In related news, the World of Ryzom site is giving away 30 beta accounts in a new contest!  Make sure you get over there and check it out!

Vivendi has recently posted something on their MEO site detailing their "time based advancement" system.  Here is what it said:

One of the many ways to advance in Middle-Earth Online is the unique Time Based Advancement feature, which lets you make the most of the time you can't be in the game. Continue to advance your character's stats even when you're signed off! Advancement Features: Character stats advance in real time, whether you are playing or not. When one stat is finished training, just log in and select the next stat you want to improve. Not being able to log in and play a considerable amount of time every day won't mean that you're left hopelessly behind your more active friends. Reduces repetitive game-play, or grinding, associated with increasing stats. Players who log in after a long absence will benefit from a small advancement bonus.

MMORPG.COM is proud to announce that we are going to be giving out a total of 25 beta accounts for the "ultra" MMORPG "Wish".  We will be doing this in two phases - the first drawing for 12 winners will be held on January 25, 2004.  These winners will get to check out the beta for a few days until Mutable Realms "hibernates" their testing for 4-5 months.

We will then draw 13 more winners on February 15, 2004.  These people will not be allowed to enter testing until the beta re-opens (ETA June/July 2004).

You can enter this contest at this link: http://www.mmorpg.com/wish_promo.cfm

Good luck to you all!

We just received 2 new exclusive screenshots from Warhammer Online.  These beauties really show of the incredible level of detail that is being put into the buildings.  Looking really good!

NCSoft's Lineage 2 now has a completely redesigned homepage! Along with the fantastic new layout comes the opportunity to sign up for the Lineage 2 Beta!

Head on over to http://www.lineage2.com for more info and check out the new images!

Three super powers are being featured on the City of Heroes site.  These three powers are the Tanker's Stone Mallet and Ice Armor and the Scrapper's Spin.  Each power has screen shots and a description of what each does.

Read the full story on the City of Heroes website.

MMORPG.COM is proud to announce another very promising addition to our massive game list...Knight Online.  This title is a Korean import/conversion brought to you by Terra ICT.  It boasts beautiful graphics, rich landscapes, a simple interface, PvP action and very solid gameplay.

We were fortunate enough to give 20 beta accounts to hand out and we awarded them to some of our outstanding and dedicated members (there are many more than 20 of these so it was tough!)

Even if you were not selected by us, you should visit the official site and sign up for the test.  You can do that here.

You should also expect to see a new forum category emerging for this title in the next few hours due to so many of our members playing the beta for this game!

Make sure you check out our game details page at this link.

The crew over at WarCry have just published a review of EVE Online.  Here is a sample:

Like most modern MMOGs, Eve doesn’t skimp on the eye-candy. I guarantee you, the first time you warp around in your little spaceship, both the graphical presentation as well as the sound impressions you’ll receive will be enough to keep you playing just a little longer. Likewise, you can find similar impressive experiences approaching large objects like space stations and asteroids; watching the blinking lights of your little ship reflecting off of the superstructures.

You can check out the full review at this link.

DETROIT, MI January 9, 2004 -- Based on the most successful PC video game of all time, The Sims, The Sims Online (TSO) has become one of the most successful massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG). From its thriving community comes the first massively player-organized convention, the International SimCon (ISC).

In The Sims Online, players create and control the actions of a character known as a Sim. Players enter the world with a small amount of money to spend as they wish. They can purchase their own piece of land to build a home or business, and even recruit roommates. The main object of the game is to socialize, while making money to do what you wish with your property, using tools and objects provided in the game.

The International SimCon (short for sim convention) will be the first of its kind since TSO's public release one year ago. It will be held in Dearborn, Michigan at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, over the weekend of February 20th to 22nd, 2004. Over 200 players are expected to attend, to meet the humans behind their sim-friends, and get to know each other “IRLâ€쳌, short for “In Real Life.â€쳌

Players attending the event should expect five-star service, while enjoying five-star meals. Each night will have a theme which is tied closely to the game.

“We want to bring the game experience to real life,â€쳌 said the event director, Troy Pruyt, known in game as Troy Kristoffer.

For instance, Friday evening will be luau themed, which is a common home decorating theme used in the game. Players will dress as their sims, to compete for prizes, while dancing to a live DJ, which is also common in the game.

Saturday evening will be a black-tie affair, including speakers from Maxis, including the infamous MaxisTigger, and an awards ceremony, as well as a five-course served dinner, followed by a live performance.

Each day, attendees will have the chance to sightsee and participate in more wild fun. One of the free side trips is to visit a casino, which is another tie-in with the game.

Registration online, by phone or mail begins on December 1st, 2003. Players are urged to visit the official website, www.internationalsimcon.com for more details. Discounted rates for accommodation, airlines and other services will be available to attendees.

“We want to be remembered as the first and largest real life TSO party,â€쳌 said the event co-director, Ray Yu, known in game as Issac Hinderson.

   The developers of Ultima X: Odyssey have just released information about their merchant system. It's an interesting system which promotes adventuring for loot and also creates a situation where if you cannot find the best weapon by adventuring, you can still buy one in a shop.

   How exactly will UX:O accomplish this? UX:O will feature an interesting idea in which item decay only exists for items purchased at a shop. Although the items will be of the same quality of monster dropped items, they will decay over time and eventually break (with no chance of repair). If  you find the same item off of a monster, it will never decay from wear or tear. This system promotes adventuring to find loot, but will not make your character weak because they can't find the perfect weapon off of a monster for their character level.

You can read more about this system off of the official UX:O website: http://www.uxo.ea.com/feature_shopkeepers2.html

GamersHell has just posted a detailed Q&A with the developer Dan Antonescu.  Here is a small excerpt from this interview:

MMO Gamers Hell: When I founded my kingdom, and I have a good piece of land, my guild has built 2 or 3 cities and everything is nice - but then comes a day when it is 2 a.m. and only 1 of us is online, which effectively leaves all the land widely open to an invasion - can I still protect it somehow? I'm referring to for example the nightly artefact raids in daoc. Dan Antonescu: he he, I think the appropiate term is ninja raids :))) Well, we are planning to build in lots of things to avoid those infamous ninja raids. Like for example: guards with different "levels" will be spawned to supply a city with enough defenders to make its power of defense pretty appropiate based on the power of its inhabitants/players.

You can read the complete interview here.

RPGVault has just posted a very interesting preview of the first ever expansion for Neocron titled "Beyond the Dome of York".   Here is a snippet for you:

Today, we present the first in a series of articles that will allow you to take a look at certain aspects of the development process for Beyond Dome of York. These are intended to complement the .plan files of our CEO, Martin Joerg Schwiezer, not to replace them, so you shouldn't expect to find anything about publishers, release dates or other strategic plans. We will limit these Peeks to development issues, and illustrate them with screenshots where appropriate.

You can read the full preview at this link.

The folks over at Climax have just launched our official Warhammer Online newsletter on our website at www.warhammeronline.com. The newsletter itself will contain all the latest news on the game as we as a few exclusive items just for our lucky readers. The first newsletter will be sent out at the end of this month so make sure you don't miss out!

Wish is planned for release in Q4 2004. More information about Wish can be found at http://www.mutablerealms.com and a Beta signup form is located at http://www.themis-group.com/wish/beta_app.phtml.

IGN has just posted their twelfth "Peek of the Week" for Realms of Torment.  This week they are taking a look at the stealth system.  Here is a glimpse:

Below is a summary of the stealth system based on what has been decided up until now. It can - and it probably will be - subject to future changes, as it still doesn't satisfy us completely. The main reason we decided to put the following type of stealth system in our game is the lack of a proper environment that would actually allow a true simulation of stealth techniques - high grass, darkness, slow movement, etc. due to inadequate environmental props in online worlds in general.

To read the full preview, just click here.

Mythica Realms has posted a few shots from the developers showing terrain maps, skill charts and other goodies.  You can check them out at the following links:

Link 1: Terrain Map
Link 2: Matt Wilson with skill chart
Link 3: Some great landscapes

   The folks at Blizzard have posted a link to a preview given to the people over at www.gamespy.com. Check out the links below to read the preview, it gives an excellent glimpse of what we can expect from World of Warcraft.

Gamespy Preview: http://www.gamespy.com/previews/january04/wowpc/index.shtml

World of Warcraft Official website: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/