MMO Clerks

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Expansions, Patches, PvE, Free-to-play, Dream of Mirror Online
It’s not that often that a brand new region gets added into a game’s patch, but Dream of Mirror Online has brought a whole new area to their game. Enter BigBeam City and the greater BigBeam region, where players can engage in a variety of new quests all for the low, low price of free. The region is targeted for players of level 30 and above, with quests starting as early as level 25 and going up to level 60.
However, players of the Aeria Games American version of Dream of Mirror Online will not be enjoying these new areas, as they have not yet been implemented. European players playing with GameTribe do have access to the new areas, as well a slew of new items added to the item shop, like the item de-leveling [...]

Original post by Colin Brennan

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Warrior Epic
Warrior Epic is a free-to-play fantasy MMO in development at the Austin-based studio Possibility Space. It seems that Possibility Space went back to the drawing board on some aspects of the game, hence another iteration of closed beta, but the influx of capital through their new publisher, True Games, has allowed them to add new classes and areas to the game that would not have been seen in earlier beta testing.
We do have a sense of déjà vu in making this announcement but to the best of our knowledge, Warrior Epic‘s closed beta will go live today at 5:00PM PDT.
Warrior Epic enters closed beta today originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by James Egan

Things have been exciting at the Cartoon Network offices. FusionFall, their first-ever outing in the MMO space, got a warm welcome from players and critics alike when it launched in January. Their game hit 4,000,000 accounts earlier this month, showing the power of the Cartoon Network stars combined with really fun gameplay. Now, Chris Waldron, the Executive Producer for FusionFall has been awarded with his own special new (non-bubblehead) hat; he has been named Vice President of Gaming Operations for Cartoon Network!
According to Paul Condolora, Senior Vice President for Turner’s Animation, Young Adults & Kids media group; “Chris continues to be one of the great leaders of our digital team, overseeing the successful launch of our largest and most ambitious game to date – FusionFall. His commitment to quality gaming, relationships with game developers and expertise in the industry make him ideally suited to oversee our gaming efforts.”
Added to [...]

Original post by Krystalle Voecks

Fable II fans, mark your calendars: The second downloadable content pack for the game, dubbed “See The Future,” arrives May 12.
Alongside the official release date announcement, developer Lionhead Studios has released the latest issue of semi-regular video podcast “Inside Lionhead” which focuses almost entirely on the upcoming DLC.
Too lazy to watch the clip? Lionhead’s official blog offers a text-based primer on the upcoming add-on:
“See the Future” returns to the beloved world of Albion, where a set of cursed items from Murgo the Trader unleashes new challenges for players to overcome, including encounters with kooky ghost hobbes, bloodcurdling necromancers, a cursed knight and the Coliseum, where only the greatest heroes will emerge victorious to claim the ultimate prize. Of course, what would travel be without a trusty companion? The “Fable II” dog returns with three alter egos to guide players on their quests to see the future, in the form of [...]

Original post by Earnest Cavalli

Forget Tokyo. Forget San Francisco. The real videogame capital of the world is Ottumwa, Iowa, according to town officials.
The city, which boasts 26,000 residents and has heretofore been most famous as the hometown of comedian Tom Arnold, has revealed plans to open a gaming hall of fame, backed by famed arcade gamer Billy Mitchell and noted classic gaming record keepers TwinGalaxies.com.
To inaugurate the hall, Mitchell has pledged to donate the Donkey Kong arcade cabinet on which he set a world record in Ottumwa more than two decades ago.
“It had to seem like a silly idea to most anybody who heard about it, but it was something that absolutely memorialized Cooperstown,” Mitchell told the Des Moines Register, referring to the baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown, NY.
Image: Todd Ehlers/Flickr
Ottumwa declares itself ‘Video Game Capital of the World’ [Des Moines Register, via GamePolitics]

Original post by Earnest Cavalli

Springtime blooms lush and green, as new growth replaces the barren trees and plains of winter. In the meantime, if you want to enjoy a land, rich with luscious foliage and beauty, you could do far worse than playing Lord of the Rings Online. Today’s One Shots is a panoramic treat that has been sent in to us by Pontifax Stanis, and really needs to be seen full-size to be appreciated for all it’s detail. Pontifax writes in: As promised some days ago, herewith goes a rather large picture made from a collection of shots, a good way to show the magnificent landscapes in Lord of the Rings Online. Caras Galadhon is the Fortress in the Trees (or City of Trees), the magic place for the Galadhrim Elves in LotRO. Somehow Turbine has managed to recreate the Tolkien atmosphere within the game, with light changes playing an important part into [...]

Original post by Krystalle Voecks

Click here to view the embedded video.
Those happy fellas over at Sumo Digital have released another developer video diary about Virtua Tennis 2009.  This time the video focuses on the Wii version of the game, in particular the Wii’s motion controls and Motion Plus.
While the graphical difference (from the 360 and PS3 versions) is shockingly clear, the game does appear to be running very well.  Let’s just hope that Sumo Digital have the motion controls down properly and the game is actually enjoyable to play.
On another note – Sega has updated their Virtua Tennis 2009 Flickr page with some more lovely screenshots and the like to peruse.
[Source: Sega PR]

Original post by Graham

It’s springtime! The birds are in the air, the flowers are in bloom, and crazy armor stealing brigands are back in Vana’diel. That means the moogles are once again handing out swords and imbuing them with moogle magic to fight back the malice of the brigands. It’s the Feast of Swords!
Participating in this event is pretty easy, but it’s recommended you bring a class that has a high amount of hit points and include white mage as your subjob. Simply visit a moogle at any one of the major FFXI cities and pick up your magical sword. Be careful though, as you’ll be brought down to a level restriction of 1, but no monsters will be interested in attacking you. You will also have the benefit of enhanced movement speed, so you can track down those armors.
Taking down one of the magical armors will [...]

Original post by Colin Brennan

This is a reminder, if you haven’t entered our “Outrun: Race to Win” competition, today is the last day.
Click here to get details. We race off tomorrow!

Original post by George

Good news for fans of Steven Spielberg’s burgeoning career in the game industry: Boom Blox Bash Party officially has a release date, and it’s only a few weeks away.
The Wii-exclusive sequel to 2008’s Boom Blox retains its predecessors addictive, innovative “throwing things at other things” mechanic, while adding “four new worlds” and an “enhanced Create Mode.”
Best of all, Bash Party lets players download levels created by other gamers and creator Electronic Arts and upload their own creations.
Back to the Bash Party release date; According to an official announcement from EA issued this morning, the game ships to retail on May 19.
Image courtesy EA

Original post by Earnest Cavalli