Yokai War!

he Ultimate Showdown between Hero and the Yokai!

The time has come for WAR! Chaos Lord Kitsune has summoned the great, forbidden Chaos Beast from the Rift of Time, endangering the entire world of Lore. And to make matters even worse, the Rift is unleashing thousands of Yokai into the lands, threatening to swallow up Yokai Island!

CALLING ALL HEROES!

It is up to YOU and your friends to put an end to Chaos Lord Kitsune’s reign before this matter gets out-of-hand! Fight with all your strength through the waves of Yokai that flood the massive mountain made up of bones and skeleton fragments. But wait… this is no normal mountain… this is actually O-dokuro! (This Chaos Beast IS huge!) Who knows what dangers await once you—or IF you—defeat the war of Yokai… but this is the ONLY way to stop Chaos Lord Kitsune once and for all!

If you cannot stop this war in time, then… well… we don’t want to even think about what will become of Yokai Island, or the rest of Lore!

O-dokuro House x 2

We KNOW you can do this, Hero! We have full faith that you can win this war and take down the massive O-dokuro! If you are successful, then you may be one of the few to get the O-dokuro Skull House that drops from this Chaos Beast. This is an incredibly rare drop, so only the most skillful (and most lucky) warriors can obtain this 3-room skull home!

Chaotic O-dokuro Skull House! ON SALE NOW!

Can’t wait to get the O-dokuro Skull House? No worries—we are also offering a super-rare, limited-time onlyChaotic Skull House that is available starting tonight in Battleon! This totally awesome, chaotic tribal skull home features a spacious 3-room floor plan and comes with its very own Yokai Shop Keeper inside—the first of its kind! We call this IOD, short for Item On Demand. (I wish my house offered this feature in real life!) But act quickly… thisrare house will only be available for a short time, and once it’s taken out of Battleon, it will be gone forever! Don’t miss out!

New Items!

Not even war can stop new items from being made. In fact… this week’s release is just teeming with brand-new items! Speak to Hashi Hime just outside the battlegrounds for a collection of all-new wares, including:

• Karasu Wings (color custom to match your hair!)
  
• Black Steel Tofana
  
• Brutal Tofana
  
• Really Large Chopsticks
  
• Salmon Nigiri Hat
  
• Tuna Nigiri Hat
  
• Cali Roll Hat
  

All New YOKAI REPUTATION ITEMS!

It is rumored that the Yokai War Boss is also jam-packed with items as well! But these aren’t regular swords and helms… they are carrying 13 never-before-seen house items! You can now decorate your home with a collection of Yokai décor:

• Koi Trophy
  
• Hanzamune Blade Replica
  
• Tiger Scroll
  
• Koi Fountain
  
• Yokai Sandals
  
• Yokai Lute
  
• Dragon Scroll
  
• Yokai Harp
  
• Evil Umbrella Lamp
  
• Small Yokai Shrine
  
• Large Yokai Shrine
  
• Stuffed Neko Matta
  
• Stuffed Samurai Statue
  

Yokai Daily Rep Quests

New Daily Rep Quest Givers!

In need of more Yokai Reputation? Look no further than the city of Akiba! Some of your favorite NPCs will award you handsomely if you agree to help them out on a few Daily Quests. Help Mitsu Bushi, Kunoichi, and Nekomimi out every day and watch your Yokai Reputation (and Gold and Exp) grow significantly!

This is WAR, hero… so we will be seeing you on the battlefield!

Have a fun WAR! Or else!

Live!

We are nearly ready to face the Chaos Lord, but first... are you prepared to battle two new types of Yokai monsters? I long time ago, I wrote to you from Japan about the Nekomata (Or as we call it... the Doom Cat) These split tailed cats can shapeshift and even raise the dead. If one of these were to be let loose on a battlefield... it could raise enough skeletons that the skeletons might all merge and fuse together and form an Odokuro. It is like the devastator of the undead!

Tonight is release night

The best way to celebrate the end of the week (the chaos lord way)

Join us tonight for our monster filled release. We are nearly ready to face the Chaos Lord, but first... are you prepared to battle two new types of Yokai monsters? I long time ago, I wrote to you from Japan about the Nekomata (Or as we call it... the Doom Cat) These split tailed cats can shapeshift and even raise the dead. If one of these were to be let loose on a battlefield... it could raise enough skeletons that the skeletons might all merge and fuse together and form a O-dokuro. Wait...



Artix: Woah! Beleen.... is that really going to happen?
Beleen: What?
Artix: Do we really get to fight a GIANT SKELETON yokai made up of an entire battlefields worth of undead skeletons. It is like the Devastator of the undead!
Beleen: Yup
Artix: OMG!!!!!! RELEASE IT NOW! PLEEEEEAAASE!!!!!!!
Beleen: Nope! You'll have to wait with everyone else.
Artix: Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!!!!!
Beleen: J6 and Miltonius finished the art and animation. I guess you could test it if -- you wore this "pretty pretty pink Paladin armor"
Artix: ....
Beleen: Also, we have two new cutscenes tonight. This is it... the final step before the Chaos Lord showdown!

Forum Question: Should he do it?

Last chance for FOUNDER in EpicDuel

This weekend is your final opportunity to become a Founder in our 5th awesome game, EpicDuel. I cannot believe how much Titan and Nightwraith have accomplished since its release last month. Check out all of the new weapons, items and features on the EpicDuel homepage. Like all of our games, once founder is gone... it will never be available again.

My Membership...

Its been a year since i got my membership... And now its ended!! I should be getting a renewal soon so i can be a member again (i don't even have a non-members cape!)

Return to Yokai

Yokai Island is overrun with crazed monsters known as (you guessed it) Yokai. According to real-life Asian Folklore, not all Yokai are bad. Most are pranksters. Some are lonely and looking for a friend. Others are just plain creepy who simply want to eat your liver (yes, this IS true!). But since Kitsune is a Chaos Lord, this all-around-bad-guy has vowed to turn all the Yokai against the Human race. And apparently thus far, he’s kept true to his resolution.
The time has come to show Chaos Lord Kitsune that we are not going down without a fight! Travel to the first two ancient Shrines of Yokai Island and meet with the Yokai there. Some are friendly… some are mean… but most are just plain disturbing!




New areas monsters and information desks...

Happy New Year!

The YEAR OF CHAOS is about to begin...

Friends, thank you for the best year ever! Before the highly anticipated insanity of 2010 begins, let us take a moment to look back over the year... and chuckle at all of the victories, train-wrecks and embarrassing moments that we shared together.

As you may recall, we launched AQWorlds just before the start of 2009. The game was brand new and did not even have a story yet. I was shocked when I realized how many things did not exist until this year. Thanks to your ideas, suggestions and very appreciated encouragement, the team accomplished....

211+
Weekly Releases 
between our 5 games this year!!

• The storyline began!
  The intro of the game where Drakath first appeared, slew Sepulchure and mortally wounded King Alteon
• Our first game-wide Wars!
  We battled side by side against millions of monsters in a massively multiplayer version of the wars for the first time.
• Housing was released!
• The 1st Lord of Chaos: Escherion
  In a zone inspired by the artwork of MC Escher, players battled their first Chaos Lord. Escherion is a battle mage with the power of inversion.
• The 2nd Lord of Chaos: The Twins
  The Twins were originally balanced, once offering good advice and one offering bad... until Drakath intervined, and secretly replaced the good one with... well, that is a story for next year. The Twins have not been fought and currently only appear during one-time-only special events.
• The 3rd Lord of Chaos: Vath
  The 3rd Chaos Lord is a Dark Elf DragonLord. Controlling a giant Dragon named Stalagbite he took control of the Dwarfhold Mountains and the mystic forge within.
• The 4th Lord of Chaos Revealed: Kitsune
  Inspired by Artix's adventures to the far East, Yokai Isle features anime-spoofs and famous Japanese monsters that you may never have heard of!
• 18,000 Mages Teleported the town of Battleon
  In order to move the town from the path of an on-coming meteor, all of the mages of the world united to cast a giant teleportation spell. On the first attempt, we landed above Gravelyn's evil fortress. 
  
• AQWorld's goes widescreen!
  Eveyr map in the game was resized to our new, bigger screensize.
• Voltaire Friday the 13th Event
  Our first live event with a musical guest star! 32,000 players showed up for the 1st live event crushing the servers like a peanut under an elephant's foot. Then, there was a second Friday the 13th... and we did another one with hourly shows!
• Artix, Twilly & Zorbak visited Japan
  
• Warpforce, our 1st Expansion was released!
  The team that runs the original AdventureQuest created a full spin off game taking classic AQ style game play to the stars.
• The MechQuest ArtBook
  Our first artbook! Created at the lab by Johnny Atomic, Aisha and the team, it is BEAUTIFUL! (and full of Artix's bad grammar and typos). See for yourself
• NPC's got those pop-up thingies
  It might not sound like a big deal, but it really added a lot to the game!
• DragonCon 2009!!!
  Best convention ever! We ran a panel and players came dressed as J6, Escherion, Tek, Yulgar, Cleric Joy, and Ash! One player (Sunbrella) even flew all the way from New Zealand to come meet us! As usual Zorbak took lots of pictures! Oh, we also went to JCON this year which was a blast!
• Special Events
  
  
  • SuperBowl (& Moglin Punting)
  • Hero's Heart Day
  • St. Patrick's Day Drakel Cannon
  • Mother's Day
  • Earth Day
  • 40th Anniversary of landing on the Moon
  • Father's Day
  • Ninja Day
    What!? I do not remember a Ninja day. exactly the point. Ninjas are very sneaky!
  • Independance Day (US & Canadia)
  • Graduation Shop
  • Talk like a PIRATE Day, "ARRRRRR!!!"
  • Mogloween (Cauldron Sisters, the Thriller!)
  • Harvest Festival (Oishii & Turdrakens)
  • Frostval (Hungry for Cookies?)
    
  
  
  
• The Save Chuckles Movement
  It was an inside joke started by players that spiraled out of control, ending with a T-shirt and the world's cheesiest infomercial.... it called for the return of Sepulchure's laugh-aholic skeletal sidekick (who originated from DragonFable!)
• The PTR: Stats and PvP began
  The biggest and most important project of the year finally opened giving players (and the staff) a glimpse of upcoming PvP and player stats. (PTR Server - currently , Member only)
• Forum Contests
  We many fun contests on the forums this year... here are a few of the most memorable!
  
  
  • House Decorating Contest
  • The Ballyhoo Commercial Contest
  • Pumpkin Carving Contest
  • Holiday Cookie Contest
  
  
  
• DoomKnight Released!
  Doooooooooom...... then Beleen forces us to make Pretty Pretty Pink DoomKnight armor for the girls.
• 1st TV Commecial
  With footage inspired by the players, voice acting recorded in Artix's bathroom and edited on $99 off-the-shelf video software... it was shown nationally on major channels including Cartoon Network, Nickleodon, and MTV! (Older version)
• AQWorlds gets a 10+ rating by the ESRB
  We also joined TrustE, which is a highly respected privacy protection program. While you and the players already know we are honest and responsible, it is nice having major organizations give us their stamp of approval!
• Golden OnSlaught
  (AQWorld's 1st Birthday Party)
  Twig was left alone to decorate... cake, presents and Sweetish Fish as far as the eye could see. Meanwhile, a ground of overzealous Knight's kidnapped the entire staff (It was so funny how Cysero was trapped in a chalk circle and could not cross it.) In order to save them EVERY player in the game turned undead and joined Gravelyn's army of darkness in the most bizzare rescue mission EVER. Epic win. In the end, the heroes were rescued, the knights of the Golden Onslaught joined the players and their former leader, Maxmillian Lionfang, excaped... and ran into the Chaos Lord(s) known as The Twins. You can still get wallpapers from ArtixWallpapers.com
  
• Interview in in Beckett's GAMER Magazine
  AQWorlds appeared in a magazine for the first time (both last month, and it will again next month.)
• The AQWorld's Deady 8" Vinyl Figure
  We released a collector's figure with Voltaire. ALL the units we had available to sell from the lab were sold out in a weekend.... behind the scenes we created a brand new online store called HeroMart. (If you are not a Hero, we also made VillianMart) 
  
• EpicDuel, our 5th Game was released!
  Titan & Nightwraith officially became part of Artix Entertainment and got access to hardware and talent to build EpicDuel even better.
• AQWorlds is at 14 Million Free accounts
  X weapons, x friends, x armors, (Zhoom is getting the numbers for me still... he said right after the release.) and one extremely hyper, radio-active hampster powered database server.
• Master Account System goes into Alpha!
  "The One Login to Rule them All!"
  While still in development, it is going to allow for cross game achievements, item unlocking, friends lists, contentests for our community and more!
• Cysero had a baby!
  Well, not him personally. Little Jack, the future harvester of missing left socks, was born on Dec 26th!
• Signed Charity Auction Poster for $15,000!??
  When new posters were created for the secret underground lab, there was one made at a different size. Cysero suggested that instead of just hanging it on the wall, that we auction it for the Child's Play Charity. With hopes of sending $100 to $200... the team was SHOCKED when bidding closed at $14,999.42. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Child's Play Charity which helps sick kids in Children's Hospitals.

Now.... are you ready for everything that is about to happen in 2010? Battle on in the New Year friends!

The New Release

Fireworks have already been added to Battleon… so let’s ring in 2010 by blowing some stuff up! Makes complete sense, right?
Played DragonFable as of late? If so, you might recognize the newest… he loves SCIENCE and goes by the name of Lim! Since Cysero is off being a new Daddy, Lim has decided to help set up things for the New Year Party.
But some baddies have showed up, putting a damper on the New Year festivities (which include bundles of fireworks, new items, and a gigantic crystal Countdown Ball). While Lim makes wire cable repairs in an all-new map, specially made for New Years, it will be up to you to slay the power-cable gnawing monsters, including Ice Master Yeti!

So come celebrate 2010 with your friends and family as you watch the giant Countdown Ball drop in the famous Time’s Rectangle! (It’s kinda like a Square, but with longer sides) In the middle of this new map, a massive crystal ball is perched on a pole, slowly counting down to the new decade. A timer is beneath it too, showing you the exact time left until the arrival of 2010! Everyone is going to be there!

The Gift Boxes open on New Year’s Day!
These are the last days of 2009. The time has come to reflect on all of the great memories and achievements of the year… and also your last chance to obtain your Gift Boxes from the giant red bag in Battleon! At midnight (or close to it) on New Years Day, the presents will magically unwrap (you will have to relogin in to see them) so you can start 2010 off on the right track—with a brand new Armor, Sword, 


Cape, Helm, and Pet!
The entire Staff at Artix Entertainment (and me!) wants to wish you a Happy New Year! Our warmest wishes go out to your friends and family and everyone else who is a part of the AQW Family. The new year is rapidly approaching, so what better time than ever to celebrate everyone’s hard work with a huge New Years celebration! We could not have done this without you, so thank you for making AQWorlds your favorite MMORPG in 2009… and we will see you again next year… which happens to be in a few days!

Tinsels Presents unlocked!

Final Release of the YEAR!

Only 4 days left until 2010 begins...

But there are only three days left until our release. During the holidays, our friendly team is reduced to a skeleton crew*. While Cysero, has his hands full (photo-shopping by Aisha) we are getting the in-game fireworks and creating the chilliest release of the year for you. Wish us luck! Do not forget, your giftboxes will open soon. We really hope you like what is inside! If you have other fun or interesting ideas for New Years, please let us know on the forums!P.S. The 31st is Nythera's birthday (and mine too) So pretty please, stop sending Beleen ideas to help her plot her pretty-pretty-pink themed gift of doom to torture me with.
Charity Auction
Meanwhile, we are auctioning a one-of-a-kind Xan poster signed by the AE team for the Child's Play Charity. The bidding is currently up to.... WHAAAAAA!? $13,399.83. It ends VERY shortly. All proceeds go directly to Child's Play through eBay's charity system.
2010 is the YEAR OF CHAOS
To kick off new year we will return to Yokai Isle and quest, uninturrupted, to reach the ultimate showdown with the most powerful Chaos Lord we have ever seen! Meanwhile, is Ryoku STILL charging up*?
* Wait.. what? UNDEAD!?!?!?!? I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS! 
**  "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Yup.

Cysero's got a son!

Yesterday, December 26th, 2009 at 11:41 AM, my son Jack was born!

Yeah, I Drew That On His Hat In Paint.

Jack was 7 pounds, 11 oz, and just about 20 inches long.

Bekah went into labor at about 12:45 AM on Christmas night, and 11 hours later our son arrived, healthy and strong. Bekah is still tired and sore, but also healthy and happy to be a mommy. It was a long night but very worth it and I'm so glad that I was there right next to Bekah the whole time.

Thanks to everyone on Facebook and Twitter for all the Gratz and support!

I'll be working from home for a while, being a dad and taking proper care of my beloved, but don't think that I'm leaving for long. I couldn't stay away from making games if I tried!

Besides, I have to introduce Jack to weird Uncle Artix as soon as I can.

I hope you guys have had a great holiday season... this has been my very best Frosval ever!