The martial arts MMOG, style="font-style: italic;">Kung Foo!,
has now become style="font-style: italic;">Legend of Martial Arts.
The updated game is a more serious game than its original version,
especially with the appearance of the Reavers. To learn more about the
name change and the new changes to the game, Ten Ton Hammer talked with
Perfect World Entertainment.

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Ten
Ton Hammer: So the game formerly known as style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Kung
Foo! style="font-weight: bold;"> is now style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Legend
of Martial Arts style="font-weight: bold;"> (LOMA for short). Why the
switch?



Perfect
World Entertainment: We
decided to rename the game because the focus of the game had shifted.
We wanted to give the game a name that accurately represents its new
focus.  With the renaming to style="font-style: italic;">Legend of Martial Arts,
we wanted to put the emphasis on game content, in-depth mechanics and
how players could become martial arts legends themselves.

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/92279"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 580px; height: 326px;"
alt="Legend of Martial Arts"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/92279">

Ten
Ton Hammer: In its previous incarnation, popular martial arts
memes and kung fu sendups were the order of the day. Looking over the
Reavers reveal, it seems like the game has taken on a more serious
cast. Is that the case? How has the overarching story changed to
accommodate the switch?



Perfect
World Entertainment: With the
new Reavers race, we are definitely making style="font-style: italic;">Legend of Martial Arts
a much more serious game and I think that players will be impressed
when they discover the new content and in-depth features that
we’ve added to the game. The story has changed to accommodate
the appearance of the Reavers race, the first non-human, demon race to
be in the world of style="font-style: italic;">Legend of Martial Arts,
and players will be tasked with uncovering the truth behind a missing
princess and unite against a common enemy.



Ten
Ton Hammer: Is noted comic book writer Devin Grayson still heading up
the writing of the project? If not, who's got the heady task of
recasting the story of the game?



Perfect
World Entertainment: We
decided to go in a different direction with style="font-style: italic;">Legend of Martial Arts
with the appearance of the Reavers race. When we first tested style="font-style: italic;">Kung Foo
with our gamers, we found that humor was not the main reason why people
were attracted to the game.  We read tons of feedback and
looked at player behavior and decided to re-organize the game around
it’s stronger suit, content.  Since then
we’ve taken a more serious tone and have a whole team
dedicated to rewriting the story now.

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/92281"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 580px; height: 326px;"
alt="Legend of Martial Arts"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/92281">

Ten
Ton Hammer: One thing that hasn't changed is the anime-esque art
direction of the game. Assuming that the story of the game has changed,
is anime really that versatile an art medium to work with?



Perfect
World Entertainment: style="font-style: italic;">Legend of Martial Arts
definitely has a unique art style that helps the game appeal to a wider
audience. With the story becoming much darker, you’ll
definitely find that reflected in the new starting areas and zones. In
addition, the art style really lends itself to do a lot of creative
things in the landscapes and mobs that players will encounter. The art
style is definitely dynamic and allows us to do a lot of things that
would normally look “out of place” in a traditional
or more serious MMORPG.



Ten
Ton Hammer: With the humor toned down a bit, what's the single biggest
reason folks should check out the upcoming beta?



Perfect
World Entertainment: Apart
from the new content such as the Reavers race and two new classes, style="font-style: italic;">Legend of Martial Arts
has an extensive amount of content and in-depth features that casual
gamers can enjoy, while also having end game content challenging enough
for even the most hardcore players. In addition to over 100 different
transformations that are open to all players to use, style="font-style: italic;">Legend of Martial Arts
will also have a Dungeon Matchmaking/Queue System which will allow
players to more easily group in-game and run raids together, and a
Legendary Weapon that will grant the most elite players on a server
with ultra rare and unique weapons for the ultimate server bragging
rights.

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alt="Legend of Martial Arts"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/92280">