You may remember back during our coverage of PAX 08 last year when we reported on ArenaNet's announcement of a Guild Wars book trilogy, set up to explain the lore between Guild Wars 1 and Guild Wars 2. Recently, Ravious at Kill Ten Rats wrote a great post compiling the information we have now, combined with some brand new info on what looks to be the first novel in that trilogy.

Guild Wars: Fall of Ascalon by Matt Forbeck is set to release on or around February 23, 2010. What's even more interesting is some speculation from a GW fan concerning what may be the second book, possibly being penned by J. Robert King, also for release in 2010. Of course this begs the question of timeline. Are these three books all being written at the same time, to be released around the same time, or will they be written and released well into 2011? As far as we know, Guild Wars 2 won't come out until these books have all been released, so with the first book coming out in February of next year, we probably won't hear anything new about Guild Wars 2 until then, at least.

Guild Wars has some fantastic concept art. We've mentioned this in the past, particularly in the context of the work of ArenaNet art director Daniel Dociu and concept art lead Kekai Kotaki as seen at Spectrum Fantastic Art. In fact, the last thing we asked was, "Does this give some hints as to what we'll be seeing in Guild Wars 2?" It turns out, it does.

In fact, Guild Wars 2 concept art is now appearing in other places as well. Ravious at Kill Ten Rats hunted down more GW2 art by Dociu and Kotaki, as confirmed by ArenaNet's Regina Buenaobra. Check out the post on GW2 concept art by Ravious over at Kill Ten Rats, which features some examples of what he's found along with some background on what they may show of the next game's setting, "250 years after the original Guild Wars."

ArenaNet and NCSoft are celebrating the fourth anniversary of free-to-play MMO Guild Wars this month so we decided to sit down an chat with Community Manager Regina Buenaobra about the games success and it's beginnings.

How did Guild Wars come about?
When the ArenaNet founders (Jeff Strain, Mike O'Brien, and Pat Wyatt) were still working at Blizzard, they had a lot of discussions about the design underpinnings of World of Warcraft, which Jeff Strain was working on, and Warcraft III, which Mike O'Brien was working on. They thought that it might be cool to mix the two genres, since there was already a lot of overlap between them. Strategy games are more fun when you've got an emotional connection to not just your character but also the game world, and when roleplaying games are infused with a bit of a competitive dimension, that's exciting for players.

What were you looking to achieve when you first launched the game?
Even before Guild Wars was launched, the team aimed to do something different from what other online roleplaying games were doing. This uniqueness is at the very core of many of the design decisions-for example, the focus on player skill rather than time spent playing. The team wanted Guild Wars to deliver something different from what was already out there on the market, and have it be a success. At the time, it was a risk to diverge from the route that other online games were taking, both in terms of game design and business model. And of course, the goal was to give players a really fun and enjoyable game.

Why do you think gamers have been so attracted to the game?
I think there are a lot of reasons for the enduring draw of Guild Wars. Guild Wars provides a skill-based gameplay experience that includes a brilliant solo campaign. Here, a player feels immersed in a game world through fantastic storytelling and questing. The player feels powerful, in control of their destiny and their ability to influence events. Guild Wars also includes a deep profession and skill system which is really compelling from a strategic sense. The business model-buy the box and play online without subscription fees-presents great value for the money, especially in the current economic climate. These are all reasons for why Guild Wars is still really popular.

You have a much more segregated view of PvE and PVP content, do you think this makes the game more enjoyable for players? Will it influence gameplay in future titles, such as Guild Wars 2?
We have different forms of PvP for different player types. We have more easily accessible formats like Alliance Battles as well as more competitive formats like GvG. The various different PvP formats give players multiple options to play and enjoy the challenge of PvP.

This will have an influence in Guild Wars 2 in the sense that we want there to be a similar kind of accessible PvP format, like World PvP, that players can get into easily, as well as more competitive forms of PvP. We want to be able to give players different options, because we know that players will want to play and enjoy different forms of PvP.

What do you think you have learned from Guild Wars?
With the Guild Wars experience under our belts, we've learned that it's worth taking some risks to provide an innovative new gaming experience. We think we've succeeded in delivering a unique online RPG to players. We've learned that players enjoy deep PvE gameplay experiences, and this is shown in Guild Wars: Eye of the North, where we emphasized that deeper style of play rather than a more broad design emphasis where content is spread more thinly.

Of course, forging a new path and doing something different from everyone else wasn't totally smooth, and we've had learning experiences that are relevant for development on Guild Wars 2. One of the things we would have reconsidered in hindsight is the fact that adding a large number of skills to the game increases the complexity of the system, and increases the amount of information that a player feels she has to absorb. This is potentially overwhelming, especially for new players. One of the strongest design decisions the team made was the use of instancing, which gives players a personal experience and the feeling that they have an impact and a stake in the destiny of the world. In games where there's more persistence, players don't feel that same kind of power. Having said that, persistent worlds give players a stronger sense of a world that's alive with the excitement and activity of other players. Guild Wars is unique from other games in a similar genre, both in the design sense and in terms of its business model, and we continue to be successful, so the lesson there is that it was worth taking those risks.

Is there anything in particular you are looking to improve upon in terms of gameplay or storyline in future?
Our Guild Wars Live Team is continuing to work on improving the game through smaller monthly tweaks as well as more substantial content updates. We don't have specific details on what's in store for the immediate future.

In terms of Guild Wars 2, we've got a lot of great ideas, but you'll just have to wait and see when we're ready to start talking about them in more detail.



Guild Wars 2 is on the horizon, are you preparing players for the transition or do you hope both games will be played side-by-side?
We're really excited about Guild Wars 2, and we hope that our longstanding players will check out Guild Wars 2 when it comes out. In Guild Wars, we have the Hall of Monuments, which records and displays players' achievements. This will help transition players over to Guild Wars 2 by giving existing characters some unique rewards in Guild Wars 2. We'll continue to support Guild Wars for as long as players are playing it.

Over the last four years, has your method of delivering new content changed? Do you think players prefer mini updates or the WoW-style of three or four huge patches per year/expansion?
Yes. We went from releasing large content updates in the form of brand new games, such as Factions and Nightfall, and our expansion Eye of the North, to shifting our focus on Guild Wars 2 while continuing to support Guild Wars with smaller updates. We currently release both mini updates as well as larger patches. These come in the form of our monthly maintenance updates where we do skill balances and monthly tournament updates, and also our less frequent content updates, such as the Fourth Anniversary update, which are larger in scope. Less frequent, larger updates give the Live Team more time for planning and development for larger projects.

Do you think the player community has been an important part of the Guild Wars experience?
Absolutely. Our players have a strong voice at ArenaNet through our community managers, me and Martin Kerstein, as well as other members of the studio who take an interest in community matters. Some of the features being released in the Fourth Anniversary Update are very popular requests in the community-in particular, the expanded options for item storage and the Zaishen Menagerie. We have a few surprises up our collective sleeves, and the community has definitely asked for them.

Guild Wars wouldn't be what it is today without our player community. Our community is passionate and they continue to show their enthusiasm and excitement, whether it's through holding in-game community events, helping new players in and out of the game, showing up to support us at gaming conventions, or contributing articles on our Wiki.



Anything you can tell us about Guild Wars 2? How is development progressing?
Guild Wars 2 is going to be a much bigger game than the original Guild Wars. Our development team is twice as large as the dev team for Guild Wars, so we're putting a lot of development resources into it. We have regular company-wide play sessions in Guild Wars 2, and it's a blast to play with everyone. The development team also does regular playtesting every day. I can say that it's an absolutely gorgeous game and I'm always astounded at how great our artists are at bringing a world to life.

We're not ready to share more just now, but stay tuned for more information later this year. Keep in mind that unlike most development teams, we've been very open about our decision to start development on Guild Wars 2 right from the very beginning. We've also been building almost everything in Guild Wars 2 from the ground up. A lot of games start development in total secrecy before fans even hear a whisper about it. Our fans have been clamouring for news and updates, and we know it feels like a long time for them. When Guild Wars 2 is released, they'll see that it was worth the wait.

Do you think players will find it easy to move so far in to the game's future?
While we are going to have a fresh start with Guild Wars 2, we're also going to ensure that players still feel a close connection with the lore and mythology of the world. For existing player characters, they'll feel connected to the past of Tyria through the Hall of Monuments, which is where their current Guild Wars characters record their achievements.

Anything else you'd like to add?
Be sure to check out all the details of the Guild Wars Fourth Anniversary celebrations on our official website!

Scarcely a fraction of gamers are involved in MMOGs. The percentage is a little higher if you're a gamer over 25, but below that, the odds are that only 1-2% of gamers are into MMOGs. But the gamer market is expanding. That is, the number of gamers who are involved in MMOGs is growing at a rate less than a twentieth of the growth of the hobby.

Or to put it another way, the pool of potential customers is growing much larger than the customers the industry already has, if only the industry can find a way to make MMO gaming, as a hobby, more attractive to gamers who have hitherto shown little or no interest in it.

There are several approaches the industry has and is attempting in order to reach out into that broader pool of would-be players.

Some of us at Massively are quite taken with the art of Guild Wars and it looks like we're not alone in this respect. The ArenaNet artists were recognized at Spectrum last year, an annual showcase of some of the best artwork in fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Carrying on in that tradition, ArenaNet's Art Director Daniel Dociu made this year's Spectrum 16 list for "Mole Tunnels", taking the Gold Award in the Concept Art category. ArenaNet artist Kekai Kotaki took the Silver Award for "Snow Battle".

The work of both artists is stunning, and we urge you to check out the images found at Spectrum Fantastic Art to see what we mean. Given that the Guild Wars images seen at Spectrum are concept art, does this give some hints as to what we'll be seeing in Guild Wars 2?

How can you delay a game that never had a set release date to begin with? This is the logic ArenaNet's Mike O'Brien pointed out in a recent open letter to Guild Wars 2 fans. Speculation about the 'delay' began late last week when ArenaNet's parent company, NCsoft, released their Q4 2008 financials that scheduled a 2010-2011 release for GW2.

Guild Wars 2 was originally announced in March 2007 alongside Guild Wars' first expansion titled Eye of the North. At the time, PC Gamer magazine confirmed that ArenaNet was hoping for GW2 to go into beta in the second half of 2008. When June 2008 rolled around, the official GW2 FAQ was updated to say that a beta would not be commencing in 2008 as originally planned. During NCsoft's earning call, it was stated that while they originally intended to make GW2 a sequel, it really became a whole new game in development. Mike O'Brien stated in his letter that the game will be ready "when it's done" and not any sooner. "Guild Wars 2 is a large and ambitious game, and we're going to take the time to do it right."

After hearing recent news of NCsoft's lay-offs/restructuring at their European studio, it may not come as a surprise that their latest financial report for Q4 2008 is showing a 22% net income loss compared to Q4 2007 even though sales were up 11%. This loss was attributed to higher marketing costs for the quarter. Their overall 2008 net profits plummeted 40% compared to 2007. The high quarterly marketing costs probably had a lot to do with their Korean release of Aion, which accounted for 3% of their overall sales by games in 2008.

What does this mean for fans anxiously anticipating the release of Guild Wars 2? It means you'll have to wait a while longer. According to an anonymous source and ex-NCsoft employee, the company is heavily focused on both Aion and GW2 right now. After a successful launch in Korea, NCsoft plans to release Aion in Japan and Taiwan in Q3 2009 and in the US and Europe in Q4 2009. With such a strong Aion push in 2009, it seems to leave little room for GW2 in the calendar year. Their strong dedication to each title might explain why GW2 was pushed into 2010-2011 when many fans were hoping for a 2009 launch. Given the marketing costs of promoting Aion in Korea, it would be quite a financial burden to promote both titles simultaneously around the world.

As the news and confirmations are trickling in from this morning's layoffs at NCsoft Europe, we're happy to report that we were contacted by NCsoft regarding complete information and an official word on the situation. Apparently, according to the press release after the jump, this is more of a restructuring within the company as the NCsoft Europe studio is transitioned into more of a marketing hub for the company.

We also had a brief chat with a former NCsoft employee who confirmed the layoffs. This un-named source says that the Community Team, the Creative Services team, the Web Development team, Localization and a handful of others from various teams have been let go. But as confirmed in the official statement, these employees were offered other positions within the company, which is certainly a silver lining to this story. This person also stated that neither Aion nor Guild Wars 2 are in any trouble, as they're actually the largest focus of the company now. Read below the jump for the official word from NCsoft and let us know your opinion in the comments below.

A surprisingly large amount of people didn't believe me at all when I said something to watch out for in 2009 was an announcement for City of Heroes 2. In fact, pretty much everyone has disagreed with me here. That's fine, but they're all wrong, and in this week's Digital Continuum I'll explain why I think as much.

Our sister site Joystiq recently had the chance to speak with several developers about the future hurdles facing storytelling in games. Two members of the MMO industry were in the mix, and their views on how to tell a story in future MMOs are each a very focused snapshot at how City of Heroes and Guild Wars each approach story. With City of Heroes, it's not about the level of tech, but about how much the audience cares about the story. As for Guild Wars, the opposite seems to be the case: it's about learning how to tell interesting stories with new tools.

We don't think either method is wrong, as both views are a product of their origin. Namely, of what the developer has learned and their audience has demanded. We're certain that both developers will continue produce story within games that evoke unexpected responses from us, for better or worse.

As we anxiously await any morsel of news regarding ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2, it's still nice to hear the occasional interview along the way. Recently, Allakhazam sat down with ArenaNet's Art Director, Daniel Dociu, to talk about his experience in the gaming industry, his evolution at ArenaNet and his visions for Guild Wars. While we get no news of GW2, the interview is interesting nonetheless.

"We built this art team from a handful of people to somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty people now." Dociu said in the interview. "They have been more or less hand picked from the best talent pool that the industry had to offer. It's a team that I'm personally proud of and very protective of and that's what I would consider that my main contribution to the game."

Now that the holiday season is winding down and it's almost back to business in the new year, we're starting to seriously consider our MMO options. I understand that games, especially MMOs, take several years to develop from concept to launch. I understand that the game's entire premise can change dramatically throughout the development process, so revealing early details could prove damaging. I also understand how over-hype can kill a game when it doesn't live up to expectations. Yet, does a complete lack of information and veil of secrecy hurt more than it helps?

The most glaring example of this is Guild Wars 2. The sequel was first mentioned in March of 2007, and little else was said about it since then. Human nature takes over and fans who genuinely care about the direction of the game can do nothing but speculate from there.

Earlier this month we made a post speculating -- via Kill Ten Rats -- on how the marketing may be handled for Guild Wars 2. As it turns out, some of those rumors turned out to be untrue. Specifically, the rumor about how the game would be marketed when it eventually comes out. Regina Buenaobra, an ArenaNet community manager, has made it clear that NCsoft allows developers to decide their own marketing strategies for their games in the way that makes sense for them. We're very glad to hear that, as one size certainly does not fit all.

Another nice aside here is that it would appear that NCsoft is allowing ArenaNet to do their own thing, which should assuage any worries or fears some may have after the events surrounding Tabula Rasa and Auto Assault. As for that release date? Well, that's still subject for speculation as per usual.

Yesterday, Kyle gave us his impressions of the most anticipated games for 2009. This watch list was based not-only on games that are set to release within the year, but also games that are set to be announced in 2009. This list includes everything from DCUO and The Agency to the speculation of a City of Heroes 2 announcement. The comments were heated, so we thought we'd pose the question officially here for our readers.

What is your most anticipated game or game announcement for 2009? What games do you dream about? Do you think Red 5 Studios will reveal their stealth project? Will Darkfall finally be your holy grail? Do you think Guild Wars 2 will finally get a release date by the end of the year? Let us know!