Make the Isle of Tortage your bitch with Funcom's new and improved free trial for Age of Conan. Rather than the old 7-days deal, from now until January 1st, players who sign up for the free trial and log onto the game (important step there) will have unlimited access to the first 20 levels of gameplay until the game's servers go dark. Create as many characters as you want, take off your female character's shirt and make obnoxious comments, and generally be a nuisance to more serious players, who will appreciate the fact that you're locked on that island until you can swipe your parents' credit card.

"Our original seven day trial has been very successful so far," says Morten Larssen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Funcom. "But with the holiday season coming up this is the perfect time to shake up our trial offer a bit and try out something new. So everyone who downloads the trial before January 1st will be able to play the first part of the game for free, forever. We are confident that many of those taking advantage of this offer will choose to become permanent players, allowing them to experience all of what the game has to offer including all the additions and improvements introduced since launch."

Just head over to the Age of Conan trial page to sign up and download the client.

New and returning players to Mythic's MMO Warhammer Online can now play the game as long as they'd like for free, provided they don't mind being capped at level 10 until they pony up some subscription fees. Yes, it's capped, but there's still plenty to do in the tier one lands of Nordland and Norsca. Players can take all the time they want trying out each of the game's 24 professions, participating in realm versus realm battlegrounds or delving into the newly-added Hunter's Vale dungeon.

In order to facilitate easy access to the game, Mythic has also introduced a new streaming client. After an initial download of around one gig, the rest of the world streams to the player's PC as they travel, making for a relatively quick and painless introduction to the world.

"With the introduction of the endless free trial and streaming client, we are making it easier than ever for a new player to join the WAR," said Jeff Hickman, executive producer, Mythic Entertainment. "We've worked hard to create a more informative and community driven new user experience, and now we are giving players an unlimited amount of time to explore the early parts of the game at their own pace. We are confident that players new and old will find all the enhancements we've made to WAR over the past year worthy of their time and commitment."

Interested? Visit http://www.warhammeronline.com/trial to sign up for endless level 10 limbo.

Age of Conan has gotten off to a bit of a slow start. Well, that's not entirely true. More like it got off to a quick start, and then a large chunk of folks left. A slow middle, if you will. Now Funcom finally releases a free trial client, on the hopes that a horde of people have been just sitting around, waiting for such an offer.

"The time has finally come for us to open the flood gates," says Morten Larssen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Funcom. "There is a world of gamers out there who have never played ‘Age of Conan' and we want them to experience what hundreds of thousands of gamers have before them. The game has matured tremendously since launch, and we feel confident that this is the time to launch a trial. ‘Age of Conan' is simply bigger and better than it ever was, and we want both new and previous players alike to experience that!"

So it's finally ready for the public?

Players can download the free trial directly from the Age of Conan website, though if they sign up over at Fileplanet you get fourteen days and an exclusive firework, perfect for firing off as you welcome the crowd passing through the floodgates.

As part of Mythic's plan to draw new players to Warhammer Online in the face of their Call to Arms live expansion, the company has launched a free 10-day trial through Fileplanet, allowing players to give the game a very limited test drive. How limited? Aside from the time constraints, trial players are limited to the game's lowest level content and capital cities. trial players are also limited in what severs they can play on, so if they wish to party with their friends, said friends will have to use their daily free sever transfer to move to one of the trial-assigned servers. Boo.

Did I mention the offer is only available to Fileplanet subscribers?

While I don't understand why Mythic couldn't just let the trail players run wild for 10 days, they must have had their reasons for making the decision. Perhaps they want to keep populations from exploding, degrading the experience of the higher-level paying customers? I just would have thought making it easy for new players to join their friends online would have been a priority.

Still, free is free, and seeing as trials have been limited to the recruit-a-friend program up until now, at least they're finally allowing the friendless among us a chance to see what we've been missing, as long as we're willing to sign up for Fileplanet. At least the download will be quick.

Fileplanet Exclusive 10 Day Warhammer Online Trial [Fileplanet via Massively]

This is the first game we've seen with the card inside, but knowing Netflix's penchant for stuffing free trial flyers into every possible orifice of every potential customer they can get their hands on, it won't be the last.

Netflix Giving Away 48 Hour Streaming Trials With New XBOX 360 Games [The Business of Online Video]

This is the sort of game that should have had a free-trial from the get go, really. The unique flavor combination of ship-based travel and battles with trading and character combat is something you really need to play before deciding if it's the right game for you.

Welcome to the Pirates of the Burning Sea 14-Day Trial! [PotBS]

As I've said before, Vanguard has some very good things going for it, and my time in the game was certainly enjoyable to a point. I'd check in again if I had the time, but with the end-of-the-year gaming spectacular in full swing I won't have the time. Anyone still playing out there that can give us the down-low? Worth the reinstall, or no?

EA MYTHIC'S ULTIMA ONLINE: KINGDOM REBORN LAUNCHES IN NORTH AMERICA

Pioneering MMORPG Receives Massive Graphic and Gameplay Update Via Free Downloadable Expansion - New 14-day Trial Available

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - August 27, 2007 - Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS), the world's leading interactive entertainment company, today announced that Ultima Online(TM): Kingdom Reborn, the latest expansion to Ultima Online, is now available for free download at UO.com and IGN's popular game download site FilePlanet. Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn introduces a stunning graphic update, all-new user interface and updated new player experience to Ultima Online, the MMO that ushered in the modern MMO era. Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn is available for free to all players at:

UO.com
www.uoherald.com/kingdomreborn/gamefiles

FilePlanet
http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/uo

For newcomers to Ultima Online, a free 14-day trial of Kingdom Reborn is now available for download at: http://www.uoherald.com/kindomreborn/trial

With Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn, the legendary kingdom has been redrawn, reengineered and rebuilt for the next decade of players seeking an epic, fantasy MMO experience. The revamped new player content welcomes those who have never adventured through the celebrated lands of Ultima Online. Additionally, enhanced visuals and brand-new user interface present the game in a whole new light to veteran players.

"As the tenth anniversary of Ultima Online's launch approaches, Kingdom Reborn introduces an entirely new experience while preserving the spirit of the classic MMO," said Mark Jacobs, VP and General Manager of EA Mythic. "Kingdom Reborn represents EA's ongoing commitment to MMOs and Ultima Online's dedicated and loyal community, some of whom have been playing the game since its launch almost ten years ago."

To learn more about Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn, visit www.uo.com/kingdomreborn. This game is rated "T" (Teen) by the ESRB.

###

Sony Online Entertainment today launches a new Everquest II free trial offer based off the most recent expansion, Echoes of Faydwer. Entitled, "Play the Fae", the trial lasts 7 days and introduces players to the Fae, tiny pixie-like creatures with beautiful, multicolored, leaf-like butterfly wings. I've not played the expansion, but a friend of mine assures me that they make him feel like a pretty fairy princess. I suppose that's good.

The trial also includes the rediscovered city of Kelethin, allowing a whole new generation of players to fall to their deaths in a fantasy-forest setting. Best of all, no credit card is required! Huzzah!

This trial replaces the previous Trial of the Isle, which let you play as long as you wanted, only you were stuck on a tiny island with very limited content, slowly going insane, with the only cure being giving Sony money. Michael Fahey

Play the Fae 7-Day Trial [Everquest II]

After I return from my holiday (which will consist of a trek to the frozen tundra of Northern Michigan and a return to the Jurassic-period internet they call 14.4 dial-up), I'm going to take the plunge into EVE Online via the 14-day free trial program they are offering. Mark Wallace's well-documented coverage adoration of the game, coupled with their new patch and player freedom have at least made me decide to take the plunge and check it out - it helps that the first 14 days are free, too.

EVE Online Free Trial [EVE Online]