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Gamershell has been given 25,000 registration keys for the upcoming MMORTS Saga, continuing the trend started by FileFront earlier this year. If you're not quite ready to take on another beta, familiarize yourself with Saga by checking out the trailer and repeat to yourself "Giant war tortoise" until the launch hits.

With currently two MMORTS titles on the horizon, which has you more interested, Saga or Atlantica? Can two such games exist in the possibly overcrowded MMO market, or is there room for only so much innovation in the realm of gameplay? All these questions and more soon to be answered in the approaching months!

Avast, mateys! Atlantica Online, the turn-based strategy MMO, has announced that its closed beta test begins on Friday the 18th, with registered FilePlanet users getting the goods three days earlier, on the 15th. Additionally, MMO sites MMOABC, MMOSITE, MMORPG and onRPG are giving away a limited number of account keys on a first-come, first-served basis.

More information about this title and its beta program can be found at its home site. We have new screenshots to show in the Gallery below, and expect some exclusive content in the weeks to come!

Gallery: Atlantica

Lockpick Entertainment announced today that they have signed an exclusive agreement to distribute their MMORTS game Dreamlords -- the Reawakening in North America. Aeria Games, publishers of Stone Age 2, Dream of Mirror Online and many, many more free-to-play MMOs, will have Dreamlords in beta in July, looking forward to an August release.

Spencer Chi, producer at Aeria Games, called Dreamlords an answer to gamers' demand for a fun MMORTS (massively-multiplayer online real-time strategy) game. Dreamlords players will be able to buy in-game items and equipment with the Aeria Points currency common to all Aeria's games. Interested and want to know more? Then turn back to our extensive coverage of Dreamlord's path to publication.

Lockpick Entertainment has been hard at work on the relaunch of their fantasy MMORTS Dreamlords the Reawakening, and their efforts have not been in vain. This title is just as rich and complex a game as you'd hope for. If you're the type of gamer who likes getting your hands dirty, the level of micromanagement alone will please you. As for the rest of you, you'll have to decide for yourselves whether DtR is your cup of tea.

To help you with that decision, we've put together this First Impressions post. Keep in mind that this is not a guide -- we have no insider knowledge to report. This is merely a record of our opinions and experience playing this game for the first few hours. As always, you can click on the pictures for their hi-res versions. Onward!

Despite the best efforts of various MMOFPS titles, MMORPGs continue to be the genre du jour within the massively multiplayer sphere. Whether it's because other variants are less viable or simply because the conventional designs make for an easier pitch when searching for seed funding or publishing deals remains to be seen.

One auspiciously under-explored genre so far has been the MMORTS, the fusion of old-school real-time strategy and the massively multiplayer. Part of the reason this genre hasn't seen more action, we think, is because the technical and design challenges inherent are somewhat daunting. In a recent post, Rock Paper Shotgun's Jim Rossignol takes a look at some upcoming MMORTS titles, including the ambitious Dreamlords releasing this week, and reports on what he finds. This blogger still doesn't totally buy the concept, but the proof will likely be in the pudding.

Not long after the first official announcement concerning the partnership of Petroglyph Studios and True Games to develop a new MMO, we now get treated to an interview with company co-founder Joe Bostic. In this interview, we learn about some of the company's plans for their new MMO, and how it will be different than every MMO we've seen thus far.

If you're wondering why this is such big news at the moment, let us remind you that Petroglyph studios are the developers of Star Wars: Empire at War and Universe at War. This in itself leads the logic-minded individual to believe that their MMO project may have an RTS flavor, although Mr. Bostic neither confirms or denies this in his interview. They do mention the fact that this game will be based on a micro-transaction business model, and they will begin releasing early-stage testing opportunities for players to get involved in the development process.

Silverlode Interactive has announced that a new Undead faction will be shambling along with its first "Expansion Set" for SAGA, their relatively new MMORTS/CCG hybrid, when it comes out some time later this year. SAGA works much the same way that tradition collectible card games work, with new units and abilities coming with the purchase of boosters. It's not exactly clear at this point how this Expansion Set concept is going to work; whether players will have to invest a small amount in a new deck or whether Undead units will simply be part of the boosters, but we imagine we'll start hearing more details as the expansion moves further into development.

What is clear is that the concept art for the new faction is pretty freakin' cool, by our estimation. It looks like they're trying to take their Undead in a direction we're not accustomed to seeing in MMOs. The Necromancer concept drawing gives off a tribal, maybe even Egyptian vibe, where the Reaper seems to be going for a sort of medieval zombie look. It's pretty neat stuff, we're looking forward to seeing more.

Years ago when Blizzard sounded the trumpets and announced that WoW was in the works I dreamt RTS and MMORPG mechanics would fuse together to whisk in a new era in massively online gaming. I swore that if Blizzard copied the Diku formula popularized by EverQuest I wouldn't bother playing it. That is until magical forces intervened, and I found myself in the WoW friends and family alpha and loving every second. WoW improved on familiar loot-n-scoot, and level based PvE gameplay, but I still hoped that I'd someday play an MMORTS or some bastardized attempt at one and actually like it. That's not to say there isn't anything out there or in development. Two games come to mind are Mankind and Dreamlords, take them for what you will, but it looks like Saga is a real solid attempt to fill a void.

The graphics aren't top notch, but the gameplay looks interesting, and I hope others would appreciate the efforts from a smaller independent development studio as I do. There is a free client available, but several features are not usable unless you upgrade to the full version. There is no expiration date on the trial, and if you are concerned about a monthly subscription fee, don't be because there isn't one. The payment model is based on the purchase of booster packs. The booster packs contain cards, and these cards portray units and spells that you then use to build armies and maintain your nation. The end game actually revolves around PvP against other player built nations. You can read a much better detailed account on the missions, PvP, the card system, in this great first look posted on Brandon Reinhart's blog. You can find more information about the game and where to download it on Saga's official site. I'm about to try it out firsthand, and if you've played it please feel free to share your thoughts about Saga below.

More than ever, it appears as though MMO developers are struggling to keep afloat using the traditional models for monetization. SAGA is a game that's had an interesting subscription model from the getgo, shirking the typical subscription fee model for a CCG-esque booster system. Once you've bought the client, the game is free to play. The only caveat is that you can only get additional troops for your army by purchasing "boosters" for an additional fee. It's really a pretty brilliant system, combining two types of games (CCGs and MMOs) that are independently addictive, and fusing them together into what one would have assumed was a license to print money.

We haven't really heard how the game has been doing since it's since it finally emerged from beta last week, but already Wahoo Studios is shaking things up in an effort to draw in players. Like a drug dealer looking to give clients a first taste to get them hooked, they're now offering a free version of the client to give would-be players a better idea of what's on offer. The free client is missing a few features, but a free something is always better than nothing. Unlike a trial though, there is no time limit on how long you can use the free client. Seems they're confident in their product. It's probably worth a shot if an MMORTS/CCG sounds up your alley!

[Via Warcry]

Ask any MMORPG player out there how much time it takes to play their game of choice, and the answers will range from the incredibly long to the delightfully short. And they will almost always be measured in how long it takes for you to level (one hour, one day, one year, etc). But real-time strategy games don't have any dependable way of measuring player level, and still need to keep the player playing for a long time.

Saga, which bills itself as the "world's first collectible online real-time strategy game," is throwing wide its doors for Open Beta 2 starting today. You can head over to their site to sign up; they mention that account creation is not quite ready yet, but it might not be a bad idea to get your foot in the door. (And for what it's worth the sign-up form did allow me to create an account with no fuss. You can just ignore the "promo code" field.)

But what, you ask, is a collectible online RTS? We've only covered it once before on Massively, so I looked around the developer's site to see what they have. Here are some key points: it's an RTS (of course), but it's persistent, so you won't have to rebuild structures every match, and your units stay dead until made otherwise. The setting is standard fantasy. The game has no subscription fee, using a microtransaction model: players buy their troops in booster packs, which cost $2.95; the game itself is currently on pre-sale for $20. You can also trade troops with others, which highlights the "collectible" nature of this game. The site claims that they are aiming for a Q1 2008 release. I'm not so much an RTS player, but it is an interesting business model. Will you try it out?

The massively-multiplayer real-time-strategy genre has never had a breakthrough title. There have been obscure, niche MMORTSes, but we'll bet most of you haven't even played one! Well, Korean companies Blueside and Phantagram intend to bring the genre into the mainstream with their sequel to the 2001 XBox title Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders.

This new game, like the original title, will feature a mesh of action and RTS gameplay elements. There will be a complete single-player campaign in addition to the MMO mode; that's starting to look like a trend now. Oh, and if you didn't notice ... it's beautiful. CVG has a few more screenshots for your pleasure, as well.

Expect Kingdom Under Fire II on PC and "consoles" -- presumably XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 -- next year.

WarCry has brought our attention to the fact that a new MMORTS has gone live. Ballerium, by game development studio Majorem, is now free to download and play from the game's homepage. Some of the features of Ballerium are thousands of players on a single map, seven races to choose from, a persistent multi user environment, and interestingly, AI that will finish fights for you if you disconnect.

The homepage's feature section also says that you can earn status and prizes outside of the game by participating in the Ballerium community, creating videos and fan art, and later on, making creatures and levels. If you register for the game before the end of this month, you'll be in the running for a $50 Jinx.com gift card.

This isn't the only MMORTS we've heard from recently, with Saga announcing their final beta date a week ago.

Developer Silverlode Interactive issued a press release revealing the date for the final beta phase of Saga. The MMO real-time-strategy game will open up Beta 2 on December the 11th, with players from Beta 1 being offered places first, and the rest on a first-come first-served basis after signing up.

The press release also explains a little about Saga's business model, which will be microtransaction based, with players purchasing 'booster packs' that have new units and spells to use, and a subscription fee will not be charged.

We have not covered this game before, so a quick visit to the homepage's FAQ was necessary to learn a bit more. It is basically what you would expect from an MMORTS -- an RTS with a persistent world. The world is based on traditional fantasy (dwarves, elves, spells etc.) and you will be able to trade troops with other players. In-game activities include building armies, cities and kingdoms, taking over new lands, and multiplayer questing.

If you want to be considered for this last Beta phase, visit the sign-up page and create your account.

[Via IGN]