It's time! The open beta for Stone Age 2 is ready for North American release! Get on over there, folks, and sign up!

California, U.S.A. (July 3, 2008) – Aeria Games is proud to announce the open beta of the highly anticipated free-2-play massive-multiplayer RPG, Stone Age 2.

Set in the prehistoric ages, Stone Age 2 brings a mixture of dinosaurs of unimaginable heights and invisible spirits who help humans roam altered terrains such as dungeons and arid desserts.

Catch cute dinosaur pals and raise them to be battle masters and fight primeval threats alongside friendly allies. Duel against other players and creatures by building up your team with a combination of over 200 dinosaur species – each with unique personalities and special abilities. Enter your dinosaur pals into battle tournaments or just ride them around town.

The folks over at Frogster have partnered with Dynamedion to create what should be an outstanding soundtrack for Runes of Magic!

Orchestral backdrop for the free2play Fantasy-MMORPG

Best German Soundtrack 2004, 2005 and 2007 (German Game Developers Award) plus best main theme 2007 (GANG Award at GDC San Francisco) – Dynamedion has many reasons to be proud of its prestigious awards collection. Publisher Frogster has now entrusted the prestigious studio with an impressive soundtrack for its upcoming fantasy MMORPG Runes of Magic. Dynamedion can fall back upon a great amount of experience in that particular field. The creative hotbed of sound-engineering situated in the German town Mainz already recorded the fantastic backdrop for Spellforce, John Woo’s Stranglehold, Anno 1701, Drakensang and Die Siedler V & VI. Even in the world of movies, Dynamedion can boast of successful work for 10.000 B.C. or The Bourne Ultimatum.

According to Managing Director Pierre Langer the sound’s atmosphere for Runes of Magic is going to be impressive high fantasy orchestral music. “We see Runes of Magic as an amazing challenge. It is […] our first Fantasy-MMO, one of our preferred genres.” Especially the concept “… to create ever changing moods in the game world, in order to achieve an intensive connection between game and music,” is what excites him about the project.

On the teaser site, interested parties can still subscribe to the newsletter and will automatically be informed when the beta registration process starts: www.runesofmagic.com.

The folks over at Myth War have found a great way to celebrate summer; with a carnival that rewards triple points for promotions!

IGG Myth War Team today announced some good news to its promoters.  

It's going to be a summer of Carnival. During the carnival, all rewards related to the game promotion system will be tripled, and IGG promoters will have a chance to win high level equipment for free, including a Sony Laptop Computer! 

For more info about this event visit here.

As it has in many games, the marriage system in Angels Online is proving immensely popular. To celebrate the success, Angels Online is holding a marriage event!

Angels Online is a cute MMORPG brought to you by IGG. Recently, the brand-new romantic Marriage System has become really popular with many players. To help our players find the perfect in-game sweetheart, the AO team will be holding a series of events related to the Marriage System.  

In the first event of submitting wedding screenshots, many players have joined in and successfully shared their sweetness with the others.  

Please visit here for more.

REALTIME WORLDS – creators of the no.1 hit game CRACKDOWN, are looking for a Community Officer to join APB.

 

Work with a talented team on a high-profile, next generation MMO. Building and managing strong community relations amongst both professional, and fan run websites.  Managing and growing a strong active community around the title. Organising and running events, promotions and competitions to increase visibility and profile of the title in all suitable markets

You can check out the full job posting here.

The entire team here at Allakhazam, and from our sister sites, would like to wish those that celebrate it, a happy 4th of July!

Please stay safe and well this weekend, enjoy your game time, if you get any! If you don't celebrate the 4th, have an especially Happy Friday!

Heading to Comic-Con?  So am I, and I'll be headed straight for the DC Universe Online party, if I can get in!  Details on how to receive an invite to this limited party can be found on DCUO's MySpace page.

I'll do my best to get in and report on what's going on there - but I have to admit the fact that an MMO has forced me to utilize MySpace in order to be a fan irks me no end!

A little gnome told me:

The EQII Living Legacy "Fight with Legends" recruitment campaign is a unique promotion rewarding current EverQuest® II players with free game play rewards (to be added to the end of your then-current subscription) for each new player you bring into the game who becomes an active subscriber of EverQuest II. Take advantage of the opportunity to play with your friends and earn free game time for your friends' loyalty and your dedication. The events continue with additional activities that you and your friend can participate in during this program. Play with your friend in-game and then continue to keep the legacy alive by joining the Guides program and utilizing the Mentoring System to teach new "legends" the ways of Norrath. Bonus experience points will be available for those using the Mentoring System.

Log into you account through this link for full details, terms and conditions, and to invite your friends!

Also, check out the FAQ!

Exteel has sent us some lore that helps to explain their story line!

Once we were united against a common foe. Now we are bathed in the blood of our own families.

Less than thirty years ago we were comrades in arms. We fought to shrug off the yoke of the Galactic Federation and failed. We were forced to settle on the planet Natha, shaping the wild Taryn continent to make a new life for ourselves.

We struggled but persevered and bent the planet to our will. We formed nations and governments as varied as the planets we arrived from. Colonists from Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn planted flags and created borders.  Inevitably those ideals and borders created conflict. One attack on a Marston outpost, one spark of violence lit a powder keg and war exploded on Natha.

Like our fathers before us we are engaged in battle but this war is being waged by mercenaries wrapped in powerful Mechanaughts. We were not allowed armies when we came here and so now we use hired soldiers to fight for power and survival.  Four houses so alike yet so very different. Four houses at war. These are the colonies of Natha.

Read on for the details, and there's plenty more screen shots where this one comes from!

SWG Senior Producer Dotanuki and community relations person Elias  has been hanging on in the official SWG forums and answering all sorts of questions regarding the newly announced SWG online trading card game!


Many questions have been answered, and even more have been raised, but the one thing that's sure is that the game is being developed by the folks in the SOE Denver office, leaving the SWG folks in SOE Austin clear to work on their game!

Nethaera has spoken!

We have women on the development team as well as in many other departments.

Player housing is something that may happen in the future but there are no plans for it just yet. Good try though! If I had a house in game, it would just be crammed full o f weapons with maybe one throw rug so I didn't look like I didn't care about how it looked completely. ;)

While WoW housing was indeed planned at one time early in the process, it is no more, and apparently, never will be, if current plans do not change.

You can now go to your Account page in WoW and sign up for the Wrath of the Lich King beta!!  No word yet on when it will start, or how accounts will be chosen for the beta.

European players can access their account page here.

Once you're in, go down to the icons below, and chose the one that says "Wrath of the Lich King Beta Opt-In" and you'll get this message, after submitting a yes response!

You have successfully opted in for a chance to participate in the Wrath of the Lich King Beta. In the event that your account is selected, you will be sent an email with further instructions. Good luck!

Indeed!  Good luck, now go sign up!

Whew!  What a mouthful of acronyms that post title is, but it's true!  Champions of the Force will be coming to us this summer from the folks that also brought us Legends of Norrath!

LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment announced today the Star Wars Galaxies™ Trading Card Game as part of the fifth anniversary celebration for the massively multiplayer game, Star Wars  The first release for the online trading card game, Champions of the Force, is scheduled to be released late this summer, following several months filled with in-game anniversary events. Galaxies.

The release of Champions of the Force marks the first ever Star Wars® trading card game offered exclusively online.  Available only through a valid, active, fully-paid subscription to Star WarsChampions of the Force provides Star Wars Galaxies subscribers an entirely new gameplay experience by combining the challenge of a trading card game with the adventures and community of the massively multiplayer game.  For the first time, players can: Galaxies,

• Choose between the light and dark sides of the Force and build their own Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game decks to fight virtual matches for the Rebel or Imperial factions;
• Challenge their skills in story-based solo-play or against other Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game players in epic one-on-one matches, cooperative Heroic Encounters, and official tournaments;
• Find more than 20 “loot” cards in the first release, Champions of the Force that can be redeemed for fantastic virtual items for use within the Star Wars Galaxies massively multiplayer game;
• Adventure in Star Wars Galaxies and collect desirable cards that enhance their virtual trading card game deck.

Read on for the rest of the press release, and we'll keep you updated on all the details as they're released!

Did you see the Diablo 3 trailers and think the artistry and graphics just weren't what you wanted?  So did a lot of other people, and in moments a petition was created!

The main objective of this petition is to show Blizzard that there's a significant number of players that dont agree with the current art style of the game, with this petition we hope to make Blizzard ear our voices, our opinions and our suggestions and we seriously want some changes in the artistic direction of the game so it could be more coherent and familiar with the Diablo universe.

At time of posting the petition already had 26,151 signatures, but yesterday lead producer Keith Lee talked to MTV Multiplayer and defended the decisions.

“What we also tried to do is create very clean textures so that you can really focus. It’s a stylized feel and in that sense, it’s very sort of a Blizzard philosophy. It’s just really pushing the envelope in terms of the visuals so that everyone is excited about how everything looks. We think that ‘Diablo III’ is going to be better in so many different ways. We’re just building and improving upon the the first and second ‘Diablo’ games.”

I also asked Lee about how and when the dev team will take fan feedback into account. He wouldn’t go into specifics, but said:

“We’re very involved, because everyone’s very passionate about our games. Blizzard employees, we spend a lot of time actually iterating on [the game], and so in terms of the next phase, what we’ll try to do is a proof on concept on lot of different gameplay aspects. And we really want to get as much feedback as possible so that we can improve on the game and ensure that we meet Blizzard quality for our fans and for ourselves as players.”

So whether you agree or not, it's certainly a hot topic!

DAoC's billing and tech depts. are closed for tomorrow's holiday:

Our Billing and Technical Support department will be closed tomorrow so they can spend time away from the phones and enjoy the July 4th holiday. They will return to their desks on Monday at 11:00am EDT.

As always our In-Game Support guys and gals will be at their desks, diligently answering your appeals. Remember to offer them some kind words and maybe a light show with some fireworks!

In this guide, Wonderland Online wants to introduce a mysterious mainland called “Oslya”. If you travel west from the northern side of North Island, you can reach the mainland of “Oslya”. In this mysterious land, the first thing which player will encounter is a huge natural arch inscribed with the words “Jurassic Park”. One after the other, Tyrannosaurs, Dragons, Triceratops and Drowcrushers will appear – didn't people say, Oslya is also known as Dinosaur Island?!

Those monsters will attack player in an instant. If players are not strong enough, find shelter in the natural caves around that area. In the second cave of the island, players will meet Wright, the famous Father of Plane. Help him to make an airscrew and plane wings and he will give you a “Mighty Plane Design” as a reward. Using this, players will be able to make their own Mighty Plane.

Travel west, then north after exiting the cave and players will come across another tale character – Frog Prince – and will be rewarded with a Star for helping him.

Oslya is a land filled with reality and tales, history and science. Think players will like it? Then go and take a look. It's just a small part of the Wonderland World – for more wonderful adventures, come and experience Wonderland Online.

For more info, please visit the official site

ToP has released their newest server today!!

Tales of Pirates has released a new server called Mist Isle at 4:00am on July 3rd to cope with the ever-increasing numbers. ToP welcome you to join the fun on this new server, and to kick things off, there have three exciting activities to celebrate the launch:

1. Leveling Contest
From the release of the new server Mist Isle until July 9th , the 25 players who reach the highest levels within this week will be recognized as Mist Isle Leveling Heroes, and will be rewarded with the following prizes:

Read on for the prizes and links for more details!

Straight from the Game Politics blog:

An attempt to block Activision's merger with Vivendi has ended with a ruling issued by William B. Chandler III (left), chief judge of the Delaware Court of Chancery.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, the judge has apparently taken notice of what World of Warcraft - one of the leading assets in the merger - is all about.

In denying a municipal pension plan's request for a preliminary injunction which would have put the Activision-Vivendi marriage on hold, Judge Chandler wrote:

In some ways, perhaps, the world of Mergers and Acquisitions is a massively multiplayer role playing game as well. Like in World of Warcraft... the participants in the M&A field take on certain roles, interact in their own community, hone specialized skills, and even develop a unique, somewhat curious vernacular.

One particular quest in the world of M&A is disclosure litigation. In the instance of disclosure litigation presently pending before this Court, the world of M&A meets the World of Warcraft.

In the role-playing game that is this disclosure litigation, both sides have played their respective roles well. Like any game, this one has rules, and the most essential rule of disclosure is materiality. Because the plaintiff could not establish the materiality of its final three disclosure claims, the motion for a preliminary injunction is denied. . . .GAME OVER.

Nice to see that some people take their jobs as seriously as some of us take our games. It's just another step to the shareholder meeting on July 8th, where the merger will be voted on!