The end of beta, and the beginning of a live service. I’ve been herebefore, but not in the same way. Every game has a personality of itsown, which is part of the team that made it, and it is also part of thecommunity that plays it. Whether as a player or a developer, I don’tthink any game I have been deeply involved in held my interest in quitethe same way as Tabula Rasa. So with that, I am going to have some funby telling you some of my favorite parts of the game, and then offeringsome well earned thanks.

What’s my favorite class? Exobiologist. I am sure it would be morepolitic of me to say I don’t have a favorite, but that’s not true. Someare going to point to a class they like and say “See, I told you theydidn’t like *insert class here.*” All classes are going to end up beingloved on by us, don’t worry. I just like the fun of peeling the armorof something off with lightning, using my injector gun, and then usingthe corpse of that opponent to blow the hell out of everything aroundit. There is also delight in seeing my adrenaline bar full when I am anexobiologist.

What’s my favorite place? I have always been asucker for Plateau. There are a lot of nooks and crannies in Plateauthat a

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It's been out in the rest of the world for several months, but Chinese gamers have yet to see The Burning Crusadeexpansion pack for WoW - but The9, the Chinese operator for the game,has finally announced it will be arriving 10 September. Chinese gamershaven't gotten any new content since October of last year, and theirpatience is running thin - not a good position for a currentlybeleaguered company to be in (lawsuits, pissed off gamers, and possibleearly license termination - oh my!): Although World of Warcraft was launched in China sixmonth after the game's launch in Western markets, previous contentupdate releases usually lag North American market releases by a month.Chinese WoW players have not experienced any new content sincelast October, and their patience has been taxed to the limit. Thenumber of average concurrent users (ACU) for WoW has dropped two quarters straight, from 340,000 ACU in the forth quarter of 2006 to 300,000 in the second quarter of 2007.

Some of the speculation is that the new anti-addiction measures (andthe General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) thatadministers said measures) held up approval for the game. Regardless,Chinese WoW fans should

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Thanks to Everyone in the Central Wastelan... — 08/31/07

With Auto Assaultclosing down tonight, we wanted to thank all of you for creating atremendously cool and dedicated community of Wastelanders. We justdidn’t want to give you guys a wild, crazy event tonight, but somethingelse that may be just as fun. In the coming days those that areeligible will be receiving a “Parting Gift” message in your e-mailinboxes, with opportunities to take a part in some of our otherproducts, including Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa and City of Heroes. It’s our way of saying “Thank You” to the diehard Auto Assault fan base and we hope to see you in are other virtual worlds.