The new version Omerta is now live

Hull, UK, July 9th, 2009—-Omerta Game Ltd, publisher of Omerta, the web’s biggest Mafia-themed MMORPG (massively multiplayer role-playing game) is proud to announce that the new version of Omerta (O3) is now officially live.

It has been 2 years in development, but the new version of Omerta, the most successful Mafia game on the web, is now available and free to play to everyone that has a modest PC and an Internet connection.

“The moment has finally arrived - the new version of Omerta is live! The last 2 years has been like shaking up a bottle of Champagne with the cork still in the bottle. We removed the cork earlier today. It is absolutely thrilling to see the new version of Omerta finally live!” comments Steve Biddick, CEO of Omerta Game Ltd.

“The new features are live in every version of Omerta, including the single-language ‘localised ‘ versions like the Dutch, Turkish and Portuguese/Brazilian versions.”

The single-language versions of Omerta include Dutch, French, German, Portuguese/Brazilian, Turkish and the ‘Nordic’ languages (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish).

“New features include all-new bodyguards, a host of new weapons to choose from, revised kill algorithm, anti-cheat measures, city spot objects, the raid feature – there are too many to take in all at once” added Otto Adang, Lead Designer on Omerta 3.

Everybody who signs-up for a free account from July 8th, will be able to enjoy the following new features:

-    The introduction of 7 new bodyguards, each possessing unique personalities and specialities to be trained up, chosen by the player. New Bodyguards can help attack or defend but some have additional specialities which will assist players during normal gameplay.  Players will have to make tough decisions because an advantage in one area may leave you weaker in another

-    A whole bunch of new in-game items, including revamped accommodation and security – now upgradeable with fences and guard dogs and other sub-features. These are designed to help offline players hide from incoming bullets. Motorbikes and armoured cars protect players when they are online. New weapons and special weapons like grenades and C4 explosives have also been introduced to increase the impact of an attack.

    Networks. Players can organize themselves into pyramidal friend-networks where the players at the very top unlock special items like extra protection and other surprises that are kept well secret by the Omerta team!

    Changes to killing to make the whole experience fairer and give weaker players a fighting chance during a kill attempt. In the new version, it is only possible to shoot an opposing player that is of a similar rank (one level above or below your rank). -The defender will have a better chance to retaliate during an attack.

-    City maps with several types of interactive ‘business’, which can be owned and managed by family-member players.
-    Players gain control of these for their Mafia family and as long as they hold onto and protect the business, these will provide a variety of benefits to the entire family.

-    Raids. Player-owned businesses can be raided by players from other families to prevent the family owning them from gaining the benefits or even to take them over completely, causing all sorts of nice new inter-family Mafia wars

Players can register at the new version of Omerta here - http://www.barafranca.com

Omerta is free to play. The only requirements are a modest PC with an internet connection.

About Omerta -

Omerta – www.barafranca.com – began in 2003 as an amateur project, in a bedroom in Groningen, the Netherlands.

Omerta Game Ltd was founded in 2004 to manage and further develop Omerta. It now boasts a full-time staff of 18 people in four countries and a network of over 200 volunteers, spread out across the whole globe.

Omerta is available in 29 languages, all of which are updated for the forthcoming launch of Omerta 3. Regional (single-language) versions are available in Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Portuguese/Brazilian, Turkish and the ‘Nordic’ languages (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish).

Apart from the International version, the Dutch, Turkish and Portuguese versions are the biggest versions.

Already more than 3.5 MILLION people have played Omerta!

Omerta players like to spend time chatting with their friends on Omerta’s own IRC server. There are typically 4000 people or more logged into this.

Omerta boasts typically more than 70,000 players logging in every day to chat, race cars and kill each other, all in the name of fun!