Auto Assault Dev Chat: GamerGod will be hosting a dev chat with the Auto Assault team from NetDevil this Thursday, February 3, at 8 pm CST. In addition to having an opportunity to ask questions about the game, participants will have a chance to win an Auto Assault t-shirt in the "Get T-shirt" trivia contest we’ll be holding during the chat. (The contest rules are available here. If you won’t be able to attend the chat but have questions you’d like to ask, you can submit them in advance either on the GamerGod forum or by e-mailing the Auto Assault community coordinator, Pann (pann@ncsoft.com), with the subject line "Auto Assault GG Dev Chat." I don't have an Auto Assault shirt, be sure to get your questions in if you can not attend! The NetDevil job page also has team openings for AutoAssault. Posted January 31 2005 by Div Devlin

Webzen Imports MMO's: More MMO games are coming to the U.S. from Korea. KeKe! Webzen is the newest company to announce they will be moving over and bringing some of their top tier MMO games to the North American market of gamers. Korea-based online games company, Webzen, Inc. (Nasdaq: Wzen) announced today it is entering the U.S. online games market and is immediately opening a U.S. operation in Los Angeles. As part of Webzen, Inc.'s global expansion strategy, the subsidiary will be a full-scale game developer, publisher and distributor. "Since the company’s inception in 2000, Webzen, Inc. has established itself as one of the largest online game companies in the Asian games market,"said Nam Joo Kim, CEO of Webzen, Inc. "“With publishing arms in all major Asian markets including China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea, we have reached critical mass as a global games publisher and think the time is right to expand into the robust U.S. games marketplace." Later this year, Webzen, Inc. plans to bring to market in the U.S. multiple online game titles, including the company’s next blockbuster, massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), SUN, and titles specifically designed for American gamers. Webzen, Inc. will also develop game properties for the next generation game consoles to enhance its appeal to the mainstream gaming audience. The official announcement of Webzen, Inc.’s upcoming product line will be made in February. Webzen, Inc. will also have a significant presence at the upcoming 2005 E3 Expo, the video game industry’s most important trade show of the year. The company has secured a 9,000 square-foot booth space, #700, in the South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center. "Webzen, Inc. is very serious about its future success in the U.S.," added Nam Joo Kim, "and we are hiring and working with top talent from the U.S. and around the world." Webzen, Inc. has developed some of the world’s top online game and client/server technologies. The company also prides itself in the creativity department, publishing some of the most highly acclaimed titles for the Asian market. For its tremendously successful 3D MMORPG title, MU. Webzen, Inc. has attracted over 56 million users and a half million concurrent users from the Asian market alone. For more information about Webzen, Inc., go to www.webzen.co.kr. Posted January 31 2005 by Div Devlin

DAoC Aid's Tsunami Victims: Press Release: Mythic Entertainment, developer and publisher of the massively-multiplayer online role-playing game "Dark Age of Camelot," today announced that they have joined the international tsunami relief coalition. Through March 31st 2005, Mythic will contribute all profits from sales of the 2005 "Dark Age of Camelot" calendar to The American Red Cross' Tsunami Relief Effort. "The tsunami in South Asia brought pain and suffering to so many, and we didn't want to sit idly by," said Mark Jacobs, president and CEO of Mythic Entertainment. "Mythic and 'Dark Age of Camelot' have always been about community, and we wanted to provide a way for our players to reach out to those who are in need at this time." The 2005 "Dark Age of Camelot" calendar features fan artwork created by 2004 contest winners, and can be purchased online for $9.95 at the Mythic Store. Please visit www.mythicstore.com for more details. Much respect to Mythic. Posted January 31 2005 by Div Devlin

Eve Online Best 2004: CCP is proud to announce that Eve Online has been awarded "Best Game 2004" from a readers choice survey hosted by MMOHell. EVE Online, continuing its climb to the top, has just received several awards from the acclaimed website Massively Multiplayer Hell (www.mmell.com) including Best Massively Multiplayer Game of 2004. With over 70,000 unique vistiors voting in this first annual Reader's Choice awards at MMHell.com, here is what the staff there had to say: "The numbers speak for themselves: first, Eve won the Best Science-Fiction Award with a total of 7296 votes (53.11%), then it destroyed the competition in the Best Space Simulation Award with an unbelievable amount of 7849 votes, which were 93.62% of all votes in this category. To top it off, Eve's at that time unreleased free Expansion Pack "Exodus" ran for the top of the hill in the Most Anticipated Expansion category and won with 9082 votes (69.55%). Lastly, but most importantly, it won the rather short Best Massive Multiplayer Game Award with 519 votes (50.63%) beating Anarchy Online by just 178 votes, so we hereby declare Eve Online: Best Massively Multiplayer Game of 2004." "Everyone at CCP is ecstatic over the news of winning Best Massively Multiplayer Game of 2004," said Magnus Bergsson, CCP's chief marketing officer. "Our deepest gratitude to our fans, it is because of their unfaltering loyalty that we will always strive to give them the best online gaming experience available." Check out the full wrap-up of the awards, and a congrats to CCP for Eve Online! Posted January 31 2005 by Div Devlin

EQII VD Contest: SOE has announced a Valentines Days Screenshot Contest for EverQuest II, in which they will send real world prizes to that special someone, while other entries will be forever captured on E2Players.com Our new screenshot contest has two categories: submit your funniest and/or most romantic Valentine's Day screenshot jpegs to vdayscreenshot@soe.sony.com by February 7th. We'll pick the two winning shots and post them on February 11th on EQ2Players.com. The prize package for each category is: • Flowers delivered to that special someone (in the real world, not in game) • EverQuest II poster signed by the development team • EverQuest II hat Check it out. Posted January 31 2005 by Div Devlin

Face of Mankind Beta Begins: Duplex Systems has announced that beta has begun for Face of Mankind. The time has finally arrived! The first download mirrors for the open beta client have been put up. The servers themselves will be open for open beta testers on Monday. Duplex Systems welcomes each and every one of you into the universe of the Global Dominion. We hope you will enjoy exploring Face of Mankind as much as we have enjoyed creating it, and that, together, we can make a great game during the coming weeks. Face of Mankind is an MMORPG set in the 24th century. You are invited to play out the ageless battle of good vs. evil, and witness all shades of gray in between. Role-playing and your real-life skills are the raw ingredients of game play. This MMORPG uses the first ever player-generated mission system, and combines it with sophisticated economics and complex player politics for a new kind of online experience. Only your ability to shoot, bargain, politic and otherwise duck and deal will advance your character’s private or corporate agenda. The success of each and every mission will determine your rise to the top, or your fall into obscurity. Whatever path you take in this astonishing world, plan well: one day, one minute or a single second could bring you to your destiny as the true Face of Mankind. Sounds like some awesome gameplay. Posted January 31 2005 by Div Devlin

Tulga Closes on Artifact: Tulga Games sent out the announcment that they have closed on Artifact Entertainment, and are now fully in ownership of Horizons. Tulga Games, LLC announced today that it has completed the purchase of the assets of Artifact Entertainment. "We received approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in mid -December to move ahead with the purchase, then proceeded to formally close the purchase," said Mr. Chris Tulumello, founding manager of Tulga Games. "I've been saying for months now that I'm both a fan of the game and a strong advocate of the underlying technology. This purchase dramatically increases the value of Tulga Games and send a message of stability and longevity to current and future Horizons customers," continued Mr. Tulumello. Members of Artifact Entertainment's development, technology and creative teams have been asked to join the new Tulga Games team and "the response to these offers has been overwhelming positive," says Mr. Tulumello. "We are commencing a five-year strategic planning process, part of which is reviewing other titles and other intellectual properties that do not have a massive multiplayer version. We do this while progressing toward our main goal of increasing the stability of the Horizons: Empire of Istaria customer base and augmenting the content and storyline of the game. We also want to enhance the viability of our current research and development teams. I know that our technology has very unique features, and we encourage others to license it.", said Mr. Tulumello. Tulga Games also announced that it has received additional funding from C.P. Baker & Company, Ltd. C.P. Baker is a Boston-based investment company. Its principal, Mr. Chris Baker, has long history investing with Internet based technology companies. The funding will be used to fuel continued marketing efforts, ongoing technology, and game development. "Obviously, everyone at Tulga is very pleased that others consider our company and product line viable and worthy of investment, "said Mr. Tulumello, "Mr. Baker's history and understanding of this market is also testament to his interest in what we have to offer." "Tulga Games, through their acquisition of the valuable assets of Artifact Entertainment, is poised for future growth, our investment recognizes the value of the company as a whole and what it offers to the market," said Christopher P. Baker, chairman of the Board, C.P. Baker & Company. RIP Artifact, and welcome Tulga. Posted January 31 2005 by Div Devlin

Star Trek Online FAQ: Perpetual Entertainment has come out of deep space exploration for "Star Trek Online" as they post up a FAQ for their bold adventure. Starting raves will consist of Humans, Klingons and Vulcans. No to PvP. PvP will not be a primary means of advancement at game launch, but the holodeck will provide many opportunities for players to fight each other in ships and on the ground in a competitive holographic environment. Experience Bij! Posted January 31 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW, Players Protest, Server Down: Over the weekend players within World of Warcraft upset by the lack of attention paid to the Warrior Community (broken class) decided to get the attention of Blizzard by holding a protest within game. Flooding the newb zones with level 1 warrior gnomes they crashed the server. Suspensions handed out. Customer Relations had this to say: Please understand that we value your feedback and we know how upset the Warrior community is at this time. There are ways to express your opinion on this. Post on the forums -- we do read the class forums, we know you're not satisfied, and we appreciate your well-written posts. The protest is not a constructive way to get your point across. It causes lag for many customers and can ruin their gameplay experience. This is why we cannot allow such a thing to continue. If you use constructive means of communicating with us, trust me... we'll listen. That will show em! Posted January 31 2005 by Div Devlin

DAoC NY RT's New Date: Mythic Entertainment has rescheduled their New York Road Trip for Dark Age of Camelot, which was originally going to take place January 22nd in New York but was cancelled due to all the snow that battered the east coast. The new date has been for Friday February 4, 2004. Space is still limited for this free event to 100 people so show up early. Guilds which have the most members attend will be awared a special prize. Check the official site for full details. Posted January 26 2005 by Div Devlin

EQ2 Guide Contest: Fansite EQ2Online has announced they are running a contest until the 31st of this month in which they will award a winner $250.00 for creating an EverQuest 2 guide. If you are a knowledgable person who want's to make fast cash, give up rights to royalties and see someone making tons of cash off your works, then check out their rules. Posted January 26 2005 by Div Devlin

Guild Wars Event Delayed: ArenaNet's community relations manager, Gaile Grey sent out announcmenets that the next Beta World Event scheduled for Guild Wars has been pushed back. Originally slated to take place on the weekend of 2/4/05, the new date has become 2/18/05 starting at 12:01AM PST. Adding to the next event will be a new region for testers to explore: You get to see Ascalon as it existed before it was decimated by the Charr. You get to learn more about the backgrounds of characters who will play important roles in the storyline. The region is very free-form, with a lot to explore and a large number of quests in which to participate. In this region, the player will have the option to race forward quickly to get to the main story, or to stay and linger, making friends with villagers and discovering lots of hidden content. ArenaNet states that they are "excited about this new region and can't wait for everyone to see it!" Good things come to those who wait. Posted January 26 2005 by Div Devlin

Matrix Online Community Site: Warner Bro's sent out word that they have launched the official "Community Site" for the Matrix Online. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is pleased to announce the launch of Data Node One, the official The Matrix Online Community website. Data Node One will provide the very latest in news, features, and game information for The Matrix Online, the Massively Multiplayer Online Game launching this spring. Before the launch of The Matrix Online, Data Node One will focus primarily on the internal and beta testing communities by providing extensive coverage of player - organized events, player organizations, and exclusive interviews with the development team. "The Matrix Online community has really taken on a life of its own that is quite different from any other MMO out there. As covered in The Official Magazine of The Matrix Online (launched this month by DC Comics), the community has been distinguishing itself by putting on Duel Tournaments, Fashion Shows, and even player DJ'd after hours parties at nightclubs in the game.," said William Westwater, Director of Online Development, Monolith Productions. "Data Node One will add a great deal of value and enjoyment to the in-game experiences our fans are already participating in. This web destination will be expanding and diversifying a great deal in the weeks and months to come." Jack in now. Posted January 26 2005 by Div Devlin

Ryzom Vid Card Contest: Nevrax has announced their first, in-game contest for Saga of Ryzom in which they will be giving more than 50 nVidia cards along with other prizes for those who correctly take part in answering trivia questions posed. "We hope that this skill-based competition will enhance the player’s enjoyment of Ryzom and further the exploration of Atys," said David Cohen-Corval, CEO of Nevrax. "This challenge adds an extra level of competitiveness for knowledge, something we haven’t done before." Beginning Friday, January 28th, the contest will take place on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 11:00 p.m. EST on the North American server and 7:00 p.m. Paris time on the European servers, and is scheduled to run for one month. Players can participate while in game using a special chat channel. A riddle (or trivia question) will be asked in the special "Contest" channel and the first player to answer correctly will win a brand new high-end BFG NVIDIA GeForce graphics card (limit one per household). Runners-up will receive Ryzom gear. The winners for each event will be displayed on the Ryzom web site along with the correct answer. That's a hard contest. Posted January 26 2005 by Div Devlin

Auto Assault Recon 2: The Auto Assault website is now hosting the second installement to their Recon section titled "Emergence," which tells a bit about one of the locations players will visit in the game. The Humans found the world entirely different from their hopeful memories. Sprawling metropolises were lying in ruins. Formerly towering works of architectural genius had collapsed or imploded, now merely crumbling monuments to a once great civilization. Urban infrastructure would have to be redeveloped from scratch. GameSpy has also added Auto Assault as their "Most Wanted" game list. We could of told them that! Posted January 24 2005 by Div Devlin

CoH AIS Finalist: NCsoft is about to score another award as "Game of the Year," this one from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, as they announced that City of Heroes has become a finalist for the final round in PC Games. Sharing the list for Game of the Year, City of Heroes is joined by World of Warcraft (It's fixed if they win?), Half-Life 2, Doom 3, and Sid Meier’s Pirates! Winners will be announced 2/1 at the D.I.C.E. summit. Posted January 24 2005 by Div Devlin

RIP: Johhny Carson Johnny Carson, the legendary host who originated late night passed away at the age of 79 over the weekend. Rest in peace dewd, you rocked. Posted January 24 2005 by Div Devlin

SWG Community Letter: James Pratt one of the UI Programmers has a brief Community Letter to the players in Star Wars Galaxies about his new role with the game and SOE. have been brought on board here at Sony to design and manage changes and updates to the interface for the game. This includes things such as updating the look of buttons on the toolbar, the layout of examine windows, the colors in the Health/Action/Mind bars, and even the way the mouse and keyboard work to move around in the game. While I have been an avid MMO player for many years, my experience comes from outside gaming industry. I received my doctorate in Human Factors Psychology, and I apply knowledge of human characteristics to design in order to make the experience anyone has with a system a good one. Before coming to SOE, I worked in the international consulting industry creating software interfaces for a variety of different businesses. I also worked in the defense industry designing software interfaces for some of the most cutting edge military applications being developed today. He goes on to share what his goals are. Check it. Posted January 24 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW Woes Continue: Even more woes for World of Warcraft as they struggle to keep the servers up and running for the second month. This time the prez speaks out on the boards to address the current issues and offer free time. I want to take this opportunity to say that we will do everything possible to ensure that unexpected downtime like this does not occur in the future and that if it is necessary, we will do everything possible to give you better warning and keep you informed. In the future, we will avoid doing maintenance during peak hours, unless no other alternative presents itself. When complications occur that could impact your playing time, we will provide that information as well. We failed to do this last night, and I assure you that we are making changes to ensure that we do a better job of communicating with our players next time. I want to extend my personal and heartfelt apology for the problems that some of you have been experiencing on our servers. We remain committed to delivering the best possible service for you and will continue to work around the clock to ensure that we provide an experience that you and I have to come to expect from Blizzard games. Another weekend with a snowstorm on the east coast with players locked in, and out of game. Posted January 24 2005 by Div Devlin

AC+AC2 Letters: Jessica Mulligan has a letter to the players for Asheron's Call about the publishing deal announced this week with SOE. As she explains on this wackyness: Well, we may be nuts, but there is a method to our madness: 1. SOE has very good reach into the retail world. They can get us good space in thousands of retail shops and that is critical to attracting more players into the game; 2. SOE also has a great marketing arm, one with years of experience at supporting retail launches of expansion packs, with proven results. We get to take advantage of that experience to give Throne of Destiny some extra oomph! in the marketplace. Another letter of the same nature was sent out to the Asheron's Call 2 players. Posted January 20 2005 by Div Devlin

Hip Hop MMO: 404 Gaming has new information about them getting in on the bling for their Hip Hop MMO game in development. Updated information contains a who's-who of rap stars that will make appearances within game (even dead ones) and staff that will be involved in the production of the game. Also, they have launched their message boards for everyone to interact with the community which is in the prcoess of forming up. Would that be posse in da crib? Posted January 20 2005 by Div Devlin

Marvel VS NCsoft (CoH): As the two super giants continue to battle over the legalities on characters in City of Heroes, NCsoft has retained the services of Cooley Godward LLP per an update on TerraNova and have filed a motion to dismiss the case. Marvel filed suit after City of Heroes was named game of the year on the Spike Awards for infringing on the copyrights of Marvel characters. From the motion to dismiss is NCsoft's rebuttal: City of Heroes is a tool that encourages originality, not slavish copying. It allows young and old to exercise their imaginations to create super-powered beings and send them off to interact with the creations of other individuals in a virtual world called Paragon City. If it should be banned, then so should the #2 pencil, the Lego block, modeling clay, and anything else that allows one to give form to ideas... Grab the popcorn, this is going to be interesting. Posted January 20 2005 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane Wrath Update: It's been about a week since the launch of the newest server for players within Shadowbane, and the first player city has been built by the guild known as the Crime Syndicate. The front page of the Herald has a mini Q&A with them: The new world of Wrath went online last week on January 13th. Numerous guilds from other fragments have begun to make a name in this new world; guilds such as the Knights of Glory and Beer, Societas Daemonica, and The Destroyer's Legion. The first to make an actual claim was the Crime Syndicate when the planted the very first Tree of Life! Crime Central, the name of the first city, is located in the Ulward Territory near the corrupted Elven Lands known as Aeran Belendor. General Prey, Guild Leader of the Crime Syndicate, took a few moments to answer questions after slaying RunnFrom Me, a Centaur Druid from Dissention. Also available are key notes on the latest patch. Posted January 20 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW Reps Talk To HomeLanFed: HomeLanFed was able to get the marketing and PR folks from Blizzard on the line about World of Warcraft and the status of the game. A brief rundown from the conversation with Gil Schif and Lisa Jensen in on the problems and what is being done to fix them. We are making sure that the servers are stable before we start shipping more copies," Jensen said. She would not give a timetable for when they plan to ship additional copies to stores. Currently, Blizzard has 88 server devoted to World of Warcraft. Jensen would not state when Blizzard plans to put additional servers for the game online. Also, copies of World of Warcraft were shipped out last week and can now be found at GameStop, further shipments have once again been halted until the issues are resolved. World of Warcraft still remains in the top ten for sales per the NPD Group for the week ending on Janurary 8th. The break down: 01. The Sims 2 02. Half-Life 2 03. World Of Warcraft 04. Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle Earth 05. The Sims Deluxe 06. Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 07. Call Of Duty 08. MS Zoo Tycoon 2 09. Medal Of Honor: Pacific Assault 10. Call Of Duty: United Offensive Expansion Pack Thats even with EBGames jacking the collectors edition prices to $150.US after finding a hidden cache of stock. Posted January 20 2005 by Div Devlin

Sony To Publish AC & AC2: Sony announced that they have established a partnership with Turbine striking a deal for veteran game titles Asheron's Call and Asheron's Call 2 that will see their return to retail store outlets through the Station. Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming, today announced the formation of Station Publishing, a new distribution label within the company. Station Publishing will focus on distributing interactive entertainment products licensed from external content providers for the PC and game console market. The first titles due from Station Publishing will be Turbine Entertainment Software's Asheron's Call: Throne of Destiny and Asheron's Call 2: Legions. "Station Publishing is dedicated to growing the overall Sony Online Entertainment product catalog with titles produced outside of our own studios," said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. "This new label gives Sony Online Entertainment the ability to work with talented developers and publishers and to give them access to the high caliber retail and marketing resources that we have developed over the past six years. Turbine's Asheron's Call games are the perfect titles to be the first on this new label. The AC franchise has attracted hundreds of thousands of players to the online medium over the years, and SOE is very happy to be distributing these high quality products." "Having Sony Online Entertainment distributing the titles produced and published by Turbine gives us direct access to the strongest retailers in North America," said Jason Bell, executive vice president, Turbine Entertainment Software. "We're excited to see our games get onto store shelves and into the hands of our passionate and loyal players." Meanwhile, you can check out the first glimpse of the first playable race from the expansion on Warcry. Posted January 19 2005 by Div Devlin

NCsoft Selects Redbus: As they continue their global domination, NCsoft has selected selected Redbus Interhouse Germany, a division of Europe’s most advanced, independent colocation and managed services provider, to provide colocation and business continuity services for it’s audience of online gamers throughout Europe. Redbus Interhouse Germany was selected to partner NCsoft as a result of its substantial infrastructure, centralised location and quality of services. To service the highly demanding and bandwidth hungry gaming community NCsoft requires excellent connectivity options to a variety of network providers such as Deutsche Telecom, AOL and Tiscali. It also needed a highly robust service and support infrastructure to maintain APPRO’s high performance Hyperblade servers used to supply the performance levels expected by the gaming market The master plan is almost complete. None shall compete, as NCsoft takes over total domination with their titles. Posted January 19 2005 by Div Devlin

D&D Online Beta Soon: Turbine has a new producer diary on the official website for Dungeons and Dragons Online from WotC. Within the diary, Judith Hoffman the Executive Producer gives a suprise that beta is just a short time away. In the next month or two, we’ll be making a formal announcement on this webpage, with more specific details and a Beta signup link. We will also be launching a monthly DDO Newsletter in the coming weeks, which will keep you up-to-date on all the latest DDO news. offical FAQ has also seen some updates. For more detailed coverage, check Zalsters dedicated fansite here on DDO.GameRifts.com Posted January 19 2005 by Div Devlin

EQ II Adventure Packs: Sony has revealed more about thier upcoming adventure packs with a press release calling them innovative for EverQuest II. Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming, today announced the forthcoming Adventure Packs for EverQuest II, a content release strategy intended to give players access to new content between traditional game expansions. The first Adventure Pack is scheduled for digital release in March 2005 for $4.99. "Today we're announcing a new content strategy for EverQuest II that presents online games in an entirely new manner, like that of a television series, or serial movies," said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. "Players will be able to unlock ongoing storylines that appeal to them, while enabling us to deliver more content than ever before." The planned content release strategy involves a mixture of purchasable bi-annual expansion packs along with periodic releases of story-driven Adventure Packs adding new content and gameplay elements to the world of Norrath, in addition to continued updates to the game at no additional charge. The first Adventure Pack will be centered on the Dark Elves of Neriak and an unbridled evil in the tombs below the surface of Norrath. The US version of the Adventure Pack will be available to European players as well at release in English, followed by localized versions. Adventure Packs will feature new quests, zones, storylines and story arcs that will allow players to further immerse themselves in the shattered lands of Norrath. All players will have access to certain levels of the Adventure Packs; however in order to complete the content, players will need to purchase the Adventure Packs for a small fee. Additional details on the first Adventure Pack will be revealed in the coming weeks. We still have to pay for it. It's going to be a new trend. Posted January 19 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW, More WoW News: Blizzard has been reeling from the blow by the entire internet gaming community being pretty pissed off, and finally noticed that some people (Read Everyone!) on the various media sites have been actually, you know, covering World of Warcraft, even the negative, like... oh the server being down for an entire weekend. To make up for it, they are issuing a credit for the downtime: We do appreciate your patience and enthusiasm about playing World of Warcraft, and we regret that you faced periods of high traffic this past weekend that caused some of you to have a poor game experience. So, due to the extended nature of the server issues, we will be providing a free 48-hour extension of play time. As with previous extensions, this will show up as free extra time on your current billing period (or on your trial period, for those of you who purchased the game recently). We hope you'll bear with us as we continue to work hard on implementing changes for long-term stability. They also go into revealing just what caused that down time in a first: The problems were attributed to high concurrency numbers on individual realms putting extreme stress on the backend infrastructure. We were able to address this problem by implementing additional hardware into the infrastructure this afternoon. This additional hardware has allowed us to stabilize the affected realms, and thus increase the server caps. We will continue to monitor the performance throughout the evening. If we notice any of the performance issues starting up again we will lower the population cap level enough to stabilize performance. Speculation mounts that someone may of lost their job over the problems which, have been there since launch as they not have nine new openings over at Blizzard but they are also looking for a "Network Operations Manager" with a minimum of seven years experience specific to the IT Support/Administration Industry, at least three years of group/personnel management and between three and five years of project management experience. Welcome to the MMO Market! Posted January 19 2005 by Div Devlin

Contest Give-Away Extended: Were back, and through no fault of our own, we've extended our Give-Away in which we are randomly giving away a case of various MMO Games to those who take our survey based on games released last year, and your thoughts on how the year went. Now that we are back you can expect all kinds of mad updates coming from us once again, just read down for everythng we had to get up to date on. Intense. We will be bringing in some more team members to help bring you our thoughts on MMO Games as we review them (If your looking to make some cash for writing about games, contact us), we will bringing a few more specific dedicated sites up for games, and were about this/close to finally completing a two year learning project to offer a new format that has been missing drastically for gamers. You can now also find us as one of the sites listed on GameTab with our news headlines, along with some other great game related sites. Make sure to register and bump us onto your listing. Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Anarchy Online Remains Free: Last year (We can actually say that items were from last year now, yes?) FunCom announced their program for Anarchy Online in which players can join the game's original version by downloading the client and play for free until 2005. Well, now that 2005 has arrived and due to the success of that campaign, they have extended the offer until 2006! Anarchy Online now has more users than ever before, and the player feedback about the experience Funcom is offering has been fantastic. The game is setting records on an ongoing basis, with more active players now than seen in the month of launch more than 3,5 years ago. It's currently the long-term goal for Funcom to make sure that the removal of subscription fees, client costs and the need to have a credit card when registering for Anarchy Online will become a permanent offering, making sure that anyone curious about the heralded qualities of the ultimate sci-fi MMORPG can play without any financial commitments. "The free initiative has been a tremendous success" says Ole Schreiner, Project Director for Anarchy Online. "Throngs of new players have entered the game and created a vibrant pioneer feeling for all those who see the wonders of Anarchy Online for the first time. Even though our servers and customer service have been under strong pressure, it's assuring to see our technology holding up with such stability". Disclaimer: Offer valid only on new accounts. No charges involved. Offer valid on all sign-ups until 15.01.2006. Other restrictions and conditions may apply. Offer may be terminated at Funcom’s discretion in the case of unforeseen events. See registration information for details. The free version does not include access to any of the three expansion packs. Should you wish to upgrade to any of the expansion packs monthly subscription and client fees will be added. Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Auto Assault Overhauled: While NetDevil has yet to appear on the TV show for their vehicles within game, they have been doing some overhauling for the official Auto Assault website since last we checked in. Check out the new screenshots and concept art along with the first installment in what will be weekly updates to the "Recon Section," where Episode One of MetaMergence (sp?!) introduces a bit of backstory and a look at humans. We also have three of the new screenshots showing of the rice-burners which will be within game. Check them in our Gallery. Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

As The Market Churns: eGenesis once again took gameplay to a new level within "A Tale in the Desert: The Second Telling" in which they released a set of fundamental game play features that was written and created entirely by the top players from the first version of the game. "To my knowledge no game has made designing future game play elements a task that is entrusted to top players. I have always known our player base to be smart and creative. After playing this test I can honestly say that their design is brilliant," beams eGenesis founder, Andrew Tepper. "I am astounded and cannot wait to see what The Second Telling players come up with." The game continues to grow as we are told. With the news last month from Majorem that they secured funds and a publisher for Ballerium, they sent word out that they are looking for a new breed of beta testers to come help them test killing, maiming, humilating, and pwning other players in their RTS/MMO. No Credit Card. No Problem! Square Enix announced that for Final Fantasy XI you to can play without a credit card thanks to ePassporte's pre-paid Visa card system. ePassporte is a prepaid re-loadable Visa account that Final Fantasy XI players will be able to fund with a bank-to-bank transfer, a credit card, or from other ePassporte account holders, akin to PayPal. The agreement eliminates the problems caused for people who wish to play online but do not own a personal credit card. You can learn more about it, HERE! Freeform also has been hard at work as they released version 2.3.0 for Purge:Jihad their FPS/MMO/RPG with a free download and play. Giving you some additional entertainment during your gameplay, Planetwide Games is now offering music downloads while you play Risk Your Life. The Company has a patent pending process, which enables the digital download of music and content into real time online video game play for added entertainment value and purchase. Planetwide Games will feature this innovative technology with a line-up of popular musical artists, supermodels, and celebrities. Planetwide Games in association with Sovage Camp is pleased to announce the release of the first Single and Music Video "Caught in the Rapture" by WON-G and Giselle and starring Paris Hilton from the upcoming MMORPG "RYL - Risk Your Life" Video Game Soundtrack. Along with their first featured artists Planetwide Games will also showcase emerging artists and first time music groups like Pain 4 Pleasure with their single "Blackout". Risk Your Life has just passed their 125k registered player milestone for North America. They are going to flee now with Paris Hilton involved. Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

CoH Catch-Up (MUSTARD!): If you have been living in a bubble, under a rock, or indisposed you will be happy to know that while you were away, Cryptic did release their free expansion to City of Heroes which covers Episode Three: Council of War. New trailers are available in our downloads section (read down). The episode introduced a new zone, a new archtype and a new villian group, along with zone events. As Issue 3 launches, skirmishes erupt as the Council troops attempt to complete its takeover of the 5th Column. Though both the Council and 5th Column soldiers are in pitched battle with each other, with little provocation they will turn their fury against Paragon City's citizens and protectors. To keep the population of Paragon City safe, heroes of the city need to subdue the combatants. "The takeover of an entire villain group is a major advancement of the City of Heroes story line," said Jack Emmert, City of Heroes lead designer and creative director for Cryptic Studios. "We wanted to demonstrate that, like any good story, City of Heroes will have plot twists and unique events that will continue to challenge and involve our players. This storyline shift will lead to future changes that will be part of the game's ever changing environment and lore." The "ancillary" power set introduced in Issue 3 is for characters at level 40 and higher and allows them to access powers outside of their primary archetype power set. These new powers, for example, allow strictly melee characters to access an array of ranged attacks. "This is something of a reward for upper level players who seek a character that is complete and fully-realized," said Emmert. Also, characters who reach level 50 can now evolve into new "epic" archetype characters with origins based on outer space visitors, the Kheldians. These characters emerge at level 1, with Peacebringer or Warshade archetype options. Makes you want to play, especailly with their winter events now running for the next several months. The event includes the appearance of a variety of snow beasts in most of Paragon City’s zones. Also, the colder temperatures will create ice sheets on many of Paragon City’s lakes and ponds. When a snow beast is defeated, heroes will be given gifts, including granting a temporary snowball power. The snowballs can be used on other heroes, with no ill effects except for the indignity of being hit by a snowball. Catch some screenshots of them in our gallery. Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Community News: The folks over at OMGN have a weblog going named Nexus which covers everything and anything indirectly related to the real. Looking for some alternative reading be sure to hit them up. Taking it to the extreme were players from PlanetSide who felt that SOE was neglecting to promote the game they play, set out on a succesful marketing campaign to spread the word and bring in new blood in the thousands after creating a new movie which highlights the game. Meanwhile, the folks over at Mythicscape send word they are bringing unique features into a new text-based mud world titles Aeonfalls Online. The game will be available soon, with closed beta to a select group of players. Anyone interested in playing a new unique mud should sign up at the AO website. Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

EQ+II News To Use: SOE forever staying ahead of the game and a real trend setter announced their details for "Adventure Packs" within EverQuest II. Adventure packs will feature new quests, zones, storylines and story arcs for you to continue to immerse yourself in the shattered lands of Norrath. All players will have access to certain chapters of the Adventure Pack; if you want to continue your adventure the rest of the chapters can be purchased for the low price of US$4.99. The first Adventure Pack is scheduled for digital release in March 2005, additional details will be revealed in February. Following hot on the heels of the news release about the Adventure Packs, over the weekend Fry's is the first of the brick & mortar stores to now offer the retail box for half-price at $29.99. Check out The Smed's last letter to the players giving updates on what the future holds, and the number of references to their international players. Looks like they are going to focus more on those outside of North America if you want to imply hidden meanings. Old time players for EverQuest can look forward to yet another expansion with "Dragons of Norrath." New zones, new items, new mobs, and all new guild features. Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Guild Wars Contest: ArenaNet is proud to announce their second inhouse contest for Guild Wars. You are invited to send in your best concept for a guild emblem, and if you're one of the winners, you will see your emblem added to the game! The contest ends on the eve of the next beta event for February. To tie into the contest, they have added a new section on the official website (mirrored on every fansite, so visit your favorite) showcasing guild emblems currently within game. Yours could be there. Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Sin City Trailer: Thanks goes out to Adarial for introducing me to this new movie based on the series, and directed by the writer Frank Miller. Check out the trailer for Sin City. Jessica Alba gyrates. It's pretty sweet. Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane Wrath Unleashed: Shadowbane has unleashed their Wrath on everyone with the announcement of a new server being rolled at with game play "... as originally intended." This is the first world to be brought online since Damnation and Entropy last year by Ubi Soft. Wrath will use the Vorringia Mapset, with some modifications: several high-level zones around Safeholds have been swapped with low-level zones that exist elsewhere in the world, to better accommodate mid-level play. These changes will only appear on Wrath: the server layout of Damnation and Entropy will remain unchanged. Additionally, a new hamlet has been added to the newbie island between the adventuring zones, offering better access to low-level content. These changes were made from feedback from Beta participants during Shadowbane: Throne of Oblivion testing. They need to offer another Free Trial to woo players into checking it out. Sounds very promising even if years too late. Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

SWG+SOE=PASS+Chat: SOE has announced that they are going to finally add Star Wars Galaxies to the "All Access Pass," in which subscribers pay for on rate and can access all of the games by Sony. The service offers access to current games published by SOE (game software sold separately) through one easy subscription service. Station Access is your passport to the best game worlds online - and now that lineup is complete with the addition of Star Wars Galaxies available beginning February 1, 2005. If you currently play or want to try any one of the other exciting SOE games including EverQuest II, EverQuest, EverQuest Online Adventures, EverQuest Macintosh Edition, Planetside and Station Pass access, which includes the popular games Infantry Online, Cosmic Rift and Tanarus this is your ticket to the greatest adventures online! You can learn more on how to sign up here. This Wed. at 5pm PST join the SWG staff as they jump into a chat hosted by Stratics as they cover changes with Community Relations; Loot now, and in the futre; and an overview of the Combat Upgrade. Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

The Matrix Online Duels: Warner/Monolith has released an introudction to "The Art of Duels" inside The Matrix Online. In The Matrix Online, duels may be fought between redpills to defend their personal honor, or that of their Organization. However, the most common reason for dueling is to test one's skills against another player. Fighting enemies that are controlled by a computer brain can be challenging at first, but once one figures out their tricks, it becomes fairly easy. Jack in and learn more chummer. Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Wishes Do Come True: Not. In a blink of the eye, Mutable Realms announced that beta testing for their game Wish had opened and inside of a weeks time the game is canceled. On a sleepy Sunday night, they sent out the following: Dear friends of Wish: Unfortunately we have bad news. After careful consideration of all the facts and analyzing all the data which we have gathered from the Wish Beta 2.0 test so far, we have decided to cancel the Wish project. Our Beta test will end this evening at 6pm EST, and at this time our Beta forums will close as well. We enjoyed working together with our fans very much, and we are very sorry about this development. We wish you the best of luck in the future, and hope that you continue to enjoy online gaming, even with Mutable Realms and Wish not being available anymore. We also wish the best luck to our competitors, and hope that they will not suffer the same fate as us. Best regards, Your Mutable Realms Team In a letter to fans, El Presidente offers insight on why: "Wish has been shut down because with the data we gathered during the first 10 days of our Beta 2.0 test, even with our best-case projections for player numbers, we could not have reached enough subscribers for Wish to sustain itself." We will just wish them well, and hope everyone ends up ok. Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW Woes: Blizzard is just really off to a bad start with their first entry into MMO games with World of Warcraft. Announcing they dominated the holiday season with over 600k retail units sold for the game, and having to pull further distribution of the game to focus on correcting problems with the game, they crashed and burned over the weekend. We won't go into the GM Abuse that they did not know occurs, even though E V E R Y O N E - W A R N E D - T H E M! Bad. Servers went down for 12 hour maintenance, queues returned, and on Friday night players who logged in found their characters gone across certain servers. People wonder why we did not list World of Warcraft in our survey for last year (Still time to take part and win prizes!), well now you can figure out why. Penny Arcade has revoked their award for "Game of the Year" due to the problems. As they tell it: Every week, there is some new calamity that necessitates some huge response on their part, servers are coming down, but if you think that the servers coming back up again will represent an improvement in the basic functionality of the game you're mistaken. They took them down most of the day Thursday (and again for "emergency service" on Sunday), and when they came back up it should have been something supernatural but it was actually utterly imperceptible. It should have been like when the Genesis device hit and a lifeless rock became a fucking paradise. That didn't happen. So, if I say, as I'm about to, that their emergency service amounts to parlor tricks, what evidence can they give to the contrary? Because near as I can tell they've been doing "emergency service" since release, only they used to credit people's accounts for it. But hey, Blizzard did announce they are heading to Korea with the launch in that market today for WoW! Posted January 18 2005 by Div Devlin

Welcome To 2005: Welcome to 2005, and if yesterday was any inclination of how the year is going to turn, "Welcome To The Year of Stupid People." Rejoice in knowing that everyone was pretty braindead as they returned to the real world after the holidays making you not alone when you ran into idjits! With the new year kicking in, some off topic tales. A Michigan panel has compiled the stupidest phrases that they would like to see banned. Including the over 2000 words were such gems as blog, wardrobe malfunction, flip-flop (unless referring to the shoes), enemy-combatant (to avoid confusion with friendly combatants), and "You're Fired.". Over in my fine state of Illinois, after conducting a s00per-secret test in which was found 11 of 15 suburban stores sold violent or sexually explicit video games to a 15-year-old boy put Gov. Blagojevich on the offensive again Monday, touting his proposal to make Illinois the first state to ban the sale of such games to youths under 18. It does not help when Diseny/Pixar releases games for girl aged seven that displays "F*** Off and Die," inside a Monsters, Inc. game. At least some avid games and game companies are pitching in around the world to help out the Tsunami victims. We got one Startics Admin eBaying UO Gold to convert to cash to aid, and CCP has pitched in from Eve Online to offer aid and relief. Ahh, well. Welcome to 2005, back to gaming! Posted January 4 2005 by Div Devlin

AC2 News To Use: Turbine ended the year with a new dev diary from 'Kritter' on Asheron's Call 2: Legions as he writes about being a Technical Artist within the camp: I have found myself with a title that perhaps is a touch misleading. I know that before I learned what a technical artist did I thought; oh cool they make pretty art stuff... or gruesome whatever is your pleasure. However, the fact is I don't really make anything you see in the game, and nope I don't really animate either. As a technical artist it is my job to make sure things get into and work in the game, well to the best of my ability. Also going on is your chance (may of ended) to partcipate in a skill-naming contest for AC2:L. Posted January 4 2005 by Div Devlin

Ballerium Returns: Before the holidays and getting a nice holiday gift, Majorem announced that Ballerium is back on track for development after signing a deal with Interplay to be their publisher. Two months less three days ago, Majorem made a "Hopefully Temporary" announcement with regards to the future of Ballerium. It was said that Ballerium's development will cease until further funding is found. Today Majorem is pleased to announce that our hopes meet reality, as Interplay chose to make our previous announcement obsolete. Dear followers, beta-testers, and gamers, I'm proud to announce that thanks to Interplay, who brought us great titles such as "Baldur's Gate" and "Fallout", Majorem will now be able to launch Ballerium this summer. Ballerium, a massively multiplayer strategy game has been on a closed beta for about a year, when funds run out and the company had to freeze its R&D. Now that further financing is reassured thanks to Interplay, Ballerium can be finalized and prepared for release. Ballerium halted development and all but closed the doors on their studio after running out of funding late last year. Posted January 4 2005 by Div Devlin

Everown, A New Game Coming: Another new MMO/FPS Hybrid is coming to town by name of Everown, a sci-fi version of Guild Wars. An intro from the team: 'We of Level 12 Paladins are bonded by a deep passion for player vs. player combat in MMORPGs,' comments Ondrej Dobias, Designer of Everown, 'yet continuously frustrated by the need to perform ever-so-repetitive actions related to obtaining the "right" equipment and climbing up the leveling treadmill, obstructing our path to what we love the most - battling against a sentient human being in a highly tactical way, where one does not win merely by precision of his aim, but rather through making the right decisions at the right time. Our game, therefore, is an elaboration of the essence of such battles, and we hope to interest not only passionate MMORPG PvPers, but also the fans of action games that prefer contesting using their mental acuity rather than just the quality of their physical reflexes.' Everown is scheduled for release in 2005. Posted January 4 2005 by Div Devlin

Face of Mankind Beta Coming: Would be testers can expect to get into game at the end of this month as Duplex Systems has announced that an open beta will begin on January 28th: Frankfurt, Germany, 27th December 2004 - Duplex Systems and Ojom GmbH are pleased to announce that the Face of Mankind beta test will open to the public by the 28th January 2005. Face of Mankind is a futuristic multiplayer online game featuring real-time combat and true roleplaying, set against a cinematic ongoing storyline. Anyone wishing to participate will be able to create a free Face of Mankind account and join in the testing process as the full release gets closer. During the intervening time, the amount of participants in the closed beta will be increased in several stages as preparation for this important part of testing. Downloads to FilePlanet, again? Posted January 4 2005 by Div Devlin

Imperator Dev Diary: Mark Jacobs from Mythic penned a diary about upcoming Imperator Online on the official site. He writes: Another installment, and one in which I will focus on Crux Points, Germanicus and Einstein. Bonus points for anyone who already understands the connection between these three subjects! Let's start with the idea of a Crux Point. Many people, Einstein among them, believe that there are certain points in history so important that even a small change would have dramatic effects on the world?s timeline. We call those changes at those crucial points in history by the name "Crux Point Shifts." One of the key elements of the backstory of Imperator is that a number of Crux Point Shifts bring about a radically different world from the one that we are living in today. The first major CPS in our game begins with Romans by the name of Germanicus, Tiberius and Claudius (I'm using the shortened versions of their official names for brevity's sake). Alt history and good story-telling equates to great immersion. Posted January 4 2005 by Div Devlin

Roma Victor Seeks Testers: edBedLam put out the call for citizens of th Imperium to help them beta test upcoming roman-themed Roma Victor, in which they seek to swell their ranks by a centum. Jolt Online Gaming, Europe's largest independent online gaming network, is now offering the MMORPG community 100 new beta tester slots in an upcoming behind-closed-doors test of Roma Victor, due to take place in 2005. Created by Brighton-based RedBedlam Ltd., Roma Victor is one of the few truly unique massively multiplayer experiences currently in development. Set in Roman-occupied Europe around the turn of the first millennium, the game offers players a chance to start out life as a Roman slave, working their way up the ranks to become a Gladiator, Legionary or even a wealthy noble or influential politician. Alternatively players can choose to be one of the 'free peoples' from the many distinctive cultures that live in opposition to the tyranny of Rome and its 'civilised' ways. Either way, Romanophiles, budding Tony Robinsons and even more conventional gamers looking for a less conventional experience are bound to get a kick out of the game's take on one of the most important periods in history, whether through the realistic combat model, the authentic crafts or just by soaking up the atmosphere of a time when brawny men goring one-another with spears was considered jolly good entertainment. When the game is finally made available in 2005, it will do away with conventional subscription fees and instead allow people to support the game as they see fit. All of this can be read about at http://www.roma-victor.com/. If you'd like to be one of the early testers to help shape the game's course before release and make it the best it can possibly be, head on over to http://www.jolt.co.uk/index.php?articleid=3086 where you'll find an entry form. Applications close on January 1st 2005. Do as the romans when within Rome. *Centum stands for the latin word 100. Thus a centurion led 100 men. Posted January 4 2005 by Div Devlin

RYL Claims 100k NA Players: Planetwide Games has announced that they have 100,000 players taking part in Risk Your Life or RYL for short, the newest PvP import to hit the states. Planetwide Games announces that its game "Risk Your Life" - the First Fantasy Player vs. Player (PVP) MMORPG has just passed the 100,000 North American registered player milestone. Risk Your Life is the one of the hottest MMORPG's to be released in the video game industry in a very long time, with over 1.2 million players worldwide Ever wonder if game dev's get pissed when their PR groups screw up and claim to be first? "Risk Your Life" - the First Fantasy Player vs. Player (PVP) MMORPG... Makes ya wonder sometimes. Posted January 4 2005 by Div Devlin

Saga of Ryzom Trial: Nevrax sends out the announcment that there are two new ways for players to check out Saga of Ryzom through free trials: Nevrax, developer of the ground-breaking massively multiplayer online role-playing game "The Saga of Ryzom", announced two new and convenient ways to experience Atys free for 14 days. Thousands have tried "The Saga of Ryzom for free and joined in the fun. Now, newcomers may choose from two ways to sample the Ryzom difference. The Express Access Free Trial is the newest way to enter Atys, with no credit card required. If players just want to get in the game and begin experiencing all Ryzom has to offer, this option is for them. The Express Access Free Trial is only available on the North American and English-speaking European servers. To take advantage of everything the game and the community have to offer, the Deluxe Access Free Trial is for you. With this option you will be allowed to post on the forums and access Klient chat, in addition to all the exciting offerings of Atys. The Deluxe Access Free Trial is available on all servers and allows players to change their community within the first week of the trial. The Deluxe Access option is subject to credit card validation. "We are delighted to offer new ways to try 'The Saga of Ryzom' for free," said David Cohen-Corval, CEO of Nevrax. "With the implementation of the first two installments of Chapter 2, improving upon the already vibrant gameplay and its lush living environment, we know that once new players see and partake of Atys and all her beauty, they will never leave." Check em out for something different. Posted January 4 2005 by Div Devlin

Wish Begins Beta: Mutable Realms has started their beta for Wish was rolled out in stages over the weekend. Beta Clients are available for download through FilePlanet. No word on the chicken-fiasco of early beta's from last year. Posted January 4 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW Sales, Last Year: Two weeks of totals as World of Warcraft dropped before the holiday in sales according to the NPD Group. From the week ending of Dec 11: 01. Half-Life 2 02. MS Zoo Tycoon 2 03. World Of Warcraft 04. The Sims 2 05. Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle Earth 06. Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 07. The Sims 2 Special Edition 08. MS Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection 09. Medal Of Honor: Pacific Assault 10. Sid Meier's Pirates During the week of the 18th WoW slipped to the sixth spot: 01. Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 02. The Sims 2 03. MS Zoo Tycoon 2 04. Half-Life 2 05. Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle Earth 06. World Of Warcraft 07. The Sims 2 Special Edition 08. MS Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection 09. Halo: Combat Evolved 10. World Poker Championship Let's see how it did during the last day later this week. Posted January 4 2005 by Div Devlin