RF Online

Codemasters has revealed that it's going to close down its sci-fi MMO, RF Online, on the morning of 10th November in North America and Europe.

Codemasters Online Gaming has said it will be showing its existing and top secret wares at a public event in March.

Codemasters Online Gaming has had to add a new world to RF Online to cope with so many new people wanting to play.

Codemasters' Korean MMORPG import RF Online is celebrating its one-year anniversary with a free item for everyone who's still playing it.

I came out of the portal and rounded the corner. Surrounded by hills, a green valley stretched out in front of me, occasional trees scattered along the descent. A glint of light in the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I turned around. In front of me were maybe twenty robots, stood still, holding something like a pneumatic drill. Everything was stationary, the drill unmoving, the mechs near identical. Turning a bit more, I gasped out loud, my heart and stomach sank. On the hillside stood hundreds, hundreds, of Accretian robots, all facing the same way, all holding frozen machinery. So I gave a speech.

Korean MMOs are famous for their grind, and entirely unapologetic. Their reason for being is to allow a player to plough through levels, existing to fight and fighting to exist. Kill twenty of these, then twenty of those, then twenty of the one over there. Levels tick by, abilities slightly alter, drops are picked up, used or sold, skills are tweaked, and the world sits still around you. RF Online, at least in this respect, is different.

Every eight hours, for those level 25 (although more practically level 30), the planet erupts into three hours of global conflict. The robots of Accretia, the Elvish Cora, and the dwarfen Bellato wage angry war, fight to destroy the enemy's Chip. These Chip Wars bring with them rewards for the winning sides. Destroying a Chip gains access to bountiful mines, and financial boosts for the race. Such riches are spent on more and better weapons for the next push, eight hours later. This is massive massively multiplayer conflict.

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I am standing, once again, in an unfamiliar city. Colourful ramparts rise to a blue sky, and architecture that wouldn't look out of place in Lego Land - all primary colours and bold shapes - surrounds me, while at ground level, people scurry to and fro purposefully. I have absolutely no idea where I am, only the vaguest sense of what I'm meant to be doing, and yet the whole sensation is comfortingly familiar - like slipping back into a well worn pair of shoes.

Codemasters Online Gaming has announced that the beta test for forthcoming massively-multiplayer PC title RF Online will kick off today.

RF Online has already been a big hit in the East, with more than 1 million players signing up since the game's release last year. It's game is said to feature "a unique blend of magical fantasy mixed with futuristic sci-fi action," along with "the most epic battles ever seen in an MMORPG."

Over the next four weeks, 50,000 testers will get the chance to see how the game's shaping up. They'll be able to create a character from one of RF Online's three warring factions - the Bellato Union, the Holy Alliance Cora and the Accretia Empire - and take part in huge battles along with thousands of other players.

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Anybody interested in Korean MMORPG RF Online, which Codemasters is publishing in the US and Europe in February, can get all sorts of goodies by pre-ordering now, the publisher says.

Codemasters has signed a new sci-fi/fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online RPG from developer CCR, called Rising Force Online.