With a successful Closed Beta period just completed, 9Dragons is now available to the entire Western gaming audience for Open Beta, with an unlimited number of players actively testing online for final bug fixes to prepare the game for official release.

Players have the option of joining one of 6 starter clans: Shaolin, Wu-Tang Clan and The League of Beggars which are loyal to The Imperial Emperor of China, while The Brotherhood of Thieves, Heavenly Demon, and Sacred Flower Clan (for women only), are opposed to his rule. Three special advanced clans, which will be fully controlled by players in respect to leadership and alignment, will be added to the game as the story progresses. Since each free account allows up to 3 character slots, it’s easy to create multiple characters, join different clans, and experience new gaming experiences based on each clan’s different Kung Fu style and unique philosophy.

To ensure that Western gamers would be able to relate to a storyline based in Ming Dynasty China, the game lore and story elements of 9Dragons have been completely adapted and remastered by best-selling author and Hollywood screenwriter Steven-Elliot Altman.

Also, effective immediately, Acclaim will begin providing service for 9Dragons in Europe on a dedicated European server in addition to their North American territories. Game developer Indy21 has signed over the European rights to Acclaim after European service was abruptly halted last week, leaving thousands of players suddenly stranded without game access. ”Acclaim had such success marketing the original English version they developed that we felt they would be the best partner to take over for Europe,” said Yongnam Jin, head of international business for Indy21, the 9Dragons developer.

Acclaim will immediately welcome the European players onto a new server called Bardo (EU). This new server will be exclusive for European players, and will initially be located in the US and then moved to a location in Europe for improved access at a later date. Acclaim’s service will also provide European players with a team of dedicated Game Masters available for shifts in all European time zones.

“We want to welcome all of the European 9Dragons players to Acclaim. Our community is excited to have you join us, and we look forward to offering you 9Dragons as a free-to-play game,” offers Acclaim CEO Howard Marks. So Marks again repeats his promise that 9Dragons will be free to play, this time for the European players as well, supported by item purchasing and in-game advertising from IGA Worldwide.

To celebrate this announcement, Acclaim will be offering double experience points to all North American and European players from 12am to 11:59pm PST (GMT-8) on Friday, February 9 to welcome new players and to help the thousands of players who lost their characters when their former provider’s service abruptly went down. This Double XP event will ensure a smoother transition to Acclaim’s new service as players level up quickly to regain some of the progress they had lost.

Since the start of Closed Beta, thousands of players have already experienced the breathtaking scenery, intense combat action, and perplexing ancient Chinese wisdom of what is being hailed as the first period authentic martial arts MMORPG, described as “World of WarcraftTM meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

New players are welcome to sign up for a free Acclaim account at www.9dragonsgame.com to experience the amazing online world of 9Dragons and strive to become masters of Kung Fu.

Features :

• Each clan has more than 400 unique martial arts styles and over 500 different items of martial arts weaponry. Some clans use unarmed combat while other focus on weapons mastery or even assasination!
• Featuring more than 450 various quests, 9Dragons will be adding 20 to 40 quests per month.
• The animation uses cutting-edge Key-frame animation technology. Players can punch, kick, chop, spin or execute any of the moves they would see in a martial arts movie.
• Mobs and monsters run away from superior players, chase inferior players or commit suicide when they get fatally wounded. Some monsters will change their appearance to deceive players. Some use transformation skill to get bigger and stronger.