Fifth Expansion Can Be Pre-Ordered Digitally or Through Select Retailers

Sunnyvale, California - October 15th, 2008 - Gala-Net Inc. announced today that it will release "Rappelz Epic V: The Dragonic Age, Part II" on October 15th to its free-to-play game portal, gPotato.com, in the North American market.

This Epic continues in Part II, with new updates and features, bringing Epic V to a full circle. In Part II, players can expect to see the Rappelz Arsenal, a massive database of information for Rappelz. It shows players the most up-to-date information on characters and pets directly from the Rappelz databases. The Arsenal allows players to view everything from a character’s armors and weapons, skill cards currently equipped, to the skills of the characters and pets. Moreover, the new Ursa Dungeon, also known as Ursa Caverns, will be highlighted. Once an hour, players can enter the Ursa Cavern’s waiting room and will have the option of creating a group or join an existing group. Once players enter Ursa Caverns, they will be met with masses of ferocious bears. Players will have a short period of time to achieve the goal, and with every bear killed, players earn points and progress closer to defeating the dungeon. These points can later be used to purchase new equipment and items.

New Screenshots Show Robust Creature Creation in Upcoming MMO Game

MALIBU, Calif. -  Abandon Interactive Entertainment today released new screenshots showing the robust creature customization of its upcoming online creature building and battling game, Freaky Creatures. Hitting shelves in early 2009, Freaky Creatures combines the best of collectible action figures, trading card games, MMOs and virtual worlds.  The new screenshots demonstrate players' ability to customize their creature with a variety of parts and powers, allowing for more than three billion visual combinations.

The first batch of screenshots show, step-by-step, how a player chooses a variety of parts for their creature and customizes them with horns, wings and weapons.  During the selection process, players can see how certain parts carry different levels of defense, health and damage.  →

Creating a successful computer or console game in today's world requires not only the 'new idea', quality storyline, and other obvious shiny thing that attract us to new releases; companies today are faced with many back-end development issues that did not exist just a few years ago. Independent developers and the big names in the industry alike are faced today with the task of reaching an audience that has spread to multiple platforms. Xbox 360™, PlayStation®3, Wii™ - and the list goes on.

For any developer this brings a slew of new headaches. Designing the effects for each platform has typically increased development time substantially and has made managing assets a nightmare. Until now.  →

LAND O’ LAKES, FL - OCTOBER 14, 2008 - Artix Entertainment, creators of online, browser-based, role-playing games written for Macromedia Flash, today announced the release of AdventureQuest Worlds, its first 100% browser-based MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game).

Widely known in the RPG fantasy sci-fi adventure world with over 60 million accounts created for their existing games during the past five years, Artix Entertainment believes its fan base will welcome their entry into the world of MMORPGs.

"Our Beta testers’ positive responses indicate our move into MMOs was the right decision," says Daniel Vasile, Business Development Manager of Artix Entertainment.  "We're especially excited that AdventureQuest Worlds may be the first MMO developed by a small, family-owned game development studio.  Our project shows MMO developers and players worldwide that a small, truly dedicated team can create a quality browser-based MMOG without spending millions of dollars." 

This past July Sony Online Entertainment awarded the first G.I.R.L - Gamers In Real Life Game Design Scholarship. Julia Brasil of San Francisco was chosen to receive a 10-week internship with SOE.

Julia has posted her first blog, sharing with us which studio she chose and why, and what her first week on the job was like! You can read the blog here!

EMERYVILLE, Calif.-(BUSINESS WIRE)- With more than 30 million player creations invading the Internet since the launch of Spore™, fans have let their imaginations run wild and soon players will be able to take their creativity and gameplay to even greater heights! Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced the development of a Space stage expansion pack and Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack - add-ons that will grow and evolve the critically-acclaimed video game, Spore.

"Spore is an incredibly personal and customizable experience," said Lucy Bradshaw, general manager of Maxis studio. “Many of our fans have asked us for even more tools to build with, while others are looking to extend their gameplay. As soon as we wrapped up Spore, we turned our focus to creating additional content that caters to fans’ individual tastes. With the cosmos as our backdrop, we can take Spore in almost infinite directions, constantly changing and evolving the experience."

Irvine, CA - Oct. 10, 2008 - SmartCell is pleased to announce the release of Shadow of Legend 2.5D, a major upgrade of Shadow of Legend 2D, on Oct. 17. To celebrate the occasion, a handful of events are scheduled to provide players with a fun and rewarding head start in the game.  

The new release is to kickoff with New Server Tritesse and with the following events:

Outspark is running a trio of exciting events in their free-to-play MMORPGs Fiesta and Secret of the Solstice to celebrate Columbus Day.

The Fiesta GMs will be online all day on October 13th and 14th guarding their buried treasure from adventurous explorers. Any player lucky enough to discover the hidden location of the GM's booty will be rewarded with all the gold nuggets they can carry - enough to buy their very own fleet of ships!

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"Adventure awaits new heroes in the new Isle of Dawn, part of the latest Vanguard update, Heroes Reborn!..."

... and Stratics has teamed up with our friends from SOE Vanguard to bring you even more fun and adventure in the land of Telon! From now through November 10th 2008, you can enter our Isle of Dawn Screenshot and Caption Contest for your chance at one of 28 signed Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Collectors Edition boxes or some of over eight hundred days of free game time!

For more information, visit this link!

Online Entertainment Veteran Opens New Studio to Support Rapid Growth

WESTWOOD, MA – October 13, 2008 -- Turbine, Inc., a premier creator and operator of massive, persistent online worlds, today announced the opening of a new studio located in Redwood City, CA. The new studio will help drive Turbine's rapid growth and further accelerate Turbine's goal of becoming a global leader in online entertainment. Turbine also announced the hiring of Dave Brevik as Creative Director, Jeff Lind as Engineering Director and Matt McKnight as Studio Director of its new California studio. The new studio will be a vital part of Turbine's corporate vision as it brings new titles to market, expands the platforms it supports and introduces new technologies to expand and grow the communities that are the foundation of online games.

The picture below essentially portrays Blizzcon in a nutshell - lines, lines, and more lines.

This picture was taken at the beginning of the opening of the doors. Most of these people did not get in for the opening ceremony. I knew people that waited in line the full day Friday just to pick up their items they wanted to buy at the Blizzard store. The line to Diablo 3 was just as long as well. Needless to say, if you went to Blizzcon, you waited in line a lot.

The Good

Diablo 3 playable →

Mythic has announced that over 750,000 players have subscribed to Warhammer Online. This is a great number for Mythic, and a great sign of Warhammer's popularity so shortly after the game's release. But the number pales in comparison to the 10 million players of World of Warcraft. At this rate, can Warhammer be a "WoW Killer"? In short, yes.

Consider that just over two weeks ago,  Warhammer reached the 500,000 player mark. By these metrics, it is quite likely that Warhammer will have around 1.25 million players by the end of the year, and certainly at least →