The developers of “RuneScape,” the popular free-to-play MMO, are at it again. Jagex has become well-known in recent years for their dedication to the game and are consistently improving it by releasing updates to fix bugs and patches to improve the in-game experience of the players. The most recent update was released on the 27th of January, and is called the ‘Magic Interface’ update.

There were several reports of players having difficulty using the game’s teleport facility. The main problem lay with finding the correct icon among dozens so that you will be teleported to the correct town instead of the somewhere miles away. That system has been changed, however.

Said Mod Fetzki, the “RuneScape” Content Team Leader: “The magic interface has a new feature that will enable you arrange your spells by category, and display either combat spells or teleport spells at the top of the interface. The default order will be the current, level-based one. This applies to all magic spell books.”

Players were also complaining about the confusing map and navigation facilities. Before the update, it was hard to make your way around the game because i

If I was living in Europe and all the English-speaking servers for my favorite game were located in North America, I’d be one cranky dude. Besides the obvious latency problems, all of the in-game events, promotions and support would be designed around a North American audience, so if I wanted to partake in the festivities I would need a not-very-normal sleeping schedule.

For “Lost Chaos” players in Europe, my online gaming nightmare has been their reality since the title launched in 2006. But now they’re finally getting their own server.

“With the new European channel, ‘Last Chaos’ players can enjoy the game alongside their continental friends with promotions and events designed around peak European playing hours,” said Susan Revelt, producer for “Lost Chaos.”

Even if you don’t play the game you might want to create an account for a shot at some of the prizes. Publisher Aeria Games is giving away £10,000 in prizes to players during the first month of EU server promotions.

Like a mad scientist, Electronic Arts has combined real-time-strategy game components with the customization of trading card games and coated the result in a candy shell of “the social and community aspects of an MMO.” They call this concoction “Battleforge.”

At present time, the only ones who’ve had a taste are those in the beta, but on March 24 “Battleforge” hits shelves everywhere. If you can’t wait that long, pre-ordering the title will not only get you in on the beta, but you’ll also receive four exclusive units, one from each faction: Fire, Frost, Nature, and Shadow. These units will feature exclusive card artwork and in-game animation.

The press release also notes these cards will also be leveled up and give players “a head start,” but let’s hope they don’t also negatively impact player versus player balance issues.

If you’re currently in the beta, let us know what you think of it so far.

Since “The Lord of the Rings Online’s” launch, it can be said that it has not achieved the success that it deserves. This is largely due to the fact that it was up against heavy competition from “WoW” and “Age of Conan,” and now “WAR,” and that the brand has become too much of a merchandise. However, in an effort to attract new members, Turbine has decided to launch a ten-dayfreetrial of the game to display the game’s qualities. This is following suit of their main competitor “World of Warcraft” who launched their freetrial over one year ago.

The free trial was launched on the 29th and will continue indefinitely. However, in an incentive to get new player to not only sign up to the free-trial through their service but to also play the game, Turbine is teaming up with Xfire to offer a number of prizes based on how long a particular gamer plays using their service. This offer ends on the 11th of February.

The basic structure of the prize system is as follows:

GOLD: 6-month game subscription, T-shirt, in game mount.

SILVER: 3-month game subscription, T-shirt

BRONZE: One-Month Subscription

The more a player plays “

“Mabinogi,” Nexon’s free-to-play 3D MMORPG with the cel-shaded graphics, is expanding in late February with the “Pioneers of Iria” expansion. Included in the expansion is the new continent of Iria, which is about three times larger than Ulad, the original continent in “Mabinogi,” and contains three areas: Rano, composed of plains, deserts and rain forest climates; the mostly desert Connus; and the snow-covered Physis.

Also included in the expansion are the elf and giant races, 600 exploration quests, new weapons and armor sets, and three dungeons as well as multiple new skills and player actions.

Perhaps the strangest part of the update is Nexon’s decision to not allow White Elves and Giants to marry each other, but to allow all other combination of marriages.

For complete details on what’s being added to “Mabinogi,” checkout the fact sheet posted at WarCry.

On the sixth of May, EA and their Swedish counterparts DICE released the closed beta of their eagerly anticipated free-to-play game “Battlefield Heroes.” The closed the beta feedback included information concerning how ‘RAM Hungry’ the game was, and reports of various bugs and faults. The result was a delay of further beta releases. Now, EA is claiming to have fixed the issues, and is releasing an open beta “very soon.”

This news has reached the gaming community after months of controversy about the game. The first scandal occurred when servers crashed as people tried to obtain a select number of closed beta keys, given away on the official forums. Following this, players had to solve riddles to obtain keys and disputes erupted over the riddles’ release times. The actual time was 7pm GMT+1; the website managers failed to make this clear to the fans viewing the information on the website.

However, as the old saying goes, “there is no such thing as bad publicity.” This is certainly true in this case. The server crashes and misconstrued information has caused a buzz on social networking sites about the game, and the gaming industry i

“Pirates of the Burning Sea” suffered from many glitches and bugs when it was first released in late January of 2008, but most were fixed in a later patch. By then the damage had already been done, and in April, developer Flying Lab Software shuttered seven of the game’s servers.

No doubt noticing the boom in the casual MMO gamespace, Flying Lab is now launching an entirely new division appropriately named Flying Lab Casual. Russell Williams, the company CEO, said the new division will give both Flying Lab and their partners “the ability to take our vast online experience and apply it to other arenas, in this case a more family-friendly environment.” He added, “This new division not only expands our company and its audience reach, but also gives our developers a chance to work on new genres and different types of games.”

The team’s first project is a family-friendly universe built in partnership with sports trading cards collectibles company, Upper Deck.

According to Williams’ further explanation in a follow-up email, the game will utilize microtransactions as well as subscriptions, and is based off of the Asian MMO model. “O

No longer confined to the constricting limitations of a closed beta, “Secondhand Lands” is now available as a free download.

In the trailer for this “fairy tale world of furry tailed adventures” (their words, not mine), dollar bills sprout from the ground in one area while white pigs frolic nearby, a fox with a human-like body jumps on and rides a wolf who’s at least three times bigger, and domo kun is seen chasing some very terrified cats in the background. Calling the two and-a-half minute video bizarre might be the biggest understatement of 2009.

Bobby Thurman, lead developer and “Secondhand Lands” mastermind, said that the game “…was designed to let artists do wacky and different things. Early on in the game’s life we made the decision to allow humor to pervade the game from top to bottom.”

Sure, it’s funny — but I want to know how it plays. If you’re a denizen of this irreverent new land, let us know what it’s like.

“What we’re attempting has never – to my knowledge – been done before,” claims “Killzone 2’s” UK product manager Phil Lynch, referring to the new free web game based on the upcoming PlayStation 3 shooter. “In essence,” he explains, “we’re creating a web game based on a Firefox and IE app that consumers can download to their computer, and where they can create their squad consisting of up to three additional friends.”

Hmm, I can’t say I know of similar applications. Mr. Lynch, your opening statement might not be just fancy PR hyperbole. But I’m still not sold. Please, continue.

“Once running and activated, and when the user is browsing the internet, their screen will be ‘attacked’ by Helghast as they browse pages. They can alert their squad members to come and help them and if the team can collaboratively vanquish the Helghast threat, they’ll get their score posted onto the leaderboard and be in with a chance to win some prizes and unlock additional content. It’s very innovative and something that I believe will resonate with our consumers.”

No release date was

Today, Electronic Arts has announced plans for the future of their super-popular “Need for Speed” franchise, including three completely new IPs. Most importantly for you guys, one of those games is “Need for Speed World Online,” a free-to-play racing MMO.

According to EA, “NFS Online” will give fans the most cars and game modes ever in the series’ history. Quite a boast (especially for a free title), so we’ll see.

The game is developed by both EA Black Box and EA Singapore, and is slated to launch on PC in Asia this summer, with launches in other regions TBD.