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Lucasfilm has registered a number of new trademarks, including Star Wars: The Old Republic, The Old Republic, Star Wars Legends, and Star Wars Sagas. This news is interesting as is, but it gets really juicy when you read the type of patent and its description: "Entertainment services provided on-line by means of global and local area networks, namely, providing interactive computer game software, interactive video game software and interactive computer games and interactive video games, all on-line by means of global and local area networks ... "

That sounds awfully MMO-like, doesn't it? It's not even remotely conclusive though. It could be another kind of multiplayer, or it could even be some kind of web-based community service connected to a single-player game; the patent description suggests that it's also for news and "fan club services."

That said, it could be the fabled, BioWare Austin-developed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic MMO. We suppose it all depends on just how badly you want to believe!

[Via Kotaku]

We've been speculating about Blizzard's next MMO for quite a long time. We're not just talking about the splash screen from last week (which panned out to be Diablo III, a non-massive game). There have been job postings on the company's website advertising various positions in a team working on a "Next-Gen MMO," which is confirmed as a totally new title, not an expansion for World of Warcraft. There have also been murmurs of a project codenamed "Hydra." We've always wondered -- are Hydra and the Next-Gen MMO one and the same?

Now we have our answer: no. A reader of our sister site WoW Insider noticed a caption that read "Hydra" on an image (above) in Blizzard's Diablo III gallery. Yep, Diablo III is Hydra. So if your sole interest is Galaxy of Starcraft, move along now. Hydra is not the savior you've been waiting for. And as WoW Insider noted, Blizzard is working on three different projects at once. That's a lot on its plate. Now that Diablo III has been announced, we're not expecting any news about the Next-Gen MMO anytime soon.

[Via WoW Insider]

Blizzard fans all over the internet have worked themselves up into a frenzy over a vague splash screen at the company's website -- a melting wall of ice adorned with rune or sigil-like markings. Everyone's speculating. Is it Diablo 3? Maybe it's just a promo for Wrath of the Lich King. After all, the ice motif seems to fit, right?

Maybe not. During a Q&A session at GDC Paris 08, Blizzard VP Rob Pardo was asked to comment on "the new game." He replied saying, "So you want me to announce the game before the announcement?" That was a classic press conference or Q&A blunder; you're not supposed to accept the premise of an unwanted or hostile question!

The Saga of Ryzom met an untimely end in February. Its players were scattered around the MMO universe -- a diaspora of Ryzomites without a country to call home. History has shown us that not all MMO deaths are final, though, and Ryzom might be coming back.

The official website relaunched with the message "Ryzom will be back soon!" hastily typed in three languages (English, German, and French) over a screenshot from the game. Researching the site's domain reveals that the last known owner was Nevrax -- the original creator of Ryzom. Thing is, Nevrax no longer exists. It's likely that the whois data hasn't been updated yet.

A couple months ago, we reported that an organization called Spiderweb International Unlimited had placed a bit for the Ryzom property, and that fans of the game were trying to raise enough money to outbid them so the source code could be released to the public. We haven't seen any news since then, so we're not sure what ended up happening, but we'll let you know as soon as new info comes up.

[Via WarCry]

Total Video Games has a new scoop about BioWare's mysterious MMO project. The site reports that Electronic Arts' CEO told investors that his company is funding an MMO in Austin. Of course, that's a no brainer. Since BioWare is owned by EA now, we assumed that much. But he want on to say that the MMO is slated for a release in "the fiscal 2010/2011." That means it's coming between April 2010 and March 2011. It'll be a long wait; how sad! That's not all, though.

There's also the rumor that will not -- cannot die. An alleged disgruntled ex-LucasArts employee (the "ex" bit because of the recent layoffs) e-mailed gaming blog Kotaku saying that one of the projects "in the pipeline" at LucasArts is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3. That alone is no surprise, since LucasArts and BioWare announced a new collaboration months ago, but ... he also said that KotOR 3 is an MMO.

Oh noes! Not that rumor again! Well, anyway, we're sure our very intelligent readers know to take with a kilogram of salt the paraphrased words of an alleged disgruntled former employee. Right?

First floated yesterday, the rumor that Dungeons and Dragons Online was going to be ported to consoles is still flopping around, gasping for breath, yet not entirely dead. According to an article on the Crispy Gamer site, Turbine Communications Director Adam Mersky has neither confirmed nor denied the rumor. He only states that they are working on a console title, whose announcement will come later this year.

Though the article seems to take it as read that DDO is not console-bound, Mersky's comment was not a flat denial, meaning that there is still a possibility that the franchise could find a home on one of the next-gen systems. Is this something that would be of interest? Would the console version's players be able to play against the PC version's players? Time will tell, and once it's been announced, so will we!

[Thanks, James!]

Our good friend reader Schad sent us a tip that rings strangely true, as weird as may sound: Turbine may be releasing Dungeons and Dragons Online for the Xbox 360 and/or PS3 consoles. The game is riding high after their big Module 7 release last week, and connecting the dots on this just might mean DDO is console-bound.

Before you try to throw the case out of court, hear out the evidence first:

• Schad notes that Turbine's careers page calls for a console engineer, and if you read the description of what they're looking for, phrases like "extend the functionality" and "updating Turbine's MMOG engine" point directly to a console port kind of situation.
• And the DDO team specifically has just recently announced that big changes are in the air over there -- they've suspended the "Weekly Dev activities" alert, saying that what they're working on is under wraps, and that the Turbine PR team is giving them more focus.

Which is exactly what you'd expect from a console port. Doesn't sound as strange after that, does it? And after thinking about it, DDO's "real-time" control scheme does lend itself very well to console controls, and the ongoing rumors that the game is going free-to-play would also make things easier for a console version. It's still a rumor for now, but all the signs we can see point to a possible console-based Stormreach in the future.

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened...
-- Obi Wan

Something 'terrible' indeed has transpired recently in EVE Online, but the event brought more amusement than horror to fans of the brutal sci-fi game. Over 67,000 ships were destroyed in the bustling trading hub of Jita yesterday, and the pilots of EVE's galaxy of New Eden are still trying to figure out what really happened. All of the obliterated ships were shuttles, which is unusual given the nearly endless procession of freighters and industrial ships clogging the system's star gates. The Jita system is notorious for being overcrowded and is often blamed for the lag that affects the rest of New Eden. Not a day goes by without an EVE pilot, somewhere, cursing Jita and calling for the system to be nuked. It seems those rage-fueled wishes were finally granted, just not quite how most would want that retribution to play out.

Theories about the event can be found in multiple forum threads, ranging from the plausible to the absurd. A few players expressed the view that multiple convoys of freighters offloaded their cargo of ships into space at one location, and somehow ignited the mass in a doomsday-level conflagration. Some feel that it was all orchestrated by EVE Online's developers to help set the tone for factional warfare between the races, which is about to consume EVE's pilots in the Empyrean Age expansion. Others point out the most likely cause of the mayhem: it was simply a bug... a map glitch. No official explanation from CCP Games has been given for the occurrence, nor has EVE's Interstellar Correspondents covered news of the event. Glitch or not, it's a novel way to kick off the wave of destruction about to sweep over New Eden mere days from now.


Thanks Hortinstein

While the rest of the MMO community is happily buzzing about what Trion World Network is working on in conjunction with the Sci-Fi Channel, G4's The Feed has come right out and said it: "A Stargate MMO developed by Trion World Network and the SciFi channel is going to be integrated with the Stargate series sometime in 2010."

Now, we're not out to immediately call shenanigans on G4, but our interview with Jon Van Caneghem doesn't mention any specific shows, and he should know, so ... where is G4 getting this information? A couple of the commenters for the post have noticed this as well, so we're glad it's not just us.

[UPDATE: Our own Mike Schramm, who conducted the interview with Mr. Van Caneghem, had confirmed that this will be a new IP, so that rules out Stargate completely.]

Eurogamer is reporting on rumors of what could be the holy grail of online gaming: a Grand Theft Auto massively multiplayer game. Rumors are circulating that Realtime Worlds reaquired the publishing rights for their in-development All Points Bulletin for a very specific purpose. Originally to be published by Webzen, Realtime now hopes to sell the game to Rockstar as a framework for a GTA MMO.

According to the site, they were tipped off that a GTA transition was the rationale behind the rights re-purchase. The article goes on to report that Realtime is claiming ignorance of this rumor. They admit that they pulled back the APB rights from Webzen to "give them some options", and that they'd be open to working with other companies to see the game published. Rockstar hasn't, as yet, commented on the rumor.

Have you been enjoying GTA IV? Would you jump into a GTA MMO?

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.

My daddy's SMARTER than Einstein, STRONGER than Hercules and can light a fire with a SNAP of his fingers! - The Gatherer's Garden
If you're anything like us, the very concept of a BioShock MMO is enough to make you break out in cold sweats. Stiff upper lip and set jaw though, old boy. It's no sure thing yet. The MTV Multiplayer site found a verrry interesting slide in a presentation given by Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick. He was explaining why they aren't taking EA's offer, and noted (on this slide) past and future projects they've tackled.

Under 'MMO/Online gaming', both BioShock and the Civilization series are listed as 'Potential Opportunities'. Consider us signed up! Steampunk survival-horror and leveling at the bottom of the ocean? Collaborating with the Ryanists to hold off the depredations of the hideous splicers? Getting to watch all that gorgeous water during raids? Sounds like a plan. What about you? Would you play a BioShock MMO?

We cannot foresee the details of BioWare's MMO; shrouded in mystery they are. The biggest rumor has always been that it's based on the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic IP. And what a ride that rumor has been. Just since the beginning of this year it's already been falsely confirmed once and denied twice.

It's the most popular nonexistent game in the known universe, but is it really nonexistent after all? Oh no, here we go again! As our own Mike Schramm commented after the most recent denial: "If you strike this rumor down, it will only come back more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Prophetic words, those.

A tipster sent 1UP an excerpt from an MMO script, allegedly from within BioWare. The script doesn't sound very MMO-like, but according to 1UP's Steve Watts, it resembles dialogue in previous BioWare works, and it's "set in the historical past of the Star Wars universe." Sounds like KotOR to us! 1UP poked LucasArts for a comment, and basically got the "no comment" comment.

We've caught wind of a rumor regarding certain retail chains that give out unique Age of Conan pre-order keys. It seems that if you've pre-ordered at any chain that does give you a unique key, then a three-day early start is in your Hyborian future. The rumor started in this thread on the official forums, which was then supported by a secondary post with a copy-paste of an email that seemingly confirms the rumor. What is most interesting is that an official post has since been made concerning said rumor, which doesn't actually deny the three-day head start.

So it certainly seems this rumor has some legs. This definitely wouldn't be the first time pre-order customers got an early start, as it's quite common for massively games to do something of this nature. Call us fairly convinced on this one, but of course until there's an official announcement it'll have to go into the rumor bin.

[Thanks, autonomous]