Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, the Sony Station site is down for extended maintenance. When it comes back up you can explore the various official hubs for COSMIC RIFT, TANARUS and INFANTRY. Theses games are definitely showing their age, but there is some fun to be had. The price point is certainly nice.

“INFANTRY Wikipedia Quote: In May 2002, Sony Online Entertainment introduced a monthly $6.95 pay-to-play subscription, titled the Station Pass. This fee was applied for Sony Online Entertainment’s three action titles at the time: Infantry, Cosmic Rift, and Tanarus. However, both Infantry and Cosmic Rift featured a free play mode that gave players access to a limited version of the game. Infantry itself was restricted to a limited playtime on servers (a player could only stay connected for half an hour before being disconnected), the inability to accumulate money, no statistical tracking and no personalised options.”

That’s all well and good, but what has really grabbed my attention is the announcement of ‘Brewfest‘, set to run October 2-16. As you might expect, Brewfest is the WoW version of Octoberfest, and all the massive ale drinking, ram racing and special grub gobbling that entails. There’s something so wrong, and yet so right about seeing a blood elf in lederhosen. Oh noes! Drink up!

“Complimentary mugs filled with fresh, foamy beer sit atop tables outside of all the major cities. If you drink one down while standing near one of the brewers’ stands outside of Ironforge or Orgrimmar, one of their assistants will toss you a new mug. You can also fill up your empties at any of the kegs sitting near the brewers’ stands. At Brewfest, you’ll never have to worry about how you’ll quench your thrist!”

In the most recent entry of the blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun, veteran MMO writer John Walker asks a most pressing question: are the quests that we all take for granted in MMOs at all realistic? Would you, for example, ask a complete stranger to:

• Rescue your daughter?
• Get you loaves of bread?
• Find your lost ring?
• Murder someone you dislike?

Yeah, I ask people to do stuff like this for me all the time. It's normal.

Well, the answer seems obvious. But the author doesn't stop there. He actually experiments with the concept, taking to the streets of Bath, England, and asking strangers to do favors for him. You can read the rather amusing results right here.

On a personal note, I have been through Covent Garden tube station on many occasions over the years and I’m looking forward to seeing how faithfully it has been recreated - and decimated. Go minions of Hell!

“On this first trip around the block, we’ll be stopping by a variety of places that you’ll visit as you play through the first of five Acts. First and foremost is Covent Garden Station. Now, this and every other station in the game act as a hub for just about everything you’ll do in the game outside of actually battling Demons. Shopping for items, partying up with your friends, receiving quests, upgrading weapons - it all happens at the stations. Covent Garden Station is the first real one you’ll come upon, and will get you familiar with all of the game’s basics, as well as introduce you to some key story characters.”

Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising is a very promising upcoming MMO published by Perpetual Entertainment. Warcry is carrying an interview with Perpetual's co-founder, Chris McKibbin, who announced that the game would be delayed from an anticipated fall launch to a launch in early '08. McKibbin also announced that he's laying off 30-40 people on his development team, and gives a number of explanations as to what's going on. The interview gets kinda wierd, folks.

McKibbin explains that, while G&H is "content complete", the delay is to add polish to the game and maximize it's overall quality at launch. Fair enough, say the goblins.

McKibbin then goes on to explain the need to lay off up to 40 of his development staff, while reassigning others. It's hard to follow his explanation, quite frankly. He describes the need to "switch focus to a less specialized development team that he believes will be able to act with more agility on the feedback of the player base". McKibbin also says that, "the current marketplace demands high-quality, huge MMOGs and to achieve that they required many specialists who performed very specific functions." McKibbin's ongoing explanation of the layoffs focuses on the

Ah yes, the shared birthday of everyone's two favorite hobbits is being celebrated in Lord of the Rings Online. There's a quest associated with the birthday which, when completed, gives you a nice musical little trophy. It starts in Rivendell, and and it's a nice touch.

"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like. And I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

One of the great things about LOTRO is that it incorporates as much lore from Tokien's books into the game as is possible. (In the books, Frodo and Bilbo's birthday is actually September 22nd.) This is but one amusing example among oh-so-many others of the devs being on top of the nuances of Tolkien lore and background.

Some quest details can be found here.

Beginning October 23rd, at participating North American retailers, you can Pre-Order PotBS and receive game access 15 days prior to land-lubbing lag-behinders. You’ll also receive an in-game parrot (well, of course!), a special in-game weapon and a soundtrack CD. Early adopters will keep their plundered booty and characters (up to level 20) when the game launches.

*Note: By my calculations, if Pre-Orders begin Oct. 23rd and allow 15 days of early access - we won’t see a PotBS release date until at least November 7th. Me smart, huh?

“Players who pre-order the game will receive the following:

• An invitation to the ‘Pre-Boarding Party’ allowing them access to the live game up to 15 days prior to launch, and the ability to keep their characters, skills and equipment after launch with purchase of game and paid subscription (characters will have a level cap of 20 during the pre-boarding party)

• Captain’s Best Friend – a blue and yellow parrot

• Mighty Blades - Swedish Rapier, Old World Steel or Musketeer’s Matching Blades (depen

Specifically, writer, Daemon Hatfield takes a female, Empire Witch Hunter out for a test drive in the latest WAR build. Hatfield reports that the Witch Hunter “…was dressed like a medieval (and feminine) Indiana Jones and carried a pistol in one hand and a sword in the other,” and that “Playing as a Witch Hunter is about 10,000 times more enjoyable than watching the movie Van Helsing”. Hop over for the world of witchcraft.

“Different attacks can be selected from the attack menu along the bottom of the screen, tailored for close- and long-range weapons. Some gun attacks can only be used from a distance, while others are meant to be a shot in the face at close range. Our action options were heavily weighted towards the offensive, as Witch Hunters believe defense is for weenies.”

Hit your boosters with extreme haste and fly over for your shot at battling rambunctious robots in the distant future - both literally and figuratively. If you don’t have one already, you’ll need to get yourself a free, PlayNC account. Go go ‘Teel magnolias!

“Not everyone is guaranteed to get into beta, but we’ll send out as many invites as we possibly can. Odds on receiving a beta invitation depend on the total amount of applications received. If you were already an Exteel beta tester, then there will be no need to sign up a second time for testing. You should have already been re-invited.”