Massively^™

Lord of the Rings Online celebrates its one-year anniversary today with special offers, in-game events and the release of Book 13. We at Massively felt the good times should extend beyond the Shire's Party Tree and are giving away a 60-day gametime card to five randomly selected readers who leave a comment below (and meet the legal requirements.)

To enter, leave a comment on this post before 10am ET on Friday, April 25, 2008. You may enter once. Five winners will be selected in a random drawing and each will receive The Lord of the Rings Shadows of Angmar Prepaid 60-Day Game Time Card (valued at $30). Click Here for complete Official Rules.

EDIT: Contest is over. Winners will be contacted shortly. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Before the Lord of the Rings Online team rolls out their first expansion, there are still two more free content patches coming down the pike. The first one of those two is Book 13, Doom of the Last King being released later this week. It introduces not only a new part of Middle-earth, Forochel, but also a healing class to Player vs Monster Play, the Orc Defiler, and the first Hobby in the game, Fishing.

Click on the first image below to join us for a walkthrough of Forochel, meet the ice people of the area, the Lossoth and get a look at the new features and monsters coming to the game. And after you're done, don't miss the video of our tour we posted a few days back.

We could write reams of text that describe in loving detail all the features that await you in Lord of the Rings Online's Book 13 content patch. We could lay out screenshot after screenshot that could perfectly capture the chilly northlands that are being introduced, the eerie agent of Angmar who is tearing apart the land or the monstrous beasts that roam the wintry tundra.

Or you can just click after the jump and watch a video that sums it up in less than 5 minutes. Plus, glimpses of Fishing, new trophies and new environmental effects.

Don't worry you lovers of words and pictures, a write up is coming your way in the next day or two complete with a gallery of shiny shots to accompany the purple prose.

Everyone these days either has a blog or a guild site that they post to regularly; and it's especially common amongst the greater MMORPG community. One of the neat features of most of these sites is that they allow you to subscribe to other blogs, like Massively. The software of these sites and tools can put up our headlines in easy to access places, so you and all your friends can stay up to date on the latest Massively news.

Getting this setup might seem like a hard thing to do, but it's really not. In fact, with our guide, complete with pictures, you'll be able to get Massively's latest news on your site in no time! We give you step-by-step instructions for sites and software like Guild Portal, Guild Launch, Blogger.com, Word Press, vBulletin, Google Reader, Outlook, and more. We also tell you the info you need to get our news setup on any other site.

Continue reading on for a complete list of guides we provide.

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put Massively on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index. Note that the images in the guide are for illustration only and you can replace all references to WoW Insider with Massively.

About GuildPortal

GuildPortal is a very popular guild website, and has been around for a long time. Because of that, it's a very mature piece of software, and has lots of ins and outs. It's not the easiest thing to use, and has some notoriety as being difficult at times. It also costs money to use anything but the most basic free features. In fact, RSS syndication, and thus the ability to get Massively syndicated on a GuildPortal site, is part of the pay only package. Because of this, we can only take you half way – right up to where we get an error saying we need to pay.

How to syndicate Massively on your GuildPortal website


1. Login as an administrator.
2. Click on the Control Panel link located at the top of the webpage.


3. Click on the "Site Pages" link located on the left hand side of the webpage.


4. Click on a page, such a "Home".


5. Click on the link named "Add Content" which is located near the top of the webpage, just above all your pages content items.


6. A window will open, asking you to choose what type of content you want to add. Fill it in as pictured above.
7. Click the "Save" button.
8. This is where you'll need to pay for the site for things to work. What you'll want to do next is click the "Edit Content" link of the content you just added. Another window will open up. There, you want to type in the RSS feed URL for Massively, which is http://www.massively.com/rss.xml . After that, you'll be done, and see a Massively feed on your guild's website!

If you want the Massively feed for a particular game, you'll find the rss feed url next to the name of the game in the side bar of our site.

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put Massively on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index. Note that the images in the guide are for illustration only and you can replace all references to WoW Insider with Massively.

About vBulletin Board

vBulletin Board is a very advanced piece of software that has to be installed on a website. It uses backend technology to make a very nice forum website. Ask your web provider if they have a vBulletin Board system setup for you already. If not, you might have to go through installing it and setting up the basic functionality. While this process is not too hard, it is beyond the scope of this guide. However, once everything is all setup, getting Massively syndicated on your vBulletin Board site is easy.

How to syndicate Massively on your vBulletin Board website


1. Log in as an administrator.


2. Scroll down the left side administrator tools until you see "RSS Feeds". Expand that topic, and select "Add New RSS Feed".


3. Fill in the information as shown above, and select the options that fit your needs.
4. Scroll down and click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page.


5. That's it. You're now syndicating Massively on your vBulletin Board site! Give it five to ten minutes to grab the news from Massively, and you'll soon see it on your site's forums.

If you want the Massively feed for a particular game, you'll find the rss feed url next to the name of the game in the side bar of our site

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put Massively on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index. Note that the images in the guide are for illustration only and you can replace all references to WoW Insider with Massively.

About Microsoft Outlook

Outlook is a staple of many businesses. While the program itself does have its problems, no one can deny its overwhelming acceptance in the work place. Because of this, people often spend hours a day in Outlook – answering emails, scheduling with the calendar, and managing contacts. One of the features that Microsoft has included in Outlook is an ability to subscribe to RSS news feeds. By adding Massively to your Outlook news feeds, you can conspicuously stay abreast of MMO news while at work.

How to add Massively to Microsoft Outlook

1. Open up Microsoft Outlook
2. Right click the "RSS Feeds" item located on the Folders bar on the left hand side of the screen.


3. Select "Add a New RSS Feed..."


4. This will open up the "New RSS Feed" window. Enter WoW Insider's RSS feed address, which as pictured above, is http://www.massively.com/rss.xml .
5. Click the "Add" button.


6. Outlook will likely ask if you want to add the feed, and ask if you trust WoW Insider. Click the "Yes" button.


7. You're done! Massively posts will appear just like other emails will in the preview pane of Outlook. This is great for work environments!

If you want the Massively feed for a particular game, you'll find the rss feed url next to the name of the game in the side bar of our site

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put Massively on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index. Note that the images in the guide are for illustration only and you can replace all references to WoW Insider with Massively.

About Google Reader

Google has developed an online tool that coalesces all your RSS feeds into one source. It's a very handy tool, and is one of the windows that I always have open. For me, it helps me stay abreast of everything happening in the world in one easy spot. One of the best things about Google Reader is that you can search through news with ease, and you can search through lots of news in just seconds.

How to add Massively to your Google Reader


1. Logon to Google Reader.
2. As you can see from the above screenshot, I already have Massively in my reader's list. However, you probably don't. What you want to do is click the green "Add subscription" link.


3. This will open up a window as shown above. Type in "massively.com" and click the "Add" button.


4. Massively is now added to your Google Reader! You can see it on the list of subscribed sites to your left.

If you want the Massively feed for a particular game, you'll find the category of the game in the side bar of our site. Click on that and copy & paste the url of that category into Google Reader.

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put Massively on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index. Note that the images in the guide are for illustration only and you can replace all references to WoW Insider with Massively.

About Windows Vista

Love it or hate it, eventually you'll probably end up using it. One of the neat features of Vista is the Sidebar, which is a place where you can put widgets that do different things, like tell the time, show what your EVE Online character is training, or tell you what the weather is like outside.

How to add Massively to your Windows Vista's Sidebar.


1. Right click on your Sidebar and choose "Add Gadgets..."


2. This will open up the gadgets window. Double click the "Feed Headlines" gadget.
3. Close the gadgets window.


4. You'll now see the new gadget added at the top of your sidebar.


5. Open up Microsoft Internet Explorer and go to http://www.massively.com/rss.xml
6. Click the "Subscribe to this feed" link.


7. A window will open up. The default settings will be fine. Click the "Subscribe" button.
8. Position your mouse over the feed gadget on your side bar and click the little wrench icon. It'll appear towards the upper right hand side of the gadget.

9. A window like the one above will slide out of the gadget, asking you what feed you want to display.
10. Choose to display "Massively", and set the number of headlines to whatever you want.
11. Click the "Ok" button.

12. You're done! Left click on a feed headline to read the Massively article.

If you want the Massively feed for a particular game, you'll find the rss feed url next to the name of the game in the side bar of our site

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put Massively on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index. Note that the images in the guide are for illustration only and you can replace all references to WoW Insider with Massively.

About a generic RSS feed

With all of our previous guides, we've basically setup the site using the RSS address for Massively. Getting this address, or any other site's address, is pretty easy – but often not understood. The old adage "If you teach a man to fish, he can eat for his life," comes into play here. If you can get the RSS address for Massively, then you can get it for any page and use the other guides to syndicate any other site.

How to get Massively's RSS Feed Address


1. Go to http://www.massively.com/
2. Click on the little orange RSS icon in the address bar.

3. You'll be taken the RSS feed, and you'll see that the address in the address bar has changed. For Massively, this happens to be http://www.massively.com/rss.xml . Each site will different. Just copy this address – this is the RSS feed address.
4. Use this address in any program or website that can accept it! Massively, or any other site, can easily be syndicated like this.

If you want the Massively feed for a particular game, you'll find the category of the game in the side bar of our site. Click on that and copy & paste the url of that category into your RSS reader.

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put Massively on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index.

About PHP and RSS

PHP is a very fun programming language. Just like most MMOs, it is easy to learn, and difficult to master. The idea behind PHP is that you enter a script, located within your webpage, and the server processes the script as it send the webpage to your visitor's web browser. PHP and things like it literally power the web – everything from Massively, to Google, to Amazon. For more information on PHP, I highly recommend O'Reilly's book Learning PHP.

How to get syndicate Massively using Magpie RSS

The easiest RSS syndication addon for PHP I've found is Magpie RSS. It's quite simple to use, and can easily integrate itself into existing page architecture. A sample Magpie script that would syndicate Massively would look like this:



Of course, the above is just a rough template and doesn't include any formatting or bulleting or anything like that. Where other sites and tools listed above will provide you with lots of bells and whistles off the bat, PHP is bare bones – you have to make everything from scratch. Luckily there's a lot of great information out there and most of the work has already been done. However, that work is beyond the scope of this guide.

If you want the Massively feed for a particular game, you'll find the rss feed url next to the name of the game in the side bar of our site. Copy and paste that url into the script.

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put Massively on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index. Note that the images in the guide are for illustration only and you can replace all references to WoW Insider with Massively.

About blogger.com

This site is owned and operated by Google, and has a lot of popular features. It's very popular and easy to use. You can be rest assured that while the site looks, and is, easy to use, there is still a lot of power with it, just like anything else the folks over at Google produce.

How to syndicate Massively on your blogger.com blog

1. Log on to your blogger.com blog and head over to the Dashboard. This is where you write your posts.
2. Click on the Layout tab. It's located right under the name of your blog, in the upper left hand corner of the webpage.
3. While in the Layout tab, click on the "Add a Page Element" rectangle in the middle of the webpage.

4. A window called "Choose a New Page Element" will come up. Scroll down until you see the Feed element and click the big blue "Add To Blog" button.

4. Enter the RSS feed URL as seen in the above screenshot. It's http://www.massively.com/rss.xml
5. Click the orange "Continue" button.

6. Title the feed, and choose the options you want. You can see what the feed will look like on your site in the preview box.
7. Click the orange "Save Changes" button.

8. You will be returned to the Layout tab of your Dashboard. You can see that Massively is now listed in your side page elements.

9. Click the orange "Save" button. You're done! You've now added a Massively feed to your blogger.com site!
   

If you want the Massively feed for a particular game, you'll find the rss feed url next to the name of the game in the side bar of our site.

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put Massively on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index. Note that the images in the guide are for illustration only and you can replace all references to WoW Insider with Massively.

About WordPress

WordPress is a fancy blogging site that has a lot of features. In fact, I think it has more features than Google's blogger.com. However, it's not as easy to use, nor does it flow as well as blogger.com does. Nonetheless, it's a really great site and is pretty popular. Getting Massively on your wordpress.com site isn't hard at all.

How to syndicate Massively on your wordpress.com blog


1. Open up the Dashboard of your wordpress.com blog. This is where you create posts and edit your blog site.


2. Click on the top "Presentation" tab, and then click on the "Widgets" tab right bellow that. You want to see the screen pictured above.
3. Scroll down until you see the "RSS 1" widget. Left click and hold on the widget rectangle.

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put Massively on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index. Note that the images in the guide are for illustration only and you can replace all references to WoW Insider with Massively.

About Guild Launch

Guild Launch is a popular site that hosts guild's websites. It's popular because it has advanced forums, integrated wikis for each guild, easy administration, and lots of space for file storage. It's also not to hard to use, and the free version is pretty good.

How to syndicate Massively on your Guild Launch website


1. Log in as an administrator.
2. In the Site Admin area of your sidebar on the left of the webpage, click "Sidebar Widgets". For me, it's the last option.


3. Choose a widget, in this case an "RSS Feed" widget. You can also specify where you want the widget to go.
4. Click the "Add Widget" button.


5. You'll now see that you've added an RSS Feed to your site's layout. Click the little pencil in the RSS Feed box.


6. Fill in the settings as you see above.
7. Click the "Submit" button.


8. You'll see now that the settings reflect the changes you've made, and you're ready to go! You've just added Massively to your Guild Launch site!

If you want the Massively feed for a particular game, you'll find the rss feed url next to the name of the game in the side bar of our site.

Springtime brought many events to our favorite MMOs and Massively was there to report on them. From St. Patricks Day to Easter to April Fools, there was no end to seasonal fare. Click the images below to take a tour of the pictures and places of Spring 2008 in MMOs.

Easter
More event coverage after the jump.