AC2 Member Loyalty Program: Turbine Inc. announced they have launched a Member Loyalty Program where supporters of their games get first shots into Turbine Betas. Turbine, Inc., a premier provider of online subscription entertainment, today announced that it has launched a member rewards program as a way to say "thank you" to its dedicated and passionate online games service members. The new member rewards program, which went live on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2005, offers anyone with an active subscription to a Turbine service the opportunity to become eligible for future Turbine beta testing programs before the general public. "Turbine's beta rewards is a great way for us to show our appreciation to the thousands of players who immerse themselves in Turbine's online worlds," said Jeffrey Anderson, president and CEO, Turbine, Inc. "We want to reward Turbine's loyal players by offering them the chance to be among the first to see and try out the new worlds that we produce." How it Works: Members of a Turbine service, such as Asheron's Call® or Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings®, may register for the program via a link on their service profile page. Prior to an upcoming beta program's open phase, Turbine will create a pool of eligible members from those who registered and meet Turbine's criteria. From this pool, select members will be invited to participate in a pending game beta. Members who are not selected for play testing will remain in the pool and could be selected for later beta activities or opportunities. Program Requirements: To qualify for the Turbine Member Rewards program, members must be registered for a Turbine world through the company's new billing system. In addition, they must be actively subscribed to at least one Turbine service for at least six consecutive months in good standing. If members have more than one eligible service account, such as a subscription to both AC and AC2, each account is eligible for its own program membership. A FAQ about the program can be found on Fuze. Posted February 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Final Fantasy XI Survey: Players from around the world are being invited to participate in a study about Final Fantasy XI from Sqaure Enix by VideoGameStudies.com: The study focuses upon the comparative differences in play-style, preference, and behaviour between players of Final Fantasy XI from different geographical / cultural backgrounds. Reference is made to Geert Hofstede's popular concept of cultural difference (organisational management studies) and the study, in part attempts to explore whether his theories can be applied to inter-cultural gaming communities. Players can take the study in either the English language or in Japanese. The survey consists of 26 multiple choice questions and 6 support questions; it should take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Head on over. Posted February 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Mourning Open Beta: Tommorrow marks the day that open beta is set to begin for Mourning from Limitless Horizons after announcing earlier in the month that beta was pushed back. Despite all our efforts, Mourning won't be ready for open its beta during this weekend. So, in order to offer to all of you a better open beta experience, we decided to delay Mourning's open beta until NO EARLIER than 1st march 2005, with game's release date also delayed accordingly. Please feel free to take any appropiate actions cosidering this, and thank you for your patience and understanding. Dan Antonescu Mourning Community Liaison Manager Did you get your application in to test? Posted February 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Star Trek Online Interview: MMORPG.com has an interview up and running with Glen Dahlgren, lead designer of Star Trek Online from Perpetual Entertainment. From the interview: Ever since the realization of Star Wars Galaxies, many people have whispered about the hopes of one day having a Star Trek multiplayer game available to them. How long have you and your development team been in the "works" to make this happen? For a number of years, Perpetual Entertainment has been in discussions with Paramount to bring Star Trek to the Massively Multiplayer Online landscape. The folks at Perpetual are died-in-the-wool fans of the franchise, and the Star Trek universe lends itself particularly well to an MMOG; it represents a galaxy ripe for exploration rather than a single, static, pre-established storyline. Check the full view. Posted February 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Storm Riders Online Beta: Announced last week, Storm Riders Online from Orchid Media is currently in open beta until Friday when the game goes live. The open beta session of Storm Riders Online will be available starting February 22 until March 4th when the game will be officially launched for live pay to play. The monthly subscription cost will be $10.95 a month, with substantial discounts offered in the prepaid multiple month packages. "As an added bonus OMI will be continuing the Chinese New Year event for the first few days of open beta." said Patricia Larson OMI's Director, Public and Customer Relations. "We are very excited about the success and growth we had in closed beta. Going into open beta we will be launching the first 2 expansions of Storm Riders Online with another expansion expected this fall. We look forward to even greater community growth and involvement as we move forward into pay to play launch." Storm Riders Online is set against the mythical backdrop of ancient China, and players get to explore the sprawling lands of the game world, become involved in a deep and compelling history, political intrigue, and clan versus clan warfare. Check it. Posted February 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Auto Assault Highways: Netdevil sends word that they have updated the Auto Assault homepage with new information about Highways within game: Our highways are probably much different than the one you travel over the river and through the woods to go see Grandma, unless Grandma lives in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and the roadside is kind of green and glowy-like with all sorts of bad guys and twisted creatures that are trying to shoot out your back tires. Life is a highway! Posted February 25 2005 by Div Devlin

Webzen vs. Nintendo: Webzen the up and coming North American publisher that is a major player in Korea is getting slapped by Nintendo for thier title "Wiki" which is all to similar to Legend of Zelda in appearance. From Evil Avatar: Nintendo spokesman today announced that the company was taking "natural steps" to protect its intellectual properties, and that it would "seek appropriate measures at the appropriate time." Despite the apparent similarities, Webzen representatives claim the protagonist in Wiki lacks any kind of fixed appearance, and that players can mold their virtual avatars however they wish. In other words, the screen shots of Wiki displaying a very Link-like character are purely coincidental, and can change depending on the tastes of the individual playing the game. EA has screenshots comparing the two characters referred. Webzen is the company who recently announced they will be creating "All Points Bulletin" the MMO version of Grand Theft Auto or North America in 2007. Posted February 25 2005 by Div Devlin

Destiny Online Cancelled: We were informed by one of our readers that "Destiny Online" being self published by Matthias Muller is no more. Linkage to the games former site also now delivers a Tojan going straight to the browser cache. We've removed the links to the game and have updated our list to show it as cancelled. Thanks to sonnenkind for the heads up. Posted February 25 2005 by Div Devlin

EQII To Add Mentors: Ripping a page from the City of Heroes bible comes word that SOE has finally figured out one of the complaints we've all bitched about for years. Not being able to group with guildmates higher level! For EverQuest II they have announced they are going to add sidekicks as "Mentors": The idea behind Mentoring is a straightforward one. It should mirror the analogy of a dedicated teacher offering valuable lessons to an eager student. Higher level characters (Mentors) are able to teach lower level characters (Apprentices) about the world, the creatures in it, and how foes can best be defeated, by grouping up with them and taking on challenges appropriate to the growing skills of the Apprentice. While the Mentor and Apprentice are grouped up with each other, both can learn valuable lessons (experience) in the process. Apprenticing to a skilled Mentor can also be a faster way to learn than just trying repeatedly on your own. Further extending the analogy, having a whole team of trained Mentors offering different perspectives on life's lessons will naturally cause the Apprentice to learn even faster. More Details. Posted February 25 2005 by Div Devlin

AOL + MxO = IM: America Online has announced a deal with Warner Bros. for The Matrix Online in which players ingame can instant message AOL users. In an industry first, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and SEGA have teamed up with America Online to give players of The Matrix Online, a massively multi-player online game (MMOG), the ability to link an existing AIM identity to a new in-game character. Players will be able to remain "in character" without revealing their AOL or AIM screen name, thus creating seamless real-time communication between Matrix players. The integration of AOL Instant Messenger into The Matrix Online will enable players to see the online presence of fellow gamers and communicate with them at any time within the context of the game. Gamers can also reach outside the game to contact players that are online, but not playing The Matrix Online, to alert them to join a mission or ask them for gameplay tips. Launching on March 22, 2005, The Matrix Online, co-published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and SEGA, is an MMOG where tens of thousands of players will jack into the Matrix world to take an active role in continuing the saga of The Matrix movie trilogy. Developed by Monolith Productions in conjunction with the Wachowski Brothers, creators of The Matrix trilogy and Joel Silver, Producer of The Matrix trilogy, the game is a re-creation of the virtual world of the Matrix, employing cutting-edge 3-D graphics, networking and server technology. Gameplay in The Matrix Online will be based on intricate and exciting "wire-fu" combat, an extensive mission structure, social interaction and a completely customizable skill and ability system. With 195 million registered users, AOL Instant Messenger adds a whole new dimension to online game play. As long as a consumer has an AOL AIM, ICQ or Apple iChat account, he or she can receive a message from The Matrix Online players via the Internet, PDA or cell phone. They only need adverts in game now! Posted February 25 2005 by Div Devlin

Anarchy Online Ads in Game: Funcom announces that they have signed a deal with Massive Incorporated, creator of the world's first video game advertising network to place ads within Anarchy Online. Funcom, developer and publisher of top video game titles like Anarchy Online and The Longest Journey, has signed an exclusive agreement with Massive Incorporated, creator of the world’s first video game advertising network. In a revolutionary deal all free players of Anarchy Online will see dynamic in-game advertising billboards in central areas of the game. Paying subscribers will not see the advertisements. Mitch Davis, CEO of Massive Incorporated said "We're thrilled to add Funcom's leading titles into our advertising network and broaden our reach with their hundreds of thousands of gamers. We're excited about changing the game development business model to provide a new source of significant revenues beyond box sales and subscriptions and delivering a powerful new medium to global advertisers." ... Trond Aas, CEO of Funcom stated "As opposed to a medium like TV you know that the gamers eyes are always watching the screen while playing games. With official ad measurement methods from Nielsen we are sure advertisers will cherish this revolutionary new opportunity to reach the extremely valuable 18 – 34 demographic. Through our own research we know that most gamers want in-game advertisement to heighten the sense of realism. Seeing that the live billboards in Anarchy Online do not interfere with gameplay I am confident our free players will welcome the permanent continuation of our complimentary subscription in the ultimate sci-fi MMORPG." You knew this was going to happen, Funcom is first! Posted February 24 2005 by Div Devlin

EQII SOGA Avatars: As pointed out by Cosmik on n3rfed which links this site lost in translation (which also has a long load time) are comparisons between North American Avatars and Korean Avatars for EverQuest II. The Korean version's are much better than the North American versions. Why did we get the brunt end of the ugly stick? Posted February 24 2005 by Div Devlin

Lineage II Movie: Now available in our downloads section is the newest preview movie for Lineage II's latest expansion, Chronicle 3: Rise of Darkness. Chronicle 3, set for release in the U.S. in the coming months, It is the third major update for the game since its release in of April of last year. The movie shows off several new features including the new Seven Signs quest and several new boss monsters called Anakim and Lilith. Posted February 24 2005 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane Issues Explained: Earlier this week we reported on how the launch of the newest world for Shadowbane went bad due to issues in which the economy got screwed as players were able to migrate with their banks intact. Frank "Kellion" Lucero the games producer gives an update on the events that wrong: To all those playing on Refuge server, I want to apologize for the technical issues that kept the launch of the new server from going as planned. There has been a lot of confusion, but we have isolated two major issues with the new server; a problem with building management, and the fact that players were able to bring the contents of their Bank with them from other servers. I want to be as candid as possible with you, in the hopes that I can shed light on the situation and explain the steps we are taking to eliminate these issues. I assure you, we are doing our utmost to ensure that these problems get fixed, and quickly. Read the full letter. Posted February 24 2005 by Div Devlin

Sigonyth Images Released: The New Desert Team, after another couple of months filled with hard work, is proud to present the latests screens from thier upcoming title "Sigonyth: Desert Eternity" game. Though the images were made with the early alpha version of Ambra engine, yet, they are accurate enough to depict the mood of smaller towns located on the planet of Eternal Desert. Moreover, our site has been enhanced with a Flash animation showing You Sigonyth's exact location and its surrounding. Check em. They look pretty good with a sci-fi theme. Posted February 24 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW, The First Marriage: In what is the first of many marriages yet to come, the first couple within World of Warcraft have exchanged vows. As pointed out by Haren, "The first in-game marriage should have been between a tauren and a gnome, just for funny factor." /agree Posted February 24 2005 by Div Devlin

Auto Assault Global Beta: NetDevil has announced that beta sign-up for Auto Assault has gone global and is no longer restricted to those in North America based on the overwhelming feedback they have recieved! Due to the amazing number of requests and feedback we received when we announced the US sign-up last week for our upcoming beta test, the Auto Assault beta registration has now been expanded to allow sign-ups from around the world. A free PlayNC account is needed for registration, so visit http://www.plaync.com and create an account or sign in with your existing one. Once you've logged in to PlayNC, you can follow the link provided to sign up for the Auto Assault beta. There will be both US and European betas for Auto Assault, though exact dates have not yet been released. Watch the official Auto Assault website for more details as they're available: http://www.autoassault.com. Go Go Vroom! Posted February 22 2005 by Div Devlin

LotD Guild Wars Recap: Did you miss out on the Guild Wars weekend event which just passed. Hades, Guild Master from Lords of the Dead let us know that his crew was able to get inside and spend quality time testing and have some issues with the game in their recap: The FEB BWE did not address our concerns about level grinding. We are still worried about the need to quickly create new templates and group builds without having to go through a Diablo style leveling grind each time you need to make a new character. So far we've heard vauge public comments from the Community Manager about trying to please everyone. We don't expect to be able to make a character in 5 minutes that can PvP, but we also don't expect to have to spend an estimated 20-40 hours grinding up a new character. If you spend that much time creating a character that doesn't work out, then many members of PvP guilds aren't going to hang around in this game for the long haul. Few people will be willing to invest that amount of time just to find out they have a failed idea on their hands. We hope GW addresses this between now and release because its a big deal to a lot of us. We like GW for the PVP, not forced PVE + item grinding before we can PVP. Check their preview. Posted February 22 2005 by Div Devlin

Entropia Players Revolt: Project Entropia players are on the verge of revolt and have created an online petition for MindArk to establish their own message boards to communicate with the player base. The skinny: We request establishing a Forum that is driven or sustained by MindArk and moderated by MindArks staff. If it is deemed feasible, MindArk may draw upon the Community to enlist the aid of those Players that are qualified to be Moderators to help defray the workload. At present no such forum exists and there is no viable means of exchanging information or ideas directly with MA other than through support or on IRC. We strongly feel that such a forum would greatly enhance the rapport between the Project Entropia community and MA as it will allow players to have a more proactive voice over the games evolution and to give valuable feedback. If it is at all possible, we also request that MA be more forthcoming about changes that would be implemented with new Version Updates, to discuss them with users and to utilize beta testing of the games mechanics. We understand that the disclosure of certain aspects of the VU is proprietary information that could affect the games economic balance and therefore are more focused on technical issues. Sign even if you don't play. Posted February 22 2005 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane Migration Woes: Shadowbane had complications with their server migration to 'Refuge' yesterday in which the new servers economy got borked as players were able to bring their bank vaults with them. There was a complication today when Refuge was brought online that has allowed characters to migrate to the server with their Banks. We are going to continue to allow players to migrate to Refuge as originally planned, to include Banks going to Refuge. We apologize for the confusion and inconvenience this has caused. That hurts. Posted February 22 2005 by Div Devlin

War Returns to UO: Ultima Online announces that war is once more returning to the lands of Sosaria with an event driven story arc. Similar to the Trisnic invasion a few years ago, monsters will now be rampaging towards Brittania and it's up to players to stem the tide. With the 29th cycle of the published history of Sosaria revealed, so was a great and catastrophic danger - a massive invasion is underway. Lizardmen, trolls, ettins, Cyclops, titans and many other foul and deadly creatures are swarming by the hundreds of thousands, sharpening their claws and axes as they engage in massive bloodshed. Surely Britannia will be destroyed if the brave citizens do not band together and hold off the invading forces. No word if this is on both facets. Posted February 22 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW, Sexy Vixens Ready To Help You! Copy: We exist to satisfy you and help you find ways to enjoy the World of Warcraft more by providing you with all your WoW needs - items, currency, assisted leveling, accounts, trade skill assistance and more! What are you waiting for! Enjoy WoW, the way it's meant to be! Sexy Ladies will level your custom character 18/7 to 40 within two weeks. They will level you around your personal play schedule. You keep all gold and items. You provide the account or add $60 for an already enabled account and all its info. Satisfaction guaranteed! Save yourself 150+ hours of leveling! /cry err... /pizza err... /exit Posted February 19 2005 by Div Devlin

Weekend Movie: With JCal gone, who is going to report on the movies to watch over the weekend? The movie to see this weekend appears to be Constantine: John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) has the unique ability to see the half-breed angels and demons that disguise themselves as humans and walk the Earth. These visions nearly drove him insane, and they led him to attempt suicide and become close friends with the bottle. Now destined to patrol the border between heaven and hell, also known as Los Angeles, Constantine works to save people's souls. His latest task: helping a police detective (Rachel Weisz) solve the mysterious death of her twin sister. Anything with Rachel Wesiz, I'm am there. Off to the first show. Posted February 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Auto Assault Beta Page: Auto Assault from NetDevil has announced that would be road warriors can now register for beta! Be sure to zoom over. The bunnies are hopping again over at GameBunny as they sit down with Ryan Seabury, Senior Developer on the Auto Assault team, in a follow-up interview and learn about the changes over the past year since they last spoke. Check it. Posted February 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Reading Between the Lines: Sent in by just about everyone, comes this link to joystiq in which someone undercover deciphers the letter to the community last week from John Smedly on the state of the SOE and EQ games. When someone says they 'welcome competition' and names a competitor, you know that reading between the lines, they’re thinking "holy crap, these guys are going to take food out of my kids' mouths." Once the market leader is giving props by name and saying "competition is good", they're already psychologically braced for Second Place. Give it a read. Posted February 18 2005 by Div Devlin

GW Beta Event Begins: The weekend Beta Event for Guild Wars has begun. Our fourth monthly Beta Weekend Event has begun. You can visit the newest region of Tyria and experience the glory that is the Kingdom of Ascalon. You'll also have an opportunity to engage in PvP and PvE play while viewing the many changes that have taken place in the game since last month's event. The event will conclude on Sunday night just before the stroke of Midnight. Got Key? Posted February 18 2005 by Div Devlin

ToonTown Expands: Disney has announced that ToonTown has expanded with an all new play area added to the game. Disney Online, part of the Walt Disney Internet Group, today announced a highly-anticipated expansion in Disney's Toontown Online, the first massively multiplayer (MMP) game for kids and families. The new area, Cashbot Cog Headquarters (HQ), is designed for advanced players and delivers more challenging gameplay, platform style puzzles and a completely new eight-person boss battle. Using personalized Toon avatars, players join forces to save Toontown from the robot Cogs - Bossbots, Lawbots, Cashbots, and Sellbots - who are attempting to turn the colorful world of Toontown into a dark metropolis of skyscrapers and businesses. Cog Headquarters are advanced gameplay areas within Toontown. "Cashbot HQ is part of our plan to evolve and grow Toontown over time. The area offers completely new challenges and environments for our players - it's really a game within a game," said Steve Parkis, Vice President of Premium Products, Disney Online. "Much as Disney has been able to accomplish with our theme parks, the creative team of the VR Studio continues to bring imaginative and varied styles of game play and enjoyment to the Toontown world. This allows families to enjoy a shared experience, while having something different about the experience appeal to each individual guest." Players enter Cashbot HQ via Pajama Place, a street in Donald's Dreamland - one of Toontown's six themed neighborhoods. Once inside Cashbot HQ, Toons must courageously make their way through a train yard and enter the Mint, where Cashbots manufacture Cogbucks, the Cog currency. Once inside, Toons must complete difficult tasks in order to build a Cog disguise and earn access to the Vault - the dangerous home to the most senior Cashbot, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). As a reward for defeating the CFO, Toons are granted new powers to heal other Toons or restock other Toons' gags and jellybeans, the games' weapons and currency. ToonTown is built for kids and addicting for adults. Posted February 18 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW, Casinos Discontinued: It took long enough for Blizzard to figure out that their in game feature for Casino's within World of Warcraft was horribly broken. Most players already knew. Well, they finally put an end to it with this post: The practice of "casinos" -- gambling in major cities using the /random command -- has been a hot topic for many players of late. They have been dominating the city chat channels, and some have been scammed by certain individuals. There has been an overwhelming amount of player feedback on this issue, and after careful evaluation of the situation, our conclusion is as follows: casinos are no longer allowed in World of Warcraft. We certainly encourage players to create their own content within the bounds of the game, however, when such content becomes a detriment to the playerbase as a whole it can force us to make a tough decision such as this. Be advised that casinos encourage spamming and scamming, and there have been a resounding number of complaints about the gambling practice. As such, should a character be found running a casino disciplinary action will be taken in accordance with the rules against Spamming and Advertising, found here: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/policy/harassmentp2.shtml#S We hope this will dramatically improve the atmosphere around Ironforge and Orgrimmar, and reduce the scamming reports we have had. Thank you for being patient with us while we deliberated over this issue! - Caydiem - Assistant Community Manager I wonder if this guy ever got banned. Posted February 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Can I take your Order? For years we, the community have worried about whether or not we've eaten and then deliberated on actually picking up the phone to call in for food. Our worries are over. Sony Online Entertainment has added a new feature to Everquest II (at least it's new to me) that will allow you to quickly and easily order pizza with a simple /pizza. By typing in this new and innovative command within the game, your browser will direct you to the Pizza Hut online ordering system so you never have to pick up a phone or tab out yourself. No longer will you go hungry debating on moving away from your chair long enough to dial a phone. No longer will you obsess about typing in a long url like http://www.pizzahut.com. Your worries are at an end. I am sure it won't be long until we see the more of these important features added to our MMORPG gaming. I myself would like to see the following added. /drpepper - A celebrity shows up at your desk with a cold Dr.Pepper at the ready. /mountaindew - An Athlete snowboards in your window with some cold Mountain Dew. /margarita - The handsome houseboy Raul arrives with a fresh made margarita on ice. /childcare - The super nanny arrives to take care of all diaper changes, feedings, storytime and bedtime duties. /chocolate - Godiva Chocolates magically appear on your desk with an inspirational note. /massage - Raul shows up to massage your shoulders after a tense bout of pvp... There are many more I'm sure I could add. Where oh where could it possibly end? And yes.. I'm back... Discuss your Pizza Hut Orders Here... Posted February 17 2005 by Sachant

2004 Survey Results: It took five days to go over the results from 3500+ entries that all of you submitted for our 2004 Holiday Survey for the Games of last year which covered Novemeber of 2003 to Novemeber of 2004, but they have been tallied and prizes were awarded over the weekend. It probably would not of taken so long, had we remembered to end the Survey! We wanted to know what your best picks were as players from these questions: - What was the most disappointing cancellation of 2004? - Which game had the best Community Relations of 2004? - What game are you most anticipating for release in 2005? - Which game was the most improved for 2004? - Which game had the best expansion for 2004? - What game was the best new release for 2004? To find out what you and other players thought for the best of the best, check out the results page! Thanks to everyone who submitted, and to the great companies who donated prizes! Posted February 16 2005 by Div Devlin

Turbine Changes Name: Turbine, makers behind the Asheron's Call franchise and developers behind Dungeons and Dragons Online and Middlie-Earth Online has gone corporate with a name change, dropping the "Entertainment Software portion becoming "Turbine Inc." Feb. 15, 2005--Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. today announced that the company has changed its name to Turbine, Inc. No longer just a contract software developer, Turbine, Inc. is focused on creating, publishing and distributing premier online games and entertainment to consumers of all ages. Today's announcement marks a key turning point from Turbine's ten-year history as a software developer in the online video games industry. Turbine will apply its proprietary technology, service organization, production capabilities, brands and financial resources to bring world-class products and services into the online games markets in North America and around the world. "The pervasive acceptance of online subscription-based games and the increased adoption of broadband will enable new and exciting categories of online video games and services," said Jeffrey Anderson, president and CEO, Turbine, Inc. "Over the past decade Turbine and its products have achieved strong success that will be leveraged going forward. We are now extending our mission as a leading online entertainment company, supporting our games through launch and beyond with our marketing and service teams, providing a unique and comprehensive online experience for our fans." The former contract developer began its transformation in 2003 when it acquired the sublicense to produce and operate the first massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) based on the world renowned Dungeons & Dragons® franchise. Turbine followed with the acquisition of the Asheron's Call® video games from Microsoft in 2004, becoming the franchise's publisher. To mark the new name and dramatic shift in business focus, Turbine has launched a new web site at www.turbine.com. A radical departure from the company's previous web site, the new design reflects a commitment to current and prospective members of Turbine's colorful and thrilling online persistent world services. At one time they were part of the big three triad which is now dominated by SOE, NCSoft and Blizzard, Are they preparing to fight back for thier place? Posted February 16 2005 by Div Devlin

Matrix Online Give-Away: Turns out we have some extra keys for The Matrix Online that we did not give away on RadioGameRifts. You should be listening! With the NDA removed, if anyone is interested in checking out the game and does or was not able to get a key from FilePlanet, be one of the first 10 people to send me an email and you get a key! Posted February 16 2005 by Div Devlin

PotBS Dev Logs: Two new devlogs appeared over on the Pirates of the Burning Sea site on Monday. The first from Misha covers racing and battles on the high seas: Tuning the small schooner with Augustus was fun. First, we had a race, him in a schooner against me in a frigate. The schooner is much smaller and lighter and made the frigate look like a lumbering cow. The schooner took off quickly, racing ahead. But the top speed of the frigate is higher when sailing in high wind, and it eventually caught up. Augustus reported that watching a frigate gaining on you while in a schooner is a bit intimidating. We did some turns and stops to prove to ourselves that the schooner was sufficiently more nimble. Then we had a combat. The second is from Brady, who writes on emergent behaviour in Ship AI. Also, GamerGod has an interview with Executive Producer Russell Williams with interesting tid-bits dropped in for those with a keen eye! Argh! Posted February 16 2005 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane Updates: The folk over at Shadowbane have a Vision! Over on the Chronicle site for Shadowbane, the dev team has announced that another new world will be making it's way online next Monday, and the dev's address their long-term vision for the game which spawned a 21 page+ thread regarding inventories being allowed to carry the massive amounts of gold to the new server. Read More. Posted February 16 2005 by Div Devlin

Auto Assault Beta Soon: NetDevil sends word out that beta testing for Auto Assault is to start soon! The Auto Assault team is pleased to announce that we’re ramping up to begin accepting beta registrations as early as next week (the week of Feb. 14.) Watch our website – http://www.autoassault.com - for details. In other news: - the first in a series of race-specific location wallpapers featuring the Biomek town Winston is up - an Auto Assault Q&A on UpAllNightGaming, including three new screenshots - the link to last week's chat hosted by GamerGod was posted - the Biomek profile was added to the Recon section Now, go pound the website waiting for beta applications! Posted February 15 2005 by Div Devlin

Dragons of Norrath Ships: In EQ News, the latest expansion "Dragons of Norrath" for EverQuest has shipped to stores. EverQuest: Dragons of Norrath returns EverQuest to its original foundation with appearances from a familiar cast of characters who find themselves at the forefront of events transpiring across the world. With enhanced graphics, bold storylines, updated creatures, and all-new guild management tools, EverQuest: Dragons of Norrath is the next great expansion pack for the fantasy adventure that is EverQuest. Explore the world with the new interactive map, use your potion belt to access your inventory quickly, and quickly swap from Sword and Shield to Great Sword using the bandolier. Plus, with the all new guild management tools you can easily get your guild ready to encounter anything that comes your way! EverQuest: Dragons of Norrath is bursting with new adventures and features for players of all levels. Ding! Posted February 15 2005 by Div Devlin

Final Fantasy XI Bans: Squar Enix cracks down on cheaters within Final Fantasy XI as they banned over 800 accounts on Valentines Day for cheating: On February 14, over 800 accounts which repeatedly violated the PlayOnline Member Agreement were permanently banned from PlayOnline. The users of these accounts would form groups to monopolize the hunting spots of notorious monsters (NM). They also repeatedly performed harassment and MPK actions against other players. Grief tactics, including harassment, are listed in the PlayOnline Member Agreement as violations and are not allowed for any reason. Also, interfering other players' game play in order to monopolize monsters which spawn in hunting spots is not allowed. Nice to see them cleaning house. Posted February 15 2005 by Div Devlin

Guild Wars Release Date: NCsoft and Arena Net have announced the release date for Guild Wars, and it is still to far way. ArenaNet, creators of the highly anticipated online roleplaying game Guild Wars, and NCsoft Corporation, the world's leading developer and publisher of online computer games, today announced that Guild Wars will be available at retail in North America and Europe on April 28, 2005. Players who preorder Guild Wars will be able to use their preorder access codes to start playing the full game on April 27, 2005. This weekend will be one of the final three Guild Wars weekends, so be sure to check it out. The guys over at GuildWarsGuru also have an interview up with Gaile Grey for reading! Posted February 15 2005 by Div Devlin

Matrix Online NDA Gone: The Matrix Online from Warner Bros. has dropped their NDA while announcing their ship date as March 22, 2005 in the US and April 8, 2005 in Europe. The highly anticipated continuation to the Matrix film trilogy, The Matrix Online will begin unveiling a story full of twists and action when the game is released in March in US and April in Europe. The massively multi-player online game co-published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and SEGA has been in beta testing for months and features many of the original talent from the films - Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus), Monica Bellucci (Persephone), Mary Alice (The Oracle), Lambert Wilson (The Merovingian), Harold Perrineau Jr. (Link), Harry Lennix (Lock), Nona Gaye (Zee), Collin Chou (Seraph) and Tanveer Atwal (Sati). Fans who pre-order The Matrix Online will enjoy the added bonus of special in-game abilities, access to the beta and an early entrance into the game. There's still time to take the plunge and pre-order; simply go to: http://thematrixonline.warnerbros.com/preorder.html The Matrix Online will be sold through all major game retailers for a suggested retail price (SRP) of $49.99. Gamers can either subscribe online for a monthly subscription fee of $14.99 or purchase pre-paid game cards with 60 days worth of play time for $29.99. Developed by Monolith Productions in conjunction with the Wachowski Brothers, creators of the Matrix trilogy, the game is a re-creation of the virtual world of the Matrix. The visually stunning game employs cutting edge 3-D graphics, networking and server technology. Gameplay in The Matrix Online is based on intricate and exciting "wire-fu" combat, an extensive mission structure, social interaction and completely customizable skill and ability system. Woah. Posted February 15 2005 by Div Devlin

Name The Game Contest: Be sure to tune in tonight on RadioGameRifts as we host our first "Name The Game" contest where we will play a track tied to an MMO Game. If you know (or guess) the game and respond with the correct answer, you will win a prize related to that game. The "Name The Game" contest happens on Thursday nights sometime between 6pm and 7pm Central, so be sure to listen. Posted February 10 2005 by Div Devlin

As The Market Turns: IGN Takes 3DGamers IGN/GameSpy announced that they have aquired venerable site 3DGamers this week. IGN Entertainment, a leading Internet media company serving the games and entertainment enthusiast markets, today announced that it has acquired 3D Gamers (), an online pioneer in the delivery of gaming news and file downloads. The acquisition increases the reach of IGN's audience of game enthusiasts, and when added to IGN's existing portfolio of successful free, subscription and pay-per-download services, further strengthens the web's leading game file distribution network. "3D Gamers is a well-respected pioneer in the gaming world and has garnered an enthusiastic and loyal audience," said Mark Jung, CEO of IGN Entertainment. "Having FilePlanet, Direct2Drive and 3D Gamers in our portfolio solidifies our ability to offer game publishers an incredible opportunity to reach the largest and most active audience of game file downloaders. Consumers of downloadable game content also will benefit from the web's widest and deepest array of games, game files and news." 3D Gamers reached a worldwide audience of 2.0 million in November 2004, and the combined, unduplicated audience for IGN Entertainment and 3D Gamers that same month would have totaled 29.2 million, according to comScore Media Metrix(TM)(a). 3D Gamer's addition to IGN Entertainment's portfolio will also increase the size of IGN's young male audience, as 90% of the 3D Gamers audience are males, and 75% are between the ages of 14 and 34. "Providing the highest quality reporting and delivery services to our audience has been and continues to be one of 3D Gamers' fundamental principles," said Piotr Kapiszewski, President and CEO of 3D Gamers. "In joining forces with IGN, GameSpy and FilePlanet, we will be expanding our reach and providing our users with even better content, information and distribution services." The question remains, how long until McDonalds ads appear on 3DGamers for the Mc3D? Savant Inks New Deal, New Game Announced Savant Says, Savant Says Media has inked a new deal with EAS USA to help promote their debut title, "Mystic Journey: Fairyland USA," a newly annoounced massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in a 2.5D graphical world, where you will be able to adventure, fight evil, and become a hero. Under the terms of the agreement, Savant Says Media is to provide marketing and public relations support for the launch of Mystic Journey: Fairyland USA. Posted February 10 2005 by Div Devlin

DAoC Clustering A Success! Mythic went and did it. And it's a huge success. Dark Age of Camelot has had the largest battle to date, due to the server clustering and nary a hitch as players battled it our from all three realms. Mythic Entertainment(R), developer and publisher of the massively-multiplayer online role-playing game "Dark Age of Camelot(R)," today announced that the game's Realm vs. Realm (RvR) clustering patch resulted in one of the largest battles ever seen in an MMORPG. Last night, players participated in a massive RvR combat session where more than 1,500 characters simultaneously fought one another on a single battlefield. RvR is Mythic's unique implementation of Player vs. Player (PvP) combat, and this unprecedented RvR session was made possible through the new server clustering technology, which was launched on several "Dark Age of Camelot" servers on February 8. ... "The challenge and scale of RvR battles have always been a key element of 'Dark Age of Camelot's' success," said Matt Firor, Executive Producer at Mythic Entertainment. "By implementing clustered servers, a first in any MMORPG, we've guaranteed that players on all of our servers - not just the high-population servers - have the same exhilarating RvR experience." Server clustering was designed by Mythic Entertainment(R) to facilitate stronger RvR on lower-population servers. It allows players from different "Dark Age of Camelot(R)" servers to participate in Realm vs. Realm combat together. Previously, only players on the same servers could fight one another in RvR. Funneling the population of four server's of players into one clustered Frontier zone led to one of the largest - if not the largest - battles ever held in an MMORPG. Groups of hundreds of players roamed the Frontier, laying siege to Keeps and challenging huge armies of enemy players. "Clustering these servers was so successful that we are launching another server cluster today," added Firor. "Players of the game now have more friends to group with, as well as more enemies to fight, in RvR. It's much easier to find keep sieges to participate in, territory to defend, and in general have even more fun time in our Frontiers than ever before." With all the improvments to the game, this is worth playing again. Posted February 10 2005 by Div Devlin

Matrix Online News: Matrix Online from Warner Bros. and Monolith is fast becoming the game to watch while it nears release. Announced earlier this week is that the FilePlanet download was shortlived as everyone grabbed key's to check out the game. A game time card has been announced to replace credit cards for those without, and four new movies have been released in a training video style. You can check those out in our downloads section. Posted February 10 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW EU = 700k Accts: VUGames has released presales numbers stating that 700k in retail copies for World of Warcraft have already been spoken for with the game due to go live tommorrow and players already registering accounts. Blizzard Entertainment (a studio of Vivendi Universal Games) has announced that the new interactive game World of Warcraft will be available at retail outlets throughout Europe on February 11, 2005, with fully localized versions in English, French and German. The European launch of World of Warcraft follows a hugely successful debut in North America and South Korea in late 2004 and early 2005. Over 700,000 copies of the game have already been sold. This latest work in the Warcraft series, launched in 1994, is a subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) in which players assume the roles of legendary heroes and interact with thousands of other players online. World of Warcraft is the new world leader. Posted February 10 2005 by Div Devlin

Atriarch Movie: A new movie for Atriarch was made available from World Fusion on the downloads page. The new movie introduces player characters in the pre-alpha build. Quite awhile ago, an in-game pre-alpha movie was made to introduce the Player-Character Species. We never got around to releasing it. We figured now is as good time as any :-) Therefore, we have made it available to those curious folks out there who want to get a glimpse into the early world of Atriana and meet the Atriarch Characters. The movie does not include new graphic improvements and features which have been implemented during the past year. Posted February 7 2005 by Div Devlin

As The Market Turns: Message For Matthew Newhook or Dana Massey If you know of way to contact either Matthew Newhook or Dana Massey send this message to them. There is a person from a major company looking to contact them about a different project, and understands that the Wish project is dead. If you know how to contact either of them, ask them to email me. MSNBC On MMO's In Court MSNBC is weighing in with an article on massively multiplayer online games ending up in courts with a two page write on commerce within games worth value in the real world. Citing City of Heroes, EverQuest II and grabbing a proffessor to ask if digital property is property. IGE is referenced as well as who is to hold the blame as in the Napster case where the Feds went after both the company and customers which is still awaiting legal rulings. Savant Says He Has New Clients Savant Says that he has inked a deal with Orchid Media for thier upcoming game "Storm Riders Online." Under the terms of the agreement, Savant Says will help promote the launch of Storm Riders Online. What they have to say: "We look forward to great success with our debut title," said Robert Rice, Orchid Media's Chief Executive Officer. "We're confident the expertise provided by Savant Says Media will help us spread the word to the gaming public about the upcoming launch of Storm Riders Online." That Savant guy is growing! SOE Opens Seattle Office Former Mythica honchos go to work for Sony, as SOE opens a new studio in Seattle: Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming, announced today that it has expanded operations with the formation of a development studio in Seattle, Washington. SOE-Seattle will further increase Sony Online Entertainment's global market share and will strengthen the overall planning and production of premium games. Matt Wilson will serve as Executive Producer of SOE-Seattle. Wilson had been with Microsoft for over 10 years, leaving to form FireAnt, Inc. with John Smith, Alex Pfaffe, Craig Link and Ed Fries in order to create cutting-edge massively multiplayer online games. All the members of FireAnt will be joining the new studio full-time, with the exception of Ed Fries, who will serve in an advisory role for SOE-Seattle game design and studio management. The SOE-Seattle team has a diverse history of game development, having worked on titles such as Dungeon Siege, Ultima Online, Wing Commander, Asheron's Call, and many others. If these guys get to build an MMO, it's going to rock. Posted February 7 2005 by Div Devlin

MXO Magazine: Warner Bros. released the official magazine for the Matrix Online to mailboxes across North America over the weekend (Mine Arrived on Saturday). I need to say, this is an impressive little book, and it's not just a comic book on the game. Coming in comic book format with 24 high gloss pages, this is a great resource for those who are going to jack. Broken into seven chapters, it does a spotlight on players (some of the folks who are testing in beta), an introduction to character creation, a pull out map (in the centerfold so you can pry up the staples) fronted by a poster of a Succubus. A Q&A with the writer Paul Chadwick, a break down of the city districts from within game (that correspond on the pull out map!) and ending in a story format introduction to what is occuring within game. For added value, each of the chapters have continuations which will appear in following issues. This is a well done supplement for MMO Gamers jacking into Matrix Online. Posted February 7 2005 by Div Devlin

RYL Open Beta: Planetwide Games has announced open beta for Risk Your Life: Path of the Emperor, along with a Founders Guild Membership program, for those who during this month of open beta become founders. On the beta launch last week: Planetwide Games announced today a historic event of epic proportion, that after Seven Years of Development, the "RYL: Path of the Emperor" Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) went into Open Beta phase for North America. Planetwide Games will operate Open Beta for a limited time only until the Golden Launch date of March 1, 2005. "RYL: Path of the Emperor" currently has over 8.2 million online players worldwide. In 2003, 88 million people played online games worldwide and 198 million are expected to be playing online games by 2008. On the Founders Membership: North American "RYL: Path of the Emperor" online players who participate in the Open Beta only during the month of February have a rare and limited time opportunity to become a RYL Founders Guild Member. RYL Founders Guild Members will receive the chance of a lifetime to receive unique and special privileges when they choose from four different offer packages. Some benefits of becoming a RYL Founders Guild Member include locked-in, discounted "for life" subscription rates, MP3 Players, and additional months of game play for free. To check out the game that sponosred a car in the Daytona 24 over the weekend past. Posted February 7 2005 by Div Devlin

Gordon Walton's SWG Letter: Gordon Walton, the studio manager over in Austin for Star Wars:Galaxies has a dev diary/letter to players about the creation of "Strike Teams" which have been created at the studio to help minimize/maximize the content into publishes. Our plan was to move to more frequent and significant publishes, and this has happened faster than expected. Our intention is to publish every two weeks throughout the next few months. These will be full publishes, similar in scope to what the team once did every six weeks. As part of this reorganization we have set the team up as a series of strike teams, each working in their own development environments. Organization is the key to success! Posted February 7 2005 by Div Devlin

AA Dev Chat Tonight: As a reminder tonight is the Auto Assault Developer Chat taking place on IRC and hosted by GamerGod. Along with discussions about the game, there will also be a trivia contest where winners can grab one of those awesome Auto Assault t-shirts. Details to participate. Posted February 3 2005 by Div Devlin

CoH PvP Arenas: City of Heroes has released a preview for their next update that will be part of Issue 4. The big one gearing up for City of Villians is the PvP element within arena's dubbed Colosseum's. Heroes now have the opportunity to compete against each other in a variety of battle scenarios designed to hone their fighting skills to incredible levels! - Solo, Team or Supergroup slug-fests for characters of all levels. - Arenas are found in zones accessible to all levels of characters: in Galaxy City, Talos Island, and Peregrine Island. - Matches can be preset or customized by the players. - Options include pick-up instant matches or scheduled events between teams and supergroups. - PvP is only done with the consent of each player involved. - Includes constantly updating Ranking System where players see their character?s ranked among the best of Paragon City. - Winners in the Arena matches gain recognition and the losers gain valuable battle experience without earning character debt. Also included will be new anime-inspired costumes, and new face and head types. Read the full preview, it looks good. Posted February 3 2005 by Div Devlin

DAoC Price Change Begins: Today marks the official rate change for Dark Age of Camelot from Mythic. As of today, subscribers for the game will now pay the following rates: - $14.95 per month - $40.35 for 3 months - $71.70 for 6 months - $137.40 for 1 year I'm suprised they were able to do so much to the game, and not raise the price sooner. Posted February 3 2005 by Div Devlin

EQII Unloads Massive Updates: SOE has announced a major list of fixes, updates, and enhancements for EverQuest II. The list is huge, but the highlights consist of: - Heroic Opportunities have been revamped! - Lots of new armor looks have been added! - New adventure areas have been unearthed! - First round of advanced solo encounters added for soloers and small groups! - Vitality indicator added to your XP bar! - DoT spells are now much more stackable! - Tabbed chat windows make their long-awaited debut! - See what your target is attacking with the new Implied Target window! - Bankers now make change! - Even more tradeskill bug fixes and improvements! - Check out the more precice, informative AC value! - New heritage quests: Golden Efreeti Boots and the Crown of King Tranix! Reading through the page it almost looks like a new game. Posted February 3 2005 by Div Devlin

SWG Veteran Rewards: Lucas Arts and SOE have announced their program to but the loyalty of players by offering Veteran Rewards for Star Wars: Galaxies. It's a bit remindful of the Veteran Rewards given out by another game. I'm not even sure if these are even cool rewards anymore as they don't really seem to serve a purpose. The development team of Star Wars Galaxies announced the launch of the Veteran Player Reward Program! Players of the game will be rewarded on their three month, six month and 12 month anniversaries with their choice of various very cool and impossible to get any other way in-game items. Starting next week, when a three month veteran player next logs in, they will have the opportunity to choose from a number of items, including a useful reward like a self-powered harvester or a fun item like a R2 droid miniature replica collectible. Six month rewards include rare YT-1300 lounge furniture, X-Wing and TIE fighter mini replica collectibles or a deed to 30k units of certain resources. For the distinguished one year veteran player, the valuables include a permanent anti-decay kit for any one player item... yes, that includes the beautiful lightsaber you've worked so hard to craft! Or a mini Stormtrooper or Jabba the Hutt replica collectible. Check em. Posted February 3 2005 by Div Devlin

RadioGameRifts Lives: It's taken over two years to get to this point, but we have gone audio! Having spent the first year in planning, with last year learning and the past six months developing, testing and building, we welcome our newest site to the GameRifts family (some say we are becoming a Network), RadioGameRifts. It's just not yet another fan-based internet radio station playing talk for one of our favorite games, but follow's in the footsteps of greats like XGR once run by Paligap and BattleVortexAudio run by Fear. We plan on hosting Developer Interviews, Community Feedback, GameNews, and let's not forget the music. Were spinning it harcore for the hardcore gamers with more music and less talk! Check it out, and tune in while we spend the month tweaking and perfecting it to be the station you want to listen to! http://radio.gamerifts.com Posted February 2 2005 by Div Devlin

JCal Leaves HomeLanFed: We missed this the other day and need to wish John "JCal" Callaham, as well as Ryan "Virge" Smith from HomeLanFed fame as they posted thier good byes to move onto new projects within the gaming industry. You can already see the impact that their departure has had on one of the top sites for game and industry news with their leave. Were going to miss them and wish them well in their new projects! They are going to be missed and the void is going to be hard to fill. Posted February 2 2005 by Div Devlin

Matrix Online Launch Date: Warner Bros. and Monolith says the new launch date for The Matrix Online is this March 25th, per a press release isued yesterday informing sleepers about the game! Meanwhile, tons of new content on the Community Site! Kicking it is a FAQ on Non-Player Characters, a new Online Glossary for all things Matrix, a dev journal from "Walrus" talking about the stress test, mods, and coding. Last but not least be sure to check out the Combat Introduction. You need to know about the combat system to survive. Posted February 2 2005 by Div Devlin

Middle Earth Online Updates: It's been quiet in the lands of Middle Earth Online in development from Turbine, but a post on the message boards from "Floon Beetle" talks about sidekicks within game. The idea of "sidekicks" was raised on the officials (sidekicks being when a low-level charcter is able to attach itself to a higher level character, and thus enter into higher level engagements under the protection of that higher level character - ala Batman and Robin; sidekicking is engaging in this relationship ingame), as perhaps something that would be appropriate to MEO. That brought in an entire range of arguments and counter-proposals regarding leveling and curves in gaining xp. It actually is a very interesting thread, and can be found at this link: Sidekicks. The game was all but forgotten about if not for the thanks of MEOSource pointing this out. There is also a new Community Relations Manager that joined the team last month. Meghan "Patience" Rodberg introduces herself and gives a bit of lore in her dev diary. Posted February 2 2005 by Div Devlin

Puzzle Pirates Publisher: Puzzle Pirates the fun and addiciting game meant for children, but highly entertaining for adults (adults with the minds of children?) is going mainstream! Three Rings the developers behind this game of booty and plunder have inked a deal with none other then Ubisoft to be the publisher and bring the game to store shelves everywhere! Ubisoft, one of the world's largest videogame publishers, today announced it will publish Puzzle Pirates, the first pirate-themed online game. In Puzzle Pirates, players play fun puzzle games to earn status and prestige. Developed by Three Rings Design, Inc., Puzzle Pirates is playable on PC, Mac and Linux. Puzzle Pirates is slated for release in April with a suggested retail price of $19.99, which includes a free month of playing time, exclusive in-game items, and special single-player, offline versions of the more popular puzzles in the game. After the first free month a monthly subscription fee of $9.95 will apply. Puzzle Pirates is expected to earn a "T" for Teen rating. MAC version too. Posted February 2 2005 by Div Devlin

Irth Online Announced & Upgraded: Yesterday saw the announcment of a new MMO to join the market from Magic Hat Software as the introduced Irth Online due out in the second quarter of this: Magic Hat Software (www.magichatsoftware.com) has announced its new MMORPG Irth Online (www.irthonline.com) is scheduled for commercial release in the second quarter of 2005, and that Beta test applications are now being accepted on the Irth Online web site. "We waited until now to make our first public announcement about Irth Online because we wanted to deliver early content to players rather than just plans and promises," said Dennis Robinson, Lead Developer. "Players are encouraged to apply for our Beta test and help improve not only the future of Irth Online civilizations, but the quality of the game itself, which is our highest priority." About the game: Irth Online is a virtual world in which players role play characters in a free form, fantasy-based storyline. Players join Irth's history at a period when a fragile truce exists among the far flung civilizations of the snowy Arcadians in the north, the southeastern swamps and marshes of Morbus, and the southwestern tropical region of Mezoteks - and determine the course of history for each civilization. The persiste