Operated by Yahoo! Japan, the game is set to launch next week, and will be using a "free to play" model that uses pay-per-item microtransactions. It's kind of like the thing Tim Rogers wrote about in his excellent piece about the death of video games.
In MONSTER x DRAGON, players do battle on the fictitious world of Dragonia, where they lead monsters and dragons against one another for the acquisition of crystals. The game itself, a multiplayer title, is a mixture of real-time strategy and trading card games. Players have a maximum quota of 100 points allotted to them to build their armies, or decks. Incidentally, Square Enix refers to the game as an "MMO Active Time Strategy" game.
Players will be able to participate in the game, which is currently in beta, by applying to a variety of Japanese gaming websites that offer keys to give away. Applicants will need a Yahoo! Japan ID to apply. The closed beta test is set to run from October 13 to 28.
