Canberra, Australia-based BigWorld, which provides technology solutions of MMOs and virtual world games, has announced a partnership with San Jose, California's Global Netoptex, Inc. Under the deal, GNi will provide hosting and management services to BigWorld's clients.

GNi's new Oakland hosting facility will be the first to support BigWorld's integrated technical solutions into its servers. BigWorld middleware, which includes BigWorld Server, Content Creation Tools, 3D Client Engine, and Live Management Tools, is used to power MMO and virtual world games for a number of clients.

These include Japan's GameArts and the U.S.'s Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, among others. GNi's OGSi (Online Game Services, Inc.) unit operates the servers for the upcoming Hellgate: London for EA, Flagship Studios and Namco Bandai.

James Hursthouse, director of GNi’s Games and Digital Media division said, "By extending GNi's philosophy of customization where necessary, standardization where appropriate, we’ll see increased advantages for BigWorld clients in terms of economies of scale and a centralized technical knowledge base as we build out BigWorld specific dedicated hosting sites. As with all GNi c

Kim Pallister and Vlad Cole (former Joystiq EIC) have launched their site, VGVC.net, which keeps tabs on all the money moving around in the game space. Definitely worth keeping an eye on.

I would, however, like to see some more analysis from the two. They are really smart guys - instead of just telling me what happened tell me why you think it's interesting or important! I want to hear those thoughts. Maybe that's tough, since they're both employees of Microsoft?

The Bounty Bay Online Website offers details on Storm Island, the first free content expansion for Bounty Bay Online, the seafaring MMORPG that's live in the UK and Germany. Word is:

"The add-on offers brand new content – besides a newly added area with additional flora and fauna, the maximum level cap will be raised from 100 to 120. Also, there will be 21 new special abilities (fishing, muscle power, alchemy etc.)."

MMO publisher NCSoft and in-game advertising company Double Fusion have announced a partnership which will see two of NCsoft's free-to-play games supported by in-game ads.

Dungeon Runners, a fantasy MMO which is currently live and already free-to-play, will be bolstered by "in- and around-game advertising," as will Exteel, a futuristic mech-based shooter which is currently in beta. Both games were planned to make the bulk of their money through in-game item sales, which will continue.

According to Jonathan Epstein, president and CEO, Double Fusion, "Partnering with a leading MMO publisher like NCsoft, a leader in free-to-play as well as subscription online game models, allows us to set the type of example we hope other publishers will look to and want to join." Gamasutra recently interviewed Epstein about fusion.runtime, the technology which allows the company to serve ads into its clients games.

Dungeon Runners is NCsoft's first free-to-play MMO. It launched earlier this year. The company also continues to publish other subscription-based MMOs, such as City of Heroes and Lineage II. Its biggest title for this year, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, is currently in beta.

 October 24, 2007 - Book 11: Defenders of Eriador, the third free content update for subscribers to The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, went live today in North America, Turbine and Codemasters announced.

Book 11 continues the story of The Lord of the Rings Online by adding more than 100 new quests, a new 12-player raid, two new areas in Middle-earth and introducing the player housing system.

The free add-on pack includes housing; two new areas, the Ettendeep and the "Extreme" Misty Mountains; and multiple Balrogs. The housing feature includes Kinship abodes and four neighborhood types, based on players' races, with architecture styles appropriate to each. Ettendeep is below the Ettenmoors and consists of a series of catacombs and tunnels ripe for exploration. Players will be able to travel even further into the Misty Mountains to visit locations from The Hobbit-like Goblin Town.

Does time inexplicably speed up and race by when you’re playing an MMO? Well now there’s proof that the clock isn’t possessed, as a new study by Syracuse University psychology professor Joshua Smyth indicates that MMOs invoke the most play time.

Smyth’s recent study of 100 student volunteers looked at the effect different kinds of games have on players lives. The students were randomly divided into four groups and assigned to different games. One group received tokens for a local arcade, a second group played “Gauntlet: Dark Legend,” an adventure game on the Playstation 2, the third group played the PC game “Diablo II” and the last group, the only one to have online interactions, was assigned to the MMORPG “Dark Age of Camelot.”

The study lasted a month, after which the fourth group, those playing the MMORPG, returned results totaling an average of 14.4 hours per week, a number more than twice as high as the second most hour clocking group, Diablo II.

In addition, those assigned to Dark Age of Camelot reported “significantly lower overall health and poorer sleep, and were more likely to find the games interfered with their studies and social lives.” On the positive side, however, th

Flagship Studios posted a lengthy expanation about its somewhat dubius Hellgate London EULA which basically states they have the right to scan your computer and report what software programs you have installed and other fun stuff like that. Long story short, they just want to prevent cheating:

We just made some big announcements about Hellgate: London, and it’s been great to see all of the excited comments regarding what we have in store for our players on day one and onward. On the flip side, we’ve also heard grumblings about the EULA that went out with our DX9 single-player demo.

We want to make something very clear. We are in no way scanning your computers for your personal information or taking any personal information without your knowledge. The only time that Flagship or Ping0 would collect your personally identifiable information is when you actually decide to give it to us. Examples are when you create an account for Hellgate: London online or when you provide us your personal information when you enter a contest. The language in the portion of the EULA that has been cited is actually fairly standardized language that is used in the vast majority of EULAs for recent on-line