LOTRO and EQ2 expansions out today

It's a festival of MMO expansions today: fantasy role-playing stalwarts Lord of the Rings Online and EverQuest II have both released their latest instalments.

LOTRO's Mines of Moria opens a huge new underground world for players, raises the level cap from 50 to 60, adds two new character classes, and highly customisable Legendary weapons that level alongside your character.

Not bad for the first expansion to a game that's not much more than 18 months old. Check out the Mines of Moria gamepage for exhaustive hands-on, interviews, video, news and more, and expect to read our full review soon.

The Shadow Odyssey, meanwhile, is the fifth expansion in four years for Sony Online Entertainment's MMO sequel. It adds 20 new zones - including some classic EverQuest nostalgia - new achievement points for all classes, a new mission system making dungeons more varied and replayable, and more.

The Shadow Odyssey comes as an all-in-one compilation featuring all previous expansions, so it won't cost you extra if you haven't been keeping up. Watch a trailer and read our virtual tour of it at the Shadow Odyssey gamepage, and look out for a review in the coming weeks.

Both have the unenviable task of competing for attention with Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard's phenomenally good second expansion to World of Warcraft, which launched last week.

We wish them luck. You may as well give one of the trials a go. It'll be something to do during those server queues.