wicked-interactive posts

The recently launched free-to-play first person shooter Cross Fire is adding some new content for the extended Thanksgiving holiday and are even getting into the Black Friday sales spirit. The new free patch adds a new Search and Destroy map, Downtown, to the game's line-up. There are also three new weapons added to the game's arsenal (the classic Winchester Rifle, a Thompson SMG and an M16 Scope-Camo). And for the Thanksgiving weekend only players can purchase a Turkey backpack and helmet through the in-game store.

Speaking of which, beginning at 5 pm ET today all Cross Fire in-game items are on sale for 20 percent off via the game's online mall. The sale lasts until 11:50 pm ET on Sunday.

We have reported in the past few months on Cross Fire, one of the many free-to-play FPSs in the works. This morning we got word that the game from developer SmileGate and publishers G4Box and Wicked Interactive will enter its open beta phase on Friday at 12 pm ET.

The open beta phase will be accompanied by a new version of the game. That version will have not only new weapons and maps compared to the closed beta but also the game's persistant miitary ranking and stats for its players. The first week of open beta will also allow player to earn 50 percent more of the game's "GP" than normal and the first 30 clans who register will get to do so at no "GP" cost. There's no word yet when Cross Fire will come out of beta and have it's official launch.

A press release and the company's web site have both stated that a new MMO publisher has launched in the US but while the logo states its called "Wickedly Interactive", the official title is just Wicked Interactive (no relation to the Wizard of Oz based musical we take it). The new company plans to bring three Korean based MMOs to the US market later this year.

The Toronto based company has an agreement to bring three MMOs from Korean based Yedang Online. The titles, PristonTale, PristonTale2 and Ace Online, are due for release in North America later this year. More details on their release plans and their proprietary technology will be announced later this month.