For those who are lucky enough to be attending Comic-Con, there is a chance to sit in on a presentation from Mythic Entertainment's own Paul Barnett about Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning's challenges in development.

Paul Barnett, creative director for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, is giving a talk on the game during Comic-Con International. The presentation is this Saturday, July 26 at the San Diego Convention Center, and full details are below.

 →

Gametribe.com, the premier destination for Free-to-Play games today announced the details for its latest content update for Dream of Mirror Online (DOMO).

Platinum Weapons make their first appearance in-game through the shops’ new Goodie Bag, these upgradable weapons level alongside your character and give you stronger attack powers. This Goodie Bag is only available for a limited time so you’ll need to be quick to be in with a chance of collecting one of these incredible weapons.

Also in the update comes a huge brand new level map, the much anticipated Dragons Den, and with it 2 amazing new quests →

As if the nightmares were not already terrifying enough, Requiem: Bloodymare have two new Possession Beasts joining gameplay.

The Giont and Rebria like to play. They don’t come out that often, so when they do, it’s always a fun time.

Possession Beasts are powerful beings that can take the most horrific of monsters and make it beg for its life… Until it has a mouth, that is.

Starting at level 23, players can take the Forgotten Relics quest and obtain their first Possession Beast at the end of the quest-chain. Another way to obtain a Possession Beast is by →

We've got more great screenshots from Atlantica Online's closed beta - and you'll only see them here at Stratics! Ndoors has shared four more exclusive images with us, and we now present them to you!

Exciting news this morning from Icarus Studios and the Fallen Earth team! We have vehicle art! The Fallen Earth site todays has some imagery of the re-vamped and newly created vehicles that will be available to us when the game releases. From the official site:

"In Fallen Earth, a vehicle can mean the difference between being run down by a pack of mutant dogs and actually surviving your cargo run to Trader's Flat. In the wastelands, a vehicle isn't just a convenience; it can be a fortress on wheels, a place to store your gear, and the fastest way out of danger. But in the wastes there is one thing a vehicle never is: cheap."

Visit the Fallen Earth website to see the other vehicle art just posted!

Stratics coverage of Interzone Futebol, the massively multiplayer online sports title being developed by Interzone Entertainment, continues in this exclusive interview with Interzone's CEO Marty Brickey. Stratics' Erica 'Ezrael' Knight recently had an opportunity to find out a bit more about the title, the studio, and the man behind the wheel at Interzone Entertainment.

LEIPZIG, Germany - July 21, 2008 - Games Convention Developers Conference (GCDC) today announced that David Perry, the Chief Creative Officer and co-founder of Acclaim Games Inc., will deliver a keynote on his vision of the future of games on the second day of conference. Perry is a well-known and respected veteran of the games industry who has been involved in the development of over 100 games on more than 29 different video game platforms. GCDC takes place prior to the Games Convention in Leipzig, August 18th-20th, 2008.

Atlantica Online, the new MMO from Ndoors, opened closed beta this past Friday. The folks at Ndoors have sent us some exclusive screenshots from this title that we are happy to share with you today! Stay tuned to Stratics for more exclusive coverage of Atlantica Online!

Space. Dark, mysterious, and the setting for such classic titles as 'Starflight' and 'Space Quest'.

EVE Online, Star Wars Galaxies, and many other titles have used the intrigue of 'outer space' as the background for the game. Most of us have played some space-based MMO and many of us have always wished for that little extra that would make the game THE game to play.

That 'little extra' is precisely what Vizual F/X Studios is bringing to Crusades, the newest MMO being developed out of the Ruston, Louisiana based company.

Stratics recently had the opportunity to find out more about this promising title, and we are happy to present an exclusive interview with Michael Daniel, CEO of Vizual F/X Studios and Crusades Quest Director John 'EvilBetty' Giles in which they explain why Crusades will indeed be a game with an attraction for virtually everyone.

2Moons players can reap huge savings and score bonus drops all weekend during the Thunder Moon Event underway this weekend. Through Sunday, July 20, enjoy 30% savings on items and receive 2x-5x drops and experience as well as PvP and other scheduled events.

For more information, and to download the free-to-play 2Moons, please visit this link

This column on gold farming and the law was written by Age of Conan Stratics columnist, Dan "SWATJester" Rosenthal. While specifically addressing the impact to the Age of Conan player in his summary, gold farming touches on every MMO game that we enjoy.

"Gold Farming", "Power Leveling" and "RMT" are terms that, until recent times, had not been part of most MMORPG players' lexicons. Now, however, they're common phrases for nearly anyone in a vast array of games and virtual worlds. Last week, a federal district court made an important ruling that will affect millions of MMORPG players. →

Our House of Commons yesterday with the team from Stargate Worlds revealed some awesome news surrounding next week's Comic-Con 2008, and also gave us some insight into what goes in to creating the worlds of Stargate. We also discussed some of the mini-games we will see in SGW, and did I mention Comic-Con? You can read the full transcript on this link!

Berlin, 2008-07-17: Today, Frogster Interactive revealeds detailed information about the third region of the fantasy world in Runes of Magic. The so-called Aslan Valley is a glen filled with an atmosphere of primitive times. There are plenty of resources available like water and wood, but the humans settling on this continent disregard their value. For this reason alone the area still retains its original appearance and was not destroyed by human greed. According to tribes, who value the forces of nature, it is a place of ancient and immense power. Every civilization, who dares not to submit to nature's will, risks total annihilation. More details about the most fascinating areas in the Aslan Valley are explained in game design document No. 2 which we have posted below along with some imagery from this newest region. 

In an interview posted this morning on Portfolio.com, EA's John Riccitiello confirmed what many have speculated for months - Electronic Arts, in conjunction with LucasArts and BioWare, is working on the next Star Wars MMO.

Portfolio.com's N. Evan Van Zelfden spoke with Riccitiello at E3 and shares some very interesting facts about the new MMO and EA's plans for the future. Please click this link to read the full article.

Champions Online, the upcoming superhero-themed MMO from Cryptic Studios, has posted another edition of the 'Meet The Team' series which introduces us to the Champions Online Dev team. This week, we meet Joe Wreschnig, one of the programmers working on the title.

Q: What do you do on Champions Online?

A: I work on the software side of the user interface. That means a lot of things - aside from writing the code for many of the interfaces like the HUD (head-up display) or the character creator, I also created the library and tools that let our programmers and artists make changes to the interfaces quickly. Most of our UI is based in data files that are similar to HTML or Flash, and we keep adding features to that system to help everyone on the team make better UIs faster.

You can read the rest of this Q&A on the official Champions Online site!

Stratics is pleased to bring you a very special House of Commons with the Stargate Worlds team tomorrow, July 17 2008 at 4pm PDT/7pm EDT (GMT-4). The chat will be held in the #straticshoc channel on Stratics IRC.

For those who may not know, Comic-Con 2008 starts next week in San Diego and SGW will be there in force. We are very excited to bring you a PRE-Comic-Con developer chat which promises to be an hour you won't want to miss as we get an exclusive look the events the SGW crew has scheduled for next week.

You can connect to one of our IRC servers through the use of your favorite IRC client or you can visit our downloads section to choose a client. Connect to irc.stratics.com port 6668 or choose a server listed below that is closest to you:

• stratics.frws.com USA - Colorado 6667 6668 7000
• irc.glowfish.de EU - Germany 6667 6668
• stratics.afraidyet.net USA - Texas 6667 6668
• irc.gamers-irc.org USA - Colorado 6667 6668 7000

You may also connect through the Stratics Java link. You must have Java installed to use this which can be downloaded from the Java homepage.

Once connected, type '/join #straticshoc' to join the chat. Directions for submitting your questions to our Question Taker will be given prior to and during the chat.

To help celebrate our closed beta-key promotion, Ndoors has provided us an exclusive first look at the upcoming title Atlantica Online. Enjoy these two screenshots below, and don't forget to stop by this page and grab your beta key while they last!

Sony Online Entertainment has announced the schedule for Fan Faire 2008 to be held August 14-17 at the Las Vegas Hilton. Events will be held virtually 'round the clock, including tournaments, themed live events, a career fair, and much much more! Extra goodies are available to all attendees this year, and pre-registering earns you an invite to upcoming selected SOE betas!

For more information on Fan Faire 2008, please follow this link!

News this morning from NCsoft Europe makes it official - it's all-access for City of Heroes and City of Villains players! Now you can enjoy both factions without needing the serial code as was required in the past.

"In setting the stage for our upcoming plans for the IP, we felt the time was right to truly consolidate the City of Heroes and City of Villains universe..." said Brian Clayton, General Manager and Executive Producer.

Read the complete press release below!

Players of Silkroad Online, the massively multiplayer online RPG that pulls you deep into ancient Chinese, Islamic, and European civilizations, can now enjoy Arabian-themed items for their 'toon. Joymax has announced that new avatar items are now available in the item mall, but for a limited time only!

Joymax has shared some screenhots of some of the new items - we've got them posted here!

PlaySpan, the game industry's first publisher-sponsored in-game commerce network, today announced it has acquired online payment processor PayByCash. This move brings together two leaders in alternative payment methods for our favorite online games. The official press release is below:

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - July 15, 2008 - Silicon Valley based PlaySpan Inc. has acquired PayByCash, the leading alternative payment system for online games, virtual worlds and social networks. Together PlaySpan and PayByCash create one of the fastest growing commerce and payment service companies supporting game publishers' need for a complete commerce and payment platform in the rapidly growing market of online games and interactive entertainment.

July 15th 2008 - Redwood City, CA - Perfect World Entertainment Inc. ("PWE" or the "Company"), a wholly owned US subsidiary of Perfect World Co., Ltd., announced today the launch of "Perfect World International" in North America. While the highly acclaimed 3D MMORPG is scheduled for commercial release later this year, a few lucky individuals will have the opportunity to participate in the closed beta starting August 19th.

"Perfect World International" is the English-based, international version of Perfect World II. The game itself has been heralded as one of the most successful 3D MMORPGs in over 10 countries worldwide and offers an immersive online world with three unique races and six different classes; all the while maintaining its free-to-play business model. In addition, it boasts of one of the most in-depth character creation interfaces known to date, numerous quests full of lore and depth, and an extensive selection of items and fashions.

Stratics has teamed up with Ndoors, developers of Atlantica Online, to bring you a chance to claim a key for the closed beta which begins Friday, July 18 2008. These keys are limited -- follow this link to claim yours now!

Lizard Interactive Holds Promotion for Ultimate Game Card TM Powered By PayByCash

Seoul, Korea - July 15, 2008 - Lizard Interactive, with PayByCash, holds a co-promotion for its popular Free Action MMORPG Cronous and Oriental Fantasy MMORPG Sho Online.

Newly registered users of both Cronous and Sho Online will be given $5 worth Ultimate Game Card that they can use to purchase fabulous cash items for both online games. You better hurry up since the number is limited. The Ultimate Game Card is a prepaid game card powered by PayByCash and it's the easiest way to shop for various premium items sold both for Cronous and Sho Online.