Mythic Sues Over Mythica Doh! ---- MYTHIC ENTERTAINMENT FILES SUIT AGAINST MICROSOFT FOR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT "Stop using our name," Says Online Game Industry's Leading Independent Developer and Publisher FAIRFAX, VA - December 22nd, 2003 - Mythic Entertainment, developer and publisher of the award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game "Dark Age of Camelot(r)," and many other popular online games, announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft Corporation for trademark infringement and unfair competition. "We have worked hard for eight years to earn our reputation for producing high quality online games, including games that compete successfully with those offered by the biggest corporations in the world, such as Microsoft," Mark Jacobs, president and CEO of Mythic Entertainment, said. "The Mythic name and registered trademark are the symbols of that reputation and quality, and they represent the goodwill and recognition we have achieved in the computer game industry and among consumers worldwide." "We cannot allow Microsoft to usurp our rights, confuse the public, and use the Mythic brand to gain an unfair competitive advantage." The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria, alleges that Microsoft's forthcoming online game, "Mythica," and pre-release publicity for such game, infringes Mythic's name and federally-registered trademark MYTHIC ENTERTAINMENT(r), and amounts to unfair competition in violation of federal and state law. The complaint alleges that the term "Mythica" is so similar to Mythic's registered mark and name as to be likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception among consumers. Mythic is seeking a permanent injunction and economic remedies. Mythic Entertainment objected to Microsoft's use of "Mythica" previously, but Microsoft refused to stop using the name. "We had hoped not to have to resolve this in court, and it is truly unfortunate that Microsoft declined to respect Mythic's rights," Jacobs said. "But our name and mark are among our most valuable assets. We have no choice but to defend them, regardless of the size and power of our adversary. We would expect Microsoft to react no differently if someone launched an operating system called Microsofta just as Microsoft did when confronted with an operating system called Lindows." Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

Mythica VIP Party: Sachant went to see Mythica while it was showing at GenConSoCal, and was invited to party with the gawds, behind closed doors where Ambrosia was served. We know you have been waiting to read the final installment of the Mythica coverage with a look at their V.I.P. party which was closed to the general public. NDA's were in effect, but Sachant still got some inside info she could gossip on. Check out how gods pah-tay. Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

GameRifts Survey: Why have ya not taken the survey yet? It helps us to get you phat loot in contests we can hold. Check out the updated listing of prizes which will be handed out to random winners across our advertisers network of sites, just like us, for taking the survey. Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

Anarchy Online Pandemonium: 14 weeks after release of Shadowlands, the expansion to Anarchy Online the first set of powergamers has reached the ultimate level of Shadowlands, Pandemonium. Pandemonium, the seventh level of Shadowlands, has been a closely guarded secret as Funcom vowed to show no photos or release any information regarding the level until the first players reached this milestone. Pandemonium is an extremely high level area and passage will only be granted after a hazardous journey through underwater challenges, poisonous fog, hell frozen over and unbearable heat. The game has been called one of the most difficult games in the MMOG genre. Each level is progressively more challenging with Pandemonium representing the toughest of the tough. Among the first to enter the chaotic land, were several members of "Synergy Factor." Orjan "Mathis" Tvedt, the Quality Assurance Manager, dropped in to salute one of the early Pandemonium explorers. Shuuji, of Synergy Factor, stated that she had played the game since August of 2002 and that she was happy to see the new challenges and improvements that she encountered after making it to the higher levels of Shadowlands. Several members of the "Storm" guild have also been spotted just inside the borders of Pandemonium. When asked how it felt to have achieved this goal, Stoechius of Storm, surveyed the land before him and stated "...We need to get past these mobs first, and then we’ll feel better!" At the time of this writing, the ultimate "boss" for the level had remained unscathed. Check it. Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

MMO Lawsuit Follow Up: It's been about two years since we've been following this story in which we last reported that a Chinese Gamer had sued a MMO game when hacked gained access to his account and deleted his items. Well, it finally reached court, and the gamer won! "I exchanged the equipment with my labor, time, wisdom and money, and of course they are my belongings," it quoted him as saying of the virtual property he collected online. The company argued that the value of the virtual property only existed in the game and was "just piles of data to our operating companies." In the end, Beijing's Chaoyang District People's Court ruled on Thursday that the firm should restore the player's lost items, finding the company liable because of loopholes in the server programs that made it easy for hackers to break in. Do North America game companies need to know fear now? Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

Turbine Corrections: Turbine is reported to have sent out a press release stating that while they have partnered with Polaris and have recieved $18 Million in funding, as well as purchaing the rights back to the Asheron's Call Franchise (See Archived News: December), they are not going to self publish Dungeons and Dragons Online, saying that that is the job of Atari. Turbine will self-fund development. (Thanks HomeLan!) Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

Community Chats: Asheron's Call HomeLAN does Jessica Mulligan. Lords of EverQuest Warcry does James Parker. NDL GameBryo Graphics Warcry does John Austin. Saveage Eden RPGVault does LadyGM and Yoo-Sang Kim Wish GameBunny does Dave Rickey. Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

News Bits for Dragon Empires: The latest Dragon Empires newsletter went out, where they tease with Arena Fighting! While everyone knows you can fight for cities in Dragon Empires not everyone knows you can, at any time, start a formal battle with up to five other individuals or groups. What's more, participants can add money or items to a betting pool with the winner taking all! Starting a battle is relatively easy and requires each group leader to agree to the fight. Once they have the groups are teleported a short distance to a pillar. To their left and right, in a ring, are the other groups at their own pillar. Shortly after this the fight starts and each team must try and achieve the fight goal. Each fight can have a different goal such as protect the leader, king of the hill and so on. The Blood Circus works with as many as six groups and as few as two people. If you die you lose nothing and in some game types will spawn again to keep on fighting. New story from Gadsolme with a new screenshot of the Yellowback Capitol. McUsher, a DE fan has created a flash version the Beta. RPG Vault has a Q&A on the player driven economy. Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

Eve Online Expands: Eve Online, now directly under CCP, has a new expansion out, titled "Tech Level 2," which they have been working hard to develop based on community feedback, and best of all, it's a free download! Available as a free download, this update augments the richness of the existing sophistication of EVE's dynamics considerably, bringing new strategical opportunities to seasoned players as well as newcomers. The expansion, impacting the game universe as a whole, incorporates numerous new gameplay features - developed in close collaboration with the ardent EVE community - as well as many improvements to present functionality, performance and user interface. Check it. Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

EQ Gates of Discord Expansion: Sony has announced yet another expansion for EverQuest, "The Gates of Discord," this one taking gamers to another lost continent. With the purchase of the game, they will also get a new ingame item. The rumors that began in The Ruins of Kunark now hold true -- a new continent has been discovered on the far side of Norrath. The Wayfarers Brotherhood will need to amass a brave and trustworthy army for an expedition of epic proportions. Join armies of adventurers on their quest to unearth long-hidden artifacts of power from temple ruins, secret catacombs, dank sewers and vast marshlands. Should you fail, Norrath, its inhabitants, and its gods may fall under control of the forces of Discord! The new expansion will be downloadable via the EverQuest launch pad for $29.99. Additionally, retailers will be offering a boxed version that will carry a suggested retail price of $29.99, which includes a special in-box item and in-game item. But there is more! This expansion will offer exploration of a newly discovered continent; a new class (the Berserker) and Alternate Advancement Abilities that will offer new and unique skills to master. Gates of Discord will be available February 2004.The retail version of Gates of Discord will also come with a unique in-box gift and special in-game magic item. By purchasing the retail version of Gates of Discord, players will be able to claim the in- game item. Eh? Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

GenConSolCal Wrap Up: From all reports it looks like the denut of GenConSoCal was a success! No griping gamers, no longer than normal lines, no virus infecting the registration servers. 5000 gamers made the trek and 130 companies did exhibits. Sachant has her thoughts on GenCon here, while the follwing was from the press release sent out which gives us the skinny: Gen Con So Cal debuted last weekend in Anaheim, CA to 4725(un-audited) fans of gaming, fantasy and science fiction, proving that even on the west coast, The Best Four Days of Gamingä is the place to be for gamers! "We knew we were taking a risk launching a new show in an untested market for us," says CEO & Owner of Gen Con LLC Peter Adkison. "But we worked hard, and the gaming community really rallied to support our endeavor helping to make Gen Con So Cal a success. Come January we'll dive back in putting together Gen Con So Cal 2004 to make it even bigger and better!" Can't wait for Indy next year! Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

Horizons Action Figures: The game does not work yet by all reports, but Atari and Artifact are already breaking out the liscene agreements for Horizons. Now, you can recreate your most tragic moments inside the game, outside with posable action figures from Radioactive Clown. The first wave of Horizons: Empire of Istaria figures will be a selection of five characters from both the game's playable and non-playable characters. The initial offering will include an Ice Golem, a Withered Aegis, a male Fiend, a Human female and, of course, a young Dragon. Subsequent series are already in the works and will include all currently playable races. They have some great "dolls" already based on the Unreal Universe and Rune. Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

MEO Dev Diary: Middle Earth Online has a new developer diary up and running. The latest installment is from Griffon, one of the games system designers. In his diary he presents all f us with the choices we will be faced once the game goes live, with a focus on "Ethics." What does it entail? Well, read it to find out. And a Shout Out to Methost from MEOSource, it turns out were just a bunch of old SOuLs who used to run in the same circle of friends. Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

PotBS Damage Systems: Pirates of the Burning Sea has updated their Developer Logs with a look into how ship combat will occur for taking damage and crew ratings from cannon blasts. As they say, "It's as cool as all heck." A good read. Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

Planetside News Bits: Bunch of items for Planetside, including a new dev diary, everyone getting into the holidays with "outfits," and a Planetside movie which really rocks from the folks at MALVISION. The movie really is damn good, much better than Battlestar Galactica! Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

Realms of Torment Dorfs: Ever wonder where Dofs come from in Realms of Torment? Well, now you can find out in this edited ingame screenshot which will represent Dwarf towns once they are placed within game. The shot gives you the base idea of how it will appear once completed. It looks damn good for a mock-up. Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

Savage Eden: Laghaim Opens to All! Savage Eden: The Battle for Laghaim the MMO import game has just finished beta testing and is now open for all players in North America thanks to iEntertainment. Now players can try the game free for two weeks without a credit card being required. If you like the game, then after the trial charges will be $8.95 per month. Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

Toontown Advanced Area: Toontown announced the launch of a new advanced area to the game titled "The Sellbot Cog Headquarters." Sellbot Cog Headquarters will challenge Toons to achieve a series of intermediate goals, including navigating through Cog factories where the robots are being assembled -- negotiating obstacles such as up and down elevator lifts, moving conveyor belts and heavy machinery, and gathering cog parts to assemble a disguise that is required for entrance into the main headquarters building. Once inside the headquarters, Toons head to the "Big Boss Cog's" office where the conflict culminates in a free-for-all battle with the Boss Cog -- with successful Toons rescuing a captive Toon and receiving powers that can be accessed later in the game. Check out Toontown! Ya know ya want too! Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

The King Departs in UO: Ultima Online is reporting that they are no longer using the character King British in the game once again, as the featured storyline which saw his return has drawn to an end. With the defeat of Minax the King bids his farewell. That was short-lived. Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

UX:O Virtue Abilities! Ultima X: Odyssey has given us another inside glimpse to the game coming next year with a look at Virtue Abilities. In UXO, you’ll have a great deal of freedom and flexibility in deciding exactly how you want to build your in-game persona. When you first create your character, you’ll choose a Path, which will set the general direction for the way your character will play and fight. You can then choose abilities from any of the three Disciplines in your chosen Path to create a character tailor-made for your play style. On top of that, you’ll have the opportunity to learn Virtue abilities to customize your character even further! These work in much the same way as Path-based abilities, although you can follow more than one Virtue, and they’re not dependent on Path or Discipline. This means that regardless of your chosen Path, you can pick the Virtue abilities you want simply by choosing to complete quests in a way that represents that particular Virtue. To see a few examples of Virtue abilities, read on! Listed are the eight virtues everyone has come to know. Can you name them without looking? Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

Warhammer Screenies: GameBunny has two new screenshots up for Warhammer Online. Thar be dwarves in the bunny hole. Sundancer from Warcry let's us know he has some screenies as well. Posted December 22 2003 by Div Devlin

GenCon Mythica! Sachant continues her investigations at the recent GenCon Game Fair which took place last week in Cali. West Coast Style. While at the Con, she checked out Mythica, and says, "Whoa!" I think it's safe to say, she's impressed! Check out her live look at the game. Posted December 19 2003 by Div Devlin

City of Heroes Tanker Archetype: City of Heroes has announced thier final Archtype with another walkthrough. The focus this time is on the "Tanker." In some cases, a little technology can go a long way when battling the forces of evil. Scientist Thomas Fall learned this first hand with the discovery of a World War II metal battle suit originally worn by Panzer, a well-known villain. With such a powerful tool at his disposal, Thomas can now transform himself into Dreadnought, a Technology Tanker and use this amazing piece of armor for good rather than evil. Learn more about Dreadnought and watch him become part of the City of Heroes world in our final Archetype Walk-through! Check it. Posted December 19 2003 by Div Devlin

GameRifts Survey! Yet to take the Survey we have up at the top with all those other great sites which work with our advertising partners to support all of those aforementioned great sites. Well, more prizes have been added, which will go to random winners across the network for taking it. I timed how long it takes, and it's about 7 minutes. So whatcha waiting for chummer, get the drek out and take it. Posted December 19 2003 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane Goes to EU: We figured this was happening a few weeks ago when reported on Amazon.UK offering something with Ubi as the publisher. Now comes the official announcement from UBI that EU fans will get their Shadowbane. With more. A Deluxe edition of Shadowbane, which will include the Rise of Chaos expansion, all for one price. Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announces the acquisition of the rights to distribute Shadowbane all over Europe. This new plan helps strengthen its position on the massively multi-player online (MMO) gaming market. The highly anticipated Shadowbane Gold edition is expected to launch commercially in Europe on both Mac and PC in January 2004. The Shadowbane Gold edition will include the original Shadowbane game and the new expansion, "The Rise of Chaos". Rejoice? Posted December 19 2003 by Div Devlin

UBO Teams with GameSpy! Netamin is bringing on the heat for their upcoming MMO/SG, Ultimate Baseball Online as they team up with GameSpy for an exclusive beta program. From the press release: Netamin Corp., in partnership with GameSpy Industries Inc. announced the rollout of the Ultimate Baseball Online (UBO) Beta Player Program. As part of this program, Netamin and GameSpy's FilePlanet.com will be conducting large-scale trials of the beta version of UBO, the first Massive Multiplayer Online Sports Game (MMOSG) of its kind. GameSpy, through its online network of experienced gamers, will be offering this exclusive beta program to over 5,000 of its members through its FilePlanet download site. The Beta Player Program is expected to run for two weeks with the full version of UBO launching to the general public in January, just in time for the new recruiting season. If you have yet to check the game out, and are a real fan of the ole stickball. Ya have to check it. It's addicting! Posted December 19 2003 by Div Devlin

GenCon Misconceptions Cleared Up The new Community Manager Katricia of World of Warcraft isn't starting off by staring dreamily at her shiney new title, but instead is already hard at work by clearing up some misconceptions of what the devs had to say at GenCon. Take a look at the clarifications here. I said it in my GenCon report and I'll say it again... The devs at GenCon weren't all that comfortable giving out information for a reason. Things are still in development and being ironed out. While I understand everyone's enthusiasm to get all the info they can get on the game and what to expect, patience will be an important asset for a bit. Blizzard wants to do things right and that means a lot of 'soft' answers will be out there until word comes from Katricia or the other devs specifically. Posted December 18 2003 by Sachant

WoW, Community Manager Announced! The long awaited position of Community Manager for Blizzard's much anticipated World of Warcraft has finally been announced. Welcome Donna Anthony! Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce that Donna Anthony has joined the World of Warcraft team as the much-anticipated Community Manager. Donna will be responsible for fostering communication between the World of Warcraft development team and players of the game. In this role, she will relay feedback to the team and help keep players informed of current plans, policies, and updates. Donna comes to Blizzard with over eight years of online gaming experience including roles as a Player, Volunteer Guide, Guild Leader, Event Coordinator, Community Web Site Owner, and Internet Relations Manager. Prior to joining Blizzard, Donna worked for an online gaming company. There she developed and maintained the message boards and Web site for their MMORPG in development. Before that, Donna served as the Site Director and Site Owner for a popular MMORPG fan site. Not only did she create and develop this Web site, she also posted news, maintained the extensive message board activity, held in-game events, conducted interviews, and updated the site on a daily basis. We’re very pleased to have Donna on our team. She’ll be very busy managing and cultivating the World of Warcraft Community site and will be very active in the World of Warcraft forums, so look for her under the name Katricia, and be sure to drop by and say hello. Congratulations go out to Donna "Katricia" Anthony. We wish her the best in her new role. Stop By and say 'Hello!' Posted December 18 2003 by Sachant

GenCon'03 SoCal! Sachant headed down to Anaheim last weekend to check out the GenCon Game Fair, that has been a Midwest tradition for gamers. She checked out the show, and checked out World of Warcraft, Mythica and headed out to a VIP party by the folks over at Microsoft. With baby and husband in tow. Check out the first part of her GenCon report as she takes a look at the Con and World of Warcraft. (Tommorrow will look at Mythica and the Party for the Gods!) Posted December 17 2003 by Div Devlin

Turbine Buy's AC Franchise: Here's some love finally for all the Asheron's Call players! "To the Asheron’s Call community, Microsoft has reached an agreement by which the "Asheron’s Call" franchise will be sold back to the games’ creator, Turbine Entertainment Software. This sale includes "Asheron’s Call," "Asheron’s Call: Dark Majesty," and "Asheron’s Call 2: Fallen Kings." As part of this agreement, Turbine will completely take over operations of the "Asheron’s Call" franchise. However this transition will take several months to complete. In the interim, Microsoft Game Studios and Turbine are working together to ensure a smooth transition for the player base. We will make it a point to communicate any changes or disruptions to the player base. What does this mean to you the subscriber? Initially, there will be no visible changes at all. Microsoft will continue to own authentication and billing for the entire franchise for the foreseeable future. We’d like to thank you for your continued support over the years in helping make the “Asheron’s Call” franchise the success it is today. Sincerely, Microsoft Asheron’s Call Team Guess that $18 Million did mean something after all. Plans for an expansion have been confirmed. Thursday December 18th, at 6pm PST (9pm EST), Jessica Mulligan, Executive Producer of the Asheron's Call franchise will be available for a Q&A session regarding the upcoming Asheron's Call purchase on Warcry. The Q&A will be held in IRC on the sorcery.net channel, room #chatwarcry. Posted December 17 2003 by Div Devlin

EverQuest Server of Death: EverQuest has news of a new server that is going into testing, with an extreme death ruleset titled, "The Fallen." The rules will include any character that is slain for any reason what so ever will be reset and placed back into newbie status. Characters will not be restored or resurrected for ANY reason what so ever. "Once you're dead, you're dead." Faster EXP Gain, No Loot, No Drop. Something like that. Posted December 17 2003 by Div Devlin

Savage Eden Laghaim Preview: Warcry gets a point for coolness as they do a preview for the import game coming to the sates of "Savage Eden: The Battle for Laghaim." They write: The focus is on action. There are plenty of enemies outside of town and other enemy-packed areas to travel to and smite. Enemies respond when others are attacked and may even swarm on you, resulting in frantic quaffing of healing potions and much weapon flailing. The warriors have the advantage here, since it takes a prolonged beating to bring one down. Leveling up in the field recharges everything, making extended field excursions possible and levels move pretty fast, so fighting may actually result in health gains. The game is looking good, from what we've seen so far. Expect a indepth review soon here also. Check out the full preview from Warcry. Posted December 17 2003 by Div Devlin

Star Wars Galaxies Adds Vehicles... Star Wars Galaxies adds vehicles and the game breaks. As KarmaStorm (Shadow Alliance|Bloodfin) writes: The server failed to remove the vehicles after they were stored but you could call a new one from your datapad. Cloned vehicles littered the cities. Since they decay at a set rate, eventually they caught fire and started burning. It made every city seem like Beruit. Pictures. But, we hear tell that the bikes are a ton of fun! Posted December 17 2003 by Div Devlin

Spellforce Demo Now Available! Spellforce, the RTS/RPG game by EncoreUSA has released the long anticipated demo. I'm digging this game, as I'm in an RTS craze right now. Demo includes the tutorial, one single player map (Rift), and a two-player multiplayer map (Ashvale). Spellforce will support up to 8 players via LAN or Internet in the retail release. You can download the demo from www.gamehelper.com, www.gamershell.com, www.vgamin.com, www.xtremegn.net, and www.world-of-strategy.com. Posted December 17 2003 by Div Devlin

Warner Bros. Does Torque: WarnerBro. Online has a new game up and running based on the upcoming movie "Torque." It's all about the speed and bikes: A blazing head-to-head motorcycle-racing simulator, Maximum Torque uses the latest in web-based technology to create a rich 3-D racing environment with immersive sound. The game pits one of four user selected motorcycle racers, including a must-see-to-believe jet powered ride, against a computer controlled racer. The two engage in an all out chase through desert, palm, and city scenes that mirror film locations. Moveable cameras allow several views of the action in the lushly rendered racing environments and the 3-D sound pulls the player even deeper into the racing experience along with the energy-infused soundtrack created just for this game. Power ups ranging from gas refills to nitro boosts help the racer along the way while oncoming traffic, blocked roads, and the computer opponent all risk sending the racer over the handle bars in a fiery wipeout. Players will be able to select from multiple outfits to give their character a custom look. The game will be available as a free download that can be easily played on a Mac or PC through a standard Internet browser. The game is available now at www.ugo.com and will launch on www.maximumtorque.com beginning Dec. 22. Posted December 17 2003 by Div Devlin

Atriarch Community Loss: The Atriach Team and Gaming Community lost a dear member of the team last week. David "DavidQuick" Kniseley, passed away last Thursday who spent a lot of time devoted to building the Atriarch Vault, and created the infamous two-foot tall ceramic statues of the Atriarch Character Species. A list of contributions can be found on the Atriach site and a memorial thread on Atriach.Vault. Our thoughts to his loved ones, he will be missed. Posted December 17 2003 by Div Devlin

Turbine Partners With Exploiters! There are just some things you don't say in a press release. For example, when it come's to MMO games, you don't release how a game will allow hundreds of players to interact simultaneously. We are so far past that, with server's capping now around 1500 during peak times. That's more like thousands with multiple servers. You also do not use the word exploit. It makes ya think that as a paying customer, your enjoyemnt is just about the company getting greenbacks. Kudo's all the same to Turbine Entertainment who received $18 Million in Financing to self publish Dungeons and Dragons Online while their partner, Polaris, can 'exploit' the properties according to this press release sent out. "Polaris has a history of working with companies that become leaders in their respective industries, and we believe Turbine will be no exception," said Steve Arnold, managing general partner, Polaris Venture Partners. "The company has one of the early successes in massively multiplayer games under its belt, and two of the largest fantasy franchises on its development roster. We're excited about Turbine's prospects and look forward to working with its management team to exploit them." Or is it that Turbine is going to be exploited? Who writes this stuff. Posted December 17 2003 by Div Devlin

DAoC RvR Map Update: Dark Age of Camelot has a proposed sketch of changes for Midgard up for the Realm versus Realm expansion "Frontiers" which will be a free download next year. The concept map up and running shows the overall concepts included in the new consolidated frontier layout and redesign - and is accompanied by a description of each feature. Of note is that portals will nolonger exist. Check It. Thanks to Chernevog for the heads up! Posted December 17 2003 by Div Devlin

E3 2004 Registration Opened: Mark Your Calendars, and go register. The E3Expo has opened registration for the show taking place Wednesday through Friday, May 12 - 14, 2004. A ton of MMO Companies are already set to atttend. Posted December 17 2003 by Div Devlin

Warhammer Online Screenies: Two new screenshots for the Warhammer Online game in development by Climax based on the old school table top wargamer from Games Worksop.  Drool. Posted December 17 2003 by Div Devlin

Valkyrie Named Sexiest US Gamer! Valkyrie, who all of you know from this site, her old Shadowbane Fansite, and the Shadowbane Community has been named the "Sexiest Gamer" in the US Final Competitions which took place last Friday at Universal Studio's in California, in which she wins a trip to London! Paid For. With Expenses covered. Vernon Kay also announced the winners which took place in London at the same time, who get a trip to this side of the pond.     Shout outs! (Pic's Courtesy TearyEyedSniper who is teh ded sexi on right!) Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Game Round Up: Digital Jesters Yacht Race Computer games publisher Digital Jesters has just kicked off the sail of the century by hosting a yacht race featuring 10 30-foot-high sailboats, each carrying the image of one of the planet's most beautiful women. The boats – which come complete with provocative pictures of Halle Berry, Holly Valance, Britney Spears, Rachel Stevens, Carmen Electra, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Love-Hewitt, Anna Kornikova, Kylie Minogue and Jolene Blalock – have been specially created for computer game Virtual Skipper 3. But the results are nothing short of stunningly lifelike. Virtual Skipper 3 is going to become a new game addiction! You can see why! Mario Becomes A Star Mario is finally being recognized as a major star. It's only fitting that Nintendo's Mario, the No. 1 video game star in history, should get his own wax statue. The statue now resides at the Hollywood Wax Museum at 6767 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, Calif. Mario, the first-ever video game icon honored with a wax figure at the museum, replaces statues of Matrix actors Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in the museum's lobby, even while the final installment of their trilogy remains in theaters. That's funny! NCsoft and CompUSA Partner at CPL 'Ship If anyone is in Dallas during the 16th through the 20th you have to check out the CPL (Cyber Athelete Leage) Winter Championship's taking place, as NCsoft and CompUSA will demo the latest pre-release versions of "City of Heroes" and "Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle" at CompUSA's CPL exhibit booth. Gamers will get a chance to try out the games on three new Compaq X09 Gaming PCs which will be unveiled for the first time at the CPL event. Silent Storm Demo Currently I'm on a war kick, and was checking out Silent Storm by Encore. This game is looking good. If you have yet to check it out, GameSpot, Happy Puppy, IGN, 3D Gamers, GameZone, Worthplaying, Gamer's Hell, FileShack, Blue's News, Adrenaline Vault, and FilePlanet are all hosting demos for it. Download it! Taz Farting Game! This kills brain cells, in a good way! Warner Bros. has a Taz Farting Game up and running which is addictive! Get Taz to do songs! This rocks! Warhammer 40k RTS Game THQ Inc. announced Warhammer 40,000; Dawn of War, the first real-time strategy title in its agreement with industry-leading PC development studio Relic Entertainment Inc. Based on the world of Warhammer 40,000 - the dark, futuristic, fantasy universe traveled by millions worldwide from Games Workshop, the world's largest tabletop wargames company - Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is scheduled for release in fall 2004. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Arianne Concept: The folks over at SourceForge have their concept up for Arianne which is a first pass on this open source MMO in development. You are the leader of a Gladiator-school in the world of Arianne. Your mission is to send your gladiators into the Arena of the capitol of 1001, the eternal city Arianne, where the gods themselves set their feet onto earth for the first time, and to become the leader of the most famous school. You therefore buy one or more gladiators, buy them equipment, and train them in your gymnasium. Your gladiator will have the action-skills "attack", "defense", "evasion", and "combat-movement". You will hire trainers that additionally will have the mercantile-skill "training". Your gladiator will have the attributes "Strength", "Speed", "Size", "Breath", "Reflexes" and "Balance" Learn more about the game concept. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Asheron's Call 2 Dev Diary: Over on the home site for Asheron's Call 2 is a new dev diary pointing to the ACCMTY boards, in which Eligius does the discussion on various possible changes to the crafting system. He begins with a discussion of checkpointing, and explains just what that is. A whole lot of my time over the past five months has been spent thinking about the Craft System in AC2. I’ve been sketching out ideas, scrapping them, and coming up with new ones nearly every day during this period. I’ve waffled between simply shoring up some of the weak points in the system and junking the whole thing, basically starting over from scratch. Now that I’ve finally settled down somewhere in between, I get to start coding it all. Of course, no game development project is without its fair share of hurdles to jump, and one of the big ones is checkpointing. Check It. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Boundless Adventures Migrating Accts: Boundless Adventues has word that they will be migrating all their accounts to their Universal Game Account System so that accounts which have been used for alpha, tactics, or the CS center will be joined with the boundless main site forums and boundless mentor accounts. This change will also start a new level of account security and authentication projection. In order to help prepare for this, and to make sure the process goes as smoothly as possible, we would like everyone to please make sure that your e-mail address that is setup on your boundless forums account is pointing to a current valid e-mail address. Read the full details. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

As The Market Turns: China MMO Games to Grow 64% by 2006 A recent study on the interactive games market in China by Niko Partners and International Development Group shows that the massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) market in China is the only segment demonstrating resistance to piracy and thus shows a strong potential for revenue and profit. The 2003 China PC, Video and Online Game Market Study identifies market size, areas for product expansion and the significant role of product piracy in undermining profits in some segments. It cites 2003 year-end projected revenues of $96 million, resulting from 7.4 million people playing one or more of the 110 existing games. Revenues should rise to $127 million by 2006. Elkware partners with Fog Studios elkware, Inc., a leading developer and publisher of mobile games, has retained the services of FOG Studios, a leading interactive licensing agency, to pursue and acquire licensing opportunities for future games. The relationship will allow elkware, already a leader in the European marketplace, to enhance its global market position relative to other wireless publishers by developing relationships with top brands and creating cutting edge original games based on those properties. Equinix Data Centers to Provide NCsoft Austin's Gaming Backbone Equinix, Inc., the leading provider of network-neutral data centers and Internet exchange services, announced that NCsoft Austin, the North American subsidiary of NCsoft, the world's largest independent online gaming company, has selected Equinix to provide the infrastructure for its network connectivity supporting the deployment of the company's online games. As a part of the agreement, NCsoft Austin will move its IT infrastructure operations into Equinix's Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. area Internet Business Exchange (IBX) centers, with potential expansion to additional centers. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Women in Gaming: Chainmail Bikini's! Warcry has their next installment of "Women in Gaming" up and running where they talk about the 'Chainmail Bikini' and ask, "Do those that are offended by female avatars in breastplates with articulated nipples need to just grow a thicker hide?" Joining the chat is, Julia from CyberWarrior, Srand at Turbine Entertainment Software, Keeper at Turbine, and Gaile from ArenaNet offering up their thoughts on the subject. Worth a read. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

DAoC: Frontiers Expansion! Mythic does it again. Matt Frior unvieled another s00per seekrit project they have been working on titled "Frontiers" an expansion for Dark Age of Camelot which will give a long overdue overhaul to Realm vs. Realm combat based on lessons learned over the past two years: It is time to officially take the wraps off our next big project, codenamed "Frontiers". This is Dark Age of Camelot’s long-awaited RvR overhaul; where we take the lessons we’ve learned from the last two years of RvR combat and make appropriate changes. This will be a free expansion, available via download. It is currently scheduled to go into a limited beta in February. We know that this is a much anticipated update for Camelot, and as such we plan to keep the community fully informed about its design and development details. There will be no secrets in Frontiers – we’ll make all the appropriate information public as soon as we can, so that you, the Camelot community, will have plenty of time to make comments, give your feedback, and be part of the process. Check it. This looks good, again! Best of all, it's free! Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Darkfall Status Update: The folks over at Razorwax have an update status going on for Darkfall in which they tell us the status of development with the game. Something of interest: 35 dungeons and hundreds of adventure areas are complete and in the game, with more being created and added daily. That could be the most any single MMO Game has to date? Check the update to learn more! Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Dragon Empires Cliff Notes: The folks over at Codemasters are getting ready to bugger off for the Holidays, but before they go, they do tell one more newsletter will be on it's way. In the meantime some of the developers of Dragon Empires have given small summaries of their work in 2003 with a "Year in Review" write up. If you want to send a special holiday greeting to some of your Dragon Empire buds, or to those who have slightly been following Dragon Empires, wake them up with some Dragon Empire's e-Holiday Cards. Mondespersistants has put up a large preview of Dragon Empires, which is worth a read. But you are going to need to have it translated :) A huge congrats to Richard, David, and Jim Darling, the founders of Codemasters as they were honored by the Computer and Video Games Industry with the ELSPA* "Hall of Fame Award." That's a nice holiday present! *ELSPA (The Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association) was founded in 1989 to establish a specific and collective identity for the computer and video games industry. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Dransik Aquired by TKO Software: Dransik, the fantasy sword and sorcery MMO by Asylumsoft Inc., has been aquired by TKO Software to "expolit" the resources that TKO has to offer in making the game meet the dreams of the player base. As posted on the Dransik site, all the employees are safe: Dransik, all of its engineers, support personnel, and designers were acquired by TKO Software, Inc. (www.tko-software.com). Nobody was let go, and everybody is now a TKO Software employee. The game itself is unaffected for now. This behind-the-scenes activity is in response to the need to enhance the game experience, to improve support, and to extend the game feature set. TKO Software's extensive resources will be exploited to bring the game closer to alignment with the vision you have spelled out for us in your emails, forums and conversations with the GMs and developers. Check out Dransik. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

EverQuest Community Manager Changes: EverQuest has come to a time for change. Alan "Absor" Van Couvering, the Community Relations manager is stepping down, or up, to a new role of Game Designer as he sends his farewell to the community and introduces his replacement, that will wear a new pair of shows in the role. So my official title is now Game Designer, and you'll probably be hearing a lot less from me in the future. With my well-honed Community Management skills, I can guess your next question: "Who will be taking your place?" We've been lucky in that regard. We managed to snag one of the hardest-working, most experienced and silliest people in the company. Alan Crosby, also known as Brenlo Bixiebopper, is the new Community Relations Manager for EverQuest. Not only is he a great guy, but he has a great name (the Alan part, not the Bixiebopper part). Also, in the odd tradition of EQ Community Relations Managers, he also has a nice alpha-loot handle. Read Absors farwell and give a welcome to Brenlo. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

MEO Dev Diary: Middle Earth Online is sporting a new Developer Diary. This write is from Teos, the Lead Quest Designer who has been very lucky during his carrer to be surrounded by talented people as he writes about the games plot and stoyline. One of the advantages we have over any other game out there is a deep, rich backdrop in which to set our game. Simply being able to explore and adventure in a detailed recreation of Middle-earth would be enough by itself to make MEO an excellent game. But we decided that in order to truly shine, we would create a plot for the game as well; an original story that would allow players to really interact with the goings-on in Middle-earth in the best tradition of role-playing games. Read More. Shout outs to MEOSource on their six month anniversary! Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

PotBS New Sloop Article: Pirate of the Burning Sea has a new update to their Ships section with an article on the "Sloop-of-War," another ship of the line. Included in the writeup which covers the history of the ship, specs and how it will be in game are four new renders and four screenshots. I think I've found the ship I want! Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

PlanetSide In Concept: Plantside has a new In Concept article up in which they talk about Dynamic Warpgate Links, Population Indicators and Broadcast Sanctuary Warpgates, and how they will work within game. Dynamic Global Warpgate Lattice The global links (warpgate-to-warpgate connections) will be randomized periodically (each cavern rotation period) and the links to the Empire Sanctuaries will be severed. This change has the benefit of "mixing up" the continents and ensuring that no continent can ever be wholly ignored. The cavern links rotate from continent to continent, providing more reasons to fight on previously ignored continents AND the dynamic nature of the links ensures that Empires have to take different routes and methods each day as they struggle for supremacy over their chosen objectives. Worth reading to see how this will change the game mechanics for the better. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Realms of Torment City Peek: The folks over at Realms of Torment are busy preparing for a late spring commercial launch with work being done to the final game world as it's is being constructed which is slowly coming together. To go along with it the final build, they are giving a sneak peek at a city layout high up on a mountain ridge currently being worked on. The two shots consist of an overview and side look. Also over on IGN, they have another Peek of the Week up and running in which Dan Antonescu shares Stealth and those sneaky bastards who use it. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Rubies of Eventide Changes: Wow. It was a busy week for CyberWarriors game "Rubies of Eventide." They added a ton of changes to the game. First up is that they removed all credit card requirements for trial accounts. Now anyone can just sign up and play the game for ten days, and if you like it, then you pay. If you are an experienced player, they are looking for GM's to help out in volunteer roles (means not paid). Not many people have the tempermant to be a good GM, and Rubies has an awesome community, so being a non-paid GM can look good on a resume if you are trying to get a job in the industry, so sign up. (And you thought I was gunna slam them for not paying?) In addition to everything else, they have added two new zones to the game. Check it all. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane In Development: Shout outs to Haren who turned me on to these In Development Updates coming for Shadowbane in North America this January. Just last week they released their newest expansion pack and already are working on a new game world (Voringa, Home of the Northmen) with new zones, New Cities and Strongholds (based on the Northmen) giving players the chance to create northmen themed cities. New and Improved Disciplines (Changes to Were creatures, Beserkers, Minataur upgrades, and Valkyr's). Female Half-Giants, as well as game improvements. Could this be the items under wraps Wolfpack and Ubi have said were coming? Check it. Too much to list. Over in Asia though they are letting players for Shadowbane play one of three mobs for a test. Races include, Lizard Men, Orcs and Trolls. Envie! Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

WoW, Dungeons! Blizzard has given us two new dungeon type write ups which will be a part of the World of Warcraft game! Micro dungeons and World Dungeons which are ranging in relative size from small to quite big. Micro-dungeon locations will include tombs, haunted mines, ice caves, and sunken ships to name a few. The transition into and out of these dungeons will be seamless, and you'll be able to run into other players anywhere along the way. As to World Dungeons: World dungeons, such as Medivh's Tower, the Westfall Deadmines, and the Scarlet Monastery, are grander in scale than micro dungeons and are specifically designed for more epic encounters. All these locations have common areas where players can meet up and fight together. But, deeper in the dungeons are areas set up specifically for more private group (or sometimes guild) adventures. These areas, called "instanced zones," allow you and a group of friends to have a more personal experience, exploring, adventuring, or completing quests in your own private dungeon. You also have the ability to invite others into your instanced zone to join you. This relieves many of the camping, kill-stealing, and farming issues that MMORPGs sometimes face. The monsters in instanced zones are typically more powerful, so groups of players will have to work together to defeat them, but with greater dangers come greater rewards! Also check out the nine screenshots for "The Deadmines." Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

UO Housing and Events: If anyone still has active Ultima Online accounts with buildings attached, you may want to take note about the Phase Three: Housing Changes which has recently completed. Of note, housing auto refresh is no longer available: The current global auto-refreshing of all houses that began on September 11, 2001 will stop as of Wednesday, December 10, at approximately 10:00am CST. Starting on December 10, any house on an account that has been or becomes inactive for more than 10 days will begin decaying. (Note that an "inactive" account is one that is either cancelled or has a lapse in payment.) Make sure you keep up with your account. Holiday Events are now live for the Christmas Season. Now, you can host a private Christmas party in which a UO Event Team Member will stop by and throw some prizes and party events in. The UO Magic Moments team would like to help you make this holiday season an extra special one. Throughout the entire month of December, we're offering a special "Snowy Holiday Escape" Magic Moment! Shake the wrinkles out of your best holiday-wear and enjoy the festive activities of this month's featured Magic Moment. Check It. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

UX:O Does Guild Management! Ultima X: Odyssey has a five page spread covering details on how guilds within game will work describing each facet of creating, maintaining, and searching for a guild as well as Guild Wars. UXO's dueling system offers a great opportunity for players to get involved in one-on-one PvP, but those who want battle on a grander scale will definitely want to get involved in guild vs. guild battles. As guild leader, you will be able to set your guild's PvP status through the guild interface. This will determine whether or not your guild can be challenged to a battle, and can be changed as often as desired. The guild leader can also use the guild interface to search for other guilds who wish to battle, and can issue a challenge to another guild. Guild members can check the guild's PvP status at any time through the guild interface. Check it. Posted December 15 2003 by Div Devlin

That Survey Thing: If you did not notice up above (look up) were running a survey which will take a few minutes of your time to complete for our advertising partners. It helps us to hook you guys up with prizes and to keep this site running as our overhead increases. We do this as a hobby, and have no intentions of selling the site for $60 million dollars. So if you have not taken the survey, and check out the newest three sponsors to kick in gifts. Posted December 10 2003 by Div Devlin

Horizons Tanks Launch: Atari and Artifact officially launched Horizons yesterday. Suffice it to say, they should have had an open beta and taken lessons from those who came before. The launch was bad, however fanbois will say different. Reported problems which are still coming in from guild mates consist of billing issues as well as game play stoppers. Even though a free 30 day trial is offered, which requires a credit card to sign up, credit cards were charged for the first month. A vast number of North American credit cards were rejected (even though users had available funds) or had “Errors Processing Requests,” which directed would-be subscribers to renter their credit card info. Totally separate issue from the three digit verification number on the back of cards. Those who did get into game were first met with problems trying to bring their favorite character names to life within the virtual world of Istaria, as the database of names during beta were not cleared out. So, names were already taken for both first and last which rejected new user name creations. Inside game, doors were missing from buildings (to be patched in later) and certain mobs appeared as grey blobs as they are placeholder art. One server already is reported to have a dupe bug which has crashed the games economy, screaming for player bans. Who can ban a few hundred people on opening day? Items that were patched during beta, but not on the discs (due to gold being before the patches were put into place) missed the update patcher for live. Land plots, prime real estate within game for players to build their virtual homes, have already run out. Could be tied to the dupe bug, or just really, really, really good power gamers! After the first hour, you get to crash to the desktop due to huge memory links. And this was just the first few hours. On the other side of the coin though, were being told that Customer Support (while unaware of the issues being reported) have been really good at responding to feedback and bug reports. This was just the first day according to reports we have received.Since we know the AE and Atari folks are extremely busy, we did not bother them for follow-up comments regarding the above issues, and are sure they will respond in time. You can pick any number of threads to read over on the Tazoon.com message boards to get the skinny. Posted December 10 2003 by Div Devlin

Vivendi Universal Games Cuts Staff: Rumor has it over Pud’s site that Vivendi Universal Games just cut off the heads of 70 employees. No word yet on how this affects Middle Earth Online, or any of the other related games. Posted December 10 2003 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane: Rise of Chaos Live! Wolfpack Studios and UbiSoft officially went live with the Rise of Chaos expansion for Shadowbane players, those who did preorders, unfortunately still did not have their copies in-time for the launch. Were waiting to see what happens there today. Check Zalaster’s preview to see more about the expansion from inside during live beta. <