Dungeons & Dragons Online opens Risia with Module 4 content. Check out some of the updates that are on the way for DDO.

Risia is now open with some of the Module 4 content, including, NEW DRAGONS, NEW DUNGEONS, new levels, new landscape technology, and Orcs! For information on how to download the Risia client, click here.

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Guild Wars plans double PvP faction weekend starting March 16. Get ready to fight it out in the arena or on the battlefield. Don't worry, there will be some unique PvE drops as well.

Starting at Noon PST on Friday, March 16, PvP players will earn double Faction and Gladiator Points in Arenas. Plus, with a bit o' luck, PvE players may find a unique drop or two in missions and explorable areas. These opportunities will run through 11:59 p.m. PDT on Sunday, March 18.

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Necron announces Evolution 2.2. Check out all the updates to the game these guys have made. Seems like some great new systems are in place.

After a lot of hard work, we are excited to present Neocron Evolution 2.2 to you. In close collaboration with the Neocron 2 community, we have completely reworked the base systems like character abilities, game items, PvP and PvE combat and vehicles.

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K2 names Jeff Lujan as Vice President of International Marketing.

K2 Network, Inc. (www.k2network.net), an online game publisher, announced today that it has added to its Senior Management team a key hire with the addition of Jeff Lujan as the Vice President of International Marketing. Lujan, who joined the company in February, is now in charge of Global marketing and public relations for K2 Network. With previous key roles in marketing and development for some of the industry's largest companies including Midway and Namco Bandai Games America, Lujan brings more than 15 years of marketing and gaming industry experience.

"The addition of Jeff Lujan as our Vice President of Marketing will help accelerate K2 Network forward in the right direction," said Joshua Hong, CEO of K2 Network. "With his proven track record and vast industry expertise, Lujan will serve a vital role in our company's growth and success."

"The online games industry is one of the fastest growing and most competitive entertainment segments in the world," said Lujan, "K2 Network is poised to become a global force in online entertainment with its ambitious goals for innovation in the online gaming world and I am excited to be a part of achieving these goals."

In his new role as Vice President of Marketing, Lujan is responsible for all Global marketing and related strategic partnership functions, including building and managing an international product marketing department, creative services team, and worldwide public relations functions.

Prior to joining K2 Network, Lujan spent five years at Namco Bandai Games as the head of marketing and Director of the United States Product Division. While there, Lujan was notably responsible for building thriving relationships with Universal Pictures, United Media and Games Workshop, while also playing an integral role in the signing, marketing and business development of Flagship Studios' Hellgate: London. Before joining Namco, Lujan launched Midway's popular car combat title, Spy Hunter and previously spent five years in art production at Twentieth Century Fox Animation Studios working on feature films including Anastasia and Titan A.E.

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Acclaim Games announces over one million registered players.

Acclaim Games announces a major milestone with over 1 million registered players in just over a year since its rebirth as a free to play online game publisher. This breakthrough achievement marks an impressive new beginning for the resurrected company. With a loyal fan base and community of over a million players already registered across all their games and quickly growing, Acclaim has proven consumers cannot get enough from it's free games.

The new Acclaim has done something truly remarkable by achieving this success so quickly after starting from nothing just over a year ago. The new company was re-launched under the leadership of former Activision executive Howard Marks. Marks had a different vision for the online game industry and established a new business model offering Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMO's) that players could download and play for free on their PC's. Players just need to register for a free account, download the games online, install them on their PC, and play.

Instead of paying for the game and a monthly subscription fee, Acclaim's games are totally free to download and play. That's because all of Acclaim's games are supported by in-game advertising and an item mall featuring optional items (such as clothing, weapons, accessories, etc.) to enhance the game experience. This innovative business model makes it easy for anyone to enjoy very high quality online games with their friends for free.

"I would like to thank all of our fans and players who have made this amazing milestone possible", said Howard Marks, CEO Acclaim Games Inc.

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EverQuest II makes changes to Buddy Key Accounts to cut down on in game advertising.

In-game advertisements from platinum sellers are a constant community concern, and something we take very seriously at SOE. The dev team has been looking into different ways to curtail this behavior, and have made some changes to Buddy Key accounts that should help ebb the tide of spam from platinum sellers.

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Guild Wars latest State of the Game address the issue of ganking. Many people take this problem to heart. Read on to here what they have to say.

The newest State of the Game article is subtitled "Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat: Basic Ganking." It outlines the purpose and the processes used by a split team during a GvG match, and provides details on common components of a split team, how teams deal with opposing defense, and some of the factors that lead to a "gank race." Check it out here.

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The Chronicles of Spellborn begins a series of updates to the website in preparation for the launch of the game.

In preparation of the release of The Chronicles of Spellborn we will be updating and upgrading our web portal over the coming weeks. Phase 1 just went live and contains a graphical overhaul of the community portal. You can comment on the new graphics and report any bugs in the thread linked below. Enjoy!

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Auran has signed an agreement with CDC Games. This continues the company's partners for the release of Fury. For those who don't know, Fury is a new MMO that is very PvP heavy. So all you Player killers should check out this story.

Auran has signed an investment agreement with CDC Games, which will help ensure the ongoing success of Fury and Auran's other key titles.

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Dungeons & Dragons Online updates their Academy Training Release Notes. It seems more and more features continue to be added to DDO.

In Academy Training we've completely revamped the enhancement system! You can now save your action points up from level to level and spend them on a whole new range of enhancements. We've also added the "solo" option to seven more adventures. Now you can solo your way through many dungeons up to CR: 6!

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Blizzard announes the upcoming 2007 Worldwide Invitational. The event will be heald at the Olympic Stadiums in Seoul, South Korea. That's a long trip for any East Coast gamers. Still, Blizzard looks to be courting the Asian market and its millions of players.

We have just announced the 2007 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, to be held in Seoul, South Korea on May 19 and 20. The event will be open to gamers of all ages and will be held at the Olympic Gymnastics and Fencing Stadiums in Seoul. Attendees will be able to watch some exciting tournaments, including invitational StarCraft and Warcraft III tournaments that pit some of Korea's finest players against tough international challengers. Panel discussions hosted by Blizzard developers, and some hands-on attractions will also be available.

Stay tuned for additional details on the 2007 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, to be released in the coming weeks.

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News Editor Garrett Fuller had a chance to sit down with Stargate Worlds' Joe Ybarra, Vice-President of Product Development for Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment. The pair talked about the direction of the upcoming MMORPG.

Okay Stargate fans, this is the article you have been waiting for. Today at GDC I got a chance to sit down with Kevin Balentine and Joe Ybarra from Cheyenne Mountain. The guys were very happy to discuss the game and many of its features. Loads of material that has not been known about the game will be known by the time you finish this article. Everything was talked about from game mechanics to character classes, races, PvE elements, and of course PvP between the dark and light sides of the Stargate Universe. Hold onto your weapons, we're going through the gate now!

Let us start off with character design. Players will have the ability to choose between two sides or factions. Cheyenne refers to them as the light and dark sides, but more closely tied to the television show they are the good and evil factions of the universe. On the side of light you can play humans, Asgard, and the free Jaffa. On the dark side you can play humans who have gone bad, Goa'uld, or the Jaffa who have remained loyal to their overlords. There are many class archetypes in the game that are defined by the races. Human players have the options of the classic Stargate team. Soldier, commando, scientist, and archeologist are all there as playable opportunities. The other races are more defined by the skill trees that represent their growth. The Asgard are defined as the scientists were the Jaffa are the melee fighters. Speaking of melee lets talk about combat.

Read the whole article here.

Simutronics announces new licensees for HeroEngine.

Simutronics today announced its three latest licensees for HeroEngine, the industry leading technology platform for development of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games.

A World of My Own (AWOMO) is a virtual island where gamers meet and explore, and which uses HeroEngine as its technology platform. The island serves as a portal for a growing series of high-end 3D games that are downloaded and played together. AWOMO is published by Games Domain International in partnership with Virgin Games UK with software development by Trianit in Germany. AWOMO is being hailed by Sir Richard Branson as "the iTunes of PC Gaming."

In addition, two US developers are also licensing HeroEngine: Stray Bullet Games of Texas and Colony Studios of California. More details about these projects will be announced in the near future.

"We welcome our new licensees. After massive technology diligence they all saw how using HeroEngine's advanced features and revolutionary workflow will bring to market leading edge MMO games faster than ever before," said David Whatley, CEO of Simutronics and HeroEngine's visionary.

HeroEngine is on exhibit this week at the San Francisco Game Developers Conference in booth 144. The HeroEngine website is www.heroengine.com.

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LEGO selects NetDevil to develop new MMO.

The LEGO(R) Group today announced it has commenced a working relationship with NetDevil(R) to develop a massively multiplayer online gaming experience to further engage its dedicated and active community.

"As children around the world continue to spend more time online, we are developing new and engaging ways for them to interact with our brand," said Lisbeth Valther Pallesen, Executive Vice President, Community, Education and Direct Division LEGO Group. "The LEGO brand represents construction, creativity and problem solving -- values that complement the MMOG market. By merging the online world of social interaction with physical play, the LEGO brand is providing new experiences for children, as well as fans. NetDevil's technological capability, openness to work with a large community, and enthusiasm for the LEGO brand make them a natural partner."

"Playing with LEGO bricks and developing online worlds are both creative activities. To bring them together is deeply professionally satisfying and we look forward to working with the LEGO team," said Scott Brown, president of NetDevil.

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Curt Schilling announces the name of his entertainment company 38 Studios. It looks like 38 Studios will be working on various things in regards to MMORPG games. Curt also helped found Green Monter Games. We are all eagerly awaiting to see what titles and games these guys will develop in the near future.

Major League Baseball Pitcher Curt Schilling announced today that 38 Studios, LLC, will be the official corporate name of the entertainment company he launched last fall. Schilling introduced 38Studios.com apparel last week during a press conference following his first Spring Training start of 2007 for the Boston Red Sox.

Our vision as a company is to build something revolutionary, to be the leader in the entertainment industry. "The executive team I put in place, lead by 38 Studios President Brett Close, felt this name was a more accurate reflection of what our company is working to achieve," said company founder and CEO Curt Schilling.

The 38 Studios brand will deliver not only massively multiplayer online games, but a broad spectrum of immersive products.

"The name 38 Studios captures the scope of our goals," Brett Close said. "Our mission is to create ground-breaking intellectual properties that inspire a vast selection of entertainment experiences."

Regarding the number 38, "It's not only about what we're going to accomplish, but how," Close continued. "38 is Curt's number, of course. Anyone familiar with Curt recognizes that he represents excellence, integrity, and achievement. These are attributes intrinsic to our people, our organization, and our products."

Close and members of the executive management team will be attending Game Developers Conference 2007 (GDC) in San Francisco this week, March 5th-9th. It will be the team's first appearance at an electronic gaming industry show on behalf of 38 Studios.

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Okay, it is not MMORPG related, but this is big video game news. Nielsen reports that 41% of all TV households have a console game system.

The number of video game consoles in U.S. television households has expanded by 18.5% since the fourth quarter of 2004, according to a new report released today by Nielsen Wireless and Interactive Services, a service of The Nielsen Company. In the fourth quarter of 2006 there were 45.7 million homes with video game consoles, representing 41.1% of all TV households, compared to 39.1% (43 million) in 2005, and 35.2% (38.6 million) the previous year.

The increase in both the number and the percentage of U.S. TV households with video game consoles is significant given that the number of total television households has risen 1.6% during the same period.

The report, "The State of the Console," incorporates extensive data on video game console usage from Nielsen's National People Meter (NPM) sample of television households as well as its quarterly Home Technology Report. It is the first in a series of analytic studies from Nielsen examining trends in the video game industry.

The launch of Nielsen's GamePlay Metrics later this year will, for the first time, deliver metered video game usage and demographic data by game title, genre and platform. It will provide advertisers, agencies, hardware manufacturers and game developers with independent, high-quality, quantitative information for negotiating the buying and selling of in-game and around-game advertising.

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Ankama Games announces new MMO. The makers that brought you DOFUS now announce their latest MMO project.

Ankama Games became internationally renowned thanks to its main title DOFUS that now counts more than 3 million players worldwide. Within three years, this massively multiplayer video game won prize after prize in the United States and in France, and has been the inspiration for mangas (5 volumes) and artbooks (2 volumes).

After such a success, Ankama Games starts a new project: Wakfu. This game will be sitting right next to DOFUS on the Tactical MMORPG line. The presentation website of this new game has been launched on Monday 26 February, 2007. New contents will regularly added to it, as the project progresses.

Wakfu is currently being produced. Ankama Games relies on its unique know-how to design and produce a quality title that will meet all the requirements of a vast community of players. Wakfu will be distributed in Europe, Northern America, and Asia as well as in other parts of the world requiring its translation (from French) in English, German, Spanish, Korean and Chinese.

The story of Wakfu takes place a long time after that of DOFUS. An ogre named Ogrest gathered all the six Dofus and gained boundless powers. The ogre offered his beloved the dragon eggs. But she turned down the present though worthy of the gods themselves, and Ogrest started shedding tears of rage and pique. The tears of the ogre made the ocean level increase so much that parts of the World are now submerged to the inhabitants' great displeasure. Now gods and heroes of the World are starting a new adventure before reaching Ogrest and confront him in an ultimate fight!

Bright graphics and a fantasy universe are also part of this project even though the Ankama Games team will be adding many innovations to the tactical gameplay it's famous for! The very first trailer of Wakfu, half way between cartoon animation and game demo, can be viewed on the official website. It gives an idea of the interactive environment in which players will evolve. In Wakfu, the player will discover a vast world inhabited by all sorts of surprising creatures. Game servers will be able to host up to 25,000 players simultaneously.

The first closed beta-tests of Wakfu will start sometime during 2007. The recruiting campaign for the beta-testers will be launched within the next days.

Read more here.

Auto Assault announces new updates. Including an auction house, new vehicles, and tons of new features.

NCsoft® today announced the release of the fourth free content expansion of Auto Assault® which includes the installation of an auction house, the introduction of new vehicle chassis and a new tournament schedule as well as several quality of life system improvements.

The auction house is one of the most important additions to Auto Assault since its release, adding depth to the game while making it easier to profit from the game's voluminous loot drops. The auction house, for example, will enable lower level players to obtain currency by selling material to higher level players who can then craft more powerful weapons. Additionally, an email system will allow players, who are in the same faction, to send messages regarding items up for auction as well as sending items via email.

Auto Assault is about collecting massive amounts of loot, and this auction house and mail delivery system will make it easier to profit from collecting loot,said Andrew Wagner, NCsoft's producer for Auto Assault. The auction house and mail system will add a much needed additional layer of interactivity and item accessibility for all players and allow players to progress faster and build bigger, nastier vehicles.

The additional profits made from the auction house will help Auto Assault players to attain another feature from the update, two powerful, new epic vehicle chassis. The new chassis, available at the INC vehicle stores include the Switter, a medium-sized chassis available for all classes and the Backup, a small chassis usable by any scout class.

Rounding out the features are sweeping changes to the skills systems. Balance between races will be improved so success in player-versus-player combat will be based on skill rather than faction-based advantages. Additionally, skill building is now easier to manage and understand, allowing new players to create more powerful and useable skill sets.

"Skills will now be more standardized, which will let players understand better the cost of each skill and how to better select the right skill for the right level," Wagner said. "This will bring more balance to the game while making skill sets more fun and powerful."

Also, responding to player feedback, tournaments have a new schedule and reward system built in. The new tournament schedule system is timed to work for players regardless of their time-zone location. The tournaments have been level-balanced so all players can enjoy arena carnage. With additional loot and bigger rewards, arena action will be more profitable for all participants.

Read more here.