Rusty Hearts players will want to check out the new Requiem update which brings a new playable character, Roselle Vergerius, into the game as well as four new dungeons, a "dynamic" training camp in a new location, new weapons and what developers call "challenge based" dungeons.

Read more on the Rusty Hearts site.

Aika Online players have a lot to prepare for as the release date for Epic II: Hestia approaches. The latest content expansion is scheduled to launch on March 8th and Aika devs are giving players a leg up to 80 with power boosting events that kicked off today.

In addition to the power boosting events, players can also take part in several Valentine's Day events for special rewards.

Find out more on the Aika Online site.

Coffee Stain Studios' Lead Designer Oscar Jilsen shares some thoughts on the beloved MOBA/ARTS genre. Unfortunately, our friends at RTSGuru.com couldn't get him to leak anything about Sanctum 2. Check out the full interview at RTSGuru.com.

MMORPG.com will be live streaming one of the mass weddings that will be taking place throughout the day on all Rift servers today. Trion's goal is to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records with the most in-game weddings in a single day. You'll be able to watch one of the big events happening on the Deepwood server with Suzie Ford, Adam Tingle and Victor Barreiro Jr..

Catch it all on the MMORPG.com Twitch.tv Livestream. We'll be starting our broadcast at approximately 11:30 PST. Join us!

Editor's Note: Please pardon our dust as we're working out issues on our live stream. My (Suzie) sound tends to stutter a bit if my character moves around. I'll try to only speak when standing still. *grin* I appreciate your understanding!

Everyone loves to take screenshots of their favorite games, and we want you to share them with us and the rest of the MMORPG.com community! To that end, we're back with our latest Screenshot of the Week feature, and we're looking to give out some cool swag. This week, we've partnered with SOE to put on a special Valentine's Day edition of our SOTW, focused specifically on Free Realms' currently ongoing 'Festival of Hearts' Valentine's Day event.

Participating in our Screenshot of the Week is pretty simple. All you need to do is post your best Free Realms 'Festival of Hearts' event screenshot in the comments below (please use sensible dimensions and don't break the thread!) between now and Saturday, February 18. We'll select a grand prize winner as well as five additional winners on Monday, February 20. Make sure to tell us what we are looking at, too!

Why should you bother sharing your screenshots with us? The answer is simple: SWAG! Who doesn't love swag? This week, we'll be giving away a grand prize of 2,000 Station Cash to our lucky winner and 1,000 Station Cash to five additional winners.

Please only post a single screenshot. Duplicate entries will be disqualified.

MMORPG.com has been given special keys for DragonSoul that will give players $5 FREE in game! Get your key now while supplies last!

GET YOUR GIFT KEY NOW AT THIS LINK!

In this week's episode of Game On, hosts Som Pourfarzaneh, Bill Murphy, and Hillary "Pokket" Nicole bring you the latest news from the industry with their unique brand of insightful commentary. We also sit down with Rift's Producer Hal Hanlin to chat about the game's plans for 2012, and we take in some of our listener mail as well. Be sure to mail in all your questions, suggestions, and critiques to gameon at mmorpg dot com!

One of the most controversial words these days in MMOs is "microtransaction". The idea of microtransactions always stirs a lot of emotion. In today's Guild Wars 2 column, we explore the thought of microtransactions in GW2. Read on and let us know what you think in the comments.

ArenaNet had a nice system for Guild Wars where they used micro transactions to sell mission packs. ArenaNet has said that they will be using micro-transactions for Guild Wars 2, but they didn't want players to have an advantage over others just because they spent a few extra dollars. This is a real game, not one of those Facebook click-fests that pulls our money out of us by inconveniencing us. To get back to the mission pack, it takes place in the lore of the game, using a different character with skills the game gave you. You controlled the character to see an event that took place in the games past. What was great about this mission pack was that it really expanded the universe.

Read more of David North's Guild Wars 2: Micro-Awesomeness.

You should not have the top gear in the game, and have finished all main quests within the first month of the games release. That’s just too short of a game.

The busy bees at BioWare have released a flood of information on what's coming to Star Wars: The Old Republic in the patches leading up to and beyond Game Update 1.2. Join us in this week's SW:TOR column as we discuss all the latest developments.

Last week was pretty eventful for Star Wars: The Old Republic. BioWare kicked off their debut Community Q&A, shedding some light on what players can expect to find in store for the game in the not-too-distant future. Additionally, players who have been up in arms over the recent changes to the global cooldown UI were treated to a dev blog promising a solution that honestly went above and beyond my expectations.

Read more of Michael Bitton's Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Future is Bright (or Dark, if you prefer).

The Korean government is increasingly active in it pursuit of limitations on youth gaming. Is this a good idea? What are the reasons behind the attention? Check out The Free Zone to find out and then let us know what you think.

It would be a definite stretch to answer the question above in the affirmative. However, the past couple of weeks have brought news that the Korean government is continuing to increase its efforts to restrict the amount of time its young people can spend playing online video games. Accordingly, it seems clear that the popularity of online games is perceived not just as a problem, but as one serious enough to warrant considerable attention and some serious regulations. There can be no real argument that free to play has contributed significantly to the growth of the market. So, it’s not much of a leap to think the powers that be may see it as a causal factor, albeit certainly not the sole one.

Read more of Richard Aihoshi's The Free Zone: Is F2P Ruining Korea’s Youth?

Nexon has sent out a new trailer showing the warm and fuzzy love side of MapleStory. The video, called by devs " a romance proclaimed in pixels", illustrates why MapleStory players who marry in game tend to stay hitched longer than the average American "real world" couple. Check it out and then log in with your sweetheart!
 

Runes of Magic servers will be updated today with the latest patch. Among the patch notes is the news that the Flower Festival will be arriving in game as well as the new Magic Wardrobe System.

The Flower Festival contains thirteen multi-part quests for players to complete that will yield special items. The Magic Wardrobe System gives players a new 'bag' for their magic clothing items which allows player to "keep their favorite armor skins once and for all without having to remodel every time a new armor is acquired."

Read the full patch notes on the Runes of Magic site.

The Hedone team has released the latest patch notes for its upcoming MMOFPS. Among the big changes coming to closed beta testers are several new arena locations and a new game system, "search and destroy".

The full patch notes can be read on the Hedone site. It's a long list but worth the read!

The Dragon Saga team has announced the release of special Valentine's Day events and is giving players a peek ahead at the "Jump Into the Action" event that is slated to begin on February 22nd.

Trouble in the Cookie Factory is an event with players trying to restart the production of chocolate. The factory has been taken over by two gangs which players will take on throughout the journey. This event offers two all new instanced mission map, twelve new quests, four new recipes, new costumes, and Valentine’s-themed pets.

When Jump Into the Action goes live, players will be allowed to create a brand new character that will begin its journey at level 40 and will come equipped with a great set of armor and a weapon.

Find out more about Dragon Saga.

The Crystal Saga team has announced that the much-awaited marriage system is now live in the game. According to the dev team, this means that players will no longer have to live in "virtual sin". The team has also deployed new Valentine's Day quests, activities and promotions.

Lastly, the Rebirth system has been released:

The wait is over... rebirth is coming to Vidalia! Are you level 80 yet? Rebirth is only available to level 80 characters, but don't worry there is still time to level-up! Rebirth resets your character's level to 1, while giving you 10 extra skill points and 50 extra attribute points. Use these extra benefits to become even stronger as you take Vidalia by storm! Race to level 80 before Wednesday, February 15th to secure your place as one of the first reborn Vidalians!

Find out more on the Crystal Saga site.

Fans of the Blacklight series will be happy to know that Perfect World Entertainment's Blacklight Retribution, an MMOFPS, will be ready for open beta testing beginning on February 27th. The closed beta will close down on February 17th as developers tweak the game for the open beta release.

Among the changes the dev team will be implementing prior to open beta are:

• Three new maps
• Custom built Hero characters
• Data Node system
• New backgrounds and systems

Check out the Piledriver map in this new trailer released by the dev team:

Find out more about Blacklight Retribution.

Last night, our own Pokket dove into TERA's first beta weekend with a level 15 Elin Warrior. Get a glimpse of questing, combat, and creepy bunny women. This is a NEW 'best of' straight from Pokket herself! Enjoy!

This past weekend, we had the opportunity to check in with NetGame's Rise of the Dragonian Era or RODE as it is more commonly known. RODE is currently in closed beta testing with this weekend being one that specifically targeted the game's PvP aspect. See what we thought of our time in the game.

There are several features that RODE developers are quite proud of when talking about the game though there was no opportunity to see them during this weekend's PvP event. Among other things, players will be able to ride dragons. But these dragons will be more than simply mounts. RODE will ship with aerial combat with players mounted on dragons. If that doesn't conjur visions of Eregon, nothing will. Players will also have the chance to participate in castle sieges in the contested Piral zone as well as have their holdings randomly attacked by monsters utilizing the "Deablo" system. According to what devs have said, this is to "create tension".

Read more of Suzie Ford's Rise of Dragonian Era Beta Weekend Preview.

Ankama Games and Square Enix have announced the addition of a new multi-tiered quest line to the game when the next update goes live on February 15th. The ultimate goal is to conquer Ogrest but getting there is half the job. Ogrest resides on Mt. Zinit, crying his eyes out over the loss of his lover. Players will have to scale the mountain and take on new quests, monsters, bosses and more on their way to the top.

Devs have announced that the first part of the Mt. Zinit storyline, the game's primary storyline, is free to all players.

Find out more about Wakfu.