beta will also add some new features to Faxion Online including new territory control and new "multi-classing capabilities" for the player characters. UTV True Games officially launched its free-to-play action-RPG Mytheon earlier this month.

After very quick closed and then open beta tests, the fantasy online free-to-play action-RPG Mytheon is now open for business. Publisher UTV True Games has now announced that the long-in-development game is officially launched. For a limited time players can purchase Mytheon's in-game currency at 25 percent off its normal price.

Just as a recap, Mytheon was first announced in 2008 with True Games working with developer Petroglyph on the title. The game was closed to being launched in mid-2010 but then tensions surfaced betweek True Games and Petroglyph that resulted in a lawsuit over the game's source code. While the lawsuit was later settled the game's development move from Petroglyph to True Games' own internal studio in China. The game started closed beta testing again in early February and began open beta testing just a few weeks ago.

After only a few weeks of closed beta testing the folks at developer/publisher UTV True Games have announced that the fantasy multiplayer action-RPG Mytheon is now entering the open beta stage again. The game had previously entered into open beta in 2010 before being shut down as the company took over full development duties from the game's previous developer Petroglyph.

The game is now available for anyone to download and play from Mytheon's official web site. There's no word yet on how long the open beta period will last but the final version of Mytheon is expected to launch sometime later this year.

The multiplayer free-to-play action-RPG Mytheon is now reopening for closed beta testing. Developer and publisher UTV True Games has sent over word that the game is allowing players who participated in the game's previous closed beta test to try out the new version of Mytheon along with new beta testers. As we previously reported, Mytheon's previous developer Petroglyph is no longer involved in the making of the game as UTV True Games took over its development in 2010.

Returning closed beta testers will be given "exclusive VIP treatment" when they log onto the game. Beta testers can also expect "in-game giveaways, leaderboard driven PvP matches, and mythology-based trivia with special prizes." Mytheon is expected to finally and officially launch later in 2011.

Last year publisher UTV True Games announced plans for Faxion Online, a fantasy themed free-to-play MMO that's being developed by the company's internal Austin, Texas studio. Today the company announced that closed beta testing of the game has now started on "Hell is Freezing Over Day" (Yes, there really is such a day celebrated on January 31).

The game starts off with your character apparently deal and entering the afterlife where he or she will visit the Seven Deadly Sins. In the game the Sins are physical locations rather than just characters. You will have to decided which side to fight on, Heaven or Hell, with a heavy emphasis on Player Vs Player combat. The game is expected to officially launch later in 2011.

The saga of UTV Ignition Entertainment continues. The game publishing arm of India's UTV has announced that it has decided to consoldate its US operations to one single location in Austin, Texas. It's apparently in the same office location that's also being used by the free-to-play game publisher UTV True Games. The company said today the move was made to "better combine resources and become more efficient and streamlined."

That means the company's publishing offices in Glendale, California will be moved to Austin while its Florida-based internal development studio will also be moved to Austin. The press release said that the studios long-in-development console first person shooter Reich is in fact still in development and will continue to be made in Austin. The press release said Reich's development wil be lead by "key personnel" and will seek new team members that "will create a new internal development team."

Update: Gamesindustry.biz reports that the CEO of Ignition Entertainment, Vijhay Chadha, was "terminated" last week

We've been following the development of UTV True Games' upcoming free-to-play fantasy multiplayer action-RPG Mytheon ever since the game was first announced back in December 2008. Indeed we posted up the first interview about the game the day of it's official reveal. The game was originally developed by Petroglyph and in 2010 it seemed to be getting close to its official launch. In February the game went into its closed beta phase and in April it started its open beta test.

And that's when things got ... interesting. In May 2010 UTV True Games filed a lawsuit against Petroglyph claiming that the developer was holding the source code to the game "hostage". A few weeks later everything seemed to be OK again as the two companies announced that their legal issues had been resolved and that Mytheon would officially launch on July 13. But that wasn't the end of it as it was later revealed that the launch date for the game was pushed back indefinitely. In the end both companies admitted in the summer of 2010 that Petroglyph was no longer involved in the development of Mytheon.

The open beta for the game was shut down in September as UTV True Games announced that the development of Mytheon was now under their own internal development team. Tonight, Big Download can exclusively reveal that Mytheon, under the company's Beijing studio, will restart its closed beta test by the end of January.

The press release, which you can check out after the jump, has more details about the relaunch of Mytheon including word that previous beta testers of the game will be contacted soon via email. Those users will be able to use their old beta accounts in the new closed beta test and will also get "exclusive keys and in-game rewards in the coming weeks" before the beta test begins. The press release does not indicate when Mytheon will officially launch. Big Download also has the first screenshots from the new version of Mytheon which you can check out in the gallery below this post.

More and more we are seeing browser-based games becoming more sophisicated and less like just simple Flash-based titles. This week publisher UTV True Games announced plans to launch Sky Legends, an upcoming multplayer oriented browser-based game from developer Smart Bomb Interactive.

The game itself has player piloting flying WWI-like biplanes in a weird fantasy world setting. You can fight against other pilots in several gameplay modes, customizer your biplanes and more. Sky Legends has already released its official web which has a grainy trailler showing off game gameplay footage. Sky Legends is due for release in spring 2011.

It's been an interesting summer for UTV True Games. The free-to-play game publisher was supposed to launch Mytheon with developer Petroglyph in July but later it was revealed that Petroglyph was no longer developing the title and True Games had taken over with plans to launch the title pushed back to sometime in 2011. The company also revealed plans for another internally-developed game, Faxion Online.

Now comes word that True Games has plans to announced yet another MMO game sometime during GDC Online on October 5-8. The game will be shown to media who tour the company's Austin, Texas headquarters during the event.