Donkey Kong | Classic Arcade |

Control: Arrow keys and space bar.

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Myth War II

Myth War II, the first online game developed based on the ATB combat system, gives its players a fantastic and truly breath-taking game playing experience.



The game features summoning and shapeshifting, destructive weapons and deity beasts, as well as a rumor and rebirth system, all of which lead players into a world filled with magic and wonders. Unlike other online games, Myth War II has a unique weather system, making players feel like they are living and breathing in the game-world.

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Dark-Warriors

Dark Warriors is a multi player online role-play game (MPORPG). While the game play primarily takes place in one land (Westland) at the current time, there has been some discussion of opening more areas to explore in the future. This game is currently under development, so be prepared for changes in game play, new additions and tweaks to existing areas of the game.

The following Game Rules, violations of the rules and the punishments for breaking those rules, should be read before you sign up to play the game.

You stay awake at night wondering what it would be like to live the life of a Dark Warrior. Imagining the mystical creatures, battles and adventures you would experience and the many riches you would be rewarded with. As you continue to wonder, you look up to the night's sky and see a faint message written in the stars. It says "Join the elite, proud and strong Dark Warriors and you shall not be disappointed". Your destiny awaits...

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DC Universe Online Hands-On Preview

DC Universe Online seems like an obvious extension of the popular comic book brand. The fact that the game hasn’t even entered Alpha testing does little to tame the rabid MMORPG fans that are looking for something outside the staple fantasy genre. With so many heroes, villains and morally grey characters in the mix, how could DC Universe Online be anything but awesome?


At first glance, DCUO looks like every other MMORPG out there. The title follows the standard set forth by Ultima Online and its ilk, with health, mana, and equipment bars littering the screen. The preview build that I saw was running off of a PlayStation 3, but it was tough to notice a difference between the console and PC versions. While the overall resolution is lower on PS3, I didn’t notice any reduced spell effects, feel encumbered by a controller or get hamstrung by hardware lag.

Technical prowess of the PS3 aside, I did get to see a bit of new content during my demo time. I was handed a pre-built shock-heavy character that fights the good fight with the Justice League of America. After some spell practice, I ran to aid a group of biologically tainted civilians. Combat against the Joker’s thugs was quick and dirty, with electrical bombardments, physics-based attacks and environmental items dealing the most damage. Adding to the complexity of battle was an appearance by several famous DC characters, with Batman helping to revive the endangered civilians and battle by my side. As if the Dark Knight didn’t offer enough help, some of the former brainwashed mobs joined our ranks as well. After easily dispatching the zombie leader, I was awarded with a piece of loot that automatically matched my previously chosen color scheme. No longer will avatars need a visit from the Queer Eye people to keep them looking sharp!

It appears as if SOE really plans to keep players constantly rubbing shoulders with the characters that have made DC comics such a long-lasting brand, and that’s a damned good thing. I am thankful that SOE has plenty of development time left, as the environments remain incredibly empty and undetailed outside of the sparingly used interactive pieces. As interesting as the demos have been, one has to wonder what the general grind is going to be. Will the MMO focus on quests and instances? Is general mob farming a viable strategy? What we don’t need to worry about is the PC-PS3 cross-platform play, as it seemed to work fine from what I was shown. If SOE’s focuses on the gameplay and story as much as the technology, DCUO will be hard to pass up.

DC Universe Online remains undated, although we expect it to be released sometime in 2010.

Source:http://www.thegamereviews.com

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Aion aims to fly to the top of the MMORPG rankings

Look out World of Warcraft; here comes another new MMORPG with its goal set to knock off the king of online fantasy gaming; and while WoW’s established base, entrenched name recognition and savvy marketing may be too much for any new game to overcome, Aion could take a sizeable bite out of the WoW apple.

Aion, with its state-of-the-art graphics; emphasis on flight as both a form of mobility and a tactic in combat; and unique elements, like RvRvE (realm vs. realm vs. environment), is officially the most anticipated MMORPG since, well, World of Warcraft.

Due to arrive in late September, Aion is “. . . a visually stunning massively multiplayer online RPG where you ascend to divinity and fight in an epic celestial war. Wielding divine powers and the capability for true flight, you must bring salvation to your people and restore balance to a vast, beautiful world shattered by cataclysm,” according to NCSoft, developer of Aion and a number of other very successful Online Games, including Guild Wars, Lineage and City of Heroes.

The basic theme of the game is, on the surface, fairly standard stuff. A world has been sundered in two and the inhabitants of each half-world blame each other for the catastrophe. The Elyos, a beautiful race of light angelic-like beings loath their opposite number, the dark winged Asmodians, whose hatred of the Eloyes runs equally deep.

In the middle of the divided world lies the Abyss, a dangerous world of its own and home to the chaotic evil know as the Balaur. Both the Eloyes and Asmodians believe that by surviving the rift between the two worlds and conquering the enemy race, the world as they once knew it will become whole once again.

While the Elyos and their Tower of Light and the Asmodians and their Tower of Darkness seem to be metaphors for angels and devils, good and evil and/or heaven and hell, that isn’t really the case. Their appearances came about as evolutionary changes necessitated by their environment. The only true evil is the Balaur, who inhabit the Abyss.

Realm vs. Realm play comes into effect when the Eloyes battle the Asmodians. Realm vs. Environment takes place when the Balaur show up in the Abyss. The thing about the chaotic Balaur that adds so much to the game itself is that the Balaur will sometimes aid one side and sometimes the other. Then again, the Balaur might show up in such numbers that the Elyoss and Asmodians have to put aside their enmity and join forces against the Balaur.

NCSoft will be using the CryEngine, immersive 3D graphic system to bring unprecedented realism, physics and graphic details to what promises to be, if nothing else, probably the most beautiful MMORPG ever to grace a monitor or television screen. Those of you who are familiar with the popular first-person shooter, Far Cry, have already gotten a taste of the amazing world that can be created via the CryEngine, umm, engine!

Aion, though, if far more than just flash. According to Beta Tester Mark Dunmire, “This is the game that will lure sizeable numbers from WoW.” Dunmire, a longtime player of MMORPGs, has maxed out toons in WoW, Age of Conan, Warhammer and several other online games, so he knows of what he speaks.
“I’ve been in the Aion beta since its inception; and I have to tell you, it has captured me like no other game I’ve played. It’s stunning visually but the depth of the story, and the sense of never quite knowing what you’re getting into when you fly into the Abyss makes every play session a fresh experience.”

Mark also pointed out that unlike many MMORPG releases that are plagued by bugs, Aion should arrive with a high degree of polish on it. “Aion has been around for several years in Korea and most of the bugs have already been fixed. The game is being ‘Westernized’ but it should be an incredibly smooth release. It’s darn near perfect in Beta.”

Unquestionably, Aion will have its share of naysayers, will be similar to MMORPGs that have preceded it, have classes that feel a bit too familiar, etc. However, its look and its focus promise to deliver more substance than mere hype. Prepare to ascend and earn your wings; then fly into the Abyss!

By James Trunzo

Source:http://www.examiner.com/

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MMORPG 101: What are financial systems in MMORPGs?

Nearly every MMORPG has some sort of financial system. Money or its equivalent is usually represented by something that makes sense within the larger context of the game. Thus, in most fantasy MMORPGs, gold is the unit of money. Along with money or its equivalent comes things to buy with that money. Items or rewards which can be bought with and sold for money are usually collectively referred to by the playerbase (and most developers) as loot.

In-game money and loot are big components of the social structure of most MMORPGs, although they don't hold the same importance in every game. World of Warcraft, for example, is a game where gold and the items it can buy are fairly critical aspects of the game. City of Heroes, on the other hand, while it does have a market system and loot-like items now (it didn't have much at its launch), places less importance on such things than does World of Warcraft.

Sometimes loot doesn't play a major role in character advancement, but in many cases, it is vitally important. In games where loot represents physical armor or weapons, not having the proper "gear" can make a character undesireable for certain game content. In games like this, loot is highly prized and can lead to arguments over who gets what when an item "drops" (i.e., becomes available upon defeat of an enemy).

Another problem that can arise from MMORPG market systems is "gold selling," or "real money transfers." Companies and individuals will gain a lot of game money, either through relentless "farming" or exploits, and then sell that in-game money for real-world money. This is against the rules of nearly every MMORPG, and it is a problem that game companies are constantly striving to squash. Accounts are banned if they are found to be in violation, and harsh restrictions are placed on trial accounts in an attempt to prevent trial accounts from being used as easy gateways into the game world.

Having a financial system in an MMORPG adds another layer of immersion for players and adds variety, so that it's not just a bunch of "kill that mob" or "collect these objects."

Source: http://www.examiner.com/

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Ankama to introduce DOFUS 2.0 at Penny Arcade Expo

ANKAMA will attend Seattle's Penny Arcade Expo on September 4th to 6th to present the brand new version of the 20-million-player tactical MMORPG DOFUS, DOFUS 2.0.

Since 2004, Penny Arcade Expo has become the largest Game Festival in North America with an exponential growth over the years and sponsored parties throughout downtown Seattle. Being one of the biggest independent studios, ANKAMA is proud to join the PAX and to celebrate games and gamers along with members of the independent gaming community.

Five years after its debut, a brand new version of DOFUS is due to be released soon, in order to meet players' expectations. The Penny Arcade Expo will be the opportunity to reveal DOFUS 2.0 for the very first time in a major exhibition in North America. The game has been completely revamped, featuring more detailed graphics, new animations, improved performance and gameplay in order to give players a renewed experience of their favorite game.

During the event, ANKAMA will spoil attendees with:
* A 600 sqft booth (#3117) dedicated to DOFUS 2.0 right in front the expo entrance! 20 computers will be available for players to test the game for the very first time in the US!
* A display of all ANKAMA's DOFUS-related licensed products!


By attending the Penny Arcade Expo, ANKAMA is proud to finally get to meet its American audience and looks forward to introducing US gamers to the revamped version of DOFUS.

About the ANKAMA Group
Founded by Anthony Roux, Camille Chafer and Emmanuel Darras in Roubaix in 2001, ANKAMA is an independent group which produces digital creations and employs over 350 people. The international success of the group's MMORPG DOFUS, with more than 20 million players, enabled ANKAMA to branch out into several related industries: online games, publishing, animations, web design, press, mobile phone services, video games for next gen' consoles. ANKAMA is also currently developing Wakfu, a crossmedia project including animated series/video game/card games and comic books. Find out more on our official website: www.ankama-group.com

DOFUS
www.dofus.com
Treading a lush path between video game and animated cartoon, DOFUS brings a whole new dimension to online Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. With its manga-inspired graphics, gripping tactical game play and wild humor, DOFUS has created a unique style of its own for other MMORPGs to follow and currently boasts 20million players worldwide.

Source: http://pc.ign.com/

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Updates coming to Dragonica

The Kundara Dungeon, Van Cliff Fortress and many more content updates coming to Dragonica. Aztec-inspired Dungeon Kundara, followed by the vampire fortress of Van Cliff, signal major content updates for the free-to-play action MMORPG.

Dragonica is the free arcade-style 3D side-scrolling MMORPG developed by Barunson Interactive and published by Gala Networks Europe Ltd. across Europe. Following a very successful launch in June, the game has recently been updated with the new high-level Kundara dungeon, and will soon open the doors of the terrifying Van Cliff Fortress along with several other major improvements.

Kicking off a series of highly anticipated content updates for Dragonica, the Kundara dungeon is a new high level dungeon inspired by South-American mythology. This new dungeon is already available on Dragonica Europe and will be followed in a few weeks by the Van Cliff Manor, a dark dungeon aimed at experienced adventurers. In it, players will have to battle against the undead armies in a maze of stone walls paved with traps, and survive the ferocious attacks of several bosses including Dracula, the Werewolf, the Gate Keeper Gargoyle, and finally the huge and terrifying Bone Dragon.

In addition to these two dungeons, the upcoming update will also feature a series of new regular and hero quests, which will delve into the background behind Dr. Farrel's corruption by the witch Paris. Other features include UI improvement, personal character cards for the players to show off, new weapons and items, as well as a revision of the mission map results. All these new features will be added for free through a simple update of the game in early Autumn 2009.

For more information on Dragonica, please visit the official website at http://dragonica.gpotato.eu. For European users who are travelling outside of Europe, you are now able to play Dragonica with gPotato while abroad by clicking the "Register my IP" button before logging into the game.


http://pc.ign.com/

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Hattrick

Hattrick is the world’s greatest and most popular online football manager game and it's completely free!

In Hattrick, you run your own football team and compete against 929 567 human users from all over the world.

All you need is a web browser. Matches are played in real time a couple of times a week. You can log on at any time to check the status of your team, issue training orders, trade players - or just hang out with other Hattrick users.

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Billards pool game | Arcade |

Basically snooker / pool hit the balls into the pockets, its probably best to play the computer on this one. Please wait for the game to load.
Game Controls
Use the mouse to aim and hold down the mouse button to hit the balls.

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No Twilight MMORPG in the works -- apocalypse called off

Last week, the internet was abuzz with news of an MMORPG based on Stephanie Meyer's hit vampire-and-teen-angst book series Twilight. Many were predicting much doom and gloom in the wake of the "news," while I'm sure many teenage girls were contemplating playing their very first MMORPG.

The website that everyone was talking about was this one, detailing a Twilight video game being made.

Turns out, there is no Twilight MMORPG in the works. While the site above does mention "multi-player," that's not the same thing as being an MMORPG. Also, not only is the team behind the game discussed on that site not developing an MMORPG, they're not even developing an official Twilight video game.

The game is being produced as an academic venture by a student of game design in the hopes of getting noticed by Summit Entertainment. The game's makers do not own the rights to make a game based on the franchise, but are hoping that Summit likes it enough to publish the game when it's done. As my readers may have guessed, I'm a fan of at least one other burgeoning MMORPG being made by a small group of folks who are passionate about their subject matter, so I wish these guys the best. It'll be interesting to see if they can get some positive attention from Summit.

It was really a big uproar over nothing, as careful reading of the website would have clued people in that there was no Twilight MMORPG and, in fact, maybe not even a real Twilight game, in the making. Perhaps people weren't able to read the details because they were blinded by Edward's pretty sparkly glitter?

Source: http://www.examiner.com

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Booyah MMORPG App Aims to be “World of Lifecraft” for iPhone Owners

Booyah, which is available as a free iPhone app, is a new social MMORPG from a well-funded startup of the same name. But here’s the twist: Unlike all other online role-playing games (GigaOM Pro, sub required) , you don’t improve your character by performing fantastic otherworldly tasks, like looting dungeons or slaying hobgoblins — what gamers call “leveling up.” With Booyah, instead, you level up yourself, through real-world activities.


Get regular exercise and attain Booyah’s “God of the Gym” status, for example; jetset around the world enough, and Booyah dubs you a “Wondrous Wanderer.” These achievements are registered as badges in the Booyah virtual “room” on your iPhone, where your comically bulbous-headed avatar resides.

Booyah Achievements

The idea for Booyah originated when CEO Keith Lee and his two co-founders were developers at Blizzard Entertainment, creator of World of Warcraft, which now boasts nearly 12 million worldwide subscribers. That’s largely thanks to the addictiveness of WoW’s character-building and quests, which encourage people to obsessively play for years, just to earn virtual achievements for their Warcraft avatars. As he explained to me in a recent demo, Lee and his partners wondered if they could take the same design principles, which make Blizzard games so popular, and apply them to real life.

Booyah Room

So in Booyah, you self-report everyday activities in a variety of categories (work, shopping, etc.) just as you would on any other microblogging service; here, however, those updates are registered as progress points to your next achievement, and displayed in the “Booyah Society” social network (which can also be integrated with your Facebook or Twitter profiles.) This public aspect, the developers believe, will help keep your self-reporting honest. (If your Booyah friends notice that you’re exaggerating your accomplishments, they may call you on it.) Lee told me the company plans to eventually use iPhone functionality, like the GPS and accelerometer, to track player stats with more objective metrics.

Booyah Society Feed

At launch, Booyah is not without its shortcomings: The social functions could be more robust, and the emphasis on achievements over socialization may limit its appeal with women. Lee told me the company plans to add virtual currency, avatar-to-avatar interaction and other features, but without them, the growth rate may sputter. Still, it’s an appealing attempt to leverage MMORPG play aspects for benefits beyond games — a goal long-desired by developers and researchers alike. Booyah even has accomplishment ladders for cultural activities and social activism, so if players make a genuine effort to earn the game’s wide range of awards, they may also find themselves becoming more enriched, better-rounded human beings. Call it World of Lifecraft.

Source:http://theappleblog.com/

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AdventureQuest Worlds Reaches 10 Million Players in First 10 Months

AdventureQuest Worlds Reaches 10 Million Players in First 10 Months
Game growing four times faster than U.S. population.

Artix Entertainment's MMORPG AdventureQuest Worlds today welcomed its 10 millionth registered player. Launched at the end of October, 2008, AdventureQuest Worlds' average growth rate of 1.1 million players per month is four times faster than the growth rate of the U.S. population[1].

"Since we at Artix have fun taking things to the absurd, at this rate we should have every American signed up by 3022, but that's just a guess," joked Adam Bohn, founder and CEO of Artix Entertainment. "Signing up the rest of the world might take a little longer."

AdventureQuest Worlds, a browser-based MMORPG with new quests added every week, features exciting adventures battling armies of monsters in real-time combat. Players can customize their characters with armors, capes, helms, and custom-crafted weapons from the Blacksmith's Shop at any level. Players have the freedom to change among different character classes at any time, and can level-up all of the classes to the max to unlock new skills and specialty shops along the way.

http://pc.ign.com

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Can Star Wars reclaim online gaming?

Image via Wikipedia

BioWare's plan to help the LucasArts empire strike back. Not that long ago, in a galaxy not very far, far away, the massively multiplayer PC game Star Wars Galaxies found itself spinning aimlessly into the depths of infinite (cyber)space like Darth Vader after the destruction of the Death Star. The millions of fantasy-hungry online gamers that LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment assumed would flock to Star Wars Galaxies like Womp rats to cantina trash had turned their backs on Wookiees for a world of Warcraft instead. While WoW boomed, Galaxies limped along like a rusty old bucket of bolts.

The short of it is that Star Wars Galaxies just wasn't fun enough. It was a needlessly complex affair that bogged the player down in micro-management instead of thrusting them into swashbuckling adventure. Hundreds of game-breaking bugs didn't exactly help the cause either. Subsequent updates and expansion packs rectified many of the problems, but the rebellion had already won and subscribers had punched in the hyperdrive en masse to escape to other worlds. Though the Galaxies servers are still running to this day, you'd be hard pressed to find much of anything going on.

However, there's no need to go crying into your blue milk just yet. There is indeed a new hope. Star Wars is set for a massively multiplayer reboot in the form of Star Wars: The Old Republic - a brand new MMORPG in development at BioWare studios.
Proven masters of the computer role-playing game, BioWare has its logo stamped on classics such as Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect, and of course, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Can they turn their impressive storytelling talents to pulling Star Wars out of the digital Sarlaac pit?

BioWare claim that a typical online game is built upon three pillars: Exploration, Combat and Progression. What they plan to bring to Star Wars: The Old Republic is a fourth pillar of Story. Players will be faced with ongoing moral choices, be accompanied by artificial intelligence-driven companions (such as sidekicks for Smugglers ala the walking carpet himself) and be immersed in a fully-voiced world (which is surely a first for any MMORPG. You can see a five minute preview of this here.
The Old Republic will hopefully deliver the high-action and space opera spectacle that one expects from the Star Wars license in massively multiplayer form. But will past Star Wars subscribers scarred by their Star Wars Galaxies experience be willing to return to that galaxy far, far away and resume their roles as bounty hunters, Sith and Jedi? Do or do not. At least there is a trial.


Source: http://digihub.brisbanetimes.com

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Fantasy Kommander | Arcade |

Description
FK will turn you into a fearless General of the Humans, Orcs, Elves, Dwarves or maybe some other incredible race!
Who will prevail over the ancient continent of the Seven Pillars of Eukarion?
Setup your army and let the battle begin!
The game contains the following outstanding gameplay features:

1. Strategy-RPG turn based game;
2. A deep and involving Storyline set in a dark, medieval world inspir…
show more FK will turn you into a fearless General of the Humans, Orcs, Elves, Dwarves or maybe some other incredible race!
Who will prevail over the ancient continent of the Seven Pillars of Eukarion?
Setup your army and let the battle begin!

The game contains the following outstanding gameplay features:

1. Strategy-RPG turn based game;
2. A deep and involving Storyline set in a dark, medieval world inspired to the European Middle Age enriched by Fantasy narrative tradition;
3. 17 different Armies to buy, upgrade and unleash in Battle!
4. Each Army has over 20 characteristics (to manage and increase during the “war plan phase”);
5. 24 Special Abilities to increase the power of your Army;
6. 18 available spells playing the Elf General;
7. Over 20 different Enemy Armies;
8. High Replayability in Campaign Mode:
3 Different Generals (every one with unique abilities or spells):
The Elf Mage, The Knight, The Dwarft;
3 Difficulty Level, playable only at the end of every Campaign (you can play the hard campaign only if you finish the normal one before);
4 Different Endings in the Campaign Mode;
66 Different Battles to play!
9. 10 “Historic” Battles in War Academy mode;





Play free games at Kongregate

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Marvel Creating Their Own MMORPG (Again)?

Image via Wikipedia

A new Marvel MMORPG is in the works, according to job listings seeking developers for the project that’s officially titled Marvel Universe Online.

This is the first specific mention of a “616″ universe game since plans to create a Marvel MMO got scrapped in 2008 and subsequently turned into Champions Online from Cryptic Studios.

News of a new Mighty Marvel MMO shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. It’s obvious that the organization has wanted to get into the MMO business for quite some time. The development company who published the job listing, Gargantuan Studios, is part of a Gazillion Entertainment who signed a 10-year deal to produce Marvel video games back in March.

Being an avid [Twitter] follower of several Marvel editorial staff members, I don’t recall a specific reference of this new MMO project either. However, since the development team isn’t even place, it’s possible that most of the initial groundwork wouldn’t be discussed in detail anyway.

Warren Ellis-plotted battle raids are one step closer to reality.

Source: http://geeksofdoom.com

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Intellectual Property in Virtual Worlds

Call them what you will, massively multiplayer online role playing games, virtual worlds or video games. Regardless of their label, these online environments in which users socialize or play games are now in the mainstream. With popularity and subscribership on the rise, virtual worlds, like World of Warcraft, EverQuest, There and Second Life,

Image via CrunchBase

are big business. A growing audience and expanding revenue stream also mean that virtual worlds find themselves increasingly the subject of litigation. Indeed, some law firms have developed specialized practice groups to address this new and unique medium and the range of issues it presents. Alex Pham, "These Lawyers Got (Video) Game," Los Angeles Times, Dec. 3, 2008.

It is not surprising that copyright and trademark issues arise frequently in virtual worlds, given the fact that they are products of copyrightable software code and thus by their very nature implicate intellectual property analysis. Additionally, MMORPGs, such as Second Life and WoW, have developed marketplaces for the sale and barter of virtual goods for real money or virtual money that may later be converted to real money. As in any marketplace, there is also a need to identify the source of virtual goods, especially in virtual worlds such as Second Life, which allows its users to generate their own virtual content and retain intellectual property rights in the content they create. "Second Life Residents To Own Digital Creations," Nov. 14, 2003; Second Life Terms of Service §3.2. Some entrepreneurs in Second Life have applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for registration of their avatars (the user-created character representation of the virtual world participant in the virtual environment) and other marks for their virtual businesses.

Recently, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a registration for a Second Life avatar as a design mark. U.S. Trademark Registration No. 3531683 for the Aimee Weber avatar claims computer programming services, namely, content creation for virtual worlds and three dimensional platforms in International Class 42. This avatar has become identifiable with the virtual world content services provided by the real person and registrant Alyssa LaRoche. A related mark, Aimee Weber Studio (& design), Registration No. 3531682 for the same goods in International Class 42, was granted on the same day. These were the first U.S. trademark registrations to be issued for marks that identify services provided solely within a virtual world. These registrations establish that use of marks to identify source purely within an MMORPG creates enforceable trademark rights in the real world. It further indicates that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office identifies use of a trademark in a virtual world as "use in commerce" that may be regulated by Congress, supporting trademark rights. It also suggests that infringements occurring wholly within a virtual world, such as Second Life, would be equally cognizable in a U.S. federal court.

TRADEMARK AND COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENTS

Given the rising popularity of virtual worlds and the ability to generate real-world income from activities within the virtual realm, it is not surprising that the virtual marketplace is thriving and that trademark and copyright infringements occur on a regular basis. In Second Life, real world luxury brands, such as Porsche, Chanel, Rolex, Gucci and others, are in frequent, substantial and highly visible use despite the fact that their real world corporate owners do not have an official presence in Second Life. Benjamin Duranske, "Rampant Trademark Infringement in Second Life Costs Millions, Undermines Future Enforcement," Virtually Blind (May 4, 2007). Instances abound of sales of virtual iPods, preloaded with copyright protected songs. Id. Copyrights and trademarks are further infringed by the use of CopyBot and other software to make copies of virtual goods. Owners of trademarks and copyrights originating in the virtual world and the real world have experienced counterfeiting within this virtual realm. See Eros v. Leatherwood, Complaint, Docket No. 8:07-cv-01158 (M.D. Fla. 2008); Eros v. Simon, Judgment by Consent, Docket No. 1:07-cv-04447 (E.D.N.Y. 2008) (Plaintiffs alleged copyright infringement against defendant who exploited a software flaw to copy software and replicate plaintiffs' virtual products).

Instances of trademark and copyright infringements occurring in virtual worlds have been well-documented and analyzed in blogs and traditional publications. As the topic of virtual worlds is fairly new, there has been relatively little comment on intellectual property issues likely to arise in the context of MMORPGs. Interoperability may be an upcoming development that will raise such new issues.

Virtual worlds now are self-contained and discrete. There is presently no way to move from one MMORPG to another without creating a new account, a new avatar, and a new virtual existence. Interoperability is not yet a virtual reality, but it may be soon, if the experimental stage goes well. In July 2008, Linden Lab, creator and publisher of Second Life, and IBM, in a joint project, were able to teleport an avatar from Linden Lab's Second Life Preview Grid into a different virtual world running on an OpenSim server. This experiment was the first time that an avatar moved from one virtual world to another. The goal of such experimentation is to allow avatars to seamlessly transport between and among virtual worlds, such as Second Life, There, WoW, EverQuest II and many more. When full interoperability is achieved, publishers and intellectual property holders may face some new challenges.

TOUs, TOSs AND EULAs

Virtual worlds are at their essence computer programs created by copyrightable software code. As with other software and most Internet Web sites, virtual worlds are governed by their respective terms of use, terms of service and/or end user license agreements. These TOUs, TOSs and EULAs are contracts that provide the rules users must abide by in order to access and participate in each virtual world. Although there may be some commonality, each virtual world has different rules for its users. When interoperability is achieved, these differences will need to be reconciled, perhaps in a master TOU or TOS. Otherwise, significant problems will likely arise upon full interoperability between virtual worlds.

For instance, Second Life is not as highly regulated as other virtual worlds. Second Life is unique among virtual worlds because it allows users to create their own content within its world and grants users intellectual property rights in their creations. "Second Life Residents To Own Digital Creations," Nov. 14, 2003; Second Life Terms of Service §3.2. ("Linden Lab acknowledges and agrees that, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, you will retain any and all applicable copyright and other intellectual property rights with respect to any Content you create using the Service, to the extent you have such rights under applicable law.") In contrast, WoW is highly regulated, does not allow for user-generated content and claims all rights in all intellectual property arising from interaction within WoW. See World of Warcraft Terms of Use Agreement §4; World of Warcraft End User License Agreement §4(a). An argument may be made that a user transporting an avatar from Second Life to WoW will, by virtue of teleportation into WoW and engaging in game play, impliedly accept the WoW TOS and EULA and also grant a license or ownership right in his or her user-generated content to WoW's publisher, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. Similarly, any content created by Second Life creator and publisher, Linden Labs, could be licensed by implication to Blizzard (under its TOS).

Transporting from a restrictive virtual world to one that is less restrictive may also cause problems. WoW avatars are solely the property of Blizzard, and users may not change the appearance of WoW avatars beyond those user-selected characteristics and configurations allowed by Blizzard. Users could circumvent this restriction by transferring their avatars to Second Life and altering those avatars in Second Life. This would also give rise to a claim by Blizzard that such users created unauthorized derivative works, in violation of Blizzard's copyrights -- copyright infringement.

NEW INFRINGING ACTIVITIES

Interoperability also raises the possibility of new infringing activities. The transportation of avatars between virtual worlds could allow or later lead to the transportation of virtual goods between MMORPGs. This could result in virtual gray-market goods -- the importation of trademarked and copyrighted goods designated for one virtual market to another. Interoperability could allow virtual goods designated for one virtual world to be imported to another, where that good is not available, available in limited quantities or is available at a higher price. Much like their real world equivalent, the importation of gray-market virtual goods will implicate U.S. trademark and copyright laws, along with contract law, based upon TOUs, TOSs and EULAs.

CONCLUSION

The intellectual property issues raised by virtual worlds are truly intriguing and may be analyzed from a variety of perspectives. As these virtual worlds continue to expand and evolve, so will the intellectual property issues they engender.

Jess M. Collen and Matthew C. Wagner are partners and Oren Gelber is an associate at Collen IP, a firm specializing in all aspects of intellectual property. They may be reached at 914-941-5668 or though the firm's Web site http://www.collenip.com/.

By Jess M. Collen, Matthew C. Wagner and Oren Gelber
Source: http://www.law.com/

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Dreamfall

Dreamfall continues the story of "The Longest Journey," one of the most critically acclaimed adventure games ever made, and brings adventure gaming into a new era. Focusing on story and characters, Dreamfall features unparalleled 3D visuals, advanced character animations, stunning audio, and innovative gameplay - wrapped in a unique and magical ambience.

Dreamfall is set in the 23rd Century, where a young woman accidentally uncovers a conspiracy related to dreams; a conspiracy that may herald the destruction of the twin worlds of science and magic. Confronted by mysteries that she cannot resolve on her own, she must seek assistance from the one person who might have the answers: April Ryan, the heroine of "The Longest Journey."

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Free-to-Play Spotlight: Dungeon Runners

It's been two years since NC Soft released its tongue-in-cheek MMORPG-slash-dungeon crawler, Dungeon Runners, and now the self-proclaimed "Mother of all RPGs" is finally getting primed for a much-awaited cash shop. In keeping with DR's light-hearted tone, the ingame shops will be called TURDs, ostensibly an acronym for Townston's Universally Recognized Dollar which is also going to be the cash shop currency. According to the patch notes for the latest game build, which went live last week, "TURDs are delayed until October (at the soonest) as we work toward integration with NCcoin." Not much has been said about exactly what it is that players will be able to buy with their TURDs but in a game that hasn't seen too many updates lately, any change seems to be welcome.

Dungeon Runners is a fun game that plays a lot like Diablo and Diablo II. You get to play as a Warrior, Mage or Ranger, the differences among the three classes having to do more with playing style than group role as it's quite possible to solo your way through. Warriors are the melee fighters with the most hit points and defense but they lack the offensive capabilities of the two other classes. Mages are the magic users, dealing huge amounts of damage from a distance. Rangers are skilled fighters with ranged weapons such as bows and guns. There are no restrictions as to what armor or weapons each class can use so a mage can very well wield a sword or a crossbow if he or she chooses to. The "stats" on the item pretty much determine what's useful and what's not to a particular class so of course, you'll find more +Intelligence stats on staves rather than on axes, for instance.

This mob won't be dropping any turds.
All of the dungeons are instanced, but there are town centers where NPCs buy up your unwanted loot and sell potions, portal scrolls and gear. There are also quest givers and although they invariably want you to kill something in the dungeons, it's definitely worthwhile reading the quest text. Like everything else in DR, quests are often off-the-wall parodies of other MMO quests. Sometimes, they're just off-the-wall altogether. As an example, there's one quest that wants you to teach the Poison Whiskers a lesson about paperwork because they failed to file their expense reports after going to the "recent F3 Conference", which we assume is the Whiskers' equivalent of E3.

The townies also have some humorous lines. "I had a terrible dream last night. I was shaken but not stirred" wouldn't be half as funny if the line wasn't delivered by an NPC who sounds a lot like Sean Connery.

DR is free to download and play, although players find out soon after venturing into their first dungeon that the $5-a-month premium subscription may not be a necessity, but it certainly is a temptation few can resist. Quite a few of the rare loot drops can only be worn by members, and there's even a whole tier of gear that's better than purple (rainbow-colored!) that is exclusively for members. And if gear envy isn't enough of a lure, there's also the fact that free players can only use minor potions. In an MMO where healers don't exist, a 10% healing potion variance can spell the difference between living and respawning.

Last year, NC Soft released a boxed version of Dungeon Runners which you can buy at retail outlets for $20. This includes a 6-month membership, which amounts to a $10 discount. But what makes the box precious is that with it, you also get a sidekick called a Bling Gnome who helps you collect loot and "process" it into gold (don't ask how!), thereby saving you endless trips into town to sell off your junk. You can probably still get a copy from your local Gamestop for the original retail price, but our online search only yielded resellers on Amazon.com selling it for $30 to $67!

The game has built-in voice chat, banks and guilds (called "posses"), but there's no auction house, crafting, nor housing. And yet, even though it may not have all the features players have come to expect in an MMO, Dungeon Runners continues to score high in the Fun category.

Source: http://pc.ign.com/

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Curse Village | Arcade |

Description:
An action defense game where you fight against waves of the undead. The world is being invaded by blood-thirsty zombies. In a brave attempt to save your village you're fighting back to keep the undead behind the barricades. There's no escape, fight bac

Instructions:
Defend your village in 30 levels from the invading zombies.

Use the [1 .. 6] numeric keys to supreme a weapon. Use the P legend to Music fermata and appear the menu. Mouse-click to say the selected weapon.

Games Online

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Battle Forge

BattleForge is a new fantasy online real-time strategy game where you assemble your own army with collectible trading cards. Win, trade and buy your cards online to create your ultimate deck. Mix and match the elements of your cards to play with your friends online and conquer massive online battlegrounds.

BattleForge is a next-gen real time strategy game, in which you fight epic battles against evil along with your friends. What makes BattleForge special is that you can assemble your army yourself: the units, buildings and spells in BattleForge are represented by collectible cards that you can trade with other players.

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WoW Makes You Fat

We've all heard stories of people playing WOW and packing on enough pounds to audition for "The Biggest Loser" in as short as a few months. That's not exactly an exaggeration folks. I personally know a guy who put on 20 kilos in a matter of eight months. Saying that he was about 80 kilos to begin with, that was a nice 25 percent boost to his body weight. That's phat, pun intended, with a nice topping of sarcasm on top of it.

Whether gamers want to admit it or not, two facts cannot be denied. Firstly, there are a lot of people who became obese after playing WOW. Secondly, WOW probably has more real-life tragedies linked to it than any other MMORPG. There is definitely a correlation between the playing of WOW and the rate at which the lives of people go south really quick. To be fair, WOW isn't the first obsession to do this and definitely won't be the last. But it's bad enough that people should sit up and start doing something about it.


Everyone seems to know that certain WOW players are addicted beyond belief. You've seen the pictures of the shirtless 350 pound man sitting in a chair that is too small to contain his rolls of blubber playing the damn game. But no one has really tried to do anything about it. To be fair there isn't a lot that people can do. Video gaming is like sex. You can't really stop it from happening. But you can damn right try to cut it down. Unfortunately, that's going to be on Blizzard. The simplest and most obvious way to cut down the casualties is to cut down the total number of players.

I mean, if you have only 100 people playing WOW, you can't have a 101 fat and obese WOW players, can you? Raising the price will do that to some extent. And I don't mean a sissy 5 dollar raise. I'm talking doubling or even tripling the price of the monthly subscriptions. Problem is that firstly, Blizzard is going to take a stab in the foot for that. Actually, I take that back. There are enough WOW players that are rich enough and hardcore enough to continue playing. Blizzard might actually earn a nice profit from that. But that leads to the second problem.


If Blizzard is earning a greater profit even though it has raised the price of WOW substantially, that means that the majority of the gamers are still playing. There will be a tipping point, but honestly, how much can you expect the good folks at Blizzard to raise the price at one go? These guys are still going to play, and that means that they are still going to remain fat and lifeless, like Cartman was in that South Park WOW episode (one of my personal favorites). What Blizzard has done is simply just remove the poorer and casual gamers from its servers, which every good MMO has to have. You can't have just a bunch of psycho hardcore players that speak in acronyms more than they do in words. It doesn't work out too well.


The other solution that I can think up now is, amusing as it sounds with the economic and environmental problems we have right now, is for the government to instill some form of control on gamers. Not just WOW players. I'm talking everything. For every WOW player that is slaving over his computer (okay, maybe for every two. Or three), there is a player slaving over his Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 playing Street Fighter or Prototype. It obviously seems to be a waste, and to me, it is. But something has to be done about addiction. For the younger generation, parents can step in. But for those 30 year old guys playing WOW, there isn't really anybody who can stop them. Maybe a girlfriend, but if you play that much, I doubt you have one. Maybe friends, but if you play that much, your friends are probably doing the same thing as well.


Someone just has to go to these guys and tell them that however great the World of Warcraft is, it is not really a world. Even if you define it as one, it pales in comparison to the real world. The World of Warcraft is just a game, but some people don't get it. Maybe they do, but they are too into it right now to pull themselves out. It's like what I call "living in the past syndrome". You know that nothing good is coming out of it. In fact, it does more harm than good. But you can't stop yourself, simply because you either have nothing else or you are too weak to pull yourself out of your daydream, or both. Unlike the real world, WOW gives a lot of second chances. Unlike the real world, you can log off if you guild master (boss) is giving you a hard time. But, unlike the real world, what you do in WOW doesn't really matter. Which is a lesson I think some people simply don't want to learn.

By Thana Lee

source:http://news.mmosite.com

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The Pimps

Start your career as an Original Gangster and become the biggest pimp in over 200 cities. Weedfarms, coke pushers, hookers and bad-ass revolvers bring you to the top of your gang.

The game world of The Pimps is scattered over 200 cities across the USA. Each city has more than 300 districts. At the beginning, each player controls one district. A district is a possibility for a player to earn virtual money. More on this topic can be found under the heading "Business".

Prestige is the main goal of the game - all your efforts should serve this goal. The number of clubs and other establishments you run, the number of people working for you, the number of districts under your control - all these increase your prestige, which in this game is measured by virtual "Pimp Points".

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