Eurogamer in blog format - MMO

War's road to redemption begins.

Croteam's high-def update of the PC blasting classic gets a formal release date.

Rock Band gets light-hearted with the minifigs.

Dotnia experiences an expansion into an entirely new dimension.

Wheee! We're suckers for a bit of dog-fighting, especially with those crazy rear-prop driven Japanese planes.

Sneaky tactics and sharp headshots in the sequel to DICE's jolly battlefield romp.

Blood Bowl gets its first new race in the lithe and dangerous form of the Dark Elves.

Cryptic has announced that Star Trek Online will be in open beta from 12th to 26th January next year.

Keys will be distributed on a first come, first served basis on startrekonline.com. If you really can't wait until then, you can still apply for a closed beta spot. The closed beta is currently underway.

The MMO launches on PC on 2nd February in North America and 5th February in Europe. There's a ton more to read on our Star Trek Online gamepage. Read more...

As an ancient and powerful Umbra witch, Bayonetta has a few handy tricks up her tight sleeves. Here, learn about her flashy, demon-powered killer moves.

Video on demand streaming is coming to the PS3 very soon, with a massive wedge of entertainment waiting at your digital fingertips.

When you're heading into a life or death battle against uncaring robotic overlords, you want to be wearing the right dress.

Cryptic has published details of the next update to its superhero MMO Champions Online, Nemesis Confrontation, which will be released next Tuesday, 24th November.

Featuring a Lair and some new costume sets, it's not a huge update, but it's coming out just a month after the last patch Blood Moon so we'll let Cryptic off. Plus, it headlines our favourite feature of Champions Online - player Nemeses.

The new Lair pits a team of max-level players against alien gladiators and the villain Shadow Destroyer, but also against their individual Nemeses, whom the Destroyer has recruited. You can play it to unlock costume sets themed around the Lair's enemies, or pay for the same sets in the game's item shop. Read more...

Ever wanted a zebra-striped AK-47? Of course you have.

The PSP title slips out, somewhat in the shadow of its big brother.

Meet the two opposing forces of the Avatar world, and choose which one you'll be fighting for.

Series creator Chris Taylor discusses his sequel, and what improvements have been made over the original.

Two short CCTV vignettes with those lovable, psychopathic rogues, Kane and Lynch.

Tecmo KOEI offers a first look at Again, a DS game made by Hotel Dusk developer Cing. Story and contenxt are explained in this clip.

A fantastic job of a sequel, building on strengths and addressing weaknesses - AC II hits the shops this Friday.

The perpetually confined simians return in their first balance board title, jonesing for bananas like the dirty little potassium junkies they are.

With social network integration a hot topic, Sony pumps up its Facebook app.

The hub of all starship activity, the bridge is where the important stuff happens. That and engineering, but engineering is far less glamorous and doesn't have the comfy chairs.

Runic Games boss Max Schaefer has said that the MMO version of its action-RPG Torchlight will be released "in about two years".

He made the comment in an interview with German site PC Games, also pointing out that the community would be able to get involved in alpha and beta testing as soon as possible.

"The MMO will be in pre-production as soon as we finalise issues from launching the single-player," Schaefer said. "It will feature a lot of customization, an overworld, random and instanced dungeons, PVP and much more! Read more...

Sony Online Entertainment is one of, if not the most experienced company in MMOs. It scored one of the genre's breakthrough successes with the first EverQuest, and to this day it operates the widest range of MMOs under a single roof anywhere, including Star Wars Galaxies, PlanetSide, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Vanguard, EverQuest and its sequel. In recent years, however, it has been overshadowed - not just by World of Warcraft, but also by the succession of eager, over-hyped pretenders that have attempted to grab WOW's coat-tails as Blizzard did EverQuest's.

SOE is now undergoing a transformation that began with it formally becoming part of Sony Computer Entertainment - it initially had closer links with Sony Pictures, the Japanese giant's Hollywood presence - last year. That change will see all its future games, including action MMOs The Agency and DC Universe Online, coming to PS3 as well as PC. It's also the first of the old guard to explore new ways to make money in MMOs, launching numerous trading-card spin-offs, introducing micro-transactions to its subscription stalwarts EverQuest and EverQuest II, and earlier this year launching Free Realms, an attempt to capture female and younger players with a free-to-play game that launches from a browser. Free Realms recently celebrated signing up five million registered players.

President John Smedley, who's been with SOE since it started life as Verant, has been instrumental in much of this change. We caught up with him to find out how things are going with the company's new direction. Read more...

BlizzCon could be moving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas next year, if the Las Vegas Convention Centre is to be believed.

The venue lists BlizzCon 2010 for the 30th and 31st July, and says it will have 30,000 attendees - 10,000 more than last year.

However, when WoW.com contacted Blizzard for comment, the company initially said that it hadn't announced any details and advised against making travel plans. Read more...

HalloweenJack frantically switches his useless shotgun for an Uzi, replacing the first gun - which, unhelpfully, looks almost exactly the same as the second one - in its invisible holster. He begins firing at the two clowns in front of him (part of the Rogue gang) and is genuinely impressed as they duck, roll, and return fire. He aims for the chest with the first one, and he dies instantly - HalloweenJack, that is. There isn't enough time left to respawn. The seven-minute timer has expired, and he's booted out of the instance. HalloweenJack comes to a horrible realisation: he was outsmarted and outgunned by two MMO mobs, historically at the lower end of the AI spectrum. Our hero considers logging off and hanging himself, but then he has an epiphany...

To a certain extent, every MMO requires a bit of make-believe. We need to dip into that remarkable, childlike ability to construct fantasies out of the everyday, lest we lose interest in the DPS and the PUG and the bippin' and the boppin'. It's how we see a freakishly broad-shouldered Paladin rescuing a struggling postcard-village from banditry - rather than, say, Nige from Brighton trading hit-points with yet another identical cluster of instantly-respawning NPCs while his wife shrieks at him to scrub the shower recess.

It's a testament to the talents of their respective developers that all the art, music, world design and narrative that gets slathered over World of Warcraft, EverQuest II, Warhammer Online and associates is able to distract us from the sheer meaninglessness of the these games' underlying mechanics. In this regard, Vogster's CrimeCraft is no different - of course, this time it's more "Yeah boy" than "Have at thee" - but in order to really appreciate it, you have to go one step further: you have to pretend it's an MMO. Read more...

Cryptic has revealed the minimum and recommended system requirements for its space-faring MMO Star Trek Online, which launches in February.

You'll find them at the official site, and below.

System requirements: Read more...

Mythic executive producer Jeff Hickman has moved to reassure players of the three MMOs that it operates - Warhammer Online, Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot - that it will continue to support them with customer service and new content.

His open letter follows news of 1500 job cuts at owner EA this week. Mythic is said to be one of the harder-hit studios, with Gamasutra saying that 80 people, about 40 per cent of its work force, had been let go.

"With all that is going on within Mythic Entertainment and EA, I would like to take a moment to reinforce the studio's dedication to both our games and our players," Hickman said. Read more...

The official Final Fantasy XIV site has details on two new player classes for the forthcoming Square Enix MMO: Gladiator and Pugilist.

Both of these are Disciples of War, belonging to one of the game's four disciplines: the others are Magic, the Land (gathering) and the Hand (crafting). Players can switch and develop their class at will according to the items they have equipped.

The Gladiator is primarily a close-range swordsman, and is shown in heavy armour. Gladiators often use shields, but not always. Other weaponry includes throwing knives and the intriguing, bladed Lantern Shield. It's clearly a tank or melee fighter. Read more...

Via its official sites, Blizzard is reminding World of Warcraft players that from today, they will need to create a Battle.net account and merge it with their WOW account in order to play.

The 12th November deadline was set a month ago. You get a free in-game penguin pet for going to the trouble of merging accounts. From today, you need a Battle.net username and password to log in to the game, and anyone creating a new WOW account will need to start with a Battle.net account.

Battle.net is Blizzard's new online platform that will act as a common login, account and player profile for all its games in the style of Xbox Live. It will unify communications, achievements and other features across WOW and forthcoming games like StarCraft II and Diablo III. Read more...

Funcom has told Eurogamer that a new Age of Conan re-evaluation period gets underway today.

To lure you back, the developer is offering two weeks of free play to returning players and two weeks of double experience for everyone. And those who choose to subscribe will be showered with even more gifts.

Sign for three months earn a guaranteed place in The Secret World beta; sign for six months to claim a beta spot plus in-game AOC helmet that boosts experience earned by 10 per cent; and sign for 12 months to earn all that as well as a free copy of Conan expansion Rise of the Godslayer when it's released. These rewards are not retroactive; subscribers from October onwards are eligible. Read more...

Independently-produced sci-fi action MMO Global Agenda has announced it will have built-in voice support from Vivox - including in-game news broadcasts.

The news will report key victories and events in Global Agenda's grand metagame of persistent territory control fought over by player Alliances.

There will, naturally, be push-to-talk voice chat for team communication. Players who pick up the optional subscription will also be able to enjoy out-of-game voice chat, communicating with their Agency members while using their computers for other things, or even calling in to a chat channel from their phones. Read more...

NCsoft has indicated that it doesn't expect to release its MMO sequel Guild Wars 2 until 2011, although it might get as far as closed beta testing in 2010.

Jaeho Lee - the company's chief financial officer, as well as chief executive of its Western arm - told investors during a recent conference call that NCsoft didn't expect to make any major launches in 2010. Guild Wars 2 from ArenaNet, and Blade & Soul from the Lineage 2 team in Korea, would follow in 2011, he said.

"I believe there will be certain public events in the year 2010... at least a closed beta test for those titles. Commercialisation will be expected, at this point, probably some time in the year 2011," Lee said. Read more...

Mythic is moving Warhammer Online to an "endless" free trial which offers unlimited access to the MMO up to level 10 in the Empire versus Chaos zones, reports GamesIndustry.biz. Previously, the game's free trial had a 10-day time limit.

The new endless free trial is currently live on Mythic's North American servers. It's "coming soon" in Europe according to regional operator GOA.

The free trial allows you to create and play any of the game's 24 race-specific careers. You're limited to levelling up to rank 10 and to the tier one Empire versus Chaos zones, Nordland and Norsca. This area has recently been revamped as part of an effort to improve the experience for new players. There's a new dungeon to enjoy there, as well as three player-versus-player scenarios, and new players are automatically added to a newbie guild. Read more...

According to VG247, Blizzard chief Mike Morhaime told the Activision Blizzard investor conference that the company sees micro-transactions as an important part of World of Warcraft's future.

"We... expect digital sales to increase in the future, and plan to take advantage of it," he said. His comment follows the appearance of the pet store earlier this week, offering the first ever sale of in-game items for WOW.

Morhaime offered reassurance that any in-game items or services Blizzard sells for the game, on top of the regular subscription, will be inessential. Read more...

During yesterday's Activision Blizzard investor conference, Blizzard chief Mike Morhaime said the next World of Warcraft update would be released "in the coming weeks".

VG247 heard the words, and got so excited they thought Morhaime was actually referring to next expansion pack Cataclysm. Bless.

However, we're pretty sure he means the update known as Patch 3.3, which is currently on WOW test servers. This update introduces three five-man dungeons and one 10 or 25-player raid within Icecrown Citadel, and allows players to fight the Wrath of the Lich King end boss, Arthas. Read more...

BioWare and LucasArts have revealed the sixth of eight character classes in their Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic: the Imperial Agent.

This rogue-style class on the Empire side specialises in subterfuge, infiltration and assassination, doing the Empire's dirty work behind the scenes. Imperial Agents' skills will be based around the use of high-tech gadgetary.

They will show you "the underbelly of the Empire in a way never before seen," producer Blaine Christine told press at an EA event earlier this week. Read more...

Cryptic and Atari have confirmed that their MMO Star Trek Online will be released for PC on 2nd February 2010 in North America, and 5th February in Europe.

The confirmation follows Amazon.com and GameStop listing the 2nd February date on their pre-order pages earlier in the week.

"It's definitely early 2010," executive produce Craig Zinkievich told us last month, and it turns out he wasn't kidding. Despite his comments, February will be earlier than many expected. Read more...

Blizzard has put two in-game World of Warcraft pets up for sale at the Blizzard Store: a Pandaren Monk, and Lil' K.T., a baby version of the villainous Lich Kel'Thuzad.

The pets cost £9, $10 or €10 apiece. Half the proceeds from sales of the Pandaren - the first incidence of Warcraft's joke race of kung-fu pandas in WOW - will go to the Make-a-Wish Foundation charity if you buy it before December 31st.

It seems even the biggest subscription haul imaginable doesn't make Blizzard immune to the lure of micro-transactions. This is the first time the company has offered in-game WOW items for sale for real currency, although it has been ramping up the sale of services such as race changes and faction transfers of late. It can't really argue the cost of the pets is a deterrent, though. Read more...