Everyone is talking about Wizard101! Both experienced and casual gamers have a lot to say about the free to play family-friendly MMO. Browse the game press excerpts below or click to read the full article - either way we hope they give you an idea about the family friendly entertainment that is Wizard101!
"Each Epic Bundle contains everything to twink your character out in style: a huge castle complete with a dueling circle and minigame kiosk, a gryphon mount, an Epic Spear of Power, a surprise dueling pet, new clothing, and 5,000 crowns for a shopping spree."
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"You might think a children's MMO would have a hard time collecting donations because kids don't have disposable income to give, but Wizard101 makes it work by building charity-generating items seamlessly into a gameplay systems a child could access and then persuade their parents to pay for. Last holiday season, for example, developer KingsIsle Entertainment added a mount called the Meowmodon as a precursor to the new pets system that launched in early 2010 -- the mount raised raised $126,000 for Child's Play and the Austin Children's Shelter. "
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"If card battles are your thing, then Wizard101 is for you. Also, the developers specifically started with the intention of making a game that could run on any device, and they achieved it. Don't let the cartoony look of the game fool you; there is strategy here for all ages. It does have linear gameplay and a pricey cash shop, however. "
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"Well, it was an epic battle. Little did I know that, in an effort to promote a random assortment of high-quality free-to-play and indie games, I would come up with the formula for the destruction of the entire universe. Over the last few days, readers cast their votes (and their nasty comments) in the hopes that I would take a look at their favorite game for well over a month. After all, it would expose everything that is good (and bad!) about their game and might draw in many more new players. Not to brag, but a lot of eyes are drawn to our lovely little site here."
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KingsIsle Entertainment's Wizard101 is something of a quiet success, and plenty of core online gamers might never know the popular fantasy MMO has some 10 million users. Unless they had kids, that is -- the developer's onto something with its family-friendly design."
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"After hooking up with former telecommunications executive Elie Akilian, the group founded KingsIsle in early 2005, with Akilian as CEO.
Hall and Coleman, the first employees, got to work hiring a staff in Austin. "Wizard101" launched as a free-to-play game in 2008, with players having the option of purchasing a subscription or in-game content, à la carte style."
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"For those who haven’ t tried it yet, Wizard 101 is multi-player online role-playing game from KingsIsle Entertainment. You begin as a novice wizard, choose a school, and then begin to amass points through duels and other sorts of mini-games. Only Wizard City is available to players at the start but as you gain points and experience, the other worlds open up."
Read Entire Wired.com Article »
"KingsIsle Entertainment, makers of the hit kid-friendly MMO Wizard101, have partnered with GameStop to offer players and parents an exclusive retail-only Epic Bundle just in time for the holiday gift-giving season. The package is priced at $39 USD and features a large amount of in-game extras including a flying gryphon mount, a fantasy palace complete with personal dueling arena and a minigame kiosk, decorative clothing, one month of premium content access, and an additional housing slot."
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"Wizard101 players are about to get schooled in the fine art of making things grow. KingsIsle Entertainment is set to flip the switch on a new gardening feature, enabling players to grow and care for plants, as well as reap rewards from harvesting them. "
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"Wizard101 from KingsIsle is a kid-friendly MMO that has opened up family gaming in a big way. Successfully launched two years ago, KingsIsle has been steadily adding to and improving Wizard101 in the intervening years. The game has shown a lot of innovation over its lifespan and seems to just get better with age. In fact, barely a month ago, the latest major expansion area, Celestia, opened its undersea doors with a higher level cap, new spells, two new schools of magic and more. Never content to sit back, the KingsIsle team looked at the year’s schedule and came to the conclusion that the game needed one more BIG feature before the end of the year. Enter the Gardening system."
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"KingsIsle Entertainment is another Austin success story. Five years ago, two friends got the idea for a different kind of online video game, and now the company has grown to over 100 employees. The key to their success -- family friendly content."
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"Massive multiplayer online gaming is not just for lopping off orc heads anymore. J.D. Biersdorfer talks to Todd Coleman of KingsIsle Entertainment about his company’s online game, Wizard 101, and the challenges of creating a kid-friendly virtual world. The game has more than 10 million players, who take on roles as student wizards."
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"The game is a turn based MMO with a card-based battle system.It's mostly player-vs.-environment and has some nice graphical flair, running on low-end computers but sporting chunky colorful graphics. The game is free-to-play, supported with a pay system that gets you access to more realms and character levels."
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"Developer KingsIsle Entertainment announced a licensing agreement with German online game publisher Gameforge to localize and release free-to-play MMORPG Wizard101 in Europe.
Launched in North America in September 2008, Wizard101 has more than 10 million registered players."
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"The free-to-play MMO, Wizard101, is about to earn the magic of a real-life wizard…well, sort of. Selena Gomez, one of the stars of the Disney Channel television series "The Wizards of Waverly Place," will be the star of a special quest launching in the game later this month. "
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"The deal between KingsIsle and Hollywood Records calls for a Selena Gomez character to appear in Wizard101 -- as herself -- in a quest line added to the game just shy of its upcoming expansion's launch. For Gomez, this is a chance to promote her band's sophomore album, A Year Without Rain, right before its late September release. For KingsIsle, it's a chance to tease players with some of the features in the expansion, Celestia, like underwater levels."
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"It is available either for a subscription fee of $9.95 a month or as a free-to-play game, where you play for free and buy virtual goods as you go. The new world the company is launching today is Celestia, a kingdom of underwater cities, lost artifacts and ancient riddles."
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