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World of Warcraft producer J. Allen Brack and designers Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton were interviewed by Eurogamer today. Most of the interview dealt with Wrath of the Lich King content like the Death Knight, 10-person raids, and world PvP objectives. The most interesting bits of the interview were on the last page, though; the Blizzard reps talked about WoW's future.

According to Kaplan, a major graphics engine overhaul is "probably" part of that future. While he himself is not convinced it's necessary (he cited players' lukewarm reception of similar moves by the developers of Ultima Online and EverQuest), he said: "That's actually something we talk about every expansion ... and I'm positive we'll talk about it next expansion."

In the meantime, WotLK will allow "people with high-end machines some additional graphical effects." WoW Insider joked that future graphics engine updates might be dedicated entirely to producing even larger, more detailed shoulder pad armor. We wouldn't be surprised!

[Via WoW Insider]

CCP character artist Ben Mathis gave a 30 minute presentation at the New York Comic Con last month. He talked mostly about the forthcoming Ambulation expansion, which will allow EVE Online players to leave their cockpits and walk around the interiors of space stations with customizable, 3D avatars. Ten Ton Hammer has a Flash video of the entire session.

We saw some of the presented content at GDC earlier this year, but there's some new stuff in this video, too. As we've noted before, CCP isn't holding back; Ambulation is very technically impressive. It's ironic that EVE -- a game focused almost entirely on spaceships instead of face-to-face interactions -- might soon carry the most advanced avatar creation tools on the market.

Players will be able to customize every thing from body fat to the materials from which their clothes are made. Female avatars will have makeup customization options so powerful that the differentiation between lip gloss and lip stick will be noticeable. New animation blending technology will enable realistic transitions between disparate facial expressions. Infinite morph points will be available when faces are molded, thanks to creative use of shaders. CCP's ambition is astonishing -- let's hope the reality lives up to the promise in the end.

CCP will begin testing EVE Online's recently announced Emyprean Age expansion on the Singularity test server beginning this Saturday, the 17th of May. To celebrate the event, the dev team is hosting an event at 19:00 GMT. Everyone is invited to test the new features -- particularly Factional Warfare -- with the dev team.

There will be awards for achievements like "most kills" and "most bizarre bug found" once the dust has cleared. If you're an EVE subscriber, read the announcement for more details. If you want to jump right in, don't forget to download the patch and apply it to your client (not the installation with which you play on Tranquility, though!). Once you're all patched up and ready to go, log in on Saturday and join the chat channel "Faction Testing."

How often do you get the chance to blast the entire EVE dev team out of the skies? Sounds like fun.

In a strange case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing, Vivendi Games, in its latest financial press release, has stated that "Blizzard Entertainment's second expansion, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2008." While that's exciting, Blizzard themselves have not made any official announcement about the expansion's release date.

Does Vivendi think that no one's reading these things besides their investors and business partners? Can this be true? If not, it's a serious error that shouldn't be on a financial press release. We're waiting for Blizzard's response to see if there's going to be any kind of spin control on this. In the meantime, revel in the impending release!

[Via BigDownload]

A treasure chest of booty has just been dumped into the world of Pirates of the Caribbean Online. If you're an Unlimited Access player new weapons have been added that deal more damage, have faster reload times and sparkly new graphics. New quests have been included that can earn players things like a Fine Cutlass, Coltello Dagger, Harrow Voodoo Staff, and the walloping Heavy Tri-Barrel Pistol.

If inking up the bod of your Caribbean Pirate is more important, new Tattoo Quests have also been added. These quests will award players special inkings that can not be bought -- they must be earned.

Plus, some incredibly cool lore regarding who (or what) Jolly Roger actually is has been written up, and a tale of two islands explores the intrigue of a pirate from Spain and a pirate from France.

Game Update 45 is in the works for Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest 2, and patch notes have been flying off of the test realm for a while now. Finalized notes are now on the official forums, and GU 45 should be going live fairly soon. In the meantime some alert forum-goers have spotted some really interesting additions to the actual file contents of these test patches. It seems SOE is already adding in content from the fifth expansion, The Shadow of Odyssey. They're prepatching model files to get our clients ready for the big day down the road. A wise move, and it allows us to get a taste of what might be in store.

Forum poster Vulkoor seems to be the mastermind behind these observations. Says the player, "You will notice several things of note. Lines 8158-8162 reference the dungeon Veksar and line 8228 references the dungeon of Nuroga (Nurga/Droga perhaps?) ... To me, with all these references to 6 new voidbeast models and a goddess who was willed in non-existence by the gods (perhaps into the void?) it seems as if this will indeed be a expansion based on the void. Either that or Anashti'Sul has somehow found a way to return to Norrath." He/she goes on, noting that among additional models there is an "undead version of Anashti Sul, the god Rodcet Nife, new diety cloaks for every god, more void creatures, fungusmen, and elementals. You will also see reference to a third dungeon- Miragul Upper. Oh, and evidently, someone is getting a wedding veil."

There's plenty of rumor and speculation in the thread, so make sure to check it out! For our own speculation, make sure to read Brenda Holloway's thinking-out-loud piece about the next two updates to SOE's flagship games.

[Via Clockwork Gamer]

The moon was so clear. It was alive with energy flowing through every part of it. Then it was as if something in the center broke loose and leaped outward, like a bird of prey hatching from an egg. I couldn't turn away. It was so beautiful. -- excerpt from The Shattering.

Cyanbane posted a cryptic note on EQ2-Daily.com this morning. "EverQuest 2 - The Shadow of Odyssey? Those f'ing Everlings..." He'd done it. His USPTO-fu was strong. SOE had trademarked the names of their next expansions for their EverQuest franchise. EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction for the older game now entering its tenth year; and EverQuest II: The Shadow of Odyssey for its sequel.

So what is the Shadow of Odyssey? There are so many unexplored plot threads in the Norrath of EQ2, and the title is so vague, that it could be almost anything. Still, we have a few good ideas. If we had to put money on it, we'd bet that the shadow in question has something to do with the Void, and the mysterious Shadowmen. Or, Odyssey could refer to the long-lost homeland of the Erudites, the magic-weaving spellsmiths of yore. And then there's the possibility everyone's been mulling ... the one obvious if you look into Norrath's night sky. What if that shadow is the one cast by the shattered moon? What if Shadow of Odyssey will send us back to Luclin?

It has come to the Director's attention that the portals to our outposts may no longer be secure. There is evidence suggesting that beings defeating our operatives absorb residual energy which is detected by the portals. Portals in turn allow these beings to pass through into our outposts. -- Scroll found in the Tower of Zet

The blogosphere blazed with speculation about the title. Cyanbane wondered if this would explore the lore of the Shadowmen.

Very interesting idea, that. The Shadowmen are extraplanar creatures who have observed Norrath for centuries, content to lurk around the edges of places like Commonlands or Nektulos Forest, quietly scouting the planet for reasons all their own. In EverQuest 2, they extruded portals to a small portion of their plane, the citadel called , the Obelisk of Lost Souls. Others of their kind invaded Rivervale and the Enchanted Lands, driving the halflings to Qeynos. With Faydwer's rediscovery, another portal was found in Lesser Faydark, this leading to the Obelisk of Blight.. Scrolls found within the Obelisk (while doing the quest "Into the Shadowed Grove") revealed their evil plans. Taking over the bodies of mortals, they would seek to gather an army and invade the Emerald Halls, where they would then take over the mind and body of the Guardian of Growth, the ancient dragon Wuoshi. With the power of the emerald dragon on their side, they could turn the other dragons and rule Norrath.

The newest Lineage 2 expansion, Hellbound, is currently in test, and with its improvements and new content come changes to the pet system that fans will love. For example, people who have wolves as pets will be able to evolve it to a mountable form called a Fenrir. This change isn't merely cosmetic -- it will get special attacks and more powerful skills, and also confers its power to its owner while mounted. Clan members have further customization available to them, able to upgrade their wolves to Great Snow Wolves, Red Striders, and Snow Fenrirs.

For the other pets, the level caps have been raised to 85, concomitant with players' level caps. Once the Baby Buffalo, Baby Kookaburra, and Baby Cougar pets have exceeded level 55, they, too, can evolve into more powerful forms. Each one is geared toward a particular class, and grants buffs accordingly.

Visit the Lineage 2 site for more information, and check out these evolved pet screenshots!



[Thanks, Cynthia!]

The fine folks at WoW Insider have discovered (via an anonymous source) that the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King, is now in the alpha stage of testing. Alpha testing is generally done prior to 'feature set' status. This means that the folks at Blizzard have the framework of what they'll be offering in their final product, but whole concepts and systems might be put in or pulled out over the Alpha stage. Traditionally game companies use the next stage, Beta, to polish those 'set' features and get the game ready for release.

In the past Blizzard has done all of this work in the Alpha phase, leaving the game 'behind closed doors' for a very lengthy period of time. The months-long Beta for World of Warcraft, and the very public Beta test for the Burning Crusade expansion, were more public relations/expectation-setting events than anything else. Assuming they follow this path with Lich King, we can expect not to hear much from the Alpha test for some time. Either way, WoW Insider and the Massively team will keep you appraised as we hear news.

Turbine sent us a press release today, saying that it and Codemasters have launched a "new social gaming website" at unlocktheminesofmoria.com. Actually, that's the official website of the Mines of Moria expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online, and it's been running since the expansion was announced earlier this month, but fret not -- there is something new here!

The site has been updated with the first of its social games, called King Under the Mountain. It's a "tactical strategy game," and the schtick is that it's derived from a game played by the dwarf lords of Khazad-Dûm. It involves very Dwarven things like "caverns, gems, and fighting." You can play it alone or against your friends, and it's pretty cool.

Actually, we're just assuming the "pretty cool" part because unfortunately before we could check it out for ourselves, the site was shut down for maintenance. Apparently it was hosed "due to overwhelming response" from interested LotRO players. It'll be back up at some point though, if it's not already by the time you read this, so keep checking back if you're interested.

[EDIT: Site's back up. Enjoy!]

K2 Network, recently named the 2008 Entertainment and Gaming Company of the Year (in Southern California), has announced a new expansion for their MMO Sword of the New World. Like any good patch, "The Land of the Dead" includes new monsters, new Cash Shop items, new spells, new elites and more. This patch also introduces the Polisher System which brings Ancestral items into the mix. These are extremely powerful and rare items which are similar to the Elite items, yet will be bound to your family only, and can't be dropped or traded.

"The Land of the Dead" includes a PvP-enabled player map filled with all creatures of the dead, where everyone is considered the enemy. It can be accessed through Los Toldos in Porto Bello, A Deserted Quay. Two new UPCs also join the fray, with the introduction of Kurt and Eduardo. These Unique Player Characters add a new element to the existing pool of UPCs we've encountered previously. So head on over to the Sword of the New World main site to check out more details on this new highly-anticipated expansion.

Our friends at NCsoft have informed us that the next Lineage II expansion, titled Hellbound, is on the way. This will be the final chapter of the First Throne, and will continue on from the last expansion The Kamael which was released a few months ago. Headlining the features for Hellbound is a raise of the level cap to 85, as well as new high-end content culminating in a raid boss, Beleth (pictured).

For more LotRO coverage don't miss our player Q&A report, teasers and rundown of the teaser site -- and keep your eyes glued to Massively, as we'll bring you all the MoM news we can over the coming months!