MMOs fall into two main categories: eastern (titles like Aion and Perfect World International) and western (AoC, WoW and EVE Online). I've noticed over the past week's Daily Grind columns and a piece I did on Perfect World International that a lot of our readers seem naturally wary of any MMOs not made in the west, barring familiar franchises like Final Fantasy.

Now part of this I can understand, eastern MMOs usually have very anime-like visuals and often borrow from unfamiliar Asian mythologies. This can often scare off western players. At the same time, players in Asia seem to lap up western MMOs like WoW. I'm curious, readers, do you judge an MMO the location of the company which made it? Do you prefer western MMOs or are you just as curious to try eastern games which other players just don't get?

We've completely zerg rushed E3 2009, attending press events, demonstrations and sure, hitting some parties as well. But we've also gone out and interviewed the people behind the games that will be arriving on the MMO scene in the next year and we've got a lot to tell you in the coming days.

As the constant hustle of E3 2009 came to a close yesterday and the swarm of game journos scatters, now is when we really shift into high gear; Massively's content over the next few days will feature loads of info and interviews fresh from E3. We'd say to keep your eyes open for it, but honestly you won't be able to miss it. For now though, here's a quick roundup of yesterday's coverage:

• Star Wars: The Old Republic demonstration

• Paul Barnett and the Suicide Girls present All Points Bulletin

• Ether Saga Online set to go live this month with world bosses

• Massively looks at Perfect World International: Age of Spirits

• Jade Dynasty at a glance

• Dungeon Fighter Online impressions

Still hungry? We've also put together galleries for these MMOs after the jump:

Freemium MMO Perfect World International, the English-language version of the popular Chinese MMO Perfect World 2, has slowly been taking over the world, having been released in numerous territories including Europe and North America. Well the company behind the game, Perfect World, is at E3 and has been showing off it's newest expansion Age of Spirits, which was announced last month. The game is out now and free-to-play.

Age of Spirits expands the land of Pangu, a realm steeped in Chinese mythology. It adds an elemental twist in the form of genies, tiny fairy-like creatures who hover and offer assistance in battle. Hailing from the Elemental Realm, a world parallel to the Perfect World, they level up as you do and also provide a little more uniqueness to fights. You might know your opponent's class in PVP but you have no idea what kind of genie they might have at their beck and call. Check out a trailer and gallery of brand new screen shots after the jump.

Perfect World International, the English-language version of the popular Chinese MMO of the same name sans "International" and plus a "2," has moved into its open beta testing phase. The beta test features two servers -- one PvE and one PvP -- and characters created in the testing period will be kept through the live launch of the game.

Like most Chinese games, PWI is a microtransaction-based MMO, but it was originally slated to be a subscription-based game. It got all the subscription-based-game-type triple-A graphics and game design treatment, so it should appeal to Western users more than most Eastern free-to-play games. At least, that's the company line.

Features include mounts, marriage, PvP territory wars, and pretty much every other staple, all in a Chinese mythology setting. It's been in closed beta testing for only a few weeks. There's no official word on the live date for the post-beta version yet.

[Via 1UP]

The official English version of the Chinese-developed MMO Perfect World has been announced. It's called Perfect World International, and the closed beta will begin on August 19th, according to the new teaser website.

The game was originally subscription-based, but later moved to a microtransaction model. The publisher asserts that this "established a level of quality not found in other free-to-play titles." Visually, that seems to be the case, although we haven't spent too much time exploring the gameplay. We have spent a little, though; check out our first impressions from way back when if you're curious.

Features include most of the usual MMO trappings -- crafting, quests, world PvP. Chinese mythology-inspired setting. We don't get enough of that setting in microtransaction MMOs, do we? Oh, and apparently the game has like, a crapload of mounts.

[Via MMORPG]

Time for another episode of 'First Impressions'! The show that asks the question "Where has Akela been playing lately?" Today's installment: Cubizone's Perfect World. Remember, kids, this is not a guide, this is not an in-depth look. It's a post about how the first hour or so of a game strikes me, with no preconceptions or foreknowledge. Caveat emptor!

What you're looking at above is my avatar, Akelatal the Beastman. He's a cheery sort, isn't he? Don't you just wanna cuddle him and feed him treats? Throw a riven skull for him to chase and chew on? He's adorable, like much of this MMO, though there are a couple of issues, to be sure. Rest assured, at least a couple of them are adorable too.

Buyer beware, Seagate had released a notice saying that a sizable number of Maxtor Basics Personal Storage 3200 harddrives manufactured since August of this year may be infected with a virus known as "Virus.Win32.AutoRun.ah." The virus is known to probe drive data looking for passwords, and sends them to a central server located somewhere in China. Evidently, the problem stemmed from a specific sub-contractor, and while the issue has already been resolved on their end, the infected harddrives are still floating around in circulation.

What makes this story of particular interest to us is that the virus seems to be looking specifically for passwords for games popular with Chinese MMO players, most notably WSGame, Perfect World, and World of Warcraft. In the announcement on their website, Seagate, which owns the Maxtor brand, describes the effects of the virus as "minimal." If it was our WoW account that were hacked because of their oversight, that's hardly the word choice we'd use.

If you've picked up a new harddrive from Maxtor since August, it might be worth checking your specific model number and calling customer service just to hedge your bets. Here's hoping this is only an isolated case and we don't see anything like this in the future.