Hanbit Soft has announced that the official service of AIKA Online is anticipated to launch in 2008.

AIKA Online sets the background in the Continent Alkan, where lives the God AIKA, Devil ZELKA what is made by God by error and humans. The story tells the humans' struggle against ZELKA for living.

Aika is a truly monumental game from Gala-Net, publishers of Flyff and Rappelz, and JoyImpact, developer of Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent (published by Atlus Online in the US). Designed to re-imagine the "massively" in MMORPG, Aika presents three major PvP modes which run the gamut from small skirmishes to 1000 vs. 1000 warfare. This comprehensive PvP system is unique among current MMORPGs for its gigantic scope, and it is this element - along with a fantastically detailed world and sweeping storyline - which has earned the game many enthusiastic reviews for its quality of play. Aika won the Best of Show: Prime Minister Award, Player's Choice: Best Online Game, and Best Game Design & Scenario at the 2009 Korean Game Awards, organized by the Korea Game Industry Agency (KoGIA) under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

With over 1,000 quests, hundreds of monsters, and 15 gorgeously rendered areas, Aika holds its own as a thrilling single-player experience. However, it is the depth of the PvP system that sets this game apart. The world of Aika features five nations - each possessing its own distinct personality and populated by thousands - which, along with a comprehensive guild system, lays the groundwork for truly epic military clashes. Guilds and nations may ally with each other in exciting Castle Sieges to gain control of a nation and lord over its subjects, while entire nations may scheme with and against each other to win wars with glory, treasure, and powerful ability enhancements at stake.

Aika's launch in North America marks its premiere into the Western hemisphere. It is currently being published in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong and Gala-Net is pleased to bring Aika to its millions of gPotato users. Aika is being developed by JoyImpact, a development studio owned by HanbitSoft, one of the largest online game publishers in Asia. Aika is expected to launch in Spring 2010.

Open Beta launches March 16th, 2010!

Winner of the 2009 Korean Game Industry Awards in Best of Show: Prime Ministers Award, Players Choice: Best Online Game, and Best Game Design & Scenario.

Aika Online is the PvP centric MMORPG where five nations battle for control of Arcan in a never-ending war of proportions previously unknown to the genre. Nations fight for glory through massive 1000 vs. 1000 Relic Wars, Castle Sieges, and customized Battlegrounds. Players take a pivotal role in this drama as they choose one of six classes, each of which undergoes multiple evolutions, and are assisted by their Pran—an interactive fairy familiar who supports them in their adventures.

Story

Birth of the Humans

In ancient times stood the Arcan, a land created by the deity known as Aika.  This land was populated by creations of Aika - the Scinic.  The Scinic were a kind and just race, whose societies grew and evolved for three centuries.  But with no conflict to avert, the Scinic grew restless and disenchanted with life.  The Scinic elders blamed Aika for the lack of purpose in their lives but still decided to ask her for mercy.  They wished only to rest under the land of Arcan until a time in which their lives could have more meaning.

Though Aika's first creations had failed her, she realized there must be a balance of good and evil for harmony to be achieved.  In order to achieve this balance, Aika created the humans.  She placed the humans on the land of Arcan to thrive and grow as a civilization.  But soon she learned that her second creation was also flawed.  The Arcan land began to be tainted with wars, bigotry and growing immorality.

Infuriated and disappointed with her creations, Aika struggled to make the Arcan a utopia for all her creatures.  In her rage to cleanse the land, she created the Zereca - creatures that contained a piece of her.  The Zereca was to act as a judge and jury to disinfect the Arcan of all the evils that had grown.

Retreat to the Sky

Aika grew tired and worn because of the distress brought upon by her creatures.  She viewed her creations from above and began to be remoreseful in the creation of the Zereca, a race created in anger.  Soon the Zereca scourge the land and ran bloodthirsty with power, bringing the other creations close to extinction.  They are forced to hide in fear.  As a last resort, she called upon the Great Prophet Giovanni to perform a mass exodus to Lakia.  With her remaining power she lifted the land of Lakia into the sky, away from the clutches of the Zereca.  Finally, Aika fell into a deep sleep and the fragments of her essence in the Zereca caused them to share her slumber.

The Awakening

Three hundred years have passed and the land of Humans has prospered.  In the distance, Aika begins to stir and wake, along with the Zereca.  In their weakened state, the Zereca create the Jerennises to spread dark energy to the land in preparation of their awakening.  Feeling this dark energy, Aika creates her own creatures to help the humans, the Pran.

And so begins the war of Arcan, and the Aika's awakening...

http://aika.gpotato.com/

Sunnyvale, CA-April 30th, 2009 Gala-Net, Inc., a leading free-to-play online game publisher, has announced their partnership with HanbitSoft to publish Aika in the North American market.

 

"We are delighted to work with an experienced publisher like Gala-Net, Inc.," adds Kee Young Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft, "Gala-Net, Inc. has a proven track-record of successfully marketing MMORPGs in North America and we are confident that together we will make a lot of players excited about Aika."

 

In additional to traditional MMO features like quests and item crafting, Aika presents a large scaled PvP system that range from small dungeon groups of 6 all the way up to wars of 1,000 vs. 1,000. Its highly developed user experience also features a PRAN system and sophisticated in game voice-overs. Aika is presented in dramatically stunning graphics; however, the game client boasts a small client size of only 300MB!

 

Aika, will appeal to the diehard MMO fans eager to play a highly distinctive MMORPG. Stay tuned to http://aika.gpotato.com/ for up to date news on Aika Online.

 

"We are excited to publish Aika! With a highly innovative gaming company like HanbitSoft, Gala-Net, aims to provide the best online game experience through Aika," says Jikhan Jung, CEO of Gala-Net, Inc.

 

About Gala-Net
Founded in 2004, Gala-Net, Inc. together with its European subsidiary, Gala Networks Europe, Gala-Net is a leader in the burgeoning free-to-play online games in the western market. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Gala-Net's diverse service portfolio includes Flyff, Rappelz, Tales Runner, and Luna whose services will be commercialized in June. Through the games portal gPotato (http://www.gpotato.com), gamers can play any of Gala-Net's games for free, as well as buy in-game currency and virtual items for any of its games.

 

About Hanbitsoft

Since established in 1999, Hanbitsoft has been developed as No.1 PC game publisher by successfully distributing Brizzard games such as Starcraft and Diablo2 and expanding PC game industry in Korea. ‘Success story of Hanbitsoft backed on Stacraft came from outstanding planning & market penetrat ing strategy and establishment of effective distribution channel, all which can be explained as initiati ve spirit leading domestic game market.
Hanbitsoft is moving forward to be the best game publisher, not staying on prior status as a PC
based publisher but jump to the position as a competitive game publisher encompassing online and console games.

The world gaming market is rapidly developing due to the wide and speedy spread of internet services. To keep up with this trend, HanbitSoft initiated systematic preparation to be an online game publisher from 2003..

In Feb. 2003, the company commercialized the first online game, ‘Survival Project,’ and ‘WYD’ (MMORPG genre) in May of the same year. HanbitSoft invested 76% of its share into Joy Impact, the R&D house of WYD, through which Hanbitsoft was able to secure the game development capacity indirectly. In a more direct way, the company developed ‘Tantra’ itself. In May, 2004, it commercialized a casual game, ‘Pangya.’ Even in monotonous RPG oriented industry, Pangya successfully diversified online game market by attracting users who is likely to love light casual games and was highly estimated as a country-wide popular game. The second self-developed title, ‘Neo-steam,’ is also receiving an outstanding reputation from users because of its unique genre and theme. IMC GAMES, another subsidiary of HanbitSoft, which developed ‘Granado Espada’, received favorable response from users thanks to its MCC system, which opened a new epoch of online games. ‘HellGate:London,’ the first product of ‘Flagship Studios’ led by Bill Roper, is expected to pave a new road in the industry as 'a next generation frontier of RPG.’ ‘Popoming’, developed by ‘Joy Impact,’ is being highlighted as a new casual battle game following the step of Survival Project. Its charming graphics and unique transformation system brought about a new blast of wind to the casual battle game area. In addition, ‘Spike Girls,’ online kickball game, is also expected to appeal users as a casual sports genre, coming after Pangya’s achievement.

When it comes to online games, Korea tops over other countries around the world and is continually heightening its status. HanbitSoft’s endeavors in this industry will go on and is expected to make another leap towards the whole game market..

Hanbitsoft had grown up as the best game publisher in domestic market. We are not settling into the present position but advancing toward world game market with full spirit and creativity. Hanbitsoft established Joint Venture Company, Happy Digital in Chundu, China initially as a Korean online game player for the end to target potential China online game market. In 2004, we established Hanbit Ubiquitous Entertainment (HUE) in Japan, which is another joint venture company, through co-investing with Hitachi in order to provide online game contents and cope with major Japanese companies for online publishing and development. HUE will be a profit center to make stabilized revenue and a business ground for strategic alliance with major game players in Japan. Hanbitsoft attracted public attention in Taiwan and Hong Kong by alliance with Unalis and APOL, best game publishers in local market. Besides, cooperation with the world-best entertainment groups such as Blizzard, Sony and Bandai gave us a way to stretch toward world market. Based on full-fled ged planning & development capacity, Hanbitsoft will reach out for success in world game market.

Official Screenshot

Official Developer Site:http://www.joyimpact.com/

Official Korean site: http://www.aikaonline.com/

Official North American & European site:  http://aika.gpotato.com/