French MMO Comes to E3's Shore

This year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo is shaping up to be the year
of the MMORPG. The limelight has been shining on Everquest, World of
Warcraft and several other high profile role-players that the
independent studios are finally taking a whack at them with a +5 mace.

French developer Ankama Studio announced the international launch of
Dofus. The last 6 months has shown the title some success in the land
of wine and cheese and sporting 15,000 users en France’.

A distinct Anime look blends with kooky humour and tactical fighting to
create a somewhat warmer and more inviting world than most MMOs. It’s
graphics and avatars look more like GBA graphics than the hefty,
processor intensive realism from games like Matrix Online or Star Wars
Galaxies. In fact, developers brag that the entire game fits in a
miniscule 50 meg space on your hard drive, with no CD switching. Pretty
impressive, but could mean lacking gameplay too. Still, for an expected
$7 a month for subscription, the title could pull in the more casual
gamer.

Beta registration is expected to begin on May 17th at Dofus.com and actual testing should start Summer 2005.