Dabbling in Design: The Rogue Rogues have been the underdog for a long time in gaming. Why is this the case? They are such a varied archetype, holding much potential for incredible gameplay and interesting encounters. When I first gazed upon a D&D guide, and read the class list, the rogue jumped out at me as being the most diverse and interesting class. In massive online gaming to date, though, they have been weak. Full Story Posted August 26 2001 by Paradox Equation

E3 Changes Dates: Read this over on Blue's News, who linked to it over on FGN, that the E3Expo has decided to go and change the dates from a weekend affair to only a mid-week event. "The IDSA has announced that in 2002, for the first time ever, E3 will run from a Wednesday to a Friday. The dates of the 2002 show will be Wednesday, May 22, through Friday, May 24." They do not want to interrupt the Weekend Holiday. Registration begins in November. If your not aware of what E3 is, it's the place to be when it comes to games; it features trade events and professionals from the industry showcasing the future that games and developers are taking us in the Electronic Entertainment Industry. E3 is a trade event and is not open to the general public, so your probably out of luck. It would be wrong of me if I did not live up to the expectations others have of me, and did not begin to beg for cash to send us, your dedicated and fanatatical fanbois, to E3 like we did last year. So feel free to donate cash and send us to E3! If you plan on going start planning now, those rooms book-up fast, and those planes run out of room fast! Posted August 23 2001 by Div Devlin

Earth and Beyond Chat: Earth and Beyond held it's Developer chat last night, which I sat in for a bit, where the developers were representing each of the four races in character, followed by a Q&A session afterwards. You can read the chat logs on the official site, or over on the fan site Earth-N-Beyond. It was a very interesting chat to say the least, but I'm probably not going to be following those any more. The chat takes place in a java chat window which was a real headache and crashed on me. Perhaps when it moves to a dedicated IRC Client, I'll follow more of the chats. All in all, the game is really looking great, and the NASA rendered shots are, out of this world (heh). Posted August 23 2001 by Div Devlin

Ultima gives rewards! Ultima Online finally got around to getting those vet rewards for long standing players who have accounts which have been around for years, starting with Napa Valley. As an added boon, those who have been waiting are also going to get a free bonus reward as well, much to the chagrin of the scammers that ripped the system off the first time. Whiners. Our reader Lorri, who is also cute, tell's us that there are still some issues regarding the determination of an accounts age. She had a newb on Napa and could not get the accounts age. Just to make sure, she is going to check again tommorrow. I'm not in much of a mood to wade through all the pages of reports on Ultima's boards so I'll check back with her tommorrow on this. It is EA after all, not many folks were expecting it to like, work were they? Posted August 23 2001 by Div Devlin

I want my Castle back! No it's not related to Ultima Online. While surfing around, I read this article over on NewsDay about how the descendants of a former Romanian princess in BUCHAREST, Romania are suing the government for the return of an ancient fortress popularly known as "Dracula's Castle" -- or $25 million in compensation. Read the Full Story. Full Story Posted August 23 2001 by Div Devlin

Waiting is the Hardest Part: Shadowbane once more takes the "Waiting is the Hardest Part," contest in PC Gamer, followed by Horizons in second place. The Mag also has an update saying to expect Shadowbane in shelves in March of 2002. That does not even come close to the "first half of 2002" as said by UbiSoft. Speculation continues though that this could mean a beta starting in September or October to allow 4 months of feature testing and two months of stress testing. It's possible. Posted August 23 2001 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane Update: Ashen sends word that the world of Shadowbane grows even larger and spreads across the world with three new affiliated fan sites joining the community. August 21st, 2001 A few new fan sites have been added to our Affiliate Links: • Shadowbane Italia (Italian) • Shadowbane Bump (Japanese) • Shadowbane.RU (Russian) Welcome to the fold folks, I'd greet you in your native language but, Uhm.. I don't speak any of them and I'd probably insult you on accident! Be sure to check these sites out if you speak these languages and just hate us st00pid Americans! Posted August 23 2001 by Div Devlin

DAoC Beta 4: Dark Age of Camelot started Beta 4 last week leading toward a mid-October 2001 launch. This stage includes Hibernia – the third realm – and a series of major new additions and improvements, according to the site. Guilds were also tossed Keys so their members could begin testing more and many are the players now powerleveling with guild mates. If you still have not gotten into beta, there may still be an open general beta. We will see what develops during September. We asked one of the folks we know, Dulidina from the Shadow Alliance guild, what she thought of the game, and here is what she said: "I'm having a lot of fun playing it now. I just spent a few hours on it this morning. It was my first time to really play and it's a lot of fun." So there you have it. It's a lot of fun. I have to agree, while some people have compared it to EverQuest, a game I despise, I have found myself addicted to DAoC as well. See you in game! You have to dig the new slogan they have going as well, "Live the Legend," it sure beats "EverQuest Done right." Posted August 23 2001 by Div Devlin

Earth and Beyond gets slapped: So, I'm cruising the twenty something gaming related sites that I read, about online gaming, when I notice that no one has commented on the recent beat down that Computer Gaming World indirectly gave Westwood Studios in an article related to EA.com Full Story Posted August 19 2001 by Div Devlin

ATTENTION ALL TRI PILOTS: Got this in from 3DO regarding Jumpgate! Read on as we continue to decide what type of site were actually going to be! You have had some time to experience Jumpgate: The Reconstruction Initiative, now it is time to experience some massive player combat! Your services are requested to help stress test the Jumpgate servers. Full Story Posted August 18 2001 by Div Devlin

Password Store Groone, the maker of the Guild Leader software has a new product for the community. The Password Store. Full Story Posted August 18 2001 by Div Devlin

Gen Con: A post mortem I went to Gen Con for the whole 4 day trip, and here is my rather amusing experience as followed. Full Story Posted August 16 2001 by Paradox Equation

A giants update to shadowbane... Here's to all the half giants out there! This comes right off the recent news on the Shadowbane main site August 15th, 2001 Today's unscheduled update may not be a big update but it's a tall update. • First up, for your reading pleasure: We have the Lore of the Half Giants, fresh from the pen of Meridian. Is there more to these hulking brutes than just really big and really strong? You be the judge... • And now for your listening pleasure: The Multimedia page has been updated with a new music clip, March of the Northmen. Check it out for a hint of Shadowbane's music yet to come. This is certaintly a suprise from Wolfpack, but a welcome one. I wonder if the Half-giant guilds will now form a stronger bond through the history of the race? Only time will tell... (I for one hope so.) Posted August 15 2001 by Hieros

The Downward Spiral Part 1: Ultima Online It is inevitable. It always happens. It comes when you least expect it, it is beautiful and it is ugly. It is decay and it is regrowth. It strikes all things of human creation, strikes at the temporary nature of our lives, and undermines meaning. The more complicated a thing, the more elaborately it dies. Think about our games. These games. Yes, they are ours. Anarchy Online, Ultima Online, Everquest, Asheron's Call. They are our games, no matter whether you play them or not; if you are a part of the community, they are yours and you are theirs. And like all things mortal and made by mortals, they die. Full Story Posted August 15 2001 by Paradox Equation

The Guilds Are Coming! (Sent in by Ron, Thanks Ron!) Check out the featured screenshot - the first guild of Dark Age of Camelot was created yesterday, to test the code in preparation for the invasion of eighty-three guilds. They will be testing our innovative player guild system beginning next week. In other news, the positions for the Game Support Team Leads have been filled. Thanks go out to everyone who applied and made the decision a difficult one. We are still looking for the other positions advertised in this space: Call Center Supervisor and Technical Lead. See June 27th for more information. Posted August 13 2001 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane, the second confrontation The following is from Ashen. Just want to spread the word real quick. Shadowbane.com will be down for an undetermined amount of time. Our web host is having some issues and are currently working on the problem. We hope to have this rectified as soon as possible. Ashen Temper Internet Relations Manager Wolfpack Studios, Inc. This from the Aerynth Atheneaum In a second interview, Wolfpack and Ubisoft get together and answer some questions that have concerned the public. Wolfpack's Todd Coleman and Ubi Soft's Jason Rubenstein are involved. The teams talk about what they like about the game and reaffirm that Shadowbanes right to be published and released by Ubisoft have been realized. Entire post here Posted August 11 2001 by Hieros

UO World Faire The Ultima Fan Faire has been set, so come join the leaders in online multiplayer gaming deep in the heart of Texas at the Austin Convention Center on Friday, October 26th and Saturday, October 27th for our second fan event, the Online Worlds Fanfest 2001. Be one of the first people to witness and experience firsthand the future of Massively Multi-player Online Gaming. For these prices, Uhh...I don't think so. August 15th - August 31st $99.00 September 1st - September 30th $129.00 October 1st - October 25th $159.00 Walk-up Registration $200.00 If this interests you, head on over to the main page, get the details and register for the ONLINE WORLDS FANFEST 2001. Posted August 6 2001 by Div Devlin

Project Entropia Phase II Beta Project Entropia sent out the following Press Release about Beta 2 preparations targeting a late August start. This is the game that is trying to corner the market on Ebay users, in that you can exchange real life money into PED (Project Entropia Dollars) and then back into a real currency again. Project Entropia will be free of charge with no monthly costs, which means that aside the fees for your own local access to the internet while you are connected the client software will be available with no payment to MindArk. Full Story Posted August 6 2001 by Div Devlin

Beta Test mail's If your not following EnB, for shame, this is really looking to be a great game. We have the Beta Alert Listed for you to go and Sign Up. If you did, and heard they were now sending out emails to the testers, and you did not get your email, fret not. They posted the following update, Friday, August 3. Full Story Posted August 6 2001 by Div Devlin

UbiSoft at GenCon For those who may of missed it, I'm down at the GenCon game fair in Milwaukee Wis., where gamers from all over the world, descended for four days of, GAMING! Who would a thunk? Full Story Posted August 5 2001 by Div Devlin

The Best thing, and maybe the worst thing Here it is folks! Shadowbane's publisher is Ubisoft Well many had heard the rumors even before E3, but it was very hush hush... now its all over and everyone gets a taste. Ubisoft, has published other games such as Myst III: Exile, Rainbow 6, RaymanŽ 2 The Great Escape, Rogue Spear, Warlords Battlecry™. Most of which were very exciting and have done very well. One of their upcoming attractions is the first D&D pc game made for the computer Pool of Radiance™ .(a sure buy for me!) They seem to be expanding into other realms of business very quickly and efficiently. I don’t see any problems with this company. However, this is where the player base who has been following Shadowbane for 2 years sort of get kicked... It's not scheduled for release until the first half of 02'... well just a little longer... More complete information can be found at SBVault heh... now we see that Kurtis Buckmaster has been asked by Ashen Temper to meet the sb family on the forums, talk about response! The people rose to furry around this thread! He states mostly that he and the "team" (ubisoft publishers) are excited about what is going on with Shadowbane and they seem to be very excited for the game itself. Full Thread -edit by Div Posted August 2 2001 by Hieros