As The Market Churns: The big news is that EA purchased 20 percent of Ubisoft. Electronic Arts Inc., the largest video game publisher in the United States, said Monday that it agreed to purchase a 19.9 percent stake in French video game developer UbiSoft Entertainment SA from Talpa Beheer BV, the investment vehicle of Dutch media giant John de Mol. Ubisoft is one of Europe's top three video game companies, publishing such titles as Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. Ubisoft, which employs about 2,352 workers, posted sales of $618.9 million in 2004. The purchase is subject to antitrust clearance from the U.S. government. Financial terms were not disclosed. Electronic Arts, publisher of Madden NFL 2004, Medal of Honor and the SimCity series, recorded earnings of $577.3 million on sales of $2.96 billion in 2004. EA attempted to gobble up exclusive rights for the NBA like they did the NFL, but were rejected according to this article on IGN. Posted December 21 2004 by Div Devlin

Dragon Empires to Live On? Could it be that all the work done on developing Dragon Empires will not go for naught? Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday on behalf of Codemasters, Sam "Satine" Russell included the following to get all of us eager to learn more: Anyhow, before I ramble on, I just wanted to give you a brief update on where we're at. Since our last communication, myself and a dedicated MMO team have been hard at work researching our next project(s). We've learnt a lot over the last couple of months and have pulled together some very exciting ideas. It's still too early to make any comments about any of our potential projects as absolutely nothing has been confirmed, however, suffice to say that we are still committed, we are still determined and by George we shall have our day in the MMO market! So, perhaps we won't see a fantasy type game or the Dragon Empires name, but it's good to see they are committed to all the work and investment that they have done. Posted December 21 2004 by Div Devlin

Smed on EQII Outage: After the great server meltdowsn that afflicted SOE for EverQuest II over the weekend, John Smedley gives his address: Hello Everyone, We sincerely apologize for the downtime this weekend. We had some hardware issues that caused us to have to tread very carefully in bringing the game back up. We wanted to triple check everything to make sure there wouldn't be any major problems, and it's taken a while to both fix the problem (we had to fly out engineers from one of our hardware vendors) and to bring each of the servers back online because of the careful validation process we need to go through. We have to do this very carefully and we hope you can understand our desire to do this right. We're trying to balance that with getting the game back up as quickly as possible. So far most servers are back up and the rest should be up in the next 4-6 hours.. hopefully less. I realize that ETA's that come and go can frustrate people.. so we do our best to give you the most realistic estimates possible. Out of respect for our players, we're doing the following: 1) Every player will receive 3 free days. 2) Early this week (Monday or Tuesday) we will have a 24 hour period where we will have accelerated XP gain. Details are still being worked out and we'll communicate this to you as we firm up the plans. We are committed to providing you with excellent service. Our team has been here for over 40 hours straight, and I can tell you our dedication to doing right by our players is the thing that's foremost on everyone's mind here at SOE. It's a new game, problems are bound to happen. Posted December 21 2004 by Div Devlin

Guild Wars Signed Give-Away: GamersInfo is doing a give-away with six autographed pre-order box copies of Guild Wars and access to the next and final beta event next month by answering a six question trivia contest. The contest is closed to North American residents only. The boxes are signed by, Guild War artists AJ Thompson, Jason Stokes, and Richard Anderson. Head on over and take a chance! (Thanks Carl) Posted December 21 2004 by Div Devlin

WoW, A Round-Up: Shut Up And Dance! Too Funny. Great Job. Meanwhile, kiting Stitches (the undead version of the MarshmellowMan) onto lowbie players is not a grief tactic. Very cool! :) By the way, we intentionally designed the game to protect players from this kind of event if they don't want to participate. But if they want to participate, more power to them! :) For example, only guards without quests will attack enemy units. Also, a creature like Stitches will only attack players and guards that attack him, not anybody who is standing idly by. If nobody is left who threatened him, he will try to go back to whatever he was doing before he was trained - in this case, rampaging through Darkshire. :) So... no griefing was had. The only people Stitches fought were those that attacked him first. Of course, the same is not true in Darkshire, where he does rampage and slaughter if the guards or players don't defeat him first. Too funny, and great game-play. I'm enjoying Warcraft immensely. Posted December 21 2004 by Div Devlin

Anarchy Online Free Play: Funcom announces that they have gone the play-for-free route to introduce new players (and vet's who left) to the much improved Anarchy Online offering no subscription fee to the basic game until January 1st of 2006. That's for an entire year! Funcom announces that Anarchy Online will be the first major western live MMO without a subscription fee(1). In a unique move Funcom is removing all cost barriers in the ultimate sci-fi MMORPG, allowing all new players to enter and stay, free of cost! At the same time Funcom is departing from the obligatory need to register with a credit card, making for an easier entrance and registration process. In an increasingly competitive market for fantasy MMO games, Anarchy Online stands out as the superior alternative if you like online RPG's and sci-fi. Not only will this new and totally free approach allow everyone tired of elves, fairies and gnomes to enter a futuristic RPG world full of fun action, it will also make it possible for those who are sci-fi fans to explore a world hailed and rewarded as the best sci-fi MMO available today. "Funcom has always been recognized as an inventive MMO developer. This unique move will allow us to test important new business models prior to announcing future online games, while also giving everyone the chance to experience the best online sci-fi RPG totally free of cost" said Trond Arne Aas, President and CEO of Funcom. "We feel very confident in the unique features and heralded qualities of our game, and are now openly inviting everyone playing MMO's to find out what Anarchy Online is all about, completely free of commitment" said Ole Schreiner, Project Director for Anarchy Online. "Not only can we boast of a fantastic game which has been expanding for years, we are also constantly adding exciting new content, progressively making the ultimate sci-fi MMORPG even better." Ya knew there was a catch though right? Offer is only valid for accounts created between the 15th of December 2004 and 15th of January 2005. You can play free of charge until 1/1 2006. Should Funcom deem that a too high-increase in server load or other unforeseen events will lessen the experience for existing players the offer will be terminated at our discretion. 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. Linkage. Posted December 17 2004 by Div Devlin

DAoC Roundtable Road Trip: Mythic Entertainment has announced they are going to kick off 2005 with even more RoundTable Gatherings next year for Dark Age of Camelot fans with RoadTrips taking place all around the country! Mythic Entertainment, developer and publisher of the massively-multiplayer online role-playing game, "Dark Age of Camelot," today announced the "Dark Age of Camelot" Roundtable Road Trip. The Roundtable Road Trip is a series of monthly fan gatherings throughout the US and Canada. Roundtable Road Trip events will be held in all corners of the U.S. from Seattle to Florida, and from California to New York. The Roundtable Road Trip kicks off January 22nd at the Web2Zone internet gaming center in New York City. "The 'Dark Age of Camelot' Roundtable Road Trip is our way of bringing regular fan gatherings closer to players, thereby making it easier for them to attend," said Eugene Evans, vice president of Marketing and Business Development of Mythic Entertainment. "We will continue to hold two larger events each year with two days of activities but these smaller events will allow us to reach even more members of the 'Dark Age of Camelot' community, including those that can't travel, for the chance to meet other players and members of our development staff." The events will take place at internet gaming centers and entertainment locations. Each event will include an evening of activities including the chance to win prizes from the Roundtable Roundtrip sponsors NVIDIA and Prima games. Players will also have a chance to learn about the latest "Dark Age of Camelot" developments and meet some of the Mythic staff first hand. Indie would be a great place to kick it with parties tied to GenCon at the historic train station. Posted December 17 2004 by Div Devlin

Horizons Buyout Approved: Horizons has a new owner as a judge approved the buyout from Tulga Games for Artifact Entertainment. The Honorable Sarah Curley, Chief Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Arizona yesterday approved the Tulga Games LLC's bid to purchase the assets of Artifact Entertainment Inc. Artifact Entertainment is the developer of the award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Horizons: Empire of Istaria, Tulga Games, LLC is a publisher/developer of digital entertainment. Tulga Games' Managing Member, Chris Tulumello, said, "I am very pleased that Tulga Games' bid was accepted and approved by the court. Our bid provided a viable course to continue the Horizons franchise while developing new Massively Multiplayer Online Game titles. Very few organizations can boast a working technology that allows many concurrent users simultaneous gameplay in a persistent world. I believe very strongly in what the technology architects at Artifact have accomplished." Continued Mr. Tulumello, "Working with the team to plot a course for the future for both the game Horizons and the company is a high priority. All the assets included in this sale are very powerful and very valuable. The fan base and subscribers to Horizons have been very vocal that the indecision caused by Artifact's filing of voluntary bankruptcy was a cause for concern; they have wanted to know what the future holds for them, I can see with great clarity that the future looks very bright. I, along with all the resources of Tulga Games, are committed to the long term story arc of this wonderful product." Artifact Entertainment's CEO and Creative Director, David Bowman, said, "Obviously we are extremely pleased with the courts decision that allows Tulga Games to complete the purchase of the assets of Artifact Entertainment. Among the many benefits of this purchase is the ability of the flagship product Horizons: Empire of Istaria to grow and prosper. This also allows Tulga the opportunity to develop new product based on the Evolution Engine, attract new investment and move the company forward." Are we ready for a Horizons 2? Posted December 17 2004 by Div Devlin

gameNgame Events Draw Crowds: gameNgame the North American publishers bringing us four new titles consisting of D.O., Legend of Mir3, Navy Field, and Shot Online drew over 400 gamers to their two events held at local internet cafes last week in Los Angeles and New York bringing Santa and celebrating the holidays. Throughout the four days of events, participants played games for free, met with the developers, watched game trailers and won a series of giveaways and prizes. Prizes included notebook PCs, MP3 players, video cards, digital cameras, PDAs, Intel Motherboards plus CPUs, and much more. iPark has also hosted an "Online Game Industry Round Table" in New York and Los Angeles to discuss the state and future of online gaming. Each meeting featured some of the key game-related businesses including Turbine Entertainment Software, iEntertainment Network, K2 Networks, Inc., NCSoft Corporation, and iGames. Discussion topics included the North American game industry market and market forecasts, success and failure factors of currently available online games, and perception of online games developed in Korea and their overall market potential. Photos from the events should be available soon. If you enjoyed World War II Online, you really need to try out Navy Field. See if you can sink my battleship! Posted December 17 2004 by Div Devlin

WoW, Sales Tops Charts: Not that it was a shocker, but World of Warcraft has topped the first weeks of sales charts for the ending of December 4th per the NDP Group, with nary a sign of EverQuest II in the top ten. The stats: 01. World Of Warcraft 02. Half-Life 2 03. The Sims 2 04. MS Zoo Tycoon 2 05. Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 06. The Sims 2 Special Edition 07. Rome: Total War 08. Sid Meier's Pirates 09. MS Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection 10. Medal Of Honor: Pacific Assault How many weeks will it remain on top? For all titles in Novemeber it also ranked number one. 01. World Of Warcraft 02. Half-Life 2 03. EverQuest II 04. Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 05. The Sims 2 06. World Of Warcraft Collector'sEd 07. MS Zoo Tycoon 2 08. The Sims Deluxe 09. The Sims 2 Special Edition 10. Call Of Duty 11. Ultima Online: Samurai Empire 12. Rome: Total War 13. Doom 3 14. Half-Life 2: Collector's Ed 15. Medal Of Honor: Pacific Assault 16. Call Of Duty: United Offensive 17. Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 18. Need For Speed: Underground 2 19. Star Wars Galaxies: Jump To Lightspeed 20.EverQuest II Collector's Ed EQII comes in at 3 though, so it's not that bad. Posted December 17 2004 by Div Devlin

Grimwell Does SpikeAwards: Good old Uncle Grimwell sat through the againzing torture of what was the SpikeTV GameAwards and after consolidationg his eleven pages of notes gives the beat down with a good stick, on why it sucked. A truely enjoyable read: When the commercials end one of the few almost bright momenet happens as they bring the awards back wtih "Hot Girls Reading Cheat Codes" which has potential. A hot girl in undies wiggling and touching herself saying "Up, down, left, right, up, up, down, down." If they could have paid for enough acting talent to get the girl to be sultry while she read the queue card, this would have worked. Instead it's eye candy with only a tease for the brain. What do I know though. The MC then brings out Bam Bam and Matt Hoffman from sk8ting and BMX respectively. They announce the categories for Most Addictive Game fueled by Mountain Dew; which seals the deal on the show. Some fucker at Spike said "Hey, let's get those nerds from G4TechTV to tune into our channel by promising a show on games and delivering bikini clad advertisements for two hours! We can expand our core demographic and charge more for commercials, and the nerds will be too busy wanking off to the titties to care!" Check his rant. Posted December 15 2004 by Div Devlin

Marvel MMO News: SuperHeroHype has the story that Marvel is still committed to bringing their universe to the MMO market with quotes from a blurb coming in the January issue of Computer Games: "Marvel is perfectly suited to massively multiplayer gaming as we are a 'universe' unto outselves," said Marvel COO Bill Jemas in the press release announcing their deal with Vivendi Universal to develop a massively multiplayer online RPG. "Our fans like to live and breathe their favorite characters, and this gives them the opportunity to do that 24 hours a day if they like." The deal gives Vivendi exclusive rights for ten years to online games using Marvel's 4,700 characters. This would explain the lawyer crack-down on City of Heroes and the attention given with the Spike TV Game Awards. Posted December 15 2004 by Div Devlin

Project Entropia $ell$ I$land: Project Entropia has succesfully sold their first auctioned property to a player, to the tune of 26kUS in pricing comparison. Project Entropia, the fastest growing virtual world utilizing a real cash economy, today announces twenty-two year old Australian, Deathifier from the Dark Knights society, as the savvy winner of this historic auction for virtual real estate. The auction began taking bids in late August and ran through the month of December accepting offers from around the world in a race to claim an extensively rendered virtual treasure island. Bidding ended at an astonishing amount of $26,500 US the largest amount ever spent in the massive multiplayer online gaming space. The treasure island is a true prize in the MMORPG virtual gaming community as it provides instant Real cash revenue from “mining and hunting” rights to the new owner. The winning bidder of the island will obtain all taxation rights on hunting and mining on the island as hundreds of members flock to the new world in search of new game and gold. The island also provides additional revenue potential through the selling of housing lots and market places, some of which have already been sold and claimed due to the high demand. Deathifier is 22 years old. Check the press release and the description page for more info. Posted December 15 2004 by Div Devlin

Matrix Online Delayed (Again!): WarnerBros. has silently announced through their marketing and PR group that Matrix Online game has had a change in it's release date from the 1st quarter of '05 to the spring of '05. This makes thing bad for Jason Hall who told gamers everywhere that the release date would be on January 18th in an article announcing the Novemeber release date change on GameSpot. I can assure you that it's going to ship on January 18. From a technical standpoint, if we really wanted to not include other countries, we could have shipped it a little bit earlier. This is why we’re very confident in our ship date. Our decision revolves much more around maximizing the opportunity with the Matrix and reaching as many users as possible, and much less around things like a technological or production hiccup. The new blurb: The Matrix Online, a massively multi-player online game co-published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and SEGA of America, will now ship in Spring 2005. Previously slated for a January 2005 launch, the game will expand its beta program while the overall game experience is being enhanced. "We are committed to quality games and making this the best possible experience for players," said Jason Hall, Senior Vice President of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "Since this is our first MMOG, we are taking measured steps to ensure it will be polished and are investing additional resources into our community oriented initiatives." New quote of the day? Build it right, and we will come! Posted December 15 2004 by Div Devlin

Ryzom Release Chapter Two: Nevrax has announced that they have officially opened the book on their second chapter to Saga of Ryzom titled "Open Conflict." Chapter Two will be rolled out in three installments, the first of which was released today. Today's patch introduces unique items for players to acquire, as well as named "boss" monsters. "This installment to Atys' dynamic storyline will give players a renewed sense of awe and wonder," said David Cohen-Corval, CEO of Nevrax. "Improving upon the already vibrant gameplay and its lush living environment, part one of Chapter Two is just the first taste of things to come as Atys continues to evolve and grow." The second installment of Chapter Two is scheduled for release on December 21st, 2004, with the third installment to follow shortly after on January 6th, 2005. "The coming installments will add player-versus-player combat (PvP) in designated areas of Atys, mounts, a player encyclopedia, the first "rite" missions together with their associated awards, and much, much more. We are very excited about the integration of these new features," added Cohen-Corval. It's getting there! Posted December 15 2004 by Div Devlin

EQII Character Slots: SOE announced that Station Access Subscribers can have four more character slots added to their EverQuest II accounts, for a price. As an added benefit for our Station Access subscribers, we are pleased to announce that all Station Access accounts now include four additional EverQuest II character slots. This brings the total available character slots up to eight for our Station Access subscribers. This makes Station Access an even better value for EverQuest II players. Don't forget that Station Access also includes access to EverQuest, EverQuest Online Adventures, EverQuest for the Macintosh, PlanetSide, and all the Station Pass games for the price of $21.99 per month. Currently EverQuest II only allows access to four characters total per an account, while other MMO games offer a minimum of four character slots per server. Posted December 13 2004 by Div Devlin

GW Community Feedback Considered: As Guild Wars wrapped up it's latest weekend event and prepare for the final January event several new guilds were invited into Alpha for dominating in the PvP Ladders: - War Machine [WAR] - No Name Guild [NN] - ??? [KOR] - House Palomides [PALO] - Eight versus Eight [EvE] A congrats to them. Also, word has it a number of templates that were created for the PvP aspects in the last event were inspired by Lords of the Dead, and that several of the ideas presented by that guild are being conisdered for inclusion into the game. Cool. Posted December 13 2004 by Div Devlin

MxO Jacks In 45 Screenshots: Players thirsty for more of The Matrix Online will be happy to know that 45 new screenshots are now available for their viewing pleasure. The new screens reveal a wealth of new environments, scenes and ability effects in the game. Users are welcome to download the visuals at The Matrix Online's official site. Don't believe the hype on other sites saying they have exclusive screenshots. Posted December 13 2004 by Div Devlin

Origins Lives On In UO: EA has announced that Origins will live on within Ultima Online as a new server is launched this week of the same name. On Thursday, December 16, between 5:00 – 8:00 PM PST, a new shard will be born -- Origin. This shard will be a place where you can get a fresh start, claim that prime piece of real estate you’ve always had your eye on, or just rediscover the lands of Britannia. Because we have many demo and free trial programs available, this shard will only be available to Ultima Online: Samurai Empire account holders for the first month. By limiting access in this way, we can ensure that our loyal customers have the first opportunity to claim the real estate and goods provided by the launch of the Origin shard. This restriction will be lifted in mid-January. A few things you should know about the Origin Shard: Origin will be located on the West Coast of North America This Shard will be the first to receive most publishes and updates Character Transfer will be disabled to and from Origin for the first 30-days Advanced Characters will not be available for the first 30-days Just in time for the holidays! Posted December 13 2004 by Div Devlin

WoW, Ebay and You: Blizzard has announced that Ebay and 3rd party sites making a killing right now off of World of Warcraft is bad, and that they are going to enforce their no sales on virtual property rights with a passion. Even going as far as to condemn players who use outside vendors to become elite within game. It has come to our attention that certain individuals are selling Blizzard's in-game property for cash on auction sites such as eBay and on personal websites. The World of Warcraft Terms of Use clearly state that all of the content in World of Warcraft is the property of Blizzard, and Blizzard does not allow "in game" items to be sold for real money. Accordingly, Blizzard Entertainment will take any and all actions necessary to stop this behavior. Not only do we believe that it is illegal, but it also has the potential to damage the game economy and overall experience for the many thousands of others who play World of Warcraft for fun. In order to promote a fun and fair environment for all our customers, we are actively investigating those individuals who engage in this inappropriate activity and reserve the right to take legal action against these individuals to protect World of Warcraft for all those who "play by the rules." If you are found to be selling in-game property (such as coins, items, or characters), for real money, you will lose your characters and accounts, and Blizzard Entertainment reserves its right to pursue legal action against you as well. We also want to remind potential buyers in the game to please refrain from buying in-game property with real money. We understand the temptation to purchase better items, but Blizzard, and not the seller, does own all in-game property. In addition, we feel that characters can find ample equipment and money within the game through their own adventuring and questing. Please understand that if you do purchase in-game property from sellers on eBay and personal sites, we may temporarily suspend your account, and at the very least, delete the offending items. Good luck with that, others have failed. Now if only they would address how I'm supposed to get the last patch to install without a failure so I could play. Posted December 13 2004 by Div Devlin

Auto Assault Hiring: NetDevil has an announcement on their employment page that they have an opening for a programmer to work on Auto Assault. This position will be to assist in all areas of Development of Auto Assault. Day to day tasks may include helping with graphics code, improving various game tools, networking and performance optimization. Check it for a list of essentials, and Good Luck! Posted December 9 2004 by Div Devlin

Dark and Light Newsletter: NPCube has announced the launch of their official newsletter for Dark and Light currently in development. Now you can get the latest updates on the games progress delivered right to your email. In the newsletter you can find the first of a new series of releases intending to reveal unreleased information about the world of Ganareth, which will also carry elements of background, exciting stories, new screenshots and exclusive trailers. Posted December 9 2004 by Div Devlin

Roma Victor > Money: RedBedlam has announced that they are going to make gamers pocketbooks a much happier place for their upcoming game, Roma Victor as they announce a new virtual curreny system in which players do not pay a flat monthly fee to enjoy thier mmo experience. Typically, subscribers to an existing MMORPG pay a flat fee for access to the game world (usually between $10 and $20 per month). This system however raises many issues, with players paying the same fee unrelated to the amount of time spent in the game world or the contribution which they make to its environment. RedBedlam's Virtual Currency system dispenses with the traditional subscription model and instead, allows players to continue to access the world with no regular monthly fee required, charging only for in-game currency (in Roma Victor's case, Sesterces). "The revenue model for most existing MMORPG's - where one player might play occasionally or for a couple of hours whilst another player might be online and active 10 hours a day, but both pay the same - means that subscribers experience differing levels of value," says Kerry Fraser-Robinson, President and MD of RedBedlam. "Some players positively contribute to the game world in terms of content, services and gameplay while others simply enjoy what's been created. Our virtual currency system rewards those that contribute and charges a fair fee to the rest." Check out the full details about the new revenue model. Posted December 9 2004 by Div Devlin

DAoC Catacombs Live: Mythic has launched thier latest expansion "Catacombs" for Dark Age of Camelot offering new thrills, adventures, and lots of teh shiney. Mythic Entertainment, developer and publisher of the massively-multiplayer online role-playing game, "Dark Age of Camelot," today announced that "Dark Age of Camelot: Catacombs" has shipped to retail stores throughout North America. The online game's fifth expansion, "Catacombs" debuts instanced Private Adventuring for solo and group quests, adds five new classes, reveals a vast new underworld to explore, and a major character and environment graphics overhaul. "Dark Age of Camelot: Catacombs" is rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB, and has a suggested retail price of $29.99. Players will delve beneath the three Realms for new adventures based on the game's original back story, and experience instanced Private Adventuring for challenging solo and group play that is accessible to players at all levels. "Catacombs" upgrades graphics throughout the game, including playable characters, monsters, and dungeon environments, and introduces a character customization feature. Five new player classes make their debut in "Catacombs," offering new challenges and the chance to see "Camelot" through the eyes of a Heretic, Warlock, Valkyrie, Vampiir or Bainshee. Ya know, I don't knock them at all when I say this, and I just note that it's funny how MMO's are evolving to protect thier property by trademarking terms that they use such as "Private Adventuring." Posted December 8 2004 by Div Devlin

Lineage II Expansion Live: NCsoft announces that their expansion for Lineage II has also gone live. Chronicle 2 features highlights include extended territories, changes to castle sieges, manor systems and mini-games where players can gamble. A shout out also to Ash, who takes the lead as the new community relaions manager. Posted December 8 2004 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane ToO Live: With so many people currently involved other games or expansions right now and as one of the developers even pointed out on their personal blog that the time to launch was wrong, but Shadowbane has it's newest expansion out. "Throne of Oblivion" also went live yesterday. Shadowbane: Throne of Oblivion marks the first time in an MMORPG that players can play Vampire characters. The Vampires' clothing and armor will spotlight their supernatural power and allure and demonstrate the appeal of these creatures while exploring a new visual direction for Shadowbane. Their unique powers, strengths, and weakness will add new layers and tactics to the Shadowbane PvP landscape. New classes, including the Nightstalker, Necromancer, and disciplines including Vampire bloodlines and four new siege disciplines will also debut in Shadowbane: Throne of Oblivion. Existing classes and disciplines will be updated to account for the arrival of the undead legions, and new weapons will add new dimensions to the existing power dynamic, forcing players to make new strategic decisions. It hurts when they did so much work to fix the game, but offered very little information about the game to those who had left with interviews and such. Posted December 8 2004 by Div Devlin

The Matrix Online Billing: Warner Bros. has announced the pricing plan that they will have on release for The Matrix Online due out next year. 1 month plan at $14.99 3 month plan at $41.99 6 month plan at $77.99 12 month plan at $143.99 Also announced for those who preorder is a new fanzine dedicated to The Matrix Online. The Matrix Online fanzine is a first edition collector's item celebrating the evolution of The Matrix into a revolutionary new massively multiplayer online game. Created by DC Comics and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, The Matrix Online fanzine contains 24 pages of exclusive stories and articles regarding the evolution of the game - from character creation to beta testing. The fanzine also showcases special features, including Paul Chadwick's Writing the Matrix and an in-depth look at The Matrix Mega city with special edition maps of the game world. Posted December 8 2004 by Div Devlin

WoW Bannings Continue: Blizzard has announced on the World of Warcraft site that bannings continue with their new launched game in it's third week. Last week bannings commenced over those using speedhacks and this week begin work on "Bots." We have recently verified that certain individuals were using third party "bot" programs to automate their characters in World of Warcraft. A bot is used to play an account non-stop, allowing its user to accumulate money, items, and experience without actually requiring the user to be physically present to play the game. The use of bots is a violation of the World of Warcraft Terms of Use and is absolutely prohibited. Therefore, the accounts identified as having used bots have been banned. Maybe that explains how so many people were able to get in the 50's over the past week. Posted December 8 2004 by Div Devlin

Raph Has A New Book: Raph Koster has a new book which was just published by Paraglyph Press and having a forward done by Will Wright. The new write titled "A Theory of Fun for Game Design," stems from Raph's discussion panel at the Austin Game Conference in 2003. The book addresses such essential design subjects as "what makes a game fun"; "whether games can be art"; and, above all, "why games matter." Check it out as it's destined to be another one of those required reads. Posted December 6 2004 by Div Devlin

Frontier 1859 Interview: The folks over at OMGN have a good read as they sit down and conduct an interview with the creator of Frontier 1859, Daniel B. McMillan. In it they talk about experience as a gamer, his involvment with the project, and why they went with a Wild West theme as some of the questions answered. A Mighty Question for the Women!: The MMORPG genre has come under criticism since so many of the females in these games are anorexic, big-breasted and wear hardly any clothes or armor despite that many of these females are supposedly engaged in military activities. What do you think of this criticism and will Frontier 1859 avoid this stereotypical treatment of females? What do I think of it? It keeps reminding me of the way we fail to look at woman. We don't promote seeing them as whole persons often enough, but seperated into nice this, or nice that. I mean the modeling is a mere reflection of that behavior, but it is not entirely their fault. Men have been idolizing woman all the way back to first mom! I love women, like most men, but I'd like to do the best that I can to allow them to be who they are. I mean, how many of today's games exemplify men's buttocks, or express the notion of a well endowed package? It's out of balance. Our best qualities going forward are not our sexuality, contrary to what our hormones dictate. We want woman will play a huge role in Frontier 1859. Just as they did in reality! You see, for many decades, woman's life during those times was obscure because men ran the propoganda machine. When we read books such as "Women's Voices from the Western Frontier" by Susan G. Butruille, I'm challenged to present accurate but highly adaptable female characters. It is good that we now have new hindsight for the roles of women on the Frontier, and from both Native and Emigrant POV, as Susan's book highlights. Head on over and take a gander par'dner. Posted December 6 2004 by Div Devlin

Hero's Journey Not Dead! Hero's Journey, the MMO game in development by Simultronics that mysteriously vanished and was left for dead as a canceled title has reappeared! Still in development and making a return with an updated web presence in October the game can now be found over on PlayNet with no direct linkage available from the main page. Check out their udated FAQ, Message Boards and Gallery with newly updated artwork. Posted December 6 2004 by Div Devlin

Time of Defiance Additions: Nicely Crafted announced that they have shipped a new game client release for their campaign-based MMO RTS, Time of Defiance. The new client features 2 new units suggested by players as part of a research and development competition that ran this summer. "We've always supported our community closely through innovative approaches such as the third party development interface", explains Toby Simpson, Managing Director. "We created the R&D competition to expand the product creatively using the myriad of cool ideas from our players. We hoped to find one new unit, and ended up with the two and a selection more planned for early 2005." The release also contains several additions to the game along with a new noticeboard system and improved chat areas in the central Eighth House. In addition, this is the first time the new Time of Defiance update server will be used for the delivery of an entire client to our existing community making it even easier for them to try out the new features in the game. These folks listen to the players and use their feedback, how cool is that? Posted December 6 2004 by Div Devlin

WoW Bannings Begin: Blizzard announced on Friday that they have already begun the crackdown on those who exploit or cheat within World of Warcraft by issuing perma-bans to those who were using Speeh Hacks. We wanted to take this time to make an announcement about a serious hacking violation in World of Warcraft, one for which we have zero tolerance. Certain individuals have been identified as using speed hacks to accelerate their characters. This goes against the theme of fair play that we have instituted for the game, and is in clear violation of the World of Warcraft Terms of Use. Those individuals who were caught using the speed hack have been banned from the game and have had their accounts closed. We must stress once again that we are opposed to hacking and cheating of any kind and are dedicated to maintaining a fair environment in our games. This will serve as a final warning to others who are considering using the speed hack. If you are caught using it, you will be banned without question from World of Warcraft and your account will be revoked. While it is reported that Speed Hacking was common place during beta, and the problem has not been fixed at least they are issuing perma-bans and not temp suspensions. Posted December 6 2004 by Div Devlin

Guild Wars Top Ten: Thanks to Arena Net and all our contestants who took part in our Guild Wars contest in which we asked what the "Top Ten Reasons To Play Guild Wars" this weekend are. In true MMO style each entry put's Dave's lists to shame. Each of the winners recieve an exclusive beta-ket to participate in this weekends installment of the beta test which begins tonight and ends Sunday. Here is a breakdown for the Best of Best. The Top Ten Reasons To Play Guild Wars: 10. What are 10 reasons for anyone NOT to play GuildWars? - Oliver 09. Because I'm a Girl, and Girls Do Play! - Marie 08. Guild Wars Is Better Than Sex! - Cameron 07. Crack is illegal. Guild Wars is not. - Nick 06. No server localization! - Cassy 05. It's the ex-Blizzard Guys, Who made Blizzard What It Is! - SilverSoul 04. No Bloody Monthly Subscription Fee! - Phillip 03. The NPC's You Hire Are Smarter Than Most Players! - Patrick 02. Playing with friends is ok. Killing them is excellent. - Ashley And The Number One Reason to Play Guild Wars this Weekend is: No Login queues to wait to play! - Tim How True! Check out the full list of our winners this afternoon who each won a key. Congrats to everyone! Be sure to check back here Monday as we begin our Holiday Give-Away's for Christmas! Posted December 3 2004 by Div Devlin

CCP Signs Savant Says: CCP announced that they have signed Savant Says Media to handle their public relations and marketing for Eve Online. CCP, an independent developer and publisher of next-generation online games, today announced the signing of a deal with Savant Says Media, a global provider of integrated PR and marketing for the interactive entertainment industry. Under the terms of the agreement, Savant Says Media will help promote the launch of ?EXODUS,? the first expansion to CCP?s successful massively multiplayer title "EVE Online." "This is the first of many great things to come for 'EVE Online,'" said Magnus Bergsson, CCP's chief marketing officer. "And with the experience Savant Says Media brings, we'll be able to reach far more gamers than we ever have with the ?EVE? experience." With over 50,000 active subscribers, "EVE Online" broke the 12,000 simultaneous-user barrier on a single server on November 28, 2004, only days after launching "EXODUS." "We look forward to great successes with 'EVE,'" said Daniel Manachi, chief executive officer of Savant Says Media. "It's long been our desire to work with the great crew at CCP, and now we have achieved that goal." Thats three in three days. The tattoed man is on a role. Posted December 3 2004 by Div Devlin

Knight Online Free Play: Knight Online from K2Network is making it's North America launch next week and will be offering a special "Free2Play" package offering unlimted play for free! FREE IS GOOD. K2Network, a global online game publisher, announces today the official launch of Knight Online with completely revamped website, new server expansion, and the revolutionary "Free2Play" for all players with unlimited playing time. Both existing and new players will have complete access to all the current features of the game as well as all future updates and expansion packages. For die-hard fans of Knight Online who wish to further enrich their experience, Knight Online offers Premium and Ultra Premium option for higher hit rates, increased player abilities, access to special weapons, and many other benefits. "The Free2Play is truly unprecedented in a way no other major fantasy MMORPG in North America has dared to offer in the past. It represents K2 Network's commitment to offering what today's gamers want and an approach to innovation and creativity. Today, our industry is witnessing an evolution of business model that no longer depends itself on static monthly subscriptions, but rather on more dynamic, player-driven revenue streams based on relevant player choice. We are delivering what our players have been asking us and thus have crafted a carefully staged plan to sustain and expand our vibrant Knight Online global community." said Joshua Hong, Chief Executive Officer of K2 Network. Knight Online is the critically acclaimed medieval fantasy adventure game with perpetual war servers operating with local language-support in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and North America. Since its first introduction in Korea two and a half years ago, Knight Online has been enjoyed by millions of players from over 50 countries. With the new server expansion, enhanced website, and the "Free2Play", K2 Network expects to double its global player base to 300,000 in the upcoming months for its North American servers. We checked these guys out at AGC earlier this year and the game is engrossing. Posted December 3 2004 by Div Devlin

Saga of Ryzom Boards Open: If you have been wondering just what's been going on inside Saga of Ryzom which was released by Nevrax to see if you wanted to check out the game but were locked out of the boards due to them being closed, well rejoice for the boards are open now to the general public! If you are like me and would like to see what the community has to say about the game Nevrax has opened the official boards to non-subscribers. Ask away the question's you want to know! Posted December 3 2004 by Div Devlin

Mutable Realms To FilePlanet: Mutable Realms announced that their beta client for the next chapter of Wish testing will be hosted via FilePlanet for downloads. Mutable Realms, Inc., is pleased to announce that FilePlanet will host the Wish Beta 2.0 download. Wish is the first Ultra Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (UMMORPG(tm)), with tens of thousand of simultaneous players in a single world, without any zones or "shards". With Wish's single-world approach, Mutable Realms employs a dedicated Live Story Team whose singular purpose is to keep the game story moving forward, providing a fresh gaming experience for our users each time they play. ... We are very pleased that FilePlanet agreed to host our Wish Beta 2.0 Client on their powerful server network," said Marc Laukien, President of Mutable Realms. "So far, about 40,000 testers have signed up for our beta test, which means a lot of download traffic, in particular during the first days of January. With FilePlanet's help, we will be able to provide a hassle-free download for such a large number of players." Beta 2.0 is scheduled to start on January 1, 2005. Testers will be able to download the game client at the end of December. There will be no fee for downloading the game client. Unless you do not want to wait ina queue with crappy download connections which will then require a FilePlanet subscription? Posted December 3 2004 by Div Devlin

AO Community Manager Departs: Funcom bids farewell with the playerbase for Anarchy Online as their community manager, Thomas 'Cz' Johnsen bids a fond farewell.My years at Funcom have been great in every way. I’ve learned a lot, worked with a great number of extremely skilled and professional people, and exchanged hugs and blows with what I consider the very best MMO community currently in existence. From my arrival at the Funcom offices a few days after the launch of Anarchy Online I’ve seen the game, team and community continually improve and develop into the great entity it is today. I will continue to enjoy watching it grow, though I’m sure it’ll be weird doing it as a regular player after almost three and a half years on the inside.It's always a bum to see someone who was great for a game, leave. We wish Cz well and best of luck on his next project. Posted December 3 2004 by Div Devlin

As The Market Grows: A new player has entered the market as an independent but would love the opportunity to discuss the game's commercial potential with serious publishers, software companies or financial backers for the free MMO game The Universal. Magrathea (London branch), 3rd December 2004: the first publicly-available version of The Universal is here! The Universal is a free, massively-multiplayer online game set in a virtual 3d universe of worlds owned and run by other players. Created by Games For May, an independent team of volunteers from the games industry, The Universal brings a totally unique approach to the popular massively-multiplayer gaming genre. "The Universal is completely free to play, unlike other titles that charge players to maintain their alternative virtual lives," said Mitchell Goodwin, creator and lead programmer. "What's more, The Universal gives players a unique chance to participate in game design and development without needing any programming knowledge. Other games let you customise your character: we offer the potential for players to own and customise an entire world in the game universe." Player's pwn teh w0rld! Posted December 3 2004 by Div Devlin

EQ II Sales Drop: NPD Group has released their sales charts for the week ending on Nov. 20th. Falling to sixth place from the top spot is EverQuest II. The breakdown: 1. Half-Life 2 2. Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 3. MS Zoo Tycoon 2 4. The Sims 2 5. Medal Of Honor: Pacific Assault 6. EverQuest II 7. Half-Life 2: Collector's Ed 8. The Sims 2 Special Edition 9. Need For Speed: Underground 2 10. The Sims Deluxe Off the charts next week? Posted December 3 2004 by Div Devlin

PotbS Updates FAQ, Game Delayed: Flying Labs has updated thier FAQ for thier in development MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea making a change from release which was planned for 1Q2005 to, "We aren't announcing a release date yet." Also two new members have joined the development team which are introduced. Give a shoutout to Brady and Nick. The dev's also have a new combat FAQ up talking about ship-to-ship combat within game. Posted December 3 2004 by Div Devlin

WoW Free Trial Extensions: Blizzard announced how they would handle the extended free time due to launch issues with World of Warcraft last week which works out good. Accounts created on November 23 will receive a 4-day extension Accounts created on November 24 will receive a 3-day extension Accounts created on November 25 will receive a 2-day extension Accounts created on November 26 will receive a 1-day extension That works out nice. Posted December 3 2004 by Div Devlin

DAoC Conquest Expands: Mythic is expanding their conquest of the known world with Dark Age of Camelot as the move into new territories! Mythic Entertainment, developer and publisher of the critically-acclaimed massively-multiplayer online role-playing game, "Dark Age of Camelot," today announced plans to further extend the game's international reach. In January 2005, the game will be available in Japanese, in Spring 2005 it will launch in Spain, and will relaunch in Italy and Korea. The game is currently available in English, French, German, Italian and Korean. Each localized version of the game currently contains more than 2 million words of text, equivalent to more than 16 paperback novels. "We’re thrilled to be able to say 'Bienvenida' and 'Youkoso' to players in Spain and Japan, and 'Ben Tornati' and 'Dasimanasuh Bangabseupnida' to our loyal Italian and Korean players. 'Dark Age of Camelot' continues to be the number one MMO throughout Europe, and we are excited to be the first international MMO available translated into Spanish," said Mark Jacobs, president and CEO of Mythic Entertainment. "With the Japanese release and Korean relaunch we are making a commitment to become a major player in the multi-billion dollar online gaming market in Asia." Mythic has extended its successful European partnership with GOA, France Telecom's Games Unit, to include Italy and Spain. In addition to fully translating the contents of the game, GOA will provide dedicated Spanish and Italian language customer support and community management. The companies will make the game and all expansions, including "Catacombs," available to both Spanish and Italian players in Spring 2005. Mythic will launch the fully localized Japanese version of "Dark Age of Camelot" in January 2005. Japanese players are currently enjoying the game in closed beta, and thousands more are expected to join the open beta in December 2004. Further details of Mythic’s Japanese partnerships will be announced soon. For details on the Japanese version, please visit japan.darkageofcamelot.com. Mythic has also extended its existing agreement with Buff Entertainment in Korea which recently came under new management. Mythic will work with Buff to make the current version of "Dark Age of Camelot" and all expansions available to all Korean players. The domination is almost complete! Quote of the day: "What is that purple monster attacking me!" - Sanya Thomas, as she found a new mob within game she had never seen before. Posted December 1 2004 by Div Devlin

Game&Game Holiday Party: Game&Game has announced they are going to share some Christmas joy with gamers by throwing two parties! gameNgame.com, a new web portal dedicated to promoting MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) based games developed in South Korea, invites U.S.-based online gamers to its four day gaming extravaganza, "2004 Happy Christmas LAN Party." The event will be held in New York City on December 7th and 8th at Web2Zone game center, and in Los Angeles on December 10th and 11th at Internet PC Café game center located in Gardena, Calif. Throughout four days of events, participants will play games for free, meet with the developers, watch game trailers and earn chances to win a series of giveaways and prizes. Prizes will include notebook PCs, MP3 players, video cards, PDAs and much more. Also when a participant brings a copy of gameNgame.com’s event page will receive a gamengame t-shirt and stress reliever. Recently launched by iPark on November 1, www.gameNgame.com has been providing the details and full version downloads of four pre-released games including, d.o, Legend of Mir3, Navy Field and Shot-Online with "free" nationwide open play scheduled to run until the end of this year. iPark Silicon Valley, a U.S. business development subsidiary of the Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency (KIPA), is promoting the thriving B2B relationships between South Korea and North America IT leaders. The Government of Republic of Korea - Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), operates KIPA. "The visitor rate so far has been overwhelming with nearly 100,000 visitors over 20,000 registered users accessing at least one of the four latest upcoming Korean game titles," said Kevin Lee, Chief Executive Director, iPark Sillicon Valley. "We are very excited about this onsite opportunity to meet with the players as we believe it will be a great way for us to begin building the community of fans for our games and at large, all future games developed in Korea." With a Christmas theme, event participants will be greeted with free giveaways and guided by Mrs. Claus to each of the cool events on the floor throughout the day including free game-play, mini game tournaments, fan meetings and movie time for game trailers. This sounds like an awesome event, you should check it out and let all of us here know how it is/was/will be, uh-huh! Posted December 1 2004 by Div Devlin

Savant Says: The man, the myth, the legend, the one of well-done inkage is back! Be afraid! Daniel "Savant" Manachi has returned from his extended absence in the gaming industry as he moved home to the city of Angels and home to Orange County Choppers where he has founded his own company and has gone solo with "Savant Says." Savant Says Media, founded by respected online gaming analyst Daniel “Savant” Manachi, today announced its official launch, opening its doors as a leading public relations and marketing firm. The firm is dedicated to the global promotions of games and other products and services targeting the elusive gamer demographic. "Our goal is to help our clients capitalize on missed marketing opportunities," said Daniel Manachi, president of Savant Says Media. "With this new firm, we bring to the table over ten years of research and a keen understanding of the elusive online gaming enthusiast." The Savant Says Media team have promoted over twenty products worldwide, including: American Conquest, Anarchy Online, Blitzkrieg, Breed, Combat Mission: Special Edition, Combat Mission II: Special Edition, Fallen Age, GameShadow, Jumpgate, Neocron, Ninth Domain, No Man's Land, One Must Fall: Battlegrounds, Project Nomads, Rubies of Eventide, Saga of Ryzom, Time of Defiance, Ultimate Baseball Online, Underlight, and Wish. About Savant Says Media Founded by Daniel "Savant" Manachi, Savant Says Media, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, is the leading choice for the assembly and execution of a highly effective, integrated online public relations, marketing, and community management strategy. To qwell the rumors and show our lewt investigative reporting skill we contacted him to ask if he has become partners with Scott "UnknownPlayer" Miller, which he has not. So there! As an aside, has anyone else noticed that since he left that other company they have not had any new clients and he already has two three? Our job is done for the day, we now go back to playing World of Warcraft. Posted December 1 2004 by Div Devlin

Sigonyth Online 1st Screenshots: This is like a momentous occasion. There is nothing like the first screenshots for an MMO game being released. Feel the lover. See the power. Sigonyth: Desert Eternity a brand new Polish-Italian MMORPG game from New Desert has made their first screenshots available. Finally we have decided to present the first screenshots from brand new Polish-Italian MMORPG game called "Sigonyth: Desert Eternity". Pictures below introduce you to the surroundings of Aldea - one of many villages on this sandy planet. You can also find new music samples taken from the game soundtrack. They can be found in Download section. Sigonyth is a MMORPG seen from the Third Person Perspective view. The action takes place on red hot desertic planet called - yeah, you've guessed it - Sigonyth! You will hear many stories about this place, but one thing can be said for sure -living here is not a piece of cake. Playing your character, you can choose between three races - humans, cyborgs or mutants. So, who are you gonna be on Sigonyth? A miner? A merchant? Maybe a bounty hunter? It's all up to you... Check them here, here, here and here. Posted December 1 2004 by Div Devlin

WoW, It Shatters Records: Blizzard has announced that World of Warcraft has shattered all records for day-one game sales in North America, with over 240,000 copies sold on release followed by another 110,000 sold through the Thanksgiving holiday. Blizzard Entertainment(R) today confirmed that World of Warcraft(R) has broken day-one sales records in North America, making it the most successful PC game launch ever. World of Warcraft, the company's subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), sold through to over 240,000 customers at retailers in North America on Tuesday, November 23, selling more in its first 24 hours than any other PC game in history.(a) In addition to shattering sales records, World of Warcraft also broke peak concurrency and account creation records for a MMORPG. Within the first day, over 200,000 players created World of Warcraft accounts. By 5:00 p.m. PST, over 100,000 were playing the game concurrently. These two record-breaking numbers made World of Warcraft the fastest-growing MMORPG in history. Within a single day, all original 40+ World of Warcraft servers were filled to capacity, and by the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, more than 40 additional servers were deployed to meet the rapidly growing player base, as the number of new accounts and concurrent users continued to grow. "We were all extremely pleased with the success of World of Warcraft on its first day of launch," said Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "Once we saw the numbers for the first day, we knew that we had to immediately increase capacity to accommodate the huge numbers of players joining our game. We're glad so many people are enjoying World of Warcraft, and we are dedicated to supporting a fun and smooth game experience for everyone." Retailers across North America reported that the World of Warcraft launch was unequivocally their biggest day-one sales in PC gaming history. Leading industry retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, EB, and GameStop, all reported that hundreds of their stores sold out of World of Warcraft within the first day. "World of Warcraft has once again shown that Blizzard consistently delivers the best games in the industry," said Robert McKenzie, vice president of merchandising at GameStop. "It sold better than any other PC game this year -- in fact, World of Warcraft enjoyed the best day-one sell-through GameStop has ever seen on a PC title!" Over the Thanksgiving weekend, players continued to buy World of Warcraft in record numbers, with a total of over 350,000(a) copies of the game selling through. Blizzard Entertainment and its retail partners expect the remaining supplies of World of Warcraft to sell out soon. Blizzard is currently evaluating its ability to ship additional games to retailers, given the unexpectedly high demand on the servers. The company continues to increase server capacity to accommodate the growing number of players connecting to the game. As the additional servers are brought online and proven stable, additional copies of World of Warcraft will be made available at retail. Blizzard will announce the availability of those additional games as soon as they are on shelves. Wow, who can beat that? Somone always has something negative to say, and this time it's not me! Greg Cato has an in-depth analysis on what is wrong with World of Warcraft over on OverAnalyzed, which is worth a read. Posted December 1 2004 by Div Devlin