So as I promised, it's time to dig into Neverwinter at long last and close out this week of overdue news.

I don't think Neverwinter needs any introduction, but for anyone who isn't aware: Neverwinter is the latest new title from Cryptic Studios, published by Perfect World Entertainment, that returns players to the familiar world of the Sword Coast as depicted in Neverwinter Nights. Though Neverwinter itself is only loosely based on NWN, the story is a faithful adaptation of the events happening within the Sword Coast with the guidance and blessings of Wizards of the Coast. The game uses the Cryptic Engine, used in other Cryptic games like Star Trek Online and Champions Online, and it employs a modified version of the 4th Edition D&D rules for character creation and the like. Never

Welcome back to news catchup week, or as it'll soon be called, "I love Cryptic" week.

They ARE pretty damn cool.

During the early stages of Neverwinter's closed beta, I had prepared some questions to ask Andy Velasquez, Cryptic's Lead Producer, about Neverwinter and some of the things we might expect for the game's launch, which I had sent some time around March. As things got crazy, we bounced plans around until I was able to actually sit down and have a conversation with him on June 5th. While we had enough time to go through NEARLY all of my questions, we were sadly never able to finish up. So what I present to you today is a fragment of that exclusive interview.

With Neverwinter proper and Fury of the Feywild well in place, not to mention Shadowmantle just a week away, some o

Hi, everyone. It's your boy again, back from what must seem like the longest hiatus in ages. It's been a busy summer for me, both in regards to MMOs and outside of the gaming realm, so I haven't had the time to really sit down and get any pieces done for your entertainment. Nut I've been approached by a few people to do a few things, and most of these things I've been able to do while I've been "gone". I regret not having the time to post any of these things over the summer, but seeing as it's November I think it's time to start bringing you all into the loop now, before it's too late.

Over the summer I sat in on a livestream for EQ 2's "Scars of the Awakened" game update, as well has made a brief attempt to try Final Fantasy XIV's closed beta. I'd talk at length about Sc

Black Gold is the second game from Chinese developer Snail Games.  In this Action MMO players join one of two factions, either the Steam or the Nature Mystics. Each faction is seeking a resource known as the Black Gold, which they use for their own purposes.  For the Steam, the Black Gold is a fuel for their machines.  The Mystics on the other hand take the Black Gold and use it as a power source for their warlocks and other spellcasters.

This game has an open world concept that is unusual in MMOs.  There are no separate zones, and PK is available in every town, every village, every hovel, and every city.  There are no sanctuary areas, and the only place you are safe from PvP is in an instance.  

The world bosses are very difficult to kill, requiring precise tim

Blade&Sword II is PixelSoft’s sequel to their successful hardcore 3D Action MMO.  Bringing back the best of the Blade&Sword series, Blade&Sword II expands upon the features you loved by providing a rich, immersive combat experience wrapped in exquisite graphics.  I got a chance to see this little beauty during my first day at E3 2013 when I sat down with the developers to take a peek at the game.

Blade&Sword II at its core is an Action MMO, and PixelSoft does use the term lightly.  They went back to the drawing board with their combat animations, hiring the best fighting masters they could find. Using motion capture, they recorded all the fighters’ movements and used this as a basis for animating their fighting animations.  Just looking at the combat you will see incredibly complex abilities, many of them modeled after the actual techniques used by fighting champions.

The game features six classes: The Swordman, Spearman, Fairy, Assassin, Archer, and H

It’s been a little over two weeks since WoW Patch 5.3: Escalation dropped, and players have been scouring the Barrens for supplies in order to take down Garrosh Hellscream.  There’s plenty of high-level information out there in the form of guides, but I’ve run across several nifty tidbits of information that will make your time playing through the first stage of the world event easier.

Luck into the Caravans

My biggest frustration so far with the event has been the Overturned Kork’ron Caravans -- and specifically how hidden they appear to be.  Well, one savvy commenter on the WoW forums said that they actually spoke to Blizzardabout these caravans not showing up on the world map when the global announce goes out.  The GM responded that you have to be very close to the caravan

With E3 just around the corner, many are calling this year’s conference the war of the console releases.  But what exactly separates Sony’s next-gen hardware from Microsoft’s, and which is positioned to come out on top?  Here’s everything we know so far.

Most of the information we’ve received about the two new Next Gen consoles has been about their specs.  Here’s a basic breakdown of what’s under the hood for the two boxes:

You’ll notice if you’re looking carefully that the PlayStation 4 actually has better processing power than the Xbox One.  This is no real surprise when you

Today's livestream has ended. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it to the live recordings. Any potential weekend livestreams will be posted on Twitter (@LordYanLiang) and Facebook (LordYanLiang), and videos will be added to MMOsite as well. Please feel free to continue commenting on the videos and in here, and please be sure to tell your friends about this livestream.Both parts of day 2 will be posted below the Neverwinter link, at the bottom of this article.

Come join me for MMOsite's live streaming event of Neverwinter, hosted and conducted by me, LordYanLiang!

The first beta weekend for Neverwinter is scheduled to begin this Friday, February 8th, and to get ready for the monumental launch of one of the most anticipated MMOs of the year, Cryptic Studios and Perfect World Entertainment have opened the doors to Neverwinter early to select members of the press! Among them is yours truly, who has spent the day exploring Neverwinter and taking in all the sights and sounds.

Ea

You've heard about EverQuest II going free-to-play, you've heard about the new expansion, and you've heard about all the updates. Now it's time to experience a little bit of all this in gameplay, and to get your feet wet with EverQuest II's upcoming Freeport Reborn update -- as well as the upcoming Age of Discovery expansion. Both of them are set to launch on the same day, and at long last we have that date...but you won't get to find out until the end of this hands-on!

Besides, don't you want to see what's to come before everybody else does? Of course you do. So strap in while we take a tour of EQ II's Beastlords, the revamped Freeport, the brand new Mercenaries, and even the highly-anticipated Dungeon Maker. The details are juicy and the water's fine, so let's h

Ohoho, we're not done yet. You see, I love my fans so much that I'm not about to JUST give them something that every other website gets. You guys get the premier package. The works. The cream of the crop. You guys are getting hands-on coverage that no one else has. And I'm doing it because I love you, and because EverQuest's 18th expansion, Veil of Alaris, is just that flippin' awesome. Unlike readers of every other video game website out there that's covering this monumentous milestone, you guys are going to get info on three other brand new zones, a new feature that I can't believe nobody's talked about yet, and several dozen screenshots -- some of which you won't find anywhere else, because I got them on request.

Quite frankly, the new zones that I requested

MMOsite's Quest! has been all over EverQuest's monumental 18th expansion, Veil of Alaris, and today the vague spoilers have come to an end. Players of this classic MMORPG might have already had a week and change to explore the brand new expansion, but for players who haven't had the opportunity to try this new content out, you're in for a treat. Last week, EQ's Community Manager Eric Cleaver and I went on a tour of some of the zones featured in Veil of Alaris, and Mr. Cleaver was generous enough to disclose much of the new content that has come with this addition -- and it's more than just weird aliens, flying islands, and mysterious gods. From top to bottom, Veil of Alaris is an exciting expansion and a must-have for EverQuest players new and old, for it launched with a brand

MMOsite's Quest! has been all over EverQuest's monumental 18th expansion, Veil of Alaris, and today the vague spoilers have come to an end. Players of this classic MMORPG might have already had a week and change to explore the brand new expansion, but for players who haven't had the opportunity to try this new content out, you're in for a treat. Last week, EQ's Community Manager Eric Cleaver and I went on a tour of some of the zones featured in Veil of Alaris, and Mr. Cleaver was generous enough to disclose much of the new content that has come with this addition -- and it's more than just weird aliens, flying islands, and mysterious gods. From top to bottom, Veil of Alaris is an exciting expansion and a must-have for EverQuest players new and old, for it launched with a brand

Anyone reading last week may have noticed this Beastlord gameplay preview already uploaded. A small number of you may have even read it the first time around. Long story short, during my call with Amelia Lukiman and Dave Georgeson, news of EverQuest II's new free-to-play business model also came with some juicy tidbits about the new class to debut with the release of the Age of Discovery expansion: Beastlord. In a strange turn of events, it seems as though MMOsite ate my original article, and it is now and forever gone in the sands of mystery.

So, instead of ventuing in on a long and tedious preamble, we're going to try one more time and jump right back in. Here is what we know of the new class to appear in EverQuest II and how its style of play is very different from

This past Thursday, alaplaya (the publishers of the smash hit MMOTPS/RTS hybrid Land of Chaos Online) released some brand new screenshots for LOCO's upcoming expansion, LOCO: Evolution. In addition, they leaked a few details about what's to come with the new expansion, which is still in development.

The screenshots themselves mostly feature the brand new city that will be coming with the release of Evolution, called Arhonnas. Arhonnas is going to be a persistent city that will include NPCs that players can use to buy new equipment, a bunch of new quests, a common area that players can meet and chat in that's just outside the arena, and some gorgeous architecture that's going to remind players of WoW's Dalaran. Players will definitely want to get fighting in this open-ai

With EverQuest's 18th expansion, Veil of Alaris, coming out on Tuesday, today we present to you the final teaser for the highly-anticipated release. The final trailer and teaser will take players briefly through the Pillars of Alra, a land of magic and mysticism.

Of course, "land" is used loosely -- Alra is, in fact, four separate floating islands, and each island is suspended in the air by magic and powered by magic. Players will have the opportunity to visit these four towers and check out a truly breathtaking zone where magic is king, where the god Alra rests in eternal slumber. There are four factions to visit while traveling Alra, and players can visit all four and marvel at the magic that each represents. Regardless of where gamers go, they are in for a treat as

EDIT : I made a small change to get my facts correct. I had misheard Dave on the phone; mercenaries are already a playable class, but Age of Discovery will add mercenaries to the world. I apologize for the misinformation; but if you feel the need to correct me, keep your passive-aggressive hating to yourself, and keep your overall stupid shit trolling to yourself.

Two nights ago, EverQuest II celebrated its 7th anniversary in operation, and their celebration is extending all week long. But it’s the players themselves that have cause for celebration for EQII’s 7th year, because Sony Online Entertainment has dropped a piece of fantastic news several days ago that has been kept under wraps until this very moment. That news? EverQuest II will go COMPLETELY free-to-play e

We're coming ever so closer to the release of EverQuest's 18th expansion, Veil of Alaris. And as we come ever closer, SOE is rolling out the last of their spoilers. Today, we look at The Resplendent Temple, the pen-ultimate zone to be revealed before the launch of Veil of Alaris (which, as I'll remind you again, is on my birthday -- November 15th for those not keeping up). This zone is the towering and gorgeous structure, visible from Sarith: City of Tides, is known as The Resplendent Temple. And it is a doozy.

Pristine and hallowed, The Resplendent Temple, is home to a race of people that believe in beauty and purity...but what fun would this new zone be if everything was exactly as it appeared? SOE, what do you have to say about this?

The Resplendent Temple is the very picture of

So I was doing other things last month, but that didn't stop Sony Online Entertainment from rolling out the updates for the upcoming Veil of Alaris expansion. That also didn't stop EverQuest from being inducted into the GDC Online Hall of Fame (congrats to SOE for that!), or from announcing that Veil of Alaris will go live on November 15th -- which just so happens to be my birthday.

And so it is now time to catch the rest of you up on what's going on with Veil of Alaris, and this starts with Rubak Oseka: Temple of the Sea. This combat zone looks hella cool, taking place in a large conch shell of a temple in the sea just beyond Sarith.

Let's see what SOE has to say about Rubak Oseka themselves:

Rubak Oseka is dedicated to one of the greatest heroes of the Alaran p

The latest casual game to take the world by storm, Max & the Magic Marker, is going to be ported to the PlayStation Network with all-new HD graphics but with all the same, beloved gameplay.

The re-released, called Max& the Magic Marker: Gold Edition, will be released to the PSN in Europe on September 28th, and in the United States on October 18th. The game will come with support for the PlayStation Move controller, bringing to life a highly-acclaimed casual game from PAN Vision and Press Play.

Max & the Magic Marker: Gold Edition is what Scribblenauts wanted to be, but so much more. Platforming through 58 immersive and puzzling levels spanning across three beautiful cartoon worlds inspired by children’s drawings, players must draw objects to

Last week, THQ announced that they are working on a sequel to their console FPS title Homefront. The high-profile video game publisher, perhaps most famous for publishing the WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW franchise, has announced that the team developing the new Homefront title is none other than Crytek, developers of the legendary FPS Crysis.

"Selecting Crytek to take Homefront forward underscores our strategy of working with the industry's best talent," said Danny Bilson, EVP Core Games, THQ. "Homefront's unique setting and storyline captivated gamers the world over. With Crytek's industry leading technology and legendary experience in the FPS genre, we're supremely confident that the next Homefront will deliver that AAA-quality experience that players demand."

&qu

Whoever said “Power to the Players” clearly does not know what that means…but alaplaya does.

ARGO Online player “acvx” managed to pull the ARGO Online community together in a big way, and all on his own, he organized a massive community-driven 2-v-2 PvP tournament online, and he did it all in-game.  alaplaya, ARGO Online’s publisher, caught wind of this player-created tournament, and in recognition of “acvx’s” dedication and passion, as well as the overwhelming love for the game being displayed in this tournament, they made this competition of fun into an official in-game event!

That’s how “Power to the Players” is done!

This contest was being promoted on ARGO Online&rsqu

Believe it or not, it's true!

Announced just hours ago from Paris, Frogwares is developing a brand new Sherlock Holmes title for the 3DS, which is slated to be published by French-based video game publisher Focus Home Entertainment. Set to publish a series of high-profile video games over the next two years, Focus Home Entertainment now adds Sherlock Holmes and The Mystery of the Frozen City to this list -- and this game will not a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classic.

In fact, Inspector Holmes's first outing seems more like an Asian-based video game than anything else.

Frogwares promises to deliver Sherlock Holmes in style. According to Focus Home Entertainment, Sherlock Holmes and The Mystery of the Frozen City is being developed with the 3DS in mind in a b

Last week, my buddy GreenEyedMonster wrote this article on the announcement of EverQuest’s 18th expansion, the Veil of Alaris, and this article about Sarith: City of the Tides, which will be found in the new expansion. Today I’d like to introduce you to the next zone revealed in EverQuest’s 18th expansion, a beautiful and gigantic city known as Erillion: City of Bronze.

What is Erillion: City of Bronze? Let’s let SOE describe it themselves in their own words: 

Erillion, the City of Bronze, is a bastion of order and law. Designed to reflect these ideals in its every building, Erillion presents a façade of perfection. From its broad avenues to its imposing city hall, nothing is permitted to deviate from its purpose. Enter this center of urban perfectio

At long last, Gameforge’s Hellbreed, a free-to-play browser-based MMORPG honoring the classic RPGs of yesteryear, has reached the American shores. On September 20th, Gameforge presented this highly-anticipated browser MMO – first introduced to American gamers at E3 2011 – to the American public via the Gameforge American portal (us.gameforge.com/home/index).

Hellbreed takes place in the crumbling and chaotic world of Manjuri, where wrathful gods have split the very kingdom into multiple dimensions. Players can choose between three difference classes – the nimble and skillful Huntress who has the ability to summon animals into combat and even turn into a werewolf herself, the heavily-armored and savage Warrior, and the big, beefy, brawl-tastic Siege Master who can summon siege weapons into battle with him. Players choosing between these three classes will have the opportunity to fight some 250 different types of monsters and enemies, both in a single-player

RockYou, the publishers of some well-known social games as Gourmet Ranch and Zoo World, have released a brand new PvP space blaster strategy title exclusively for Facebook, and it's called Galactic Allies.

Perhaps somewhat unique to the Facebook gaming scene, Galactic Allies is offering Facebook users a unique stragetic PvP experience for players both casual and hardcore on the gigantic social media site. Build ships, amass a fleet, and hound your friends all over the galaxy as you and a million others compete for galactic supremacy in a chaotic outer space world.

The larger purpose of Galactic Allies is two-fold. First, 3 Blokes, an in-house developer for RockYou, has built a game with a surprising focus on storyline. Unlike the typical casual game or free-time Facebook t

If you haven't been keeping up with the Post-Release Hands-On for ARGO Online, get yourself acquainted with the following links.
Part 1: my.mmosite.com/2aecbd118ed47523f4132bdc3a275d9c/blog/item/1755141db467ab8adba5e9b5cf495894.html
Part 2: my.mmosite.com/2aecbd118ed47523f4132bdc3a275d9c/blog/item/2a3010adc7c5170c22fc069190c00cae.html

We close this series with a very special treat: an interview with Peter Rehrmann, Product Manager for ProSiebenSat1 Games, and the man responsible for the operation of ARGO Online in Europe and North America. Mr. Rehrmann was kind enough to take some time out of his day to answer a whole bunch of questions about ARGO Online, from information about the game to technical issues and gripes. Now that you know a good deal about ARGO Online, le

If you haven't read the first part of my Hands-On with ARGO Online, you can check it out here: my.mmosite.com/2aecbd118ed47523f4132bdc3a275d9c/blog/item/1755141db467ab8adba5e9b5cf495894.html

During Part 1 of my Post-Release Hands-On of ARGO Online, I took you through character creation and detailed the stunning beauty of the game, as well as the many of the highly-personalizable and customizable features that make this title an exciting experience. I also touched lightly upon some of the game's early-level features and newbie play. Now it's time to get into the nitty-gritty, and talk about some of the major dungeons and PvP events that high-level players will be grappling once they've waded through the quests and crafting runs and lesser faction battles.

What do pla

It is with great sorrow in my heart that I tell you all that on September 4th, 2011, Bill “The Game Doctor” Kunkel, passed away, reportedly from a fall.

The reason why this news comes with such grief amongst us in the gaming world is because Kunkel was one of the most instrumental figures in modern video games -- and the reason why his memorial is so important to me is because The Game Doctor was single-handedly responsible for pioneering the very job I do today.

Bill Kunkel was known as “The Grandfather of Videogame Journalism” for being the principal co-founder of Electronic Games, the very first video game-based magazine in America, which was a very successful magazine for several years. He put my industry on the map, and his “Game Doctor” articles would go on to be re-published in many other gaming magazines, such as the infamous EGM.

How instrumental WAS Bill Kunkel to the video game world? Well, for starters, he and other writers from Ele

...not quite.

But after two months of no activity (and one month of no Quest! activity to speak of at all), I am proud to say that my unintentional hiatus is over, and I intend to come back stronger than ever.

And with my return comes a numer of explanations. "Why did you leave?" "Why has Quest! stopped writing?" "Why are you coming back?" "What will happen next?" Well, invisible peoples who are not credited for these questions, let me answer all of them and then some.

Let me first start with an apology for my disappearance. Over the last two months, I had been kept from MMOsite due to a crazy misadventure I can only describe as a "major 'health scare'". I didn't want to dump these trials and tribulations onto you, my loyal

In the midst of all the hub-bub surrounding San Diego Comic-Con this morning, RIFT: Planes of Telara released a bit of information about their next content update.  I love this sort of information, because not only does it show you new content (one of my favorite things in life) but it also gives us a deeper understanding of the game and the lore behind it.  Sometimes I forget exactly how much story is baked into RIFT, and it's moments like this that remind me just what a beefy world it really is.

God of the Sea

On a ship at sea, a sailor plots his course, a merchant dreams of distant shores, and a scholar charts the stars. Each in their way prays to Thontic, God of the Sea, of trade, and of mystery. When the gods formed Telara from sourcestone at the dawn of day

Tonight as the sun sets over Ming Imperial City, the players of The Chosen will gather at the Wedding Area for a very special event.  You see, two lovers will unite their lives together for the first time in the game.  We've heard about these sorts of in-game marraiges before, but this one is unique in a couple of ways.  First, this is a marriage between two players who met playing MMOs years ago, and who have been dating in real life.

Meet Baby and odis, the lovely couple, who are excited to be the first couple to take advantage of The Chosen's marriage system, which will give them benefits (but not in that way, dirty mind!) when grouping together.

The ceremony will take place this evening at 5:30 pm PDT, and all are invited.  Wear something formal, but get ready

This week SpaceTime Studios began an early beta for their latest mobile MMO game, Star Legends.  What's wierd about this one is that it's V-cast exclusive, so if you don't have a Verizon phone (like me) then you will have to wait and play the game after July 20th.  

This saddens me a great deal because I love Pocket Legends, and was excited to hear about the next game -- but I won't be able to play in the beta.  I'm sure the exclusive deal is awesome for Verizon customers, as it adds another level of value to their choice of mobile carrier.  I just wish we were also included in the deal.

Learn more about Star Legends here.

The folks over at Kill3rCombo have been busy little bees.  Yesterday they announced that they added the second tier of job skills to Elsword, along with a host of graphical improvements.  Once players playing Elsword (the character) reach level 35, they will be able to transform into Lord Knights or Rune Slayers.  This handy skill means serious domination on the battlefield.  I'll be excited to see what the other two characters get as their second jobs.

In other Elsword news this week, a little German beauty took the prize in a European cosplay event hosted in Germany.  She dressed as Rena, and I am really impressed with the quality of her costume.  Check it out for yourself:

Today Hanbitsoft announced that their rerelease of Hellgate, the fated game that sunk Flagship Studios, is going into open beta for North America and Europe.  It's been three years since Hellgate: London, and from what I've seen of this game so far, I'm pretty impressed.  The character design is fairly awesome at least. You can access the beta here.  

Hellgate will celebrate the Open Beta launch with four special events to reward and entertain the growing Hellgate community - the Guild Reservoirevent, the Daily Supplies event, the To Level in Hell event and the Level and Be Rewarded event, each awarding top players with valuable prizes. Additionally, the Open Beta will feature two new game modes – the PvPDuel Ar

Love MMOs but don't have a lot of cash?  Wish you could check out those heftier Pay-to-Play titles without having to take out a morgage on your PC?  You're in luck:  Today Rift: Planes of Telara has gone on sale, with the price for the core digital upgrade dropping to $4.99, and the upgrade to the Collector's Edition to $9.99.  That means that you can download the game, play a week for free, and then upgrade to the full version for the price of a Big Mac.

This is great news for the MMO community, and I think these big developers need to consider discounting their game clients from the get go.  It isn't the upfront cost that makes them their money, and giving away a reduced priced client (or a free one even) means that more people get in and fall in love wi

burda:ic's international sensation ARGO Online has finally crossed the ocean, and it's in full production internationally for players from all walks of life to enjoy. The game has been in full production here in America for a couple months now, but earlier in the month I was invited to delve into this game in-depth and explore the beautiful digital world that the Japanese have had for several years now. With a gentleman named Ryan Howard serving as my guide, I took a trip around ARGO Online, a hybrid MMO with a unique theme and lots of charm.

You may have already read a lot of the preface to ARGO Online just around our site alone, but if you haven't or if you need a refresher, here's what the game is all about: ARGO Online is about two different races of people