Oh, btw, we're just Mythic now.

In the wake of yesterday's cuts to WAR's content, two other annoucements came, almost forgotten.

First and foremost, the Warhammer Online Guild Beta opened yesterday - which was probably part of the timing of Mythic's annoucement about classes and cities. Secondly, you saw right... EA is no longer a part of EA Mythic's name. Just Mythic, thank you very much.

FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts studio (NASDAQ:ERTS), today announced that the Guild Beta for Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ (WAR) has begun. Over 10,000 guilds applied and those selected will have the chance to experience the game’s most expansive beta phase yet.

An historic 750,000 applicants have signed up for the opportunity to enter WAR’s closed beta, and the selected guilds will join tens of thousands of new participants as the game enters the final phase of its closed beta test. Guild members, many with long histories playing a multitude of massively multiplayer online games, will test WAR’s recently added Guild and Heraldry features, as well as Public Quests™, new dungeons, Scenarios, user interface updates and more as the MMORPG advances towards its launch later this year.

“WAR’s Guild Beta is here and some of the world’s most experienced MMO players will now get a chance to play one of the most anticipated MMOs of all time,” said Mark Jacobs, vice president and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. “We look forward to seeing them beat, bash and burn their way through the world that we have created for their enjoyment. It’s going to be a lot of fun and it’s going to be glorious!”

Personally, the timing of yesterday's annoucement and the opening of the guild beta makes sense to me. However, I think Mr. Jacobs is wrong - with the cloud that's looming, the guild beta will be less than glorious. Fun probably, but not glorious. But what's with changing their name at the same time? Are they trying to associate the bad news with EA? (No, it's not us, it's the evil overlords!) Or does EA just want to try an insulate itself from the inevitable backlash? (We're not evil overlords, really!)

For the full press release, please check here.