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Last week Tuebit from the WorldIV blog broke out a great post all about the music from MMOs. The aural background in virtual spaces something we often take very much for granted. Many players turn the music from MMOs off completely soon after entering the game. This blogger takes exception to that, and Tuebit's celebration of the art form is a great tribute to the work. He offers up a number of download and listening links for this music. No illegal torrents here, nothing but legal players and ftp sites. The author follows that post up with one exploring the role of music in MMOs, from the audio cues in LOTRO to the detrimental effect of voice chat on music enjoyment.

If you're interested in a few free soundtracks, some of the most surprising examples are available in that vein. City of Heroes' entire musical score is available via ftp, for example, while the late Auto Assault has its entire soundtrack still on Fileplanet. EVE's soundtrack is online as well, and if you have EQ2 installed you already have the mp3s right there on your system. Non-players can also download it from these here internets. As commentary on the whole situation, Angus has a great angle on the subject: "I can totally see how the music for a place could make it popular or unpopular, in a game that had really good music in other places (so that the players didn't just turn it off)."

The old adage -- if you want something done right, do it yourself -- has never been more true than in Flagship Studios' Mythos. You can find excellent weapons and gear from monsters or treasure chests, but if you want something uniquely yours, crafting is your best bet. By focusing on certain crafting trees, master crafters can make gear with stats that dwarf that of dropped gear. Further, crafted items may be adorned with temporary buffs called heraldries. The monsters won't know what hit them. In the Shadowlands, nobody will be able to touch you. That's the power of crafted items and the heraldries that mark them.

Crafting itself is simple to pick up -- just hit R and spend points in the crafting tree. You'll see that it is impossible for a single crafter to become an expert in more than one or two skills. The skill trees themselves are oddly split -- training in Swords and Axes gives you no abilities to create Spears and Polearms. Master the crafting of chest armors, but that will do you no good when it comes to making shoulders and helms. Focus on becoming the best cobbler in Uld, but don't expect that skill to carry over into the scribing of Heraldries.

Here is a brief overview of the crafting quests and the process of crafting itself. You can read a more detailed list of the benefits of crafted items over on the official Mythos forums.

So you think you want to get into Guild Wars PvP. Maybe you've taken a look at Observer Mode and thought, "Hey, I can do that!". For the sake of argument, let's assume that you're a veteran Guild Wars player, but you've focused solely on PvE for the duration of your stay in Tyria. Let's continue the hypotheticals and say you've become quite bored with farming the same vermin, or clearing out the same certain Woe of the Fissure-like nature night after night with PUGs. After almost three years of playing against mobs and spawns with predictable patrol patterns, you're looking for something new to spice up your favorite game.

PvP in Guild Wars can be quite intimidating at first. You can enter one of the arenas, jump into a battle and get slaughtered in a matter of seconds unless you know what you're doing. This might be the very thing that has turned you off of PvP in the past, but we're here to make sure you get off on the right foot to eventually enjoy your PvP experience. You'll be flashing a Phoenix before you know it!

EVE Online is a PvP driven game. It is not merely PvP oriented, nor does it only contain strong PvP overtones. The game, its politics, and its economy, are all controlled by the ever-present PvP that takes place. No matter your path in EVE, you are participating in PvP, be it through market competition with another trader, competition for ore rights with another miner, or the time-honored tradition of turning your opponent into space dust. Staying out of the PvP environment requires a conscious effort. Even the most casual PvE enthusiast is contributing to PvP by selling loot or minerals, and may well become the target of some non-consensual combat.

Suffice to say, even though this guide will have some things that will apply only to those looking for a fight, there is something for everyone, since you will get killed, someday. Ignoring these bits of advice is a surefire way to make that inevitable ship loss that much more painful. Also, bear in mind that each and every one of the things I am going to cover here is something that I myself have done in the past. This is not just a guide for noobs, but also a cheat sheet for those of us who get so busy preparing the bigger picture battle, that we forget things that end up making us look like total noobs in the end.

Haven't had a chance to play Guild Wars yet? You're thinking maybe three years after launch is a bit late? Nah, you're just in time! Guild Wars has so many enticements for people who are just getting into this new-fangled MMO scene, but also for people looking for a change from their regular game. We're here now to explain a bit about ArenaNet's masterpiece, targeted at someone who has only heard of Guild Wars, but never actually played it.

Guild Wars is different from many of the larger, more popular MMOs we have to choose from today. The main reasons include the fact that it has no monthly fee, it centers around instanced worlds and it is one of the few games that successfully combines PvE with PvP.

So let's start from the beginning and explain a bit about the history of the game and why it came into existence. No, this will not be on the test later, but it is an important piece of back story when considering why it is the game that it is.

Over at Eurogamer, there was someone who felt the pain and found a way to get the job done. A few useful tips and tricks were jotted down for you to make your leveling experience more enjoyable. Tired of killing gnolls? Go for a swim in the river and laugh at murloc screams. Need to run from Loch Modan to the Wetlands? Run over to the dam and jump off to get there. Can't keep track of all those quests? Tips for that too! For your mental sanity, if nothing else, navigate yourself on over there, park your toon in the inn, and read up. You will thank yourself for doing it.

You're playing along in Star Wars Galaxies, enjoying the new content added by the Chapter 9 content patch. They've added a load of new stuff, like the Exar Kun heroic instance and the PvP repeatable collections. But what about the smaller content, the fun value-added stuff that you may not have had the chance to indulge in yet? One of the most entertaining of these smaller pieces of content is the Rattletrap instant travel vehicle. Previously only available to customers of certain SWG boxed sets, the ability to instant travel is most welcome on the game's large, sprawling planets.

But in order to obtain the Rattletrap you need to complete a collection. And who has the time to search the whole galaxy for all those pieces? Worry not, traveler. The devs want you to find this clunker, and they've made it exceedingly easy to do so. Today we're going to make it even easier for you by providing you with an easy guide to obtaining your own Rattletrap instant travel vehicle. If you have your own ship (obtainable for free from any factional flight trainer) this will probably take you all of ten minutes to complete. So let's get started!

When patch 1.6 hit the live servers, Tabula Rasa's grinding game as we knew it was shaken up. Experience modifiers were bumped up as high as 6x the normal rates and a new system was implemented that allows players to collect universal CP assault and defend tokens in exchange for worthwhile items like attribute respecs and 50% experience boosters. With these changes, grinding capture points has never been a bigger part of the Tabula Rasa experience.

While battling our way from zone to zone, we've seen a lot of players falling into the same mistakes and meeting their untimely demise. In an effort to assure that everybody enjoys the CP capturing experience as much as we do, we've assembled a two-part guide to Tabula Rasa capture points, with tips, strategies, and common etiquette that should help take your TR experience to the next level. For part one, we'll give you some useful tips for that always difficult task of assaulting enemy CPs.

Tip 1: Prioritize your targets and take them out with hit and run tactics

One of the mistakes that most frequently leads to a player's early demise is rushing in to assault a capture point without properly assessing a situation. Sure it looks like there's only a few lightbenders guarding the gate to the base, but if you swing a few degrees closer to the door, you'll see they've got a whole slew of buddies waiting just inside the force field to come make hamburger out of your face. The smart player will identify the enemies he has to deal with and, if he's alone, attack in a series of hit and run maneuvers, taking out a few enemies at a time. Start with the healers and shield drones, and work your way down the order of importance. Those Thrax might be easier to kill, but it doesn't do you a lick of good killing them if a Caretaker just rezzes them right after you run away.

Tip 2: Turn solitary shield drones against the enemy

One of the most loathsome sights in the game is seeing a huge mob of Bane running towards you completely protected by a swarm of shield drones. While shield drones are generally a huge pain in the ass, and fairly high on the hit list, that doesn't mean you shouldn't use them to your advantage when you can. If you're inside their yellow dome of energy, you receive the same protective benefits as the enemy. So instead of destroying that lone shield drone sitting in front of the base, consider using it as a staging area. They'll only be to scratch you once they're inside the bubble too, so wail on them before they can close range.

Tip 4: Kite away big targets like bosses, Kael, and Striders

While a lot of players (especially Spies) seem to pride themselves in their ability to take down hard targets quickly, it's usually a much wiser decision to kite these guys away from big groups and take them on by yourself or with the help of other players or AI troops. Kael, Striders, and especially boss characters (as denoted by their white aura and unique name) can be extremely tough nuts to crack,. It's hard to even out-damage their considerable regenerative abilities, especially when you've got a group of ten other guys plunking away at you in the meantime. So pull those big guys from the crowd and take them out before going back in and cleaning up the dregs.

As a secondary point, don't be afraid to run away! Even specialists with their repair tools equipped can be quickly and efficiently downed under sustained fire from a boss and a big group of lackeys. If it looks like things aren't going to go your way, high-tail it out of there and save yourself the rez sickness.

Tip 5: If you need more guys to kill, just knock on the door

If you're running around outside a CP and find yourself needing enemies to kill, just plunk one or two shots into the force field covering the gate and you should get a fresh supply of enemies to come out and try and make paste of your face. If they don't try and drop-ship down on your head, they should come rushing out of the base like bats out of hell. We're not sure if they have some sort of psychic connection to the door or if it's got some sort of doorbell function we weren't made aware of, but it works. Still, it's a crucial point of order in keeping your experience modifier alive.

Excuse us if we geek out for a few minutes, but the device that we're about to show you is really outstanding. In fact, it could be this blogger's best friend in Second Life. It's actually pretty funny that they're just now announcing the mouse as coming to SL, as many residents have been using it for the last eight months or more.

The 3Dconnexion Spacenavigator allows you to use many programs, such as Maya, 3DS Max, Google Earth, and Photoshop CS3, among other things. For machinima use, you are able to move forward, backwards, left, right, up, down, tilt, and zoom. This makes for very precise shots. In addition, it's fun to cruise around sims when you have nothing better to do. According to the video, it even helps out with building!

If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.

It's Bristlebane's Day in Everquest II until April 2!

The god of tricks and pranks has a special job for someone (maybe you!). Look for Blat Berisen outside the gates of your home city... The gods are sending evil thoughts into his brain, and only you can retrieve the tinfoil cap he needs to block them out. Will you accept the challenge?

Check out our exclusive gallery for hints to help the quest along -- including amazing shots of the tin cap itself!

Torley Linden is a tutorial-making machine! Her how-to's are great for the starting resident of Second Life, but might also teach the older enthusiast a thing or two. If you need instruction on a specific subject, there's actually a video tutorial wiki page.

Yesterday, Torley did a whole series of them on voice chat. The video above is on getting started, but she also has videos on who's speaking, etiquette, improving your hearing, private calls, speech gestures, and disabling it for yourself and your land. These clips are in easy to digest lengths of just under one minute to almost four, depending on the complexity of the problem!