September 2009 saw the release of Champions Online, Dungeons & Dragons: Eberron Unlimited (an older MMO going F2P), Fallen Earth, and Aion. This was easily the busiest month for MMOs in recent memory and we're sure many of you at least picked up one of them to try out. We're curious to know if you're still playing a September MMO just over a month later. If so or if not, why?

No MMO in the history of MMOs has experienced a perfectly smooth launch and these September titles were no exception. Did the action-packed combat of CO pull you in or did the lack of content push you away? Were you awed by DDO-EU's polished suite of tools or annoyed by the limitations put on free accounts? Was Fallen Earth's post-apocalyptic setting a breath of fresh air or did you choke on a mouthful of radioactive bugs? Did the beauty and smoothness of Aion make your heart beat faster or did its grind and bot infestation crush your soul? Just how impressed were you with September's crop of new MMOs?

A cache of weak petroleum; cool Interceptors; sweet ammo drops; and having friends to face it all with. These are just some of the many things in Fallen Earth that clones might well be thankful for. Of course, if you think you can capture what you're thankful for in the wastes of the Grand Canyon, then the Fallen Earth team wants to hear from you. They're holding a screenshot contest in an attempt to find out what passes as an "authentic" Thanksgiving now that society has been mutated, fractured, and factionalized.

The idea is simple. You and up to four of your friends get together and hold your own Fallen Earth post-apocalyptic style Thanksgiving: killing, looting, maiming, working together, talking about the day's events over a nice warm Unicorn Whiz Beer -- whatever you think fits best. Then e-mail your entry off to fecontest [AT] fallenearth [DOT] com by Friday, November 13, and cross your fingers. Three winners will be picked for the contest. The first-prize image submitters get a sweet Fallen Earth t-shirt and a choice of some special in-game holiday noms for up to 5 people. More details and those pesky rule things can be found over on the Fallen Earth site for those interested. In the meantime, we're off to the wastes to figure out our own Thanksgiving entries!

It is a world twisted by the Shiva virus, where countries turned on one another until only a small pocket of humanity is now left. But even facing the adversity of radiation, mutations, sand worms, and enormous cockroaches, the people of Fallen Earth soldier on, moving towards a better future. You know, one involving crafting and rebuilding society and a bunch of butt-kicking. Today's great One Shots comes to us from Dethgar who was traveling through the wastes and sends this postcard back: This is me along the road from Oilville to Embry Crossroads. My computer barely runs the game, but I've been pleasantly surprised by this game since beta. To the future!

Can you believe it's been 2 years since we started One Shots? It has! We'd like to take this moment to thank you all for the great images you've sent in over the last two years, which has helped us amass an enormous gallery. If you'd like to be a part of the upcoming year, send in your MMO screenshots to us here at Oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. Excelsior!

If you picked up a Fallen Earth trial key in the recent batch and found yourself falling in love with the barren wastelands of the post-apocalyptic Grand Canyon, then you'll want to listen up. For those of you who decide to make the jump and subscribe to the game by tonight (10/30) at midnight Eastern, you can land yourself a swanky, special-edition Trooper gas mask, as seen to the right. (For those of you who are already subscribed, you'll get this in the mail tomorrow!)

Why is this so cool, you ask? Well dustbowlers, this is the absolute must-have fashion accessory of the season - especially when you live in an irradiated, disease-ridden desert. This mask will give you a plethora of bonuses to armor against everything from acid to sonic attacks. In addition to that, it also adds +5 to your Charisma with its rubbery good looks and +6 to a body save since it's such a pain in the arse to hack through this thing and splatter your brains everywhere. So if you've been thinking about subscribing, now is a great time to join those of us who call the barren wastes of Fallen Earth home!

It's been a little over a month since Fallen Earth launched, and we think it's safe to say that quite a bit has changed since then -- but what, exactly? For those who may have found themselves unhappy with the game's state at launch, this article is for you. For those of you who may have tried the game during a beta stage or stress test event, and come across some technical issues that made the game completely unplayable, this article is for you, too.

We want to continue our tradition of revisiting games after launch, and this time it's Fallen Earth's turn. So we're going to spend the first half of the article discussing the facts, and what the community has to say about the last month's changes to the game, and the second half will be spent giving my own impressions of what I've experienced in the first month. Follow along, won't you?

Content, community, and epic beards ahead fair readers! When lead game designer Lee Hammock walked into the media room at GameX 2009, we immediately tackled him into a chair and demanded he answer our many questions on what's coming up for Fallen Earth. What we got (after he figured out that we wanted to interview him and not kidnap him) were answers on the upcoming "social" patch for Fallen Earth, a look at the brand new crafting skill, construction, and the camps that will be added to the game, what lies beyond Sector 3 (hint: it's Sector 4) and how much the team loves their community.

So if you're interested in Fallen Earth, or are looking for a reason to get into the game, look no further than the interview that lies beyond the break! Unfortunately though, we must make a slight correction to what Lee says in the interview. Fallen Earth did send us 2,000 trial keys, but thanks to an overwhelming response, we're out of keys! This makes us sad pandas, but you can still enjoy what Lee has to say about the game, and be amazed by the hypnotic beard.

This weekend we had the chance to hang out with a bunch of rough-and-tumble types in the wastelands of Fallen Earth. No, we weren't just doing our typical weekend gaming! We were lucky enough to get to spend some time in-game, hanging out with Marie "Arosei" Croall, Content Team Lead for Fallen Earth. During the evening, we asked her some of the great player submitted questions we solicited last week. She also tossed out a couple of interesting asides to the huge crowd that amassed to take part in the event - and to get some of the free goodies we were handing out!

For those of you who may not have been able to make it - or would just like to check it out without all the cross-chatter - we've transcribed the interview (and some interesting asides) behind the break. Also, remember that we have another Massively Fallen Earth event happening this Wednesday night at the Embry Satellite, starting at 9:00 PM Eastern. This time our very own Shawn Schuster will be dropping by to hold a Massively Reader Meet-up, with - you guessed it - more free stuff, and a special Halloween-themed show on Post Apoc Radio.

In the world of Fallen Earth, you really never know what you're going to run into next. Sure - you can count on infected during the current Days of the Dead promotion. If you wander too far into the wastes, it's likely some form of mutated pack poultry will take a chunk out of your backside - if not send you back to a spawn point. But sometimes it's the little things that just make us stop and remember - this is set in a world familiar to us. Today's funny One Shots comes to us from Ampersand, who is part of The Fourth Tribe clan. He writes in: It looks like the Blue Screen of Death has something in common with cockroaches: it can survive the apocalypse. This screenshot shows some of the humor in Fallen Earth. It was taken in the Kingman Prison instance.

If you're among the many trying out Fallen Earth - or playing any other MMO - feel free to send in any funny or interesting screenshots you run across on your travels. We love to see them. Just email them to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post them here and let the world share in the funny.

With the Days of the Dead in full swing in Fallen Earth, various different player groups are holding their own events. If you love to spin spine-tingling tales of terror set in the post-apocalyptic world of Fallen Earth, the players at The Shop (with help from Saints Incorporated clan) have a great contest for you! They're looking for player-submitted spooky stories for their Halloween Narrative Contest - and you could score some sweet prizes in the process!

The idea is pretty simple: write a story of no more than 2500 words having to do with something evil, spooky, scary, or macabre. Some suggested examples were digging around in a crypt for treasures, fighting off Blight Wolves, or even throwing a Halloween party at The Shop. The first prize winner will make off with 45 blue chips and their choice of an Electric Motorbike or a Dune Buggy. Second place will win 30 blue chips and whatever vehicle isn't chosen by the First place winner. Third place will take home 20 blue chips. For all the specifics, be sure to head over to the Fallen Earth forums and read all the delicious details. Good luck to all who enter!

As we mentioned last week, we have quite a treat for you today as part of the Fallen Earth Halloween event. We're happy to present 2,000 trial keys for anyone interested in trying out this indie post-apocalyptic game before forking over the cash. This special trial key is good for 15 days, which will bring you through their entire Days of the Dead Halloween event, as well as our own upcoming in-game events.

To get your trial key, simply visit our giveaway page and follow the posted directions. For more information on our in-game events - including a great developer interview - keep reading below.

Last week we told you about Fallen Earth's upcoming patch planned for this week. The patch went live yesterday, and didn't disappoint. While the main feature discussed in advance was the optional expanded tutorial, Icarus Studios wasn't even close to finished. The patch notes were given in the forums on the official site just before, in a post that was the definition of "wall of text". The full list can be seen on the site, but here is a (very) brief overview of what was done.

• The largest part of this update by far was made up of the many, many bug fixes and polishing throughout the game. Things like battle music, drops from foes that don't quite make sense, NPCs standing in the background swinging a hammer at...nothing, and sounds made when someone sits or stands aren't necessarily game breaking, but those small touches add up to make the game.

• You'll find new LifeNet facilities, garages, and merchants in every sector, as well as updates and small changes to quests and events.

• Changes were made to chat -- most significantly that only players below level five are automatically added to the help channel. Higher level players may still access it, but will have to manually add themselves.

• Days of the Dead camps and content added - the Halloween event has begun!

Check out the full notes for all the details, and our congratulations and thanks to the Fallen Earth team for the huge amount of work that went into this update.

You should most definitely not be playing Fallen Earth. How can you tell? Why, because Bio Break recently posted a long article explaining exactly why you shouldn't be playing it. And this isn't coming from a fan who's just disgruntled about a certain update or class rebalancing (though the latter would be pretty funny) -- it's from one of the game's most adamant fans who has no shortage of good things to say about the game. So why would he tell you not to play the game?

One of the best things a fan can have is perspective. In his piece, Syp outlines all of the reasons that most players, even if they've been enamoured of the game's press, might want to use extreme caution stepping into Fallen Earth for the first time. Technical problems such as the server instability issues, of course, are likely to be improved -- but the game's unforgiving character-building system, its dwarfing sense of scale when the players get started, and the survivalist attitude that the game tacitly enforces are all part of the charm of the game. Of course, he's not suggesting that the game is bad -- but giving everyone a much-needed dose of perspective on a game that's really not well-suited to everyone.

While the bulk of what we do here as part of One Shots are reader contributed screenshots, every so often we love to give you a look into what we're playing. This particular image comes from an event I attended on Friday evening in Fallen Earth. Dustfox, as seen to the left, is the head of a player-controlled radio station called Post Apoc Radio. Different players take turns DJing on the station (including me), where they take requests and generally have fun RPing with the community. This last Friday during DJ Dustfox's set, no less than 4 Fallen Earth GMs showed up throughout the evening to come dance with players between help calls. It was a great surprise - and a lot of fun!

One Shots needs your screens! So while you're out playing - or digging through your hard drive - grab some screens for us. Send them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description of what's going on in the screenshot. In turn we'll give your contribution a moment to shine, right here on Massively. How cool is that?

Playing a game like Fallen Earth teaches you the value of hitting the ground running, as it makes it much less likely that something or someone is going to jump you, take your things, and possibly eat you. It's a lesson the developers have clearly taken to heart, as they've been running and working hard at developing their game. Patch 1.2 is scheduled to go live for the game on October 22nd, and the developers have given more information about what players can expect.

Chief among the changes is the expansion of the game's tutorial -- with a game that has a very strict philosophy against letting you roll back any changes you make, understanding the importance of each choice becomes vital. Currently, the tutorial covers a number of elements of the game and is supposed to tease the player regarding high-end gameplay. In patch 1.2, there will be an optional expansion that runs an additional 35-40 minutes, covering crafting, scavenging, mounts, and harvesting. It's also slated to help reinforce the game's basic combat system.

In addition to these changes, the game is streamlining and improving several of the game's town events. Areas such as Clinton Farm, Boneclaw, and the Embry Crossroads Monster Hunt were a bit more obtuse than the developers liked, and with the feedback from players they're going to be making the missions more understandable and straightforward. There are good things coming soon to Fallen Earth, certainly, although it's still probably not a bad idea to hit the ground running -- tutorials don't last forever, after all.