Dofus

Let's see if I can get the numbers right here: 5 new areas, 4 new dungeons, 30 new and exclusive monsters, 40 puzzling quests and 130 new items, of which, more than 50 can be equipped! I'm assuming the other 70 or so items that can't be equipped should all be edible, but that's just me.

Either way, all of this and more are waiting for players in DOFUS's latest content update, Frigost: Episode 2 - Attack of the Foux Fighters! These sinister Snowfoux are led by the powerful Fuji Snowfoux, and him and his vulpines have invaded the Snowbound Village. Players will be charged with hunting down these Snowfoux to free the village and, from there, to continue on their adventure in Episode 2!

In the gaming world, there are a few MMORPGs that have grown to become synonymous with the countries in which they were developed. World of Warcraft, for example, has become the poster child of North American MMO gamers because Blizzard developed WoW in North America first (and some have jokingly noted that WoW suits the North American lifestyle with its low work, high reward system). Other MMOs, like NCsoft's Aion, which was developed and released in Korea first and Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI, developed in Japan, are both considered to be iconic representations of their home countries as well. Even Iceland, Greece, Norway and Russia have their "home town" MMOs in the form of EVE Online, Darkfall, Age of Conan and Allods Online.

Of all of the countries that can boast of having marquee MMORPGs, however, perhaps one of the least known and, surprisingly, one of the most popular MMORPGs of all time has to be France's Dofus, developed by Ankama Games. Boasting an amazing 10 million+ players worldwide, Dofus has had a rather unique history as an MMORPG. In an age when players are demanding better graphics and sharp controls, Dofus is a flash-based MMORPG that relies on turn-based combat, click-to-move mobility, sprite graphics and a lot of heart to compete in this crowded industry. Just recently, Dofus went through a major graphical overhaul as well (to Dofus 2.0), allowing them to really show off their artistic abilities, so we decided that now would be a perfect time to check out the game and put the spotlight on one of the largest, most underrated MMOs in North America.

DOFUS 2.0 has officially launched today, which means players are welcome to head over to the new Zatoïshwan server and enjoy double experience and drops for the next two weeks. You can download the client for the free-to-play MMO on the game's site.

While today marks the start of a new chapter for DOFUS, Ankama has also decided to leave version 1.29 playable and open to everyone since the team feels 2.0 isn't completely ready for to take on a full migration of the community. This means you can currently play both 1.29 and 2.0 with the same account. You can read the full post by Ankama co-founder Emmanual Darras after the jump.

Ankama has announced that DOFUS version 2.0, the "most significant upgrade the game has ever known," will be available for download on the game's official Web site on Dec. 2. The team has rewritten the graphic engine, as well as the server and client code, to add more detail to the game in the update. Ankama also plans to offer boxed distribution of DOFUS worldwide in 2010.

The closed beta for version 2.0 is scheduled to begin at the beginning of October. Players who obtain VIP keys will be able to participate in the test. Check out some new DOFUS 2.0 screenshots in our gallery and keep reading after the jump for Ankama's full announcement.

The massive Goultarminator tournament kicks off today in DOFUS and will be held throughout the month. The game's first inter-server tournament is pitting 116 teams comprised of three players each against each other on a brand new server created just for the event. At the end of four weeks, the 64 teams left standing will keep fighting until one team remains.

Twelve players were selected from each server to participate based on two challenges: a trail of speed that required the player to beat a dungeon keeper as quickly as possible, and a test of character that required players to write a short essay explaining why they should represent their servers in the tourney.

If you weren't selected to participate in Goultarminator, you can still show server spirit by participating in community challenges to win points for your server. For more information, check out the tournament's background and rules. The full announcement can be found below.