Dark and Light Date: NPCube held true to their earlier statement regarding a more formal announcement on the delay of Dark and Light and the new expected release date for sometime this November. From the website: NPCUBE, developer of the MMORPG Dark and Light, and publisher Farlan Entertainment, jointly announce today that the release date for Dark and Light has been set to November 2005. César Jacquet, CEO of NPCube, says: "The development team has been reorganized and reinforced in order to strengthen its technical experience and to rewrite the elements of the game engine that were too slow and lacked the flexibility required for DnL expectations. The game has to be able to permanently evolve along with its community". They are also including 2500 new beta testers into the game. Posted March 31 2005 by Div Devlin

PEPCOM Heads to E3Expo: Pepcom announced that they will be again having their eFocus Media Event this year running seperate to the E3Expo and are expecting to draw record crowds the day before E3Expo officially kicks off. We checked them out last year and helped them celebrate 'Cinco De Mayo' a bit late. This year the theme is going to be a Super Hero-themed celebration. Produced by Pepcom Inc., eFocus will take place Tuesday, May 17th, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the California Market Center, 110 East 9th St., in downtown L.A. The eFocus event, which is exclusively for press and analysts, will feature the industry's most influential digital entertainment companies. Last year more than 300 press and two dozen companies attended the event making it the largest press gathering at the E3 show. "The eFocus event has become one of our most popular showcases," said Chris O'Malley, a founding partner at Pepcom, Inc. "This is the third year for the event, and each year the interest from the press and companies has grown substantially." Some of the press who attended recent Pepcom event's include ABC, Bloomberg News, Business 2.0, Cargo, CBS, CNN, CNET, Computer Games, Consumer Reports, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Extremetech, eWeek, FHM, Forbes, Fortune, G4TechTV, GamePro, Gartner Dataquest, IDC, InfoWorld, Maxim, NBC, New York Times, Newsweek, PC Gamer, PC Magazine, PC World, Pocket PC, Popular Science, Surge, Reuters, Rolling Stone, Stuff, SYNC, Tech Living, Time, U.S. News, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. If you run a game company or product related to the game industry, this is the place you need to be prior to E3. Posted March 31 2005 by Div Devlin

MxO Event Team Preview: The Matrix Online has released a detailed preivew for their Live Event's Team that will help the storyline progess within game: First of all, there is always an event going on inside the Matrix. Every day, our Live Event Team is visiting every server, plotting and scheming along side players as they make organizational alliances, infiltrate opposing factions, and generally delve into the evolving story line of The Matrix Online. While I cannot confirm exactly what the major characters are up to... there are reports from all sides talking about secretive gatherings and clandestine cabals. Key players from all three of the major organizations, represented by Zion, Machines, and the Merovingian, appear to be taking steps to build their respective power bases. More than one redpill has reported a solicitation seeking support for a particular Organization’s social and political objectives. Check it. Posted March 31 2005 by Div Devlin

UPDATED: Nevrax Reorgs, MDO and Themis Changes: David Cohen Corval, President of Nevrax has announced that the company is going through a reorg for their game "Saga of Ryzom" which has been lacking interest in North America. Within two letters to the community he also addresses the steps that they will take to ensure the future success of the game. which includes the merging of servers and that Jolt Online Gaming will now be taking care of all the SoR shards in addition to what they were already handling (Jolt has been a partner since the launch of SoR in charge of all the servers infrastructure - machines and bandwidth - as well as the CS / GM / EM / CM for the European shard). Within the second letter he had this to say: I like the Themis and MDO team members very much, and I have a lot of respect for their work, and pride in their proven passion. It was all the more difficult for me to begin the reorganisation, but reality remains : we don't have the right number of registered players to support the configuration we have had until now. And even if we made important financial efforts to support our partners over the past months, it is no longer possible for Nevrax. Adaptation has become necessary. We discussed the reorganisation with all the partners over several weeks. and each had the opportunity to make their proposals. But ultimately I had to make the decision looking at what is in the best interest for SoR. We applaud Neverax for taking the needed steps to continue to make a successful game, but can not fail to note this is the fourth title Themis has been removed from (JumpGate, Anarchy Online, and Wish). UPDATE: Alexander Macris the President & CEO of Themis Group, Inc. responds. [Read Full Story] Full Story Posted March 31 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW, A Presdential Address: World of Warcraft has been having a craptastic amount of downtime which continues still with their servers and having been blasted by prety much everyone, Blizzard President Mike Morhaime gives issues forth a statement on the message boards which grew to over 60+ pages of players posting who they are still unhappy with a couple days credit for the recent downtime from the latest patch. From the community lettter: We are totally committed to providing our players with the best play experience possible, and we will continue to streamline our code and add new hardware to our infrastructure until we accomplish that goal. We once again thank you for your patience during this time, and wish you continued good fortunes on your adventures in Azeroth! Please note that this time extension discussed above is in addition to the two-day time extension announced yesterday that is being provided to players on all realms. Check the full address here. Archimonde is not a server listed, go figure. Posted March 31 2005 by Div Devlin

As the Market Churns: Another One Leaves SOE Is Sony Online becoming a sinking ship? Sean Kauppinen, head of product public relations for Sony Online Entertainment has left the building and moved into Kohnke Communications as an account director. Kohnke has been one of the best companies we have had the pleasure of working with, congrats to Sean in his new role. Deja Vu MMORPG is announcing that Dana Massey, formerly of Mutable Relams for Wish prior to it's demise has joined the news team in the role of "Lead Content Editor." Dana used to be a fansite manager over at Vault Network. Boldly Work, Where No One Has... Perpetual Entertainment has a ton load of job openings for Star Trek Online. I was going to send a resume in, but found that speaking fluent Klingon would not help me. Turbine Goes to Asia Turbine has secured the publishing rights in Asia for Dungeons and Dragons Online. Turbine, Inc., a premier publisher of online subscription entertainment, announced today that it has taken over the exclusive Asian language publishing rights from Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) to sublicense the distribution, localization and operation of the highly anticipated massively multiplayer online game Dungeons & Dragons Online in Asia. As a result, Turbine is currently looking for partners in a number of Asian markets to distribute, launch and operate D&D Online locally. First they boot VU on MEO and now Atari for Asia. Posted March 30 2005 by Div Devlin

Community Buzz: Quick shout out to Maslow who is on his way to cover a private Pre-E3 Media Event this week on the East Coast which I was unable to attend due to last minute schedule conflicts. Expect to see coverage on this event next week. Have a safe and funtrip Maslow! Interviews GameSpot gabs with Judith Hoffman for Dungeons and Dragons Online. Reviews EverQuest II on GameMethod. Posted March 30 2005 by Div Devlin

EQ Server Consolidation: In the largest move to date, EverQuest is going to consolidate eighteen more servers beginning April 11th and continuing until the completion of the process, using all standard rule-set's. Note: It is possible that characters on servers affected by the merge will have duplicate names. In the event that characters on the new, combined server do share a name, the character with the most played time will be entitled to keep the name. All other characters will have the letter X appended to their name and will be eligible for a name change. Check this update for dates and additional information about the moves. Posted March 30 2005 by Div Devlin

MMO Lists Updated: With the end of the first quarter upon us, the MMO Game List has been updated to refect the changes which have occured in the past thre months. New titles have been added, cancelled games have been striked out, and games due for release but delayed have been correctly listed as well as those games that did make it into commercial release. This list keeps growing. View the complete list. Posted March 30 2005 by Div Devlin

Ed: The Future of the Casual Player Minister Vado tells us: We stand upon the threshold of change. The signs are everywhere: ads litter train stations and the sides of buses, flash annoys the $#!% out of you when visiting your favorite sites, commercials might cause a double-take since you, like me, weren't likely giving the tely your full attention during the break…I'm even betting on a short segment in the evening news in the days coming. Maybe you won't feel the impact immediately; maybe you'll only notice the slight drop in available bandwidth. It's very possible that your personal tastes will render you completely immune to the coming tidal wave, but rest assured we're on the horizon of content delivered via a most convenient medium. Of course, the content of which I speak is our most beloved time-killer, gaming. Read his informative sermon on console games, and how they will impact us the PC Casual Gamer in the future. The Future of the Casual Player Posted March 29 2005 by Div Devlin

Project Entropia Lawsuit Ends: After a two year investigation into MindArk and Project Entropia Microsoft, Adobe, Macromedia, and Autodesk have chosen to drop all of their "Copyright Infringement Charges." Project Entropia, the fastest growing virtual world utilizing a real cash economy, today announces the closing of the two-year long Business Software Alliance (BSA) lawsuit against Project Entropia developer MindArk. In May 2002, members of the BSA, including Microsoft, Adobe Systems, Macromedia, and Autodesk, claimed that Swedish game maker, MindArk, had been illegally using software and other computer programs to run its facility. Since then MindArk has shown that all accusations made by theses companies and the BSA were false and that MindArk always had, and continues to operate legally violating no copyright infringements or software licensing rules, says MindArk CEO, Jan Welter. Despite the controversy surrounding the investigation, MindArk's Project Entropia continued to grow, building a massive virtual community currently reaching 233,000 registered members. The recent announcement of the auction sale of "Treasure Island" in December, 2004, also aided in boosting membership and interest in the popular MMORPG, as thousands flocked online to bid on a valuable parcel of land resulting in the largest virtual real estate MMORPG purchase in history at a sale price of $26,500. ... Posted March 29 2005 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane Turns 2 (5): UBI/Wolfpack sends word out that Shadowbane has officially turned two, two years as a commercial product with servers live and billing running. To reward subscribers who have maintained loyalty through-and-through they will given a special in-game gift: Ubisoft, one of the world's top game publishers, celebrates the two-year anniversary of Shadowbane®, the critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online (MMO) game by providing all players with a unique piece of in-game apparel featuring stats that will directly affect gameplay. Check the official press release. Happy Birthday! Posted March 29 2005 by Div Devlin

Shot Online Takes Two: Shot Online which held it's first official golf tournament did so well that OnNet Co., Ltd is going to do it again, but larger, increasing the amount of in game prizes! After the global popularity of the 1st Shot-Online Global Championship, what better way to celebrate the success of that major online phenomenon than to create a second, bigger and better tournament for Shot-Online, where Shot-Online players of all levels can participate? From beginning players to course veterans, every Shot-Online golfer can expect bigger prizes and even more competitive golfing in this championship event! Shot-Online, developed by OnNet Co., Ltd., is a persistent online sports simulation and role-playing game established in the world of golf, currently offering open beta service. The 2nd Shot-Online Global Championship will take place Monday, March 28 at 7:00 PM (CST) to Friday, April 1 at 5:00 AM (CST). Entry into the tournament is open to all members of Shot-Online, using their highest-level characters. Play will be conducted on the challenging "Midus Valley" course. Prize notification will be issued by April 4, 2005 at 8:00 PM (CST). Grab club details here. Posted March 29 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW, No Expansion Rumors: Blizzard has issued the smackdown on the expansion rumors for World of Warcraft circulating that would be shown at the E3Expo but continue to let players speculate, stating "We have no problems with the discussion, so long as everyone is aware this was not an announcement made by Blizzard, and we are not sure where this rumor originated," in response to a press release which appears on ActionTrip: Irvine, Calif. - Monday, March 28, 2005 - Blizzard Entertainment® today announced their plans to debut World of Warcraft: Northrend the first expansion to World of Warcraft, its award winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). The expanion will add new player races, a new faction and a whole new continent for players to explore. "We are very excited about this." said Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "World of WarCraft has been a tremendous worldwide success and we look forward to giving our customers much more content to explore. The expansion will further the game's storyline in conjunction with free content that Blizzard plans to release in the coming months." The expansion will be aimed largely at higher level players, and will involve a higher level cap, bigger and larger dungeons both inside and outside in Northrend and elsewhere, and many new items and quests. Blizzard is also expected to announce that the game's graphic engine has been further enhanced as planned to keep World of WarCraft in line with the latest technology. After its debut at E3, World of Warcraft: Northrend is expected to go into beta testing over the summer and be released in late 2005. We do not have a copy of this release. Snafu someplace? Posted March 29 2005 by Div Devlin

ATitD Massive Test Begins: eGenesis announced that they have launched a massive test (Story Element) and update for the second telling within "A Tale in the Desert" which kicked off Saturday. On Saturday at Noon EST (GMT-0500) we will release what is probably the biggest Test in A Tale in the Desert, The Test of the Safari. This test is the Legacy Test of the Human Body, designed by Dragyn and enshrined in a Monument at the close of our First Telling. The Test of the Safari challenges you to capture seven species of animals. Not an easy task, as some of the animals in nature are a tricky sort. Posted March 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Auto Assault Updates: NetDevil sends word from the central wastelands that they have been sharing hidden info nuggets all around the web in videos and interviews for Auto Assault, while also updating the official website with new information. In the Recon section, Prelude Chapter Two: Mountains out of Grassy Knoll Hills, is now available. The Prelude stories explain the history of the Auto Assault world, leading up to the present-day conditions players will find when they enter The Central Wastelands. Our weekly polls will be updated each week with Weigh-In Wednesdays. There’s still time to cast your vote in the first poll. The topic is "What do you like most in MMOs?" Be sure to get up to date and weigh in with your thoughts. Posted March 28 2005 by Div Devlin

As The Market Turns: Rumor has it that 2015 Inc. the game company behind Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for the PC is liquidating their assets and folding. Apparently, most of the development team left after MOH:AA came out, accelerating the demise. (Thanks Pud). Rumor has it that NPCube is going to delay Dark and Light until the end of 2005. From their message boards they state a more formal explanation about the release date will be posted and available this week (They are shooting for Thursday, March 31st). Expect the announcment for the games release date being delayed to be delayed. FunCom to do Conan Online is the rumor coming from MMHell for a possible 2006 release to coincide with the King Conan motion picture. (Thanks GameBunny!) GameTable Online announces that they have grabbed "10 Days in Africa" to their game lineup from Out of the Box. Sony to pay $90 Million in a Lawsuit for using someone elses design of dual-shock controllers for the PS and PS2. The Videogame market in China explodes despite piracy according to Niko Partners, a leading market research firm, who last week announced that the videogame market in China is experiencing rapid growth, particularly in the online games segment. According to a new report released by the company, online games revenue is forecast to reach $2.0 billion by 2009. Additionally, China had 28.8 million gamers in 2004 and Niko Partners projects that number to grow to 55.5 million gamers by 2009. Posted March 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Community Roundup: Birth Announcment SOE sends out word that the Firiona Vie is alive, as newborn baby is named after the EverQuest character. From eToyChest Tabitha Ayers gave birth to a baby girl January 6, 2005, and promptly named her Firiona Vie Ayers, in honor of EverQuest's famous spokes-elf. No word as of yer regarding copyright lawsuits. Editorials The ESRB, Illinois, and You at WarCry. Roleplaying in an MMORPG at KillerBetties. Interviews Sheri Graner Ray from SOE chats with Killer Betties. Reviews EverQuest II at RealGamer's. Eve Online Review #2 (including a press walkthrough) at GamersInfo. Posted March 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Knight Online Website Improved: K2Network sends word that since the North American launch of their game Knight Online last December, their registered user base has doubled its growth. To better serve the gaming community they have improved their official website with new features including Community Forums, an Auction Site, Fan Site Links, an Events Corner and a completely revamped Customer Support system. "We feel that community is something that is the heart of any online game and we are committed to offer the best possible foundation and support to help our community to prosper. We are delivering what our players have been asking us and thus have crafted a carefully designed website to sustain and expand our vibrant Knight Online global community" said Daniel Ko, Chief Technology Officer of K2 Network. Check em. Posted March 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane 2 Rumor Mill: While no official comment from UBI or Wolfpack on the rumor of a Shadowbane 2 game, Sean "Ashen Temper" Dahlberg has joined the development community of blogging with his site, AshenTemper.com where he states: The fact that I've had so many inquiries is great, it means that there is still a desire for PvP Games that are not completely twitch/FPSish and need more tactics than +5 Levels. With that said, I cannot confirm... nor can I deny... this rumor. But he sure does put feelers out their to not dash the happy images dancing within players heads as he discuss'es PvP aspects for MMO games. Posted March 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Codemasters + Turbine = AC, AC2: Codemasters announces their return to the MMO market after the cancellation of Dragon Empires last year, but with a twist as they enter a publishing partnership with Turbine for the EU market. Wednesday 23 March (10am UK time) - Asheron's Call®, the classic MMO brand, is returning to Europe as Codemasters announces securing the European distribution rights to Asheron's Call: Throne of Destiny™ and Asheron's Call 2: Legions™ from Turbine, Inc. The two expansions for Turbine's fantasy epic services, Asheron's Call: Throne of Destiny and Asheron's Call 2: Legions, will launch in Europe in May for PC and retail at £19.99 RRP each. Both games will include content from the original games, new exciting content from the expansions, massive amount of content from Turbine's regular service, and one month's free subscription. Under the agreement, the deal is only for UK and Europe, Sony is taking care of North America. Posted March 23 2005 by Div Devlin

Atriarch Update: World Fusion has an update on the Atriarch website announcing the first (worst) phase of beta testing for the game set to start this July: We will begin with a small outside testing group with Atriarch in July. The closest industry term for this phase of testing is alpha. However, a shirt I saw at Game Developer's Conference (GDC) last week captured the essence of early testing phases more accurately. Lucent Technologist and AI Programmer, Neil Kirby, was wearing a project shirt that read "Worst-First Testing Team". I think the phrase speaks for itself, and I decided to adopt the philosophy for Atriarch testing :-) Read. It's a chuckle and meant to be humourous. Posted March 23 2005 by Div Devlin

IGN For Sale? c|net has reason to believe that IGN, which includes all of the Vault sites covering MMO Games, along with V3 and GameSpy could be for sale based on article which appeared in the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ thinks the IGN empire could fetch as much as $800 million. IGN is also said to be considering an IPO, an odd choice considering that it's less than two years since the company went private, after three profit-challenged years as a public entity. An IGN representative said only that the company is "looking at several options to fund our growth." IGE to buy IGN? Posted March 23 2005 by Div Devlin

Turbine Boots VU In MEO: Turbine has a major announcement for Middle-Earth Online in which VUGames is no longer the publisher, along with the announcment that a new release date is slated for 2006. Turbine, Inc., a leading publisher of online subscription entertainment, announced today that it has finalized a deal with Tolkien Enterprises and Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) that grants Turbine the exclusive right to develop and publish massively multiplayer online worlds based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit literary works. As part of the agreement, Turbine will own all of the game assets to the upcoming, highly anticipated massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) The Lord of the Rings™: Middle-Earth™ Online. All publishing responsibilities previously assumed by VU Games for the online license have been transitioned to Turbine effective immediately. ... Turbine will launch Middle-Earth Online in 2006. Specific details and dates regarding the game's development will be announced in the near future. Full Read. Posted March 23 2005 by Div Devlin

MxO Theatrical Trailer: Monolith and WBIE announce that with the release of the game yesterday, now you to can check out the theatrical trailer released to theatres promoting The Matrix Online. The Matrix Online Trailer can also be viewed in AMC theaters nationwide in front of all PG-13 and R rated movies. This trailer is the finale of the 9 previously released story trailers that gave fans a look into the beginnings of the unraveling of the uneasy truce between the Machines and people of Zion. Check it. Posted March 23 2005 by Div Devlin

Adellion Community Letter: The Adellion website from Alchemic Dreams has been updated with a letter to the community including several screenshots from the Alpha version (which is running right now) and characters' artworks. First, there was the admission of our first group of testers. They got a chance to look at our Alpha 1 or “environmental” version. This is a special version of a single two square mile game tile that we use to test many of the environmental aspects of the game. Our testers got to take a character and run around on the game world, checking the game to see if it ran on their own home hardware. There were a few interesting bugs uncovered, and more than a few interesting discussions and suggestion on what they saw. In general, the reaction was very positive and we got quite a bit of material from them to think about. Check it. Posted March 22 2005 by Div Devlin

E3Expo Sells Out: The E3Expo announces they will have a full house this year as they have sold out of exhibit space for this year's show taking place in sunny L.A. this May 18th to the 20th. The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo), the world's premier computer and video game trade event, has sold out of exhibit space for this year's show, making 2005 the fastest sell-out in five years. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced today that to date, E3Expo 2005 has sold more than 540,000 net square feet of exhibit space covering five exhibit halls in the Los Angeles Convention Center, the largest amount of space sold since 2000. "E3Expo 2005 brings us to the threshold of a new era of creative and technological innovation for the global computer and video game business, providing first looks at the next generation of hardware and previews of the advanced titles and technologies that consumers will be bringing home this holiday season," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the ESA, the trade association that represents U.S. computer and video game publishers and owns E3Expo. "With a show floor the size of 2,700 city blocks, an unparalleled business conference program, and more than 400 exhibitors from 87 countries, E3Expo is truly the best place on the planet to get down to the business of fun." Have you registered, pre-registration closes soon. Posted March 22 2005 by Div Devlin

Horizons Mithral GiveAway: Tulga Games announces they are holding a "Mithral Give-Away" as a way of rewarding players within Horizons who log into the game between 19 March 2005 and 19 April 2005 to be provided a chance to win some phat lewt: 5 Mithril Grand Prizes: Five Apple iPod Mini’s (Five Winners) OR purses of one (1) in-game gold coin. (five winners). 4 Platinum Prizes: 4 (four) $100 Amazon.com gift cards OR purses of 500 in-game silver coins (four winners). 3 Gold Prizes: 3 (three) $75 Amazon.com gift cards OR purses of 250 in-game silver coins (three winners) 3 Silver Prizes: 3 (three) $50 Amazon.com gift cards OR purses of 100 in-game silver coins (three winners). 10 Bronze Prizes: 10 (ten) Horizons: Empire of Istaria Original Release Posters OR purses of 50 in-game silver coins (ten winners). Horizons does offer a free trial for seven days. Check out the full rules on how to win. Posted March 22 2005 by Div Devlin

The Mourning Report: Even more drama comes from Mourning (which still has not released beta!) as Limitless Horizon's and game site MMORPG get into it. Long story short, Limitless say's to MMORPG, "We don't like you. We don't need you." MMORPG responds with "We don't like you either, and don't want you." Fans get into an uproar. Both sides look stupid. MMORPG Linkage. Mourning Linkage. Posted March 22 2005 by Div Devlin

The Matrix Online, Online: The Matrix Online from WBIE officially goes online today for non-preorder subscribers. BURBANK, Calif. & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2005-- Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and SEGA are pleased to announce that today, hundreds of thousands of players can now jack into The Matrix Online, a massively multi-player online game (MMOG), to participate in the continuing saga of the The Matrix franchise. Developed by Monolith Productions, directed by the Wachowski Brothers and co-published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and SEGA, The Matrix Online is launching for the PC today in North America and April 8, 2005 in Europe. The Matrix Online's story continues after the third film, The Matrix Revolutions, ended with Zion and the Machines in an uneasy truce. Capturing the authenticity of 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) have provided voice-over and character likenesses to the game. Don Davis, the film composer for The Matrix trilogy, is also providing the score for The Matrix Online. "The Matrix Online takes massively multi-player online games to a new level by giving players the chance to directly participate and make history within the Matrix's continuing, intriguing story," said Jason Hall, Senior Vice President for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "In The Matrix Online, gamers can create their ideal character for combat and socialization within an incredibly expansive urban environment and then interact with actual characters from the Matrix films." A congrats to "Wolf" who tuned into RadioGameRifts last night and won a copy of the game. Posted March 22 2005 by Div Devlin

EQ2 Adventure Pack Launched: The EQ2 Live team announces on the EverQuest II website that their first adventure pack, "The Bloodline Chronicles" has launched. Intended for characters that are levels 30 to 45, The Bloodline Chronicles offers new zones along with new weapons, armor, spells, and combat arts. Note that subscribers who choose not to purchase the Bloodline Chronicles can download a new zone, the Tombs of Night, at no additional charge. SOE striles back! Posted March 22 2005 by Div Devlin

Guild Wars BWE: ArenaNet hosted their second to last Beta Weekend Event for Guild Wars over the weekend past, which the Lords of the Dead guild participated in and share their thoughts on how it went: I was highly impressed with the PvP content we saw this month, and I think it lays a good foundation for the future. My problem right now revolves around guild members waiting for a GvsG slot to open, and tiring of Tombs PvP because its "meaningless" (as in no ladder, etc). I dislike the idea of forming two guilds because it makes moving, switching, etc a pain in the rear but until Tombs is actually worth something I don't see much choice. Check out the full read. Posted March 22 2005 by Div Devlin

MMO Game Cash Brokers: PlaySend sends word they have launched their third party broker service for transferring in game currency to other players with current support for Ultima Online, Project Entropia, and Second Life: The service ?PlaySend- consists of performing in-game deliveries on behalf of MMORPG and Game currency sellers to their buyers. What it does: The PlaySend service removes the burden of in-game deliveries from sellers by doing deliveries for them. It also reduces the uncertainty of buyers by providing a trusted common carrier. How it works: Any seller, or anyone using PlaySend, can deposit, send and retrieve game currency at their convenience. As sales happen, sellers use a simple web interface to send currency to multiple players. Buyers are notified via e-mail ? even if they are not registered in PlaySend - registration is automatic and kicks into action a referral system. The service charges a small percentage fee expressed in game currency upon deposits, and allows the unlimited sending and retrieval of game currency. Furthermore, PlaySend will record the ?referrer? of every account created automatically during a transfer, and grants the ?referrer? a percentage of all deposit fees the new account ever incurs. As a buyer, receiving currency is as simple as logging in with the User ID and password sent automatically. PlaySend operators perform the in-game deliveries. Bottom line: For sellers and brokers: Less time spent performing routine tasks frees up time to focus on selling more, faster, with a higher level of quality, while expanding into more games. For players, uncertainty is replaced by convenience, known quality and a unified process and interface. Background: A major challenge of the industry providing currency to players is the time-consuming task of online in-person delivery (meeting with buyers inside their games.) The current state of this industry is equivalent to a catalog business in a world where no postal service exists and deliveries are done directly by sellers; worse yet, they?re done at the exact moment the buyer demands delivery, creating huge inefficiencies. On the buyer side, delivery method, timeliness and availability are always a question mark. PlaySend raises the bar to a superior standard, and at the same time levels the playing field by providing equal access to a service sorely needed in the most challenging areas this industry faces: Human scalability for sellers and quality of service for buyers. I'm not even going to try and figure it out. Posted March 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Three Rings Game Toolkit: Three Rings, the makers behind "Puzzle Pirates" send word that they have released an open source MMO Game Toolkit and that they have launched the Game Gardens website for said toolkit. Three Rings, developer of massively multi-player online games, today annouced the release under an open source license of their Narya toolkit for creating online multi-player games, the same toolkit used to create their flagship product, "Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates." Concurrent with this release, they launched the Game Gardens website at http://www.gamegardens.com where developers can collaborate on game design and development, and host, free of charge, games developed with the toolkit. "The combination of the toolkit and the hosting site eliminates many of the hurdles a budding game developer faces when trying to turn an exciting new game idea into something people can actually play online," says Three Rings CTO Michael Bayne. "We're hoping to foster experimentation in game design and provide hobbyists and indy developers with a place to share ideas and evolve their designs with the help of an audience of their peers." The Narya toolkit is developed in Java (tm) and works with the Windows, MacOS X and Linux operating systems and is available for download from http://www.gamegardens.com Posted March 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Might & Magic Online? Ubisoft has revealed their game line-up for 2005-2006. Of interesting note is the reference to the Might & Magic liscense they picked up after bidding wars with other MMO Game companies last year(?). They buried it at the bottom of the of the listing. Settlers5 Nebelreich addon (English port) 187 Ride or Die" New chapter of Brothers In Arms Far Cry add on Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 3 Peter Jackson's King Kong Prince of Persia 3 Silent Hunter 4 Heroes of Might & Magic 5 Splinter Cell 4 The Settlers mission pack Product with Might & Magic brand While they have ignored any reference to a Shadowbane 2 rumor, Corp News has noted that they heard word that Damion "Ubiq" Schubert is involved in another project at Wolfpack. Speculation is fun. Posted March 18 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW, 1.5 Million Subscribers: SOE weeps as Blizzard sends this announcment out about World of Warcraft: Irvine, Calif. - March 18, 2005 - Blizzard Entertainment® today announced that World of Warcraft®, its massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has surpassed the 1.5 million subscriber mark, underscoring the game's continued success around the world. Building on its record-breaking debuts in North America, Korea, and Europe, World of Warcraft has reached global peak concurrency - the number of subscribers playing at the same time in each market - of more than 500,000 players. "All of us at Blizzard are extremely gratified and amazed at the international demand for World of Warcraft," said Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "From region to region, we've seen a phenomenal level of enthusiasm for World of Warcraft, and we're absolutely thrilled people are enjoying the game so much." Since its debut in North America on November 23, 2004, World of Warcraft has launched to critical and commercial success in Korea and Europe, exploding in popularity across the globe. In the span of a few short months, World of Warcraft has achieved record-breaking milestones, including: Europe: o Over 290,000 account creations and 180,000 peak concurrency in its first weekend. o Over 500,000 active subscribers, and 230,000 peak concurrency to date. Korea: o The most successful 100-day launch of any MMORPG in Korean history since its commercial release on January 18, 2005. o World of Warcraft is currently played in 75% of Korean Internet Game Rooms (IGRs), the primary venue for playing games in Korea. IGRs subscribe directly to MMORPGs and then players buy blocks of time from the IGRs for game time. North America: o Over 200,000 subscribers and 100,000 peak concurrency achieved in the game's first 24 hours. o Current subscriber base of over 800,000 players. Blizzard Entertainment is now focused on preparing the game for launch in additional regions in Asia and firming up service support in existing data centers. World of Warcraft is scheduled to launch in China in 2005, where excitement for the game has already reached a fevered pitch, as evidenced by the 100,000 applications for the limited open beta in just the first hour of signups on February 28, 2005. Launches in Taiwan and other regions are scheduled to follow closely thereafter. So, MMO Gaming is popular again and everyone is going to want to have a "Billion" (/evil laughter) subscribers now? Posted March 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Auto Assault Update: NetDevil announces they have launched their official message boards for Auto Assault, make sure to stop by and get registered, do some posting and jack up your post counts! Newbies are "Sunday Driver's." For more details on the game though, you will want to check out the update in the Recon Section titled "Destruction" which explains why the game rocks. And for the final bit check out Community Relations Manager, Valerie "Pann" Massey's interview as she goes deep into the Ogres Den on GameOgre. Posted March 17 2005 by Div Devlin

As The Industry Changes: A few changes within the MMO Community appears to have taken place during GDC last week. First up is the announcment from camp SOE that Jon "Calandryll" Hanna is no longer involved with the company. While it has not been officially announced, word has it he has joined Turbine as the Director of Community Relations. Taking over for him at SOE will be Diane "Tiggs" Migliaccio as the new Director of Community Relations for Star Wars Galaxies. Unnanounced is also the departure of Gordon "Tyrant" Walton who was the Studio Manager of SOE Austin and is now being listed in E3Expo marketing as a "Consultant," but can be found in an interview talking to Jonric at Vault. Congrats to everyone on the moves. Is this a bad thing for SOE? In other game industry news, Ncsoft announces that Cryptic's City of Heroes is joining the paper gaming world with Eden Studios as well as the card game market with Alderac Entertainment Group. Meanwhile IGN grabbed John Turtizin, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Marvel Enterprises to talk about the ongoing lawsuit of Marvel versus Cryptic Studios who says, "The case remains absolutely as strong as when Marvel filed its complaint -- stronger even because the judge has held that Marvel has stated claims for copyright and trademark infringement, among other claims." So it must be true, right? Right! Posted March 17 2005 by Div Devlin

RYL $1 Million Tourney! PlanetWide Games announced this is the last chance to enter their RYL: Path of the Emperor skill based tournament for Founder's Guilds in which contestants can become eligible to win $1 Million Dollars (/insert evil laughter)! This rare offer and opportunity is now nearing its end at 12:00 Midnight Pacific Standard Time on March 17th, 2005, when we go pay to play. The Founder's Guild has become one the strongest guilds that the Emperor is aware of within RYL: Path of the Emperor. Based on the closing of this offer the Emperor wanted to inform all of you that this is your very LAST CHANCE to become a Founder's Guild member. By becoming a Founder's Guild member this will automatically enroll you and make you eligible in the RYL: Path of the Emperor $1,000,000.00 Skill-based Player vs. Player Tournament. They say to check the boards for more information and rules, which are oddly missing from said boards, unless the announcment counts? RYL: Path of the Emperor officially launches commercially today, so if you want to try and win that purse, you need to become a customer, NOW! Posted March 17 2005 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane Update: Word comes out of Wolfpack Studios that the Shadowbane Team has updated the Development section of the Chronicle of Strife with information pertaining to the next major update entitled "A Call to Arms". Character Stat Refinement - Allowing players to modify their attributes has been one of the most requested features from the community since the game's launch. The main goal behind Character Stat Refinement is to prevent players from having to restart their characters due to real or perceived mistakes in allocating Stat Points. The existing Refiner hireling will gain this ability. The Hotbar - A new window will be added to the interface called a Hotbar. This window will hold any power or ability that a player can place for quick activation and/or reference. Any Power, ability, or usable item that can be hot keyed will be able to be placed in the Hotbar. No replies yet as to the wishful rumor of a Shadowbane II from "The Corp." Posted March 17 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW, Emulated: Thanks to Lum for announcing that World of Warcraft is being emulated and to Cosmik at N3rfed for linkage. For the players! The folks behind the emulated server do not think Blizzard shall shut them down because they are in Canada! Or some fun. Posted March 17 2005 by Div Devlin

CoH Named Best PC Game: Cryptic and NCsoft bagged another award for City of Heroes as the get named Best PC Game by InQuest Magazine readers. InQuest Gamer received thousands of votes from its readers, and City of Heroes, a massively multiplayer online game developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft, was the runaway winner for the Best Computer Game. City of Heroes beat out runner-up Doom 3 by a three-to-two margin. The results of all the awards will be published in an upcoming InQuest Gamer issue. The InQuest Game Fan Awards include categories ranging from Best Computer Game to Best New Collectible Card Game to Best RPG. InQuest Gamer is guide to fantasy gaming, featuring player and price guides for a variety of games including competitive card games, miniatures as well as complete coverage of electronic gaming. City of Heroes has been a commercial and critical success, having been named as "2004 PC or Console Game of the Year" by Billboard Magazine and "Multiplayer Game of the Year" at the Spike TV Video Game Awards, as well as "MMORPG of the Year" by Computer Gaming World magazine. An award well deserved. Congrats to the team again! Posted March 16 2005 by Div Devlin

EQ Turns Six: The EQLive team announced to their community that EverQuest has turned six. Not many things are part of our lives for as many as 6 years. We are in High School for 4 years, most of us anyway. College is also 4 years. Few television shows are a part of our lives for 6 years. EverQuest has changed gaming and revolutionized virtual worlds. PC games do not usually have this kind of following, for this many years. Granted, computer games have not been around as long as other mediums, but in that short time, few games have enjoyed this longevity with this measure of success. 9 expansions have been added to EverQuest and I can think of no other game that has added that much content to an already expansive world, rich and alive with content and adventure. No game has held my interest for nearly as long as EverQuest and it may be that none will; only time will tell. It brings a tear to thine eye, read the full announcement. Posted March 16 2005 by Div Devlin

Guild Wars Collectors Ed: ArenaNet announces the release date for the Guild Wars Collectors Edition along with juicy details on the contents due in stores on April 28 (the same day as Guild Wars) in North America. - Guild Wars - The Game - Guild Wars Music Sound Track CD - Guild Wars Full-color Art Book - Speakeasy; Teamspeak - 3 Months of FREE Service - Guild Wars Logitech Headset - EXCLUSIVE In-game Item, the "Divine Aura" Only an elite few gain the attention and favor of the gods, but those who do receive a celestial gift-a Divine Aura, a glowing visible token of their god's blessing. When players purchase the Collector's Edition of Guild Wars, each of their characters will receive this unique in-game item. Characters who have the item equipped are surrounded by a unique aura determined by the god who has bestowed it, and the item itself has a shape and color distinctive to that specific god. Once blessed by the gods, Divine Aura stays with a character; it cannot be traded or given to others. The suggested retail price for the Collector’s Edition is $79.99. Contents and pricing may vary outside of North America. Also this weekend marks the March Beta Weekend Event. The March and April events will only be open to players who preordered Guild Wars, so go order. Posted March 16 2005 by Div Devlin

MxO Game Events: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and SEGA have just revealed that upon the launch of The Matrix Online on March 22, 2005, a specialized role-playing live events team will propel the game's storyline with prominent Matrix character action. As part of the unique continuing story based nature of The Matrix Online, a specialized Role Playing Live Events Team is in place to assume the roles of the actual Matrix characters and support the continuation of the storyline within The Matrix Online, a massively multi-player online game co-published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and SEGA. Within the context of the storyline, players will interact, battle and eventually team up with the main characters from The Matrix saga, as the experienced Live Events Team will actively role play their Wachowski Brothers approved, continuously written parts, including Morpheus, The Oracle, Seraph, The Merovingian and more. Further, the Live Events Team will also be responsible for producing and implementing large scale story events that are real-time gameplay activities, which progress the story in The Matrix Online. Sample activities that the Live Events Team will produce are: - Choreographed, Live interaction with characters from The Matrix saga, including Morpheus, The Oracle, The Merovingian and more - In-game story relevant contests - High-profile missions with Matrix characters, inclusive of key players from the game - Supporting player organized events - Speeches, riots, parties, duels and more Finally, someone willing to invest in a real live events team! Tuesday also marked the end of beta testing with a twist as the game closed down to prepare for live: The Beta came to a stunning conclusion as a war broke out between The Machines and the people of Zion. The Exiles, lead by The Merovingian, picked up and left the Matrix in order to wait for the resolution of the battle. The Matrix Online showed for the first time the power of the story - MAJOR characters made LIVE appearances. Morpheus, Niobe, Seraph, and the Merovingian all made appearances in the game giving speeches to players and rallying them to their side. Niobe was even spotted going into battle against many Agents. The Machines turned the sky red and filled it with all-seeing eyes. They then proceeded to hunt down INDIVIDUAL players, calling them out by name and chasing them down for deletion. Other players would rally around the named and try to defend them from the Agents. Later in the day, Agents began spreading a Fire Virus fire that would infect all players. Finally, the Machines succeeded in rebooting the Matrix after crumpling all players like aluminum cans in a final blow to Zion. The entire event was reported on LIVE by Radio Free Zion. They had their DJs spread through the Matrix and would report on Agent movements, player uprisings, Morpheus sightings, and Fire Virus infestations. Posted March 16 2005 by Div Devlin

Tactica Online Website: The official website for Tactica Online from Imaginary Numbers is now online. Included is GamePlay Overviews, A Developer Letter, Gallery with screenshots, and historical overviews on which the game will be based within. From the Dev Letter: My name is Luke Carruthers, and I'm the CEO of Imaginary Numbers, the company behind Tactica, and Creative Director for the project. These web sites are pretty formal things for the most part, and we wanted to have a way to talk with you all that wasn't quite so formal. Not everyone reads forums though (and we won't have any local forums for a while yet), so we thought it would be good to do a regular look-behind-the-scenes kind of column, where we could talk about aspects of development that perhaps weren't quite ready to get their own section of the site. Thus was born the Dev Diary, in which one of us (usually me, everyone else always seems to have something to do . . . ) will expound about some aspect of development. To start us off, I want to talk a bit about what exactly Tactica is, and why. Everyone's excited about online games these days. They're the fastest growing segment of PC gaming, and there are more in development than you can shake a stick at. The problem is, almost all of them are classical RPG's, and, while we love a good RPG as much as the next person (Planescape: Torment, mmmm), do we really need a dozen of them at the same time? Check it. Posted March 16 2005 by Div Devlin

Auto Assault Round-Up: Pann, the Community Realtions Manager for Auto Assault sends her greetings from the Central Wastelands with word that they have updated the website: In this week’s Recon feature update, we have introduced information about Infantry. In addition to the ripples of sheer maniacal pleasure people get while playing Auto Assault and blasting buildings into smoking rubble, there’s a special sort of glee one feels when mowing down these expendable cogs in the bad guys’ arsenals. The Rocky Mountain News ran a nice little story about their recent visit to the NetDevil office and preview of Auto Assault. Though the reporter accidentally got SamuraiPenguin’s real name wrong (it’s Ryan, not Brian, Seabury,) the article is a good read and features some new artwork. Check it out! DO IT! Posted March 11 2005 by Div Devlin

CoH Beats Marvel: NCsoft and Cryptic win the first round of the City of Heroes lawsuit filed against them by Marvel Comics for copyright infringement as an LA Judge dismissed the allegations. A U.S. district court judge in Los Angeles dismissed several key claims by comic book publisher Marvel Enterprises, Inc in the company's trademark and copyright infringement case against online computer game publisher NCsoft® Corporation and game developer Cryptic StudiosTM. Marvel sued NCsoft and Cryptic Studios in November of last year, claiming that the City of Heroes® online computer game allows players to imitate comic book characters owned by Marvel. In a March 9 order, U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner agreed with NCsoft that some of Marvel's allegations and exhibits should be stricken as "false and sham" because certain allegedly infringing works depicted in Marvel's pleadings were created not by users, but by Marvel itself. The judge also dismissed more than half of Marvel's claims against NCsoft and Cryptic Studios, including Marvel's claims that the defendants directly infringed Marvel's registered trademarks and are liable for purported infringement of Marvel's trademarks by City of Heroes' users. In addition, he dismissed Marvel's claim for a judicial declaration that defendants are not an online service provider under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The judge dismissed all of these claims without leave to amend, meaning that Marvel cannot refile these claims. Although the judge allowed certain claims to survive the motion to dismiss, NCsoft and Cryptic Studios are pleased with the result and are confident that both the law and the facts will support their case. In fact, citing a 1984 Supreme Court case holding that the sale of video cassette recorders did not violate copyright law, the Court noted that "It is uncontested that Defendants' game has a substantial non-infringing use. Generally the sale of products with substantial non-infringing uses does not evoke liability for contributory copyright infringement." Only "where a computer system operator is aware of specific infringing material on the computer system, and fails to remove it, the system operator contributes to infringement," the Court stated. The defendants have 10 days in which to answer and dispute Marvel's allegations and to assert legal defenses to the remaining claims as well as to assert any counterclaims. BAM! WOP! POW! Even. Posted March 11 2005 by Div Devlin

Gods & Heroes Announced: Perpetual Entertainment is really jumping into the MMO universe, with Start Trek Online in development, they announce their second title, "Gods & Hereos: Rome Rising," set in Ancient Rome. Perpetual Entertainment, Inc., the developer of the upcoming Star Trek Online, announced today Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, a new massively multi-player game (MMG) designed by Stieg Hedlund, the lead designer of Diablo II. Gods and Heroes is being unveiled for selected industry journalists in private showings at Perpetual's offices during the week of the Game Developers Conference (GDC), March 9-11, and will launch in the fall of this year. In Gods and Heroes, players become classic heroes of the ancient world, born of immortal blood. As a scion of the gods, each player will have the opportunity to pursue his destiny through a series of Epic Quests that will span all levels of gameplay, over time commanding amazing God Powers and acquiring famous weapons and treasure of myth. "Gods and Heroes offers what every player craves in an MMG: content," said Chris McKibbin, Co-Founder and President of Perpetual Entertainment, and Executive Producer of Gods and Heroes. "There will be over 1,250 quests at the time of launch, all tied in to the characters and the themes of the unique areas in the game. In addition, players will enjoy private zones for individually tailored gameplay, rich skill-based character development, fully integrated social systems, player-to-player interaction tools, and ongoing contested areas such as forts, territories, towns, castles and mines." The game will be set in Rome around 300 BC, a time when the Republic is powerful, but Roman enemies including the Carthaginians, Gauls, and Samnites threaten the fledgling imperial holdings. Worse, the land is beset by terrible creatures, such as Gorgons, Cyclopes, and Furies. As heroes of Rome, players will take on missions to expand and protect the Republic, her interests, and her citizens, and will serve one of the twelve great Roman gods. Future expansions are planned to open up new lands and new pantheons of gods Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising will implement the most interactive, dynamic, strategic and engaging combat system of any MMG – challenging players before battle as well as during battle. Players will strategically select and train their NPC Soldiers in a variety of skills and abilities to form individual squads that meet specific challenges, and devise strategies and create formations for these squads to execute on command – maximizing the unique skills and abilities of each individual squad. "We are thrilled to be able to announce this title during the Game Developer's Conference 2005. We can't wait to share our genre-defining 3D graphics, animation, effects and sound," said Joe Keene, Co-Founder and CEO of Perpetual. "This is an exciting time for Perpetual Entertainment, with both Gods and Heroes and Star Trek Online under development." Check it out, it looks pretty good and has great talent behind it already! Posted March 11 2005 by Div Devlin

MxO Gold, IBM Does Hosting: Warner Bros. sends word out that The Matrix Online has gone gold: The highly anticipated continuation to The Matrix film trilogy, The Matrix Online has gone gold and is on track for a March 22, 2005 launch. The MMOG, co-published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and SEGA, will take tens of thousands of players down the rabbit hole and unveil a story full of twists and turns allowing them to take an active role in helping determining the future of the Matrix saga. In addition to the gold announcment Warner Brothers also announces they have chosen IBM to provide the games infrastructure: Warner Bros. Online today announced that IBM will provide the on-demand technology and services to power The Matrix Online, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment's first massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), co-published with SEGA of America. Based on The Matrix film trilogy, The Matrix Online will be released in North America on March 22, 2005 and in Europe on April 8, 2005. "Warner Bros. Online is working with IBM to help build a flexible, resilient infrastructure that will be able to `continue the saga' of The Matrix trilogy and support the complex demands of a MMORPG," said Jim Noonan, senior vice president and general manager of Warner Bros. Online. "Responsive and highly flexible technology is required to create an engaging and complete urban environment for players in The Matrix Online," said Jason Hall, senior vice president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "Warner Bros. Online and IBM are working toward this goal in order to help provide a true interactive, online space that will allow gamers to continue the storyline of the Matrix." To support The Matrix Online, Warner Bros. Online will implement IBM hardware, including IBM eServer pSeries systems and IBM eServer xSeries systems for overall infrastructure support. In addition, Warner Bros. Online will deploy IBM WebSphere Application Server for registration and billing; and IBM software to map out a blueprint that helps create a seamless environment for rapid design, integration, construction and deployment. IBM technology will also allow Warner Bros. Online to remotely manage the technology from different locations and with varying degrees of access so the team can separate out permissions, as well as identify and assign specific tasks. This is of particular importance considering the number of groups responsible for actual game play. "Warner Bros. Online is well positioned to capitalize on the promise of an increasingly on-demand marketplace in interactive entertainment," said Steve Canepa, vice president, IBM Global Media and Entertainment Industry. "IBM technology, coupled with Warner Bros. Entertainment's storytelling expertise, can deliver a responsive quality experience for online game players." There ya go. Posted March 11 2005 by Div Devlin

Mourning Adds Beta Delay: It's been two weeks and Limitless Horizons has announced yet another delay to their game Mourning which was to be Shadowbane done right as dubbed by the community. "Problems with dialogs" means conversations between PCs and NPCs. And "path finding of the monsters" is what allows the mobs to chase you down and beat the stuffing out of you. There is no estimated date yet. But they are working on the issues and will post a date when they can. But they did release some more screenshots! /Laughs Posted March 11 2005 by Div Devlin

Turbine Digital Downloads: Turbine Selects Akamai for Digital Delivery of Online Games reads the official press release: Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leading global service provider for accelerating content and business processes online, today announced that Turbine, Inc., a leading producer and publisher of online subscription entertainment, has chosen Akamai Media Delivery for secure, reliable delivery of its online assets. Akamai Media Delivery is ideal for delivering Turbine's games, patches, content updates and online promotional streaming trailers, and is also the solution of choice for 25 of the top 30 media and entertainment businesses. Turbine, which develops, operates and publishes online games, needed a solution to meet the growing needs of its customers. Every day, Turbine customers download and play online video games, download free trials and video trailers, and get new game updates and patches. Given that many of these games and video trailers are very large, graphically intensive files, they can typically take a long time to download, with frequent failures. Turbine is addressing these issues by trusting Akamai to deliver its complete set of electronic downloads. "We saw an opportunity for a respected online entertainment company like Turbine, and Akamai, a leader in the media delivery space, to partner to drive the online game market together," said Mike Hogan, vice president of technology and operations, Turbine, Inc. "Akamai is a quality service provider - and it's critical that our content is delivered over a quality distribution platform that helps us reach a global audience." "By leveraging the Akamai platform, Turbine can offer its customers a great experience through fast, reliable delivery of the content they need," said Kris Alexander, senior media and entertainment solution manager, Akamai. "Providing a great online experience is important for ensuring customer satisfaction and growing a customer base. Akamai helps ensure this with a proven platform designed to enable storage and global delivery of games and other media assets online." The demand for media of all types--music, movies, games and more is growing rapidly. Fickle consumers want to access media how they want, when they want and where they want. To be successful, businesses need to be on par or better than traditional delivery options. Akamai Media Delivery offers businesses a scalable and reliable platform to enable the delivery, protection and monetization of a range of digital media assets, including music, movies, games, broadcasts, TV shows, and events--without adding or needing to maintain infrastructure. No filesharing? Posted March 10 2005 by Div Devlin

Singapore Goes MMO: Singapore announces they are jumping into the MMO market with their entire country: Game publishers looking to enter Asia have yet another reason to look to Singapore as their launchpad. The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), a government agency that promotes infocomm technology, today launched a promotion program for its Games Bazaar Initiative. This adds to the Games Bazaar existing offering of a subsidized and scalable-pay-as-you-use hosting platform launched at last year's Game Developers Conference in San Jose. Games Bazaar's Promotion Program Currently, game publishers face cultural and technical hurdles for each of the Asian gaming markets. The Games Bazaar's Promotion Program adopts an integrated marketing approach that will help games companies extend their market outreach through Singapore to Asia by assisting them in overcoming these hurdles. The program includes advertising in key targeted online and print media, regional and international consumer road shows and conferences. In addition, localization services, such as editing and language dubbing, help ensure games are adapted for local consumer tastes. "To successfully deploy games that truly interest Asian gamers, games companies need an affordable, quick and scalable means to test market their games to different online gamers in Asia. Games Bazaar's promotion program addresses this by offering games companies a marketing platform to put beta titles into the hands of their target gamers. This in turn will accelerate their commercialization into Asia," said Hock Yun Khoong, Assistant Chief Executive, Industry, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. The Games Bazaar's Promotion Program will roll-out in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore for a start and scale-up to include other cities over the next two years. The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is committed to growing Singapore into a dynamic global infocomm hub. IDA uses an integrated approach to developing infocommunications in Singapore. This involves nurturing a competitive telecoms market as well as a conducive business environment with programmes and schemes for both local and international companies. For more information, visit http://www.idanews.gov.sg. Posted March 10 2005 by Div Devlin

Guild Wars Beta Finale: ArenaNet announces that their last two Weekend Beta events will be closed to the general public and only allow Pre-Order customers in to check out the finale prior to commercial launch for their game Guild Wars. ArenaNet, creators of the highly-anticipated online- roleplaying game, Guild Wars, and NCsoft, the world's leading developer and publisher of online computer games, today confirmed details of a preorder programme across Europe, and simultaneously announced that the final beta events will be available only to those who have pre-ordered the game. "We wanted to offer preorder customers the opportunity to enjoy exclusive access to Guild Wars as we near our release date," says Mike O'Brien, co-founder ArenaNet. "Caring about our fan base is something we take very seriously here at ArenaNet, and this is reflected in our decision to go with a simultaneous European and North American release and with multi-language support." The next Beta Weekend Event will begin on 18th March, and the final Beta Weekend Event will begin on 15th April. Posted March 10 2005 by Div Devlin

Mimesis Online Ends: Sad news from Tannhauser Gate as the announce the shut-down of Mimesis Online. Mimesis Online has been a great journey that we started back in 1998. It was a very ambitious project and one of the first Massively Multiplayer Online Games set in a post-apocalyptic world. Mimesis Online was a pioneer in the genre in many ways. The game was released in January 2002 and received some remarkable attention from the media and gaming community. Soon after the game's release it gathered a devoted base of fans and friends who have supported us through the post-release development and all the updates. We would like to thank all the players for their suggestions, bug reports, involvement in the community building and the game forums, and foremost for staying with the game through all those years. We remain grateful. We now feel it is time to use all the experience and technology to move to next projects. We hope you will be there when such are announced. For now watch for The Roots (PC/Xbox) and The Roots: Gates of Chaos (N-Gage) as both titles will be released in 2005. Goodbye! Good luck with your next endeavours! Posted March 10 2005 by Div Devlin

Revenge of the Sith Trailer: Moviefone sends word that starting today at 9:00 p.m. EST, movie fans will get the chance to watch the highly anticipated Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith trailer on America Online and the Star Wars official fan club site, Hyperspace.com. As a provider of exclusive online content from Star Wars, AOL offers a sneak peek of the trailer before it extends to the open Web audience through Moviefone.com and Star Wars.com on March 14. Revenge of the Sith hits theaters worldwide on May 19, 2005. AOL and Moviefone first premiered the teaser trailer for Revenge of the Sith in November, generating nearly 6.3 million streams in the month of November. This is supposed to be the bestest bestest movie of them all! Posted March 10 2005 by Div Devlin

Zango Developer Contest: Zango Games who is making a name for themselves in the gaming communicy has anounceda contests for Developers with a $50k development contract in the purse: Zango, the provider of exclusive free premium content online, today announced the official launch of its Game Playmakaz Contest for independent game developers. The winning submission will be awarded a $50,000 game development contract with Zango. Finalist submissions will also be considered for Zango licensing agreements. Zango is accepting entries through July 31, 2005, and the winning game will be announced on October 27, 2005, during the Austin Game Conference in Austin, Texas. Game experts Mark Long, from Seattle-based Zombie Studios and Paul Steed, author of books on creating and modeling characters for video games, are slated to judge finalists based on overall design, creativity, fun factor, playability, stability, size, music and sound, and will make the final selection. All game entries will be played and tested by an in-house Zango Games team, and 12 finalists will be chosen for review by the judges. Game developers can access contest rules and the contest application form at the Zango booth, March 9-11 during the Game Developers Conference at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco. Contest rules are also available at http://partner.zango.com. Submissions can be sent to Zango online, via e-mail at games@zango.com, or to Attn: Game Playmakaz Contest, Zango, 3600 136th PL SE, Bellevue, WA, 98006. “Similar to the film industry, there is a great need for cultivation and support of innovation and creativity in the game industry,” said Charles Balas, senior games producer at Zango. “In an effort to promote and locate exceptional independent game developers, we created Game Playmakaz, providing an outlet for talented up-and-comers to secure publishing deals and have the chance to win a $50,000 game development contract. Modeled after what Sundance and Project Green Light have done for artistry in film, Zango has created a way for passionate gamers to make money doing what they love most.” The Zango service provides users with free access to premium games, humor and entertainment content, and downloadable applications, in exchange for connecting them with targeted product and service offerings while browsing online. Posted March 9 2005 by Div Devlin

Mythic Hiring at GDC: With GDC now in full bloom today Mythic announced that their plans for expansion continue as the will be hiring while at the conference: Mythic Entertainment, developer and publisher of the massively-multiplayer online role-playing game "Dark Age of Camelot," today announced that they are recruiting at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Mythic is hiring artists and programmers for the upcoming sci-fi MMORPG, "Imperator," and also adding talent to the "Dark Age of Camelot" team. In addition, the company is looking to grow its existing marketing and public relations team. "With the development of 'Imperator' proceeding well, and the ongoing success and international growth of 'Dark Age of Camelot,' we are looking for talented individuals to round out our team," said Mark Jacobs, president and CEO of Mythic Entertainment. "Creating new MMORPGs, and expanding existing MMORPGs, requires a major investment in extraordinary people, and Mythic offers an outstanding work environment for growth and advancement." During the Game Developers Conference, Mythic Entertainment employees will be conducting interviews in booth # CP 352 at the Moscone Center. Check out the Mythic Corporate site for more info. Posted March 9 2005 by Div Devlin

MxO Launch Events: Warner Brothers has announced their plans to party for the release of The Matrix Online kicking things off with an in-game sneak peak to tease everyone about what will be included for retail release: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and SEGA are unveiling a Sneak Preview event for The Matrix Online on Saturday, March 12 at 12:00 p.m. PST. The Matrix Online Sneak Preview is the final phase of the beta testing schedule before the game's scheduled launch on March 22, 2005. During the Sneak Preview, which will end at 9:00 p.m. PST on Tuesday, March 15, players will get a chance to see the newest version of the game, including many storyline elements from the continuation of The Matrix trilogy. Also, major player achievements and events that take place during The Matrix Online Sneak Preview will be published in the next issue of The Official Magazine of The Matrix Online. This is a unique opportunity for players to become a real part of Matrix history. In addition to their sneak peak the official launch party is scheduled for March 17th, in Seattle, Wash. Unlike the launch parties of other games we have covered, WE WILL NOT BE COVERING THE MATRIX ONLINE LAUNCH PARTY Enjoy! Posted March 9 2005 by Div Devlin

SWG Expansion Announced: IGN breaks the news on a new expansion for Star Wars: Galaxies with the title of "Rage of the Wookies" in which those walking carpets get all the love: This May George Lucas will release the sixth film in his Star Wars series, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. That same month, players of Star Wars Galaxies will be able to download a massive expansion pack that adds some of the content from the movie to the popular online roleplaying world. That same month brand new players who want to try Galaxies will be able to buy a new compilation pack that includes the original game, Jump to Lightspeed and Rage of the Wookiees. The new expansion features the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk. There are 100 new missions for players of all types on this Wookiee homeworld. Most revolve around the Wookiees' fight for freedom from their Imperial and Trandoshan predators. The Empire is worried that the Alliance is gaining a foothold on the planet and willing to fight to prevent the population from going over to the Rebels. They've also backed a number of Trandoshan slavers who capture and sell Wookiees to buyers throughout the galaxy. Wealthy Rodians have also set up safari stations across the planet to serve as base camps for their own hunts. A new planet, new ships, mining and, Bionics? Posted March 9 2005 by Div Devlin

Namco Gets Warhammer: Namco Hometek Inc. grabs the rights to the "Warhammer" from Games Workshop: Global video games publisher, Namco Hometek Inc. announced today that the company has signed a licensing agreement with Nottingham, UK-based Games Workshop Group PLC, to create interactive games based on the dark, medieval fantasy world of "Warhammer." The exclusive, long-term deal will allow Namco to publish multiple games for the PC and also allows for future console and handheld gaming versions. "'Warhammer' is considered among the greatest fantasy gaming brands in the world," said Grantley Day, Director of PC Development for Namco Hometek Inc. "We plan to extend its rich characters, environments and lore to the video game arena, with some blockbuster titles for the PC." Maybe a Warhmmaer Online revival will be in there someplace in a few? Posted March 9 2005 by Div Devlin

DDO Dev Diary: Turbine kicks out a dev diary for Dungeons & Dragons Online from David Eckelberry on "The Anatomy of a Design Decision." For the last several months, designers here at Turbine have been wrestling with a sticky problem, and today I want to take the time to give you an update on a decision we've made. Just as important, I want to tell you about how we reached the decision. As more and more of Dungeons & Dragons Online becomes "ready-to-play," we're spending more of our play time running through dungeons the way the game is meant to be played. This means no cheating by using admin commands like "immortal" and "spell god." When we stopped using the latter of those two cheats - unlimited spellcasting - we discovered a big problem: spellcasters were running out of spells very early into each dungeon. We always knew this was going to be somewhat of an issue, particularly for lower-level spellcasters, but we had underestimated how much of a problem it would be. All of a sudden, wizards, sorcerers, and clerics didn't have even close to the number of spells they needed to be effective. Check it. Posted March 7 2005 by Div Devlin

More From Mourning: Limitless Horizons Entertainment is sure getting beat with the beta release forMourning after multiple delays. Finally over the weekend they announced that the server issues have been resolved and that beta invites for those who did a Pre-Order should begin getting invites starting today. Invites though will be between 100-500 per day, so don't check your mailbox hourly, it may not happen. On the flipside, there are some new screenshots which were taken from within the beta for viewing pleasure. It's hard to drool over these. Smarmy comment intended. Posted March 7 2005 by Div Devlin

SOE Rewards SWG Clan: Over on Corp News boards, is the report of SOE finally doing something cool for some players in Star Wars Galaxies. A Clan of players founded on role-playing Stormtroopers upon release and growing into a PvP guild on the Valcyn server since release were rewarded with a visit from Lord Vader within game. This may be the first live event from within game, and a grewat reward for those players. Check out the screenshots and the thread on the SWG boards. Posted March 7 2005 by Div Devlin

Tactica Online Announced: Coming from the land down under is a new game from indie Imaginary Numbers as they announce Tactica Online, a new multiplayer turn-based strategy RPG where science and magic battle for supremacy! Imaginary Numbers, an independent development studio based in Sydney, Australia, today announced the development of Tactica Online, a fast-moving turn-based strategy RPG set in the conspiracy and intrigue of Leonardo da Vinci's world. The game is expected to be available worldwide in Fall 2005. "There has been a void in the turn-based strategy RPG category," said Luke Carruthers, CEO of Imaginary Numbers. "Thousands of dedicated players love these kinds of games and Tactica Online brings that immersive, engaging style of play to the online sphere." Tactica Online is a turn-based strategy RPG focusing on tactical squad combat, with a deep storyline featuring secret societies and the struggle between magic and science in da Vinci's world. Fast-paced, engaging combat is central to Tactica Online's gameplay, requiring players to think quickly and counter the opponent's strategy in order to claim victory. Combat takes place in missions or through Tournaments and Campaigns that affect the central storyline. Players control a team of characters with skills and abilities of their own design. Building and refining the capabilities of your team is an important element of Tactica Online, similar to designing a deck in a collectible card game. From their FAQ is shows that they will be following the new pricing structure which is invading the markert, Tactica Online will have no monthly fee: Once you've purchased the game it will be free to play online. You will be able to purchase expansion sets on a regular basis to expand the world you play in, and the options available to you. Expansion sets will cost an amount comparable to other games. A Modern contender to Sword and Sorcery fare? Posted March 7 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW, Weekend Bannings: Thanks to N3rfed for the uplifting news coverage that Blizzard went on a banning spree again in World of Warcraft Friday night in which those whow had "excessively large amounts of in-game currency" saw thier heads on the chopping block. As pointed out, what happens for those who are their guild banks. After further investigation, this account has been unlocked. I take responsibility for this mistake, however our intent was to keep the economy clean. Again, I do apologize for your inconvenience. Maleki In-Game Support Manager Research is hard. MMO's are confusing. But BNET is easy, as 4k in accounts were also banned for abusing the ladder. Approximately 4,000 accounts have been closed for various abuses of the Warcraft III ladders, including the use of "loss bots." Blizzard maintains an aggressive stance against cheating of all kind and will continue to ensure that the Battle.net ladders are a fair and safe place to play Warcraft III. The accounts in question have been closed, and the affected players have been barred from ladder play on any account for a period of 30 days. In cases where this is the second instance of abuse or cheating, the accounts have been permanently banned from all ladder play. That's how it works! Posted March 7 2005 by Div Devlin

Auto Assault Update: The Auto Assault website is boasting a new update to their Recon Section from NetDevil, "explaining how the icy hand of death is smacked down in Auto Assault." Snipped: If you're lucky, there may be a friendly player nearby that can restore your vehicle to operational status in the field - provided they have the skills to do so. If not, that's where the airlift comes in. Offering 24/7 roadside assistance for wrecked vehicles, INC will send their nearest airlift to your location. The airlift will hoist you up, and fly you to your last repair station. It's refreshing to see death being given the boot within games! Check the full article. Also, Kudo's to the NetDevil team for making the cover of Computer Games magazine overflowing with eight pages of new information about character classes, killer cars and Hazard Modes. I don't have my copy yet, but be sure to grab it! Posted March 4 2005 by Div Devlin

Game On Debuts: If you are local to the Chicagoland area you want to make your way down to the Museum of Science and Industry to check out the world debut of Game On running until September 5th where you can check out the last 40 years of evolution in the gaming industry by playing over 100 games from around the world. Game On: The History, Culture and Future of Video Games, presented by Exelon, Proud Parent of ComEd, makes its U.S. debut at the Museum of Science and Industry on March 4, 2005. Through more than 100 playable games, this exhibition explores the vibrant world of video games from 1962 to today and the effect that these games have had on our contemporary culture. In an interactive environment full of projected sights and sounds, Game On details the game design process, including conceptual drawing, character design and sound. The exhibit also investigates how geography and culture play a role in game development by examining games in Japan, the United States and Europe. A look at advancements in gaming hardware—from the colossal computers of the early 1960s to the recent consoles such as GameCube and PlayStation 2—helps to illustrate how art and technologies work together to create amazing new experiences Admission is an additional $5.00 to the exhibit on-top of Museum enterance fees. Posted March 4 2005 by Div Devlin

DAoC East Coast Gathering: Mythic has announced their next "Roundtable Gathering" for Dark Age of Camelot taking place this spring on the East Coast to be held next month in the Washington D.C area! Mythic Entertainment, developer and publisher of the critically-acclaimed massively-multiplayer online role-playing game "Dark Age of Camelot," today announced that a "Dark Age of Camelot" "Roundtable" fan gathering will take place in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area this April. Players from around the world are invited to gather on April 29th and 30th to meet one another and the game's developers. "The Spring East Coast Roundtable is an opportunity for players to meet friends from the game, talk face-to-face with the game developers, and most importantly, to have a great time," said Eugene Evans, VP of Marketing and Business Development of Mythic Entertainment. "Our last Roundtable in Las Vegas was an enormous success, and we're working to make this one even better." Mythic's local Roundtable Roadtrip events have been highly successful, with recent stops in New York City, Orlando, and an upcoming Toronto gathering in March. The larger-scale Spring East Coast Roundtable will feature two days of "Dark Age of Camelot" -themed activities including developer presentations and discussions and LAN play. Players will also be able to win a variety of prizes by entering the movie and costume contests, a "Camelot"-themed game show, as well as by participating in prize drawings. The Spring East Coast Roundtable will be held at the Dulles Expo Center on April 29th - 30th. Grab tickets. Posted March 4 2005 by Div Devlin

Mourning Mourning: It looks like Limitless Horizon's has failed with their game Realms of Torment, Realms of Krel, Mourning. Originally slated to kick of Beta last month they announced that they had to push it back to the first of March. As the first came and went they tossed up an announcment that they were having issues with the server uploads to North America taking longer then planned and beta would begin on the 3rd. The 3rd came and went and now they have an update of "When It's Ready" on the community boards. For those not keeping score Mourning was to be to Shadowbane, what Dark Age of Camelot was to EverQuest. The folks at Limitless Horizons even took some notes on getting negative publicity by threatening to file suit againt Something Awful for their negativity towards the game. Much laughter ensues. Checking out the back door access on the Mourning boards it does appear though that Limitless Horizons has recreated Shadowbane down to the Mourning.Exe errors for those within beta as rumored. For those who were hoping to get into open beta, that's not going to happen either. Beta invites will be issued to those who pre-ordered the game first and then a random selection of invites will go out to those who did not purchase their way into the game. No word on if the NDA will be removed for those who preordered, and with the game having an estimated released date scheduled for March 15th, is it time to just mourn Mourning? Posted March 4 2005 by Div Devlin

Tabula Rasa Hiring: NCsoft announces they are hiring for Tabula Rasa and gives a sales pitch: "NCsoft Austin is hiring!! This is your chance to join in the making of Tabula Rasa, the latest massively multiplayer entertainment experience to come from the legendary creative mind of Richard Garriott and an all-star development team of industry professionals. Or join a top notch team creating an exciting, unannounced MMP title from the maker of Might and Magic and Heroes of Might and Magic, Jon Van Caneghem! Check out the exciting openings at www.plaync.com for complete job listings." Nows the chance! Posted March 4 2005 by Div Devlin

EQII 350k Strong: SOE has announced on the official EverQuest II website that they have hit 350,000 players and are going strong. They toss a punch at their major competitor by saying, "We've got over 350,000 people logging in to our servers every week, with no delays or wait times and the game they are playing is only getting better." SOE also expands further on the new mentoring system and their first adventure pack titled "The Bloodline Chronicles" due out on March 21st. If they could implement PvP Battlegrounds/Arena's they will be the major player once again. Posted March 3 2005 by Div Devlin

Fairyland Online Live: EAS USA officially launches Mystic Journey: Fairyland USA today with an incentives program for new players. Mystic Journey is a huge world including many realms, such as: the world of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Little Red Riding Hood, The Matchstick Girl, Mermaid, Alice in Wonderland, Emperor's Robe, Peter Pan, The Arabian Nights and many more. Each environment offers different stories and exciting adventures, providing you with a myriad of surprises! "We've worked hard to give our players many different incentive program options to choose from," said Serene Pang, Marketing Manager of EAS USA. "We care about the players of Mystic Journey: Fairyland USA and look forward to their continued loyalty to the game." Mystic Journey: Fairyland helps you make your dreams come true! The natural genius and creativity that you already possess will enable you to become a hero admired by many others. Follow your dreams and discover your destiny! Demonstrate your strength, ability, and intelligence by leading your team to conquest evil and enter into your own Mystic Journey. To find out more about Mystic Journey: Fairyland USA, please visit http://www.1010game.com. Posted March 3 2005 by Div Devlin

Legend of Mir Update: Today marks the day that Quality Games Online Ltd. kicks off their next installment for Legend of Mir 3 with the est desert patch being made publically available. The new patch will open up a whole new storyline and a variety of new quests to immerse the player in the windswept desert lands of Mir 3. We have planned a whole host of player interactive events to involve the players in group activities. The patch brings eight new monsters into the fray which players will encounter on their travels through the desert planes. There are 10 vast new maps giving players a whole scope of playing areas to explore. Also there is a whole host of improvements to the existing structure and content of the game. The introduction of the new buddy system has seen many players receiving their free game time for referring a friend. The buddy system could not be an easier way to earn free game time and make new friends. When a new player signing up for an account names an existing player as their buddy, by filling in their email address, they will be credited with 5 days free game time. Check them out. Posted March 3 2005 by Div Devlin

RYL 30 Day Trial: Planetwide Games announces their strategic pre-launch efforts of their North American "RYL: Path of the Emperor" by offering a Free 30 Day Trial Download through a partnership with GameDaily. Included in the new version of the game: New features in this version include an all-new Quest-based mission system, which will provide more than 200 quests within the game. Maximum game resolution has been increased from 800 x 600 to a maximum of 1600 x 1200 to give you an even more detailed look at the world of RYL. Advanced real time 3D and environment effects give you a realistic feel of an amazing fantasy world. You can grab the download through Gigex. Posted March 3 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW, Unjustisfied Bans Begin: Blizzard goes retro! The hot topic of the day within World of Warcraft is about GM's banning a player, saying his account is not banned, and then telling him his account is perma banned and closed! As many others have already pointed out, "Let's do the time warp again!" It begins with a player seeing a cool video of a preist scaling mountains. The priest posts links to vids up on WoW boards. Blues comment that the video should be submitted to the downloads section for players. Another player (our subject) see's the video and want's to learn how to do it. Recreates it by using the levitate spell. Get's suspended. No emails as to reason why. Goes on posting crusdae. Blue responds. Blue says, "I can not help thee with that, contact wowaccountadmin@blizzard.com." Player does so. Get's mail back saying, account perma banned. Read and weep. Posted March 3 2005 by Div Devlin

CoH New Comic Announced: NCsoft, Cryptic and Top Cow Productions have announced a new comic for City of Heroes with a star-studded team for the new series: In a co-venture with NCsoft Corporation and Cryptic Studios, Top Cow Productions will launch City of Heroes as a new comic book series that will link together gamers and comic book fans alike. Celebrated writer Mark Waid (X-Men, Hunter-Killer, Flash, JLA, Ruse, Fantastic Four, Kingdom Come, Empire) teams up with David Nakayama (Proximity Effect, a graduate of the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, and a Wizard art contest winner), to bring to life the action and the adventure of the super-powered heroes and villains that make up the City of Heroes massively multiplayer online world. ... The new series of comics will launch in May and City of Heroes players will continue to get the new comic book as part of their game subscription. "The most exciting part for me is the fact that we'll be sending this out to both the City of Heroes subscribers and the comic book retailers every month," says Top Cow Editor in Chief, Jim McLauchlin. "There is a legion of fans out there who love comic books as an idea and as a genre, but may have forgotten that they love comic books in and of themselves. This is our chance to remind them. It's a great day for the comic business." "We're thrilled to be working with the Top Cow team," said City of Heroes Lead Designer Jack Emmert. "Top Cow is putting together a lineup of artists and writers who are tops in this business. This is an experienced team that has a strong track record for making quality comics. The big winners will be our players, who are really going to enjoy this new experience." As the official comic book for City of Heroes, the ongoing series will focus on the signature heroes from the online game: The Freedom Phalanx: Statesman, Manticore, Positron, Sister Psyche and Synapse. "Our goal is to bridge the gap between game players and comics readers with something that appeals to both and conjures the best elements of both media," says Top Cow Productions President Matt Hawkins. "I've been playing the game since it came out and met with game creator Jack Emmert and NCsoft product marketing manager Kevin Sullivan. Our discussions eventually led to this deal and announcement." It's also interesting to note that these guys are rocking with the trademarks of their heroes. Take that Marvel! Posted March 2 2005 by Div Devlin

Game Ads Forum: With the recent announcement by Funcom bringing billboard ads into Anarchy Online and Ultimate Baseball Online already having support to do the same, Massive Inc., Alias, Mary-Margaret.com, GameSpot, GameDev.net and Business Wire will be holding a Game Advertising Forum this April in New York with 19 speakers currently lined up: The Advertising in Games Forum, April 14, 2005 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, NY, provides an in-depth examination of the creative and financial impact of using video games as an advertising medium. The Forum features a keynote presentation by Mitch Davis, CEO of Massive Inc, the creator of one of the world's first video game advertising network, as well as executives at industry leading game companies, technology companies and advertising agencies. Attendees will hear how advertising can add realism to games; what advertisers and brands are looking for from game developers; how do you sell advertising to the agencies what the real revenue potential from advertising is; how to match different styles of advertising to different types of games, and how the relationship between the ad agency and the developer/publisher can be managed to mutual advantage. This is sure to draw huge crowds. Posted March 2 2005 by Div Devlin

MxO Stress & Trailers: New news out of Warner Bros. and Monolith for The Matrix Online. First up is that they have now entered the second stage of their stress test and are issuing keys out through FilePlanet on a first come, first serve basis. This version of the test will also give players a sneak peak at the evolving storyline as it becomes implemented into the game. While they have yet to reveal much on the storylines they have released all nine trailers which offer a look into the political factions within the game supporting each of the organizations - Zion, the Machines and the Exiles. Finally, while the game is based on the movies, now appearing at the movies, the theatrical trailer for The Matrix Online can now been seen at the movies. The trailer hints at how The Matrix Online story will unfold as the tentative peace between Zion, the Machines and the Exiles begins to unravel. A short version of the trailer is in theaters right now while the long-form will debut in a few weeks. Posted March 2 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW Hiring Again: Blizzard announces they are hiring again for a developer for World of Warcraft, with duties to include: Duties will include working on general game design, rules systems, play balance, interface design and story. The ideal candidate will have proven experience in game design, outstanding "people" skills, and a longstanding passion for playing games within the Massively Multiplayer Online genre. Apply. Posted March 2 2005 by Div Devlin

WWII Online Free Trial: It's been some time since we've heard anything about World War II Online. Courtesy of Firing Squad they are now offering a free 14 day trial to check out the game which ends on March 11th. No credit card is required if you use the promotional code and only applies to new accounts. Posted March 2 2005 by Div Devlin