Public Service Announcement

I’ve received too many emails about people inquiring about where The Ultimate List of Free2Play MMOs disappeared to. Well I said that I would be updating it slowly it because of the large number of viewers it was receiving from search engines. Since then I have decided to remove the link to the page from my blog as I try to get it as up-to-date as possible. The list can still be accessed at https://msupdate.wordpress.com/msupdate-presents-the-ultimate-list-of-free2play-mmos/. I’m starting by updating the publishers that are currently listed with their new games/closed games. After that I’ll begin adding publishers that aren’t already on the list. I hope to relaunch it by the end of the year. I’m also exploring other format options rather than that long eyesore of a list but the format will be addressed after the list is fully updated (probably not until the middle of next year). The European list is also on hold  but I will continue to list any European services available beside each game. Oh yeah, and Facebook games will be making their premier on the list.

Although FangBlade was the first level 200 I still say that curryishott’s journey to level 200 was more impressive.
curryishott dethroned Tiger and take the #1 spot.

But that’s not the part that I think is best. curryishott held the #1 position until he was level 184. He then stopped training for quite a while because he had “been busy”. During his hiatus FangBlade hit level 200 and curryishott fell to #12 on the overall rankings, with quite a few people approaching level 200. He managed to come back and get to level 200 second. That’s pro.

**I’m not trying to take any credit away from FangBlade or anyone else. I’m just saying that curryishott did a really good job for his place and his journey to 200 was impressive and great to watch.**

My brother Duy (his real name is Damien) moved in with me because he’s in college now :). That makes six people living in a three bedroom house with four beds. But it’s a big house that my grandaunt left in her will for me and my brothers. And it’s also nearly the 2nd anniversary of her death. R.I.P. Aunt Gracie.

The only languages that I can speak are English and Patois but I can read and speak a little Japanese and Korean. I can recognize some traditional Chinese characters too. Before I die I will learn to speak Japanese or Korean. If I don’t learn to speak either Japanese or Korean before I die then I’ll kill myself. No, that didn’t make any sense.

Facebook really needs to raise its maximum number of friends. I currently have 4,824 friends and have to constantly be monitoring them to ensure that I don’t get too close to the 5,000 mark.

My friend Jen who also lives with me with her boyfriend Mo who is like one of my closest friends is currently singing. She sings terribly. My ears now need at least two days to recover.

Nexon is pro.

[CAEU] Rapidly Growing Combat Arms Europe Surpasses 4 Million Players

One million new players in five months. Nexon Europe has announced that its most popular game and Europe’s most successful free-to-play shooter has surpassed 4,000,000 registered users, less than five months after the 3,000,000 player announcement. It’s no surprise, though, as Combat Arms is Nexon’s only game to be developed primarily towards Western audiences and everyone knows that core action shooter is the genre that Western players crave.

Combat Arms premiered in Korea in 2008 where it failed to impress, mostly due to the market dominance of Sudden Attack (Nexon), Special Force 2 (CJ E&M) and a few other shooters which have more than buried their roots into the Korean FPS market.

The game was then localized for its premier in the West through Nexon America where it was a success and quickly became one of the greatest free shooters.

Europe MapleStory may be a success, but that’s nothing in comparison to Combat Arms’ performance. Combat Arms Europe is Nexon Europe’s most popular game and continue to grow extremely quickly.

Most recently, Combat Arms has been ported to Brazil by Brazil MapleStory publisher Level Up! Games. It seems it has been successful and Brazil is another gaming market that favors shooters. Brazil MapleStory, by the way, closes on October 31.

The latest report which was several months ago had Combat Arms at 10 million global players, including 5,000,000 in North America. But that was when Combat Arms Europe had 3,000,000 players, so who knows what the user statistics look like now.

Combat Arms’ success in the West can not only be seen in the user statistics reported by the publishers, but also in the number of Facebook likes.

Nexon America

Combat Arms: 644,067
MapleStory: 633,349
MapleStory Adventures: 529,346 + 2,866,261 monthly active users
Atlantica: 136,832
Vindictus: 121,721
Dragon Nest: 108,558
Mabinogi: 77,913
Dungeon Fighter Online: 67,858
Nexon: 26,438
Nexon Mobile: 470

Total: 2,346,552 likes + 2,866,261 monthly active users

Nexon Europe

Combat Arms: 111,000
Vindictus (which isn’t even in closed beta yet): 32,037
MapleStory: 23,193
Nexon Europe: 8,479
Mabinogi: 7,443

Total: 182,152 (61% of likes are from Combat Arms)