Electronic Arts Brings Back Ultima RPG Franchise

Electronic Arts has recently introduced a new game for its Ultima franchise lineup. The company’s newest creation will be a free-to-play browser-based game titled Lords of Ultima and the company describes it as “an online strategy game where you build your own unique city and play with thousands of other players.”

More specifically, the game’s development is being handled by EA Phemomic, which has been responsible for creating the free-to-play MMORTS/MMORPG game BattleForge.

Lords of Ultima is currently in closed beta testing and running only on one server. If you’re interested in testing out the game and if there’s still room on the server, you can try it out at its official website, www.lordofultima.com.

Via ShackNews.

Apple iPad Will Help the Future of Browser-Based Gaming

As usual, Apple’s newest piece of hardware, the iPad, is quite impressive. With a sleek 10″ touchscreen, this netbook-rival device will quite possibly be (or maybe is even already) an eyesore and a hot commodity for gamers.

According to Trip Hawkins, the president of Digital Chocolate (a video game developer based in San Mateo, California), the iPad will change the portable gaming market. The market for games and gaming will expand as individuals who were not big gamers in the past start playing browser-based games through social networking sites (like Facebook) and/or downloading games from the App store.

The base price for a 16 GB Apple iPad with wi-fi capabilities is currently $499, but maybe in the future when demand is high enough, the price of a unit will decrease. For an Apple iPad with the same amount of storage in addition to 3G capabilities, the base price is $629. If you’re interested in checking out some of the features of the device, visit Apple’s website.

Shed Some Blood in Boxhead More Rooms Browser-Based Game

In the Boxhead More Rooms 2D browser-based game by Kongregate, you play a shooter whose mission is to kill all the Zombies and Beasts you encounter. There are eight types of layouts in the game: Boxy, Buttons, Mazey, Gladiator, Strip, Tight, Columns 2, and Castle so you’ll be amused hours on end.

When you advance through the levels, your character is able to pick up little red boxes, which contain different forms of weapons and equipment. The pistol, the weapon which your character starts off with, never runs out of amo, but other weapons can run out of amo. Examples of other weapons and equipment include: uzis, shotguns, grenades, and barrels.

Arrow keys are used to control your player throughout the game, and when applicable, number keys are used to select which weapon or piece of equipment your player will use to defeat the enemies. The space bar is used to fire. The Zombies in the game are white and take much less hits to kill than the red Beasts. The beasts also have the ability to attack back.

Boxhead More Rooms is a simple game and has simple graphics, but it’s quite fun. If you’re interested in checking it out for yourself, visit Kongregate’s website. And just as a heads up, this unusually addicting game requires at least 512 mb of memory and a relatively fast processor. Have fun!

Bored? Try the Japanese Browser-Based Game Tower of Moai.

Today I happened upon the Japanese browser-based game Tower of Moai. In the game there are these moai (little statues of human figures carved from rocks) and the objective of the game is to rescue as many of them as possible before the time runs out.

These little guys can be rescued by tipping the tower towards the ladder that is dangling from the top of the screen so that the moai can climb up to safety.

There are multiple levels in the game. The first level involved balancing moai atop a tower and the second level involved balancing moai that were sprouting out of lily pads. There is a timer of 90 seconds for each level.

The graphics aren’t super amazing or anything, and throughout the game, the music consists of repetitive beatboxing, but if you have five minutes of free time on your hands and have nothing better to do, you can check out the game here. Don’t get too carried away now — the game can tend to get somewhat addicting. Have fun!

Image via GamesDirectory.

Fight Out Your Differences in My Brute Browser-Based Game

The My Brute browser-based game allows players to create unique characters and fight against other players in a great arena. The in-game characters are nicknamed “Brutes” and players can generate their own based on the name they pick for their character.

This is actually a pretty neat gaming feature, as the website generates a new character based on each additional letter of the alphabet that you enter for your character’s name. Once a name has been selected, players can also change the appearance of their character (while keeping their base character) as well as the color of its skin, clothes, etc. Changes are activated by clicking a button and are random.

The name of the game is deceiving, as it indicates that the characters in the game are big, bulky, and ugly, but actually the opposite is true. The characters in the game are quite cute and animated. If you’re interested in picking and fighting your own battles, you can check out this flash game at www.mybrute.com.

Farmville Releases New Giftable Mystery Gifts

Farmville has recently released a new giftable item – the Mystery Gift. It reminds me of Farmville’s Christmas presents, except the prizes are not Christmas-themed. To open a Mystery Gift, you must first click on your gift box and click on the “use” button for the gift. This allows you to put the present on your farm, and from there, you can click on the present and then on “open” to open it. The present will disappear in a few puffs of purple smoke and sparkles. This process is irreversible, so make sure you really want to open your Mystery Gift before proceeding.

Various items can be obtained from opening these Mystery Gifts. I got four Mystery Gifts today and the prizes I got from opening them include (in this order): 1 Farm Cash, Hot Air Balloon (yay),  1/5 Fuel Refill (yuck), and a Goat Topiary. Other prizes that are available through the Mystery Gift giftable include other topiaries, different capacity fuel refills, 20 XP, and various Farmville animals and trees.

Wondering Why Electronic Arts Have Stuck with Tiger? Keep Reading.

While most of Tiger Wood’s corporate sponsors have bailed as sure as the sun is going to come up tomorrow, game development company Electronic Arts has stuck by its icon since the formation of the partnership. The company is even planning on releasing the Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘11 video game for the Nintendo Wii, as well as an online version and iPhone version of the game.

Why you ask? Well, historically, Tiger Woods has had a successful golfing career and that’s enough to convince Electronic Arts of his value. The company’s reason in continuing to support the golf star is due to Tiger’s superior performance on the golf course instead of his behavior off the green.

It’d be hard for EA to pull away from Tiger now, so hopefully for the company’s sake, the worst of the Tiger scandal is over and the star will soon return to golf. Tiger might not be able to sell the concept of integrity for consulting firms, but he can still sell the sport of golf.

Via Newsweek.

Runescape Game Updates Barbarian Assault Minigame and Adds Agility Benefits

There have recently been some updates to the Runescape browser-based game.

In the Barbarian Assault minigame within Runescape, there have been newly-implemented changes as well as new and improved rewards for spectacular performance.

The creators of Runescape have also introduced new Agility benefits for the Fishing, Hunting, and Thieving skills. Gamers with high Agility levels in the game are now able to catch more fish, capture more loot from a successful pickpocketing endeavor, and catch more butterflies using their hands.

Via Mpogd.

Open Beta for Aeria Games’ Fragoria Now Available

Lately, it seems like online gaming companies are just on a roll with releases of open betas for upcoming games.

The Fragoria browser-based MMO game, which has been widely popular in Europe (including in Russia), is now being developed for a North American audience.

Aeria Games is in charge of the game’s production and just yesterday, the company released the open beta for this browser-based product. To celebrate the launch of the open beta, Aeria Games will be giving 400 AP to the first 250 players of the game who reach level 15 and post a screenshot of their progress in the forums area of the Aeria website.

According to the official press release, here’s some info about what players can look forward to when playing the game. In Fragoria, “Players can create and customize their heroes with incredible weapons and armor; enhance their equipment; control pets and lead other players into battle; explore dungeons, the deepest depths of the ocean, snow capped mountains; and embark on a variety of exciting quests.”

If you’re interested in testing Fragoria out for yourself, you can visit the game’s official website at fragoria.aeriagames.com.

Via Examiner.

Free Navigation and GPS Services on Your Nokia Smartphone. Forever.

Watch out Garmin! Watch out TomTom! Heck, watch out, iPhone! The world’s number one phone maker Nokia is giving its customers a lifetime’s worth of free GPS and navigation services for free. Even updates and new maps will be free.

What’s good about the deal is that unlike Apple’s iPhone that needs to connect to Google Maps for directions and updated maps, Nokia’s system preloads the maps straight into the phone. This means that if you’re lost in an area where there’s no 3G wireless signal, your head is still above water.

If you currently have a Nokia smartphone, you can download the navigation system right now from the Ovi store. Not all Nokia smartphone models are able to support these GPS and navigation services, but many do. In addition to these services, Nokia’s system also offers driving and walking directions (just like in Google Maps), Lonely Planet and Michelin guides, weather updates, and companion desktop software.

Via Wired.