Kotaku: Nexon

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

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

Maple Story Security Breach Was Just One of Many Korean Hack Attacks" alt="Click here to read Nexon’s Maple Story Security Breach Was Just One of Many Korean Hack Attacks" src="http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/9/2011/12/small_37f4cc52ea16e1f7c79febe3cf944972.jpg"/>

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

MapleStory Breach Did Not Compromise U.S. Players' Personal Info" alt="Click here to read Nexon Says Huge MapleStory Breach Did Not Compromise U.S. Players' Personal Info" src="http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/9/2011/11/small_12c269919a837bd093d9f2d2a9fa4ad4.jpg"/>

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 »

Germany Loves PC Gaming

Brian Crecente — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 05:16:43 EDT

Gamescom is held in a massive convention center that sits aside the Rhine. Inside there are towering halls of concrete and steel, each filled with massive booths, games and people. More »

MapleStory Oozes Its Sweet, Sticky Goodness All Over Facebook

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

MapleStory Oozes Its Sweet, Sticky Goodness All Over Facebook" alt="Click here to read MapleStory Oozes Its Sweet, Sticky Goodness All Over Facebook" src="http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/9/2011/07/small_maplestory.jpg"/>

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 »

Dungeon Fighter Online Battles Its Way To Xbox Live Arcade

Mike Fahey — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 17:31:53 EDT

Online gaming company Nexon takes its first steps into the console world, teaming up with Microsoft Games Studio to bring 2D MMO Dungeon Fighter Online to Xbox Live Arcade later this year. Can a console MapleStory be far behind? More »

KartRider Rush Is a Fun, Free Mario Kart for your iPhone

Brian Crecente — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:30:00 EDT

KartRider is a web-game phenomenon, played by more than 200 million players, including a third of South Korea. So how is it on the iPhone? Pretty great. More »

The Kart Racer That Addicted One Third of Korea Is Coming to Your Phone

Brian Crecente — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 10:30:00 EST

One of the world's most popular Kart racing games is coming to Apple portables and Android devices soon, and no it's not the one created by Nintendo. More »

They've Added Hamlet To This Video Game

Stephen Totilo — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:00:00 EST

The free fantasy video game Mabinogi has been out for a couple of years, entertaining players with the kind of swords and dragons adventure stuff lots of gamers like. Now the developers are adding something even more fun: Shakespeare. More »

The Games, Girls And Hardware Of Korea's Biggest Expo

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 05:00:00 EST

GStar, South Korea's annual video game expo, ended on Sunday, but the show's photos live on. More »

Vindicating Vindictus

Owen Good — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 14:00:00 EDT

Vindictus" alt="Click here to read Vindicating Vindictus" src="http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/9/2010/06/vindictus_01.jpg"/>

OK, I really got off on the wrong foot Thursday with Vindictus, the new MMO from Nexon that we'll see more of at E3. So, let's make a reintroduction with this trailer, giving the game's backstory. Vindictus, readers. Readers, Vindictus. More »

Take a Dim View of Vindictus' E3 Trailer

Owen Good — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:00:00 EDT

Vindictus' E3 Trailer" alt="Click here to read Take a Dim View of Vindictus' E3 Trailer" src="http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/9/2010/06/vindictus.jpg"/>

Man, OK, this is the way wars are fought: Damn near in the dark. Here's the pre-E3 trailer for Vindictus, the upcoming MMO from Nexon, and it's a prequel for the game known as Mabinogi Heroes outside of North America. More »

Nexon's Next One: Dragon's Nest

Mike Fahey — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:20:00 EDT

Nexon dropped us a line to let us know that they'll be showing up at PAX 2009 next month, showing off Dungeon Fighter Online and their latest MMO, Dragon's Nest, in a compromising position. More »

MMO Makers Market The Genre's Future

Mike Fahey — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EDT

At the "The State of the MMO" panel at Comic-Con, five massively-multiplayer devs weighed in on the positive changes coming to the genre, lacing as much marketing into their answers as humanly possible. More »

Jamie Cheng on Indie Free to Play

Maggie Greene — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:30:00 EST

There's a nice interview up at Worlds In Motion with Klei Entertainment (Eets) founder Jamie Cheng on the issue of the free to play model, especially in relation to their new game Sugar Rush. More »

On Shuttering FTP Servers and the Fate of Virtual Items

Maggie Greene — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:30:00 EST

A couple of big Korean companies have floundered as of late — or at least, some of their games have been big disappointments — and it's raising interesting observations about how companies handle shutting down free to play games and what happens to the money (some) players have poured into it? Nexon is pulling its disappointing ZerA and taking an unexpected road: repaying the people who purchased virtual items for real money: 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 »

Sugar Rush Lets You Kill Robots With Fish

Mike Fahey — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST

Nexon just gifted us with a brand-new trailer for their first North America-developed MMO title, Sugar Rush, featuring the artwork of Atomic Betty director Jeffrey Agala. They're gearing up for the latest round of closed beta testing, and are now accepting sign ups for those who might be able to find some time between November 20th to December to beat other people over the head with fish. 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 »

The Surprising Success of Retail Game Cards

Maggie Greene — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:30:00 EDT

I had an interesting discussion this week on the topic of microtransaction models, East-West interaction, and the fact that few people pay much attention to such issues (or dismiss them out of hand); Games In Motion has a nice interview up illustrating the 'fly under the radar' nature of a lot of those microtransaction models. WIM sat down to chat with Rob Goldberg, CEO of GMG Entertainment — the company produces branded pre-paid cards for a couple of franchises, sold at big box stores like Target — to talk about where the market is currently and where it's headed. They estimate somewhere between $75 and $100 million in sales this year, but what about the future?: More »

Evolving MMOs: Changing Business Models

Maggie Greene — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:30:00 EDT

Among everything else going on at the Austin GDC, an interesting panel took place on the issue of changing business models in MMOs — Free To Play has an easy to read, to the point summation of the panel, which included Robert Ferrari of Turbine (LOTRO), Hilmar Veigar Petursson of CCP (EVE Online), Nicolay Nickelsen of Funcom (Age of Conan), and Min Kim of Nexon (MapleStory). Unsurprisingly, it included discussion of the revenue models — subscription versus free to play — as well as potential audiences: More »

West Meets East: A Week in Mabinogi

Maggie Greene — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:00:00 EDT

There is a hilarious article up on the Escapist on one MMO player's experience with Mabinogi, the Nexon free-to-play MMO that was released in North America earlier this year. I had to laugh because I'm not an MMO player and I've been having a culture shock experience of my own adjusting to a Western-style MMO. John Funk of WarCry admits that he's turned a blind eye to MMO offerings coming out of Asia, so a week in Mabinogi offered a lot of culture shock and total confusion: More »

Nexon Launches Combat Arms

Mike Fahey — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Remember the uproar that was stirred when folks thought that EA's Battlefield: Bad Company would have weapons only available for purchase? For the few of you who actually liked the idea, Nexon presents Combat Arms, their first multiplayer online FPS. Along with a hearty selection of free weapons, Nexon allows players to purchase new weapons and equipment from their online store, tricking out their character to their hearts' and wallets' content. More »

Nexon's Sugar Rush Arena in Closed Beta

Maggie Greene — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:30:00 EDT

Nexon has revealed its very first North American-developed game (for the North American market), Sugar Rush Arena, which is now in closed beta. The game is a casual MMOG like other Nexon titles, but was developed in Vancouver as opposed to South Korea. Like Nexon's other titles, the game is free to play, but will offer virtual items and upgrades for purchase: More »

Nexon Announces Combat Arms Open Beta

Leigh Alexander — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Nexon America, publisher of MapleStory, KartRider and Mabinogi, announced it'll launch a free online FPS called Combat Arms, slated to release later this summer.The company touted the game's "highly customizable" aspect, from the look of characters to the guns and equipment. Match wins are rewarded with in-game currency in addition to XP, both of which allow players more customization options. Nexon also said the game weighs the community aspect heavily, with a clan focus and some social network-style features.Though there's no specific release date confirmed, the closed beta begins May 30th, so if you're interested you can try your luck; full release follows the jump. 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 »

Mabinogi Open Beta Starts March 5th

Maggie Greene — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:30:52 EST

Eee! Singing sheep! Nexon's not-new-but-new-to-the-US MMORPG Mabinogi is moving to open beta as of this coming Wednesday. The Harvest Moon-meets-MMORPG has already been through a closed beta and pre-open beta test run, apparently to a good response. You can sign up at the Mabinogi website or over at FilePlanet. I'm a total sucker for stuff like this, so I'll be wandering over to check it out. Full release after the jump: More »

Teenage Boy Hacks, Steals for Princess Dress

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 07:00:24 EST

It all started with a gothic Lolita dress. A 16 year-old Japanese gamer has been arrested by cops from Tokyo Metropolitan Police's "Hi-Tech Crimes Control Center" for stealing 36 million yen (US $325,000) worth of virtual currency that's used in online RPG Mabinogi. The teen obtained the ID and password of an employee at the Tokyo branch of Korean game company NEXON. With that info, he accessed the company's servers and filled his virtual pockets with in-game money. He allegedly converted amount 600,000 yen ($5,500) into real cash, which he spent on books and software. The teen has confessed, saying: More »

Nexon's Mabinogi Coming To the US

Maggie Greene — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:30:51 EST

Nexon is adding to its US stable of free-to-play MMOs with Mabinogi, the Celtic and Welsh-themed game which launches a closed beta on 30 January. It sounds like MMO-meets-Harvest Moon, with promises of "offering players a 'life' experience" - characters age at a set rate, can participate in mundane tasks like farming, writing music, and getting married in addition to the usual battles-and-quests. I was delighted to see faint whispers of deliciously bad press releases for Asian MMOs: More »

'Korea Rising': Interviews on the State of the Korean Gaming Industry

Maggie Greene — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 14:30:00 EST

Gamasutra has kindly compiled five complete interviews with members of the South Korean gaming industry to shed light on where Korea is now and where they'll be in the future. During the GStar game show in Seoul, Gamasutra got Stephen Lee (Nexon), Sang Woon Yoon (Webzen), Yoo-Ra Kim (T3), Ji Young Park (Com2Us), and Dae Hwan Lim (Microsoft) to talk about just about everything under the sun. The complete interviews span a daunting 21 pages; despite the diversity of opinions, there were a lot of commonalities: 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 »

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 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 »

Counter-Strike Coming to Asia

Maggie Greene — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 17:30:17 EDT

In a partnership with Valve, Nexon (the Korean company responsible for MapleStory) will be developing and publishing Counter-Strike Online for South Korea, China, Taiwan, and Japan. Over at PlayNoEvil, an article wonders if they will be going towards a virtual asset purchase model like a number of the other big hits in Asia. "As long as the game company can keep its costs of distribution and operation low, there is a huge potential for getting a bit of money from a whole lot of folks." We'll see if Counter-Strike can make a dent in the Starcraft-mad market, free-to-play model or not. More »

KartRider Comes To North America

Maggie Greene — Sat, 05 May 2007 15:40:48 EDT

Another week, another Korean MMO heading to foreign shores: this time, it's South Korean company Nexon's Mario Kart knock-off, KartRider. A casual racing game, it follows the free to download, free to play model that's popular in Asia, making money off the assumption that people will purchase upgrades and modifications to their vehicle. The North American closed beta launched on 1 May. More »

Lunia: Record of War Arrives in Japan

Maggie Greene — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 20:30:43 EDT

Korean company Nexon, through their Japanese arm, has conducted a Japanese closed beta for their online adventure/RPG Lunia: Record of War. Described as an action/adventure meets RPG, members of both Nexon Japan and South Korean developer Allm say that it's had a warm reception from press and gaming public alike. An open beta is expected to begin towards the end of May. More »

Hilary Duff Lending New Single to Online Game, Slowly Kills Pop Music

Kim Phu — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:40:00 EDT

Nexon, a developer of online games and MMORPGs (and is also on the list as a Nintendo second party developer), announced that Hilary Duff's new single will now be a part of Audition, their online dancing game. More »