Warhammer Online Screenies: The folks over at GamesWorkshop and Climax sent over two new screenshots for us of the dorf's in their upcoming MMO Game, Warhammer Online. Check em. (Click em for full version, duh!)   Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

AC2 Kicks Off New Episode Teaser: Asherons Call 2 released the teaser for their newest episode. The teaser for Epuisode 10 titled "Resurgence" gives dark rumblings of villians past as Bael'Zharon returns. I don't think the twinkee will stop him this time. Check the prelude. Don't ya hate them who tease? Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

Ballerium Release Date Official: Hey while the rest of the internet catches up with us regarding the progress report released Monday past about Ballerium being delayed, Majorem sent a new notice to officially announce release has changed to 2004. In a progress report released on Ballerium's website (www.ballerium.com), it was now made official that release date for Persistent online RTS game Ballerium will be released in 2004. The report counts several important redesign changes that have been done lately as a result of pre-beta tests conducted earlier this year. Majorem expects to see a massive open Beta for Ballerium by Christmas. Oh well. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

As The Market Turns: ArenaNet hiring for Guild Wars ArenaNet the developers for the upcoming Guild Wars MMO Game are looking to hire a Level Designer. If you'd like to work with some of the original creators of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo and Battle.net and have a desire to build incredible online worlds, they want to hear from you! GameTable Online Signs Jump GameTable Online, the best and only place for classice rpg card games played across the net has another game coming to their lineup as they bring on "J.U.M.P. INTO THE UNKNOWN" where players try to dominate the galaxy through economic, technological, and military means. J.U.M.P has easy to learn mechanics and addictive game play that offers moveable map tiles, flexible map board configuration, random generation tables and variant victory conditions. Enigma: Rising Tide Lawsuits Tesseraction Games, Developer of "Enigma: Rising Tide" has a $1.7 million bone to pick with its UK publisher GMX Media. Tesseraction filed a lawusit here in the states for a breach of contract citing unpaid royalties, substantial and un-remedied breach, inaccurate sales reporting and initiation of product sales outside of licensed territories. Tesseraction is also seeking injunctive relief against the publisher. Help Save Karyn Remember Karyn from "Help Save Karyn?" This was the gal who created a webpage and gave a whole new meaning to asking for donations as a 'Net Pan-Handler.' Well, she got out of her 20k debt after folks sent her cash donations as well as gifts which she pawned off on Ebay. She also got a book deal. "Save Karyn! One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back" (HarperCollins, $13.95) hit shelves earlier this month. Ain't that a bitch. She's like mega-rich now at 30 years old. Tom Melcher CEO of There, Leaves Company There, Inc. the makers behind the upcoming MMO/SIM Style game "There" lost their CEO Tom Melcher as they announced his departure. We wanted to alert the community to an important change at There. Steve Victorino, a senior member of the company's leadership team and one of the original investors, has been appointed acting CEO. Tom Melcher has left the company as of today. We wish him well. Many are the people who wonder what fate is instore for There now. (Need to have account to see boards) Vivendi Sues Interplay Vivendi Universal's video game arm has sued one-time partner Interplay Entertainment Corp., alleging Interplay breached a distribution deal between the two. The suit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, accused Interplay, which is controlled by French publisher Titus Interactive, of trying to get out of a product distribution deal by making claims of unpaid payments under the pact. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

City of Heroes Updates: City of Heroes has an update for one of their areas within game. Wanted to know more about Perez Park? War often turns the most beautiful of things ugly, and certain areas of Paragon City have fallen victim in the aftermath. Perez Park is one such fatality. Where couples once strolled along tree-lined paths, gangs now fight each other to the death. Where children once laughed and played, villainous groups now hide and plot their evil escapades. It’s not just a hazard zone – it’s a hotbed of iniquity. Read more to find out why, if you’re walking through Perez Park, you’d better bring your most heroic friends to watch your back. Meanwhile they also released four new screenshots from inside the game for viewing pleasure. If you really want to show your love for the game, consider going to work for Cryptic Studios, the developers of the game. They currently are looking for help to fill both an Associate and Technical Game Designer positions which are full time. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

News Around the Block: Austin Game Conference Updates The Austin Game Conference had a great showing for it's first show, with 850 industry types for MMO games all heading to Austin (If they already are not in Austin)! Drawing from an international audience with attendees from as far away as China, Korea, France, UK, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia, the Austin Game Conference has attracted a diverse mix of companies participating in the high growth game market. In addition to game developers and publishers, the conference drew from individuals from the recording industry, television, venture capital and other industries. Planning for next year is already underway. Presentations from speakers have now been posted to the web site at http://www.GameConference.com, the date for next year's Austin Game Conference is September 21-22, 2004, so plan now! Arcadian Del Sol Discovers the Secret Arcadian Del Sol discovers the Secret of MMO Game Design thanks to a Chicken in South Dakato who cheats at games to win, and imparts his words of wisdom (Reading Arcadian is enjoyable, he needs to update more!) while wishing he could tell the dev's and publishers of today the solution to the problem in, MMO Games. GameBunny Developer Shakedown GameBunny has the third installment of their Developer Shakedown up and running in which they asked a few choice devs pertinent questions about persistent gaming. Taking part this time were developers from DRAGON EMPIRES, ANARCHY ONLINE, A TALE IN THE DESERT, ATRIARCH, and THERE. Be sure to read it. Scott "Once Lum the Mad" Jennings Created the Internet Scott "Once Lum the Mad" of Mythic has updated his blog "Broken Toys" in which he reveals to us how he created the internet and fit it all on one disk! He should be a bazillionaire for the things he did back in the day, when everything was new. Lineage II Interview on WarCry Warcry had a chance to sit down and talk with Leilo in a Q&A regarding some of the base game play elements for Lineage II. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

DAoC: TOA Begins Beta 3! After much anticipation Mythic announced that Beta Three has begun for their upcoming "Trials of Atlantis" expansion to Dark Age of Camelot. Mythic Entertainment, developer and publisher of the award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game Dark Age of Camelot, announced today that the game’s latest expansion pack, Trials of Atlantis, has entered "Beta 3," the first large-scale beta test. This expansion pack to the winner of Online Game of the Year from Computer Games Magazine and Computer Gaming World introduces a slew of graphical upgrades to behold, a newly revealed half-submerged continent to explore and a series of epic trials to complete. "Trials of Atlantis delivers next-generation graphics, extraordinary new lands and races, and a Master Level system that further extends the player’s gaming experience," said Mark Jacobs, president and CEO of Mythic Entertainment. "We have once again set the standard for expansion packs while raising the bar for MMORPGs." Now, camp the mailbox for your CD! Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

Dark and Light Beta Begins: Dark and Light announced today that they have begun the first phase of beta testing. As promised, we are beginning today the Beta Test stages ; the first stage, called Stability Test, has been sent to very few people. This version's aim is to check stability in all target configurations of Dark and Light client side. It looks like a version of the 3D engine with only 500 square kilometers available to go round, so as to make it easier to download ; it also includes a Bench Mark, which enables us to set the standards for the detail levels adjustments according to the computers' configurations. To meet the demand of the Dark and Light community, once this version gets validated, it will soon be granted to a greater number of people. Thanks for your support. Meet up with us soon on Ganareth. Are you in Beta? Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

Dragon Empires Player Diary: Dragon Empires has another new Player Diary from within the closed beta testing. This entrie is also accompanied by comments from half a dozen testers on their favourite moment, which also includes two new screenshots of two characters in game. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

EverQuest News: If you are around the Chicagoland area, hope you did not miss miss out as the EQ Fan Fair blew into the Windy-City this weekend. Over 2500 guest made it out, with a showing on the Fox Channel appearing on TV. We were able to stop by, and check it out. Were going to have a recap up tommorrow so stay tuned. Sony is on a roll! NPD/Tech World released their sales charts for the week ending September 13th, and while Star Wars Galaxies used to hold the top spots, its now been replaced with EQ's expansion for "Lost Dungeons of Norrath." 1. Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII 2. EverQuest: Lost Dungeons Of Norrath 3. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: Century Of Flight 4. The Sims Deluxe 5. Battlefield 1942 6. The Sims: Superstar 7. Diablo 2 8. Warcraft III: Frozen Throne 9. Zoo Tycoon 10. The Sims: Unleashed Lords of EverQuest the upcoming RTS/PC Game has signed an all-star voice over cast, which will make you drool for sure. Check out who they have: Fairuza Balk (The Craft and The Waterboy) Claudia Black (Farscape and Pitch Black) Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series) John Rhys-Davies (Lord of The Rings) Hudson Leick (Xena: Warrior Princess) Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager) Ron Perlman (Enemy at the Gates and Blade II) Katey Sagal (Married With Children) Dwight Schultz (Star Trek: The Next Generation) Cree Summer (Rugrats Go Wild) Michael T. Weiss (The Pretender) Hudson made us drool when we met her. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

Galactic Empires Open Testing: Playtechtonics has announced that they are doing an open alpha test for their upcoming MMO/Space Game "Starport: Galactic Empires." The alpha client can be downloaded direct from their website as well as a printable version of their help files. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

Kyrne Updates on Engine: Kyrne the MMO under development has an update on the progress of their game engine, and what you should do to make sure your vid card is compatible with the new engine. The new engine is progressing well and may be available for download "soon". In order to see if your video card will be compatible with the new engine, you can you download the first version of the viewer. It's a small application that runs under windows and let you see the 3D objects of Kyrne (*.g3o). PS: please try it before requesting an alpha account. If your video card doesn't support it, then you won't be able to launch the game as well. It's a 1.7 meg file avilable for download. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

News From Middle Earth: Late last week Geo, the developer in charge of composing the game music added his Developer Diary to the official site in which he talks about his life as a child, making music and how he followed the road to Turbine where he ended up completely psyched when he learned that he would be heading up the audio and music for MeO. Check it. Warcry has what's supposed to be an interview with the enitre development team working on MeO from Turbine. We have no idea who the interview is with, which would of been nice. Is the development team from Turbine hiding for some odd reason? Note that the interview is not even on the Official MEO Website news. If you have yet to see the trailers for the third instalment of the Lords of The Rings trilogy fret no more! Today New Line Cinema will be releasing the trailers for "Return of the King" at www.lordoftherings.net Think the website will crash? Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

Mimesis Back Online: The folks over at Mimesis Online report that both their commerical and test servers are back online after moving to a new ISP. This week will consist of testing the new host, so players will get to play for free.accounts extended by a week. Both commercial and beta servers are now online. The servers have been installed in a new datacenter and hopefully we shall all benefit from the fact. The next week is a TEST PERIOD for the new ISP. Please use the official forums to give us your feedback. All accounts are going to be extended by one week. We are working on it now. They have a free trial if you have to check them out. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

Myth of Soma Blackout: Real World Events have a way of messing up a gamers hobby. Over in Italy the folks for Myth of Soma got hit by a massive blackout that rocked Italy causing a disruption to service. Due to an unknown problem, Italy suffered of a massive blackout tonight starting from 3:30AM CET. This caused the interruption of our services too. The server is now back online, but due to this situtation we cannot guarantee a continuous service in the next few hours until the problem is fixed in the whole country. Everything should be fine now. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

PotBS User Content: Pirates of the Burning Sea has an update on how players can affix their own graphics for flags and sails and then apply them to their ships in the game for all to see. With examples: Our user content system allows players to submit their own graphics for flags and sails and then apply them to their ships in the game for all to see. Want to see an example? And maybe a brand new, never-before-shown ship while you're at it? Then today is your lucky day, mateys. Have a look at our Gallery where you'll find a Maya-rendered image of our new Small Galleon ship model, with a sail design supplied by forum member Jester. Sweet! That is way cool. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

Realms of Torment News: Limitless Horizons has released four new screenshots for Realms of Torment featuring the Elf character, accompanied by a short in game clip. The folks over at Warcry also have an interview up with Dan Antonescu. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane News: The Chronicle of Strife for Shadowbane points out several news bits worth interest. First up is a quick recap from developer Zyzebo on some of the updates to the games outstanding issues. Followed by the announcement that the price of Shadowbane has been reduced to $19.99 in all participating retail outlets, so if you did not chuck the $50.00 something bucks for the game and have yet to check it out, now is a good time. Ofcourse others disagree and think this was a futile move on Ubi's part. Continuing their crackdown on the exploiters and dupers who ruined the game using bugs, Ubi has posted another new update to the Terms of Service which can be found in the FAQ: The Rules of Conduct section of the Ubi.com Terms of Use states the following : "Users may not sell or distribute, outside of the game, any element of the game including without limitation game's characters, names, weapons, objects, skills, virtual currency and other features." They need to wipe the game servers and start all over. Finally, answers for the new world map announced last month are being addressed. With the new map due this October, several questions regarding the character moves and server wipes are revealed. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

Shattered Galaxy Servers Moved: Shattered Galaxy also had their servers moved to a new ISP and are now up and running. The Shattered Galaxy servers have successfully been moved to their new location. We will be monitoring network status all week to ensure maximum uptime for all players while the servers acclimate to the new ISP. Due to a change in the IP address of the server, some players may experience some difficulty when attempting to connect to the game server. Generally, this problem is caused by outdated DNS information. To update your DNS information, you will need to wait for your ISP to update their DNS server. Usually this can take anywhere from a few minutes up to a day. You may also want to restart your system to ensure you have the latest updates from your DNS information. If you are still experiencing problems connecting to the game servers, we suggest contacting your ISP to update your DNS. If problems persist, please contact support@sgalaxy.com. Thank you. We have yet to check this game out. Anyone played it? Tell us about it. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

UBO Producer Corner: Ultimate Baseball Online has started a new feature dubbed the "Producer Corner" in which the games Producer, Gabriel Law tells us about the current and ongoing state of UBO with post baseball season closing upon us as the game istelf enters new stages of development. Really worth reading. Posted September 29 2003 by Div Devlin

Atriarch Developer Update: Atriarch has anoter devloper update running, this time talking about the games engine technology (which is named Volcano). At the end of June we posted information about our plans to refactor a lot of the engine's internal infrustructure to improve server stability and connectivity. This week we are starting the last major rewrite on the Volcano architecture... persistence. Check the full update. Posted September 23 2003 by Div Devlin

Ballerium Updates: Ballerium has had some major updates, we somehow missed. They signed a publisher over in Taiwan and just got back from a major Trade Show there. They have some pics up too! We did not get any hot gals to give us shirts back at E3 for Ballerium. For North America folks who were hoping to get into Beta, well that has been changed. Announced a few months ago, the folks at Majorem went to work on redesigning some of the main features, this has pushed back the development stages. As they tell us: hile more information will be revealed later on, the main redesign features are: a) City control and conquest: Previously Players in Ballerium just interacted with the cities. As a result of testers input and our own thinking we’ve developed a system by which players can actually conquer cities through the possession of control points located in the cities. Controlling cities allows a player to receive a portion of the city income in exchange for the extra protection granted to those cities. b) An improved army management scheme that takes care of some disturbing micro-management that disturbed players of the pre-beta version. Players can now create a limited number of heroes out of their experienced soldiers. Those heroes can further improve their abilities, learn skills and can even be revived once killed. c) At least in the first version of the game, the world map will be divided into large islands of ~5000 players each. This came up from our publisher in Taiwan, after they reached a conclusion it is better for the players. The gameplay results are that players now actually have a chance of being the best of their world, even if it’s "only" a 5000 player world. Should this concept prove to be wrong, it may later be changed back. d) Races - e) The interface is being further improved. Pictures of the new interface will be displayed in the gallery once it’s complete, within less than a month. The current Ballerium is a much better game. But those improvements cost a price. In order to enable us complete all the said changes, and in order not to release a premature product, it is now estimated that we would need to wait till Christmas before releasing the Public Beta (hopefully supporting about 5000 testers). It is estimated that such a beta could take as much as 6 months to finish. We can wait as long as it works! Check out Ballerium. Posted September 23 2003 by Div Devlin

City of Heroes Contest: City of Heroes is holding a new contest in which players can help contribute to the overall game storyline by naming a "Hazard Zone." Read on: Toxic doesn’t describe the half of it. This Paragon City Hazard Zone, once the main source of the city’s industrial waste, sank to a new level of environmental disaster after the Rikti invaded. Now, surrounded by a poisonous green mist and home to the villainous Freakshow, the area has everything to offer the city’s low-life. Everything, that is, except a name... which is where you come in! Read the details and learn how you can leave your creative mark on this Hazard Zone forever. If selected, your suggested name for the Hazard Zone will be adopted into the City of Heroes game. Enter to Win! Posted September 23 2003 by Div Devlin

Dragon Empires Newsletter: Dragon Empires is celebrating their two year anniversary since the website went live and tell us in their newsletter about beta. It has been two years since Dragon Empires was announced and the first web site went up! On this anniversary we've been busy testing our formal battle system and preparing for an internal demonstration. It's been a lot of fun setting up our demonstration characters with the best gear and equipment, even though with all the dressing and undressing of the characters that this required one developer asked if I had a Barbie doll when I was young! For the record, I stuck strictly with toy soldiers and never ever undressed them. From the emails we have been receiving I know a lot of people are wondering when they are going to get into beta. With Beta1 starting in November we are not putting out any more invites until then, so please be patient. The test won't grow tens of thousands of testers until the new year and we expect most of you to get invited sometime around then. In even more beta news, TesterX gives a new player diary from within beta. Of course, no newsletter would be complete without a weekly feature. This week they tell us about city expansions: If you end up owning a city what mark can you make on the world? Well, you can add new buildings and add defences to your city using our Placement Point system. Around the city are invisible placement points that only appear when clan leaders go to place a building to add to the town. When the leader has a building plan ready in their hands the placement points will appear, showing where that particular city addition can go. Everything from banners and statues through to new buildings and workshops (to improve production efficiency) can be placed. Once placed the city will adjust itself so the new building fits in naturally. In the Redwing empire raised platforms and bridges will appear to connect the new structure to the rest of the city and other empires will adjust in similar ways. And don't forget to read the latest travels of Gadsolme as he discovers (reveals) more of the history in the world. The delay was worth the wait. Posted September 23 2003 by Div Devlin

Horizons Previews: Atari and Artifact Entertainment ran a huge event for Horizons recently, where several gaming networks were invited to play the game with a sneak peak at wats coming, and have begun releasing their in game impressions and first looks from inside the closed beta. For those still interested, you can check out the following sites: Action Trip Impressions GameSpot Impressions HomeLanFed Impressions RPGVault Impressions Warcry Impressions Posted September 23 2003 by Div Devlin

Middle Earth Online Updates: Frodo and Bilbo Baggins Celebrate their birthday and want you to have a birthday card! A new developer diary from "Griffon" was posted up also, in which he starts out by telling us of his major strike-out with a gal. He needed to talk to Jessica we think! Posted September 23 2003 by Div Devlin

SW:G Heads to the U.K. Star Wars Galaxies is making the move to the U.K. The official release date is just in time for Halloween, on October 31st! Activision today announced that LucasArts' Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided is to be released on October 31st in the U.K., Nordic and 'Rest-of-Europe' regions and on 7th November in Spain, Italy, France and Germany. Since its launch in the USA on June 26th 2003, the title has proved the fastest growing MMO role-playing game to date. With over 300,000 registered users, in less than two months, Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided has already become the second largest MMO in the USA. Will it be a trick or a treat? Posted September 23 2003 by Div Devlin

UO to open AOL Legends: Ultima Online announced they are opening the closed AOL Legends server which was for users of America Online to the world, and changing the name! That's one way to get more users on a server when faced with closing it down due to lack of players. Remove the exclusivity! Opened in May of 2000, the AOL Legends shard was the first and only Ultima Online shard available exclusively through the America Online service. It was initially called AOL Sosaria, but was later renamed to AOL Legends in honor of Legends of Kesmai, one of the forerunners in the online role-playing game industry. Today, Origin is pleased to announce another change to the shard, one that we hope will help nurture its tight-knit community, as well as help it to develop the cross-culture diversity found on other UO shards. Legends, as it will be called from now on, will open its doors to all players worldwide, beginning Thursday, September 25. Aside from the slight name change and the new faces that will be visiting, the shard will remain the same; everyone who has been playing this shard can continue doing so. So welcome, everyone, to a bright and fun-filled future for Legends! Can we place a Castle? Posted September 23 2003 by Div Devlin

Mythica Interview w/ Hal Milton! What can we say. Were looking forward to playing gawds in the upcoming Mythica game by Microsoft, and we have questions. We get answers too! Sometimes. Folks say I need to be less smarmy. In any case, dragging him out of crunch time, Hal Milton takes sit's down and answers some of those need to know questions that are not only on our minds but others as well. Questions like, What type of car he drives as well as what type of music he listens too. Oh, we asked about the game also. Join us as we interrogate Hal Milton. Posted September 18 2003 by Div Devlin

AO Shadowlands has smooth launch: The official word has come out, and they say that the Anarchy Online expansion Shadowlands had a so smooth laucnh that you could slick your hair back if it was a gel. Ok, so they did not really say it that way, but here is what they did say: Tens of thousands of players have flocked to the intriguing new world in the award-winning universe of Anarchy Online. Shadowlands redefines the standard of Massively Multiplayer expansion packs, offering a spell-binding new setting, unique graphics and audio and lots of fresh challenges for both new and existing players. The launch of the expansion went exceptionally smooth, and the initial feedback has been very positive. "We are proud of the technically smooth launch, especially considering the amount of fun new content added to the game" said Game Director Gaute Godager. "With Shadowlands, Anarchy Online is no longer a pure science fiction MMORPG. It goes beyond, almost defining its own genre. Shadowlands is a true exploration in a foreign land... it's a true adventure" The elaborate feature-set of Shadowlands has received praise from practically all PC gaming media. The very first reviews for Shadowlands are now coming in, with equally impressive feedback. "When the expansion pack weighs in to be as large as the original game, you know it's more than just an expansion" said tothegame.com in their 9 out of 10 review. The leading PC gaming magazine PC Zone UK has given Shadowlands their "Essential" mark, while the German giant PC Action said "Respekt! Sehr gut" in their initial review. I just got my copy so expect a review in like three months! Posted September 18 2003 by Div Devlin

Lineage: Dark Conquest Lineage is getting some awesome new episodes that will be released over the course of the next three years adding to the games storyline. This is actually worth they hype. The new epic, called Lineage: Dark Conquest, is a series of six new episodes to be released over the next three years. The first new episode, Light and Shadow, goes live on North American servers today. Lineage: Dark Conquest introduces a brand new character class to the fictional world of Aden, the Dark Elves, who live in shadows and darkness and whose nature is similar to that of an assassin. Just like other classes in Lineage, players can create male or female Dark Elf characters. Their characters begin play in Silent Cavern, where they can create and store new weapons and items exclusive to the Dark Elf race. The Dark Elves evolved by aligning themselves with Gran Kain, the god of destruction. They were seduced by the power promised them and began to practice black magic. Over time, their bodies became cloaked in darkness, likened to the color of the god they served willingly and completely. Because of their habits of living in darkness, the Dark Elves have developed a special ability to see keenly at night. Lineage: Dark Conquest also introduces the Island of Dreams, a floating land mass above Aden where players can teleport and acquire elixirs, which can raise a player’s abilities or stats permanently. On this island, players will encounter new boss monsters representing the four elements (Earth, Wind, Water, Fire). Other episodes in the Lineage: Dark Conquest saga will add even more features to the already rich and exciting world of Lineage. And it's going to be free! Free! There still is ya know the regular subscription fee to play Lineage though. Posted September 18 2003 by Div Devlin

Shadowbane Expansion Official: What can ya do when others blow your big announcment. With the cat already out of the bag, and people laughing thier asses off (Note: We said asses because were not a network site and can say things like that, which is why you like us!) from the twenty-something instant messages I got, Ubi has released the official word on the upcoming expansion to Shadowbane from Wolfpack Studios titled "Rise of Chaos." Shadowbane: The Rise of Chaos features new high-level content, and a new race, the Nephilim, a chaotic fusion of demon and man that has arisen from the forces of darkness. In addition, the expansion provides new character classes, disciplines, an additional character slot, two new macro zones, and enhanced environmental graphics. And then? I think it may actually get me to reactivate my account. It looks that good. Posted September 18 2003 by Div Devlin

Ultima Online: Those Magic Moments! I remember when weddings and sponsored events were free in Ultima Online, has it been so long? Call a seer and tons would show up for special occasions. Now, you have to hire them! For the price of $39.99 US, you can have those "Magic Moments" again. ake your next sentimental event a Magic Moment! UO Magic Moments offer players a selection of pre-packaged event templates from which they can chose: Wedding Ceremony, Birthday Party, or Remembrance Gathering. Each event includes an official in-game ceremony officiated by one of Origin System’s Magic Moments moderators, a customizable script, and a variety of heartwarming keepsakes. Someone has to pay for the featured events staff, no? Posted September 18 2003 by Div Devlin

Community News: City of Heroes on IGN The story of how City of Heroes came to implement Archetypes is an arduous one. But as Lead Designer, Jack Emmert, explains in the latest "IGN Designer Diary," the journey was well worth the end result. Learn all the details in the next chapter of his article entitled "Origins, Levels & Classes." Realms of Torment Beta Contest Mort is all grown up now, and going professional. Not. Anyways he sends word that over on PKer.org he is holding a contest giveaway for five Realms of Torment beta accounts. He's the first site to offer beta accounts for this upcoming game. He said if I don't plug his news, more dancing rasins for me. Plugged! Soul Calibur II Review at XGR Dre sends word that he has a review up for Soul Calibur II for the DreamCube. Console games!?! Why are we posting that here? Anyways he liked it saying, "The game's graphics are stunning and add to the look and feel of the original. The characters are more detailed and better animated than their original counter parts. The characters also move fluidly giving Soul Caliber a polished and distinct feel..." Check his write. Posted September 18 2003 by Div Devlin

Second Life Virtual Bookclub: Second Life will be hosting the first ever Virtual Book Club event featuring science fiction writer Cory Doctorow this Sunday, September 21, 2003 at 6:30 p.m. Doctorow, winner of the Campbell Award for science fiction and co-editor of the Boing Boing blog, will discuss his latest novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. The book club is open to all residents of Second Life and will be moderated by in-world journalist Wagner James Au. The Virtual Book Club is an opportunity for anyone interested in Doctorow's work to participate in a "reading" and discussion in an immersive, virtual environment. Much more than a simple online text chat with an author, the virtual book club will consist of attendees represented as avatars sitting on various couches/chairs/etc, discussing Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, via text chat (with animated gestures/emotes/etc). It promises to be visually exciting and infused with a high level of enthusiasm from Second Life residents, Doctorow's fans and sci-fi readers in general. For the life of me (HA HA!) I can't remember any games doing something like this, it sounds pretty cool. Check it. Posted September 18 2003 by Div Devlin

WoW, Cities! Blizzard has revealed the names of six of the major cities in the World of Warcraft. Accompanying each city is a description as well as maps showing where each sity is located. Check out the city listing page to learn more about Darnassus, Ironforge, Orgimmar, Stormwind, Thunderbluff and The Undercity, home of the Forsaken. Posted September 18 2003 by Div Devlin

Austin Game Conference Coverage: Last week ended with a huge bang, as the first "Austin Game Conference" kicked off in Texas. Industry vets from the MMO Gaming market hooked and talked for two days in panels discussing everything about the making the games we play. Our very own Duli and Torch got a chance to head over and check out the con. Catch the recap. Posted September 16 2003 by Div Devlin

Dark Space Free Trial: Dark Space, the MMO Space themed game by Palestar has started a free trial of the game running until the 26th of this month. During the free trial, ALL DarkSpace account holders will be able to play with no limitations, and will have the ability to gain prestige, rank, and join all available servers. "We are opening up the game to everyone for the next 2 weeks in order to give those who have never tried the game before an opportunity find out more about DarkSpace." commented Richard "Faustus" Lyle, Palestar’s President and Lead Programmer. DarkSpace can be downloaded for free from www.darkspace.net Posted September 16 2003 by Div Devlin

PlanetSide: Core Combat Beta Testing! Sony has opened the beta application process for those of you interested in contributing to the development of the PlanetSide expansion "Core Combat" which will add new features including, underground combat, new terrains, new vehicles and new items to the game. Apply Now. Posted September 16 2003 by Div Devlin

A Shadowbane Expansion? Cat's out of the bag on this one. Fans are not happy campers. Get it. Camping. Spawns. Nevermind. Shadowbane has a new expansion in the works due for a release this Novemeber (Projected) thanks to UbiSoft titled "The Rise of Chaos," according to GameSpot. No details out, and no offical comments available right now. Are players going to be paying for the new map announced in the last press release? Many are already upset about a new expansion when numerous problems which have plauged the game since release still reoccur. This does not bode well. But Ubi did update the terms of service which blocks folks making money on Ebay: Users may not "Sell or distribute, outside of the game, any element of the games including without limitation game's characters, names, weapons, objects, skills, virtual currency and other features." We hope this was not meant to curb dupers as it would be a tad too little, to late. Posted September 16 2003 by Div Devlin

Star Wars: Galaxies Sales Dropping! Last week NPD/Tech World released their sales figures for PC Games ending the week of August 30th. Sales for Star Wars: Galaxies slipped. Hard. Are people starting to grow weary of it? 1 MS Flight Simulator 2004: Century Of Flight 2 Tron 2.0 3 The Sims: Superstar Expansion Pack 4 The Sims Deluxe 5 Warcraft III: Frozen Throne Expansion Pack 6 MS Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection 7 Madden NFL 2004 8 Diablo 20 9 Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided 10 The Sims: Unleashed Expansion Pack Meanwhile the work continues with the game to get mounts in. Featured on the official site is the introduction of the "Dewback" video. Posted September 16 2003 by Div Devlin

As the Market Turns: Gamer.tv Announces Launch of Gamer.tv Plus! Leading computer and video games online and TV company Gamer.tv (www.gamer.tv) today announced the launch of Gamer.tv Plus!, a premium online content service offering a wealth of exclusive features aimed at the mass gaming market. Vivendi Cuts More Folks Pud is running the rumor that Vivendi Universal gave the axe to the rest of their staff and are going to begin liquidating some assets. Rumor has it Vivendi/Universal laid off the remaining MP3.com employees today. Firesale likely for any remaining assets. Some corporate staff (legal, accoutning, etc.) remain. No cuts further from the game division. Posted September 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Community News: City of Heroes Comic Book COntest The City of Heroes fansite over on Warcry is hosting a contest in which one lucky winner will be awarded the City of Heroes comic book for making a logo. Lineage II Castle Q&A Warcry has a Q&A about Lineage II Castles. New Orleans Media Convention Too bad it's not during Mardi Gras! Experts in the fields of Film, Music, Videogames and Advertising headline participants in the panel discussions focusing on the intertwined future of those four industries at the first annual "The New Orleans Media Experience," a week long celebration October 26-November 1, 2003 in New Orleans. Highlighting the first-of-its-kind convergence festival will be such trailblazers as blockbuster Producer Neal Moritz (SWAT, The Fast and The Furious), Microsoft Xbox’s J Allard, G4 Network’s CEO, Charles Hirschhorn and Lava Records President Jason Flom (Sugar Ray, Kid Rock, Matchbox 20) . These panel discussions will take place over two days, October 27-28 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel (500 Canal Street, New Orleans, 70103). Additionally The University of New Orleans will present a symposium on “Entertainment in the Digital Age: Creating, Promoting, and Distributing Content” at the New Orleans Hilton on October 29th. Signals to Sigil's Secret Scott Miller over on UnknownPlayer has done some checking into what may possibly be the name of Sigil's secret game in development based on Copyright searchs and Domain name registrations. The working title seems to be, "Vanguard: Saga of Heroes," giving the feel of either a superhero or sci-fi systle of game. Brad McQuaid posted on the Sigil boards, they still ain't gunna say. Meanwhile the Guild Master for the Fires of Heaven guild called the Sigil bluff, and lost when Sigil invited him down to check the game out for himself. Posted September 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Eve Online to Shut Down? Taken from GameDaily: The latest buzz we heard through the grapevine here at GameDaily was that Simon & Schuster was planning to close its Simon & Schuster Interactive (SSI) division, which has published such titles as Outlaw Golf, Outlaw Volleyball and Eve Online: The Second Genesis. Finally, after many phone calls GameDaily was able to track down Adam Rothberg, Simon & Schuster Inc.’s vice president of corporate communications, who denied that the unit was closing. He did say, “We have had some discussions with potential buyers for some, or all of the assets (of Simon & Schuster Interactive).” Continuing, Rothberg added, “It’s a great little interactive boutique shop that has had some really good successes in all kinds of different formats, but it’s not our (Simon & Schuster’s) core business. We think that they (SSI) will be a great asset in a place that has more scale in that business and can give them the full support that they need.” As far as what assets of SSI are up for sale specifically, Rothberg would not get into details. We posed the question of why it took five or six years for Simon & Schuster to realize that SSI was not a “core” business. Rothberg responded, “We gave it a good run. We are a major international publishing company, which the interactive business was a small part of. It (SSI) required a different kind of infrastructure…we couldn’t leverage our infrastructure to support it. They have a different sales force, require different creative and marketing support…it’s just we couldn’t help their business like we can all the rest of our businesses.” Rothberg wouldn’t comment on any personnel moves at Simon & Schuster Interactive as a result of the business being put on the block. So there you have it, SSI is up for sale. For the record, SSI is the digital entertainment unit of publisher Simon & Schuster, Inc., which in turn is owned by the media conglomerate, Viacom Inc. Rutro. Could be a bad thing if they can not sell. Posted September 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Horizons Beta for Europe: Not everyone in the U.S. is in beta yet for Horizons, but now comes word that over in Europe they will get the chance to enter beta this September thanks to GameNetwork. Read on: Atari and Game Network are proud to announce that the award winning Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game 'Horizons Empire of Istaria' will be entering the European Beta phase of its development in September of this year. Horizons aims to redefine the genre, taking it to new levels, offering superior graphics and a new way to 'experience' interactive gaming. By visiting the game's newly created European website gamers will be given the chance to experience the game that IGN Vault website awarded 'Best of E3 2003'. Go get ready. Posted September 15 2003 by Div Devlin

UX:O Newsletter and Beta Invites? Electronic Arts begins their deluge of hype for the upcoming Ultima X: Odyssey as they send out their UX:O announcement for a newsletter, beta involvement and message boards exclusive to Stratics. Hello from the UXO Team! Thanks for joining us at the Ultima X: Odyssey premiere event. As a community leader, your opinion is extremely important to us. We appreciated your participation! This month, you will receive the TeamOdyssey Journal, our monthly team newsletter that covers a variety of issues on which the team is currently working. We hope that you will feel comfortable commenting on the topics in this newsletter, via a special forum being set up at UXO.Stratics.com. Additionally, you’ve been pre-registered for the UXO Public Beta test. It will begin late this year, and you will be contacted in advance. For testing purposes, please fill out the UXO Beta registration form that will be included with the premiere issue of the TeamOdyssey Journal. Filling out and submitting the beta form will insure your reservation is confirmed. We are thrilled about your involvement and look forward to sharing this journey with all of you! Sincerely, The UXO Team They are already setting the game up around disdain by the larger MMO Community. Note that we did not recieve a copy of this from the EA Team, and was alerted to this through one of our readers. Posted September 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Anarchy Online Shadowlands Live: The new expansion to Anarchy Online has gone live. Shadowlands Adding new lands, new mobs and new classes, the folks at Funcom are ready for the thousands of users to begin logging in, in what they call their most ambitious project yet for the game. The message boards are aflame with disgruntled players regarding the launch. Posted September 15 2003 by Div Devlin

New Dev Diary for Dragon Empires: Dragon Empires has redone their site with a new look and added RSS Feeds for those who wanted them. The big news is that they have a new Dev Diary up and running with their DB programmer David Wells! He makes it all sound interesting too. Posted September 15 2003 by Div Devlin

EQ Fan Faire Chicago Style: It's that time again: time for the EverQuest Fan Faire! Sony Online's twice-yearly convention for all things EverQuest is happening in Chicago, IL on Sept. 25 - 27. This is going to be one of the biggest Fan Faires ever, as there are already over 2000 EverQuest players pre-registered according to Sony. Events at Fan Faire include developer/player panel sessions, the infamous costume contest, the Bazaar, a silent auction, a live quest (one part EQ, one part scavenger hunt), and tons of gameplay sessions with EverQuest, EQII, Lords of EverQuest, Champions of Norrath and more. Sony PR staff will be on hand to help set up interviews with the fans, give private demonstrations of some of our new titles and provide access to SOE's top producers, designers and executives. For more details and a full schedule of Fall Fan Faire 2003 events, visit the website! Posted September 15 2003 by Div Devlin

Middle Earth Online Updates: Two new updates from Middle Earth Online. First up is a new article about towns with player housing, followed by a new Dev Diary from Michelle Sullivan. Posted September 15 2003 by Div Devlin

WoW, More Screenshots! Blizzard continues to send out weekly eye candy, releasing another two screenshots for World of Warcraft. These two feature The Horde. Not too much to say. Posted September 15 2003 by Div Devlin

EQ: Lost Dungeons of Norrath Released! The newest EverQuest expansion, "Lost Dungeons of Norrath" has gone live and released today. From the Press Release Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming, announced today that EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath, a new expansion for the incredibly popular PC Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), EverQuest, is available on retail shelves today. The boxed retail version will contain both a collectible "in-box" gift (while supplies last) as well as a magical "in-game" item and will carry the suggested retail price of $29.99. Additionally, a digital version is available for secure download at www.everquest.com for $27.99. "With Lost Dungeons of Norrath, we’re emphasizing the classic 'dungeon crawl' game play element in the world of EverQuest," said Michael Lustenberger, director of product marketing, Sony Online Entertainment. "This is our largest expansion to date, offering players a new way to experience the world of Norrath with personal adventures, massive dungeons and a unique reward system that’s sure to please our most hard-core fans." And all was good... So far? Posted September 10 2003 by Div Devlin

Purge Online Expansion: Freeform Interactive announced their expansion to Purge Online the FPS/MMO game that will be free to current subscribers. Titled "Purge Jihad," they released an all new website and new game features, including: - New gibs system include blood pools, robotic/cybernetic debris, and limb loss. - New skills and constructions: UA-12 Drone, Spirit Kami, Razor Matrix, and Death Vortex. - Minor Skills and Rune/Implant creation skills easier to use. - Upgraded and new weapon attack modes including: Android's semi-explosive rounds, Monk's Shockwave, Cyborg's SCRUB air burst rocket, et al. - Deities introduced: Evod and Mabus with the ability to protect the Portal from damage for 3 minutes at beginning of each round. - New secondary objectives: Altars. - New health recovery system for Tenacity. - New Prayer System with Peity Points and martyrdom bonuses for lower leveled players challenging higher level players. - New maps Check it. Posted September 10 2003 by Div Devlin

Dre Speaks Out on Game Violence: Dre over at XGR speaks out regarding the recent violence in videogames: Who should be blamed when youths act out violent scenarios displayed in their favorite video games. The article was written in light of the current events in Tennessee where two youths shot a .22-caliber rifle at vehicles killing one individual and wounding another. The youths later revealed to authorities that they mimicking Grand Theft Auto’s sniper mode. Check it. Posted September 10 2003 by Div Devlin

SWG: Goodbye Non-Subscribers! Sonys says, if you're not a Star Wars Galaxies subscriber, you are not allowed to read the boards as Raph "Holocron" Koster posted this update to the message boards. As of Tuesday, Sept. 9th at 2pm PST, the SWG community forums will only be accessible to active players of SWG. For most of you, there will be no significant impact. The forums already required that you be an SWG player in order to post. The main change most of you should notice is that you will be required to log into the site before you can read any messages. Thanks for your attention on this matter. Did we mention you have to be a subscriber to read it? What is Sony hiding? According to Raph "Holocron" Koster, nada. It isn't really that we have anything to hide. We spend a lot of time on the boards here talking to you, and I don't think we have been shy about confronting controversial issues, nor do I think we've ever been less than honest with you when things are going wrong. I don't think that anyone can claim that we've been hiding things from the customer base. But yeah, publicity is at the heart of it. The heart of the matter is "will a game's Internet forums ever be a source of positive publicity post-launch?" And I'd suggest to you that the answer is "no." We can talk honestly and directly with you guys, who are players, and you guys can know where we're coming from, because we have common ground to discuss issues. Someone who isn't a player has no idea exactly how widespread a given issue is. They see one person on a forum saying the sky is falling and they have no context to know otherwise. And the fact is that the forums do tend to attract those who want access to the devs to request (or demand!) a change. Players and devs have a way to assess the tone there that non-players simply don't. They are always going to get the wrong impression. Why should we foster that? For those who have been asking for game cards, announced on the same message boards now closed are that they will be available starting on October 7th. Posted September 10 2003 by Div Devlin

UO Character Transfer Service! They said it could not be done! They said it was impossible to implement! Well, (for the suggested market price of $29.99) they found a way! Now players can look forward to transfering their uber characters within Ultima Online to different servers as announced: If you have ever yearned to be able to move your character from one shard to another, you may soon able to do so. Can you imagine being able to migrate your favorite characters to new shards without painfully recreating them from scratch? And it's not just their appearances, stats, and skills that would move across, it's most of their equipment as well! - The character transfer process would be fairly simple: - Purchase a "character transfer promotion code" from our web page or telephone support representative - Log into the character-to-be-transferred and use the "help menu" to activate the code - Select the destination shard-you'll need to have an open character slot in the new shard for the process to work - Confirm the items that belong to that character-these items will be transferred along with the character! - After starting the transfer process, your character will enter a non-playable "limbo" mode. You'll be temporarily kicked from the game as the character begins the process of moving from one shard to another, but you'll be able to log into and play any other character as normal during this time. Once the process is complete, the old version of your character will no longer exist on the original shard. - Within an hour, you'll receive an e-mail notification once the transfer is complete. - Log into your new shard with your old character! If you're worried about unforeseen issues that might arise during the process-for example, if your computer crashes while starting the transfer-we've got that covered. You might feel comforted knowing that, if anything goes wrong, the entire process cancels itself and no change is made. In such instances, your original character is back, safe & sound, right where you last saw him or her. Transfer from any shard within the same territory would be possible. You can transfer your character to any shard in that same territory except Siege Perilous and Mugen. Bunch of restrictions too. Does anyone still want to do this? Check it. Posted September 10 2003 by Div Devlin

AO: Shadowlands in stores now! Anarchy Online's expansion "Shadowlands" is not due for official release until this Tuesday, but some stores messed up and as of Friday players had it in their hands and were ready to go! FunCom on the other hand was not ready, and everyone still needs to wait, according to the latest update: I got my Shadowlands box. Can I upgrade my game client to Shadowlands now? No, you should not install the Shadowlands expansion just yet if you want to play the game. This is because you need to update your client online, and the update files are not ready yet. Stick to just the ordinary Anarchy Online install for now. We'll let you know when the files are available. Now, lets just hope the publish goes in on the 9th like planned. Posted September 8 2003 by Div Devlin

Atriarch Updates: World Fusion has tossed up some new updates for Atriach. Included are updates to creature spawnlings, player trades, and a recap of their trip to Austria where the development lap top died. Being in a small Austrian town which is probably not listed on maps according to them, made it hard to get fixed. Check it. Posted September 8 2003 by Div Devlin

Austin Game Conference This upcoming Thursday and Friday the place to be is in Austin. What started out as being a Game Conference with industry leaders speaking for two days, has turned out to be the equal of the "Electronic Entertainment Expo" dedicated to MMO Games. Now, over 281 companies are going to be present showcasing their games, technology, software and hardware as well as guest speakers telling about MMO Games! Check it. Were sending two of our writers down also, so be sure to check back next week for our coverage of the Conference! Posted September 8 2003 by Div Devlin

As the Market Turns: Atari Amends SEC Filing Atari announced an amendment to a registration statement it has filed with the SEC Partly because Atari's new product releases during the current fiscal year are concentrated primarily in the first, third and fourth fiscal quarters (ending June 30 and December 31, 2003, and March 31, 2004, respectively), the Company's revenues and earnings for the second fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2003 will be lower than they were during the same period of 2002. Freelance Journalists or Analysts Wanted Hollywood Forum is looking to add some Freelance Journalists or Analysts to their team in New York. Stan Lee Hired by Activision as Consultant Stan Lee was hired by Activision as a Consultant to help creative endeavors in bringing the Marvel Superhero Franschise to PC Games. Take 2 and Rockstar Games being sued by... Everyone Take 2 Interactive and Rockstar Games are being hit by lawsuits left and right for their game Grand Theft Auto. The first suit is filed by the parents whose kids went on the shooting spree in which they killed drivers while hanging on top of an overpass shooting at cars. The second is by a graffiti artise who claims his artwork was ripped off inside the game, and infringes on his copyrights. Ubi Soft, Mattel Inc., DC Comics & Warner Bros. Team Up for Batman Videogame Ubi Soft Entertainment joins with Mattel Inc., DC Comics, and Warner Bros. Consumer Products to commemorate the launch of a new villain in the Batman universe by creating special collector's items exclusively for the Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu videogame. Developed and published by Ubi Soft Entertainment, 15,000 copies of Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu Commemorative Edition will include an exclusive Mattel(tm) Batman action figure an