Big Download's sister site Massively.com has all the news you'll need about MMOs. Here's the best, brightest, and most interesting stuff from E3 week, all in one convenient place for your MMO minute. KOTOR MMO confirmed by Electronic ArtsWe've had plenty of speculation -- lots and lots of it -- but now we've got confirmation from Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is indeed getting a massively multiplayer online iteration. Portfolio.com has the story. Wrath of the Lich King Beta is now openToday is pretty much a landmark day for MMOs. Earlier today an interview with EA executive John confirmed the existence of the KOTOR MMO. That's enough for any two days. Why not add the unveiling of the Closed Beta test for the west's most popular MMO into the mix? That's right, the download instructions for Wrath of the Lich King's Beta client are now up on the official World of Warcraft website. Our sister site WoW Insider is carrying the news, noting that this is just the beginning of the ramp up to full Beta testing. Mythos beta is shutting down tonightThe woes continue at Flagship Studios. It was just announced that the Mythos beta will shutdown tonight. The official time slotted for its cease of operations is at July 18th, 2008 at 11:59 CST. Community manager Tiggs left the message on the forums which are also due to close at the same time. Blizzard victorious in WoW Glider caseVirtually Blind is reporting that the WoW Glider case has been resolved in Blizzard's favor. The maker of the epic fantasy MMO has long contended that the MDY developers are infringing on the company's copyright. MDY makes the WoW Glider bot software, possibly the most popular of a series of options that allow an unattended computer to 'play" World of Warcraft. E308: DC Universe Online roundupSony Entertainment Online revealed a metric ton of new information on their upcoming superhero MMO DC Universe Online at E3 this week, and Massively was on hand to pick the spicy brainmeats of Creative Director Chris Cao, SOE-Austin VP of development John Blakely, and famed DC artist and Executive Creative Director for the project, Jim Lee. ...

Late Thursday evening, as E3 winded down, word around the campfire says that Blizzard has begun the Wrath of the Lich King beta. According to the team at WoW Insider a source says the alpha phase shut down a few days ago and invites for the beta will soon be distributed. Adding fuel to the fire, a Blizzard site has appeared with details on setting up the World of Warcraft expansion beta test. Have you been selected to participate? Let us know! In the meantime, can check out the patch notes here....

Official WoW site WorldOfWarCraft.com brings word that the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion for Blizzard Entertainment's World of WarCraft MMO will introduce achievements into the world of Azeroth."World of Warcraft's achievements system will launch with more than 500 individual achievements covering every aspect of gameplay, including world exploration, PvE, PvP, professions, and character development," wrote the company on their official site. "From the purely whimsical to the truly epic, there will be something for everyone. Some achievements come with in-game rewards such as tabards, vanity pets, and titles. All of these rewards are purely cosmetic and just for fun, but you'll certainly stand out when you proudly display them."Given the number of hours WoW fanatics spend in their favorite virtual world, Blizzard has already foreseen that 500 achievements probably won't be enough. "And don't fret about running out of achievements anytime soon," continues the site. "The list is easily expandable, so you can expect additional achievements with each new World of Warcraft content update."Achievement details will be accessible via a new button on your action bar. Clicking the button opens your achievement window, which details your total points for all the achievements you've completed; and a name, description, point value, completion date, and progress bar (if applicable) for each achievement. Similar to quests, players can choose which achievements to actively track.The evolving achievement list will encompass a variety of different types and categories, ranging from simple assignments such as receiving a haircut to slaying one of each race in PvP factions. "Some achievements are progressive," explains the site, "for example, once you complete an achievement to collect 10 vanity pets, you might next be asked to collect 25. Finally, meta achievements unlock when you complete other achievements -- unlocking all World Exploration achievements ... unlocks a World Explorer meta achievement."For more details regarding what to expect from WoW's achievements, visit WorldOfWarCraft.com....

Earlier this week we reported on the first gaming panel programming that was announced for the first day (Thursday) for the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con on July 25-28. Now the convention's web site has revealed the panel programming for the rest of the show and Friday and Saturday seem to be packed with game and game related events (Sunday seems to be free of gaming related panels).On Friday convention attendees can go to panels about Midway's fighting game Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe, the upcoming MMOs Stargate Worlds and DC Universe Online, and the upcoming Ghostbusters game (with actors Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson scheduled to attend). There will also be a World of Warcraft panel and the big Star Wars panel will have segments on the upcoming LucasArts Clone Wars and The Force Unleashed game titles. Capcom will hold a panel on how to break into the game industry and there will also be a Penny Arcade panel. There will also be a panel on the upcoming movie adaptation of Prince of Persia (with the game's original creator Jordan Mechner scheduled to attend) and a panel on the upcoming CGI movie Resident Evil: Degeneration.On Saturday, Comic-Con will hosts a Telltale Games panel where the creators will announce plans for a third episodic game series to join their Sam and Max and Strong Bad series. A Warhammer Online panel will also be held and THQ will host a panel on Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II and Deadly Creatures. Cliff Bleszinski and Peter Molyneux will attend a panel to talk about Gears of War 2 and Fable 2, respectively. EA will host a Dead Space panel and Capcom will also host a Bionic Commando panel at the show.If you haven't bought your tickets for Comic-Con yet, you are out of luck if you want the four-day pass or one-day passes for Friday and Saturday. Some tickets for Thursday and Sunday are still available for purchase....

Ah, E3. The time of year when game writers go into overdrive. The next week ahead will involve long nights, lots of transcription, and spending quality time with the lovely and talented C8H10N4O2 -- caffeine. We here at Big Download will be no exception to this, and as such, we bring you the E3 roundup for WRUP; the "dude, where's my plane" edition.Our fearless Managing Editor, Steven Wong suggested a networked game of Diablo II before we all jumped on planes this weekend, but several of us who still had packing to do just looked at him funny. As such, he's been hanging out in Civ4 and City of Heroes. John Callaham figured he'd take the "jump in, frag someone, jump out" route and opted for a little Team Fortress 2 to ease the stress. David Craddock was one of the people who thought Steven had a good idea, though and replied to Steven's request with "Is there any other game besides Diablo II? Yes - there's Diablo III. But that's not out yet. So I play Diablo II. Always. For long time." On the writer side of the table, both Rafe Brox and Xav de Matos expressed plans to spend some time in WoW. Of course, Rafe said he'd also be playing with power tools, and Xav expressed the intent to play the "omg, get caught up on features" game, which this blogger certainly knows all too well and will be joining him in playing. James Murff is relaxing (not having to jump on a plane) with some zombie love in Survival Crisis Z. When he's not buried in brains, he'll be hopping between Team Fortress 2 and Dwarf Fortress. And of course, most of the crew will be playing the uber-leet Sleep Deprivation game. Luckily, we've all managed to beat that game several times over and we've memorized the content. So, readers -- What aRe yoU Playing this next week? Will you play Sleep Deprivation with us and stay glued to the tubes for all the news, or will you instead kick back with your favorite game and relax?...

So you have just merged two of the biggest gaming publishers into one massive mega-company in Activision Blizzard. What do you do for an encore? Variety's gaming blog site has some info on what the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games will do in the future. One is that Vivendi's Sierra Entertainment brand will likely face some cuts in both upcoming games and in their many internal development studios. Some of those games and studios might be sold off to other game publishers. Decisions on those items are expected to be made in about 30 days.While we have already reported on Call of Duty developers Infinity Ward getting a new contract, the Variety blog also reports that executives at Blizzard have also signed long term contracts with the new Activision Blizzard which should ensure their participation in upcoming projects. In fact Activision first wanted to buy Blizzard by itself before deciding on the merger with the entire Vivendi Games lineup....

Video Games Live has announced a partnership with record label EMI Classics to release a compilation of some of VGL's orchestrated video game tunes via digital distribution and compact disc. Entitled Video Games Live: Volume One, the assemblage will showcase "some of the more popular segments from Video Games Live performances. The album contains several unique arrangements that were created along with the original composers exclusively for the show, and have never previously been released," according to a press release issued by VGL.Video Games Live: Volume One will be released in two stages: a digital release available in the United Kingdom starting today, July 7; and a CD / iTunes exclusive complete with bonus tracks that coincides with VGL events beginning in San Diego, CA, on July 24.The full track list for Video Games Live: Volume One is available after the break. ...

Our sister site WoW Insider has revealed what appears to be the official box art for World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich king, the forthcoming expansion set for Blizzard Entertainment's life-devouring MMO."Is it the real deal or a mocked-up forge?" asks WoW Insider writer Matt Warner. "The WotlK box layout has many exact elements used on The Burning Crusade box. The placement for the Blizzard logo and ESRB rating line up exactly, and the font used to spell 'expansion set' is identical to its cardboard predecessor. In another photo that lends to its authenticity is a printer's mark. The box also notes that you need The Burning Crusade to play Wrath of the Lich King which means no free TBC bundles."Though Blizzard has yet to unveil an official release date, Wrath of the Lich King is believed to be available later this fall....

Have an itch that desperately requires scratching and multiple tests have concluded it isn't a rash? It could be your body responding to the lack of MMO action in you life -- luckily, Big Download found a cure. Best Buy Canada is offering the World of Warcraft Battlechest (which includes The Burning Crusade expansion) for $29.99 and 60 day WoW time cards for $29.99 each (both a savings of $10 CND). The promotional price runs from July 4 until July 10, both in store and online.Living under a rock since 2004? World of Warcraft is the popular massively multiplayer role-playing game from Blizzard Entertainment -- which recently announced Diablo III to the world. Any Canadians looking to jump into WoW, or stock up on time cards, should take part today!...

One Voice Technologies Inc. has released a beta of Say2Play, a voice-command program that allows users to speak the names of in-game actions rather than press their respective keys."Say2Play revolutionizes the gaming experience by providing voice control to the world's most popular PC games," according to the official Say2Play website. "Now, with Say2Play you can keep your fingers on the most important controls, like the fire and movement keys, and use voice commands, like "flak cannon" or "show map" to change weapons or instantly access any other keystroke using only your voice.Offering support for titles such as Age of Conan, Crysis, Unreal Tournament III, World of WarCraft, BioShock, Doom 3, Battle for Middle-Earth II and more, Say2Play claims to offer "tremendous competitive advantage with the ability to instantly execute any one of thousands of preloaded commands by voice."Users interested in trying Say2Play for themselves are encouraged to download the program's beta....

We had a feeling this might happen and now the latest list of the top 10 best selling PC games in the US (via the NPD Group) has confirmed it. The list, which covers the week ending June 21, has the $9.99 Spore Creature Creator as the number one PC "game" (and it's not really a game, its an editor for an upcoming game, Spore).The "game" is the only new entry in the top 10 list this week; the other titles on the list have appeared before and have basically shifted positions on the list. Funcom's MMO Age of Conan continues to sell very well, outselling the Blizzard World of Warcraft juggernaut for the past several weeks. 1. Spore Creature Creator - Electronic Arts 2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts 3. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - Funcom/Eidos 4. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade - Blizzard 5. World Of Warcraft - Blizzard 6. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Blizzard 7. The Sims 2 FreeTime - Electronic Arts 8. The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff - Electronic Arts 9. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision 10. Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures - LucasArts [Via Voodoo Extreme]...

It was an incredibly busy weekend for Blizzard Entertainment and PC games in general as the annual Blizzard Worldwide Invitational event in Paris, France had the official announcement of Diablo III as well as more info and hands-on time with World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and Starcraft II.While Big Download wasn't there personally to check out all of the action, our sister sites Joystiq and WoWInsider were both there reporting on the event. Joystiq has collected all the info they gathered from the event and WoWInsider certainly has the most comphehesive info from WWI concerning World of Warcraft. Check them both out, why don't you?...

Big Download's sister site Massively.com has all the news you'll need about MMOs. Here's the best, brightest, and most interesting stuff from the last week, all in one convenient place for your MMO minute. Blizzard announces major World of Warcraft class changes at WWIRepresentatives from Blizzard offered up a heaping helping of Wrath of the Lich King information, with some great info for just about every class. You're going to want to head to WoW Insider for the full monty, but here are a few highlights... Age of Conan patch notes for June 26thThe patch notes for today's Age of Conan update are now available, and a few of the fixes that we've seen talked about in recent times have made it in. There's nothing significantly game changing unless you're a Necromancer, or are waiting to get into Alchemy (and it's not the big PvP patch unfortunately) but Funcom's to-do list is now a little shorter. World of Warcraft Arena Season 4 begins!Season 4 is a brand-new ballgame, with stiff requirements to earn the coveted loot offered over the course of the next few months. The site has a huge wrapup post in place, working through everything they know about it ... and you can bet they know pretty much everything there is to know. World of Warcraft originally planned as free-to-playBlizzard's own Rob Pardo recently dropped something of a bombshell about World of Warcraft at the Paris GDC event when he revealed in a keynote that the game was originally planned as a free-to-play experience. LotRO interview reveals more on Book 14In the second part of MMORPG's interview with Lord of the Rings Online's Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel, we learn more about the final stages of development with LotRO's Book 14. Steefel discusses exactly how this final book of the first volume will unfold before the Mines of Moria expansion arrives on the scene. He also mentions the fact that Moria will not be considered Book 15, but instead be referred to as the first book of Volume 2. ...

Our sister web site WoW Insider is at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational event in Paris, France and the event has turned into a treasure trove of info on their hit MMO World of Warcraft and their upcoming expansion pack Wrath of the Lich King. The site has reports from all of the World of Warcraft panels at the event.In addition, Blizzard has released new screenshots from the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion. While the second major commerical expansion to the MMO is officially set for release "when it's done", Blizzard's parent company Vivendi Games is expecting the expansion to be released sometime in the second half of 2008....

Last month Valve head honcho Gabe Newell invited a bunch of journalists from around the globe to their HQ in Seattle. Part of the reason was to hype Steam Cloud, their service for remote storage of game data. But there was another reason. They wanted to spread the word far and wide that the PC is the gaming platform of the future. Period. Dot. Exclamation point.He was quick to point out that the big guns like Intel and Microsoft should be the ones trumpeting the greatness of the PC, not companies like his, Blizzard or GameTap. It's no secret that Newell doesn't much care for the whole Games for Windows concept, or rather Microsoft's apparent lack of promotion and backing for their own initiative. Perhaps it was Newell's goading that made Microsoft respond as they did yesterday in San Francisco....