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In celebration of five years of Star Wars Galaxies, SOE and LucasArts have put out a press release announcing the production of Champions of the Force, a trading card game that will be available only to current Galaxies subscribers. The trading card game will only be available online, and will allow players to play decks against one another or even single-player in a story-based solo game. Interestingly, the game will sport "loot" cards which will be redeemable for virtual items within Galaxies proper.

Subscribers will get a bountiful five booster packs a month just for paying their subscription fees, but starter decks and booster packs will be available for purchase from the Station store as well. They're aiming for a release late this summer, so make sure to check out the official site for more details if it sounds like it's up your alley. Also make sure to look at their community site to find the other goodies they've got planned for the five year anniversary.

EverQuest and EverQuest II are getting the lion's share of the attention in SOE's Living Legacy promotion. But they are reserving something special for their massively collectible card game, Legends of Norrath. Win the Living Legacy Photo Contest, and not only will you get your picture painted, in character by artist Kieran Yanner for use on a Legends of Norrath card, but you'll be flown to the SOE Fan Faire this August. If you're an EverQuest player, your image will be made into a statue and placed into the guild halls of every guild in Norrath. If you are an EverQuest II player, your card will be made into a painting that can be hung in a place of honor in your apartment. All you need to do is to send them a picture that shows your passion for EverQuest. Find the complete rules on the Legends of Norrath web site. And good luck!

What's this gab we're hearing about Legends of Norrath, it isn't all about the loot cards? Heresy! We're still buying up those virtual packs in hopes to score a rare loot card. Nevertheless, over on IGN's EQ2 Vault we came across this interview with Chuck Kallenbach, Game Designer on Legends of Norrath. Much is discussed gameplay wise about the insight behind the new Monk class, one that doesn't use weapons. One other topic covered includes the conundrum on scaling the game's complexity with new gameplay mechanics with the importance to not veer away from the game's intuitiveness and accessibility.

The Oathbreaker set is the latest expansion introduced last week from Sony Online Entertainment. It brings 250 new cards, fresh gameplay mechanics, a new challenging raid scenario, and the following classes: Monk, Coercer, Templar and Beastlord. Many classes from EverQuest and EverQuest II are now represented in the game. If you are interested learning how to play Legends of Norrath but don't want to dump a bunch of cash you can download the client and play through the tutorials and it won't cost a you a dime.

KingsIsle Entertainment was founded way back in 2005 -- and since their inception, they seem to have stayed quietly sequestered in their offices, hard at work on unknown projects. With a team consisting of industry veterans from Wolfpack (creators of Shadowbane) and Ion Storm, it was hard not to be curious about their work. If you're one of the many who have been wondering what the team has been working on, you're in luck, because they've just announced their first project: Wizard101.

We recently had a chance to visit KingsIsle's Austin studios (they've taken up residence in a corner of the complex formerly inhabited by Origin Systems) and enroll in the Ravenwood School for the Magical Arts for a day to get a feel for the game. Though this game is aimed at kids ("tweens" that are too old for the likes of Club Penguin but too young for their parents to feel comfortable letting them loose in Barrens chat), its turn-based combat system and trading card game elements may interest you, too. So what makes Wizard101 different from the proliferation of MMOs on the market? A few elements of the game caught our eye...

With games like Magic Online and Freaky Creatures in the gaming consciousness, this variant on the concept of microtransactions is on the rise. Electronic Arts must think so too, because they've just announced their card-based MMO offering, called BattleForge.

BattleForge will be an entirely Web-based card-game, where you'll build your fantasy army by the purchase of online decks, or trading them with other players, or even winning them in tournaments. Gameplay itself will feature the use of four elements and a mystical forge to do battle. Being developed by EA Phenomic, Germany-based creators of the SpellForce series, this upcoming MMO is expected to launch in the Fall of this year.

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Penny Arcade made mention of this in a recent news post: Gallery Nucleus in the town of Alhambra, California, will host a showing of artwork from the talented artists of Blizzard, this Saturday, March 8th, from 7 to 11 PM. It's not known exactly how many pieces of concept artwork will be shown, but it gets better: each piece shown is purchasable, with the evening's proceeds to benefit Child's Play, the wonderful organization we posted about before. You'll also get a chance to speak with the devs and artists of Blizzard and maybe get a little insight into how they work their magic.

But wait, there's more! The evening will also see live demos of the World of Warcraft trading card game at Nucleus' new gallery space one block over. You can read the event information on this downloadable PDF. Gorgeous galleries, fascinating conversation, and absorbing gameplay -- what more could you ask for? That's easy: someone make this a traveling show!

The Legends of Norrath trading card game was only released a few months ago, but already Sony Online Entertainment is planning for the future. This past week they announced the first expansion to the title, Forsworn. Combined with Oathbound, the current card set, Forsworn will open up a series of new options for the player.

Set highlights include:

• 2 on 2 multiplayer - small scale team combat to change up the game types.
  
• New Avatar Races - The high elves and the Iksar will join the game, opening up new Light and Shadow options.
  
• Raids - Groups of players, each with their own deck, can team up to take on AI opponents of great power. Players who complete enough of the single-player content can actually run these raid decks against their fellow players.
• New Loot Cards - Up to twenty new cards representing in-game items will be released with this set.
• New single-player scenarios, pitting your avatar against the forces that oppose the Seventh Hammer and the Tribunal. The single-player elements will introduce new game concepts, like the Overwhelm, Sentinel, and Reinforce key words.

There's no word yet on when the set will be released, and more features are promised in the future.