Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Star Wars: The Old Republic's comic "Threat of Peace" has just entered act 2 and the storyline is continuing on as the march to beta and launch continues. On the frontlines of the battle for Balmorra, a lone Jedi Knight will be faced with a decision to support a treaty, or abandon it in the hopes of saving a group of captured Republic soldiers.

However, the comic isn't the only update. The Mandalorians have returned and a new video chronicles their return and explains some of the history between the Mandalorians, Jedi, and the Republic.

• Discuss this and more on our forums.

With a major economy slump happening all over the world, what would you do to make a few bucks? Reuters broke the news today that a major EVE Online bank corporation embezzled billions of kredits from players and then traded them for real life cash. The player known as Ricdic made off with about 200 billion of players hard earned in-game currency to cover his own real life finances and he wasn't shy about making a statement on the theft.

He broke the rules of the game by exchanging the stolen virtual funds for $6,300 Australian ($5,100) with players who preferred to buy virtual money rather than earn it playing the game.

"It was a very on the spot decision," the married father of two explained in an interview.

He said a spam email for a black market website that traded online money for real cash popped up on his screen, prompting him to exchange the virtual cash for real money to cover a deposit on his house and expenses related to his son's medical problems.

"I saw that as an avenue that could be taken, and I decided to skim off the top, you could say, to overcome real life (difficulties)."

Ricdic's account has subsequently been banned by CCP, but this does nothing for the loss of kredits for so many players.

Does Ricdic's real life problems make in-game theft okay? Chime in on the discussion by clicking the "Post your comments" link below!

Step back in time for the 66th SOE podcast, recorded during Fan Faire! Catch the event highlights, listen in on the latest gaming news, and check out Fan Faire interviews with some of the fans.

Join us for the latest Official SOE Podcast! This is Podcast #66, listen to Brenlo and Ashlanne gab LIVE from Fan Faire 2009! They chat with 2 Fan Faire attendees, the Grumpy Ol' Gamer and keep you informed with some of the fun that went on Thursday and the fun that was incoming for the rest of the event.

Get the full shows notes, see a couple of pics, and get the links to download at The Station!

A new change to the PTR allows raid lockout timers to be extended an extra seven days. Good news for groups working on a new kill or if your raid is interrupted by unforeseen AFKs!

Thanks to the guys at MMO-champion.com for the screen shot!

Blizzard has announced  that they will be removing the proto-drake rewards for the normal and heroic Glory of the Ulduar Raider achievements at an unknown future date.

The rusted and ironbound proto-drake rewards for the normal and heroic Glory of the Ulduar Raider meta achievements will be removed at a future date. We currently do not have an exact date they will be taken out, but it is possible they will be removed when patch 3.2 comes out or at some point after that

To read the official post click here

As if keeping your sanity wasn't painful enough, Blizzard is making some changes to how low you have to be to be afflicted by Malady of the Mind. If the missile speed is the problem, why not just make it instantly land on the target like most afflictions, Blizzard? Also watch out for the Immortal Guardian summoning change, you're no longer safe in the illusion room!

You can read the exact details of this here!

I have no personal experience with these Steins, but they have to be the perfect thing to drink your gamer fuel out of. Currently they have a 20% off sale running for an unknown period of time on certain Warcraft steins. They've also launched a limited edition Rise of the Lich King stein that has a release number of only 750!

The Rise of the Lich King stein is now available for shipment. Featuring Lich King Arthas Menethil and his undead minions, each hand-crafted stein features amazing graphics by Alex Horley. Also available is an ultra-rare Legendary version featuring an 18 ct. gold-plated lid and hand-painted gold accents. The Legendary version of stein is limited to 750 pieces worldwide, with each signed by Horley. To celebrate the launch, 3 Point Entertainment is offering up to 20% off on all Warcraft Epic steins. For a limited time you can enjoy big savings on Alliance, Horde, and the new Rise of the Lich King stein. Visit their website for details and to join the celebration.

WoW Steins is where you go to pick up these nicely done steins.

Laguna Art Museum has a new World of Warcraft exhibit that's all about the art in WoW. Admission starts at $30 USD and goes from June 14th to October 4th, 2009. There are three levels of with a lot of cool collectables available, some workshops, and a lot of presentations.

WoW: Emergent Media Phenomenon explores various forms of cultural production based on World of Warcraft® in particular and on gaming in general. While surveying Warcraft's Fifteen-year history, the exhibition looks at artistic practices that have been influenced by game culture. The actual works by the producer of World of Warcraft®, Blizzard Entertainment® (headquartered in Irvine, California), provide a starting point and reference.

Click here for more info.

Lots of new and good Warlock information is coming down from Blizzard as part of their class FAQ series. Soulshatter is going down to 3 minutes, circle isn't going to remove stuns, Fel Domination is getting a dramatic cooldown change, pet survivability is alright, and a lot of other tasty Warlock tidbits are up for grabs in this latest FAQ.

Today we continue our class Q&A series with Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street and the development team, in which we’re taking a look at each class and answering some of the top questions brought forward by their communities. Next up, we take a look at the most asked questions from the warlock class and find out more about the design philosophy behind this class, the expectations for the class, and what may lie in store for it in the future.

Click here for the Warlock FAQ!

Well we just recently heard about faction changing and now the Q&A is out. You will get a pick of your face as long as it works for your class. The rest of the questions? Come back to us later.

Q. Will we be able to switch between the races on our own faction?
A.. No. Players will only be able to switch to a race of the opposite faction.

Q. Will I be able to choose the race on the opposite faction that I want to change to?
A.. Yes, but you will only be able to switch to a race that has your class type available to it. So if you play a human paladin, you’d only be able to change to a blood elf paladin.

Click here to read the Q&A.

Now that Fan Faire is over, Vanguard developers are getting back into the swing of things with bug squashing and future updates. Silius, VG's Lead Game Designer, updates the players on what they learned from Fan Faire and what will be happening with VG in the near future.

The remainder of the year we are looking at releasing the second part of the Pantheon story which finishes the story and leaves the hook for the nexus story. WE are also looking into some side projects that I mentioned at FF. The earliest one being a revamp of the Salamander caves beneath VT. We are planning on re-itemizing and increasing the levels of these areas. It should flow like an old EQ style and is kind of an experiment with how we want to populate some of our other upcoming dungeons.

Read the rest of the developer letter on the Vanguard official forums.

Tales of Pirates maker IGG wants to help protect players from scammers by educating them on what to look out for. Many of the warned about tactics are old scammer classics and there are still a few people out there who still fall for these tricks. Keep in mind you should never give out your personal account information to anyone as game masters and company emails will never ask for it. Don't click links given to you in official looking emails or by other characters. If you need to log into your account (for any game) go to the site manually. Additional scammer tactics are listed in the release from IGG below.

Tales of Pirates: Beware of Scammers

As with any popular game, IGG’s Tales of Pirates (http://top.igg.com) has attracted its share of scammers. Even the most careful pirate can sometimes be fooled by a well-executed scam. The best way to avoid becoming a victim is to learn the common tricks scammers use. To help players, the ToP team would like to highlight one particularly popular method used recently.

Since many players just starting out look for powerful guilds to join, scammers often use this to their advantage. By closely mimicking the names of high-level, well-known members of such guilds, scammers can attempt to trick unsuspecting players into trusting them. They will use similar spellings or replace letters in a character’s name to pass themselves off as someone else. For instance, if a character has a capital letter “O” in their name, a scammer will use a zero in its place, giving them a name that is difficult to spot as a fake.

Once their doppelganger is in place, the scammer seeks out players with good items and gear who don’t belong to one of the better guilds. When they have identified a potential victim, they will send a private message inviting the player to join their guild, but only if they will first visit a URL set up to look like an IGG or TOP site. Once at the site, they are asked to enter their ToP account and password, which the scammers use to access the victim’s account and steal their in-game wealth and gear. “Phishing” scams such as this are avoidable if players use common sense and avoid visiting suspect URLs. Official IGG and ToP sites will include igg.com or top.igg.com at the root of the URL.

Some less subtle scammers will simply ask a potential victim to lend them a weapon before they invite them to the powerful guild “to prove you aren’t a scammer.” Again, players can protect themselves by exercising caution. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Players are advised to check the ToP forum regularly, particularly their server’s forum, where other players will often report attempted scams to the community. In the fight against scammers, knowledge is power.

Visit the forum at http://forum.top.igg.com to keep up with the latest scam warnings.

• Discuss this and more on our forums.

Your job of finding videos for Champions Online just got a bit easier. Cryptic Studios has added a new video page to the official Champions Online website that contains all the videos released by Cryptic to date.

• Watch all the videos here.
• Discuss this and more on our forums.

China may not have banned gold farming after all. The news circulated earlier this week that China had put in place new laws that would deal a major blow to gold farming in the region. However, according to Professor Richard Heeks of Manchester University, the new Chinese law prohibits the buying of real-world items and gambling with virtual items such as purchased QQ Coins, which game companies had been allowing. Professor Heeks goes on to explain that the new law doesn't actually seem to impact gold farming as many had thought when the story broke earlier this week.

This is a government restriction on the use of the quasi-Paypal-like currencies (mainly QQ coins) that are used extensively in China to pay for virtual game stuff.  As announced they can now only be used to pay for virtual stuff, and you can’t buy real things with them as game companies were allowing to happen, nor can you gamble.  This therefore is not about what gold farming clients do: use real money to buy these virtual currencies; it’s the mirror image.  And it’s not about the major trade in gold farming such as World of Warcraft, which relates to other types of virtual currency.  And it’s not about buying/selling in-game items.  And it’s not about the power-levelling of avatars.  Bottom line: it’s not about gold farming.

• You can read the full blog post here.
• Discuss this and more on our forums.

NCsoft will be kicking off a new contest for their upcoming MMORPG, Aion to coincide with this weekend's beta test. The contest begins today, July 2, 2009, and will run through this weekend and end on July 6, 2009. Anyone who participates in the event and reaches level 3 will have a chance to win a trip to Seattle for themselves and a friend to participate in the Aion Launch Party in the Seattle Space Needle and attend the PAX Gaming Festival.

Players who want to get into the Aion beta this weekend but do not have a beta key can preorder the game and get access to all Aion beta events. You can learn more about preorder benefits and exclusive in-game items here.

Play in the Aion closed beta event from July 2, 2009–July 6, 2009, reach level 3, and you and a friend could win a trip to Seattle to enjoy the Aion Launch Party in the Seattle Space Needle! Meet with the developers and visionaries behind Aion and enjoy the themed festivities atop Seattle's most famous landmark. In addition, get two passes to the PAX Gaming Festival to enjoy a whole weekend of gaming goodness.

Aion Launch Party Sweepstakes Grand Prize

The grand prize is a trip to Seattle for you and a friend to attend the Aion Launch Party. Only (1) grand prize will be awarded. Total approximate retail value USD$5,000.

This trip is a 4 day/3 night trip from 9/3/09 to 9/6/09 for the winner and one guest is to Seattle, Washington to attend the Aion Launch Party on 9/4/09. The trip includes:

• Roundtrip economy class air transportation to Seattle.
• Three nights of double occupancy standard hotel accommodations.
• Roundtrip car service to the airport and the hotel accommodations.
• Two tickets to attend the launch party event.
• A 3-day attendee pass to the PAX Gaming Festival at the Washington State Trade and Convention Center for the winner and one guest. (PAX occurs between 9/4/09 and 9/6/09.)

Aion Launch Party Sweepstakes

• Obtain closed beta access to Aion and install the Aion beta client. You must have received a closed beta serial code, have preordered or prepurchased Aion, or have obtained beta access through other valid means.
• Log in to http://us.ncsoft.com. Create a new account if you have not done so before.
• Log in to Aion and play the beta version of Aion during 7/2/09 to 7/6/09. You must play between 7/2/09 at 12:00:00 noon Pacific Time (PT) and 7/6/09 at 12:00:00 noon PT.
• Level a character to at least level 3. If you play the beta within the listed period of time, and level a character to at least level 3, you will be automatically entered into the sweepstakes.
• End Date: Sweepstakes ends on 7/6/09 at 12:00:00 noon PT.
• Sponsor: NC Interactive, Inc., 1501 4th Ave. Floor 20, Seattle, WA 98101
• Official Rules: Aion Launch Party Sweepstakes Official Rules
• Prize Winner Names: The name of the prize winner, available 30 days after the end of the promotion, will be posted here for 90 days after the prize is awarded.
• No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Open to legal residents of the United States and Canada (excluding Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. territories, military installations and commonwealths, and Québec), 18 or older (except residents of AL and NE, who must be 19 or older).

NCsoft Aion™ Launch Party Sweepstakes Official Rules

No purchase or payment necessary to enter or win. A purchase will not increase your chance of winning. Open only to legal residents of the United States and Canada who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry. Void in Québec, Guam, Puerto Rico, United States territories, military installations and commonwealths and where restricted or prohibited by law.

DESCRIPTION/ENTRY PERIOD: The NCsoft "The Aion Launch Party" Sweepstakes ("Sweepstakes") begins on 7/2/09 at 12:00:00 PM Pacific Standard Time (PST) and ends on 7/6/09 at 12:00:00 PM PST ("Sweepstakes Period").

HOW TO ENTER: During the Sweepstakes Period, play the Beta Version of the Aion Game. You must first register online at us.ncsoft.com. If you are an Existing Customer you must enter your log in information. If you are a New Customer you must create an NCsoft Account which will include an account name, password, and entering your email address. You will also be asked for Personal Information including first name, last name, date of birth, country, address, city, state, and postal code. You will then be prompted to enter the unique game code so you can play the Beta Version Aion Game. Once you start playing the game and achieve Level 3 or higher, you will receive an entry into the Sweepstakes. The use of scripts, bots or any automated system to participate in the Sweepstakes is strictly prohibited. Each unique game code is good for one entry into the Sweepstakes. Alternate Means of Entry: To enter without purchasing the game, clearly hand print the following on a 3" x 5" piece of plain paper: first name, last name, date of birth, country, address, city, state/province, postal code and email. Mail in a #10 business size envelope via First Class mail to: NCsoft The Aion Launch Party Sweepstakes, PO Box 4313, Dept B, Manhasset NY 11030-4313. Facsimiles or photocopies of entry/entry forms are void. Limit one entry per person, all mail-in entries must be postmarked by 7/6/09 and received by 7/13/09. All entries become the Sponsor's property and will not be acknowledged or returned. Neither Sponsor nor its agents assume any responsibility for lost, mutilated, or misdirected entries. Sweepstakes Entities are not responsible for late, incomplete, void, corrupted, garbled, misdirected, or otherwise unintelligible entries or for any problems, bugs or malfunctions you may encounter when submitting your entry. Incomplete, garbled, corrupted or otherwise illegible entries are void and will not be accepted. In the event of a dispute as to the identity of a winner based on an e-mail address, the winning entry will be the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at time of entry. "Authorized account holder" is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider or other organization (e.g., business, educational, institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address.

ELIGIBILITY: SWEEPSTAKES IS OPEN ONLY TO LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA (EXCLUDING QUEBEC, GUAM, PUERTO RICO, UNITED STATES TERRITORIES, MILITARY INSTALLATIONS AND COMMONWEALTHS) WHO ARE 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AT THE TIME OF ENTRY. Employees of NCsoft and its Affiliates, or/and their respective subsidiaries, divisions, affiliates, advertising and promotion agencies and members of the immediate families (defined as parents, children, siblings and spouse, regardless of where they reside) are not eligible to win. Sweepstakes void where prohibited and is subject to all federal, state, local, and provincial laws and regulations. In addition entrants grant Sponsor the right to use their information for advertising, publicity and promotional purposes or photo databases without compensation or permission (unless prohibited by law). Sponsor reserves the right to add to or change these rules without prior notification. All changes will be noted on this page and be available at any time. If the judges determine, in their sole discretion, that there is any suspected or actual electronic tampering with the sweepstakes or if technical difficulties compromise the integrity of the sweepstakes, the judges reserve the right to void the entries at issue and/or terminate the sweepstakes and award the prize using all eligible entries received as of the termination date. If the sweepstakes is terminated due to tampering or technical difficulties prior to the expiration date, notice will be posted on at www.aiononline.com/aionparty. Any attempt to deliberately damage the content or operation of this sweepstakes is unlawful and subject to legal action by the Sponsors and their agents. Sponsor is not responsible for printing or typographical errors or problems in connection with any related materials.

PRIZES: (1) Grand Prize: A 4 day/3 night trip from 9/3/09 to 9/6/09 for winner and 1 guest to Seattle, Washington to attend "The Aion Launch Party" on 9/4/09. Trip includes roundtrip economy class air transportation to Seattle, 3 night's double occupancy standard hotel accommodations, round trip car service to/from the airport/hotel, and tickets to attend the event. Winner and guest will also receive a 3-Day attendee pass to Penny Arcade Expo at the Washington State Trade and Convention Center. The event occurs between 9/4/09 and 9/6/09. Total Approximate Retail Value $5,000. Any additional expenses incurred by winner, not specified herein are the winner's sole responsibility. Air transportation to be provided by airline/airport servicing Seattle, Washington which is the closest to winner's home, and at Sponsor's sole discretion. Winner and guest must travel on the same itinerary and coordinate travel arrangements with Sponsor. Guest must be 18 years of age or older unless the minor child of the winner. If winner is not able to travel on dates specified by the Sponsor they will be disqualified and an alternate winner will be selected, time permitting. Odds of winning depend on the total number of eligible entries received. Sponsor will not award a greater number of prizes than are stated herein. Prize is nontransferable; no substitutions or cash equivalents allowed except by Sponsor who reserves the right to award a prize of comparable or greater value if advertised prize is unavailable. Taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner or parent/legal guardian of a "minor" prize winner. By accepting the prize, winner and/or parent/guardian of minor winner agree to the use of their names and/or likenesses for advertising and promotional purposes, worldwide, and in perpetuity in any media, now known and hereafter devised (including and without limitation, the internet) without additional compensation, except where prohibited by law, and upon request provide consent to such use in writing unless prohibited by law.

DRAWING AND NOTIFICATION: A random drawings will be conducted from all eligible entries received, under the supervision of Marden-Kane, Inc., an independent judging organization whose decisions are final and binding on all matters relating to this Sweepstakes. The Sweepstakes Drawing will be held on or about 7/15/09 from all eligible online and mail in entries. The potential Prize winner will be notified by first class mail or email and may be required to complete and execute an affidavit of eligibility and, where legal, a publicity and travel release, all of which must be completed, signed and returned within 10 days from the date which documents were sent to the potential winner. Failure to comply within the time period and/or conditions outlined above may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner. If winner is a minor in their state of residence, the prize will be awarded in the name of their parent or legal guardian. Return of any prize/prize notification as undeliverable may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner.

GENERAL CONDITIONS: Entrants also agree (i) to be bound by all applicable U.S. and Canadian laws and regulations and abide by the terms of these Official Rules and the decision of the Sponsor and judges, (ii) to waive any right to claim ambiguity in the rules, and (iii) to release, indemnify and hold harmless NCsoft and its Affiliates, including directors, officers, shareholders, owners, employees and agents, including Marden-Kane, Inc. (collectively, the "Releasees") from all liability, damages or causes of action arising from participation in this Sweepstakes and/or acceptance, possession, use, misuse or nonuse of any prize that may be awarded. Releasees shall not be liable to winner or any other person for failure to supply the prize or any part thereof, by reason of any acts of God. Except where prohibited, entrants agree that any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this contest or any prize awarded shall be resolved under the laws of the State of Washington, without respect to any conflict of law issues, and entrant agrees that such shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the U.S. Federal and State Courts of King County, Washington, U.S.A.

PRIVACY: By entering this Sweepstakes, entrant agrees to have the information submitted on their entry form to become part of a NCsoft mailing list/database and is willing to accept future marketing information from NCsoft via mail and/or email. Such information shall be maintained in accordance with NCsoft's Privacy Policy, which is available at http://us.ncsoft.com/en/legal/privacy-policy.html. You will have the right, upon receipt of such email/mail from NCsoft "opt-out" (be deleted from) the database and not receive any subsequent correspondence from NCsoft. If you do not wish to receive subsequent correspondence from NCsoft, write to the Sponsor at the address found below.

WINNERS LIST: For names of the prize winners, available 30 days after the end of the promotion, please log on to www.aiononline.com/aionparty. Winners will be posted for 90 days following awarding of prizes. A list of winners can also be obtained by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to NCsoft The Aion Launch Party Sweepstakes, Marden-Kane, Inc., 36 Maple Place, Manhasset, NY 11030. Residents of Canada may omit return postage.

SPONSOR: NC Interactive Inc., 1501 4th Ave. Floor 20, Seattle, WA 98101

SWEEPSTAKES ADMINISTRATOR: Marden-Kane, Inc., 36 Maple Place, Manhasset, NY 11030.

Canadian winners are required to successfully answer a time limited mathematical skill testing question, administered by mail in order to receive their prize.

• Discuss this and more on our forums.

Blizzard filed for a new trademark "Catacylsm" on Jun 26th according to the US Patent and TM office. The filing can be found here. Most likely this is for the next xpac that many anticipate being announced at this years Blizzcon. From WoWWiki.com is an explanation of 'The Great Sundering' which is also called 'The Catacylsm'

The Great Sundering, also known as simply the Sundering or the Cataclysm,WRPG 185, 211 was a world event which reshaped Azeroth approximately 10,000 years ago at the end of the War of the Ancients. This event was triggered due to the Well of Eternity being destroyed. Prior to the Sundering, there was only one continent on Azeroth, referred to as Kalimdor. In the catastrophic explosion, eighty percent of the land mass was destroyed,W3Man #? leaving behind the major continents and scattered islands that are known today: Northrend, Kezan, the Eastern Kingdoms, and the remnant still referred to as Kalimdor. The site of the Well of Eternity became a swirling vortex of power known as the Maelstrom.

Stay tuned for further info as it develops!

EVE Online's winter expansion is still some time away but it looks like developers are working hard on it at this moment!

In this recent dev blog, Torfi Frans details on the Apocrypha 1.5 update which intends to be beefy enough to consider a mini-expansion. Torfi also shares a teeny nugget of winter expansion info which may have fans a little bummed to hear that walking around is not on the expansion agenda.

We will be reporting on the winter expansion as it draws closer. All I can say, is that it is focused on sovereignty and you will not be able to walk in it.

See the highlights of the 1.5 update in the full EVE Online dev blog!

Sparkplay Media's upcoming MMORPG, Earth Eternal, is a fantasy-based game that will set itself apart from other fantasy games by offering a different kind of fantasy option. Where many fantasy MMORPGs give players the option to play dwarves, elves, hobbits, and other fantasy classic races, Earth Eternal will offer players the option to play Clockworks, Yetis, falcons, and more states Sparkplay Media's CEO, Matt Mihaly. In a recent interview with Massively.com, Matt talks about the target demographic for Earth Eternal and what sets the game apart from the rest of the fantasy-based free-to-play MMOs on the market.

We're a different kind of experience from FusionFall or Free Realms. We're more in the vein of a classic fantasy MMO than a collection of minigames. I think where we stand out is by offering the best browser-based fantasy MMO out there. We've made the decision to have no humans, elves, or dwarves (or gnomes, hobbits, or anything else too close to human), preferring instead to offer everything from humanoid lizards and falcons to the Clockwork and Yeti. We're definitely fantasy but we want to stay away from the pack, almost all of whom have the humans/elves/dwarves thing going on. We've also got an enormous number of races for players (unlike the two games you mentioned) – 22 at launch.

• You can read the full interview here.
• Discuss this and more on our forums.

YS Online: The Call of Solum has entered its open beta testing phase. The game is still only available for territories found on this list. If you're not on that list, chances are you'll be IP blocked. However, negotiations are underway to open the game to other areas. At the end of this phase there will be no character wipe, so players can keep whatever they create.

• It will start on June 30th
• No key needed
• No character wipe after the Open Beta
• Rewards for all the Closed Beta testers

After one month of closed beta testing, finally we are proud to expand the Ys universe to everybody who is eager to go deep into it. All the current Key To Play community will warmly welcome every new European player on the 30th June.

This time no key will be asked to open the doors to the world of Ys. You will only need a Key To Play account to enjoy this fully detailed game. Also there won’t be any character wipe after this!

Choose carefully your race and specialisation following your game style. If you have any doubts, take a look to the Game Guide from our Official Site. And even if you can’t decide, remember you can create a maximum of 6 different characters in your account.

During the Closed Beta phases, more than 100,000 keys have been distributed. Without the help of all the players which have been sharing their suggestions with us, nothing could have been possible. So Key To Play would like to thank them for all their efforts with an exclusive Closed Beta tester reward.

Ys - Call Of Solum

Call of Solum is an MMORPG based on the famous Ys series, created for the Japanese company Falcom. Since its first title for 8 bits, already turned into a classic, several manga series, OAVs and even novels have been stemmed. This time, Falcom and CJ Internet are joining to present Ys - Call of Solum, the new title of the series turned into an online videogame that follows the anime style, so characteristic in the entire saga.

Ys - Call of Solum arrives in Europe thanks to of Key To Play.

Key To Play

Key To Play is a new online videogame portal of different genres, created in 2008 with the aim of bringing great international titles to the European market. With several offices in Europe and Asia, Key To Play is offering offers online players a large network of support and development possibilities. All this with one goal: to be able to give the best quality and playability.

Currently, the titles are launched in 4 languages simultaneously, English, French, German and Spanish, to offer more convenience to the players.

Key To Play has committed, up to now, to two titles, Priston Tale 2: The Second Enigma and Ys Online - Call of Solum.

• You can create an account here and download the beta client here.
• Discuss this and more on our forums.

Cryptic has released the latest screenshots of Champions Online! These images depict heroes and their powers hard at work zapping the bad guys and ridding the virtual world of evil and chaos.

You can see the latest images below or click here to see our arsenal of Champions Online screenshots!

Cryptic recently opened questions up for Star Trek Online's bridge crew feature. The fans asked some great questions and the developers shared some very detailed information on how bridge crews work and their purpose both on the ship and on the ground.

14:33 What are the different ways that we will gain access to new crew members? Through missions, "loot", etc? Along that same vein of questioning, are there any "rare" crew members? How will we obtain them?

14:35 You'll get Bridge Officers all sorts of different ways. Starfleet\KDF will grant them to you, you'll have the ability to recruit them from planets you've done missions for. Bridge Officers end up being the "phat lewt" of STO.

14:35 There are rare Bridge Officers as well. Some that you'll only get access to when you do high-end content, some you'll get through luck and exploration.

14:37 They give your character some of the cooler powers in space – and since you level them up, and equip them – they’re a little more complex than armor. : )

You can read the full transcribe chat on the official STO forums!

Tired of being a filthy animal? Tired of being a lazy good for nothing human? Coming soon you will no longer be stuck with your faction, meaning you will be able to switch from one race to another across the faction boundary.

We wanted to give everyone a very early heads-up that, in response to player requests, we’re developing a new service for World of Warcraft that will allow players to change their faction from Alliance to Horde or Horde to Alliance. There’s still much work to do and many details to iron out, but the basic idea is that players will be able to use the service to transform an existing character into a roughly equivalent character of the opposing faction on the same realm. Players who ended up creating and leveling up characters on the opposite factions from their friends have been asking for this type of functionality for some time, and we’re pleased to be getting closer to being able to deliver it.

As with all of the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the faction-change service in a way that won’t disrupt the gameplay experience on the realms, and there will be some rules involved with when and how the service can be used. The number of variables involved increases the complexity of implementing this service, but we plan to take the time needed to ensure that it lives up to expectations before officially rolling it out. We’ll go into much more detail on all of this here at http://www.WorldofWarcraft.com as development progresses. In the meantime, we wanted to let you know that because this type of functionality requires extensive internal testing well in advance of release, you may be seeing bits and pieces of the service in the test builds we use for the public test realms moving forward.

You can find the original posting here.

Spellborn Works B.V. has announced today that they have declared bankruptcy lending a large amount of uncertainty for the future of The Chronicles of Spellborn MMOG.

It seems that the current plan is to re-release The Chronicles of Spellborn as a free-to-play in 2010 per this statement from a Frogster CM:

Hi all,

I cant speak in behalf of Spellborn NV, but still want to tell you a bit more. Frogster (which I do work for) just released a press announcement concerning the re-design into a free-to-play version with a joint venture of Spellborn NV and Frogster Asia Co. Ltd.

For now, the servers and system (subscription) will remain the way it is. There are still people available for running the daily work and systems. The F2P version is currently planned to launch in 2010.

The bankruptcy was confirmed by tCoS developer in this post:

Spellborn Works B.V. is indeed declared bankrupt, this is the company where the dev's, including me worked for. Currently I don't know what's going to happen to all the servers and services, that information is bound to be provided in the upcoming weeks.

What lead to the demise of this small gaming company? Is the player population that low? Players, chime into the discussion by posting your comments!

Decided by community vote, EverQuest has opened today a new specialized server for players to enjoy. The winning server type allows players to play a new character starting at level 51 with 50 alternate advancement points.

Whether you are a seasoned EQ fan or someone who would love to give the game a try, now is the time to get in there and do something completely different!

We are pleased to announce that the Mayong (51/50) Server will be opening up at 11:00 am (PDT) Tuesday, June 30, 2009.

The rules of this server are the same as a standard server but the server does have the following differences:

* All new characters will:

o Start at level 51
o Start with 50 unspent AA points
o Start with a complete set of Flawed Defiant armor and weapons (Recommended level 50)
o Start with all spells and abilities through level 51
o Have all available skills at their maximum level (Spell specializations excepted)
o Tradeskills will not be set to a higher value initially

* Special Titles: There are a series of server first titles for the first defeat of various encounters.

The Mayong (51/50) Server is named after Mayong Mistmoore, one of Norrath’s most renowned vampires! Check back tomorrow as we share lore surrounding this historical figure.

This server choice has received mix reviews from the community, do you approve? Will you try out the new server? Share your opinions by clicking the "Post your comments" link below!

The Everquest series will be getting two more expansions soon. Sony Online Entertainment announced at this year's SOE Fan Faire that Everquest will be receiving its 16th expansion titled "Underfoot" and Everquest 2 will be receiving its 6th titled "Sentinel's Fate". Everquest: Underfoot is slated for release this November, the new content will add a new underground zone for players to explore.

Everquest 2: Sentinel's Fate is due for release in February 2010 and will raise the level cap to 90. More details about the two expansions will be revealed at a later date.

• Discuss this and more on our forums.

City of Heroes recently got its Issue 15: Anniversary update for players to enjoy. The update brings a lot of new features to the game such as new costume change emotes, over 20 new character faces, a mission architect toolbox to allow players to more easily polish their missions, and the return of the popular 5th Column villain group.

Our latest free content update, Issue 15: Anniversary, introduces a wealth of new content and features, including the revival of one of our most popular villain groups, The 5th Column! Heroes and Villains alike will uncover the mystery behind this long dormant foe as they participate in all new Task Force and Strike Force missions. Other major updates include additions to the critically acclaimed Mission Architect system, costumes, character faces, and more. Here's a quick overview:

• 5th Column Task Force and Strike Force (Levels 45-50): Five new Task Force missions pit our Heroes against new threats and bring about the return of old foes. Five new Strike Force missions present our Villains with an opportunity that simply cannot be passed up, forcing them to face off against old and new enemies; some hero, others not.
• New Costume Change Emotes*: Introduced in Super Booster II: Magic, costume change emotes provide characters with exciting visual animations when transitioning between costumes. New free Issue 15 emotes include backflip, salute, evil laugh and more.
• New Character Faces: Over 20 new character faces give you more character customization options.
• New Costumes: New Vines and Ulterior themed costume sets.
• Architect Toolbox: With new testing tools, it's easier to polish your content before sharing it with the public.
• Enhanced Mission Architect Searching and Navigation: Key phrase tagging and arc difficulty display help you find the content you're looking for faster.
• Other Mission Architect Creation Enhancements: New options for creating custom stories.

*By default, characters have only one costume slot and must unlock additional costume slots through activities in the game. Additional costume slots are unlocked by completing costume slot missions at levels 20, 30, and 40, and by using Halloween Event salvage (which can also be bought, sold, or traded via the in-game Consignment House/Black Market).

• You can read a complete list of the updates in Issue 15: Anniversary here.
• Discuss this and more on our forums.

The government of China ruled today that the trading of virtual currency for real world goods or services has been outlawed.

The ruling is likely to affect many of the more than 300 million Internet users in China, as well as those in other countries involved in virtual currency trading. In the context of online role playing games like World of Warcraft, virtual currency trading is often called gold farming.

Read the full story here.

Brad McQuaid admittedly made his share of mistakes during the development of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and on his newest blog post today titled "Vanguard: Post-mortem Part 1," Brad talks about those mistakes and how he will learn from them and apply that knowledge to any of his future projects. The post covers one big mistake that hindered Vanguard's early development with the issues at Microsoft that eventually landed Sigil with Sony Online Entertainment.

The first mistake that would have a serious impact later in development was the verbal agreement with Microsoft that Vanguard was to be a first rate, AAA title.  In other words, we were going to get the funding we needed to compete with other AAA MMOGs, and that we would periodically evaluate the competition and adjust Vanguard’s budget and/or release date if it made sense to us and Microsoft.  And as time past by, we did increase the budget as games like WoW were released with very high development costs and a ton of polish.  But then there was a regime change at Microsoft, and the people with whom we had this understanding and commitment were no longer there.  The new hierarchy did not have the same perspective and commitment to Vanguard and when we needed more time and more money, the general reaction was that we were screwing up management-wise.

• You can read the full post here.
• Discuss this and more on our forums.

Square Enix has announced the pre-sale date for their upcoming add-on scenario to Final Fantasy XI. The next add-on titled “A Moogle Kupo d’Etat – Evil in Small Doses,” will be available for pre-sale on July 5th, 2009. The new add-on will cost gamers $9.99 and is slated to launch around the end of July.

SQUARE ENIX ANNOUNCES PRE-SALE DATE FOR NEXT ADD-ON SCENARIO FOR
FINAL FANTASY XI

 

LOS ANGELES (June 29, 2009) – Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of Square Enix® interactive entertainment products in North America, today announced that the second add-on scenario for FINAL FANTASY® XI, their MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online Game), will begin pre-sale on July 5, 2009. Titled “A Moogle Kupo d’Etat™ – Evil in Small Doses,” this upcoming add-on scenario will launch simultaneously worldwide later this summer.

Beginning on July 5, 2009, “A Moogle Kupo d’Etat – Evil in Small Doses” will be available for pre-purchase for $9.99 via the PlayOnline® Viewer. Slated to launch at the end of July following the next FINAL FANTASY XI version update, players whose in-game character’s main job level is at least 10 can begin to enjoy this new content. Introducing a brand-new story arc, this new scenario requires the purchase and installation of RISE OF THE ZILART®, the first expansion pack in the FINAL FANTASY XI series.

The development of these add-on scenarios, including the already launched “A Crystalline Prophecy™ – Ode of Life Bestowing” and the upcoming third and final scenario, “A Shantotto Ascension™ – The Legend Torn, Her Empire Born,” is led by Masato Kato, who created the stories and scenarios for FINAL FANTASY XI and its first expansion pack, RISE OF THE ZILART. With the summer release of this second scenario, “A Moogle Kupo d’Etat – Evil in Small Doses,” players will delve into a dark mystery set in motion by a single drop of water.

STORY

It all started with an innocent drop of rainwater and a rickety, ramshackle Mog House desperately in need of repair.

Little did anyone suspect that this would be the beginning of a harrowing nightmare unheard of in the annals of moogle-kind.

Accommodating players in North America, Europe and Japan, FINAL FANTASY XI is the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game capable of simultaneous multiplayer cooperation

across three different platforms. Now in its eighth year of service, FINAL FANTASY XI has a robust community of 500,000 subscribers from around the world. The series continues to evolve and expand, offering newcomers and fans alike an immersive, engrossing and engaging universe to traverse, defend and explore.

For more information about FINAL FANTASY XI, please visit the official website: http://www.finalfantasyxi.com. To access the official site for these FINAL FANTASY XI add-on scenarios, please visit: http://www.playonline.com/ff11/addon/.

 

Profile of Masato Kato

Masato Kato served as director and scenario writer on titles including Chrono Trigger®, Radical Dreamers, Xenogears® and Chrono Cross® for Square Co., Ltd. (now Square Enix) and oversaw the initial plot conception and event direction for the original FINAL FANTASY XI and the Rise of the Zilart expansion. Since leaving Square in 2002, Mr. Kato has worked on a number of titles and continues to pursue his unique design vision.

 

About Square Enix Co., Ltd. and Square Enix, Inc.

Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Square Enix), with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, develops, publishes and distributes entertainment content including interactive entertainment software and publications in Asia, North America and Europe. Square Enix brings two of Japan's best-selling franchises — FINAL FANTASY, which has sold over 85 million units worldwide, and DRAGON QUEST®, which has sold over 47 million units worldwide — under one roof. Square Enix is one of the most influential providers of digital entertainment content in the world and continues to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation.

Square Enix, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. with offices in Los Angeles, California. It handles operations in North America, including development, localization, marketing and publishing of Square Enix titles. More information on Square Enix can be found on the Internet at http://www.square-enix.com.

 

© 2002-2009 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. DRAGON QUEST, FINAL FANTASY, SQUARE ENIX and the SQUARE ENIX logo are registered trademarks of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. in the United States and/or other countries. RISE OF THE ZILART, PLAYONLINE, CHRONO CROSS, CHRONO TRIGGER, XENOGEARS, A Crystalline Prophecy-Ode of Life Bestowing, A Moogle Kupo d’Etat-Evil in Small Doses, and A Shantotto Ascension-The Legend Torn, Her Empire Born are registered trademarks or trademarks of Square Enix Co., Ltd. in the United States and/or other countries. 

• You can find out more here.
• Discuss this and more on our forums.

Mythic and BioWare could possibly work as co-developers in the future says BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka. In an interview with Gamasutra, Ray talks about the recent BioWare/Mythic pairing announced by EA last week and what it will mean for the teams in the future, including the possibility that the groups could collaborate on future projects.

But in the future there could be co-development. There's nothing actively planned there right now, but I know the guys at Mythic, and in Edmonton, Austin, and Montreal are all really excited about this.

• You can read the full interview here.
• Discuss this and more on our forums.