MMO

Sony Online officially launched their free-to-play fantasy MMO Free Realms in April 2009 but today the publisher announced that in less than a year the game has hit the 8 million registered player mark. Since its launch the game has added a number of features including player housing as well as holding a number of live events such as the upcoming Valentine's Day themed Festival of Hearts.

While Free Realms has apparently been successful there's no word yet if Sony Online plan to extend the free-to-play model to upcoming games. Officially the publisher still has DC Universe Online and The Agency in development and the company has hinted about a major revamp of their Planetside game.

Dungeon Fighter Online recently went live with the Threshold of Power update, which raises the level cap to 50 and adds all-new abilities to the free-to-play side-scrolling online fighting game. Now that players have access to some fantastic upper-level powers, they need worthy creatures to use them on. As this video showing off some of the new boss monsters demonstrates, players will have plenty to challenges to punch and kick through.

Continue after the jump for a trailer showing off some of the new skills that are included in Threshold of Power along with some tips from the developers on how to overcome these bosses.

Download Dungeon Fighter Online 'High Level Monsters' Trailer (515 MB)
Download Dungeon Fighter Online 'Level 50 Skills' Trailer (206 MB)
Check out all Dungeon Fighter Online downloads

We were expecting this to happen but now its official. All Points Bulletin (APB) the urban themed shooter MMO from developer Real Time Worlds, will not make its previously announced first quarter 2010 release date. As part of their financial press announcement, the game's publisher Electronic Arts has now confirmed that they are now targeting a release sometime in the third quarter of 2010 (July-September) (or EA's fiscal 2011 second quarter).

Real Time Worlds has apparently already begun closed beta testing for APB last fall. The developer has been pretty silent on the game's status for some time but if EA sticks with this current time line for APB's release we should be getting more news on the game's progress soon.

Pre-orders for the PC version of Battlefield Bad Company 2 continue to do well on Steam. The latest weekly top 10 sales list for the download service shows the upcoming first person shooter at the number one position. However, the indie FPS MMO Global Agenda from Hi-Rez Studios came in at number two for the past week. The game officially launched on February 1. Steam is currently the only place to download the game (Hi-Rez is also selling a box copy via Amazon.com).

BioShock 2, due for release next week, comes in at number three on the list with Mass Effect 2 and Modern Warfare 2 at number four and five, respectively: The full list is as follows:

1. Battlefield Bad Company 2 - Digital Illusions/EA
2. Global Agenda - Hi-Rez Studios
3. BioShock 2 - 2K Marin/2K Games
4. Mass Effect 2 - BioWare/EA
5. Modern Warfare 2 - Infinity Ward/Activision
6. Aliens Vs Predator - Rebellion/Sega
7. Mass Effect 2 Digital Deluxe Edition - BioWare/EA
8. Titan Quest Gold - THQ
9. Left 4 Dead 2 - Valve
10. Star Trek Online Digital Deluxe Edition - Cryptic Studios/Atari

A while back it was revealed that the just launched MMO Star Trek Online would be getting a tie-in novel from Pocket Books. Now more info on that tie-in novel, The Needs of the Many, has been posted on the web site of Pocket Book's parent company Simon and Schuster.

The novel itself seems to center on a conflict between the Federation and Species 8472 (first introduced in the Star Trek Voyager TV series). Interestingly it looks like the novel will be co-written by a fictional character, Jake Sisko. He's the grown up son of Star Trek Deep Space Nine's lead character Captain Ben Sisko. The novel, who lists frequent Trek novelist Michael A Martin as the "other" co-writer, is due for release in late March.

Last week Red 5 Studios admitted to a "restructuring" of its MMO game development studio which included layoffs of a number of its team members. At the time the company announced it had secured a new investor but declined to give details. Now a Reuters story reports that the investor happens to be China-based The9.

The9 is best known as the former World of Warcraft administrative company in China. It looks like the company is now looking for developers to fill their void with more games. There's no word on exactly how much money The9 is investing in Red 5 Studios and in fact none of the companies involved have officially confirmed this new investor relationship.

Announced way back in 2007, THQ's long-in-development MMO based on the sci-fi themed Warhammer 40,000 license is getting close to getting a proper reveal. During THQ's financial conference call on Wednesday it was announced that the game would finally be shown at E3 2010 in mid-June.

The game from developer Vigil Games (who just released the console game Darksiders for THQ) will have a lot to live up to. Mythic Entertainment's MMO based on the fantasy themed Warhammer franchise was finally released in 2008. However that game didn't live up to expectations in terms of reviews and subscribers. It should be interesting to see how Warhammer 40K MMO is received by the game media in a few months.

Developer Turbine's decision in 2009 to turn their fantasy MMO Dungeons and Dragons Online from a subscription business into a free-to-play game has apparently been successful. This week the developer pushed out the third content update since the switch was made last fall.

The update includes four high level dungeons along with two new in-game events. There's also the new Casual gameplay mode which allows for both single players and groups of players to have a more casual gameplay experience (whatever that might mean). But what about that promised DirectX 11 graphical update? We contacted Turbine and their PR rep told us, "Turbine is currently working to implement the technology for DX11, but we haven't yet announced a timeframe for its release."

A few months ago there were strong indicators that the 2010 edition of BlizzCon would be held in Las Vegas. Those reports were pretty quickly proven to be incorrect. Now our sister site WoW.com has posted up word that Blizzard's (sort of) annual fan event may have a final date and location.

According to a post at the Anaheim (CA) Convention Center web site (that has since been removed after WoW.com's first story) BlizzCon 2010 now has a date of October 22-23. Of course the convention center has been the home of BlizzCon since its start. Blizzard has yet to officially confirm the dates and location for BlizzCon. Last year the event had 26,000 fans attend (ticket sold out almost immediately) who got to play new builds of StarCraft II and Diablo III. What's in store for this year's show? Stay tuned.

Yesterday's official launch of Star Trek Online seems to have taken on a life much bigger than the developers at Cryptic Studios had anticipated. Of course, launching an MMO game with an automatic fan base of folks who love the Trek TV shows and movies might encourge those people, even those who have never played an MMO before, to try out Star Trek Online.

It looks like Cryptic is trying to deal with the inital surge of the game's popularity. In fact the game's publisher Atari has claimed that Star Trek Online already one million registered users although it's not clear how many have actually bought the game and how many have just registered for the now shut down beta test. Cryptic has posted up a note on the game's web site that "we are working on changes to further increase the number of people who can play Star Trek Online at any given time." They add that they hope to put in the changes by this weekend.

This patch updates World of Warcraft and its expansions from v3.3a to v3.3.2. It mostly includes bug and gameplay fixes but also adds some additional content. Links to Mac patches can be found after the jump. Full patch notes can be found here.

Download World of Warcraft v3.3a to v3.3.2 Patch [DE] (180 MB)
Download World of Warcraft v3.3a to v3.3.2 Patch [GB] (180 MB)
Download World of Warcraft v3.3a to v3.3.2 Patch [ES] (180 MB)
Download World of Warcraft v3.3a to v3.3.2 Patch [MX] (159 MB)
Download World of Warcraft v3.3a to v3.3.2 Patch [FR] (180 MB)
Download World of Warcraft v3.3a to v3.3.2 Patch [KR] (152 MB)
Download World of Warcraft v3.3a to v3.3.2 Patch [RU] (180 MB)
Download World of Warcraft v3.3a to v3.3.2 Patch [TW] (157 MB)

Gallery: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Screenshots

Star Trek Online officially launched on Tuesday but developer Cryptic Studios has already decided to add some extra stuff via micro transactions. The game's store now has two new playable species available to add to the game via its in-game store. For 240 Cryptic points you can get the Federation Klingon race and for a "mere" 80 Cryptic points you can grab the Federation Ferengi species. Both new additions have their own special bonuses if you use them as playable characters.

In related news, even though the game has launched there are still some cool contests that you can take advantage of. One is a chance to win a ton of Star Trek comic books. The grand prize winner will get over 500 Star Trek comic issues that together are worth over $4,750. Over at Direct2Drive they are holding their own contest. People will buy the game via their service will be entered into the contest which ends Monday. The grand prize is a highly detailed replica of the original USS Enterprise.

Today is the official launch date for Star Trek Online and that means Trekkers all over the nation are now either playing or wanting to play the long awaited MMO from developer Cryptic Studios and publisher Atari. The game is set several decades after the events of Star Trek Nemesis but is still firmly within Trek canon.

That means all of the events of the five Trek TV shows (The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise) and the first 10 Trek movies can be referenced in the game (the new Trek movie takes place in an alternate timeline). With all that history and wealth of stories to reference we got to wondering which Trek characters, aliens and storylines we would like to see return in the game.

If you want more info on Star Trek Online before you decide to buy the game head over to our sister site Massively where they have a launch day round up of articles they have posted about the game.

Click on the image above to continue reading Star Trek Online Stories We Want To See

It just wouldn't be Star Trek unless players are allowed to beam down to a planet for an away mission, and Star Trek Online doesn't disappoint. There's a war with the Klingon Empire going on, so these trips will probably have less to do with setting up diplomatic talks and more about vaporizing enemies with phaser fire. The game released today, so players can boldly go on these dangerous missions. It's probably a good idea to bring a few red shirt companions to draw fire.

Download HD Star Trek Online 'Ground Combat' Trailer (110 MB)
Check out all Star Trek Online downloads

In The Secret World, players will encounter all sorts of supernatural threats, including a fog that turns people like the residents of a formerly sleepy New England town called Kingsmouth into the land of the walking dead. It's just one stop on the way of fighting against the evil tide. Players can learn more about this location by visiting the official Kingsmouth website, specifically set up for prospective The Secret World players. Maybe there's some hidden information or clues as to what's going on. In the very least, it'll provide some recon so that players will know what they're stepping into.

"The Secret World takes place in our own, modern-day world. Players can explore locations such as New York, London, and Seoul, as they unravel the mysteries, legends and myths that make up our world and its history. But the real and realistic will clash with the unreal and fantastical, as the darkness of the secret world approaches. Players will have the freedom to become whatever they want to be and play however they want to play, allowing them to explore the world at will and master anything from voodoo and black magic to martial arts and modern firearms."

Download HD The Secret World 'Kingsmouth' Trailer (100 MB)
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