Massively^™

As announced today by Codemasters, the first Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Mines of Moria, is now available for pre-order in Europe. The website information gives us a complete run-down of what's available with this expansion and each boxed version, including the exclusive Special Edition content and special pre-order content as well. What's interesting about this is that on the Play.com site listing, it reports the release date as November 14th, which other online retailers such as Amazon UK had previously reported as well. Meanwhile, the official Codemasters online store lists the release date as only "Autumn 2008".

Where's the North American pre-order information? It hasn't officially been announced yet, but expect news to surface soon. When it does, we'll let you know!

If you're one of the many people who preordered Warhammer Online from Amazon.com, and you're confused as to where the access code is, EA Mythic has just posted complete directions on their main website. Since this process is a bit trickier than other preorder options, they thought it would be wise to cut through the confusion and point out that they will not be mailing those codes, as some have speculated. To access your game code after you've preordered through Amazon, simply follow these steps:

1. Select "Your Account" from the upper-right corner of the Amazon.com screen.
2. Select "View Your Media Library" from the right column in the "Where's my stuff" section near the top of the page.
3. Log in if necessary.
4. When the Media Library page appears, at the top of the screen you will see several tabs, one of which is called "Downloads". Click on the drop-down arrow to the right of the word Downloads.
5. Select Bonus Items.
6. You should see all the codes you have access to here.

Mythic has created the beginnings of a FAQ intended to help would-be-customers sort out all the details about pre-ordering Warhammer Online. Info included in the FAQ: how to pre-order in Canada, who to poke to get pre-order codes when you place your order through an online store, and details and definitions on the beta testing phases, among other things.

Mythic promises that the FAQ will be updated with new information in the future, but doesn't say what kind of information it'll be.

The FAQ has some helpful information if you have those specific questions, of course. If you want a more in-depth and badass guide to pre-ordering WAR, though, check out our WAR collector's edition pre-order guide. Which retailer distributes codes in the most helpful way? Which one gives you the best extra goodies? It's all there!

We've already seen rumors about what might be coming in the Warhammer Online collector's edition, but now a German site (not the same one as before -- what's with the Germans getting this stuff early?) has apparently posted more information on the CE and what a preorder of the game will get you. The box apparently confirms the previous rumors of the exclusive miniature, the comic book, and the bonus quests (along with the player titles), and the preorder of the CE will net you "guaranteed access" to the open beta (so open beta confirmed, apparently), a head start to the live game, and two bonus in-game items.

A German-speaking friend of mine (who actually does professional translation) tells us that the in-game items are a "Knight's (?) Portable Camp," which, "receives your tired soul and heals your wounds between battles." And the other is the "Guards of the Amber Ring," or at least a ring of some kind, that "improves your attributes" and casts a spell called "Touch of Earth," which we're told adds a chance to hit. Sounds pretty cool, though there's no information on when the preorder will be available, or even if it will be in America (the box is obviously labeled for Europe).

Any of this entice you to jump in on Warhammer, or were you already convinced? The collector's edition stuff doesn't sound too exciting, but jumping into the beta and the live game is definitely worth a preorder, if you ask us.

[Via K&G]

Potshot has an awesome roundup (from a post over on the official forums) just in time for today's Pirates of the Burning Sea release about "things you wish you'd known" (and that the in-game help didn't exactly tell you). From practical tips (you can CTRL-left click to set things on your action bar to autofire when they're available) to the should-have-been-obvious (ship position and wind direction when entering ship combat on open sea are the same in and out of battle), there's a lot of terrific insight here. And some of the tips even reveal stuff that make Pirates a much more attractive game-- did you know that you can train a skill to see what other nations say in chat, or that you could fire half-loaded guns?

If you're entering PotBS to host the mizzenmast and keelhaul some landlubbers today (or even if you've been playing in the preorder), it's definitely a must read. Every game has its hidden depth and player lore, and it's great to see players start digging into a game like Pirates as early as release day.

Pirates of the Burning Sea is coming out in January. That's good.

The preorder was supposed to happen this week, but it got delayed. That's bad.

SOE couldn't get it done in time, and they feel really sorry about it. That's good.

They couldn't get it done because they were running from the fires in California. That's bad.

Unfortunately, Flying Lab can't tell us where we can preorder, when preordering will happen online, or anything else about it besides that it will show up on November 13th. That's bad.

But they can tell us that answers are coming soon, and they even were nice enough to let us download four exclusive tracks from the preorder CD, four mp3s of the port music for each of the various nations. That's good!

Stay tuned for more info about the preorder. Hopefully SOE's employees will be able to get back to their homes safe and sound, and soon enough you'll be able to pick up the preorder box at a game store near you.

Can I go now?

[ via Tobold, with apologies to this obscure show ]