Both World of Warcraft and Age of Conan have announced imminent plans to open shop in Russia.

Age of Conan announced that they will ship and support their game in conjunction with 1C Company (who is the marketing genius there?) and will roll out AoC in the fourth quarter of 2008. Age of Conan has launched and topped the charts in more than 17 countries including Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, but they realize localization is a key ingredient to increase and maintain its customer base.

Not to be outdone, World of Warcraft will start its servers in Russia next week (August 6th). Those playing on European accounts will have the option of playing on the new Russian servers including a free transfer.

For more information, become fluent in Russian and then peruse the World of Wacraft Russian website.

And for information on the Age of Conan release in Russia, you can read the English version at Funcom's website.

Realtime Worlds today unveiled its plans to host a "full public beta of APB," its upcoming crime-based MMO due out on PC and Xbox 360. Helmed by Grand Theft Auto creator David Jones, the studio's first release was the open world title Crackdown (360).

The news and two new bits of character art were tucked away within the announcement of Chris 'Ulric' Dye as the game's community relations manager.

According to business manager Mario Rizzo, Dye's hiring "signals the start of a new phase for APB where we can interact more fluidly with both gaming sites, and our potential future player base. This is an important milestone for the game now that we are transitioning into Alpha and moving towards the full public beta of APB."

Alpha and beta tests are relatively common for massively mutliplayer online efforts, though they often occur within the confines of an closed, invite-only environment. No timeframe or platform details were provided for the public beta, though the game is expected to launch in 2009.

Via Shacknews

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS TO GROUND-BREAKING ONLINE GAME APB FOLLOWING SECOND ROUND FUNDING

Realtime Worlds, Inc., a leading independent video game developer, today announced that it has regained the global distribution rights to All Points Bulletin (APB), the highly-anticipated urban-themed massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) under development in the company抯 Dundee studio.  The move follows Realtime Worlds?recent US$50 million second round funding and provides the company with the independence to push creative boundaries in the development of the game and to take a more active role in managing APB's global distribution strategy.

K2 Network today announced that they have launched an expansion for Sword of the New World: Granado Espada entitled The Land of the Dead. This expansion comes with new monsters, new stances, new skills and new features including a whole new PvP Enabled map for players to explore, a new level of equipment, two highly anticipated UPCs (Unique Player Characters) and a host of Cash Shop additions.

K2 Network, Inc. ( www.k2network.net), a global games publisher, announces K2 Network’s game portal Gamersfirst.com has launched an expansion for its Free2Play epic Age of Exploration MMORPG Sword of the New World: Granado Espada, entitled The Land of the Dead!

This new expansion adds new monsters, new stances, new skills and a slew of new features including: A whole new PvP Enabled map for players to explore, a new level of equipment: 92 Elites, 2 highly anticipated UPCs (Unique Player Characters): Kurt and Eduardo, and a host of Cash Shop additions including Andre’s Dolce and Granado Beachwear, the brand new Polisher system and Devil Wings.

Click here for more details at GamesIndustry.biz

The second annual Virtual Worlds Conference will be held in New York City on April 3rd and 4th this year.

Game, toy, entertainment and media industries converge

Virtual Worlds Management has announced the program, speakers and exhibitors for the second annual Virtual Worlds Conference taking place from April 3 - 4 in New York City.

Speakers will include executives from Mattel, MTV, Google, Disney, IBM, Habbo, Gaia, crayon, Alloy Media, Electric Sheep Company, Epitome Pictures, G-Unit Records, Millions of Us, Cookie Jar Entertainment, Needham & Company and Zula USA, LLC.

"What began as technologies embraced by Internet sophisticates is now at the heart of revolution that is reshaping the media industry, toy industry, the entertainment business and technology companies," said Christopher Sherman, Virtual Worlds Conference executive director.

Get more details at the GamesIndustry.biz press release.

Dell has just released two new World of Warcraft XPS laptops with Horde and Alliance designs.

which are sexy enough for me , cost $4,449 at the starting price tag.

However it also comes with a World of Warcraft backpack filled with goodies. A free WOW printout of your online character, invite to the next Blizzard beta, exclusive in-game rare item, along with a few more items.

LOL,they are sexy right ,so let's save our money to buy one of these

of course if you have enough money ,u can buy both :)

you can check out for more detail about them at Dell.com

LOL, Guinness World Records are known to all

do you want to be a record breaker or do you want to be the first one in-game ?

http://gamers.guinnessworldrecords.com/book2008/preview.aspx 

Think you are the ultimate Guitar Hero? Join us on the 6th February for the Guinness World Record Guitar Hero Marathon Relay between the UK, US, Canada, Australia and France to celebrate the launch of the new Guinness World Record Gamers Edition!

You will have the chance to rock with Guitar Hero for one song before passing on to the next player for the most exciting record breaking event of the year! Those of you brave enough to dress as your favourite Guitar Hero are especially welcome!

To register to take part and to discover venue and time details please e-mail your respective country:

via Guinness World Records

Recently Ign has released its Top 100 Games of All Time for 2007 .

i have browse all the game listed in this Top 100 Games,and to my surprise d it seems that only one mmorpg made the cut - World of Warcraft

WOW came in at a dismal rank 83 --! and there is not any other mmorpgs in the list

.no Ultima Online ,Ever Quest,GuildWars,no Lineage II,no nothing. 

IGN Editor : Our criteria for creating this list of our picks for the Top 100 Games of All Time are as follows:

• Eligible games had to have been released no later than December 31, 2006 (perspective is a good thing)
• A number of factors were taken into consideration when selecting a winner: How good the game was compared to others of its time, its overall game design, how well it stands up over the years, how influential it has been in the realm of gaming and just plain how much fun we had playing it are all points for contention.
• The list is comprised of single, stand-alone titles and doesn't include compilations, expansion packs or add-ons.
• Titles with multiple editions such as collector's boxes, gold editions or direct re-releases have been consolidated into one single entry, with the edition deemed most deserving taking precedence.

Today Blizzard announced a new premium service to allow users to change their characters' names: