Kotaku: Maple Story

Video Game Divorce Rates Lower Than Real Divorce Rates

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Maplestory, an online game that's been running since 2003 (2005 in North America), lets players get married. It also lets them get divorced. And that's where it gets interesting. More »

Nexon’s Maple Story Security Breach Was Just One of Many Korean Hack Attacks

Evan Narcisse — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:40:00 EST

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So, that enormous data trespass that Korean online powerhouse Nexon revealed last week was bad. Bad enough to be the second-largest such incursion in Korean history. If you think that sounds like there've been some other big security breaches, then you're right. More »

Nexon Says Huge MapleStory Breach Did Not Compromise U.S. Players' Personal Info

Owen Good — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 11:00:00 EST

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The second-largest data breach in South Korea's history compromised the personal information of more than 13 million subscribers to the Nexon MMO MapleStory, but none of those accounts are held outside of Korea, the publisher said Saturday. More »

Divorce-Happy MMO Providing Help to Troubled Couples

Owen Good — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 14:00:00 EDT

About 10 days ago, Nexon, the publisher of MapleStory found three out of four marriages initiated in-game end in divorce. So MapleStory's next content update will include features that emphasize couples sticking together. More »

Three Out of Four Online Marriages End in Divorce, Says Korean MMO

Owen Good — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:30:00 EDT

MapleStory, the South Korean sidescrolling MMO (above), allows players to get hitched if they so choose. Sadly, many of the unions are not parted by death but divorce—20,344 out of 26,982, to be precise. More »

MapleStory Oozes Its Sweet, Sticky Goodness All Over Facebook

Mike Fahey — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EDT

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Admit it, you've been playing Nexon's adorable side-scrolling MMO MapleStory for years, hiding your age behind your joyously big-headed avatar. It's time to finally share your secret passion with the world via Facebook's MapleStory Adventures. More »

MapleStory: Thief Edition is a Two-Dimensional Adventure

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:30:00 EDT

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MapleStory, the blockbuster Korean MMO game, has turned up on more platforms than just the PC. It's on the Nintendo DS, for example! It's also available on Apple's iOS platforms. More »

Nexon America Throws A BlockParty

Mike Fahey — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:40:00 EDT

Over the next several months, Nexon America is transforming into BlockParty.com, a social networking website where fans can keep track of their games and stalk their friends to their heart's content. More »

Japanese Newspaper Wonders About "Game Addicts"

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:00:00 EDT

The Mainichi Daily News is running a three part series on online game addiction. More »

Maple Story... Chewing Gum

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST

Starting this week, 2D action MMORPG Maple Story is getting chewing gum from candy maker Lotte. It's available at convenience stores across Japan. More »

Soulja Boy Kisses Maple Story Through The Phone

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:00:00 EST

Rapper Soulja Boy has posted this Maple Story version of his song "Kiss Me Thru The Phone" video on his YouTube. More »

Nexon Shutters Vancouver Development Studio

Mike Fahey — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:40:00 EST

Thanks to numerous tips, Kotaku has now confirmed with staff at Nexon America that the company's Vancouver-based development studio has shuttered its doors today, leaving upwards of 90 employees looking for jobs. More »

AsiaSoft Cracking Down On Home-Run MapleStory Servers

Mike Fahey — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:40:00 EST

MapleStory's Singapore distributor looks to cut down on a rash of home-run pirate servers, as a plucky teen take the world of big-headed platform battles into his own bedroom. More »

Chinese MMO rips off WoW, Ragnarok, Maple Story, Etc. Etc

Stuart Houghton — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:20:00 EST

Some payers of Ragnarok Online decided to check out the browser-based rival game Aurora Blade and were surprised find certain aspects were a little bit familiar. And not just to Ragnarok Players... More »

Even Nexon America Is Doing Up Black Friday

Mike Fahey — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:20:00 EST

Black Friday deals don't have to be limited to actual physical items you can hold in your hand. Nexon America proves that even fake things can benefit from post-thanksgiving shopping madness. More »

MapleStory Arrives Late To The Pirate Party

Mike Fahey — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:20:00 EST

Welcome to the pirate party, MapleStory? Where you been? We already ate all the finger food and drank all the rum, but you're welcome to the super-powered martial arts moves we set aside for the ninja, as none of them showed up. At least we assume they didn't. Nexon America has just added a new character class to their adorable free-to-play platformer MMO, and while they're called pirates and look like pirates, the fact that they can transform into not one but two glowing super forms with magical powers makes me think that someone's concept of nautical raiders could use a little work. More »

Nexon Teams With 7-Eleven For Slurpee Goodness

Mike Fahey — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:40:00 EST

7-Eleven continues to push their whole mini-gaming store initiative, teaming up with online game operator Nexon America for the ‘Where You Play for Free’ Slurpee and Online Games advertising campaign. Now through December 31st, 7-Eleven stores will be carrying four different Nexon game branded 22 -oz. Slurpee cups. Purchasing a Slurpee in one of said cups gets you a limited-edition DVD containing all four of the games featured - Maple Story, Combat Arms, Mabinogi, and Sugar Rush. More »

Whither the Rest of the World?

Maggie Greene — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST

A few months ago, Chris Plante had a thought provoking suggestion for the gaming industry: what we need is more global games. I thought it was an interesting position, and one that I more or less agree with –- but the problem isn’t simply lack of ‘global’ games. On the whole, mainstream gaming press is seriously cut off from anything outside the typical mainstream purview. It would probably do all of us some good if we started looking seriously at game development and industry news coming from elsewhere. More »

Japanese Woman Jailed For Virtual 'Murder'

Maggie Greene — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:30:00 EDT

And you thought MapleStory was all fun and games. A Japanese woman has found herself in jail, potentially facing charges of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating data, after deleting the character of her in-game 'husband' who divorced her rather suddenly. "I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry!" she is quoted as saying: More »

Japanese Woman Jailed After Killing Virtual Husband

Mike Fahey — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:40:00 EDT

A 43-year-old Japanese piano teacher found herself in jail after viciously murdering her ex-husband...in MapleStory. According to reports, the woman's virtual, big-headed anime husband suddenly divorced her in mid-May, which lead to her logging on with the 33-year-old man's username and password and deleting his character. When the man discovered the death of his character, he called the police. The alleged virtual murderer has now been jailed for suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data, which could carry a five-year prison sentence or a fine of up to $5,000. More »

MapleStory Expands With Crimsonwood Keep

Mike Fahey — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:00:00 EDT

Nexon America has unveiled a massive expansion to the world of MapleStory in the Crimsonwood Keep expansion, which allows players to venture through the newly expanded Phantom Forest on the continent of Masteria, into the new areas found around the Crimsonwood Mountain. The update adds 31 new maps, 11 new enemies, and 12 new story-focused quests, while also adding a new skill for pets and improving the language filters so younger players can keep their exposure to dirty words contained to TV, movies, and what they overhear their parents saying. More »

Understanding Free to Play

Maggie Greene — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Min Kim, Nexon America's director of game operations, sat down with Gamasutra to talk about the free to play model, Nexon's expansion to the 360 and the DS. On the issue of people dismissing the business model: More »

7-Eleven To Appear In MapleStory, Vice Versa

Mike Fahey — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:20:34 EST

Any slight itching I may have had to try out Nexon's MapleStory just went completely down the toilet. Today the company announces that prepaid Nexon cards will be available for purchase at 7-Eleven stores around the country, offering teens and 'tweens' a more convenient way to spend all of their parent's money on virtual frippery in any of Nexon's online games. Pretty nifty, until I read this:

An animated version of a 7-Eleven store and an employee will appear in the popular MapleStory MMOG. This type of integration is cutting-edge, according to Nexon. It brings relevant content to consumers and provides 7-Eleven with a new way to use virtual worlds to expand its marketing.

First off, calling a 7-Eleven employee 'animated' is being far too generous with the definition of the word. Secondly, this is not cutting-edge. This is cutting-stupid. It's one thing to run a 7-Eleven ad on the splash page. It is something completely different to create a virtual 7-Eleven store in a fantasy-themed MMO. Gah. More »

MapleStory Cards And The Black Bunneh

Mike Fahey — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:20:13 EST

My article about the MapleStory iTCG yesterday missed some salient points, so Wizards of the Coast shot me the official launch press release to fill me in on the details. Aside from featuring the most adorable anime art on every card, the card game of Nexon's side-scrolling MMO also includes codes that unlock special rewards in the game, much like Upper Deck's World of Warcraft MMO, except that every booster is guranteed to contain one. Rewards include coveted artifacts, news quests, and rare virtual pets, including the card-exclusive black bunny, which is driving players a little nuts. It is teh call of teh bunneh. I'm actually planning on getting my YuGiOh playing nephew to try the game out with me on Thanksgiving, so I'll be sure to let you know how that goes. More »

Why Did I Buy MapleStory Cards?

Mike Fahey — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:40:27 EST

So I am at Target last night, buying one of about fifty copies of Assassin's Creed they had there after a GameStop employee with a shit-eating grin told me I should have preordered, when I spot an odd little mushroom creature smiling at me from the trading card game aisle. Apparently, while I wasn't paying attention, Wizards of the Coast got together with the MapleStory folks and released a trading card game. They had apparently just arrived, judging by the lack of price tags (and the fact that I had been there in the morning looking for AC), so I bought a starter deck for $9.99, took it home, and stared at it for awhile. Why did I buy this? Sure, it comes with a booster pack, starter deck, and a game CD, but I know no one who will play this with me and have no intention of playing MapleStory. Then it hit me. You, okay? I bought them for watching by you! More »

MapleStory Anime Characters Look Fugly

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 06:00:14 EDT

Yup, these are the MapleStory anime designs. No, really. They look like anything BUT the cute characters that populate the Korean MMORPG. Not as though we were counting the days down until it airs this October on TV Tokyo, but this cartoon must be a cruel joke! Who is creating this garbage! Seriously!! More »

Nexon's Min Kim on What's Next For Nexon

Maggie Greene — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 17:30:03 EDT

Nexon - the Korean company responsible for MapleStory and KartRider - has been expanding (quietly) beyond its home borders. With MapleStory already in the US and KartRider due to launch sometime in the near future, Nexon's been making a quiet-but-succesful entry into Western markets. Worlds In Motion has an interview up with Min Kim of Nexon America talking about MapleStory, KartRider, the Nexon recipe for success, and what's next for the company. Not surprisingly, great swaths of his thoughts are pretty sensible (in a market glutted with free-to-play games, yours better be fun or else no one's going to play it), but sensible and game company plans do not always go hand in hand. More »

MapleStory Gets Sweet Sweet Anime

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 01:00:30 EDT

If Korean MMORPG MapleStory is good enough for a DS game, damn skippy it should be get a Japanese anime. It is! Madhouse Studios (Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust) will do the animation duties, and the upcoming series will kick off on TV Tokyo on Sunday, October 7th at 8:30am. Mark your calendars! More »

MapleStory to Get Card Game

Maggie Greene — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 13:30:22 EDT

Nexon and Wizards of the Coast have paired up to offer the US and Canada the 'MapleStory iTrading Card Game (iTCG),' starting this November (aren't we so lucky?). The cards will offer players the chance to, uh, do the card battle thing, but also give access to new (and exclusive, mind you) parts of the regular game. I'm having bad flashbacks to elementary school, when Magic: The Gathering was all the rage. More »

Ragnarok Online DS Announced!

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 08:00:58 EDT

What, with Maple Story, the DS is proving to be the handheld for Korean RPGs. And now? Ragnarok Online will be hitting the Japanese DSes sometime in 2008. At an Akihabara press conference with Ragnarok publisher Gungho Online, the game was announced as well two other DS titles: fish game Sakana to Asobou! and a flower arranging game. The DS Ragnarok will be an action RPG in real-time that will use Nintendo WiFi. Traditionally pc focused, Gungho Online has been refocusing its strategy and is developing games for the DS as well as the PSP. These are baby steps towards console gaming, but this is a company to watch. More »

Maple Story Turns Two

Mike Fahey — Mon, 07 May 2007 12:20:17 EDT

Nexon's whacky free-to-play but pay-to-pimp side-scrolling MMO Maple Story is celebrating two years of success in North America, home of just a smidgeon of their 50 million+ user base. Throughout the month of May they'll be holding anniversary events that offer special items, birthday-themed monsters carrying unique loot, GM events every day from the 9th though the 16th, and double XP and item drops the 11th through the end of the month. More »

How Are Nintendo's Chances In Korea?

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 12:21:25 EST

Nintendo's a little late getting into Korea. Scratch that. Nintendo is WAY late. The company didn't have an official branch until last summer, and before that, gamers had to buy products at inflated prices from shady distributor Daewon C.I. Not only that, Nintendo is going up against online gaming, which is huge in Korea. Says the branch's new president Koda Mineo: More »

Clips: Maple Story DS Trailer

Mike Fahey — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 13:40:43 EST

The grand opening of Nintendo of Korea brought with it the official announcement of Maple Story for the DS, and a trailer that makes up for its lack of gameplay footage with insanely giggling and hopping schoolgirls. More »