EA to bring Warhammer Online to Asia. EA Mythic announces that Warhammer Online will be coming to Korea, China, Taiwan, and Japan.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), the world's leading interactive entertainment company, today announced that it will bring the highly-anticipated Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) to major Asian regions, including Korea, China, Taiwan and Japan. Based on Games Workshop's Warhammer fantasy universe, Warhammer Online features next generation Realm vs. Realm (RvR) game play that will immerse players in a world of perpetual conflict.

Developed by EA Mythic, the studio credited worldwide with revolutionizing the online gaming space with the award winning Dark Age of Camelot, the Warhammer Online Realm vs. Realm system has players joining one of six Armies - the obstinate Dwarfs, the noble High Elves, the loyal humans of the Empire, the savage Greenskin, the corrupt Dark Elves and the marauding human worshippers of Chaos - to experience the truly epic nature of WAR. RvR combat takes place on three battlefronts where an unending war is waged for control of vital resources and territory. WAR also features an innovative Public Quest system and a massive City Siege Campaign that allows players to sack and pillage an enemy capital. In addition, WAR integrates both Player vs. Player (PvP) combat zones and Player vs. Environment (PvE) quests on the same map for the very first time.

Read more here.

Lord of the Rings Online gives us its latest beta journal. Read about the monster play in the game. It seems the battles follow the epic path set up by the books.

My tale takes place during monster play, a titanic battle I will always remember.

With me as an Uruk-blackarrow (the Uruk archer class in monster play), I set out in the Ettenmoors to hunt, joining in with a few people to kill hobbits down in the south. It was a wicked kind of fun to kill those little hobbitses as they ran around and eventually fought back.

But soon enough, a call of alarm went out. Free Peoples! They were fighting outside their base against my fellow Uruks! My group joined the battle shortly after, and helped fight at the gates, but we were pushed back and regrouped at Tirith Rhaw, a fortress just north of the gates. Warg players were scouting out in the forest trying to find the enemy, spiders were crawling on rocks for a nice position, and Uruks were enjoying a game of 'bash each other on the head', but soon, it started again. And so a few battles raged along the south wall before the enemy heaved and caused us to fall back slowly.

Read more here.

EverQuest II looks at a day in the life of a game master. Ever thought of entering the industry? This write up may give you some ideas.

My internship at SOE is almost up, and I've been not-so-secretly plotting to extend my days here in some sort of scenario mimicking the story line from Office Space. I feel that in my few months here I've only scraped the surface and there's still so much left to see and do!

I've had the amazing opportunity to meet players from all over the country via the Community Summit in February. Through the forums and emails I've been able to take part in game related discussions, listen to ideas while sharing some of my own, and build quite a few friendships. I had the pleasure of informing gamers about the importance of account security. I've delved into the mysteries of the naming policy, and walked everyone through how to petition. (I'm sure you all have them book marked and memorized!)

Read more here.

World of Warcraft expansion now live in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. It looks like the Burning Crusade will be sweeping the rest of Asia soon.

We're proud to announce that World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is now live in the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Localization into Simplified Chinese is ongoing in preparation for the expansion's launch in mainland China.

Read more here.

Metaboli and Codemasters announce on demand service for ArchLord.

Codemasters Online Gaming and Metaboli are pleased to announce that Archlord has been added to the Games on Demand service.

Read more here.

City of Heroes and City of Villains offers Good vs. Evil Edition. Also there are upgrades to the referral system.

Today NCsoft® has announced two new offerings for its City of Heroes® and City of Villains® games, including the release of the Good Versus Evil Edition retail package which combines both City of Heroes and City of Villains game into one feature packed box, and a referral program where current players can receive one month of play-time credit by bringing friends into either game.

The new Good Versus Evil Edition is now available at retailers across North America such as Gamestop, EB Games and online at Amazon.com. The new package includes complete City of Heroes and City of Villains games, as well as a set of exclusive in-game bonus items. These items include a jump jet prestige power, four additional character slots per server (12 total per server) and a Pocket D VIP card teleport power. The retail package also includes a DVD packed with bonuses, including City of Heroes comic books, an Issue 7 strategy guide, movies, game trailers and screenshots. The box also contains a two-sided poster featuring Paragon City and the Rogue Isles maps. Customers receive the first month of play free and both games can be played for the single monthly subscription price of $14.99. The new City of Heroes and City of Villains referral program enables current players to email 10-day trial codes to friends. If one of their friends buys a standard account and pays for one month of subscription to City of Heroes or City of Villains, the referring player will be automatically credited with one month of free game time. Players will receive one month of credit for each friend successfully recruited. Players can invite their friends through their Account Management page on www.plaync.com. Note, referred friends must apply their purchased serial code to their free trial account in order to guarantee referral credit time to the referrer.

Read more here.

Runescape updates new poll system. See what changes have been made for players.

The poll system has received a few necessary changes this week.

For one, we can ask several questions at any one time. This means we can get more detailed responses instead of trying to get a comprehensive result from just one question!

Additionally, we can propose many more answers than we could before, which means we can ask you about your favourite skill, quest or minigame without having to limit your answers to the usual ten.

Read more here.

IGN is running a story that Bioware has selected StreamBase's Stream Processing Engine for its MMO. There is still no word on what type of MMO game Bioware will be launching. At least we know what engine will be used at this point.

As a means of accelerating the development of its next-gen, MMO gaming platform, BioWare has adopted StreamBase's Stream Processing Engine. StreamBase has previously provided Complex Event Processing software to many leading financial institutions as well as the government and military sectors, and has now set its sights on gaming.

With its entry into the popular realm of MMO gaming, BioWare has decided to expand its offerings beyond its beloved role-playing games. BioWare contracted StreamBase for its platform's scalability and persistence capabilities for storing, processing, and querying large volumes of data in real time.

"StreamBase is designed to process enormous amounts of real-time information at blindingly fast speeds, making it an ideal platform for delivering a rich online gaming experience for thousands of players simultaneously," said Barry Morris, Chairman and CEO of StreamBase. "BioWare's MMO gaming initiative is an excellent example of the many kinds of real-time applications that can take advantage of the rapid time-to-value our CEP software offers."

The use of StreamBase allows BioWare to monitor the entire game environment in real time, and immediately offer fixes for any problems, as well as shut down malicious player behavior instantly. Additionally, the "point & click" development architecture has enabled a development period that is supposedly exponentially faster than traditional coding. BioWare hopes that this will allow the development team to concentrate on delivering compelling stories and characters without worrying about infrastructure performance.

"After we evaluated the StreamBase CEP software, we quickly realized that partnering with them would cut our server development costs by multiple man years," said Bill Dalton of BioWare. "Therefore, partnering with StreamBase was clearly the right choice to deliver on budget and on time."

Read more here.

Age of Conan Open Beta sign ups begin today. Be the first to enter the ancient world of Hyboria and battle it out like a true barbarian.

As the gates to the online world of Hyboria are opening, you have the chance to become one of the select adventurers who may answer the call and come to the aid of Conan. The search for beta testers is upon us, and we invite every able man and woman to offer their aid in the quest for a better gaming experience. Now you can make a difference.

Beta testers get free and early access to the game in order to help the developers track down program errors. Also, they provide valuable feedback on the game design, functionality and fun factor. Please sign up using this form, but please note that applying does not guarantee acceptance.

Read more here.

Guild Wars will soon be available in Russia. Players will be able to log in and play in Russian on April 19th.

NCsoft® Europe and ArenaNet® are delighted to announce that following the recent Polish localisation launch, the award winning Guild Wars® franchise will now also be available for Russian players in their native language from 19th April 2007.

The epic saga of Guild Wars®, Guild Wars Factions™ and Guild Wars Nightfall™ has proved to be very successful with Russian players, currently available at stores with localised Russian box and instructions. New and existing Russian players will shortly experience an even greater immersion into these epic adventures, as Russian becomes the latest in-game language to be included, continuing Guild Wars expansion into new markets around the world. Unlike other online role-playing games, Guild Wars does not divide users of different languages onto different servers, but instead allows players from around the world to play together.

"We are delighted by the overwhelming enthusiasm of Russian players for Guild Wars", said Max Brown, NCsoft Europe Sales and Operations Director. "With fully localised versions of all three Guild Wars titles, there will be no obstacles to prevent all Russian players, new and old from fully experiencing the wonders of the Guild Wars campaigns."

Read more here.

Lord of the Rings Online gives an overview of Monster Play. This is a unique take on PvP which allows players to act as monsters in the game and fight against characters.

Monster play. Often spoken of in hushed and fearful tones over a pint of ale, some believe the stories, while other stalwarts consider them simply fireside tales told to frighten wide-eyed young hobbits. Now you'll learn the truth!

You've read all about the Ettenmoors, home to monster play in The Lord of the Rings OnlineTM: Shadows of AngmarTM (LOTRO). You've heard tales from our Beta Program participants about their adventures on the wild side. You've said to yourself, well, how does one begin this dark journey? The following overview will tell you everything you need to know to get started!

What is Monster Play?

LOTRO offers a unique form of player vs. player combat known as monster play. Players are transported to the Ettenmoors, a consensual PvMP (Player vs. Monster Player) region about the size of the Shire. Here, the Free Peoples and the forces of Angmar are in constant active conflict, and players can choose to join the fight as either their normal Free Peoples character, or as one of the servants of the Enemy!

Read more here.

ArchLord to offer double experience weekend. Players will get the benefit of double xp from April 6th to the 10th.

Double XP Weekend Extravaganza

April 6 - 10 will see a double XP weekend in the world of Chantra

This weekend ArchLord will be granting double XP to all its players, including trial accounts! Now is a perfect time to re-roll a character and get a jump on everyone else.

Read more here.

Dungeons & Dragons Online announces in-game game show. "Trade or No Trade" is a new game show that takes place in the DDO world. Read up ont he details below.

Hosted by Sir Lawrence d'Deneith, "Trade or No Trade" is the thrilling hit game show where contestants wheel and deal their way to the possible grand prize of a vorpal sickle!

Do you have what it takes to win this battle of nerves? Are you willing to try for the vorpal while taking the chance that you might end up with a potion of Cure Light Wounds instead? If so, be sure to click "more" below for the time when "Trade or No Trade" will be coming to the Livewood Theater in House Phiarlan on your server.

Read more here.

Guild Wars announces Celestial Tournament winners. You can see the results section as well to find out how well you performed.

The Celestial Tournament has come to an end, and the winner is Team Everfrost in a three-game match. Thanks to all the guilds who took place in the tourney, and congratulations to Team Everfrost. You can read the results of each level of competition, plus view the final charts, here. We'll have match reports for you Monday or Tuesday, and information about upcoming competitive events via the automated tournament system very soon.

Read more here.

Earth Eternal announces "Pick a Beast" contest. The winner will have the chance to select one of the playable beast races. Once chosen that player will have exclusive access to the race for the first month of open beta. Read the details below.

Iron Realms Entertainment announced a contest today that will allow the lucky winner to literally choose one of the Beast races (player races) that will be developed for release and have exclusive access to that race for the first month of open beta testing.

"The common wisdom says that directly involving fans in development decisions is crazy," said Matt Mihaly, CEO of Iron Realms. "There are certainly risks, but thus far in Earth Eternal's progress we've solicited fan feedback in decisions ranging from the logo to concept art for our player races to the fundamental way in which our server/shard system will work, and we've made implementation decisions based mainly on that feedback. We're very happy with the results."

The winning player in the 'Pick a Beast' contest will work directly with Earth Eternal's lead designer (the aforementioned Matt!) to develop the fourteenth and final player race for release, from the concept for the Beast race to the name of the race to the history of the race. Further, the winner will have exclusive access to that race for the first month of open beta and will have the ability to grant 10 other accounts access to that race during that period of exclusivity.

Read more here.

Dark and Light plans for a new billing system. Its seems that for now the game is free. This news came from the forums. You can find out more below.

Dark and Light is currently being improved and heavily reorganized. Due to this and several other problems encountered with the billing service, we have decided to stop using this service and to find another partner.

As a direct consequence of this decision, Dark and Light is now totally free, without any kind of restriction, until a more satisfying solution can be set up in the months to come. This is applicable to all accounts that were already created, whatever may be their current subscription type - Master, Freedom, or Discovery.

Due to the termination of this service, any billing or invoicing is of course stopped, including for accounts that were already opened.

A new system of account creation will be set up in the days to come to allow newcomers to also access Dark And Light for free.

The Dark and Light Team.

Read more here.

It seems to be newsletter week as Age of Conan gives us the latest Clan of Conan. Check out all the updates in Hyboria.

Another month, another Clan of Conan update. The newsletter is out and all members should be watching their inboxes closely. Or you can just read it online!

Let your eyes adjust to the blinding light from the burning sun as you gaze up at the peaks of the Eiglophian Mountains, in this month's Clan of Conan newsletter. Enjoy the majestic scenery of the Cimmerian highlands and learn about some of the fierce enemies you will encounter here.

As always, the newsletter delivers a wealth of fancy stuff like features, reveals, screenshots, videos, wallpapers and more.

Read more here.

EverQuest II unveils its latest "Better Know a Developer." Here we get a chat with Don Neufeld, the Lead Engineer.

Today we share the second installment of 'Better Know a Developer' by chatting with Don Neufeld, Lead Engineer for EverQuest II. Don is one of those red names you don't see posting in the forums very often, because he's busy with his hands in the guts of the game. I thought this was a great chance to bring a bit of who he is and what he does to light with the public.

Read more here.

The new Warhammer Online newsletter is out. Check out this zone overview of Troll Country.

Troll Country is the name commonly given to the cold and desolate territory that lies to the north of Kislev, and to the south of the Chaos Wastes. The landscape is every bit as harsh and unforgiving as the creatures who inhabit it; tall formations of jagged rock jut upward from the earth like the fingers of some monstrous creature trying to claw its way to the surface. The ground is broken and uneven, with steep inclines and sudden, treacherous pits and valleys. A chill wind blows perpetually across the bleak and barren terrain, rattling dead, dry leaves that hang from the skeletal limbs of the scrawny trees which dot the landscape.

As the name suggests, this arid, rocky land is infested with Trolls of every kind. In the valleys and crevasses where small streamsstill flow, River Trolls tromp through the muck in search of theirnext meal. On the wind-swept highland slopes, hard-skinned Stone Trolls slumber in dank caves by night and spend their days chasing wild goats or beating upon each other with crude clubs made from the trunks of trees. Far to the north lurk the most dangerous Trolls of all, the vile Chaos Trolls. Exposure to the mutating energies of Chaos has provided these creatures with awesome, savage strength and unnatural fortitude.

Read more here.

K2 Networks looks at Sword of the New World's Musketeer class. This class walks softly and carries a big gun!

K2 Network today revealed new screen shots and exciting new details on the unique stances of the Musketeer Class that players will be able to take control of in its upcoming massively multi-player online role-playing adventure, Sword of the New World. Just one of five unique and interesting character classes in the game, the Musketeer is one of the most imposing and dangerous classes in the game. Scheduled for release this summer, Sword of the New World is the only MMORPG to allow players to simultaneously control three distinct characters with its multi-character control (MCC).

The Musketeer

The Musketeer is one of the most imposing character classes in Sword of the New World. This character class is a top-tier damage dealer, and primarily relies on pistols and rifles; however, this class can also use bare fists, smash enemies with rifle stocks, fire poisonous bullets, slash and stab with a bayonet, and even fire a blinding AOE debuff. With 7 stances and 24 skills, the Musketeer is as deadly as it is diverse.

Read more here.