Guild Wars 2 Blue Ribbon Winner

Guild Wars 2 was named "Best of Show" at Eurogamer Expo 2011.  It beat out nine other titles including Battlefield 3 and Super Mario 3D for the coveted prize.  The Eurogamer's Best of Show Award was chosen the Eurogamer.net editorial staff.  Eurogamer is Europe's leading independent gaming media specialist, making the award quite a accomplishment.  All of the ten nominees where playable at the expo for the thirty thousand attendees over four days at the Earls Court.  Guild War 2 won for its incredible depth and intelligent new mmo design.

Here's a list of all the nominees.

Guild Wars 2 (NCsoft/ArenaNet)

At a Distance (Terry Cavanagh)
Batman: Arkham City (Warner Bros./Rocksteady)
Battlefield 3 (EA/DICE)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision/Infinity Ward)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve/Hidden Path)
Dark Souls (Namco Bandai/From Software)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Softworks/Bethesda Game Studios)
Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo)
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Sony/Naughty Dog)

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Star Wars: The Old Republic Launches December 20th

A surprise announcement by Bioware, the developers of Star Wars: The Old Republic, has finally been dated. The story driven MMORPG will be rolling out December 20th or earlier if you pre-ordered and are in the head start. Subscription details were also given out by Bioware.

Monthly fees will set you back $14.99, but by buying additional blocks of time makes the rate cheaper, 3 months time is $41.97, while 6 months comes in at $77.94, pretty standard MMO fee's in the industry.

“This is an incredible moment for everyone at BioWare and our partners at LucasArts who have dedicated their lives to build this extraordinary game. We appreciate the patience from the millions of fans who have been waiting for the game’s release.”

Fans dying to play Star Wars: The Old Republic are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, after years of waiting. The announcement comes a day after one of the biggest PC games of the season, Diablo III got pushed back to 2012.


SWTOR Site

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DC Universe Online Goes Free To Play

Next in line for the Free-to-Play treatment which is at no big surprise, DC Universe Online. Going Fremium at the end of October, DC Universe Online will have three tiers of access.

Players will be able to download the game free of charge on PlayStation 3 or PC and immediately begin playing.

Tiers will be in the three flavors free, premium and legendary:

Free limits players to two character slots with low limits on money and item slots. Players will be able to purchase packs and character slots through micro-transactions.

Premium is for players who spent at least $5 in money or in the past subscribed to the game. This tier gets a higher money and item space limits with additional character slots. Premium members can also purchase packs through micro-transactions.

Legendary the final tier, it will set you back $14.99 a month, which is the current monthly fee. It has more than 15 character slots, 80 inventory spaces and no money limits. All packs for Legendary access will be free but with limited features.

DCUO was a very fun game to play on PlayStation 3, it did not feel like a complete MMORPG, but rather a single player game. So it's great to see options open for people who want to pay or piece meal it together.

Head on over to http://www.dcuniverseonline.com/free/ to see the complete tier breakdown.

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Phantasy Star Online 2 TGS 2011 Trailer

Sega was showing off Phantasy Star Online 2 via live stream. Youtube member InitialF7 managed to record the TGS 2011 Trailer.

We can see lots of different weapon types, and for the first time in-game FOnewmn, with his funky clown self. Even FOCast/Caseals make an appereance, which is new to the Phantasy Star Online series.

A brand new city area is shown infested with tons of alien monsters to slay or pew pew. Fighting giant monsters looks great and the music is very PSO'ish. The alpha to Phantasy Star Online 2 ended a few weeks ago and will be moving into the beta phase in the upcoming weeks.

Supposedly launching in 2011 at least in Japan, it would be great to get back into Phantasy Star Online series, after putting in thousands of hours into it on Dreamcast

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Guild Wars 2 Shows Off The Little People

The tiny race of Guild Wars 2 known as the Asura, they are very intelligent (what little race isn't?"). They value intelligence above all, which can cause these little guys to develop a superiority complex. Asura are also the most skilled magic race in the world of Guild Wars 2. As you can see from the trailer, the heavy magic use is just about in everything the Asura create from the golems to the huge floating buildings powered by magic. Arenanet released a video showing a city of these little guys, as they bounce about happily. Guild Wars 2 environments are amazing animated art, check it out yourself below.

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SWTOR Smuggler progression comes out of the shadows!

Bioware released a video today of the Smuggler progression for Star Wars: The Old Republic.  SWTOR once again looks awesome with this video.  We get to see how the Gunslinger is going to have lot's of tricks and quick draw techniques, while the Scoundrel is going to be closer to the rogue style with heals or stealth techniques.  The Smuggler will fill a support or dps role in the game, allowing for healing or damage dealing respectively.

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TERA Gamescom Dungeon Crawl

Frogster Interactive Pictures will be bringing us TERA, a action-mmo set to be released in spring of 2012.  Today they unveiled a video of the dungeon "The Necromancy Research Office".  People where invited to checkout  the dungeon at Gamescom 2011.  It gives a good unveil of how fast paced the combat of the game is going to be in a party set up.  While maintaining a fun chaos it doesn't seem to be overwhelming. The bosses and monsters look outstanding on a visual level but from what we get to see in the video it looks like TERA will be bringing us the same encounters we are used to; area-of-effect spells, frontal cone assaults, enrage timers.  These same mechanics are tried and true in almost every mmo on the market lately.  So as far as eye candy goes TERA is "looking" really good, but I guess we will have to wait and see what new game-play features this one has in plan.

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Trek Online For Free

The latest game to get the free-to-play treatment is at no real surprise Cryptic Studio's Star Trek Online. Later this year, Star Trek Online when free-to-play launches, anyone will be able download and play the game for free and not have to spend a single penny.

All players will get access to Star Trek Online's various features for free, such as customizing avatars, crews and space ships.

Anyone who signs up will be able to piece meal the game through a online store. Players who currently play, get moved to 'Gold Members' tier if they keep subscribing for $14.99. New players will also be able to sign up for 'Gold Members' for $14.99 a month.

The differences between subscription and free-to-play can be found here: http://www.startrekonline.com/f2p

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DragonQuest 10 Goes MMORPG

Details of the unveiling are still a little scarce outside of Japan, but the big reveal today by Square-Enix is Dragonquest X. Slated for the Wii and Wii U, DragonQuest X will be an MMORPG, with a hinted subscription fee.

Featuring 5 races, skills, abilities, housing system, and the ability to loan a character to someone else, to grind for you. Square-Enix has stated that the game will be able to be enjoyed by yourself, however this does not mean it has offline play similar Phantasy Star Online.

Square-Enix's stocks dropped sharply after the announcement, I suppose investors do not have much faith in the game, after the dreadful Final Fantasy XIV disaster. So readers, do you agree with the investors? Is this another Final Fantasy XIV?

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EverQuest II Releases War of Zek Update

A new update pack for EverQuest II has become available today providing even more content to the legacy of Norrath, as announced by Sony Online Entertainment via their website. It continues the tale from the previous expansion and will allow the players to face off with Rallos Zek, the God of War. This is to be the sixty first update to the game, and I shall go into what it offers further in the post.

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Its Party Time! Happy 6 month Birthday to Rift

Its Rift's half birthday!  Trion World's will be celebrating the 6 month anniversary of there popular MMO with a week long celebration featuring prizes and in game bonus's. People will receive bonus XP, Presitge, and Favor all week long. There will also be contests! Check after the break for more details on the contests and a special video to get you in the birthday spirit.

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Grand Fantasia is Moving on up

Aeria Games, a publisher of many free to play MMORPGs, has today announced a treasure trove of content, and a new server.

This is Grand Fantasia's biggest Content patch ever, with many new additions being added:

• Introduction of World PvP – Players now have the option to duke it out amongst each other with the introduction of World PvP. Gain exclusive “PK Club” fame points that are redeemable for “PvP rewards.”
• Additional Maps, Dungeons and Instances – Visit the “Nightmare Corridors,” a 2-player instanced dungeon with over 30 floors that will keep players on their feet.
• Level Cap Raise –Players now have the ability to achieve up to level 85 especially with the help of additional dungeons and instances in game.
• New “Looking for Party” Function – If players had trouble finding partners to complete quests there is now an option to “Auto Party” in-game that will allow players an easier method to team play.
• New Ultimate System – The new Ultimate System allows players to upgrade their stats with the help of the Guardians of Saphael.

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Phantasy Star Online 2 Alpha Impressions Preview

In the alpha test you can choose to create a character of both genders among the three races, Human, Newman, and Cast. The class you can choose from are Hunter, Ranger and Force. 4gamer’s author chose a HUCaseal. They went around the lobby looking at the item shop and weapon shop. Since it was an alpha test, only the beginner items were sold. They also saw other stores around that appeared to be closed. Perhaps in the future these shops will open.

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REVIEW: LEGO Universe

LEGO Universe has pushed into the realm of Free to Play. Well, more like Free to Sample for as long as you like. The game has a few strong points that make it an enjoyable experience. As far as gameplay, it is reminiscent of the other games in the LEGO franchise. More on this after the break.

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Phantasy Star Online 2 Alpha Details, FOnewmen, and More

Today the player login for the Phantasy Star Online 2 Alpha has went live. Players are now able to download the client, with some more information being revealed.

Sega has also posted 2 more new concept art with PSO2's facebook page getting 2,000 likes.

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HUnewearl and FOcast Concept Art Reveal

Today SEGA revealed new concept art, on the Phantasy Star Online 2 facebook page. This was a reward for receiving 1,000 likes on it's page.

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Phantasy Star Online 2: Fonewearl Concept Art & New Info

Some new info was revealed about Phantasy Star Online 2 on PSO2's facebook page and website, along with some concept art and new pictures.

• There will be multi-party quests, in addition to multi-party areas.
• Techniques and items can be linked to the number key palette menu.
• Lip color will be a character creation customization option.

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Star Wars The Old Republic - The Esseles

The Friday updates on the Star Wars The Old Republic's website today is a gameplay video. This video shows off one of the first flash points in the game, which are instanced dungeons.

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Phantasy Star Online 2 Concept Movie and Info

Earlier today, as promised, SEGA revealed tons of new info about Phantasy Star Online 2, including a new trailer.

Many new features were shown, including virtual lobbies, 12 player party areas, new weapons, advanced character creator, new monsters, and a new type of leveling system, . After the break is the trailer.

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Star Wars The Old Republic: Join the Fight

Bioware has released the Comic Con 2011 trailer for everyone to see. It features short intro's to all 8 classes available in Star Wars The Old Republic.

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