Like Harcos Mana Potions? You can now buy them in-game for your characters in Lunia, an online game where things like energy drinks are a must. What’s the best part though? Buying Mana Potions in the real world means you get free ones in the virtual world, and vice versa. We talked to Harcos about this neat promotion, which, if you’re into energy drinks and Lunia, is definitely worth checking out.

BLAST:‚  Tell us a bit about your promotion.

Aaron Rasmussen: If you buy a real-world Mana Potion with a code on it, you can go to Lunia on ijji.com and redeem it for a virtual Mana item. If you buy a big pack of virtual Mana in Lunia, we’ll actually ship out real-world Mana to you. We may have torn the very fabric of reality, and we think that’s awesome.

We’re fairly positive this is the first time anybody’s done something like this.

BLAST: Does your Mana Potion promotion rival the pure stealth and deadliness of Solid Snake? Can I make a better convoluted and cheesy gaming reference?

AR: Nothing rivals the stealth and deadliness of Solid Snake. Nothing! It’s heresy to even ask that question.

Calvin Yang: The promotion is nothing like the pure stealth or deadliness of Solid Snake. Besides, Solid Snake is too grumpy and self-centered for the comparison, not to mention he smokes too much. Lunia is a much friendlier and livelier environment. I suggest a comparison to Mario instead “" kid-friendly, yet surprisingly deep and involved. When boosted with power-ups, Mario is invincible. With our collaboration with Harcos, we give power to the gamers both in-game and in real life.

BLAST: On a scale of 1 to 10, do Harcos potions rank a Spinal Tap-ian 11?

CY: Have you ever tried Harcos potions? They’re off the charts!

AR: This promotion ranks a sqrt(2) * e^2. Close, very close.

BLAST: Are they better than the Ragnarok of Final Fantasy 6?

AR: As a sword or as an esper? This promotion is more akin to the esper version of Ragnorak. I would say yes, it is better, because drinking it doesn’t convert you to an item.

CY: Oh”¦ I like this old school reference you’re throwing out here. Our promotion is nowhere near as difficult to get as the Ragnarok though and you don’t need a secret key to unlock it, luckily. You can pick up the promotional potions at your local retail stores or buy the 100 pack in-game with a mere 200 Gcoins.

[Editor’s Note: Go with the esper. It’s useful in the Tower of Fanatics, after all.]

BLAST: Although “Mana Energy Potion” denotes a sort of role-playing game experience, does the drink still work if you’re playing a first-person shooter?

CY: I guess it all depends on the setting. I’d imagine that in a traditional first-person shooter, drinking a Mana Potion could cause serious advantages and imbalance in the game. The gamer would have super accurate aim and inhuman response times. The in-game character would recover 100% of his energy instantly, causing other players to suspect cheating. In Lunia though, use of Harcos Mana Potion is all fair game!

AR: Yes! I’m a huge CounterStrike and FPS fan, and while you might expect the energy effect from the potion to be totally neutralized by the inability to level, it works just as well!

BLAST: Regarding the other tie-in to this promotion, why should gamers be interested in Lunia? ‚ Is it the peanut butter to the Mana Energy Potion’s jelly, or is Lunia more like the jelly?

CY: I would say Lunia is more like the bread. Lunia is the foundation that enables gamers to enjoy the boost of energy with this promotion.

AR: Lunia is a refreshing departure from what you’d usually expect in an MMO. It’s an action role-playing game, so it combines fun arcade button mashing with RPG leveling. And we’re definitely the jelly in this one, “Ëœcause we’re blue.

BLAST: Will drinking Mana Energy Potion give me special powers? Also, if you had the choice between shooting a fireball out of your hands, Ryu and Ken-style from Street Fighter 2, or telekinesis, like Jean Grey, which would you choose and why?

AR: After much discussion around the office, we have decided on Jean Grey’s telekinesis powers. You could always light something on fire and use your telekinesis to throw it. Last time we lit a bowling ball on fire, we had to build the giant RoboPult to throw it. It would be much easier if we could just use our minds. It’s not quite as cool as a Hadoken, but you could spend a lot of time just messing with people if you had telekinesis. You can only light so many people on fire before it becomes a problem and you have to stop.

CY: If you have the time, I definitely recommend you to schedule an appointment and visit ijji’s or Harcos’ offices. We have people flying around shooting laser beams all the time. We each have our own special powers. In fact, I’m not using my keyboard to type these answers right now. I think it, and the words just appear.

BLAST:‚  What are some of the favorite games of the Mana Energy Potion and Lunia staff? How about some favorite old school systems?

AR: At Mana Energy Potion, we have an original Donkey Kong arcade machine from the early 80’s. Eli’s scored 146,000 and I’ve hit 118,000; both are past the 3rd elevators. As for other games, we all love the Final Fantasy series, anything with Star Wars on it, Vampire: The Masquerade “" Bloodlines, CounterStrike, and of course Left 4 Dead.

Here are some oldies but goodies that we all voted on (we had this discussion recently).

1. Tetris – Multiple Consoles (as “Addictus” on my old ColecoVision)

2. Super Mario Land “" Game Boy

3. EarthBound “" NES

4. Rescue Raiders “" Apple 2

5. Altered Beast “" Sega MegaDrive/Genesis

6. Chrono Trigger “" SNES

7. Contra “" NES

CY: My all time favorite game has to be the Quest for Glory series by Sierra. I must have played through each one of those games at least four or five times. As a little kid, the wonders of trying different word combinations to open a box or start a fire”¦ and when it actually worked, it was like magic. A close second would be Taiko no Tatsujin, the Drum Master series. This was the rhythm game that took away years of my life.

BLAST: Where can gamers purchase Mana Energy Potion and your other energy drink, Health Energy Potion?

AY: We keep an up-to-date list of all our outlets at Manapotions.com. There’s also a store locator so you can see who carries it around you.

BLAST: If gamers are interested in Lunia, where can they sign up and play?

CY: Easy! Just visit http://lunia.ijji.com

BLAST: ‚ Thank you guys for taking the time to answer my somewhat snarky questions!

HARCOS: ‚ Thanks for taking the time to ask them and putting up with our answers!

About The Author

Stephen Greenwell combines the classic style of a 1950s robot with the dynamic flair of a 1970s street pimp. In his spare time, he plays video games, writes and thinks way too much about sports. E-mail him at [email protected] .

One Response

  1. ManaLover

    I LOVE MANA ENERGY POTIONS!!!! BETTER THAN ANY ENERGY DRINK OUT THERE!! THE CREATORS ARE GODS!

    Reply

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