Pets vs. Monsters is a free-to-play MMO targeted at children between the ages of 8 and 12. Kids create an avatar, select between dogs, cats, and bears (just like at the pet store, only with bears!), and set off on an adventure destroying monsters while riding on the back of their trusted companion.

Like Sony Online Entertainment's Free Realms, Pets vs. Monsters will integrate streaming technology, allowing children to start playing within minutes of download. Parents worried about exposing their children to foul language and internet predators need not worry, as Funcom has included a constructed chat system to ensure that no foul words pass their players' fingertips.

Check out the game in action, along with a couple of screens, or visit the game's website for more information.

KingsIsle is decorating the world of Wizard City and promising a "special surprise" for all players of Wizard101 this month as they celebrate one year of card-based, free-to-play magic duels for the whole family. Response to the title has been overwhelming, with more than five million players signing up to give the game a spin since it launched in September of 2008.

"Quality family entertainment doesn't have to be expensive," said J. Todd Coleman, creative director of Wizard101. "The success of Wizard101 clearly shows that it is possible to produce a fun and challenging game that is both wallet-friendly and appropriate for all ages – and that it's something people are looking for in these tough economic times."

While I'm not sure these tough times are quite as tough as they were a year ago, there's definitely something to be said for a game you can sit down with your child and play until he or she gets so engrossed you can slip away to play big people games in the other room.

Sony Online Entertainment today finally launches a guild system for Free Realms, allowing friends and like-minded players to unite under a single chat channel and head tag. Any two people can form a guild, as long as the leader has reached at least level 15 in any one job. Once another player is invited to the guild and accepts, the name you pick is sent in for review and you are assigned a temporary one in the meantime, just like it works for character creation. They are generally pretty fast with approvals, so your witty pun name should be showing up within a couple of days of submission.

This is probably the one aspect of Free Realms I won't be exploring. First, the only friend I regularly played with is now dead to me, and second, I really don't want to wind up acting as a babysitter in a family-friendly online game. I've got too much mining to do.

And more celebration gear is indeed on the way. Following the free t-shirt and Sony Station Cash given to players at the 1 million milestone and the party pack delivered upon reaching 2 million, the big 3-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh has SOE passing out a "3M Pet Party Pack", which features all sorts of goodies your cats and dogs can wear in the game. John Smedley once again has words to mark the occasion.

"SOE worked diligently over the past four years to ensure that Free Realms would take the online space by storm," said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. "We are pleased to be able to provide such a vast, in-depth and, most importantly, fun world to an average of 500,000 new gamers per week."

And with that, I propose we stop following these announcements until they reach 10 million. Thoughts?

The player population of Free Realms continues to grow at a ridiculous rate, hitting the two million player milestone within a month of the game's official launch. According to SOE, the game is a big hit with its target audience, with 75% of its registrants under age 17 and 46% under 13. Female gamers are particularly taken with the title, representing a third of the population. Once again, SOE president John Smedley is beside himself with excitement.

"In less than a month, Free Realms has captivated a core player base of tween and teen gamers, while also strongly resonating with MMO gamers. We wanted to create a game to play with our families and are excited to have hit the mark with our intended audience."

SOE will be distributing a "party pack" of items so players can help the company celebrate this latest achievement. Hopefully it includes a little more Station Cash, as I could really use a ghost kitten to accompany me while I mine for silver. *sigh*

Free Realms is a free-to-play massively-multiplayer online game that combines puzzle games, pet raising, card dueling, exploration, and combat into one colorful and attractive package. So attractive that more than a million users have signed up for the game since launch, a fact that has SOE's John Smedley all a' flutter.

"The excitement surrounding Free Realms, and the positive response the game has already received, is overwhelming," said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. "To achieve this milestone so rapidly speaks to the quality and the fun gameplay experience Free Realms offers to players of all ages."

To celebrate the quickly achieved milestone, SOE is giving all current Free Realms players with a limited edition Free Realms t-shirt for their character. On top of the t-shirt, the first 999,999 registered users are also getting a matching shirt for their pet and 200 Station Cash to purchase in game items. The 1 millionth registered user gets an even bigger prize: a lifetime premium membership, a one-of-a-kind astronaut suit, and 10,000 Station Cash.

I've been playing the game myself since launch, and I have to say that it's extremely addictive...and not just the premium bits either. There are just so many different things to do, and none of the posturing you find from the "elite" players in other MMO titles. If you play, send a friend request to Mochrie Shadowdancer, and I will try to resist the urge to hide from you.

He might actually be a sugar glider or some other airborne mammal, but Chatty does a fine job of explaining the various merits of Free Realms to the uninitiated. Certainly a much better job than I generally do. I should probably just transfer this video to my unspecified portable media device and play it whenever someone asks me about the game.

To give the game a go, head over to FreeRealms.com and sign up. You'll be in-world within minutes, unless launch day madness brings the servers to their knees. Stranger things have happened.

"It's your world and nothing's impossible," exclaims Free Realm's theme song by Southern California trio The Dares, and apparently that includes one of the shortest closed beta tests in history. Weeks after entering the final phase of testing, Sony Online Entertainment's family-friendly online game is about to open for business, with servers down for final patching and tweaking before tomorrow's launch.

I've played around quite a bit in Free Realms during the beta, and it still holds up to my impressions from E3 last year. It's one of the most intriguing massively multiplayer online games to come out this year. It incorporates pet training; cart racing; Cooking Mama-esque mini-games; puzzles; and your standard hack and slash gaming into a world that will keep both kids and adults entertained for quite a long time.

My favorite feature? Name approvals. Every character name goes through an approval process before being applied, with players stuck using a generic name until their selection passes. As a frequent player on role-playing servers, I approve wholeheartedly.

Free Realms is of course free, though a subscription fee of $4.95 a month earns players more characters and additional jobs to perform, adding even more game play to the ridiculous amounts included in the free version.

Free Realms launches Tuesday [Massively]

Dragonspye is an ancient, haunted world with a magic Academy of its own, rivaling the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts in Wizard City that features prominently in the main game. Death Magic professor Malistaire has been spotted there, and players who venture into the new land will soon learn the truth behind his sinister plans. Insert evil laughter here.

Along with the new land in the introduction of a new PVP Wizard Areana on Unicorn Way, where players can face off against each other in practice and ranked duels. While ranked duels will be exclusive to paying customers for a few weeks, non-paying members will gain access in mid-February.

The first major world expansion and a new Player vs. Player (PvP) Wizard Arena now live in KingsIsle Entertainment's Wizard101 game

Plano, Texas - Jan 20, 2009 - Dragonspyre is a high level world that continues the storyline of online game Wizard101 (www.wizard101.com) beyond the Feudal world of Moo Shu populated by "Samoori" cows. The new environment, Dragonspyre, is an ancient haunted world where renegade Death Magic professor Malistaire has recently been spotted. Once an advanced militant society, Dragonspyre had an esteemed Academy rivaling that of the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts in Wizard City. It is a dark world where the inhabitants held a special interest in Fire Magic. Players will face challenging new battles, and ultimately discover the truth about Professor Malistaire's sinister plans.

Diego the unicorn is the gatekeeper to the new PvP Wizard Arena in Unicorn Way. Players can challenge each other in either Practice or Ranked duels, with up to four Wizards per team. Un-Ranked practice duels, free for all Wizard101 players, allow players to jump into an automatically formed duel or set up their own team and choose opponents. In Ranked duels, a robust matchmaking service matches Wizard101 subscribers with similarly ranked Wizards, and the winners of each duel are awarded Arena Tickets, redeemable for unique loot. Ranked duels will be an exclusive subscriber benefit for the first few weeks in the Wizard Arena. In mid-February, non-subscribers will also be able to participate in Ranked duels for Crowns. At the end of each quarterly Wizard Arena season, a top Duel Master will be named.

Calling their Hasbro lineup "hot holiday must-haves", EA applauds the performance of games like Littlest Pet Shop, Nerf N-Strike, Monopoly, and Hasbro Family Game Night for their performance.

“By innovating with these family brands and delivering a quality, fun game experience our EA Hasbro video games are something parents and friends can gift with pride this holiday season,” said Chip Lange, Vice President and General Manager EA Hasbro. “Our focus on creating audience-appropriate games has paid off with the consumers we wanted to reach and made EA Hasbro titles THE gift to give this holiday.”

This partnership was really a win-win for both companies. Partnering recognizable family-friendly Hasbro brands with video games created some of the most worry-free video game buys a parent could find on retail shelves. Hell, even I bought Littlest Pet Shop, which is "teeming with adorably cute pets that girls can collect." *cries*

Family Gamers Choose EA Hasbro Games This Holiday
LITTLEST PET SHOP, NERF “N-STRIKE”, MONOPOLY and HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT Video Games Prove Hot Holiday “Must-Haves”

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—A video game for girls, a game and NERF blaster combo for boys and two video games for everyone in the family to play prove hot holiday sellers for Electronic Arts, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS). The first wave of console and handheld titles under the EA and Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS) long-term agreement have combined to sell two million units globally since their respective fall launches, according to internal EA sell-thru data.

LITTLEST PET SHOP for the Wii™, Nintendo DS™, and PC reached store shelves in October and according to NPD aggregated DS skus were the #2 overall Nintendo DS title in the US for the month of November1 and the #1 Nintendo DS title in France in October.2 The game, inspired by the Hasbro blockbuster toy line, is teeming with adorably cute pets that girls can collect, take on adventures in four vibrant worlds, or play with via a myriad of mini-games.

NERF “N-Strike”, available on the Wii since October, was the #10 title according to NPD for the month of November. The game, inspired by the globally popular Hasbro franchise, features non-stop NERF-style pandemonium where players are faced with a series of challenging missions that put blasting strategies and skills to the ultimate test. NERF “N-Strike” also ships with a custom NERF SWITCH SHOT EX-3 blaster, the first ever 2-in-1 video game and toy peripheral bundle to hit the market.

HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT, available on the Wii and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, launched in November and was awarded a Toy Wishes 2008 All-Star Award. Featuring six games including: BATTLESHIP, YAHTZEE, BOGGLE, CONNECT FOUR, SORRY! and the all new, SORRY! Sliders. Both MONOPOLY which is available for the Wii, PlayStation2 and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment systems and HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT had strong launches and continue to build momentum through the holiday.

“By innovating with these family brands and delivering a quality, fun game experience our EA Hasbro video games are something parents and friends can gift with pride this holiday season,” said Chip Lange, Vice President and General Manager EA Hasbro. “Our focus on creating audience-appropriate games has paid off with the consumers we wanted to reach and made EA Hasbro titles THE gift to give this holiday.”

Honestly I think I am far more inclined to play an MMO that randomly affixes farm animals to your head. Great job, SOE. You just alienated a very small, very disturbed portion of your fan base.

Sign Up For The Free Realms Beta Here [Free Realms]