Lyra Studios has give us another "Reclamation Tuesday" update this week.  Here are the highlights:

• The fourth and final part of the "Power Struggle" story is up.  Read it here.
• A new contest has been announced, fans should look out for the Beta Fairy in the Community Forums.
• There is a new addition to the gameplay section about factions.  You can read that here.

The highly anticipated "Alien Invasion" expansion for Anarchy Online will be available for download tomorrow as well as for sale in major retailers everywhere.  With this expansion the entire world of Rubi-Ka will change as the invasion begins and the people fight off the alien attackers.  The expansion will also bring many new and exciting features to the game, such as:

• Repel massive world-spanning invasions by a ferocious alien race
• Provoke alien city invasions! Experience epic large-scale warfare for entire guilds!
• Attack and board alien spaceships
• Discover and utilize powerful alien weapons, armor, technology and perks
• Challenge yourself on numerous new quests
• Experience a brand new beginner area
• Construct towering guild houses
• Decorate cities with extra fixtures
• Set up your own player-controlled shops
• Access revised trade skill interface and item search tool
• Dress up in a wide array of exciting new social clothes
• Rule the sky in futuristic flying vehicles

To celebrate the launch of the new product, FunCom has also released a brand new trailer with lots of in-game footage.  Click on the image below to download it from the official site!

Duplex Systems has recently given the Face of Mandkind a major overhaul and the changes are more than just cosmetic.  This was posted on their site:

Besides the most obvious changes like the graphics and layout of the site, a lot has changed to facilitate features that will allow the handling of accounts. For now, this means that betatesters can create, and manage their own game account. In the future, this will be combined with a billing system which will allow you to purchase and manage your subscription. The old betaportal is no longer available. Instead, the accounts that were registered there, are now integrated into the new portal. When you login, you will notice more features that will be available to you, depending on your account status. e.g. betatesters have access to the bugtracker as well.

You can check out the new site at http://www.fomportal.com

MindSurge Entertainment (the creators of Freeworld) announced today that they have partnered with developer Ray Pingree on a new MMOE project.  MMOE?  Well, that is a Massive Multiplayer Online Ecosystem apparently.  Just when you thought you had seen the last MMO acronym!

One of the interesting things about this little "social experiment" is that it is mostly created by the players who basically provide graphics and data for virtual critters which in turn are "set free" to interact with the world and other players critters.

The game is in open beta right now and free to download and play.  If you are interested just get it at this link.

WarCry has also featured a nice story about it at this link.

Turbine Entertainment announced today that they will be partnering with Jolt Online Gaming to provide a better local service to European players.  Here is the official press release:

WESTWOOD, Mass. - Aug. 30, 2004 - Turbine Entertainment Software Corp., a premier provider of online subscription entertainment, announced today that it signed a deal with Jolt Online Gaming Ltd., Europe's largest independent online gaming network, to operate the company's critically acclaimed Asheron's Call® franchise games in Europe. Under the terms of the agreement, Jolt will hold the exclusive right to distribute, operate, and support Asheron's Call and Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings® online services in Europe. Jolt expects to complete the launch of Asheron's Call and Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings® in Europe in 2005. This relationship reaffirms Turbine's commitment to growing the franchise after acquiring the property from Microsoft earlier this year as well as expanding the company's operations overseas. "Online gaming continues to grow in Europe and we recognize the importance of Europe in our future," said Jeffrey Anderson, president and CEO, Turbine Entertainment Software. "Jolt is the best choice to provide European players with the same levels of access, connectivity, and customer support that our North American players enjoy." Asheron's Call is a critically acclaimed franchise that brings thousands of players together within dynamic, ever evolving online fantasy worlds. The original title and service launched in 1999 and since spawned two expansion packs, Dark Majesty in 2001 and Throne of DestinyTM , which is currently scheduled for launch in 2005. The graphically ground breaking Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings launched in 2002, marking the first sequel to a 3D MMORPG. The Asheron's Call franchise is best known for thriving online communities and rich episodic updates, produced by Turbine, that add new additional game features, dungeons, trophy items, hunting areas and storyline content to the games on a regular basis. "We're very excited about the prospect of handling the Asheron's Call and Fallen Kings operations in Europe," said Jolt's CEO, Dominic Silk. "With this deal we will strengthen and grow both of these great worlds in cooperation with Turbine." Jolt will be demonstrating both games at stand G9 in the main hall of Game Stars Live in London from Sept. 1-5.

Mythic Entertainment has provided us with some concept art from their new "Catacombs" expansion showing the "Iconnu Domain" - a mysterious area hidden beneath the lands of Albion.

To read more about this and see the artwork - just click here to read our feature.

Nevrax has announced today that the open beta for The Saga of Ryzom has begun!  This testing phase will run from August 30 to September 14, 2004.  If you would like to test this exciting upcoming title you can sign up at this page and download at this link.

The game will be released on September 16th in Europe and September 20th in the United States.

Also, don't forget to enter our exclusive Ryzom Giveaway Extravaganza contest!

SOE has added their 3rd installment in their lore series.  This one is titled "Attack On The Nexus."  It is definately a cool read!  Here is a snippet:

Ayenden concluded his business in the Bazaar and strolled into the Nexus. The usual crowd of travelers was passing through, and Ayenden thought he might look around for some familiar faces with which to seek adventure. He caught sight of an old friend standing atop the platform. "Enkasha," he called out. "I didn't expect to see you here today." The tall, serene Erudite saw him and smiled slightly. Ayenden knew this was the extent of the emotion she was likely to show. She walked down the stairs and greeted him. "You are correct, my friend. I am indeed overdue for the festival. I was exploring the planes with my guild mates, which took far longer than I had anticipated. I am certain to be chided for my tardiness." "It sounds like a glorious occasion for your people," Ayenden said. "Are you sure I can't convince you to take me along as a guest?" Enkasha rolled her eyes and sighed, a gesture Ayenden knew to be playful rather than demeaning. "You know full well that the celebration of the anniversary of Erud?s birth is a sacred and private ritual for us. Outsiders are never allowed to attend."

To read the full story, just click on this link.

Limitless Horizons has provided us with 2 exclusive movies of Mourning.  These movies show off a couple of the emotes that are available in the game.  The quality of the movies looks very nice! 

Registered members who are logged in can get the movies by clicking on the images below (DivX required):

Movie #1	Movie #2

NOTE: For best results, you might right click on the image and select "Save Target As..." to save it to your computer before watching it.

Mutable Realms has released some new information in their bestiary...they have presented us with a vicious creature known as the "Leecher."  It definately looks like something to have nightmares about :)  Here is an excerpt from the official site:

"A leecher is a parasitic, carnivorous plant creature which has evolved in a unique way to acquire sustenance. When an airborne leecher spore lodges itself in a living person's throat, there is a small chance that it will sprout and grow. Without swift treatment, the victim suffocates as the leecher threads its way throughout the host body's systems and assumes control of basic functions. Feeding off the corpse as it decays, the leecher uses it to move to a new location in search of a new host."

To see more, go to the official site at this link.

Codemasters has posted a new developer diary.  This time it features Nicola, one of the programmers for Dragon Empires.  It is rich with technical details about the code behind the magic!  Here is a snippet:

Currently I am working on automatic code generation - writing code to automatically generate code. So today I'll tell you a little about this. For each base a large number of C++ classes is required and the contents vary for the different properties. The variance comes from the different options for a property (in previous paragraph), and its type (e.g. basic integers, floats or more complex data types). Therefore, each time a new base is required, or properties are changed on an existing base, this large number of classes has to be altered. The code itself is basically straightforward, but it is tedious and there is plenty of room for errors to creep in. One example of how one such error could affect you is say for example you have you the XP property written in two ways on the base, one as lowercase 'xp' and the other as uppercase 'XP'. What could happen in this case is that your character loads in 'xp' at 67, but then after a couple of hours of killing monsters and gaining a lot of XP, your character logs out and saves 'XP' (uppercase), an altogether different value. Automatic code generation eliminates the possibility of this ever happening.

To read the full article, just follow this link.

Limitless Horizons Entertainment LLC announced a press release regarding the use of the Abyssal Engine, the power behind their upcoming hit "Mourning".

"Quad Software LTD (developer of the abyssal engine powering Mourning) has begun building the infrastructure for a new 3D engine and tool set. The project is currently being developed in conjunction with Geforce 6800 technology as well as the newest Radeon hardware and the first results should be seen within 6 months after Mourning launches." "The goal is to develop one of the most sophisticated engine and tool sets for use in game development on the market upon its disclosure sometime in 2005."

You can read the full press release here, located at Mourning's Official game site here.

Blizzard has announced that you can sign up to participate in the upcoming seven day stress test for "World of Warcraft"

In order to evaluate World of Warcraft's account-creation process and server performance under heavy loads, Blizzard will be conducting a seven-day stress test beta in the days ahead. This test will require over 100,000 players to download the World of Warcraft stress test beta client, create an account, and log on to play when the test goes live! To make the client available for download to such a large audience, we have partnered with FilePlanet, GameSpy's Web-based file-delivery service. Click here to learn more about the World of Warcraft stress test beta and to sign up for a chance to participate in this special event.

For more information on "World of Warcraft" visit the official website.

More exciting EQ2 screens for you all!  This week we are featuring some cool nighttime combat shots with lightning spell effects, various shots from Antonica as well as one shot showing you what the map system looks like.  Enjoy!

Registered members can view the high-rez shots by clicking the links under the images below:

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Mutable Realms released the following letter to their fans today:

Dear friends of Wish, We would like to inform you that Wish Beta 2.0 will start on December 1, 2004, and not, as originally planned, in fall 2004. The beta test will last until December 31, 2004. We apologize for the delay. The reason for the delay is that we want Beta 2.0 to be a truly mind-blowing experience. We are therefore reworking many parts of our game client, server, and content, based on the feedback that we received from our E3 version and from community message boards. These changes will take longer to finish than anticipated, but we are sure they will be worth the wait! We are also moving the release date of Wish from the first to the second quarter of 2005. Too many games have suffered from a premature release, and we do not want to be one of them. Best regards, Your Wish team

We have updated the release date on our game list accordingly.

MMORPG.com is proud to present another great offer for our very special community.  We have been authorized to issue a very special 14 day trial for Anarchy Online which includes the original game as well as the Notum Wars and Shadowlands expansions...100% free! 

If you decide to keep playing after your 14 day trial you only have to pay the monthly subscription fee...the software is yours to keep! (this is $29.99 value and only available here at MMORPG.com)

We encourage all of our members to give this award winning sci-fi MMORPG a try, you have nothing to lose!  To get your free CD key and instructions just go to this page: http://www.mmorpg.com/ao_trial.cfm (MMORPG.com membership required)

WarCry had the opportunity to interview "Chicken George" - who designs the quests for Middle Earth Online.  Here is a snippet:

What is a typical day at the office like for you? Bwaha! There's no such thing, and I like it that way. I look at my life more in terms of "weeks". In a given week, I could be doing something completely different than I did during the week before. The introductory quest we previewed at Turbine Nation was two weeks of work. Another week, it could be another set of quest arcs, NPC dialog, building or decorating dungeons, or fixing bugs. It varies a lot.

To read the full interview just click here.

Some of you might have already noticed that we have added a new feature to our site - the "Top 20 MMORPG Downloads."  You will see this feature on our main game list underneath the poll.  These downloads are continuously updated based on popularity.  This great service is provided by GameDaily.com!

In the future we plan on expanding this into a more comprehensive area...so stay tuned!

MindArk recently sent us a press release updating us on the status of their MMORPG with a "real cash" economy.  Here is some of what they had to say:

Project Entropia has evolved significantly the last 18 months since launch. The latest free update (VU 6.0) included a new graphics engine and during the fall a unique land grab event will take place on the new continent, meaning every participant in Project Entropia will fight for their own land, like the settlers did in the US in the 1800's. Also a very exciting auction is going on, featuring a fully equipped Treasure Island! This land area is some 6000 acres and gives the owner rights to estate sales, land management (including taxation of people who persue activities), and special areas not available to others. Some key figures from the Project Entropia economy: Total economy turnover since January 2004: $40,700,000 US The value of virtual house sales since November 2003: $70,000 US The total number of auctions of virtual items since October 2003 : 175,295 Quick facts about Project Entropia Project Entropia is a virtual universe online with a real cash economy that is free to download on the web and is without any subscription fees. Launched in January 2003, Project Entropia have reached over 150,000 registered accounts, mainly by positive word of mouth. Project Entropia has been featured on TV several times (including News broadcasts and on the G4 network), as well is in media like USA Today, CNN Business, and Wired. The unique real cash economy means that every item has a set value in Project Entropia Dollars (or PED) that has a fixed exchange rate to the US$ and 1 US$ equals 10 PED. To acquire PED a participant needs to transfer real life fund onto his virtual avatar, which is used to purchase virtual items. The funds acquired while partaking in Project Entropia can be also exchanged back into real life funds, meaning that a participant can actually make real money by playing an online game!

For more information about Project Entropia feel free to hit their site at this link.