Well, the team behind this turn-based MMORPG already celebrated their one year anniversary last week, but congratulations are still in order, even if all of the events are already wrapped up. This week, however, the team is also keen to move forward, as they have just recently introduced their new "lite" client, a 700mb file that allows players to download a small portion of the game and get started on that while the full client downloads in the background. For people who want to check out this lite client and are fast levellers, be warned that the client itself is only capable of supporting up to level 20, and then users will have to wait for their full client to download before they can safely move past that soft level cap. If you already have an account with a character over level 20, the team notes that it is simply better off to download the full client and be done with it.

You can check out this lite client and the full news post over on the Altantica Online homepage!

NDOORS is celebrating the one-year anniversary of Atlantica Online by holding an in-game party every weekend in November. Players will be able to battle both monsters and GMs for Delicious Chocolate Cakes and Fresh Strawberry Cakes, and the developers will be giving away free items Nov. 7-8 and Nov. 28-30.

In addition, an in-game 200% experience bonus kicks off today and is in effect until Friday. NDOORS is also hosting a fan art contest until Nov. 26 and an anniversary photo contest until Nov. 30. If any of these events entices you to return to Atlantica Online, players who have been gone for a month will receive a Scroll of the Hero's pack for coming back to the game. More information on all these events can be found on the official Atlantica Online site.

With the huge popularity of strategic turn-based MMORPG Atlantica Online in North America, the team at Ndoors has announced they have begun to expand to Europe with their newly opened office in Germany, and the launch of the open beta phase of Atlantica Online in German. With this client fully translated and localized, the team also plans to expand to Spain and France next.

“The European market holds so much potential when it comes to online games,” says SeongWan Cho, CEO of Ndoors Corporation. “Open Beta for our German client is just the beginning of our expansion efforts in Europe and we hope to really garner a strong player and fan base in this market.”

German players can check out here to play this F2P turn-based MMO in their own language.

Open Network Entertainment announced today that it has launched the ONE Power-Up Game Card, which is a prepaid gift card that allows you to manage your spending for a variety of MMOs and other online games. Basically, it means you no longer need to buy separate games cards for each game that you play. The ONE Power-Up Game Card also gives you access to exclusive offers, from extra points to unique in-game bonus items.

So what games are compatible with the card? According to a press release, "partnerships have been signed with Aeria Games, OnNet (GamesCampus), Fantage, Ndoors, NHN Global, Game HI and JC Entertainment (GameKiss), allowing consumers to redeem their card balance for use on more than 20 online game properties." You can find a full list of games on the card's Web site, and it includes titles such as Asda Story, Atlantica Online, Dream of Mirror Online and Twelve Sky 2.

The ONE Power-Up Game Card is currently only available for purchase at participating Rite Aid locations. More information on the card can be found after the jump or in the FAQ on the Web site.

This week's Atlantica Online patch increased the level cap from 120 to 130 and added the Minstrel mercenary to the game. The patch also introduced the Vincent Van Gogh and Palace of Night dungeons and the Equipment Analysis System, which gives players "the opportunity to multiply the amount of crafting experience received from dismantling an item."

In addition the the level cap increase, the patch bumps the magic level cap  to 70 and the crafting level cap to 120. You can view the full patch notes here.

Yet another patch has landed on nDOORS' awesome Turn-based MMORPG, Atlantica Online. With this new content update, the team has finally introduced the first of their three promised mercenaries: the Hwarang! The Hwarang is a C class ranged mercenary who seems to be designed as a supportive character that deals damage, much like the melee supportive Prophet. The Hwarang comes with three abilities: Seal Instrument, Hwarang's Aura and Hwarang's Fury. Seal Instrument shouldn't come as a surprise to any avid Atlantica Online player, as NDOORS had promised that the Hwarang would be a form of 'anti-musician' class. In this case, Seal Instrument operates just like the Exorcist's Mana Seal; it lowers the attack damage of all instrument weapons and prevents them from using any abilities. Hwarang's Aura increases all of the ranged mercenaries' attack power and combo rate, and Hwarang's Fury is like the Shaman's Noble Sacrifice, in that Hwarang can 'sacrifice' himself to give his entire team a boost in physical damage.

The new patch also includes a lot of balancing changes and more optimization to ensure smoother load times in cities. You can read the entire changelog here!

Adding even more incentive for new players to try out Atlantica Online, a new partnership with Ijii.com offers would-be members exclusive in-game items. They're calling it the "Atlantica Online Opening Event," which you can access at this site.

Similar to many other MMO "new recruit" drives, the opening event offers new prizes for collecting mercenaries, ranging from a month's worth of free gameplay to in-game items like potions, scrolls and "thoroubred" horses. Check out our portal site for game info, or use this link to join the opening event. Make sure you use that link to register if you're a new user though, since the promotion appears to be an exclusive between Ijii.com and Atlantica Online.

You heard me right! NDOORS Interactive is gearing up to give away over $30,000 in prizes to lucky participants - just for playing the game! All you have to do is make an account on Atlantica Online, or log in to your existing account, and spend at least one hour playing Atlantica Online. Once you spend an hour playing, you will earn a "key" which can be used to obtain a random in-game prize from the Atlantica Online website. If you're lucky enough, you may even be eligible to win an awesome 2010 Scion tC sports coupe, one of 5 Alienware 750i desktops, or even a PS3, XBOX 360, Nintendo DSi, or a 23" LCD Monitor. Just be sure to log those hours in Atlantica Online! Check below for the full press release.

It's no secret that I'm a pretty big fan of Atlantica Online. I love innovative spins on the MMORPG genre and I adore any game that has a solid amount of support and development behind its PvP meta-game. Not only that, but it's very rare to find a game that does all of the above and inspires a great deal of nostalgia within my cantankerous soul. Thus, it also follows that anytime I find a solid combination of the above aspects, I tend to like to check up on its development every now and then to see how it's going - and my curiousity is your gain! Today we managed to catch up with Peter Kang, CEO of NDOORS Interactive and altogether a swell guy for taking the time out of his busy schedule to chat with me about the future of Atlantica Online. So if you're at all interested in Atlantica Online, then read on to hear about some of the present development choices being made by NDOORS, and what direction they are planning to go in the future. Onward!

Alright Atlantica Online players, patch day is here! NDOORS Interactive has just announced a new patch for today, and while it doesn't seem like a huge one, it's still got some nifty changes. A 'jackpot' system is going to be implemented, where players can choose to 'gamble' for more copies of an item they find in battle (I'm guessing this works like a double or nothing type of system). A new dungeon, "The Mysterious Inn," has also been added, but it's only available to players level 120 and higher. Players will also find that they will be able to bet on arena battles remotely and that several mercenary balances have gone into this patch.

You can read the full patch notes in the press release below!