Natasha Will Be Playable on October 25

Perfect World Entertainment just announced that Natasha will become a playable character in Rusty Hearts on Tuesday, October 25! This means she'll join the ranks of Angela, Tude and Frantz on the character selection screen in less than two weeks.

Want a shot at winning a Logitech F710 Wireless Gamepad? Then head over to Facebook and share the Natasha announcement post on your wall. Perfect World Entertainment will pick two lucky winners tomorrow, October 14 at noon PDT.

Rusty Hearts: Awakening Update is Live

Awakening, the first major Rusty Hearts update, is now live! It bumps the level cap to 30 and introduce more than 120 quests, four new dungeons, new bosses, more training grounds, over 550 new items and more.

As for Angela, Frantz and Tude, they're getting a bunch of new weapons and a combined total of 30 new skills to learn and master. You can read the full update details after the jump.

Play Rusty Hearts and Win a 3D Prize Package

As Perfect World Entertainment gears up to launch the first major Rusty Hearts update on October 11, they've decided to give away a couple of 3D prize packages to a pair of lucky players. Here's what you can win simply by logging into the game with a level 5 character by October 30:

  • NVIDIA EVGA GeForce GTX 560 – $199.99
  • NVIDIA 3D Vision Wireless Glasses Kit – $149.99
  • Alienware OptX AW2310 monitor – $449

That's an $800 prize package right there! So what are you waiting for? Play Rusty Hearts this month and you could soon be hacking and slashing your way through its dungeons in 3D!

Rusty Hearts: Awakening Update Launches Oct. 11

Perfect World Entertainment has announced that the first major Rusty Hearts update is scheduled to launch on October 11. The Awakening update will bump the level cap to 30 and introduce more than 120 quests, four new dungeons, new bosses, more training grounds, over 550 new items and more.

As for Angela, Frantz and Tude, they're getting a bunch of new weapons and a combined total of 30 new skills to learn and master. You can read the full update details after the jump.

Rusty Hearts is Now Available on Steam

Rusty Hearts is now available on Steam! Download the free-to-play anime-inspired action MMO this week and you'll receive these welcome gifts through the in-game mail system:

  • Augment Stone x5 – Augment stones are added to gear and weapons to enhance their abilities. This mean stronger attacks, more damage, and boosted special abilities.
  • Wiseman’s Stone x5 - Attach Wiseman’s Stones to your gear to permanently enchant them with new abilities and increase is their strength and value.

The addition of Rusty Hearts brings Steam's collection of free-to-play titles up to 10. The other F2P games on Steam are Forsaken World, Global Agenda: Free Agent, Champions Online: Free for All, Spiral Knights, War Inc. Battlezone, Team Fortress 2, Puzzle Pirates, CrimeCraft: Bleedout and Alliance of Valiant Arms. Iron Grip: Marauders is coming soon.

Rusty Hearts Open Beta Kicks Off Tonight

The Rusty Hearts open beta is scheduled to kick off today, September 13 at 6 p.m. PDT, making the anime-inspired action MMO available to all players! The open beta will increase the level cap to 25 and add new quests, dungeons, skill and items to the game, as well as a new village. It will also mark the launch of official European servers.

Of course, it wouldn't be an open beta release without some in-game events. Perfect World Entertainment will be giving out a wireless Logitech F710 controller and some limited edition Rusty Hearts posters to players who can collect the most gold, get the highest combo and complete a specific dungeon in Very Hard difficulty in the quickest time. Check out the full schedule for all the details.

For our impressions on Rusty Hearts during closed beta, watch Mike B. aka Fony's recent BFF Report and read Staff Writer Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland's article.

Rusty Hearts Open Beta Begins September 13

Perfect World Entertainment just announced that the Rusty Hearts open beta will launch in both North America and Europe on September 13, which will make the anime-inspired action MMO available to all players. In preparation, the closed beta will end on September 8 at 2 p.m. PDT.

Due to player feedback, Perfect World will be removing the Stamina system in the open beta to give players unlimited access to dungeons. Players will also have the ability to customize their gamepad button layouts. As Mike B. aka Fony said in his recent Rusty Hearts BFF Report, you should definitely consider playing this game with a controller.

In addition to those changes, the open beta will increase the level cap and feature a new hub world containing unreleased dungeons and quests.

ZAM Gears Up for PAX Prime with Swag Giveaway

UPDATE, 9/1: We've already given out a bunch of swag, but we still have more! We'll be giving out more prizes next week after Labor Day Weekend. Be sure to check your Twitter messages! While we have only a limited amount of physical things we can ship, we have tons of codes to give away, so keep your eyes peeled.

Gamescom may have come to an end, but the summer convention season isn't over just yet! PAX Prime will be held in downtown Seattle from August 26-28 and we'll have members of the ZAM team on the floor, including Director of Content Cody "Micajah" Bye. He'd love to give out PAX swag to some lucky readers, and all he wants in return is more followers on Twitter!

We'll be giving away PAX gear to people who follow @ZAMOfficial and @CodyBye on Twitter. The more followers the pages get before PAX, the more chances you'll have to win prizes. Check out the constantly updated prize list after the jump to see what you could get simply by clicking the "follow" button!

PAX Walkthrough of Rusty Hearts' Atrium Dungeon

Perfect World Entertainment will be showcasing a new Rusty Hearts dungeon called The Atrium at PAX Prime this weekend. If you can't make it to the convention, you can watch the full demo in a new video narrated by the game's product manager. If you haven't tried Rusty Hearts yet, this is a great opportunity to check out some gameplay footage.

The second phase of the Rusty Hearts closed beta kicked off last night. Want to try out the game? Then grab one of our free Rusty Hearts closed beta keys!

Rusty Hearts Closed Beta Phase 2 Brings Updates

The second phase of the Rusty Hearts closed beta kicks off today, August 24, at 4 p.m. PDT / 7 p.m. EDT. Perfect World Entertainment decided to push it back two hours to make "necessary adjustments" to the patch. You can read the full list of all the phase 2 improvements and tweaks after the jump.

As a reminder, players who rush the servers in the first 12 hours of closed beta phase 2 will receive a special costume set for the first character they create in open beta. Frantz gets fauxhawk hair, Angela gets a cowboy hat and Tude gets a bandana. The bonus items will be limited to one per user, so choose your first character in open beta wisely!

For our impressions on Rusty Hearts, watch Mike B. aka Fony's recent BFF Report and read Staff Writer Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland's article. If you'd like to try out the game during closed beta phase 2, grab one of our free Rusty Hearts closed beta keys!