Because Korea's MapleStory is a few updates ahead of their North American counterparts, fans have been eagerly expecting the release of Dragon Master Evans for some time now. In fact, most players had the release date of Evans pegged for sometime in the Summer of 2010, or perhaps as late as winter, but the MapleStory team has surprised everyone with their release of Dragon Master Evans this spring!

In keeping with MapleStory lore, Dragon Master Evans is, essentially, the successor to the famous, ancient Magician Freud, who fought alongside his partner, the Onyx Dragon King Afrien. Apparently the Black Mage was jealous of Afrien and Freud's combined power, and so he attempted to trap Freud in ice in order to break their pact. Unfortunately, the Black Mage underestimated Afrien and Freud's friendship, and Afrien intercepted the spell, thereby saving Freud. The Dragon King also left behind a dragon egg, which would hatch at a much later date, and so Freud hid the egg in the hopes that, one day, another Dragon Master would rise.

In terms of game play, Evan and his dragon, Mir, will fight side by side, and Evan will be able to cast spells through his Dragon (or using his Dragon). Mir, the Dragon, will also upgrade in appearance and ability up to ten times over the course of the player's levelling experience. You can read Part I of Nexon's introduction to the Dragon Master after the jump, or at the Nexon forums.

Nexon America, developers of the classic and popular MapleStory MMO, recently launched a new online trading card game called MapleStory iTCG Online. Based on the franchise, MapleStory iTCG Online "is an online flash-based, in-browser trading card game using the characters and monsters that occupy the world of MapleStory," according to the official release.

Nexon says "the new website offers players details about the online card game including news, rules and information on how to play and shows the art style used for the game," although the game is just in the process of launching its beta testing phase, which starts today.

"iTCG Online players will be able to choose one of the four MapleStory classes currently available as their main character," according to the release. "The classes include Warrior, Magician, Bowman and Thief. Pirate and Cygnus Knight characters will not be available at launch." Check out the full press release after the jump.

It looks like one of the biggest Free-to-Play MMOs is finally heading to the mobile phone as AT&T has announced that their customers will be the first to be able to download MapleStory from their AT&T MEdia Mall directly to their cell phones. AT&T will be the first U.S. wireless carrier to launch the mobile version of MapleStory, and whoever purchases the game right now will be able to claim a special item for their MapleStory PC Game.Glenn Broderick, the Executive Director of Gaming for AT&T has stated that "MapleStory has a loyal global following, so we are thrilled to let AT&T customers be the first in the U.S. to experience that same adventure and level of excitement on their wireless devices."

Users can purchase the game for $6.99 at the AT&T MEdia Mall.

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.

Congratulations to MapleStory on reaching its fourth anniversary this week. Nothing lasts forever, and MMOs are no exception. Their popularity eventually wanes as players move on to bigger and better games, with publishers either looking to release sequels, or keep their players hooked with new expansions and graphical updates. However, due to the competitive nature of the MMO industry, some games struggle to hit their first anniversary, or even fail to last that long before being shut down.

With 92 million accounts worldwide and 6 million of those in North America, MapleStory didn't struggle to reach this milestone - it arrived there in style. To celebrate this achievement, a number of events are taking place in-game up until June 16. These include anniversary quests, increased EXP gain and a contest to win everything from in-game items to digital cameras. Since MapleStory's now four years old, and given that some MMOs don't age well, I thought I'd better find out if the game's still fun.

MapleStory will be celebrating its fourth anniversary on Monday, May 11, and Mexon America already has a ton of festivities running until June 16 to help players enjoy the momentous occasion.

Events and prizes include anniversary weapons, item upgrades, a leveling up event, GM events, monster transformations and a maple quiz. Also, Nexon is giving away 1,200 prizes over 40 days, including in-game items, Nexon Game Cards, digital cameras, and iPod Touch and a laptop computer.

More information can be found here or after the jump.

NEXON Europe announced today the launch of an in-game wedding system in MapleStory Europe. To get married, all you need to do is visit the wedding town Amoria and complete some quests as a couple. Then you can invite your fellow players to the ceremony and purchase different types of wedding tickets from the in-game Cash Shop.

The publisher also announced a special three-week event to celebrate Dutch Queen’s Day as part of its series of special events based on major European cultural festivals. According to the press release, "all trading activities within the game will be free of charge and players will receive a special discount when creating a guild or changing the guild emblem to cherish the traditional 'Free Market' being held all over the country on Queen’s Day."

The European version of the free-to-play game gives players the chance to play MapleStory in five different languages: English, French, German, Spanish and Dutch. For more information, visit the official MapleStory Web site or read the full press release below.

We all know the worldwide economy is not doing so well right now, and governmental bodies have been trying to stimulate it through various means. Well, the world of MapleStory is receiving its own stimulus package today as users are invited to try on hundreds of items in the in-game cash shop for free.

The items you can try on are all in the cape, overall, hat and shoe categories. Basically you can try on a new outfit for free. "While all of our games are free-to-play, this is a great opportunity for players to check out what the Cash Shop in MapleStory has to offer and have fun with different looks without any impact on their wallets," said Min Kim, vice president of Nexon America.

If you sign on to MapleStory, you can also check out the recently added Crimsonwood Keep Party Quest, the expanded buddy list and the Masteria Mob Invasion. For more information on these updates or the free items day, keep reading after the jump.

MapleStory has released special summer collectibles to help their European players cool off.

Get into the summer action: MapleStory Europe wants its Maplers to enjoy the sunny season with special collectible items that cannot be bought, but only collected from slain monsters, like Trixter , Bubbling , Lazy Buffy and many more. Maplers should not be fooled by how cute these cunning little beasts look and smile, but keep their great goal in mind: collecting the special summer items they randomly drop on top of the usual items after having lost the battle. These items, including surfboards and differently colored tubes, can only be collected during this special season - so happy hunting to Maplers to get into their summer cool. In addition to getting special summer items, Maplers can also get new accessories and weapons in the Cash Shop. For more information, please check MapleStory Europe's website at http://www.mapleeurope.com.