With the oversaturation of fantasy in the MMO genre, we've been patiently waiting to get our hands on the steampunk victorian coolness of Gatheryn. An indie title currently under development by Mindfuse, Gatheryn seems to be part virtual world and part mini-game laden MMO, much like Free Realms. Considering how wildly popular Free Realms has become in a short period, many eyes are now turning to Gatheryn to see if the combination of casual minigames in a fun, unique MMO/VW setting can strike gold again. Massively's very own Managing Editor, Shawn Schuster sat down recently with Isa Anne Stamos, Game Studio Director for MindFuse, to find out some more about the future of this retro-feel title.

Massively: We first took a look at Gatheryn at GDC earlier this year, and liked what we saw so far. Can you describe some of the major feature changes or updates to the game since then?

Isa Anne Stamos, MindFuse: Generally, we've been focusing on building out the early stages of the Gatheryn experience – adjusting the layout of the city, adding variations to character customization, and creating a deep casual gaming experience that players can enjoy the minute they enter Gatheryn. Specifically, we just added a Player Health feature that measures your avatar's fatigue and gives us some creative options for healing items and quests. We're also filling in a lot of the quests and minigames – we've probably added a few since you saw us at GDC. We're also working hard to build up the community tools because we rely heavily on them to communicate with our beta users - they're crucial to getting player feedback in these early stages of development.

Mytheon from Petroglyph Games is a title we've mentioned in the past, as it's a different take on the type of games we cover at Massively. Essentially it's an MMORTS, and as such may be comparable to titles like Dreamlords the Reawakening or even Atlantica Online. As its name implies, Mytheon is rooted in ancient world myths, which could be a nice departure from the numerous pure fantasy games on the market. At launch Mytheon will have content based in ancient world Greece and Egypt.

The game mechanics seem to be heavily tied in to power stones, which provide different benefits to the game's three classes. According to Petroglyph: "The collection and casting of Power Stones is the backbone of Mytheon. Power Stones initiate every in-game effect possible, from summoning minions and structures that fight for the player, to conjuring fireballs and lightning bolts and healing a party." Mytheon can be played solo, but will also have group and PvP gameplay options. The game's first trailer might give you a better idea of what to expect. It's embedded on the new game site, and offers some of the first glimpses at Mytheon's gameplay as well as the setting of Hades.

Pirates of the Burning Sea is a bit of a departure from some of the other MMO titles on the market since its setting is rooted in history rather than built upon pure fantasy. Given this backdrop, it stands to reason that some players would enjoy logging in for some anachronistic 1700's-era roleplaying in Pirates of the Burning Sea as privateers and pirates. Flying Lab Software has decided to give PotBS's roleplayers a dedicated venue for their player-run events, "Roleplay Rooms", which is the subject of a devlog written by Xenobia.

The devlog is all about the repurposing of old interiors; some altered color and texture here, a motif changed there, and you've got spaces ready to be used solely for RP events. It seems simple, but these changes proved to be tricky in some cases given the objects incorporated into such rooms, and Xenobia describes how the interior revamps were done, illustrated with before and after shots. Check out Xenobia's "Roleplay Rooms" devlog for more info about this feature that's coming to national capitals in patch 1.16.

The latest devlog for Pirates of the Burning Sea is written by Lum and focuses on improving the game's mission system, particularly fixing the problem of mission farming. Lum writes, "When we create big mission arcs, we design them to be a fun, engaging, and most importantly, a linear experience. We want players to get a sense of story and to do something interesting. We also want to reward players who accomplish the goals for those missions."

He says that mission farming and the in-game monetary rewards aren't necessarily the problem, although it's not what the devs had in mind for players. Lum says that since people stop to repeat the most lucrative parts of a given mission arc, they're not experiencing the game as it was intended for the players. Even worse, some players make faction choices on the basis of how lucrative a certain mission with that faction is. Flying Lab Software wants to change missions in Pirates of the Burning Sea so that players are continually progressing through stories rather than motivated to remain in place to reap the gold harvest.

Yesterday, Massively was invited to the first official developer tour and hands-on for Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent. This tour took us through some of the game's gorgeous landscapes, travel mechanics, pet system, mounts, PvP and even a light-hearted race around the fountain in the middle of town square.

You may remember our coverage and first look at Neo Steam at GDC earlier this year. Since then, the game has come a long way, and this hands-on tour will show the latest and most current state of the game as we enter the beta stages. Follow along by clicking on the first image in the gallery below for a closer look at our time with Neo Steam.

We've been seeing a number of new options in online gaming, some clearly definable as being 'massively multiplayer', others less so. One of those game categories that blurs the line a bit is the MMORTS (massively multiplayer online real-time strategy) game... we'll probably just stick with the acronym from now on. But we've wondered, what exactly can we expect from RTS titles as they adopt more features traditionally associated with MMOs?

Steven Crews from The MMO Gamer spoke with Petroglyph Games general manager and executive producer Chuck Kroegel about their upcoming title Mytheon. The game is a free-to-play, downloadable title that will be supported by microtransactions and focuses on the myths, heroes, and monsters of the world's ancient cultures. Crews asks the questions we think are on a lot of people's minds when they hear "MMORTS" -- "Why bring strategy games into the MMO space? What do you get from a persistent universe that you couldn't get out of something like Battle.net?"

If you're unaware of Funcom's newest project, The Secret World, it's about time you knew that the secret is about to be unveiled. Forget the stigma associated with Funcom and Age of Conan, and consider the fact that The Secret World comes to us from Ragnar Tørnquist, the man behind The Longest Journey and Dreamfall. The unraveling of clues that lead up to this game's reveal is impressive, but not as impressive as the fact that The Secret World's community is comprised of some of the most intelligent gamers you'll find this side of EVE. We have games that are hardcore for strategists, games that are hardcore for economists, games that are hardcore for the combat-savvy, but with The Secret World, we will finally get an MMO that was made for the hardcore conspiracy theorists, history buffs and puzzle solvers out there.

Case in point, a recent teaser video was released showing certain decipherable codes that led to a new Alternate Reality Game website called Sanctuary of Secrets. Leave it up to the TSW community to crack the codes and discover the hidden secrets. Of course Funcom has not officially commented on their involvement with this site, but it goes to show the passion brewing in the people anticipating this game. Ever since our demo at GDC last month, we've been itching to let our readers know what's in store. Tomorrow the embargo will lift and everything we know will be revealed, so stay tuned!

Pirates are always the underdogs in MMOs, aren't they? That seems to be the case in Pirates of the Burning Sea, where the Pirate nation has been at a disadvantage with the game's Conquest system. While their ports can't be controlled (permanently) by another nation, they're likewise unable to keep the ports they conquer. The latest devlog from Flying Lab's Lum is titled Pirates and Conquest and addresses this disparity between the Pirate nation and all other nations in the game.

One solution they plan to implement is increasing the four points that Pirates gain by capturing a port to five. Lum explains, "Currently, Pirates get four points every time they Raid a port, while Nationals get 10. This means that for a Pirate to keep pace with Nationals, they have to win three port battles in order to get the same amount of points. Since every nation can only attack three ports at a time, this means that Pirates would always have to have their maximum amount of attacking ports at all times, and then they have to win all of those battles." Ouch. However, by increasing their capture points to five, Pirates will only have to win two battles and won't need to maintain constant port attacks to stay on par with other nations.

Have you ever hoped to play a massively multiplayer online game set in the ancient world? What about playing a Carthaginian soldier fighting the Romans in the Punic Wars, circa 200 B.C.? Action film star Vin Diesel certainly has, it's his dream game. In fact, he's so taken with the idea that his game company Tigon Studios is developing the Punic Wars MMO, titled Barca B.C., which he announced in an interview with Destructoid's Brad Nicholson.

Diesel didn't give many details about the upcoming title, and it's still in an early stage of development. Destructoid reports that Tigon Studios has been working on Barca B.C. for roughly three years, and it could take up to another four years before release, according to Diesel.

[Via Kotaku]

You may have heard the recent news concerning MicroProse co-founder J.W. "Wild Bill" Stealey diving into the MMO business. You may have heard that he plans to get together with some of his old crew, like Fred Schmidt and Jim Bull, to make an action-based military MMO. Yet, did you know that this is simply the tip of the iceberg when to comes to what Wild Bill and his team have in store for us?

To find out more information on this newly announced project, we jumped at the chance to sit down with Wild Bill and get some more intel on his classified operation. If you were ever a big fan of the MicroProse age of military simulation games, or you're just tired of the same old fantasy MMOs, this interview may get your excitement levels up. Wild Bill Stealey has a passion for what he knows best, and it's evident in this interview. Could a massive, persistent, military PvP world be exactly what you've been waiting for? Follow along below for more on what the folks at Thriller New Media have in store for the MMO world.

Today marks a very special event for the players of Pirates of the Burning Sea. Starting at 3:45 PST / 11:45 GMT, a ship skirmish event will take place on the Testbed server to analyze the effectiveness of the ship skirmish system. Named "The Battle of Gull Point", this event will match four teams of twelve players each to battle it out using "all of your ship combat skills to defeat your opponents".

Simply meet up at the Marsh Harbour and the devs will auto-level you to 50 before the actual skirmish starts at 4pm PST / midnight GMT. The spots are first come first serve, but all participants will receive the special title "Gull Point Veteran" once the new patch 1.13 releases on the live servers.

There is no doubt that 2009 will be remembered as the advent of quality free-to-play MMOs. No longer will there be a stigma that F2P equals unplayable quality, as games like Runes of Magic and Atlantica Online will grab the attention of the normal triple-A gamer. Will it last? Will it change the face of MMO gameplay and business models forever? While there's certainly an inevitable evolution involved in every form of media and entertainment, we believe Atlantica Online will make a lasting impression in the genre.

Officially launched on October 30th, 2008, Atlantica Online has already garnered the title "Best F2P MMO" from many gaming sites. It is supported through microtransactions that don't affect the game play itself, and sports a turn-based combat system that focuses on strategy, rather than how fast you can click your mouse. Massively got a chance to sit down with Ian Keller of Atlantica Online for an exclusive interview regarding the game's best, and little-known game features. Follow along after the cut below for a look at our time with Atlantica Online.

Flying Lab Software's CEO Russell "Rusty" Williams has been fairly vocal about his company's game Pirates of the Burning Sea in the past, doing the rounds with media outlets and spreading the word. His latest project has just been announced on the PotBS official site, and will allow him to maintain his parlance with the game's community; a new podcast series called "Ask Rusty" will be featured on the site on a regular basis, and players will have the chance to do as the name would suggest and Ask Rusty questions about PotBS.

For the first podcast, questions were taken from the old "Ask an FLS developer" forum, but in the future, the questions will come from submissions to community AT flyinglab DOT com (make sure to use "Ask Rusty!" as the subject line). Russell is joined by lead designer Kevin Maginn and producer Michelle Williams in this first installment. There is a direct link to the podcast for those looking to download it or listen in their browser, and there is also an RSS feed that can be subscribed to if you like what you hear.

Whether you're playing Atlantica Online now, or you're just curious about the game, learning the lore could prove beneficial. Over at MMORPG.com, the Atlantica Online devs have been creating some insightful jounrals and articles to keep up our interest in the F2P fantasy MMO. This week, they present an in-depth lore article describing the history of Atlantica Online.

As a descendant of Atlantis, you discover that it is up to you to save the rest of the Earth from the evil Atlantis descendants. You struggle with your dark history and vow to ascend above the power that pulls you towards the evil side of Atlatis. This journey will take you all across the world, including an upcoming region in the Grand Canyon. Check out this entire lore article for more information on your character's history and the game.