Oh D3Publisher, you have such perfect timing. After a week spent flying across the country, running around a semi-crowded convention hall on little if any sleep, and getting so deep in gaming that I have waking dreams about upcoming titles, there is nothing I need more than a little mindless Puzzle Quest goodness, and you're delivering. The Xbox Live Arcade expansion pack for Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is hitting tomorrow, bringing with it four new classes (Bard, Rogue, Ranger, and Warlock), more that 25 new quests, 50 new spells, and 40 new magical items. Subtitled Revenge of the Plague Lord, the expansion opens up an all new Southern map as players discover that Lord Bane had a brother, and he's pissed. All this plus a new level cap of 60 and three new achievements, all for 700 Microsoft points. Thank goodness.

Codemasters Details Archlord Update

Codemasters Online's free-to-play MMO ArchLord is technically getting a bit more free as the company readies the third free expansion pack, Episode 3: Spirits Awakening, which adds "up to 30% new game content". I am assuming they measured that out using suitably scientific methods. The update will introduce 3 new game zones, over 80 new skills, new ArchLord abilities, collectible armor sets, and a bunch of new enemies to thrash soundly about the head and neck, all of which adds up to more or less 30%. This pleases the Relfling.

Ed Relf, Director of Marketing, Codemasters Online commented, "We are pleased to be able to set out our exciting new expansion plans for ArchLord. As recently announced ArchLord is now more popular than ever with thousands of new players taking up the challenge every day to compete to become the games all-ruling leader!

Episode 3 is due to go live "in the coming weeks".

The latest expansion to CCP Games' deep space MMO EVE Online has just gone live, bringing space-miners, space-moguls, and space-fighters alike into the Empyrean Age. The expansion focuses on two of the most important aspects of any MMO, storyline and PVP, introducing factional warfare, a system of militia ranks, system occupancy, combat zones, and factional warfare bases for players to capture and control. Each of the factions now has a corporation open to all pilots to help coordinate war efforts.

Along with all of the healthy player killing comes an entirely new region called Black Rise, which contains 49 new star systems and 40 new stations, many of which are already sworn to a specific faction.

It sounds to me like folks hungry for some ship-on-ship PVP might want to sign up for their umpteenth free trial of EVE Online.

Empyrean Age Features Page [EVE Online]

The Sim 2 parade continues as EA readies not one but two new explorations into the lives of virtual people with The Sims 2 Apartment Life expansion and The Sims 2 Apartment Pets for the Nintendo DS. The PC version takes your Sim from their posh suburban homes and tosses them into apartment buildings, perhaps simulating America's horrific real estate market. You'll meet new archetypes like sports jocks, bohemians, and gadget-loving techies (raises hand) as you explore the drama of apartment living.

Meanwhile on the DS you'll find an apartment-based pet sim, complete with a snake charming mini-game that involves blowing into the DS microphone. Both games are due out in August around the globe.

As a guy who has lived in apartments for the majority of his life, I fail to see the charm here. Will my Sim be able to keep his pets secret from the apartment management? Can my interactions with my Sims neighbors be confined to peeking out the blinds to make sure they aren't breaking into my car again? Now that's apartment living right there.

"I think that Dungeon Runners players will find these new features, especially the snowmen as being pretty cool...literally," said Stephen Nichols, Dungeon Runners' producer.

We mentioned it in passing, but this news deserves to stand out. It took a whole lot of doing, but The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles is finally available in readily downloadable format for the PlayStation 3. Those of you who held out on getting the Game of the Year Edition of Oblivion that included the expansion and didn't want to drive all the way out to the store for the retail expansion disc can now spend $30 via the PlayStation Network and get your expansion on. PS3 Oblivion fans - and I count myself among you - our long struggle is finally at an end. According to the Bethesda Blog post, we own a debt of gratitude to technical director Guy Carver, heretofore known as the Prophet of Light. Feel free to erect statues in his honor while the expansion downloads.

Shivering Isles now available on Playstation Network [Bethesda Blog]