Free Realms has been soaring in users since it's launch, what with hitting the 1 million user mark in only 10 days. Today, President of SOE John Smedley announced that Free Realms has almost hit the five million user mark at a panel at the San Diego Comic Con.

Smedley credits the free-to-play, microtransaction business model as playing a large role in the success of the game.

Also on the panel was Min Kim, from developer Nexon, known for their wildly successful game MapleStory, who chimed in on microtransactions in Western games:

 “When people started talking about it back in 2000, people said Western games would never want to do this, to play a game for free and then buy and items. And now everybody is saying, 'We're going to have microtransactions as part of our business model.”

Get the full story over at Gamasutra.

The increasing success of Free Realms seems to legitimize the notion that microtransactions could work in the West. Is this a sign we're headed towards a new age in the MMOG genre? Let us know in the comments!

UPDATE: SOE Representatives have gotten in contact with Gamasutra to clarify that Free Realms has not actually hit five million users, but is close. We apologize for any confusion.

Earlier in the month we reported on the awesome new hoverboards that would be coming in Dexlabs Upgrade 1: Speed and Style, and today we bring you the news that this upgrade is now live.

Dexlabs Upgrade 1: Speed and Style allows players to rent in-game hoverboards, jet bikes or even a cloud from Kevin's Hot Rod Rentals. Cartoon Network fans will recognize Kevin as a character from the show Ben 10.

Additionally, players can access a new feature called the Croc Pot Catering Company, which allows you to combine your favorite gear with high level gear. Also in the upgrade are the addition of several new missions involving Cheese from the show Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

Visit the official Fusion Fall website for more information.

According to a post on the official City of Heroes forums, the Closed Beta for Issue 16: Power Spectrum will begin shortly after Comic Con:

We expect to be taking the Training Room offline soon after Comic-Con in order to give a limited number of our players the opportunity to test and share their feedback on I16: Power Spectrum! The Training Room will become available again to all once the Closed Beta for Issue 16 has ended.

Read the full post here.

Champions Online Daily News spoke to Cryptic Studio's senior producer Chris Lena, and PvP designer James Laird regarding the delicate balancing act involved in keeping melee vs. ranged fighters level.

As many MMOG fans know, the issue of melee vs. ranged is an issue in just about any game, but for fans of City of Heroes, this issue was much more pronounced due to the movement options available in that game. Given that Champions Online allows even more freedom, it's no wonder that fans have been curious as to what Cryptic Studios has planned to make melee viable in an environment that highly favors ranged damage dealers.

With not much information to go on, a recent preview by Kotaku's AJ Glasser seemed to confirm many fans' fears:

Ranged Combat Is Cheap: This is actually a plus for a jerk like me – but I think it's cause for complaint. Emmert says that the tradeoff between a ranged superhero who can just spam a single fireball attack while flying around in a circle is that a melee superhero's attacks are more powerful. He says that this makes it more rewarding for the melee character if he or she can just get to that fireball-spamming jerk and execute an attack. But if the jerk is me, I'm telling you right now, you'll never catch me. You'll die cursing me for the cheap jerk I am.

This comment has caused some hub-bub amongst fans, so Cryptic Studios has taken some time to address the issue in light of recent events. When speaking to Champions Online Daily News, PvP Designer James Laird reassures us that they have taken a number of steps to keep things fair.

For one, melee powers on the whole do 20% more damage than ranged powers, which is helpful, but when you can't catch your target it can be made moot. To that end, Laird explains that players can pick up and throw objects at other players to knock them down, lunge at them and disable their travel powers, or choose powers that create synergy with their melee abilities, such as abilities that snare or hold.

On the issue of endurance building, Laird explained that they are working on a feature that allows melee users to mark their targets and then consume their mark for a large surge of endurance enabling them to utilize their heavy hitting attacks.

Get the full story at Champions Online Daily News.

What type of character do you prefer to play? Ranged? Melee? A mix of both if  possible? Let us know in the comments!

According to a report at MCV, Realtime Worlds' All Points Bulletin will launch in March 2010. At this moment, we cannot confirm this story, so consider it a rumor for now. We will update this story if we get more information.

Via MCV.

Yoshinori Kanada, an influential animator,  whose work stretches as far back as the 1970's died of a heart attack on July 22nd, 2009. Kanada worked on several projects for Studio Ghibli including favorites such as Princess Mononoke.

He then went on to Square Enix, starting as a layout artist for the film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Kanada also served as animation director for Final Fantasy XI, and did story board work for Final Fantasy IV DS.

Kanada was 57 years old. Our condolences go out to his family.

Via Kombo.

Wise choice. Locked.

Originally posted by Oyjord

Originally posted by Excalaber2

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

 

(checks if it's April 1st)

 

an MMO based on UO being developed?  Possible win!!  Still hope MO turns out to be good though...

Wonder if it's "oldschool" UO, or simply based off of what they have now.

 

*EDIT* - Nevermind.  Read posts below FOR THE FAIL. =(  

Back to waiting for MO <3 :)

 

*EDIT 2* - BTW, the title of this COMPLETELY changed...previously it seemed as though an MMO (similar to UO) was being developed.  The word "overseas" was not in the title.  Hence my excitement lol

 

Ditto.  Bah.

We weren't sure. We got them to comment and so the title was updated.

China is allowing NetEase to relaunch World of Warcraft in a sort of "testing phase" on July 30th. The stipulations of this "testing phase" state that no new accounts can be created during this period, also, NetEase is disallowed from changing the pricing structure on customers during this period.

World of Warcraft passed the test for the Chinese Cultural Department, but The General Administration of Press and Publication will require some additional, currently unspecified content changes will be before they give their blessing.

Via Massively.

Check out these ten new screenshots we've got for you of Champions Online. There are some awesome dual pistols shots in this batch.

Though I'm not so sure about the guy in the screenshot above, that's one interesting pose he's in!

Check out all ten shots here!

Also, be sure to check out our full Champions Online gallery for more screenshots!

Sam Raimi, director of the Evil Dead and Spiderman films, has been announced to be the director of the upcoming live-action film based on the Warcraft universe in a press release issued by Blizzard Entertainment today. 

In addition, Charles Roven, who recently produced the blockbuster hit The Dark Knight, is attached as producer.

There are no further details available with regards to the cast and release date. We'll be sure to update you as soon as details surface!

What do you think of a live action World of Warcraft film?

Personally, I think I'll watch that one at home, I don't think I want to be in a room full of nerds when the scantily clad Night Elf chick appears on screen!

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Some new information on the early storyline and character choices players will make is being reported over at Variety's "The Cut Scene". In a sort of City of Heroes origin choice on steroids, players will choose from three specialties when creating a hero or villain in DC Universe Online: tech, superhuman, or magic based powers.

This choice will determine who you hook up with when you start the game, as well as  the storyline your character will follow. Although, it's important to note that all these storylines will tie into the main plot.

If you choose a superhuman hero to start, you'll be hooked up with Superman and be immediately thrust into things. The difference will come in how the different characters handle and approach situations, so if you're hooked up with Superman your tasks might be different than say if you were hooked up with Batman as a tech hero.

For the full report, go here.

Originally posted by Excalaber2

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

 

(checks if it's April 1st)

 

an MMO based on UO being developed?  Possible win!!  Still hope MO turns out to be good though...

Wonder if it's "oldschool" UO, or simply based off of what they have now.

Sorry to disappoint you, we were excited too!

Version 1.3.0b is now live after a short stint of less than a week on the Public Test Server. The new patch brings the long awaited Shaman and Archmage changes initially announced for 1.3, as well as the much needed AOE changes, and more!

Grab the announcement and patch notes here!

So, 1.3.0b has been live for a little while, what are your first impressions? I've been waiting for this patch to get back into the game, as I found the AOE madness off-putting in the last few months.

EA and NetDragon have announced their partnership today to develop a new MMOG based on Ultima Online.

EA's Mythic Entertainment will cooperate with NetDragon in the development of the title. NetDragon will hold exclusive operating rights for the game in China, Macau, Hong Kong, and India.

When contacted, representatives at Mythic Entertainment confirmed the project, but made clear that this its aim is to bring the UO experience to those foreign markets, not to create a sequel.

Via JLM Pacific Epoch.

Originally posted by demonic87

Why the hell do people bother soloing in a MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE GAME. Go play an RPG if you want to make grouping pointless because you want to "solo". Sure you may not have time, but you could still just team up with someone in the same area and knock a couple quests off.

Many people seem to be confused as to why a solo player would want to play a MMOG, after all, as you and many others assert, its a massively MULTIPLAYER online game, why would a soloer be interested, and why should a developer cater to them?

Well, there are other aspects to MMOGs other than the social grouping aspect that  many people are interested in. One in particular is  the type of persistence and long term character development that MMOG's provide that draws them. Soloing in MMOG's is a perfectly viable playstyle, as is anything else.

So with that said, I would ask that you and other user's respect that, and let's not derail this discussion into an attack on other gamers' playstyles. Thanks!

Frank Pearce and J. Allen Brack of Blizzard Entertainment will host the keynote at this year's GDC Austin. The keynote, entitled "The Universe of Warcraft", will give us some insight into what the massive undertaking of creating World of Warcraft was like, as well as what its like to continue to run one of the most popular MMOG's in the world.

Get the full story over at GamesIndustry.biz.

Kotaku's AJ Glasser sat down for a hands-on preview of Champions Online recently, and aside from the typical preview fare one particular bit stood out: Champions Online may not be solo friendly.

A bullet point at the end of the preview reads:

The biggest criticism Emmert fears hearing is from superhero players who want a purely solo masked avenger experience. That's just not what Cryptic is out to do with Champions Online – so if any potential reviewers are reading this, think Justice League instead of Dark Knight going into it.

Another problem City of Heroes players will surely recognize (and this tends to be a problem in many MMOGs), and that is the Ranged vs. Melee issue:

Ranged Combat Is Cheap: This is actually a plus for a jerk like me – but I think it's cause for complaint. Emmert says that the tradeoff between a ranged superhero who can just spam a single fireball attack while flying around in a circle is that a melee superhero's attacks are more powerful. He says that this makes it more rewarding for the melee character if he or she can just get to that fireball-spamming jerk and execute an attack. But if the jerk is me, I'm telling you right now, you'll never catch me. You'll die cursing me for the cheap jerk I am.

Read the full preview over at Kotaku.

Are you a solo player in MMOGs? If so, is this a deal breaker for you on Champions Online? Let us know in the comments!

Realtime Worlds Creative Director, Dave Jones sat down with Videogamer.com for an interview. In the interview, Mr. Jones states he expects APB to last a good five to ten years. They intend to do this by drawing on the kinds of gameplay that kept Counter Strike players coming back for years and years (even until now) and by coupling that with the social aspects an FPS game like Counter Strike just couldn't do.

“That’s ultimately the goal,” he told us when asked if he saw APB being around for five or ten years.

However, Jones, who created Lemmings, Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown, said that he believed fans will stick around not for the same reasons as MMORPGs, but for reasons akin to Valve’s enduring online FPS Counter-Strike.

“The method I looked at, the kind of ideas I looked at was more like Counter-Strike,” he said. “There is a game which kept people playing for years and years and years, but from a very, very different perspective - just a great, great, great core combat game. I want more of what Counter-Strike did coupled with the social stuff that Counter-Strike didn't do. You couldn't even have a clan in Counter-Strike for heaven's sake. People used to improvise by adding it to the end of their names. They had to try and organise when to meet up, try and form groups, they effectively ran their own server then and invited players to it - all that stuff Counter-Strike players were doing, they had to try and do off their own back.

Read the full interview over at Videogamer.com.

On Saturday, July 25th, Fallen Earth will be holding another stress test event, replete with prizes and honors. This latest event, entitled "Texas Invasion: A Clan Challenge", will pit players against invading Texas in defense of the Grand Canyon.

Players will accrue points by combating the Texans in a variety of ways, ranging from crafting to straight up combat, and the player with the highest tally at the end of the event will win some awesome gear. The winner will be awarded a Fallen Earth messenger bag, a Fallen Earth t-shirt, and lastly, the real gem, an nVIDIA GTX 260 graphics card.

So where's the "clan" part of the Clan Challenge come in? Well, the clan with the most total points by the end of the event will earn themselves a permanent fixture in the game world commemorating the event. The winning clan will also be featured on the game's official website for a full week.

Check out the full announcement here for more details.