Perfect World Entertainment, the guys behind... well... the MMORPG Perfect World International, have just announced their next blockbuster MMORPG, cleverly titled "Forsaken World." Formerly codenamed Project EM, the PWE team promises that Forsaken World will break new ground by "bringing together the best of Eastern and Western cultures." While the website for Forsaken World a few tidbits about the game, it currently does not shed much information as to how the team plans to get East to meet West in terms of gaming culture.

The General Manager of Perfect World Entertainment, Yoon Im, however, noted that they have been "working with developers from around the world to create a new and exciting experience that aims/strives to appeal to players everywhere. . . This is our first game designed specifically with the Western market in mind and we have high expectations for its success." Wonder what they mean when they say that they designed the game with the Western market specifically in mind!

Perfect World Entertainment has just revamped its site, and the changes include a new blog that promises to "offer a glimpse behind the 'corporate curtain' of PWE and give our users an understanding of who we are, what makes us tick, further insight into our products/features along with the occasional dose of office shenanigans and if you're REALLY fortunate perhaps the recipe for the ultimate Banana-Walnut muffin!"

The blog has already received a ton of updates, including this tidbit from SillyPsyche: "We’re also getting ramped up for some huge releases next year including Forsaken World (formerly project Empire). From what I have seen so far it looks like it’s going to take the gaming experience to a new level. As a former hardcore MMO player I fear for my free time when this one comes out!"

The Perfect World Entertainment portal gives players access to games such as Perfect World, Jade Dynasty, Ether Saga Online, Torchlight, and the upcoming Kung Foo!

Perfect World International is the North American and European version of the popular MMO The Perfect World that launched in China in 2005. Its theme and story are based on Chinese mythology and the legend of Pangu, a 1000-year-old creation story from the Zhou Dynasty. In China, The Perfect World enjoyed widespread success for quite some time as a subscription-based MMO. Later, the developers (Perfect World Entertainment) reworked the MMO into its current, free-to-play incarnation as Perfect World International, which boasts more than 50 million registered players.

As we reported a few days ago, the developers recently launched The Rising Tide, PWI's third and largest expansion. The Rising Tide is an aquatic-themed expansion that introduces a new race called the Tideborn, and opens new zones including islands and underwater areas. Just prior to The Rising Tide's launch, ZAM interviewed Product Manager Jon Belliss, who told us about the expansion's two new classes (the Assassin and Psychic), new dungeons and endgame content and more. We also asked Belliss about some of the additional changes to the PWI client, and brought up a few of the hotly-debated community issues we've seen raised lately.

Rising Tide, the third and largest expansion for Perfect World International, is officially live and brings with it the introduction of the new Tideborn aquatic race, the Assassin and Psychic classes and three new zones, as well as a new East Coast server.

The expansion also adds public quests to the game, which are server-wide quests involving all players in a particular zone. The first public quest is accessible at level 60, while the other two require characters to be at least level 95. More information can be found in the patch notes.

Perfect World Entertainment has announced that Rising Tide, the third and largest expansion for Perfect World International, is scheduled to launch in December. The expansion focuses on the appearance of the new Tideborn aquatic race.

In addition to the Tideborn, Rising Tide will introduce the Assassin and Psychic classes, more than 200 new quests, new dungeons with more than 100 new monsters, a new public quest system, and more. Check out the trailer on the Rising Tide site and keep reading after the jump for answers to some frequently asked questions.

A recent Perfect World International patch has made numerous changes to the Genie system. Each Genie, while equipped, will now gain 10% of the total experience you earn while killing monsters or handing in quests. Also, the amount of skills a Genie is able to learn is now determined by the amount of Lucky Points your Genies have instead of the number of Magic Points you put into them.

Many Genie skills have been changed in the patch, and you can view the long list after the jump. Not all skill changes are currently reflected accurately in the game, but this should be fixed in a future patch.

Happy birthday Perfect World International! The game entered open beta one year ago today and the team has a bunch of festivities planned throughout the month to mark the occasion. Players who registered on or before Sept. 30, 2008 will get an anniversary mount and there will be double experience weekends held throughout September. Anniversary boxes containing rare items will be available until Oct. 1 and events like the sitcom video contest will continue to pop up, so keep an eye out for them.

In addition, the team has announced that the game's third expansion, Rising Tide, will be released this winter. It introduces the Tideborn race and the Psychic and Assassin classes, as well as new zones. For more information on Perfect World International, check out our recent in-game tour.

Today's MMO market is flooded with product. From a newcomer's point-of-view, it might seem that the pickings are slim, especially for someone who hasn't jumped into the world of "free-to-play" games yet. Just beyond the veil of traditional, subscription-based MMOs, there's an enormous library of transaction-based content to explore. The free-to-play and RMT (real money trading) gaming industry is booming; if you know where to look, you'll find dozens of new and established free-to-play MMOs.

At the same time, the sheer amount of these games can be overwhelming; like any other industry, developers try to capitalize on the success of proven business models. Some of the genuinely good MMOs can become tougher to notice, especially when they're buried neck-deep with products sharing the same, shiny packages.

That's why it can be easy to miss something like Perfect World International; the North American and European version of China's popular MMO, Perfect World. Its developers are intent on breaking away from the negative reputation shared by other free-to-play MMOs, which consumers often assume to be uninspired and shoddily-designed. In this preview, ZAM takes a look in-game to see what's different, and we speak with Product Manager Jonathan Belliss to find out why.

The Perfect World International team has given players a preview of the changes they can expect to see in an upcoming update. New content will include the addition of Warsong City, which is an instance that includes a boss hunt and seige, and an NPC Bounty Hunter who will provide players with daily quests to complete that involve killing a boss.

Players can also get a new "blessing item" when they enter certain dungeons to get +10 to their attack and defense levels while they're in the dungeon. You can read the full patch preview after the jump.

Monday may be just around the corner, but you can still check out all of the exclusive features and noteworthy news articles that have been posted on ZAM this past week. You can find more links after the jump.

ZAM features

The Endless Forest: Oh Deer: Is The Endless Forest a relaxing experience or just lacking content? Sam "azerian" Maxted investigates.

We Dream of Genie: The newest update to Perfect World International includes genies, and we talked with Product Manager Jonathan Belliss to get all the details.

Gunz Online: Fast, Intense and... What Else?: Christopher "Pwyff" Tom checked out this MMORPG/FPS hybrid to see if the game is packed with anything besides adrenaline. Pwyff wasn't too impressed. Find out why in his editorial.

MapleStory: Still Worth Playing?: MapleStory just celebrated its fourth anniversary, so azerian decided to venture into the game's virtual world to see what's changed over the years.

Rub Our Exclusive Media Lamp: We got an exclusive look at the genies introduced in the newest Perfect World International update. Check out the screenshots to see what they look like.