Yu-Gi-Oh! Online
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Yu-Gi-Oh! Online is a PC game released in December 2004 by Konami. It was first distributed with the February 2005 issue of the U.S. Shonen Jump. It is based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. It is currently in beta testing of a major update called "Duel Evolution", which changes many aspects of the game.
It was free from December 2004 to March 31, 2005 for beta testing, finalizing its subscription process April 11, 2005. During the beta test, testers started with a 40 card Yu-Gi-Oh! deck to duel other players with. In the game, players can chat, duel, trade and e-mail each other using the games own "D-Mail". Since December 15th, it has entered a new stage of beta testing, known as Yu-Gi-Oh! Online Duel Evolution, with many new features. All data will be retained during beta testing, but after beta testing the player data will be reset to what it was before beta testing. The beta testing will end in January 2007.[1]
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[edit] System Requirements
- OS: Windows 2000/XP
- CPU: Pentium III 600 and above
- RAM: 256 MB or more
- Hard Drive: 2.0 GB or more free space
- Video Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
- Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
- Internet Connection: 256 kbit/s or faster
[edit] Cards
Players duel using cards, in the same way as in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. Each player starts with a 42-card starter deck. After that, players need to duel to get more cards. Whenever a single game (1 duel) is played, both players get 1 card from a card pack of their choice. Whenever a match game (2 or 3 duels, first to win twice wins) is played, both players get 3 cards from a card pack of their choice. What card packs a player can choose is based on what packs are currently available, and how many times the player has played (more duels means more card packs the player can choose from). Cards can also be obtained through trading (only if the player has played 36 or more duels) or exchanging Mileage. Mileage is earned in small amounts for claiming DUELPASS codes, and can be used to buy some of the game's more sought-after cards (such as Mirror Force, and Magic Cylinder).
[edit] Ranking
There are 30 player levels so far, Level 1 through 30. People new to the game start at Level 1. Once a player has played at least 36 duels, he or she becomes a different level, and has to move to other lobbies. The player's level is decided by their score. Each time a player wins a duel, that player's score increases, and whenever a player loses a duel, their score decreases. The amount of points received or deducted depends on the player's level and the opponent's level. For example, a level 2 player winning from a level 5 player would gain more points than a level 6 player winning from a level 3 player.
[edit] Payment
Players can duel by spending Duelpasses or playing in the practice lounge. Each Duelpass is worth 30 Duelpass Points, 1 duelpass point can be used to duel once. One can purchase a DUELPASS 150 on Konami's official site. With this duelpass, the player will receive five cards, taken from discontinued card packs. The pack of which the cards are taken will change every fortnight. The game has much popularity already, and players of the beta will strive for the full version, which can be downloaded from Yu-Gi-Oh! Online's official website. It can also be purchased at several vendors, released with three of the 5 initial Duel passes for USD $9.99. When a player buys a Duelpass, he or she has to enter the code printed on the Duelpass in the "Enter Duelpass Code" screen. Then the player receives 30 Duelpass Points and 1 Mileage (that players can exchange for cards).
Konami has yet to reveal any plans to release Duelpasses in North America outside of the $9.99 starter packs, despite false advertising (see Bait and switch) of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 Duelpasses on the North America section of their website.
However, they have announced the U.S. release of a substitute: the "USB Duelpass Key", a $9.99 USB key worth 90 Duel Points.
The USB Duelpass Key has been announced in 6 versions, each including 3 special virtual cards. The USB Duelpass Key works like a standard USB flash drive, except it only contains the information necessary to transfer game credits to your account. A CD-ROM with the full version of the game is included in the packaging for the USB Duelpass Key. The flashdrive itself has only 128K or so of memory, unuseable for anything but the duel pass credits.
Fortunately, unlike the Duel Pass cards, Konami has made the USB Duelpass Key available in the United States; there are stores in the United States that carry them, such as Toys "R" Us and Target.
People from North America cannot purchase the DUELPASS 150. Technically, people from anywhere except the United States or Mexico cannot purchase the USB Duelpass Key, however thanks to online shopping site like eBay, people from all over the globe have claimed these DUELPASSes. DUELPASS 30 technically can only be purchased in Japan, however these are the most common DUELPASSes used alongside the DUELPASS 150, with several sites selling just the "key codes" online.
[edit] Beta Stage
On December 14, 2006 at 11:00 PM EST, the Beta of Yugioh Online Duel Evolution was launched. However, the Beta has been plagued by glitches and errors, to which Konami hasn't resolved yet. The higher system requirements of the Beta software has caused players to endure issues of installations problems and lag times. However, it's recommended players ensure their hardware meets minimum requirements and have the latest video card driver installed for optimized function of the game. A combination of high server traffic and hardware slow-downs has also caused players to be disconnected without warning from the game.
