![Neverwinter Nights Head To Xbox One](https://d15shllkswkct0.cloudfront.net/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/02/neverwinter.jpg)
![Neverwinter Nights Head To Xbox One](https://d15shllkswkct0.cloudfront.net/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/02/neverwinter.jpg)
Today owners of the Xbox One will be able to visit the besieged stronghold city of Neverwinter in Cryptic Studio’s free-to-play massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) Neverwinter Online. The beta for the Xbox One version of the game just went live for Xbox Live subscribers.
Neverwinter Online brings many of the aesthetic elements of Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition to the forefront while keeping to a format that fits arcade-style multiplayer gaming. The game, published by Perfect World Entertainment, originally launched for the PC on June 20th 2013 and the publisher is planning to follow up the Xbox launch with a move to PlayStation 4.
Users interested in joining the Xbox One beta can sign up at Perfect World’s Arc Games website. Do it soon: it only lasts three days.
Today’s launch with be followed tomorrow by a live stream on Perfect World’s official Twitch channel on Friday from 12 noon to 1 pm PST.
As an MMO game, Neverwinter Online approaches player controls by providing a minimalistic set of options, which makes it perfect for porting from the PC, where players can use a keyboard with a multitude of buttons and a mouse, to consoles, where players usually have six to ten buttons and control sticks.
While the PC has been the major outlet for MMO gaming, consoles have begun to see their fair share of cross-overs. In the free-to-play gaming market games such as Sony Online Entertainment’s (now Daybreak Games Company) DC Universe Online and Trion World, Inc.’s Defiance were developed from the jump for consoles and PC. Elder Scrolls Online from ZeniMax Online Studios was originally planned to launch on consoles but was delayed until June 9, 2015.
All of the games above also belong to the free-to-play subset of MMO games (or, in the case of ESO, soon will be) that does not require players to pay a monthly subscription. Instead, players may buy the box for a set price, often called buy-to-play, and the game itself is supported by an in-game cash shop that sells virtual items and services from aesthetic changes to quality-of-life improvements for players.
Neverwinter Online is free to install, free-to-play, and supports itself with an in-game cash shop as well as lock boxes, which can be opened with a key that costs about a $1 that contain a random assortment of useful items—with a chance to receive an extremely rare, highly coveted useful item that is either interesting to look at or provides an interesting in-game effect.
If you have an Xbox One and the Xbox Live service, be sure to sign up for the beta and try the game out.
Image credit: Perfect World Entertainment, arcgames.com
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