Shaiya

Site: http://shaiya.aeriagames.com/
Status: Free-to-play

Shaiya is cool 3D MMORPG created by Sonov Entertainment. The action is set in a medieval fantasy world where players must choose between light and darkness.

Gameplay
At the beginning new players must choose between Alliance of Light(Human and Elves) or Union of Fury(Nordein and Vail).

In Shaiya players can choose game difficulty from easy, normal, hard and ultimate. Although it is said that in easy mode players need less experience to reach the next level I didn't notice such behavior, and my character in easy mode had less drop than that in normal one.

Races and Classes
Human can choose between Defender(tank), Fighter(melee) and Priest(healer)
Elf - Ranger(damage dealer with high evasion), Archer and Mage
Nordein - Guardian(tank), Warrior(melee) and Hunter(ranged weapons - archer)
Vail - Assassin(like elf Ranger), Pagan(mage with high damage and Area of effect skills) and Oracle(healer)

Quests
There are a lot of interesting quests with good rewards in Shaiya - items with awesome stats bonuses, money and experience.

What I don't like - when player attacks a mob and it attacks back, if the player change its position the mob will run to the first one, stops a while and then run to you. Also mobs can't chase. And PVP with invitation and without PK is a little boring.

Screenshots

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The poll – summary

The results for the poll “What is your favorite MMORPG” were:
Lineage II got the most votes – 25% or 85 people voted.
Perfect World got second place with 15% or 53 votes.
WOW – 12% - 42 votes and DOMO got 10%.
The total votes are 332.

I spent some time thinking on the idea for the next poll.
The latest news that inspired the game world, were about Blizzard.
So the next poll is up! Please vote.

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Dungeon Runners

Site: http://www.dungeonrunners.com/
Free-to-play

Dungeon Runners is a 3D fantasy MMORPG by NCsoft.
It is focused on solo playing, the game world is almost uniquely generated for every player, and the dungeons scale dynamically for parties. Players can gather in public meeting areas.
Gameplay
In Dungeon Runners players can explore dungeons(:D), battle ferocious monsters, discover artifacts, weapons and loot, take hundreds missions and quests.
Available classes are Fighter, Mage and Ranger.

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Blizzard announced Diablo3

Blizzard announced Diablo3.
Here is the official cinematic trailer:

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/

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Fantastic Melody Online (FM Online)

Site: http://www.fmonline.net/en/main.htm
State: Under development

Fantastic Melody Online (FM Online) is a 3D turn-based action MMORPG by Winking Entertainment.

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Screenshots: Rohan Online

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Rohan Online: Blood Feud

Site: http://www.playrohan.com/

Rohan Online is a free to play MMORPG. The game takes place in a fantasy world set in the continent of Rohan.

Features
Revenge - players have their killers listed on their "Hit List". When resurrected, players can teleport to their killers for revenge.

Township Battles - ( equivalent to castle sieges in other mmorpg )players combine in guilds, and the guilds have the opportunity to rule towns in Rohan Online.

Classes:
Human - the knight class. Can be Defender (strong defense, can cast stun spells and have ranged attacks) or Guardian (refined attack skills).
Elf Healer - they can heal their party or use magical attacks. Can be Priest or Templar.
Half Elf - Archer. Can be Scout(multi-targeting) or Ranger(crossbow and dagger attacks).
Dekan - Dragon Fighter. They can transform from humanoid to a dragon. Can be Dragon Knight or Dragon Sage.
Dhan - Assassin. They can get experience by killing other players. Can be Avenger or Predator.
Dark Elf - Mage. They have strong magical powers and transportation skills. Can be Warlock or Wizard.

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Mabinogi

Site: http://mabinogi.nexon.net/
Free-to-Play

Mabinogi is a MMORPG developed by devCAT studio. It features anime style graphics and Celtic mythology world.

Gameplay
Mabinogi have large amount of life skills like fishing, cooking, smithing, tailoring, weaving, handicraft, herbalism, campfire. Also players can go to school, get a job or learn different musical instruments.
The players are not limited by classes for leveling up any skill they like. The only limit is the chosen race. There are three races available: human, elf and giant. Players can choose starting age between 10 and 17 years old ant this will affect initial stats and the leveling up.

Combat
The automatic combat mode helps a lot when you are bored. The battles in Mabinogi are centered around tactical prediction of your opponent's move and using defensive or offensive skills.

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Zero Online

Site: http://zo.91.com
Free to play with shopping mall

Zero Online is a sci-fi, mecha, massively multiplayer online role-playing game with colorful anime style avatars, cool high-tech places and fighting vehicles.

Gameplay
Player can choose male or female pilot.
Male pilots units:
Artillery (range) - They start with unit called Icy Wing. At level 20 they can evolve and use Scorpio Shooter. Also they have evolutions at level 60(Hurricane Warrior), level 100 (Eternal Lord) and level 130 (Thunder God).
Infantry (melee) - Start with Wind Hunter unit. Their evolutions are at level 20 (Planet Power), level 60 (Zero Strike), level 100 (Comet Phantom) and level 130 (Planet Storm).

Female pilots units:
Artillery Units (range) - First unit name is Night Eagle. The evolutions are the same levels - Heaven Tear, Lightning Rose, Monsoon Waltz and Storm Goddess.
Infantry Units (melee) - Night Eagle, Heaven Tear, Lightning Rose, Monsoon Waltz and Storm Goddess.

A.R.M. (Automated Reserve Mech) is a unit that can be used to support battle. Characters can have two support A.R.M. units and switch their main unit to some of them.

Transformin System - it allows the mechs to transform into different forms.

Crystal System - in Zero Online crystals are used for buying items.

Mentor System - it helps the apprentice to share the mentor's potency and the mentor to have the apprentice contribution.

Level up
The unit and the pilot both can level up. Pilots have 22 ranks, the highest that can be obtained is CiC (Commander in Chief).

Squad battles are a form of mass pvp. A squad that occupy the battlefield for one day or longer receives a lot of prizes.
Fleet war - fight between two fleets - similar to castle sieges in other MMORPG.

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Age of Armor (AOA)

Site: http://www.aoaus.com/
Open beta stage

Age of Armor (AOA) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Snail Game. The action is centered around the war of Global Federation (Earth) and the Arthur Republic (Mars). Age of Armor is a cool 3D mecha battle. (Mecha, meka- walking and fighting vehicle, looking like giant robot)

Gameplay:
Races in Age of Armor are Natural Human, Enhanced Human and Neo Human.
Players must choose a side to fight for - Global Federation (Earth) or Arthur Republic (Mars).
AOA have different types of quests but some of them are critical to the character development.

How to make money in Age of Armor:
AOA have all the standard for MMORPG ways for making money - making quests, killing monsters, selling items but the easiest way to make money is to explore a crystal mine in the field.
Game servers:
Recruit Base (The Blue Planet) - newbie server without PVP or conquer war, monsters from level 1 to 30.
Armor battlefront (The red planet) - PVP server, monsters from level 20 to 50.
Frozen Planet (The White planet) - no PVP, monster from level 20 to 46.
Space Server (The Deepblue planet) - free PVP server, monsters from level 35 to 60. Here players can learn the secret behind the Age of Armor.
Dark Valley (The black planet) - hard dungeon places.

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Age of Conan (AoC) - Hyborian Adventures

Site: http://www.ageofconan.com/
Monthly payed game

Age of Conan is a fantasy MMORPG by Funcom. The game was released on 20 May 2008 for PC, and is scheduled for Xbox 360 in 2009. AoC is set in a fictional world created by Robert Howard - Hyborian Age.

Gameplay
Current playable races are Aquilonian, Cimmerian and Stygian. Also there are some rumors of more races later. Classes are Assassin, Barbarian, Bear Shaman, Conqueror, Dark Templar, Demonologist, Guardian, Herald of Xotli, Necromancer, Priest of Mitra, Ranger and Tempest of Set.

Some features
Real Combat System - an advanced combat system, that lets you choose every cut in real time, control your defense and fight on powerful mounts like war rhinos and mammoths.
Engrossing Crafting System - crafting system that allows making everything from weapons and armor to an entire city.
High level of character customization - both in appearance and skills.

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Eudemons Online

Site: http://www.eudemonsonline.com/

Eudemons Online is a fantasy MMORPG, set in medieval China style.
Gameplay
There are 3 types of characters - warrior, paladin and mage. All of them have male and female variant.
Eudemons
Eudemons are pets that can be trained and evolve like characters of "Pokemon". They can evolve two times at levels 20 and 40, changing their appearance according to their type. Every character starts with two eudemons.
Composing eudemons is a way to improve their abilities. There are different type of composing: main composing, initial attribute composing, sub-attribute composing, id composing and luck composing.
Legion
Legions are quite similar to "clans" in many other games. A player can create or join a legion and players within a legion can have different ranks.
PK System - players can pk freely. There are few zones forbidden for pk. Making a pk brings you pk points. A player name color changes according to these pk points. After a certain amount of points the color turns black. Characters with black names are put to prison after death. Also characters with red or black name color can drop items and equipment.

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Kids MMORPG: Hello Kitty Online

Site: http://www.hellokittyonline.com/us/

Hello Kitty Online is a MMORPG in its final stage of development. Cute graphics and social centered gameplay are some of the main features of this cheerful online game. It is in closed beta state till 25th may 2008.

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Rappelz

Site: http://rappelz.gpotato.com/
Free-to-play, with in-game shop

Rappelz is a free-to-play Korean MMORPG. The action is staged on a fantasy world. Main game features are the player-ownable dungeons, pet system, rideable mounts. The players can choose from three races Gaia, Deva and Asura.
The pet system is quite well developed with the ability to level up, evolve and overbreed pets.
Classes:
Deva are holy-based race, they have healing magic and defensive buffs.
Deva can choose from three jobs: Holy Warrior(defense fighters, tank), Cleric(buffs and heals) or Breeder(pet heals and buffs).
Gaia - they focus on natural magic and heavy melee combat. For first job players can choose from fighter, kahuna or spell singer.
Fighters can choose two paths for advance - to use heavy melee weapons or range attack(bow).
Kahuna(Gaia magician) have melee skills, combat support buffs and direct damage magical attack.
Spellsinger have buffs that work both on them and on their pets.
Asura specialize on evasion, attacks and damage magic. The options for the first job are Strider, Dark Magician and Sorcerer.
Striders are the damage dealers in a party. They either specialize in dual daggers, swords or crossbows.
Dark Magicians have direct damage spells, area of effect spells, curses and buffs.
Sorcerer(Asura Summoner)have buffs to improve their pets' combat abilities.
Remarkable stuff:
Stamina System - players gain bonus for staying online or if having a tent.
The socketing system(uses soul stones to improve equipment)
Also the game has standard PvP and PK system a lot alike many other Korean MMORPGS.
Dungeons are ownable by player guilds. They can be obtained through dungeon sieges.

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FURY

Site: http://www.unleashthefury.com/
Free-to-Play, Free-for-Download

FURY is a PVP MMORPG by Auran. Fury is a way different from the other MMORPGs, because it is totally PVP combat centered. Also the PVP battle is faster than that in standard MMORPGs, the skills have no cool down time and casters are not tied on place by casting. This is making the gameplay a way more agile.

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Blizzard acquires Diablo3.com domain name

The news popped up from the former domain owners. I was pretty surprised when I received their mail. The whole old fan site of diablo3.com together with some explanation can be found on http://www.diablofans.com/.

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GameGuard - do you know?

Gameguard is an application that is bundled with some of the MMORPGs. The program uses kernel driver that allows any process to access it and it allows unrestricted IO access in a user mode. That leads to some problems. Even without malicious software problems with the system and bad data can be expected. In other hand any process can get access to direct read/write the hard disk, etc ..
Now you will think that when you are not playing you are safe? Nop. The driver is installed as a system service and runs even when GameGuard is closed. Also it wont uninstall itself when the application is removed.
Why am I writing about this now?
Because few days ago I got my registry file deleted.

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Priston Tale

Site: http://eng.pristontale.com/
Free-To-Play, with in-game shop

Priston Tale is a fantasy Korean MMORPG by PRISTON Inc. Since 17 May 2007 Prison Tale is a free-to-play.
The gameplay is standard – leveling up, trading, clans. There are some events that deserve mentioning:
Bellatra(Survive or Die) is a competition for 4 teams that fight against monsters until the last one survives.
Bless Castle is a PVP event equivalent to a castle siege in other MMORPGs.
Class Change system allows the players to freely choose the path of developing their characters.
Aging system allows to increase the power of your equipment, similar to item enchants in most of the other games.

Priston Tale 2 – currently released only in Korea.
Korean: http://www.pt2.co.kr/

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Cronous

Site: http://www.cronous.com/
Free-To-Play, with in-game items shop

Cronous is an action 3D MMORPG.
Classes:
Fighters - they have strength, skills to make magic damage, skills to heal party.
Valkyries – they are the fastest, they have a lot of deadly skills.
Magicians – they have area on effect magic damage and can summon magic cretures.
Savages – they have the most power and strength but also they are the slowest, also they have stun and self buffs.
Fun Systems:
Polymorph System - character can be transformed into monsters of Cronous.
Pet System, PK System and more

It looks a little similar to ..
Have Fun! ;)

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With Your Destiny (WYD) - Episode II : ADVENT OF GODS

Site: http://www.wydglobal.com/
Free-to-Play

With Your Destiny(WYD) is a fantasy 3D MMORPG. The first impression is that of an another Diablo 2 style game, but it is not a bad feeling.
Classes
Transknight - male soldier, uses knives, claws, swords, axes, and hammers. He has area of effect skills.
Beastmaster - he can take werewolf form, summon beasts and use melee weapons.
Foema - female mages.
Hunters - female with powerful weapon(archer), they are best PK characters.
Max level in WYD is 400, but the leveling up is very fast. Also there is in game auto combat/cast/pots system. I find that very useful, lately most of the MMORPG producers want to make players work harder and harder to get some fun/items/kills with the idea to spend more time in game. I don't like to work hard in games, I am there to have fun. So in this concept WYD is very good - all the hard work for leveling up is done by the bot, I just play from time to time in a dungeon or when I feel to.
Some features I like are the mounts(animals to ride), summons, also it looks like there are a lot in game events.
Screenshots

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Pi-Story

Site: http://www.pistory.com/
Status: Free 2 Play

PiStory is a 2D fantasy MMORPG in anime style. Classes available are Fighter and Cleric, both have class change on level 15 and can fight actively in combat.

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Kal-Online

Site: http://www.kalonline.com/
Free-To-Play, with in-game shop
Fan-Site: http://www.kal--online.de/english/

Kal-Online is a free-to-play fiction MMORPG by Inix Soft. The action takes place in a beautiful oriental fantasy world.
Gameplay
The gameplay is a little diablo-2 style. Players move and use simple attack with left mouse click and use magic or skill with right click.
Classes/Jobs
It has three starting jobs - Wondering Knight, Wondering Archer and Scholar.
W. Knight's next class is Apprentice Knight, when the character learns the basic kill of knight. A. Knight has two paths for developing skills - offensive and defensive.
W.Archer - quickness and long distance attack. Their next job change is Apprentice Archer. A. Archers have powerful long distance attach, but they are considerably weak and need a party. Their next change gives the chance to choose to have long-distance more powerful attack and be weaker on defense or skills to increase friends' attacking power and skill to cure them.
Scholar uses magic to attack enemy. Next class for scholar is Literary Person. They also have revive and cure skills. L.Person can choose to become Hermit or C.J.B. Hermit are specialized to attack specific object with magic while Chairperson of Joong-Bangs have skills to damage multiple enemies and a powerful revive skill.
Egg/Transformation
When you reach level 15 you can do a quest to get an egg. After that you must level up your egg to become grade 11. After that you can transform to an animal.
PVP/PK System
PvP(duel) starts after agreement of both parties and there is no penalty on winner or looser.
PK(Assassin) System A player who wants to be a PK must wear a mask to be known by others. Mask can be bought from the merchant in Temporary Fort of Geum-Ohee Castle and High Land of Sky. When the player became an assassin his/her name is not shown but the name changes to "assassin" in red and he/she can't disable assassin mode for 2 hours.

Screenshots

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Anarchy Online AO

Site: http://www.anarchy-online.com/
Paid with a free program.

Anarchy Online is a science fiction themed MMORPG by Funcom. The action is set on the planet of Rubi-Ka, 30 000 years into the future. Races are called breeds. They are:
Solitus - most similar to natural human beings. They are average characters with no special abilities and also no bad abilities. Their balanced abilities make them suitable for all types of symbiants. They also have access to some of the best defensive perk actions.
Opifex - they lack strength but they have agility and dexterity. They are suited to Support symbiants, which rely on Agility and Sense.
Nano Mage - they are created to control Nano-bots, but they lack HP and evasion.
Atrox have big advantage in strength, stamina and HP, but lack agility and intelligence.
Anarchy Online Wiki

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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Site: http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivion_overview.htm

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is fantasy single player RPG set in the award-winning world of The Elder Scrolls. Oblivion has releases for PC, Xbox 360, and PLAYSTATION 3.
It features improved AI system that gives the NPCs ability to make their own decisions based on the world around them. The main quest line in Oblivion is to find the hidden heir of the throne.
Oblivion Wiki - http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Oblivion

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Fun: Lineage2 and Point Blank

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Silkroad Online (SRO)

Site: http://www.silkroadonline.net/
Free-To-Play, with in-game Mall

Silkrode Online is a fantasy MMORPG based on the the Chinese trading traditions by Joymax. SRO is free, but it has in-game Item Mall for purcahsing items or "Silk"-game currency. The game is designed to represent the Silk Road trades of 7th Century.
Gameplay
Silkroad Online gameplay is a lot alike other Korean games this genre, especially Lineage2. There are two type of characters - European and Chinese. Also players can chose to master weapon or elemental skills.

Nice SRO Fortress Movie

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Seal Online

Site: http://www.sealonline.com/

Seal Online is a fantasy MMORPG by the Korean company - YNK Partners Inc.

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Eve Online

Site: http://www.eve-online.com/
Monthly payed game, players can try it with 14 days trial accounts.
Guide(Strongly recommended for new players - personal experience)

Eve Online is science fiction space MMOG by CCP Games. The action is set in distant space, players pilot wide variety of ships through thousands solar systems. The game is persistent - this means that anything that is left in game while player is offline such as undocked ships will continue to exist and will be visible and attackable to other players.

Gameplay
Eve Online is little confusing at a first glance. Considerably more time is needed to learn the interface compared with other games from the same genre. EVE don't have leveling system, which is replaced by a complex skill system with a wide variety of skills. To learn a skill characters must acquire skill learning kits and the training consumes amount of real time(players can spend that time offline). Some strange issue is that characters can purchase clones as a precaution against death. Activities in EVE can be combat, exploration, trading, mining, advancement, research, manufacturing and more.
Combat in EVE is highly tactical with different range weapons. Players can group together in corporations, the corporation creator and leader(a.k. party leader) is titled Chief Executive Officer - CEO. Corporations also have some other roles like Director, Station Manager and so on. Corporations can declare war to other corporations. Also some spicy piece is added with the corporate spies.
Races in Eve Online are Amarr, Gallente, Caldari, Jovians.

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Dragonica

Site: http://dragon.plaync.co.kr/
Status: Under development - upcoming
Dragonica is a colorful 3d fantasy side-scrolling MMO by Barunson Interactive and NCSoft.
Some nice movies:

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Vote for your favorite MMORPG

Now you can vote for your favorite game.

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Dekaron

Site: http://www.dekaron.com/
Play: http://www.gametribe.com/gt/dekaron.do
Status: Open Beta for Europe

Dekaron is a fantasy MMORPG based on the middle age Europe by GameHI. Its gameplay is standard for this genre - parties, clans, alliances, wars for castles. Dekaron PVP system is moderate. Players can invite other players on a combat. The opponent can accept or decline the pvp. The game has a PK system a lot alike many other MMORPG.
Some other features are Mp3, Fishing, Messenger, Summon Systems.
2moons is other mmorpg like Dekarion, in facts 2moons is based on Dekarion.

Game Movie

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The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth 2 Trailer

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Sacred and Sacred Underworld

Official Site: http://www.sacred-game.com/index_start.php

Sacred is an action based RPG released in 2004. The gameplay is very similar to Blizzard's Diablo.
Sacred has 6 character types - Gladiator, Dark Elf, Wood Elf, Vampiress, Battle Mage, Seraphim. The Underworld expansion adds two more classes - Deamon and Dwarf.
The game is compound of a main quest line and a set of minor quests.

Screenshots:

Sacred

Sacred Underworld Trailer

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ArchLord

Official Site: http://www.archlordgame.com/

ArchLord is a fantasy 3D MMORPG. It is free-to-play, but also players can buy Chantra credits and use these to purchase in-game items.
There are three Races:
Orcs:
Beserker (Male)
Hunter (Female)
Sorcerer (Male)
Humans:
Knight (Male)
Archer (Male)
Mage (Female)
Moon Elves:
Elementalist (Female)
Ranger (Female)

Gameplay:
ArchLord has standart for its genre gameplay - click and kill, loot, learn skills. This combined with repetitive monsters/places and not too god graphics makes things somewhat boring. A little fresh air comes with its pvp mass-pvp system. One of Archlord's unique features is that players can become "Archlord", the supreme ruler of the realm. Only one Archlord can exist per server. The Archlord has two weeks before he is challenged by other players for the sought-after position. Archlords have access to a castle, control over a dragon mount and the weather itself.

Screenshots:

Orc Sorcerer Video:


Human Knight Video:


Human Mage Video:


Moonelf Elementalist Video:

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