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Lord of the Rings Online Book 11 Brings Player-Owned Housing and More

The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar Website now offers highlights from the upcoming Book 11 update for Turbine’s Tolkienesque MMORPG. Lots of great updated content in this update - player housing being one of them. I hope they do it better than some have done it in the past. We have some screenshots of the new housing and they look very nice.

Will this be enough to save middle earth from doom? we will see.

Codemasters Online and Turbine, Inc. announced the details of the third free content update for subscribers to The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢. Book 11: Defenders of Eriador continues the epic story of The Lord of the Rings Online adding over 100 new quests, a new 12-player raid, two new areas in Middle-earth and introduces the player housing system. Book 11: Defenders of Eriador will be available to European subscribers of The Lord of the Rings Online on October 25, 2007.

“The Lord of the Rings Online has quickly become the hottest online game of the year,” said Jeffrey Steefel, the Executive Producer. “Book 11 is our most ambitious update yet. We continue to define the standard in interactive storytelling with the next chapter of our epic story and introduce a wealth of new content including the housing system, which will give players the opportunity to live in their own home in Middle-earth!”

NEW FEATURES:

The Epic Continues! — Amarthiel has lost the Palantir, but not before using it to discover a clue to the location of Narchuil, the ancient Ring she lost at the Battle of Fornost. She turns her gaze eastward seeking to recover the Ring while the Dunedain find themselves with only one way to halt her advance. Calenglad believes that Mordrambor, the Black

Numenorean held prisoner by the Dunedain, may be the key to ending Amarthiel’s ambitions.

Player Housing — Players can now live in their own home in Middle-earth! Housing choices from four different neighborhoods - be it a majestic home overlooking a waterfall in Ered Luin, or a cozy hobbit-hole in the Shire. Kinship Halls provide plenty of space for groups to gather after a long day of adventuring. All homes provide the option of additional storage and can be customized inside and out with hundreds of unique items.
Two New Areas — Players can now explore even more of Middle-earth. Tâl Bruinen is an extension of the Trollshaws where players can see Gollum for the first time in The Lord of the Rings Online. Players can also trek to the High Pass in the Misty Mountains to combat fierce snowstorms and visit Goblin-town, the famous site where Bilbo Baggins was captured in The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Raid-“The Rift” — The Lord of the Rings Online’s second raid will be introduced in Book 11. This 12-player epic takes you through many new dangers in the Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu to face a fearsome Balrog.

New Musical Instruments — Book 11 brings more enhancements to our popular music system. Players can now entertain others with one of three new instruments including the Bagpipe and Cowbell.

Over 100 New Quests — The story continues for players as they aid the Fellowship and encounter new adventures.

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising CANCELED? Make Way for Star Trek Online!

San Francisco-based MMO developer Perpetual Entertainment has announced on the official Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising site that the ancient Rome-themed massively multiplayer game has been put on “indefinite hold” –likely it’s a cancellation– in order to dedicate the company’s resources more fully to its other MMO game Star Trek Online.

Gods & Heroes had already entered a closed beta testing phase, and was slated to be released in early 2008.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears…

Loyal and faithful community members and Beta testers, thank you for your support, help, and understanding during the Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising development process.

The development team established some very lofty and ambitious goals when the initial work was started on Gods & Heroes. Recently, we took a step back to evaluate the competitive landscape, the game’s current state, and the overall goals for our organization. And while we are truly proud of and pleased with what we have created in Gods & Heroes, we also realize that achieving the level of quality and polish that we are committed to will take a significant investment.

The Perpetual team is faced with a unique challenge of simultaneously developing both Gods & Heroes and Star Trek Online in addition to growing our Online Game Platform business. After assessing all of Perpetual’s opportunities, we have made the decision to put the development of Gods & Heroes on indefinite hold.

I want to express my overwhelming gratitude to the community, engineers, designers, artists, animators, and the game services team for the support and effort that has gone into Gods & Heroes.

Moving forward, we’re shifting our collective focus, resources and development efforts to Perpetual’s Platform Services division and Star Trek Online, thereby ensuring that the game lives up to the high level of expectation set by the dedicated Star Trek fan base.

Again, I would personally like to thank all of the Gods & Heroes supporters who have been with us from the beginning. Hopefully, your continued support will be as valuable to our future endeavors as it was with Gods & Heroes..

Vade in pace,
Chris McKibbin

V.I.L.E. A Upcoming Sci-Fi MMORPG -PC, Xbox360, PS3

Vile Studios today announced their premier title, Project V.I.L.E., a beefed-up Sci-Fi Fantasy MMORPG that brings many facets of the science fiction genre together in a massively multiplayer online format. Project V.I.L.E. is being developed for the PC platform, but Vile Studios is looking into releasing this epic Sci-Fi Fantasy MMORPG across multiple platforms (xbox360, and PS3). Project V.I.L.E. is in early production solely in Vile Studio’s Brisbane studios and is scheduled to be released late 2008

“Project V.I.L.E. is going to be a full-flavored, shooting, fighting, action-packed Sci-Fi MMORPG which gamers, both casual and dedicated, can really sink their teeth into. We will be incorporating and twisting all of the coolest concepts the Sci-Fi genre has been known for and we have all been eager to see in a Sci-Fi game” said Vile Studio’s Creative Director, Ashley Hodgetts.

Unlike the majority of MMORPG titles which have saturated the gaming market with wizards and warriors, dragons and all things fantasy, Project V.I.L.E. is based in a dark and distant future. Also unlike most MMORPG type games where the focus is on the storyline, in Project V.I.L.E. the focus is to get rich, get the gear and kill as many of your enemies as possible. There is an underlying storyline and Project V.I.L.E.’s flow follows this but takes a back seat to the thrill of the action.

Featuring a proprietary in-house next generation 3D Engine, Project V.I.L.E. delivers advanced 3D graphics, effects and deep immersive gameplay. Project V.I.L.E. offers thousands of gamers the ability to out-wit, band together, steal, profit and to climb over one another for greater glory for their Faction and ultimately for themselves.

A state-of-the-art combat system allows for mind-blowing weaponry and hand-to-hand combat against multiple opponents. “Unlike Fantasy MMORPGs, this is set in the future, so you get all sorts of damage dealing weaponry which you can fire from various distances, as well as melee weapons – for when you have to get close and personal.” Ashley continues “Also, instead of giving players little horses to run around on, we are giving them customizable battle-vehicles, including walking mechs, hovering bikes and other cool personal machinery. Players will be able to call them from a spaceship in orbit and either battle in PvP (Player-Versus-Player) or use them as transport.”

Instead of using the classic class-based system for assigning players their roles, Project V.I.L.E. will follow a skill hierarchical system which awards players “Skill-points” for everything they kill. These points are then “cashed in” to gain the desired skills. If a player wants to primarily be a soldier, they can allocate their points into areas such as Gunnery, Hand-to-hand combat and Spec-Ops. As they progress in level, they can choose to change their training to better suit their needs i.e. if there is a shortage of medics, then a player can choose to train in this field.

Players level up by completing set missions. Increased stats and skills are obtained on each level and also some selective skills can be gained over time. Choosing to complete missions from particular parties will gain players reputation with that party, which would be redeemable for items, money and other worldly possessions. Players travel from planet-to-planet to level up. Each race has its very own home world, moon(s) and solar systems where safe travel can only be given to races of the same faction. On each home world, a player will gain the necessary skills to venture into the contested regions of space for PVP, epic instances and group raids.

“A really exciting feature of Project V.I.L.E. is that during the game, players may be called to fight a waging war on a planetary level. Medics, Troopers, Pilots and the other skill sets will be called upon to defend their species. On arrival to the war area, players with certain skills will be given items to help them fight - i.e. Pilots will be given small drop ships to drop the troops off - they will need to take troops with them to the surface - then pick up more troops and supplies before having to go to battle themselves. Each quest involved in this type of world event will give players awesome rewards. Medics will need to heal so many people to gain rep, troopers will need to take out so many enemies, etc”. Ashley continues “A Call to Arms would be announced when a critical region of space is falling to the other side or if the other faction(s) reach the player’s home world.”

Tells Us Want New Game Is On Your Christmas List

Join the forum discussion on this post

Join Our Forums And Tells Us About Yourself and what new games your looking forward to getting this year. I can’t wait for WarHammer Online my self. I got a chance to play it this year at Gen Con and it looks and feels like a refreshing change from the MMO’s on the market today. Eye of Judgment is also on my list I simply had best time playing this TCG / Video game I have played in a long time.

Tabula Rasa Goes Gold Play For Pre-Order Buyers Starts Oct 16th

NCsoft, announced today that Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa has reached gold status and will launch service in Europe and North America on October 19, 2007. Pre-order customers will begin their three-day head start on October 16.

Tabula Rasa is gaming legend Richard Garriott’s newest title, which combines a vast, persistent game world and rich storyline with fast paced action. Set in a near-future science fiction storyline, players create characters that must fight to save humanity against hostile alien enemies while trying to gain control of the universe. The game introduces several innovative elements to massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, including a Character Cloning System that allows players to explore different character classes without having to create a new character, and dynamic battlefields where players experience the frenetic action of combat in an ongoing war.

Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn Launches (Is This Game Still Around?)

I really thought this game died years ago and it should have. Does anybody even play this game any more?

Electronic Arts, the world’s leading interactive entertainment company, today announced that Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn, the latest expansion to Ultima Online, is now available for free download at UO.com. Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn introduces a graphic update, all-new user interface and updated new player experience to Ultima Online.

With Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn, the legendary kingdom has been redrawn, reengineered and rebuilt for the next decade of players seeking an epic, fantasy MMO experience. The revamped new player content welcomes those who have never adventured through the celebrated lands of Ultima Online. Additionally, enhanced visuals and brand-new user interface present the game in a whole new light to veteran players.

“As the tenth anniversary of Ultima Online’s launch approaches, Kingdom Reborn introduces an entirely new experience while preserving the spirit of the classic MMO,” said Mark Jacobs, VP and General Manager of EA Mythic. “Kingdom Reborn represents EA’s ongoing commitment to MMOs and Ultima Online’s dedicated and loyal community, some of whom have been playing the game since its launch almost ten years ago.”

Fury Beta With $1,000,000 In Prizes

Gamecock Media Group and Codemasters Online have jointly announced the world’s first Open Beta event for their upcoming PvP MMO, FURY. The event, called FURY Challenge, is billed as the richest prize pool ever for an online role-playing event with more than USD$1,000,000 in prizes available.

“We believe that FURY will be the start of a PvP revolution, so why not create a revolutionary Open Beta event to show the world that we have arrived,” stated Tony Hilliam, Auran CEO. “Last week we announced our unique business model of free to play with free content updates and an optional subscription. This week, we’re pleased to announce a landmark in gaming with a total prize pool valued at over one million dollars. In late September, hundreds of thousands of players will compete to kick-start their Fury careers by winning Fury Game Cards, Fury Subscriptions and lots of other cool loot too.”

“We’ve lined up a huge array of prizes from our sponsors including NVidia, Dell, IGN, GameStop, Harvey Norman, FHM, Logitech and ZBoard,” said Brian Cooke, Auran Marketing Director. “More sponsors are lining up to get their brand message on the FURY Challenge website, on in-store advertising and also on the in-game loading screens (which will be present for FURY Challenge only). The full list of sponsors and prizes will be continually updated via the www.furychallenge.com website.”

FURY Challenge officially kicks off on September 14th and runs over 3 consecutive weekends. The first weekend is set aside for practice and to give players a chance to unlock abilities and experiment with their Incarnations. The next two weekends are the competition weekends where players will compete in 3 game types on 7 different Ladders. Prizes are awarded to the top players and Clans. Most importantly, it is not the most wins that counts, but the players’ Best 10 results in each Ladder. This means that even casual players have a chance of winning. Full Rules and Conditions of Entry can be found at www.FuryChallenge.com/Rules.

“Although FURY Challenge is a competitive event,” said Adam Carpenter, Fury Creative Director, “our main goal for this Open Beta competition is to ensure that all players have fun. There will be plenty of time once the game is up and running to get into more serious tournaments where the goal is to find the best of the best. Meanwhile, during the lead-up for FURY Challenge we are allowing players to earn as many abilities as they like. However, once the competition kicks off, we will be limiting player Ranks to ensure casual and hardcore players are competing on a level playing field.”

“We have garnered enormous support in the North American market for FURY Challenge” stated Richard Iggo, Gamecock VP Sales and Marketing. “For example, when we first mentioned the concept to GameStop, the world’s largest specialty games retailer, they jumped at the chance to get behind the event. They are offering FURY pre-order customers’ special access to mid-week practice sessions and to the Closed Beta prior to the event. Pre-order customers also get a special in-game suit of armor which can be used both in Fury Challenge and once the game goes live in October.”

“Announced only last week as the European partners for FURY, Codemasters are very excited to be able to lend our support to this landmark gaming event,” said David Solari, Vice President and General Manager, Codemasters Online Gaming. “We look forward to adding a number of European sponsorship partners to help boost the prize pool and to ensure that FURY Challenge is a major success.”

Fury Features:

•  PvP combat focused - Every development decision focuses on providing players the ultimate in Player vs. Player experience.
• Combat with the visceral thrill of an FPS game, and the strategy and depth of an RPG.
• A robust matchmaking system that ensures players always fight opponents of equal skill and experience
• Classless advancement system for ultimate flexibility - No more gimping your character or being constrained to a specific set of abilities. In Fury you don’t choose a class - you define your own!
• A game that provides instant action to catch your attention, and the meaningful depth to hold it.
• Realm vs. Realm system with literally dozens of other Realms to fight against!
• Ladders and tournaments for clans or solo players to prove their worth.
• Over 400 abilities, each with 10 unlockable ranks providing near endless possibilities for character advancement and achievement.
• No boring PvE grind - go straight into thrilling PvP combat against human-controlled opponents.
• An MMO that you can actually achieve things in during your lunchtime.
• Next-generation game built on Unreal Engine 3.
• Challenge system for fighting with friends, groupmates or clans, for practice or bragging rights.

Fury will be hitting retail stores in USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on October 9th and throughout Europe on October 12th. Pre-order customers will receive an exclusive armor set, special priority access before and during Fury Challenge plus a free Realm transfer code. Pre-orders can be made at participating retailers either in-store or online, including GameStop and Best Buy in USA and Canada, Harvey Norman and EBGames in Australia.

Release Date For Age of Conan Pushed Back

Funcom announce a new release date for ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures‘. The highly anticipated MMO is now set to release on the 25th of March 2008. By setting a new release date for the game, Funcom can continue the focus on honing, polishing and improving the heralded qualities of the game, ensuring a fantastic MMO experience when it launches next spring.

“We naturally regret that we have to push back ‘Age of Conan’. However, after careful consideration, and analysis of recent Beta feedback, we believe that the new release date is in the best interest of the gamers, our company and our owners,” said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. “We are fully committed to delivering games with absolute qualities, and in the current MMO marketplace we know that only the best is good enough to truly succeed. With the new release date we have therefore given ourselves more time to meet and deliver on the massive expectations for the game. We are certain that our choice will ultimately pay off, and that all ‘Age of Conan’ players will get a special online experience.”

”We are honored by the immense reception our game is constantly getting, with an astounding amount of positive press coverage, awards and magazine covers, but we still see that we need to polish some aspects of the game even further, especially when it comes to the entry barriers,” said Gaute Godager, founder of Funcom and Producer / Director on ‘Age of Conan’. “With the added development time we can now deliver something even more unique and powerful, something which is worthy of the incredible Conan legacy.”

‘Age of Conan’ is consistently mentioned as one of the most anticipated PC games in development. It has received numerous magazine covers and awards, including ‘Best MMO of E3′ awards from IGN, GameSpot, GameSpy and Yahoo. ‘Age of Conan’ is a key title in Microsoft’s Games for Windows line-up, as well as being a showcase DirectX 10 title for nVidia. The game is currently in general Beta, and applications for testing are available at www.ageofconan.com.

Fury Worldwide Free Preview July 27th

After the recent successful showing of their upcoming PvP MMO “FURY” at Gamecock’s E.I.E.I.O. in California, and at China Joy in Shanghai, Auran is very pleased to announce a special FURY Worldwide Preview event that will commence at noon, Friday July 27 PST through to 11.59pm Sunday July 29.

“After the fantastic press demos last week in LA, and the great feedback we’ve seen from the closed beta testers, we believe it is now time to unleash Fury upon the broader public,” said Harry Miller, Head of Development at Gamecock, the publisher of Fury in North America. “We love indie developers because they innovate, and sometimes the best way for people to discover more about exciting new games is simply to let them experience it first-hand.”

“As our Fury motto says, ‘Waste enemies, not time’,” said Tony Hilliam, Auran CEO. “We had planned our first public event to be a little closer to release, but we’ve come to realize that once people get two or three games of Fury under their belt, they’re hooked. So we thought, why not just let them get sucked straight into the action and see for themselves.”

“Besides,” Hilliam continued, “we’re risk takers. We took a big risk by setting out to make a game that throws away the MMO hand-book. We took all the rewards, loot and character advancement from the MMO genre and crammed them into an adrenaline filled, fast paced combat game. People hear the word MMO and say ‘been there, done that’. But they haven’t played Fury.”

The servers will be open for 60 hours from midday Friday July 27 (Saturday morning in Australia/Asian time zones) and up to 200,000 log-in accounts will be issued on a first come first served basis. Simply visit www.unleashthefury.com/PreviewEvent to get your key and receive download instructions. Existing Closed Beta testers will be able to use their existing account, or if they’ve lost it, apply for a new one.

“This Beta Preview Event will allow new players to experience Fury’s unique combat and multiple game types as well as the challenge of mixing and matching more than 400 abilities to create their ‘perfect’ incarnation,” said Adam Carpenter, Fury’s Lead Designer. “In addition, our existing beta players can see the progress we’ve made in the past weeks with improvements to matchmaking, player training and starter ability selections. And of course with all the extra players, there will be shorter wait times and evenly matched battles for everyone.”

Visit www.unleashthefury.com to see more of the game.