AGC Opens Registration: The Austin Game Conference taking place this October 27th and 28th in Autin, Texas has officially opened their registration page for attendees. It does not matter how you are tied into the industry, be it gamer, developer or publisher, if you have an interest in MMO games, this IS the convention to attend. Running in conjunction to AGC will also be the Womens Game Conference and the newly announced Game Writers Conference. Posted July 28 2005 by Div Devlin

MMO Fiction Writer Wanted: Got word sent over that a headhunter is out-and-about looking for a talented individual to create fiction works for an undisclosed EU MMO game in development. Info: Main duties: Communication: - Create new pieces of Lore, fitting into the overall style as required. - Verify that all Lore work is in an engaging, informative and fun style. - Use the lore to create 'cool' item names within the game. - Ensure that internal departments apply the lore correctly for marketing or other promotion activities. - To highlight and suggest improvements to all aspects of the lore and items. Project Management: - Ensure all lore work is consistent and has correct grammar, spelling and flow. General: - Work with other internal and external parties to promote the game lore. Requirements: Education/Qualifications: Educated to at least further education level in English, ideally hold a degree Experience: Minimum of 1.5 years practical experience within the MMOG community. Skills/Knowledge: Fantasy, Mythology, Sci-F - Keen interest in gaming - specifically MMOG's Aptitudes/Attributes - Excellent written and verbal communication including superb telephone manner - Ability to communicate detailed solutions to any problems encountered - Able to manage time and work under pressure to tight deadlines at all levels - Ability to make decisions and act upon them - Able to work on own initiative and within a team environment - Self motivator and able to motivate others - Assertive and able to influence - Customer Service focus - Diplomatic when faced with issues - Honest and trustworthy If interested contact Colin Walsh from Aardvark Swift Recruitment. Posted July 28 2005 by Div Devlin

EQ2 Final Babes: The quest in EverQuest II taking place with the Quest For Antonia is almost complete. Sony has partnered with Stuff magazine for vixens to take on the modeling role of Antonia Bayle, and has come up with the five finalists that readers were able to vote on: The Quest for Antonia voting generated more than 2.8 million votes, with more than 40,000 voters helping to determine the top 30 candidates. The five following women are heading to the final round of competition during the Stuff Magazine Casino Weekend 4 at The Palms Hotel in Las Vegas August 12 & 13, 2005. During the weekend, one lucky finalist will be crowned Antonia, winning a one-year modeling contract with SOE as well as a pictorial in the pages of Stuff, one of the country's most widely read men's magazines. These gals are: Bridget Peters, Carin Ashley, Holly Weber, Anna Wainscoat, and Teresa Noreen. Teresa Norin should probably win it, as she fit's (trying to be nice here) the suit. Posted July 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Hogwarts Online Dead: Electronic Arts may of pulled development on Hogwarts Online (working title?), their MMO game set in the Harry Potter universe, as the studio NewPencil which had some amazing artwork for the game now has a splash page on their site showing that they are shut-down, announcing that they are shutting down on August 1st. Hogwarts Online was not shown this year at the E3Expo, but was announced in development earlier in the year. To check out the art at NewPencil go to this page > Portfolio > Environments. Posted July 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Irth Online Dev Chat: Even though Magic Hat Software's company website got hacked, there is no stopping these guys as they announce a Developer Chat taking place this Monday for Irth Online as they continue to rollout new features during the beta with some of the most recent big changes being: - Many Quests and Quest types have been added - Enchanting and De-enchanting has been added - Added ability to climb ladders - Added several new crafting skills - Optimized many textures in game to reduce load time and increase performance - Many towns have gone through extensive overhauls - Mining and Chopping tree skills were added - New Animals and Monsters - New Ground textures These of course are only a few of the features that have been added thus far. With the continued development the following is due to be added very shortly: - Dwarves - Player Housing - Continued performance tweaking - Dungeons - More skills - Economy Balancing - Combat Balancing - New structures - More world development One of the great things about these guys as they are open to feedback from the community during the development of Irth Online, so ou may want to join thier chat this Monday August 1st, 2005 at 5PM EST in their official IRC chat room on irc.irthonline.com in room #irthonline. Posted July 28 2005 by Div Devlin

RIAA Shuts Gamer Movie Sites: Rumors circulating the net has it that the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has shut down two popular movie sites which hosted player created movies from games, most notably World of Warcraft player movies. Both RPGfilms.net and Warcraftmovies.com were per rumors, both shut down on Monday for violating copyright laws citing that the music used in many of the videos on the sites violated copyright laws, saying that it's possible that someone could steal the song from the video itself by ripping it in audio players. In a news update posted over at Warcraft Movies, they state this was off the mark: Neither me nor my web host has been contacted by the RIAA. The reason for the site being down is, as far as I know, a technincal issue at my web host. RIAA is welcome to mail me if they want to get in touch with us. Until then, the site lives on. Meanwhile, RPGMovies has a huge letter, from the RIAA which may be a hoax. Posted July 28 2005 by Div Devlin

New Issues of Escapist: Themis has released their second and third issues of The Escapist e-magazine, which are again great reads. Issue #2 has a focus on portable gaming with reknown writer Tom Chick ranting on his PSP experience followed by a great write in Issue #3 by Julianne Greer titled "Banned of Brothers." Read Online, or download the PDF and read it on the train ride to the office. Posted July 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Seed Website Live: Runestone Game Development the makers behind Seed have officially launched their website for this game which takes place in a distant future on a an orbiting colony above a planet far from Earth. The colony should have expanded to the planet surface long ago, but the terraforming process has come to a halt. The players take the roles of colonists and it is up to them to decide the future and fate of the colony. It's being billed as an MMORPG! Could'nt really tell ya if the job opening for a fiction writer above, is related to this game. Speculate and check it. Posted July 28 2005 by Div Devlin

WoW, New Dungeons Coming: Blizzard has released their latest issue of the Blizzard Insider which focuses on World of Warcraft with news and information, while most of it has already been covered, way down at the bottom of the newsletter was mention that two new area's will be making their way with the next content patch: The next World of Warcraft content patch will feature two major new areas for exploration and conflict. Zul Gurub is a 20-person, casual high-end raid dungeon, extending World of Warcraft's epic, high-level end-game. Also in the next patch, the dev team is planning to release a brand new Battle Ground - the Arathi Basin - for player-versus-player mayhem. Arathi Basin will be a medium high-end map that will focus on the Horde vs. Alliance resource struggle. Teams will need to capture and hold strategic objectives to gather resources for their side. The first team to reach their resource goals wins. Watch worldofwarcraft.com and the Insider in the coming weeks for previews on these new areas and other announcements on upcoming content for World of Warcraft. This could be the fix they said they had in the works, but an island would still be better. With the success of their oversea's launch for World of Warcraft breaking records with 1.5 million gamers in China last month, Blizzard partnered with Coke to create a commercial. If you have not seen it already, you can grab it in our downloads section. It's pretty cool. Posted July 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Battleground-Europe Website Live: The new incarnation for venerable World War II Online from Cornered Rat, which is due out this September has launched thier official website for Battleground-Europe. Preorders and game information are available along with new feature highlights and game-play migration. Posted July 28 2005 by Div Devlin

Imperator Halted: Mythic has halted development on their Romanesque sci-fi themed game Imperator, citing they were unhappy with the way it was developing: "This was the most difficult decision that we have ever had to make," said Mark Jacobs, CEO and president of Mythic Entertainment. "However, our tremendous success with 'Dark Age of Camelot' set the standard for Mythic of releasing nothing less than triple-A games, and 'Imperator' was simply not meeting that standard." There are no personnel layoffs planned as a result of this decision. Staff will be reassigned to the ongoing development of "Dark Age of Camelot" including the next expansion, "Darkness Rising," scheduled for Q4 '05. In addition some personnel have already been assigned to the new "Warhammer" MMORPG which Mythic announced at E3 in May 2005. "Our team made a tremendous effort with the game and the praise it drew at E3 and in previews reflected their skill and dedication," Jacobs continued. "But in the final analysis it just wasn't great enough to be a Mythic game at this time." The decision to postpone "Imperator" also means that the company’s plans to establish a European publishing office have been postponed. If you were tuned into RGR yesterday, your heard it first. Posted July 14 2005 by Div Devlin

Irth Online Beta 2: Magic Hat Software announced that they have opened up the second phase of beta for their game, Irth Online and you are welcome to come test: Magic Hat Software announced today that the second Beta test for its MMORPG Irth Online begins today and is expected to run through August 12, 2005. Gamers are encouraged to apply for Beta 2 on the Irth Online website. "We received over 400 suggestions from many thousands of Beta testers in the past three weeks since the start of our first Beta," says Alan Chipura, Lead Game Designer. "Our tester community's contributions were outstanding, and we've already incorporated many of them into Irth Online, as well as added lots of new content." During the first two weeks of the first Beta, the Irth Online team added new animations, male and female characters, and spells. Improvements were made to ground textures and action activity including the ability to actually cut down lumberjacking trees. Several new armors were incorporated such as Chains, Plates, and Scales made from Black Rock, Lava Rock, Copper, Gold, and Irthonium. During the final week of the first Beta, the Irth team added over 30 new professions including Alchemist, Banker, Glassblower, Fur Trader, Healer, Jeweler, and Enchanter, and added more monster spawns, more spells, and new crafting skills. Also added were improved icons for such things as herbs, pike weapons, war fork, and many others. Over 20 new Trainer Weaponry items include Shields (Heater, Bronze, Great Flare Kite, Iron Round, and more) as well as Axes and Broad Axes. "We have made literally hundreds of content additions, enhancements, and modifications, so the items we've mentioned so far are only a small indication of our efforts," says Chipura. Check it. Posted July 14 2005 by Div Devlin

Classic Camelot & Trial: Mythic listens! The classic Camelot servers are back, pre-Atlantis for game-play that players preferred in Dark Age of Camelot. Based on player feedback, Mythic created servers for the MMO game that exclude the challenges from the "Trials of Atlantis" expansion pack and feature "ranged buffs." The "Dark Age of Camelot" "Classic" July servers Gareth and Lamorak are live today. Summary of New "Classic" Server features: - No access to "Trials of Atlantis" zones, Artifacts or Master Levels - "Trials of Atlantis" races available - Ranged buffs implemented: All concentration buffs will have a range limit of 5,000 units, and will be available only to the buffer and his groupmates. Anyone outside of the group cannot receive concentration buffs. - "/level 20" command is not available To go along with the historical servers, is a trial period to get you back: Mythic Entertainment, developer and publisher of massively multiplayer online games including "Dark Age of Camelot" and the recently announced "Warhammer" MMO, today announced the "Come Back to Camelot" Campaign, which invites past "Dark Age of Camelot" players to experience the game's upgrades and additions free of charge for ten days. From July 14th through the 24th, anyone with a retired account can log into the game, and their character will be waiting for them, just as they left it. The “Come Back to Camelot” Campaign is available to players whose accounts were cancelled in good standing prior to June 27, 2005. Eligible players must log back into their accounts from July 14-24 to be eligible for the 10 free days of "Dark Age of Camelot." Posted July 14 2005 by Div Devlin

PotBS Player Created Ships: Wish I was an artist, this is cool. Or, cheap labor. Flying Labs announced that they are accepting player submissions for ships which 'may appear' in their game, Pirates of the Burning Sea. Online game players with a talent for 3D modeling have a new way to play: in their own ship! Flying Lab Software is accepting player-created sailing ships for use in Pirates of the Burning Sea, their forthcoming massively multiplayer online game. Today the first such ship, a Dutch yacht modeled by Age of Sail enthusiast Marion "van Ghent" Edwards, is up on display at the Pirates of the Burning Sea website, along with an article by Edwards exploring the history and use of this vessel. In addition, Flying Lab has created a new discussion forum on its web site for those interested in contributing their own ship models to the game. Only the best player-created ships will pass peer review and join the library of gorgeous ships already in the game. Flying Lab's new ship-building community forum will provide a great opportunity for amateur modelers to improve their skills and collaborate in a supportive environment. Pirates of the Burning Sea has already raised player-created content to a new level not seen in modern online games with its unusual peer-reviewed submission system. Players submit original flag and sail emblem designs to the web site, where other players review and vote on all submissions. Player content with a high enough ranking is then reviewed by the developers for use in the game. Prospective players have already submitted more than a thousand flag and sail designs, with more arriving every week. "Players feel a real sense of ownership over their characters in online games," says Executive Producer Russell Williams. "In Pirates of the Burning Sea that ownership is stronger than ever, as players can sail their own ships under their own flags." So, submit your works. Posted July 14 2005 by Div Devlin

To Boldly Go... STO: Perpetual has unveiled the official "In Development" website for Star Trek: Online. Found in the news section is a base introduction, in the Dev Blog's section is a really,really,really short blog entry by Chris Hinton and the official FAQ is now available to answer general questions on the setting, gameplay, ships, community aspects and a production overview. The offical website is slated for 1Q2006 release. Posted July 14 2005 by Div Devlin

Blizz Con Details: The Con is On, for Blizzard fans taking place this October 28 and 29 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, celebrating Blizzard's games and the players who have made them so popular around the world. BlizzCon will be open to gamers of all ages and will provide a wide variety of activities for attendees to enjoy. Tickets for BlizzCon will go on sale July 21, 2005 at 8:00 AM PDT. The price for admission is $120 per person and payable by all major credit cards. Tickets will be limited to 4400 attendees, with a four (4) ticket limit per person, per credit card You know, they would of been swarmed if they didnt set a limit even with the high price of admission. Posted July 14 2005 by Div Devlin

Age of Empires MMO? JCal scooped everyone on GameCloud announcing that Ensemble Studio's has a job opening for a programmer to work on an "creating a world-class massively multiplayer game." The details: Ensemble Studios is looking for an experienced server architect to assist in creating a world-class massively multiplayer game. The position involves working with a team of experienced developers to design, implement, test, and deploy a complete server architecture. Experience with shipping an existing massively multiplayer game is a must. This has a bunch of eyebrows raised if it's Age of Empires, done right. Posted July 14 2005 by Div Devlin

Eve Online Breaks Record (again): CCP announced on the Eve Online website that they have broken their own record, again, for most users online within game last Sunday. Yesterday, Sunday, you set a new online player record when 12.895 of you were playing at the same time! No reports of lag were reported, the 'cold war edition' seems to have yet again lessened the server load. Eve Online recenlty deplyoed their newest uppgrade to the game with their free Coldwar expansion available via download w/the full client. Congrats. Posted July 14 2005 by Div Devlin

EQII Change of Gaurds: EverQuest II announced that Steve "Moorgard" Danuser is no longer the Community Relations Manger as he moves up in the SOE world to a full designer with Ryan "Blackguard" Shwayder now the one to field player complaints and put out fires. Moorgards exit letter and intro for Blakguard here-here, congrats to both. Posted July 14 2005 by Div Devlin

GW Mob Branding Contest: ArenaNet announced they are holding a special Guild Wars contest in which players can name one of six boss mobs which be rolled out in their next free content upgrade. Prizes include Guild Wars gear, outside of game, with the possibility of six runner-ups also claiming honorable mentions which may/may-not be given T-Shirts at the discreation of those who would judge you. Although, if you are already a player, a signed-copy of the game, really ain't all that great of a prize. Check the rules. Posted July 14 2005 by Div Devlin

Themis Launches Escapist: Themis has launced their newest addition to their expanding media-empire with the release of "The Esacpist," an online gaming industy electronic magazine. The premiere issue, now available, features such well-known authors as Tycho Brahe (www.penny-arcade.com), Kieron Gillen (www.kierongillen.com), and John Tynes (www.johntynes.com). Upcoming issues will include work by Tom Chick, Allen Varney (www.allenvarney.com), Jim Rossignol (www.big-robot.com) and other top writers from in and outside the game industry. The Escapist will run weekly with a main edition published on Tuesday and a weekend extra edition on Friday. The first issue actually turns out to be pretty good. As with all readers a good read will get a mixed reaction where you either agree, disagree, or learn something you never knew before. Writer guidlines are available for those interested in offering their take on upcoming issues. Posted July 14 2005 by Div Devlin

SoR Dev Letter: Jessica Mulligan has released a new developer journal for the Saga of Ryzom with a letter to the players which covers Q&A along with the patching process, not just with their game but for MMO's in general. If multiple bugs crop up and take a while to be stomped out, it adds time to the task. If it is something that requires a careful check for gameplay balancing, it takes even more time for the testers run through as many possible permutations as they can. There is a reason for all this time-sucking: quality control. The whole idea of a complete test cycle with multiple rounds of testing is to reduce the risk of introducing a new bug or unbalancing feature with a patch. Sure, we could cut the time down pretty easily, but only by increasing the risk of missing a bug or a balance issue. If that happens, then we end up in a situation of having to do an emergency patch, and we all know how exciting that can be. A good read. Posted July 14 2005 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane Hot Zones: Wolfpack, released a new feature into Shadowbane with their latest content patch called HotZones, area's within game that are hot. In the Content Patch released today for Shadowbane, we introduced a new game feature called Hotzones. A Hotzone is an adventuring area randomly chosen that yields a greater experience gain when a creature is killed there and a chance to drop additional treasure. A Hotzone lasts for four (4) hours and then, on the hour, will change to a new one. Every non-safe zone has the chance to be the Hotzone, but they're randomly chosen -- one of the battlegrounds on Maelstrom might be the Hotzone this afternoon, and the Amazon jungle might be the Hotzone this evening. When a player logs in, a system message will appear and tell players which zone is currently "hot". If a player does not know where the area is by it's name, they simply have to open up the World Map and look for the blue icon. Once a player arrives, all monsters they kill will grant more experience than they would elsewhere. They also have a good chance to roll for additional loot ranging from resources needed for crafting items to Favor used to give buffs and enhancements from Shrines. Learn more. Posted July 14 2005 by Div Devlin

Auto Assault News: NetDevil ended last week with a recon update before the 3day holiday for Auto Assault in which they released another prelude chapter, "Fleeing the Night" for the games storyline, while also releasing information on two more classes that will be available for play in the game. The Mutant Avenger and the Human Bounty Hunter are now available to learn if those are classes you may be interested in playing. Not signed-up for the beta yet? Yet to Pre-Order? Do both. Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin

CoH Issue #5 & FilmFest2: City of Heroes has scheduled a new free update scheduled for this August with Issue #5, with new zones. mobs and powers found within "The Forest of Dread." Issue #5 features a thrilling new Zone for heroes to explore - the mystical Croatoa, which is populated by monstrous new villains such as the giant Fir Bolg and the legendary Tuatha de Dannan. A new epic Task Force is also available in Croatoa for heroes to complete. Two exciting new power sets are also being debuted with Issue #5: Archery and Sonics, available to Defenders, Blasters and Controllers. New Zone Events will test heroes to the limit, asking them to stop arson attacks and break up an out-of-control superpowered rave. All this, as well as new mission customizations and brand new badges, ensures City of Heroes will be more enticing than ever with Issue #5. Also, check out our downloads section for a video tour of Port Oaks zone in City of Villians, narrated by Jack Emmert. NCSoft has also announced their Second Annual Film Fest, where players of City of Heroes create a three minute movie about their experiences in the game. The film festival will have four categories this year as well as a best-of-show winner. The categories include best action, best comedy, best animated and best live action film. The film festival contest, which is already accepting entries, will end by midnight on Sunday, Aug. 14, with winners receiving several prizes including Toshiba TiVo’s, Apple Ipods and slots in the upcoming City of Villains beta test. Also, each winner will have their movie placed on the City of Villains game disc when the stand alone sequel to City of Villains is released later this year. Check out some of the vid's from last year. Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin

Eve Online: Cold War Launches! CCP Games officially launches their latest expansion to Eve Online with the Cold War Edition today, after a twelve hour patch period overnight, as a massive upgrade to the game. "I expect that players will be pleasantly surprised at how much effect the Cold War Edition will have on gameplay, and how much content they will receive." said Magnus Bergsson, CMO of CCP Games. "The Cold War Edition is an important chapter in the EVE story, and will set the stage for the next expansion coming out later in the year." With nearly 60,000 active subscribers and close to a 13,000 simultaneous user record in a single shard world, "EVE Online" is the largest single shard massively multiplayer game on the market today. "Apart from being a major content upgrade to EVE Online, this update also represents our focus on the global market for EVE," says Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games. "Not only does it include a totally reengineered new player experience, but the tutorials will be translated to 9 different languages and include improved Unicode support. This will give the players the chance to communicate and create communities based on their own language." EVE Online: Cold War Edition will put the fragile peace sustaining the Empire territories at risk, as sovereignties secretly vie for advantage over their foes. Empires will unite to form pacts, old superhighways will be changed... a new world order is forming. Dozens of new passageways into the deep space regions will create unprecedented opportunities for both veteran and new pilots alike. Some of the features of this upgrade include: - COSMOS Constellations: A new large scale gameplay element where pilots will have agent encounters in space, new environments to explore, and new technologies to discover. - Dreadnoughts: The fearsome Dreadnought enters the battlefield equipped with jumpdrives and will have enough firepower to take down player owned structures. - Outposts: A compact and effective alternative to the current player built stations. - Freighters: Massive haulers with immense capacity to help players conquer deep space. - Leadership Overhaul: Enhanced fleet warfare, new skills, and modules will improve players' ability to defend and attack in fleet combat. - Pirate Factions: Better… Stronger… and likely to reveal their secrets and high value loot. - Industrial Revolution: Starbases get a major boost and more valuable minerals will be available in low security Empire space. - Combat Changes: Many changes that will further improve combat in EVE, making combat even more tactical. - Unicode Chat Input: Chat in any language, for example Asian fonts will be rendered by the EVE font system, along with Cyrillic and Greek. - New Tech Level 2 technology: Includes missiles launchers, drones and various defensive modules. The new expansion can be downloaded from the EVE Online web site free of charge. Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin

SOE Begins Virtual Sales: SOE has announced the first step's for their Station Exchange Program, where they sell virtual items within their games for hard cash, starting with EverQuest II. Beginning Saturday July 2 nd 2005, players can submit a request for their characters to be transferred to an Exchange-enabled server. When Station Exchange officially launches, flagged characters will be transferred to an Exchange-enabled server. Station Exchange is currently scheduled to officially launch mid-July. Players can elect to move their characters at no additional cost from now until 14 days after the official launch of Station Exchange. After that period, players who wish to transfer their characters to an Exchange-enabled server must use the standard Character Transfer Service and pay any applicable fees. Once Station Exchange launches, players may create new characters on the Station Exchange server at no additional subscription cost. At the time of the official launch, there will be two Station Exchange servers, The Bazaar and Shadowhaven. Characters on Guk, Unrest, Kithicor, Butcherblock, Lucan Dlere, Everfrost, Oggok, Lavastorm, Permafrost, Oasis, Innothule, and Steamfont have the option to move to The Bazaar. Characters from Najena, Blackburrow, Antonia Bayle, Nektulos, Highkeep, Toxxulia, Neriak, Grobb, Befallen, Crushbone, Mistmoore and Faydark can elect to move to Shadowhaven. Starting today, any character that types the "/movelog add" command will be added to the list of characters to be moved to the Exchange-enabled servers. So it begins. In other EQ2 significant news, the Splitpaw Saga has been released, while Heather Graham has been nominated for Best Voice Perfomance within a game for her portrayal of Antonia Bayle. Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin

Merdian59 Free Trial Extended: Classic Game for Today. NearDeath Studio's announces that they have extended their free trial for Meridian59: Near Death Studios, Inc. is happy to announce that we are extending the free trial of our game, Meridian 59(R): Evolution until the end of July. We are taking this time to allow anyone who wishes, to log into a special server and check out the game free of charge. The trial server will run until July 31st, and let people see all of the additions we have made to the game, as well as participate in some events, and chat with the administrators. Some of our changes include our graphics update in which we've taken the Meridian 59 that was released in 1996 and made it DirectX compatible. In addition, we've added such things as Mouselook, and rebindable keys to bring our game up to par with newer games in the industry. Signup and try it! Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin

Mourning Dead: Mourning (aka Realms of Torment/Realms of Krel) from Limitless Horizons has shut down shop and closed the boards. The main website for game information has been replaced with a splash page. Email's sent out to users offer's more explanation: Greetings, Due to restructuring and new investment deals; all current subscriptions to Mourning are scheduled to be terminated and the project will be placed back into closed development status. All current active subscribers have been issued refunds. Refund types are dependant upon date of signup. Refunds are provided at the sole discretion of Limitless Horizons Entertainment LLC. For more news regarding Mourning's development please visit the official site regularly! Best Regards! Limitless Horizons Entertainment LLC Shortest release in history for a broken game, which people "payed to play." Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin

RYL Tourney On Stern: Planetwide Games announced that their $1,000,000US Tournament for Risk Your Life has officially kicked off, and saw the launch on the Howard Stern Show. Planetwide Games announced today that the RYL: Path of the Emperor $1,000,000 Grand Prize Skill-Based Tournament officially launched worldwide today live from New York on the Howard Stern Show. "The Howard Stern show is gritty, has raw energy and was a perfect fit for the launch of our RYL (Risk Your Life) video game tournament", stated Planetwide Games' President Kevin Donovan. "Howard's broadcasting style has always been an in your face, take no prisoners attitude. RYL's $1,000,000 Grand Prize Tournament pits gamers against each other in true Player vs. Player action. Video gamers have been waiting for this chance to win the largest video game tournament Grand Prize in video game history, $1,000,000". The RYL: Path of the Emperor $1,000,000 Tournament began today, July 1, 2005 and ends April 30, 2006, culminating in the RYL: Path of the Emperor Grand Finals event to be broadcast live and to take place in conjunction with the E3 Video Game Expo in Los Angeles, CA in May 2006. Interested gamers can view more details about the tournament rules and regulations at http://www.RYL.net/Tournament. No mention of the game is on Howard's site. Review coming soon. Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin

BlizzCon Is On: Blizzard has announced their first game convention ever with BlizzCon, where fans can gather and play Blizzard Games, including, but not limited to World of Warcraft. Details: WHAT: BlizzCon will be an ideal event for gamers from around the world to meet each other, participate in live Q&A's with Blizzard developers, and share their passion for their favorite Blizzard games. WHO: Gamers who enjoy playing any of the games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. WHERE: Orange County, California. Exact location to be announced at a later date. WHEN: Friday and Saturday, October 28 and 29, 2005. The event begins at 8 a.m. PDT on both days. If there are 2 Million subscribers world wide, woulds odds be in favor of at least 200,000 fans descending upon Orange County? If you are one of the many millions of players in World of Warcraft, try and grab some free game time over at World of Warcraft Guru and enter their screenshot contest as they give-away away 11 60-Day GameTime cards to the lucky winners. Finally, the long awaited Episode 7 from PurePwnage has been released. Check out the MMO Girl, now as they close their World of Warcraft story-line. Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin

MMO's Are 4 GRRLS! I love scientists and the research they do! According to researchers in Dundee at the University of Abertay, MMORPGs are a girl's best friend. They write: This wake-up call to the games industry will be delivered by leading games consultant Ernest Adams at the 2005 Women in Games Conference in August. "We are soon going to be seeing massively-multi-player online games that are dominated by female players," he said. "Existing online role-playing games are succeeding with women in spite of their subject matter, not because of it. When we get more games whose gameplay genuinely appeals to female players, we can expect to see huge growth there. Adams, founder of the International Game Developers' Association, is delivering one of the keynote speeches at the conference, running from 8-10 August at Abertay University in Dundee. His keynote, entitled "Developing Games Backwards and in High Heels", looks at the past and future of women in gaming: what they contributed to the early development of the medium and how they will change it in the 21st century. This will be something to sit in on and listen to with interest. Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin

Market Changes: Things have been quiet from CodeMasters for the past eight months, and now we know why as they announce the birth of their new Online Game Division: Codemasters, the leading developer and publisher of critically acclaimed video games, has expanded its development and publishing operations with the formation of Codemasters Online Gaming, a new division that will drive the company's interests in the online marketplace. Focussing on Massively Multiplayer Online and online casual gaming, the division has been formed as an addition to the company's console and PC boxed product operations. David Solari has been appointed as Director of Codemasters Online Gaming, with responsibility for all business and product opportunities within the online space. Solari was previously Codemasters' PC Group Brand Manger, working on titles such as Operation Flashpoint and Soldiers. Under Solari, the division is preparing an online casual games portal as its first initiative to attract the mass-market online gamer. For the core online gaming audience, a series of publishing and operation deals for major MMO gaming products will be announced shortly. Themis Group also announced that they have created four branded division's to their company, which is also the first public announcement that the WarCry Network is affiliated with them. Themis Group, Inc. announced today the company's organization into four branded divisions, each aligned with one of the company's core businesses, including creative communications, customer support solutions, mobile applications, and content destinations. TAP Interactive (www.tapin.net), is a creative communications agency specializing in reaching the tech-savvy NetSet™. Playerbase Solutions (www.playerbasesolutions.com) offers consulting, client generation, custom research and customer support solutions to developers and publishers of online PC and console games, web sites and other community-driven services within the interactive entertainment industry. Iridea Mobile (www.irideamobile.com) publishes entertainment and community applications for mobile phones and other handheld wireless devices. WarCry Network (www.warcry.com) brings content and community destinations to an audience of millions of gaming, technology and entertainment enthusiasts. As part of the company's new organization, one additional director-level position was created. "By separating our business lines into a divisional structure, we have positioned the company to deliver greater value and achieve faster growth in each of our core areas," said President and CEO Alexander Macris. "This is a very positive move for Themis Group and its stakeholders in all respects." Themis also announced an additional business has been under development since April and will launch on July 12, 2005. Additional details will be disclosed at launch. They are now the super-power! Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin

New Era of FaitH: DragonClaw Studio's announces a new era of FaitH has begun in their web-based game: The Dragon Claw Studio is proud to announce that a new Era of FaitH has just started on the RPG server. This Era, players will be able to have a mix of every Religion and Churches in the same Kingdom for the very first time! That's right, What once was impossible is now a reality! Previously, players had to be of the same Religion to form a Kingdom but by changing the rules this Era, DCS has opened up a world of new strategic possibilities. FaitH still has an unlimited free trial so there's no reason not to come and see why hardcore players are raving and why Computer Gaming Magazine says, "Browser games don’t get any better looking than FaitH!" Based in Montreal, Canada, The Dragon Claw Studio (http://www.dragonclawstudio.com) was established in 2002 when it launched FaitH, its first game. Since then, FaitH has become a cult classic, which is only natural since the game's theme is Religion. DCS is now on the verge of launching a diverse portfolio of online products to accompany FaitH. If you enjoy the game, are you part of their cult? Check em. Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin

Left Behind RTS Game: Now you can team up as part of the Tribulation Force in the Left Behind: Eternal Force (No direct linkage or screens available, yet) RTS game announced in development by Left Behind Games Inc. which founded in October 2001 for the purpose of developing games based upon the intensely popular Left Behind Series. Fans of the Left Behind Series books will soon be able to join the Tribulation Forces and participate actively in the battle of good versus evil with the launch of the real -time-strategy (RTS) title, Left Behind: Eternal Forces, the first PC game based on the blockbuster apocalyptic series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. Scheduled for release between Christmas 2005 and Easter 2006, Left Behind: Eternal Forces will put players in command of the apocalyptic battles raging in the streets of New York City between the angelic Tribulation Forces and the demonic Global Community Peacekeepers during the End of Days. Gamers will participate in events from the Left Behind book series in single player mode and battle to capture territory from other players in the multi-player online game mode. The Left Behind game series will allow play in the same End of Days fictional world as the bestselling Left Behind® novels, which use the prophecies of the Book of Revelation as a framework. The first title, Left Behind: Eternal Forces, is set in the future when the faithful have been gathered up and ascended to Heaven during the Rapture. In the chaos that follows, the Antichrist has taken the reigns of power at the United Nations and is gathering the countries of the world under his banner. But a small resistance, the Tribulation Forces, have formed to oppose Satan's legions. The challenge of converting secular/neutral units to fight on the side of light or darkness is sure to present gamers with a deeper level of game play than in other real-time-strategy titles. The company says the scenery will also be the most realistic representation of New York City ever seen in a game. Left Behind Games photographed nearly 500 blocks of the city to create maps and 3D environments in the first title. No word at this time, on if any of the actors from the two movies will be offering voice-overs within game. I did ask though. Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin

Shot Online Commerical: If golf is your thing, Shot Online from OnNet has gone live in North America. Shot-Online is a unique hybrid persistent online game, a golfing simulation incorporating elements of traditional role-playing, enhanced by a proprietary physics engine for golf ball dynamics and interaction with eight challenging, varied golf courses. Detailed 3D graphics and smooth-as-silk animation enhance the realism of Shot-Online as a simulation. On the role-playing side of Shot-Online, characters can level and grow in skill and capability through training, while team and solo competitions allow players a chance to win game currency to buy skill-enhancing items, and quests and other community events are offered for even more depth. "Shot-Online is already a successful online game in commercial service, in Korea and Japan," stated Sean Hong, Marketing Director for OnNet Co., Ltd, "and we believe American gamers will also enjoy the uniqueness of this massively accessible and massively enjoyable online golf game." In addition to the new live, full-featured service, Shot-Online will soon be rolling out the 3rd Shot-Online Global Championship, to be held from July 12th to July 15th at the brand-new and very challenging desert-themed "Rufus Arena" course. As of this update, the game released on the 28th of June and has had server security issues, dos attacked, hacked, and billing problems. Our man Vash has been inside watching this train wreck in motion. Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin

Warhammer Online Website Back: The Warhammer Online website is now back up and running with a splash page since changing development to Mythic. Included is a short FAQ to answer some very basic questions as well as a huge Chaos Spawn on the front page, and a Newsletter sign-up form to keep informed about game updates. Posted July 5 2005 by Div Devlin