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Today's Hare-Brained Thought: I'm building my own MMO. I call It...The Alan Parsons Project...what?

DARK AGE OF CAMELOT: Mythic EA have announced a new expansion pack for DARK AGE OF CAMELOT. 'Labyrinth of the Minotaur' introduces the new, playable Minotaur race, a new player class (The Mauler), new Champion levels and what is apparently "the largest single dungeon in any MMO". Hit the official LotM site for further details.

Quote: "Dark Age of Camelot celebrates its fifth anniversary with the release of Labyrinth of the Minotaur, the new expansion for the epic fantasy massively-multiplayer online role-playing game...The ancient race of Minotaur has returned to the lands of Albion, Midgard, and Hibernia to reclaim powerful but corrupt relics hidden long ago by their ancestors. Lust for these relics once brought about the downfall of the powerful Minotaur kingdom and their evil influence now threatens the kingdoms of Man."

VANGUARD: New VANGUARD: SAGA OF HEROES screens have been heroically appearing on the web in recent days. Hop to WarCry and Ten Ton Hammer for must-see look-sees. Thisun jes keeps gettin' purtier 'n' purtier. Yeeehaaaw! (source: mmorpgdot)

Quote: "We received a little gift from Sigil this evening--four exclusive screenshots for your viewing pleasure! We don't have any specific information about where these were taken, but we do know they come to you from Beta 3."

WARHAMMER ONLINE: EA Mythic have finished the last chapter for their magnificent WARHAMMER ONLINE trailer. Hit up FilePlanet for the download. This time around you can see what the Human Empire and Chaos armies will look like. Get 'Hammered. Oh, you can read about it too.

Now, when will they go ahead and make an entirely CG WARHAMMER flick? I'd be first in line.

Quote: "Created by Venice, CA based Blur Studio, the final chapter of the trailer features a hammer wielding Warrior Priest of Sigmar and a heavily armored Chaos Warrior engaged in a climactic fight to the death. Undersized and overmatched, the Warrior Priest will need more than just divine intervention from his patron deity, Sigmar, to survive the bludgeoning onslaught of the Chaos Warrior’s spiked mace and axe."

HERO'S JOURNEY: FiringSquad have interviewed Simutronics' Neil Harris, who explains the creation and positive points of their MMO creation tool, HeroEngine. Bioware recently signed-on to use HeroEngine for the development of their still-under-wraps MMO project, so you know the engine has it good under the hood. Rev it up and let it fly Hero. (source: blues)

Quote: "It is a huge challenge, both technologically and from a design standpoint. HeroEngine currently includes more than 3 million lines of code and took a team of engineers five years to build. Before beginning development we spent several years designing the engine. Without our experience -- we build our first multiplayer RPG back in 1988 -- it would have been impossible to get it right."

Can one eager, young programmer design and create an MMO all by himself? Find out at Joystiq in an article entitled, "MMO neophyte designs MMO by himself". I find this tale inspiring yet, Woolery's statement that he has never even played an MMO baffles me. Can the finished game (should it ever reach that point) be any good? You've got to play a few MMOs before you even have some inkling of what works and what doesn't. Oh well, it's all very punk rock - so I applaud the man. Go go MMO! (source: blues)

Quote: "Gavan H. Woolery isn't letting his inexperience with massively-multiplayer games stop him from designing one. The 24-year old computer programmer from California recently made public Genesis, a game that aims to be the 'first truly dynamic massively-multiplayer online game.' Woolery spent the last two years designing Genesis on his own, despite his admission that he has 'never played a MMOG in my life.' "

Today's Hare-Brained Thought: I need a Chuzzle MMO! You cannot deny the Chuzzle.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT: Hi hi 'bunny hoppers and welcome to 'WoW Wednesday™'. Another amazing set of WORLD OF WARCRAFT Rares screenshots awaits you below (The new shots have been added to our 'Rares Gallery' where you can explore past entries.) Enjoy responsibly. For the Fury o' Stone me brothers!

URU LIVE: GameTap have announced the start of Closed Beta for URU LIVE, the now-its-canceled-now-its-not Myst MMO. Interested point 'n' clickers ready for some social puzzle-solving can sign-up and hope for an invite soon. Good Luck!

Quote: "Scheduled to launch this fall, “Myst Online: Uru Live” received an overwhelmingly positive response when it was announced by GameTap at the E3 convention in May. Consumers can go to www.urulive.com and sign up for a potential spot in the open beta scheduled in the coming months." (source: blues)

GUILD WARS: If you hop to the official GUILD WARS site you can download and ogle a brand new Nightfall trailer. This gorgeous, 2 1/2 minute coming attraction features magical North African-themed environments, new class combat and a number of heretofore unseen mobs. Must see.

Quote: "Here's your chance to take an exclusive look into the world of Guild Wars Nightfall! For your viewing pleasure, we’ve put together a trailer of this exciting new campaign, featuring glimpses of breathtaking cities, lush landscapes, and terrifying new foes. Also previewed is brand new footage of our Dervish and Paragon professions."

Microsoft is warning MMO developers that pirates and thieves are targeting their games. This much we already knew - but here it is in print for the general public to try and grasp. Why is that virtual item so meaningful to you? Are you mad, sir? Read the news.

Quote: " 'For a lot of the customers out there, there is more store value on their MMO characters than there is on the credit card with which they pay for the account,' said Weinstein. 'The police are really good at understanding someone stole my credit card and ran up a lot of money. It's a lot harder to get them to buy into 'someone stole my magic sword.' "

PIRATES OF THE BURNING SEA: G-Spy are doing the preview thing for PIRATES OF THE BURNING SEA. Mr. Delsyn loves the avatars and ship-to-ship warfare but worries about the harsh death penalties and lack of land-based combat. Set sail.

Quote: " 'City of Heroes showed us a couple of things,' Williams says. 'First, an MMO doesn't have to be based in fantasy to be successful. Second, an MMO can be a great game just by selecting one or two aspects of gameplay and doing them really, really well.' "

Today's Hare-Brained Thought: We're hard at work on a gamebunny re-design, which we hope to prop in a few weeks if all goes well. Stay tuned...

WORLD OF WARCRAFT: A slew of new WORLD OF WARCRAFT 'Burning Crusade' expansion news has hit the web over the past few days:

IGN outlines competitive PvP and the giant Kharazan instance, amongst other things, and has pretty new screens to savor

UGO interviews Blizz Designer, Kevin Jordan and provides downloadable 'Crusade' videos

Joystiq chats with Blizz's Jeff Kaplan, Games Radar previews with screenies, and finally, G-Spy and G-Spot also do the BC thing. Wow. Media overload. We must finally be getting closer to a release date announcement.

Quote: "As you're leveling up, you run through all the Outland instances at their default difficulty. You'll earn gear commensurate for your level, and the challenges will be tuned as such. Once you hit 70, however, your group leaders will have the option of running dungeons on "Elite" difficulty. This will tune the challenges to a level 70 group and increase the relative value of the rewards. At this point, there aren't any plans include such an option for the game's existing dungeons, though Chilton said that we shouldn't dismiss the possibility." (source: blues)

CARPE DIEM: Persistent World's medieval fantasy MMO, CARPE DIEM has entered the Alpha stage. That puts the game on-track for Closed Beta to begin in 2 weeks or so. Make sure you're signed up to seize the game.

Quote: " 'The Alpha test will allow us to ensure that all servers, support and game play changes are working properly before moving to the next stage.' Said Phil White, Director of Technology and Operations. 'We have put a lot into this game so we need to test it thoroughly. I got the bears in but not the dancing girls!' "

THRONES OF CHAOS: Loud Ant are shouting about their new Chaos Engine in an article at the official THRONES OF CHAOS site. The feature-rich MMO engine can be yours for as little as 75k. Pocket change I tell ya! Have a peek.

Quote: "The Chaos Engine MMOG Development Suite is a state-of-the art engine and tool set created by seasoned professionals that renders Massively multi-player worlds. It provides tools for easy development of your online worlds, placing mobs, and even particle system creation...Special Effects Environment Mapping, Lens Flares, Particle System, Depth of Field, Motion Blur, Sky, Water, Fire, Explosion, Fog, Weather, Mirror: Weather system with wind, clouds, rain, snow..."

TINY WARZ: MobRule Studios sent word that their Turn-Based Strategy MMO, TINY WARZ is celebrating its first year of life. In the past 12 months new planets, improved Chat, Alien Invasions, hot keys, FireFox support and more have been added to the game. Tiny link.

Quote: "TinyWarz, the massively multiplayer turn-based strategy game turned One today! MobRuleStudios would like to thank all the players who have supported us; TinyWarz has grown by leaps and bounds during this last year - New Planets, Improved Chat, Alien Invasions, Hot Keys, FireFox Support, and even more to come!"

EVE ONLINE: EVE ONLINE's Lead Programmer, Matthías Guðmundsson answers a small shipload of questions regarding the game over at Gamers Info. The future of EVE, working with Windows Vista and going out for a few beers are the topics of discussion. Mmmmm...beeer. (source: blues)

Quote: "I play EVE quite casually and sporadically. As such, I rely on my trusty agents to give me juicy kill missions whenever I want. To enjoy the game I need to shut down my programmer brain for a while. Once when I was starting with a new character I did some major career planning by running a lot of queries on the DB. Using that info I was going to maximize my agent / skill / ISK / loot gain in as smallest time as possible. It really didn't work out and it really wasn't any fun either."

Today's Hare-Brained Thought: Missed Opportunity # 316: Heavy Metal Magazine - The MMO.

DARK AND LIGHT: Farlan Entertainment, publishers of DARK AND LIGHT, have decided not to charge subscribers for the next three months of play. The unexpectedly-kind move comes as a result of the MMO being unfinished and buggy (to paraphrase). Read the awkwardly-translated news. (source: virginworlds)

I give the company props for at least owning up to their mistakes. A fine start towards improvement. Now, about releasing the game in the first place in an Alpha state...

Quote: "Farlan Entertainment decided to stop, for the three next months, all invoicing of monthly payments and game credits to the subscribers of Dark and Light, thus providing ample time for the integration of the corrective measures and the improvements required by the players. This polishing task has already started since June and first results could be seen in the latest major patch."

ULTIMATE BASEBALL ONLINE: Netamin's ULTIMATE BASEBALL ONLINE 2006 gets a preview peek over at 1-up. One of these days the game will be officially "released" and presumably begin charging a fee - but as of now - it's free. Always a good thing. Play ball.

Quote: "Regardless of the mode you play, you will always be gaining experience. Riding a hitting streak, residing on the giving end of a double play, or striking three batters out in a row are all examples of things you can do to gain experience points. When you gain enough to increase your level, you will be given one Skill Point to spruce up your pitching or hitting caliber and three Performance Points to allocate into any of seven categories such as stamina or arm strength."

GUILD WARS: MMO Lopez at G-Spy investigates and evaluates GUILD WARS in a 'State of the Game' article. How is ArenaNet's MMO holding up after a year and a half of subscription-free action? Have a reader.

Quote: "Judging by our review scores, it would seem that we at GameSpy are fans of the game -- both the original release and the first standalone campaign scored very well by our reckoning. In this installment of State of the Game, however, we're taking the long view of Guild Wars, revealing its shortcomings and peering into its future."

ARCHLORD: Codemasters have released a new movie, showing off the various mounts of ARCHLORD. Dragons included. The only hitch is, you do have to be a Code M member (it's free) to view the trailer. Watch it.

Quote: "If you visit the download section of the website you will now find the fantastic new mount movie available for download. This is a 30 second video of the various mounts that are available in the game, including the ArchLord Dragon Mount! So why not go ahead and download it?"

LINEAGE II: If you're brave enough to take a 'Blood Oath', then go ahead and hop to IGN for a LINEAGE II Chronicle 5: Oath of Blood video. The gameplay trailer features a look at two new castles arriving with the free expansion.

Quote: "A free expansion pack to the MMORPG sequel. With numerous improvements for new players and veterans, Lineage II Chronicle 5: Oath of Blood features revitalized Player vs. Player combat, an enhanced clan system, new Castles and Territories, and more."

SOE has gone ahead and purchased the world. Or rather, "key assets" from 10-year-old Collectable Card Game creators, Worlds Apart Productions. A news report at Gamasutra says Sony will assimilate certain employees from Worlds Apart and meld them into the SOE Denver office. Pwned!

Quote: " 'This is a way to expand SOE's business into a very attractive market that is consistently growing at a fast rate,' said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. 'With this acquisition, we've expanded the range of online games that SOE can offer, as well as offering entirely new play mechanics and activities that could be built into both current and future titles.' "

Today's Hare-Brained Thought: Non-Sequel, Number MMOs: 2Moons, 3rd World, Second Life, Meridian 59, Frontier 1859, 9Dragons, The 4th Coming, WWII Online, Citizen Zero

WORLD OF WARCRAFT: Hi and howdy. Today we're proud to celebrate another 'WoW Wednesday™' We've managed to scrounge up another quartet of exceptional WORLD OF WARCRAFT Rares screenshots (The new shots have been added to our 'Rares Gallery' where you can explore past entries.) Inspect and enjoy the generically-named, Large Loch Crocolisk and the unusually-monikered, Alshirr Banebreath.

2MOONS: Acclaim have unveiled first details, screens and concepts for a new MMO adventurously-entitled 2MOONS. In a chat, available in both text and audio versions at MMORPG.com, Acclaim's new partner, famed developer, David Perry spills exclusive information. Shiny Moons! (source: mmorpgdot)

Quote: "The game is a cooperative venture between Acclaim’s California studio and Korean developers. Despite this, Perry was emphatic that 2Moons is being developed with a western audience firmly in mind. Perry also hinted that he would be doing more games, of diverse themes for Acclaim."

BioWare Austin have chosen HeroEngine for use in the creation of their still-secret persistent world. HeroEngine from Simutronics, powers fantasy MMO, HERO'S JOURNEY, and I can tell you from first-hand experience that the engine is robust and mightily-attractive in-motion. Smart choice BioWare - now, when will you reveal the what, whys and wherefores regarding your first MMO? I'm feeling particularly impatient today. Read the press stress.

Quote: " 'At BioWare we selected HeroEngine because it had the most sophisticated and complete development tools available for building an amazing online experience,' said Gordon Walton, Co-Studio Director of BioWare Austin. 'Our team wanted a great rapid prototyping environment and to work with experienced MMO developers. The HeroEngine from Simutronics is a perfect fit for BioWare Austin's requirements.' "

CHRONICLES OF SPELLBORN: The official CHRONICLES OF SPELLBORN site has its first Community Q&A online. The TCOS dev team take the time to answer fan questions regarding the game's starter areas, mail system, monster loot drops and more. Spell it out. (source: mmorpgdot)

Quote: "There are many kinds of enemies to be defeated in The Chronicles of Spellborn. Each pf these enemies belongs to a specific faction. These factions enable us do make some really interesting loot-tables. You can expect to receive many types of items such as weapon, armour, resources and crafting recipes. Most factions will additionally drop faction specific loot depending on their level. These faction items are always broken and need to be completed with a crafting process before usage. Looting in TCoS is going to be an exciting and rewarding part of the game."

Today's Hare-Brained Thought: Classic Duran Duran lyric: So why don't you use it?, Try not to bruise it, Buy time don't lose it, The Reflex is an only child he's waiting in the park...
News

SECOND LIFE: 80s superstars, Duran Duran will be performing a virtual concert inside Social MMO, SECOND LIFE. The big event, on a newly-created island, is set for sometime next month. You can read the BBC news report for further details.

Regardless of how newsworthy you view this musical happening, it gives me the highly-pleasurable opportunity to post a picture of Duran Duran on gamebunny. A first!

Quote: "Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes said of the project: 'Second Life has brought a third dimension to the internet; it is the new frontier where dreams have become reality. When the video revolution began we instantly saw the opportunity to experiment and explore a new form of expression to enhance the musical experience. Second Life is the future right now, offering endless possibilities for artists.' "

GODS & HEROES: SOE and Perpetual Entertainment have released a flurry of fresh GODS & HEROES media. Approximately 1 bazillion new screenshots can be enjoyed (at outlets such as 3D Gamers and FileFront) and a few delectable minutes of gameplay footage can be downloaded as well.

Quote: "He had never heard the coliseum before, only seen it from afar and imagined what something so imposing could be like. Enormous, majestic, and maybe even cruel--he could imagine a hundred ways to define what he had seen, but never once had it occurred to him that it could be defined by a sound. He never would have believed that it was this oppressing sonance, this dichotomous roar of rhythm and chaos that is the unequivocal definition of the coliseum itself. It is alive, Atticus thought to himself. These walls are awake and they are screaming for blood."

HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS MMO: According to a news posting at Pacific Epoch, Chinese game devs, Woncore Communications have almost completed production of an MMO based on the House of Flying Daggers film. T2CN Entertainment hope to release the game near the end of the year or early 2007. Stab it. (source: blues)

THRONES OF CHAOS: If you hop over to the official THRONES OF CHAOS site you can eyeball some new character media. Elves with bouncing ears and hirsute Dwarves are the order of the day. A brief Status Update is also provided. Chaotic! (source: mmorpgdot)

Quote: "There are lots of good things showing up all over the place form the design department, new character models, new animations, new character features. We have new servers being installed this week and we plan to jump right into testing and debugging."

WARHAMMER ONLINE: CVG has posted a preview of WARHAMMER ONLINE. An interview with Games Workshop Licensing Manager, Erik Mogensen is the centerpiece of the article.

In related news, Mythic have a new feature on-site called 'Armies of WAR' which provides info on each side, Chaos and Order, in the ongoing battle. Dwarf Ironbreaker or Black Orc? - you decide.

Quote: "In Warhammer, dwarves are dour Yorkshireman, while the isolationist and superior dark elves have a fairly solid whiff of Americana. And orcs? Well, they're English football hooligans. There may be fun to be wrung from their stupidity, but they're savage bastards. Tolkien's taped-down world feels like weedy escapism in comparison; Warhammer has more of a fun sense of brutal allegory."

Today's Hare-Brained Thought: How long until "Woot", "Leet" and a new definition for "Tanking" make it into the dictionary?

WARHAMMER ONLINE: Happy Friday everyone! Today we celebrate the weekend by presenting our exclusive interview with WARHAMMER ONLINE's Sanya Weathers. Click away for the lowdown on the current development status for this highly-anticipated MMO from EA Mythic. Hammers of WAR!

Quote: "Really classic fantasy isn’t a happy frolicking elf in a meadow, there’s blood and guts and betrayal and revenge. Warhammer has all that and tentacles."

LORD OF THE RINGS: The playfields of Middle-earth are inching closer to completion. Turbine have announced the start of limited Alpha Testing for the long-in-development, LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE: Shadows of Angmar MMO. It was also announced that "tens of thousands" of additional people will be invited into Beta soon. Sign on the line - if you haven't taken the time yet.

Quote: "We're pleased to announce that The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ (LOTRO) has entered Alpha! This means for the first time, a limited number of people outside of Turbine are invited to play the game -- creating characters, fighting Orcs, meeting famous characters, and exploring the vast lands of Middle-earth™."

ARCHLORD: On August 11th FilePlanet subscribers will have an exclusive opportunity to Beta Test ARCHLORD. FilePlanet subscribers, or as I call them, "Lucky luckouts" will want to hit this page for sign-ups and details. Do it!

Quote: "RAISE AN ARMY, RULE THE WORLD. Set in the mystical world of Chantra, ArchLord™ is a stunning blend of fantasy & medieval action providing a truly unique experience to Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming.Every month, working with your fellow guild one player will take control of the entire game world and gain the opportunity to wreak havoc upon their cowering enemies using a number of supreme, ArchLord™ powers! For there can be only one ArchLord!"

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: Turbine's DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach site has posted info for the 'Litany of the Dead Part One' update due later this month. Hop over for an idea of what awaits intrepid adventures in The Necropolis. Scary, eh kids? (source: blues)

Quote: "Tomb of the Burning Heart...The Abbot will need soldiers for his armies when the Dead Time comes, thus the purpose behind this tomb. The Burning Heart is where undead warriors train their deadly skills, secure behind gated walls."

MINIONS OF MIRTH: A new update for Prairie Games' sorta-MMO, MINIONS OF MIRTH is now available. Patch v1.02 adds new monsters and quests as well as guild options and the expected array of bug fixes, game balance adjustments, nerfs and tweaks. Oh, the Mirth! (source: blues)

Quote: "Added Gameplay panel to options. In singleplayer, you can control the respawn of enemies and the game's difficulty...Alliance members now get notifications of what other alliance members are looting...Added the Tomb of Pharoah Tarkus to the Desert of Mohrum."

GODS & HEROES: New GODS & HEROES: Rome Rising screens and videos are up at IGN. The vids show off "the active combat animations and combos in Perpetual's upcoming MMO."

G&H Combat Quote: "Every class has their own series of combat moves, each with custom animations - which gives combat its unique action feel. From the crushing blows of the mighty Cyclopes to the vicious Chimera, Gods and Heroes puts the power of the Gods in your hands."

VANGUARD: The official VANGUARD: Saga of Heroes webby is presenting a nice new batch of tester-taken screenshots. Sigil's fantasy MMO is certainly a good-looker and you'll want to spy these pics. In related VANGUARD news; you can grab a fresh taste of concept art, a gorgeous new gameplay video and an interview with Associate Designer, Lisa Boleyn at Online Welton.

Quote: "You choose how important quests are to you in Vanguard. Quests support the play experience, but are not necessary to your character's progression. You can chose to be guided almost entirely by quests, or you can go through your character's entire life without ever doing one - it's up to you."

Today's Hare-Brained Thought: Computer Gaming World magazine is dead, re-named Games for Windows. I'm thinking of changing the name of this site to gamebunny for Windows.com. Whaddya think? Too shameless?

ARCHLORD: Codemaster's have been stoking the PR fires for their upcoming high-fantasy MMO, ARCHLORD. Yesterday, the UK-based company announced the availability of ARCHLORD Pre-Order Packs. Today, you can catch three new looks at the game. Ten Ton Hammer has an interview with Community Liaison, Tim Hodges. MMORPG chats with Hwan Kim from developers, NHN, and 1-Up has a preview. Them arches is saturated!

MMORPG Quote: "Many elements of ArchLord are based around principles of solo play, this includes the crafting skills and many quests. In fact almost 80% of ArchLord is solo play. The rest is made of group play in the form of quests, raid bosses and guild related adventures."

John Smedley's SOE Blog has seen an update from the big man. Smed said he's back from Shanghai and the China Joy show, mightily-pleased how Sony's new MMOs are shaping up. Clues can be found regarding the settings and direction of SOE's slate of upcoming persistent worlds. (source: mmoz)

Quote: "One of the things I like best about SOE’s overall development direction is that we’re creating a wide variety of new games. We have four diverse MMO titles in internal development...Each of these new games is aimed at a very different market and all of them are in different genres. From our perspective, it’s time to shake things up a bit in the online gaming space. We’re aiming for very high production values that will bring us (and gamers) into completely new places. We’re bringing mercenaries, spies, super-heroes and a new whimsical world to life as I write this."

SHENMUE ONLINE: Famed game designer, Yu Suzuki has been showing off SHENMUE ONLINE in recent days. Suzuki presented a video at the China Joy 2006 convention which gave eager onlookers a view of game environments spiced with action-packed battles. Guess the MMO may actually be released one of these days - in Asia at least. Read the Mues.

Quote: "4Gamers posted a new video for the upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game Shenmue Online. The movie, which clocks in at over six and a half minutes in length, gives a few hints about the game's class system. The video seemed to show that each class would be further divided into intermediate and advanced specializations. Apparently there will be two possible intermediate and three advanced specializations for each class. The video caption also mentioned that there will be quests for players to complete, over 150 of which will be ready for the open beta test."

RYZOM: In the RYZOM news department: G-Spot are proffering 'First Impressions' of the 'Ryzom Ring' expansion. Writer, Phil Elliot describes the powerful tools available for user-generated content and how it all plays out in-game. Photogs included. Build it.

Quote: "One of the simple delights of Ryzom Ring is the ability to immediately test any scripting you implement with the click of a single button--something that makes editing your scenarios much easier. When you preview your work, you'll be using the standard Ryzom interface, and you can choose to actually play a part in your story as well--your onscreen avatar can perform all of the functions that other characters in the game could, with the added bonus of being able to influence the outcome of battles."

SECOND LIFE: Linden Lab are adding something they are calling "Expressive Puppeteering" to Social MMO, SECOND LIFE. The somewhat creepily-named technology will enable players to "manipulate their avatars in real time, resulting in unique movements and gestures." Advanced emotes basically, ripe for machinima exploitation. Sounds promising. (source: blues)

In related news, CBS News report on SECOND LIFE in an article entitled 'Is Virtual Life Better Than Reality?'. We all know the answer to that question, eh readers?

Quote: "As hard as this may be to believe, there is real money changing hands among the players in these games, Bowen reports. An estimated $1 billion worldwide is spent by users buying and selling virtual goods, such as furniture for virtual houses and clothing for their avatars. But it's paid for with real-world credit cards — at Second Life alone, $6 million a month."

Today's Hare-Brained Thought: MMO Predictions: The sequel to Hero Online will be called Anti-Hero Online.

HERO ONLINE: MGame's HERO ONLINE has officially launched. This free-to-play, Martial Arts-themed MMO offers a storyline written by novelist, Kum Kang, "Realistic fighting techniques", and a Reward System that tracks a players' monster kills and doles out gifts of items, experience, and rank. Have a go and break a leg, you big, beautiful hero you!

Quote: "Hero Online is a masterpiece created by three generations of distinguished martial art novelists...Player characters learn many skills and forms. Every form has its distinct motion, damage, and impact. While they will not available from the beginning, skills will be attainable as players’ skill-experience increase."

WARHAMMER ONLINE: EA Mythic's Executive Warlord, Mark Jacobs holds court on the future potential of WARHAMMER ONLINE in an intriguing Q&A at Gamasutra. The main thrust of the involved, 4-pg. chat is Mythic's recent sale to EA and how WAR might fare against WORLD OF WARCRAFT. No illusions.

Quote: "I’d like to be number one in the online space. I’d like to make EA number one in the online space. I think we can get there. But I’d be very foolish, and a liar – and I’m neither – if I said that we were absolutely going to get there. Because almost every time, and you’ll notice Blizzard never said this publicly, almost any time a company says that, they almost always fail."

STAR WARS GALAXIES: Over at WarCry, 'Sabrehawk' interviews STAR WARS GALAXIES' Producer, Grant McDaniel. McDaniel describes the method in SWG's re-design madness and says all will be well with the troubled game eventually. Have Force, Will Travel. (source: mmoz)

Quote: "Finding out what the players like and don't like is a big part of McDaniel's job. As producer and team leader, he works mainly with the various development teams, but also spends a lot of time paying attention to the players, wading through the forums with the patience of a fisherman looking for that perfect catch – in this case, useful suggestions and feedback. 'It can be a challenge, but it's a lot of fun [dealing with the community],' McDaniel said. 'Ultimately, they are very passionate. They're by far the most passionate group of players I've seen. A lot of that is due to the fact that they're Star Wars fans.' "

ARCHLORD: GameDaily have published their 'Impressions' of Codemaster's ARCHLORD. Impression-provider, Greg Atkinson sees promise in this Korean-made, high-fantasy massively-arched world. Read it. (source: blues)

Quote: "And what's so great about being the ArchLord? Well...you get a floating castle, but there's plenty more. People in power are always imposing figures (at least in fantasy, anyway), so your avatar will be at least double the size of every other player. Of course a king has his taxes, which you can set from atop your mighty floating throne. And should you choose to leave your floating bastion it wouldn't do to see you strolling down to town without fanfare or walking on dirt roads like a commoner, so you'll be given a massive flying dragon that breathes fire."

If there's one thing all gamers can agree on, it's that free = good. Therefore, I joyfully point you in the direction of FilePlanet's page full o' Free MMO Trials. Hop over and explore the likes of WORLD OF WARCRAFT, EVERQUEST II, FLYFF and many more, all for nada bones. Such a deal!

Quote: "Step into an ancient world or soar through the cosmos with FilePlanet's collection of Massively Multiplayer Game Trials! We've got titles old or new, simple or complex... enough entertainment on this one page to keep you busy for months. Discover your next addiction!"