DDO Website overhaul

Makeovers sure are fun. Of course, you can't help but get all excited to see yourself with a new look, plus the whole transformation process is fun in itself: you get to experiment with a new style (of course, the results may vary from "hot" to "not", but that's for another article), tweak your features a bit, dab some additions here and there, and voila! You got a whole new you! Well, we heard that the Dungeons & Dragons Online site just had a makeover, and we definitely loved it! Its jam-packed with more updates and additions such as the PvP Leaderboard. We bet the programmers didn't have a wild time making it (thinking about all those coding's making my head spin), but we're sure grateful that they put a lot of effort in their work. After all, it did pay off, right?And as makeovers go, other people can't wait to see it as well. And it goes both ways: if the results are good, we bet you can't wait to show off your new look, either. So I'm gonna end my blabbering and start with the "showcasing part" instead. Take a look at the new DDO website by clicking on the "Read" link below this article. We hope you guys will enjoy it as much as we did.

LOTR Online: exploring Brandy Hall

LOTR Online: exploring Brandy Hall
from MMORPG by Jex H.
For today's Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar update, we explore the stumps and corners of Brandy Hall, home of the many generations of Brandybucks.Brandy Hall serves as the ancestral home of the Brandybuck family and consists of tunnels and rooms which occupy the whole Buck Hill which is found on the east of Brandywine. This hall is one of the biggest mansions in the Shire, with three entrance doors and over a hundred windows. Brandy Hall also served as the home of Frodo Baggins, way before the fellowship was formed and before he went to live with Bilbo at Bag End.Aside from being a home to the countless generations of Brandybucks, Brandy Hall can also be considered as a librry of sorts, because in it is a huge collection of books that trace and record the history of the Shire. And although the majority of Brandy Hall was built underground, a significant portion of the structure remains visible in and around Buck Hill when viewed from a distance.We will be keeping you guys updated on Shadows of Angmar before it even gets an American release so keep checking back with us more LOTR updates and info.

Wesley Cwiklo wins gold at World Cyber Games

Wesley Cwiklo wins gold at World Cyber Games
from MMORPG by Max F.
Here's a bit of inspirational news for all of you gamers out there. Wesley "TTR Ch0mpr" Cwiklo, the youngest member of Team USA, took gold in Project Gotham Racing 3 on the Xbox 360.Team Korea (you know what a gaming-crazy nation Korea is) took home the Grand Champion title (their first since 2002; they won this year partly because of the gold and silver from Starcraft: Brood War). Team Russia got second in terms of medal count. Canada, China, Poland, and USA each took home one gold, so that makes Wesley Cwiklo the only gold medalist for Team USA.Cwiklo went undefeated round after round at Monza, Italy, where the event was held. The final race was against Christopher Hogfeldt of Sweden, a fellow TTR member (TTR is a team of PGR players).Next year's World Cyber Games will be in Seattle. Ralph Morton, Executive Director of Seattle Sports Commission, was there at this year's closing ceremonies to take the WCG flag in the symbolic turn-over.(One last thing about how the Koreans are a gaming country (or at least a nation where gaming is not frowned upon but seen as a positive thing). We were digging through our press photos from the event, and we kept finding Koreans; it seemed like they were really well-represented there. Eventually, we settled for that image of the event stage, because it's pretty neat.)About US 462,000 were given away in prizes. Gold medals went to China for WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne, the Polish for Half Life: Counter Strike, and Germany for FIFA 06. You know how parents say that gaming doesn't pay? Well it usually doesn't, unless you're really good like the 700 players who went to this year's WCG.If any of you guys know of any other competitions - or if you're joining a competition - why don't you let us know? We'll cheer you on. And if you're in the Seattle area, make sure you don't forget about next year's WCG!

WoW: The Burning Crusades post-poned

Gamers will instead have to wait until January to plumb the depths of Outland in ``The Burning Crusade,'' the ``World of Warcraft'' expansion pack that adds quests, locations and character levels to the persistent online role-playing game.``WoW,'' as it is often called, has become a global phenomenon since its November 2004 launch and now has an estimated 7 million subscribers, each paying about $15 per month to kill dragons like Onyxia or engage in player vs. player combat.Earlier this month, ``WoW'' maker Blizzard Entertainment, a unit of French media company Vivendi SA, began testing the expansion pack with select players to help work out bugs.

Tabula Rasa 101

Tabula Rasa 101: Stuff you'd want to know
MMORPG blog - USA
For those who are unfamiliar with this title, Tabula Rasa is an up-and-coming third-person MMORPG from NCsoft where players will get to make up the force that ...

Taxing MMO's..

Representative Saxton Says Taxing SL Would Be a Mistake
Top

Friday October 20, 2006 1:53 PM EDT

Filed under: News , Business We can all breathe a sigh of relief. Representative Jim Saxton, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee said, regarding the recent news that congress was looking into tax issues concerning virtual worlds, "The goal of the forthcoming JEC study is to help lawmakers understand the issues involved and head off any premature attempt to impose a tax on virtual economies." Boldly said. Apparently this is just a fact-finding mission, nothing to worry about. Further,...

Musical Instruments in Second Life

Musical Instruments in SL

	Friday October 20, 2006 8:27 PM EDT
	Here's a little piece about the range of musical instruments in SL, from a blog called Music Thing. I found the tone of the post to be slightly dismissive, as though the author was unable to reconcile his hopes for finding something awe-inspiring with the reality of what he found in-world. The piece completely skips over the feat of virtual engineering Robbie Dingo utilized simply to create what he has in the first place. Regardless, it's always nice to see different sources cover SL with a...

'The Bard' Coming soon...

Shakespeare goes digital
GameSpot - USA
MacArthur Foundation backs professor's foray into game building; the Bard is coming to an MMO near you soon. By Daniel Terdiman, News.com. ...

Auto Assault - Halloween Event

Game: Auto Assault
Article Title: Halloween Event
Link to Article: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm?loadNews=6415

one milLLLLLLlion dollars...errr.. residents!

We Have a Winner!

Wednesday October 18, 2006 9:23 PM EDT

Drum roll, please: the date and time of the registration of the millionth user was October 18th, 2006, at 08:05:45 AM, SL Time. The one millionth resident's name is Farley Atlantis, and I'll be contacting him/her soon for an interview (if he/she will have me!), but I know that you're all waiting for the name of the winning resident. Interestingly enough, only 3 people guessed the date correctly. With a prediction of 8:30 AM, the...