Kotaku: Guild Wars

Into the Pixel Exhibition

Maggie Greene — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:40:00 MDT

Into the Pixel is a juried art exhibition that selects sixteen works of video game art to be displayed both digitally and in actual exhibits, like the one currently at E3. The exhibit is an opportunity for video and computer game artists to showcase their work and receive critical feedback from both digital and fine art experts; it also showcases the actual visual art of games in creative and unique ways. The pieces range from playful to serious, and utilize a variety of visual styles to convey their subjects. Now in its fifth year, the selected entries are usually quite impressive, and this year was no exception.

The exhibition hall was quiet compared to the chaos both above and below it — a few people wandered through, but it was otherwise silent. The exhibition included some of the winners from the 2007 competition (including my personal favorite, "Defeated Dragon" by Daniel Dociu (Guild Wars)), and it was nice to see the art in large format. Four of the sixteen entries were takes on Guild Wars (I was particularly fond of the one entitled "Four Knights" by Richard Anderson); also covered were games like flOw, Fallout 3, and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and untitled DS game (seen at the top; "Puzzle World Twilight" by Jay Epperson).

The exhibition will be headed to E for All in October, but you can all see the winning entries over at the Into the Pixel website, which also includes archives of art and commentary from previous years. A few selections from the silent gallery hall are below.

NCsoft Profits Fall 43 Percent On Blackstar Costs

Leigh Alexander — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:20:00 MDT

NCsoft reported a 43 percent year-over year drop in profits to $7.7 million, a decrease was due to a write-off expense for costs associated with The Blackstar Chronicles. The futuristic MMO, in development by Spacetime Studios, was ultimately dropped from NCsoft's lineup, and Spacetime will be pursuing the project on its own.

If not for the write-off, NCsoft stood to gain in profit 48 percent on the quarter and 8 percent on the year. The publisher's sales increased 4 percent to $84.3 million on the popularity of the Lineage series in Asia and strong performance for Guild Wars and City of Heroes in North America and Europe.

In particular, NCsoft said its first quarter brought all-time record sales for Lineage II, which launched in 2003 and continues to be the company's top-selling title with 35 percent of the publisher's total sales.

NCsoft's U.S. sales reached $10.4 million in North America and $8.5 million in Europe, and $9.2 million in Japan, numbers dwarfed by its $47.7 million performance in Korea, which accounts for 57 percent of the publisher's total sales.

Later this year, NCsoft will launch its third closed beta for Aion, slated for a launch later this year. NCsoft will also roll out a more casual online portfolio with Point Blank, Punch Monster, Dragonica and Love Beat

"As proven once again in the Q1 financial results, we strongly believe our key franchise products, such as Lineage and Guild Wars, will meet our sales target with a strong customer base and continued content updates going forward," said NCsoft CFO Jaeho Lee. "We plan to ensure the smooth launch of many new products in the next two to three years, which will strengthen our position as a global leader in online games."

Talking Architecture With Guild Wars' Art Director

Maggie Greene — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:30:00 MDT

I love architecture — and still have days where I think I probably should've gone into architectural history — so I always enjoy BLDGBLOG's game-related posts. This week is a chat with Daniel Dociu, Chief Art Director of Guild Wars. The interview is worth reading for a look at the pictures alone, but a look at how gorgeous environments are created is interesting, too:

... I look back all the way to the dawn of mankind: to ruins, and Greek architecture, and Mycenean architecture, all the way up to the architecture of the Crusades, and castles in North Africa, and the Romanesque and Gothic and Baroque and Rococo - even to neo-Classical and art deco and Bauhaus and Modernist. I mean, there are bits and pieces here and there that make a strong impression on me, and I blend them - but that's the beauty of games. You don't have to be stylistically pure, or even coherent. You can afford a certain eclecticism to your work. It's a more forgiving medium. I can blend elements from the Potala Palace in Tibet with, say, La Sagrada Família, Antoni Gaudí's cathedral. I really take a lot of liberties with whatever I can use, wherever I can find it.

You can find more examples of Dociu's work at his website or BLDGBLOG's Flickr photostream.

Game/Space: An Interview With Daniel Dociu [BLDBLOG]

Guild Wars Sells 5 Million

Mike Fahey — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:40:26 MST

NCsoft and ArenaNet's first foray into the realm of free MMO's is faring quite nicely it seems, with the company announcing that the franchise has recently surpassed the five million units sold milestone less than three years after the original game's release. This of course includes sales of the add-on packs as well, which include Guild Wars Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North, but certainly impressive numbers either way.

"Guild Wars is a proven success and has set a new standard for online RPG games with its unique business model and superior playability," said NCsoft CEO Taek Jin Kim.

A success indeed! Makes you wonder why they even bothered making Auto Assault and Tabula Rasa subscription based, doesn't it?

Guild Wars Tops Five Million Units Sold

Guild Wars franchise breaks major milestone in less than three years.

Bellevue, WA. Feb. 26, 2008—NCsoft® and ArenaNet® have announced that the Guild Wars® franchise of online roleplaying games has surpassed five million units sold in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Published by NCsoft and developed by ArenaNet, the Guild Wars franchise consists of the original Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions®, Guild Wars Nightfall®, and the recently released expansion, Guild Wars: Eye of the North™. The Guild Wars games have been commercial and critical successes since the release of the original campaign in April of 2005. Its award-winning content and innovative subscription-free business model have created a large and loyal following that is highly anticipating Guild Wars 2™.

"Guild Wars is a proven success and has set a new standard for online RPG games with its unique business model and superior playability," said NCsoft CEO Taek Jin Kim. "ArenaNet is dedicated to creating games that expand the market and provide great new content to our loyal player base. This success has built a great foundation from which the next generation of Guild Wars games will grow."

With the development of Guild Wars 2 underway, ArenaNet will continue to provide dedicated support to current Guild Wars games and its millions of customers.

"Reaching the five million mark is extremely gratifying for us at ArenaNet because it shows the hard work and dedication we put into our games has resonated with the fans," said Mike O'Brien, co-founder of ArenaNet. "We are committed to supporting all of our Guild Wars players, and at the same time, we're extremely excited to work on the game's evolution. Certainly the future of Guild Wars is as bright as its past and present."

For more information on the Guild Wars franchise, visit the Guild Wars website at www.guildwars.com. The award-winning Guild Wars series, including the recently released Guild Wars: Eye of the North, can be purchased from retailers or downloaded from the PlayNC store at secure.plaync.com/cgi-bin/Store.pl.

Guild Wars Contest Reminder

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:00:47 MDT

In the white noise that was the Tokyo Game Show, our Guild Wars: Eye of the North contest got lost in the shuffle. So! Here's a reminder: We've got one copy of Guild Wars: Eye of the North to give away. And hey, this is the last expansion for Guild Wars until the second one comes out! So, here's the contest. Send us an email to kotakucontestATgmail.com with the subject line of GWEN. That's it. The 700th one we gets wins the game. Yes, it's that easy.

Oh, you can't email more than once a day. The winner will be contacted through the winning email address.
GWEN [Official Site]

New Contest. This One Easy!

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 06:00:49 MDT

That last contest? That one involved effort. This one, this one is a breeze. We've got one copy of Guild Wars: Eye of the North to give away. And hey, this is the last expansion for Guild Wars until the second one comes out! So, here's the contest. Send us an email to kotakucontestATgmail.com with the subject line of GWEN. That's it. The 700th one we gets wins the game. Yes, it's that easy.

Oh, you can't email more than once a day. The winner will be contacted through the winning email address.
GWEN [Official Site]

Guild Wars: Eye of the North Goes Live

fdemarco — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 16:00:00 MDT

Guild Wars: Eye of the North, the first expansion for the Guild Wars franchise has officially gone live. The popular subscription-free title has been around for a few years now and this new expansion has loads of new material.

• 18 multi-level dungeons
• 50 new skills across all 10 Guild Wars professions
• 10 new Heroes
• 40 new armor sets
• New items, weapons, and titles.

With Guild Wars 2 right around the corner, NCSoft and AreaNet have promised that players will be able to transfer the characters they've been working on smoothly from the previous incarnations to the new version with all their accomplishments in tact. I have to commend NCSoft and AreaNet for creating all this new content and continuing to keep it subscription free. After all, you paid for the game, why should you have to pay a monthly fee to actually play it? All of the Guild Wars games, including Eye of the North can be purchased at your local game store or downloaded from the NCSoft Website.

Guild Wars Sells 4 Million

Mike Fahey — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:00:56 MDT

There's something to be said for a free MMO. Generally bad things, really, but not so much in the case of Guild Wars. NCsoft has just announced that the 2 year-old fantasy MMO has just surpassed the four million sold mark. No telling what the figures are on how many of those players bought the game, played it for a month and then quit like I ended up doing, but impressive numbers nonetheless. Just ask GameStop's ~~Doug~~ Bob McKenzie.

"Four million units sold is an impressive number and demonstrates that Guild Wars is a proven franchise," said Bob McKenzie, Senior Vice President of Merchandising, GameStop Corporation. "The Guild Wars franchise delivers an outstanding gaming experience and is clearly an important part of our PC games offerings."

You know what this means. Guild Wars standees for every store! Huzzah!

NCsoft's Guild Wars Breaks Four Million
Subscription-free business model sets new standard for online multiplayer games

Bellevue, WA. Aug. 21, 2007—The Guild Wars® franchise of online roleplaying games has broken the four million units sold mark in just over two years. Published by NCsoft® and developed by ArenaNet®, the Guild Wars series (consisting of Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions™, and Guild Wars Nightfall™) has set the standard for online co-operative and competitive play with award-winning content and a subscription-free business model. Since the first campaign launched in 2005, Guild Wars has developed legions of loyal fans who are hotly anticipating the August 31 release of the game's first true expansion, Guild Wars: Eye of the North™.

"ArenaNet's fantastic work on Guild Wars has helped make NCsoft the leading online gaming publisher in the world," said Robert Garriott, CEO of NCsoft North America. "Guild Wars players continue to join in droves and stay loyal to the franchise thanks to a business model that makes for a very accessible product. We are all excited about the future of Guild Wars with the expansion ready to be released and Guild Wars 2™ on the horizon."

"Four million units sold is an impressive number and demonstrates that Guild Wars is a proven franchise," said Bob McKenzie, Senior Vice President of Merchandising, GameStop Corporation. "The Guild Wars franchise delivers an outstanding gaming experience and is clearly an important part of our PC games offerings."

New Guild Wars Eye of the North Trailer

Mark Wilson — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:00:39 MDT

Any game trailer composed solely of in-game footage gains a few points in my book. The landscapes aren't all rocking my world, but some of the new baddies are looking pretty cool...a dollar to whoever spots the blatant Star Wars Episode One ripoff. Spotting Lord of the Rings influence is too easy—we're not paying a dime for that.

Eye Of The North Bonus In Stores Friday

Mike Fahey — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:20:39 MDT

The first expansion pack for the popular free-to-play MMO Guild Wars isn't hitting store shelves until the very end of August, but this Friday you can get the next best thing: a nearly empty box! NCsoft has announced the preorder box for Guild Wars: Eye of the North will be available at the end of this week. Players who purchase the box will not only guarantee themselves a copy of the game on launch day, but will also gain access to a special Sneak Peek Weekend. They'll be able to try out the expansion August 24th through the 26th, with all equipment, experience, and money gained during the trial will be carried over once the expansion goes live a week later. Other preorder bonuses include exclusive in-game weapons created by designs from the Design-A-Weapon contest, and a special Trilogy Trial DVD that provides access to all of the currently released Guild Wars content for 10 hours or 14 days, whichever comes first. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Guild Wars: Eye of the North
Prerelease Bonus Pack to Hit Shelves July 20th
Tuesday 17th July/...NCsoft® Europe and ArenaNet® announced today that the prerelease bonus pack for Guild Wars: Eye of the North™ is set to arrive on retailer's shelves on July 20th and will include a host of compelling features, including exclusive in-game items and access to the Guild Wars: Eye of the North Sneak Peek Weekend set for later this summer.

The Guild Wars: Eye of the North prerelease bonus pack will be available from retailers in North America and Europe as well as at the NCsoft store at PlayNC.com and via the Official Guild Wars online store.

Guild Wars: Eye of the North is the first ever expansion to the subscription-free Guild Wars franchise of fantasy online role playing games, which will be released to the public on August 31, 2007. This expansion will provide new content accessible to players who have any of the previously released Guild Wars campaigns (Guild Wars, Guild Wars: Factions™, or Guild Wars: Nightfall™).

Players who pre-order Guild Wars: Eye of the North will gain access to the Sneak Peek Weekend, August 24-26, 2007, where they will be able to log into the game for a first look at Eye of the North. Players will be able to explore the Far Shiverpeaks region of the world, home of the barbaric Norn. Everything players obtain during the Sneak Peek Weekend, including items, XP, Heroes, and loot, will be permanent and available when the expansion goes live.

The Guild Wars: Eye of the North prerelease bonus pack also comes with exclusive weapons, including the Glacial Blade, the Hourglass Staff, and the Darksteel Longbow. These new weapons are based on the winning designs from the Guild Wars Design-a-Weapon Contest held earlier this year. In addition, the prerelease bonus pack includes a Guild Wars Trilogy Trial DVD that provides access to all three of the Guild Wars campaigns for a special trial promotion lasting 10 hours or 14 days, whichever comes first*.

"We believe this feature-packed prerelease delivers real value to our players," said Mike O'Brien, co-founder of ArenaNet. "From past experience, we expect the Sneak Peek Weekend alone to be hugely popular, and players won't want to miss this chance to get a leg-up before the game goes live."

Eye of the North Dated, Priced

Mike Fahey — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 09:20:27 MDT

Awhile back Crecente detailed the first Guild Wars expansion, Eye of the North, which features the whole new continent of Tyria, brimming with new quests, 18 large dungeons, 150 news skills...more just about everything that's kept Guild Wars players coming back long after I gave up the game. While the expansion was originally slated for a holiday release, it looks like the holidays are starting early this year. The expansion that looks to connect Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 together is now set to hit stores across the US and Europe on August 31st.

"Guild Wars has one of the most committed and loyal player bases I've ever seen, and Guild Wars: Eye of the North is our way of delivering prized content to veteran players and creating a link to the future of Guild Wars," said Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet.

The expansion will carry a price tag of $39.99, and if history is any indicator you can be sure that NCsoft will have a pretty damn spiffy collectors edition on the shelves as well, so I can get yet another art book I never look at and maybe another new headset. Woot!.

Guild Wars: Eye of the North Readies For August 31 Release

NCsoft and ArenaNet set $39.99 price for first ever expansion of Guild Wars franchise

Bellevue, WA., July 2, 2007—NCsoft® and ArenaNet® announced that Guild Wars: Eye of the NorthTM, the first ever expansion to the subscription-free Guild Wars® franchise of fantasy online role-playing games, will be released to the public on August 31, 2007. The Guild Wars: Eye of the North expansion will be available for an expected price of $39.99 in North America and €34.99 in Europe, as well as through the NCsoft store at PlayNC.com and in the Guild Wars in-game store.

Guild Wars: Eye of the North will continue the no subscription fee model pioneered by ArenaNet, and will provide new content accessible to players who own both the expansion and any one of the three previously released Guild Wars campaigns (Guild Wars, FactionsTM, or NightfallTM).

The Guild Wars franchise has sold more than 3.5 million units since the release of the original Guild Wars campaign, in 2005, making it one of the most popular online role-playing games of all time.

Guild Wars: Eye of the North follows up on events told in the original Guild Wars campaign, and is set in previously unexplored areas of the continent of Tyria. The expansion contains a host of new features that will appeal directly to veteran Guild Wars players, including 18 large, multi-level dungeons, 150 new skills across all ten Guild Wars professions, ten new Heroes, 40 new armor sets, and more items, weapons, and titles. Additionally, through the innovative Hall of Monuments, Guild Wars: Eye of the North creates a path for players to carry the legacy of their characters into the upcoming Guild Wars 2. The Hall of Monuments will allow players to preserve their accomplishments and titles from Guild Wars, Factions, and Nightfall, which can then be claimed in Guild Wars 2.

"Guild Wars has one of the most committed and loyal player bases I've ever seen, and Guild Wars: Eye of the North is our way of delivering prized content to veteran players and creating a link to the future of Guild Wars," said Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet.

For more information on the Guild Wars franchise, go to: www.GuildWars.com. The award-winning Guild Wars campaigns can be purchased from retailers or downloaded from the PlayNC store at https://secure.plaync.com/cgi-bin/Store.pl.

Clip: Guild Wars Machinima

Brian Crecente — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 19:00:26 MDT

While I love the animation, the main reason I'm posting this video is because the MMO by NCSoft has been coming up a lot lately among game designers and gamers.

Last week at GDC I spent a lot of time ranting about MMOs and how they seem stuck in the mud right now. What I suddenly came to realize is that Guild Wars is, I believe, the second largest MMO right now with 3.5 million users. The question is, is that because of the game, which was created by a bunch of former ex-Blizzard guys, the fact that there's no subscription fees or a combination of the two? Brian Crecente

Guild Wars Holiday Draws Massive Numbers

Mike Fahey — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 14:40:09 MST

NCSoft has announced that their annual Guild Wars holiday event, the Wintersday Festival, has been an overwhelming success this year, drawing players in record numbers. Countless players have spent their days questing for either gods Grenth or Dwayna, participating in snowball fights, delivering gifts to children or just enjoying all the amazingly cool loot the holidays always bring. Since the event began players have logged over 20 million hours of gameplay pursuing their own particular brand of holiday cheer. Who'd have though MMO players could spend so much time playing?

In the spirit of the holidays the festival is being extended for a week, now ending on January 11th in part to give Taiwanese players affected by the earthquake last week time to enjoy themselves. Sounds like a perfect time for lapsed players to stop by and check things out. Say, players who bought the collector's edition at launch, played for a month and then uninstalled the game because they were bored. *whistles innocently* Michael Fahey

Players Flock to Guild Wars in Record-Breaking Numbers and Rack Up 20 Million Hours of Gameplay

Extended Wintersday Festival a Smash Success!

January 8, 2007 (BELLEVUE, WA) — The annual Guild Wars Wintersday Festival kicked off on December 20, 2006, drawing new and existing players into the game in record-breaking numbers. Players racked up more than 20 million hours of gameplay during the Wintersday Festival alone as they participated in holiday-themed quests, festive events, competitive snowball fights and received unique Wintersday gifts. This year's Wintersday Festival was the fifth major holiday festival to be celebrated in Guild Wars, the hugely popular online roleplaying game developed by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft Corporation, the world's leading developer and publisher of online computer games.

In keeping with that spirit of giving, the festival has been extended for a week, now ending at noon PST (8 p.m. GMT) on January 11, 2007. This extension allows Taiwanese players affected by last week's earthquake and countrywide Internet outage a chance to revel in the festivities. In an additional show of holiday spirit and goodwill, Guild Wars players have offered to share their Wintersday gifts with those affected. Plans are currently underway for a massive in-game gift donation.

Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions , and Guild Wars Nightfall are online roleplaying games in which millions of players from around the globe explore a rich fantasy world, acquire skills, build personalized characters, and compete in fierce player-versus-player battles. The Guild Wars games have garnered numerous awards, including Billboard Magazine's DEMMX Award for 2006 Multiplayer Game of the Year, GameSpy's Best PC MMORPG of 2006, Play Magazine's 2005 PC Game of the Year, 1Up's 2006 Best Roleplaying Game, and IGN's 2005 Best PC Game, among others.

For more information, please contact Jenny Bendel at ArenaNet at 206.979.2202 or jenny@arena.net.

About ArenaNet
ArenaNet, located in Bellevue, Washington, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NCsoft Corporation. ArenaNet has built a state-of-the-art interactive game network and develops premier multiplayer online games for dedicated game players. ArenaNet's titles, Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, and Guild Wars Nightfall are global online roleplaying games that allow gamers to play with anyone, anytime, and anywhere in the world. More information about ArenaNet can be found at www.arena.net.

About NCsoft Corporation

NCsoft North America is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation. NCsoft, with its own development and publishing offices in Texas and California, also works with other NCsoft subsidiaries and third party developers throughout North America to develop and publish innovative online entertainment software products. The company has successfully launched multiple online titles in the last three years and continues to support its franchises, which include Lineage /Lineage II, City of Heroes /City of Villains , Guild Wars/Guild Wars Factions/Guild Wars Nightfall, and Auto Assault . More information about NCsoft can be found at www.plaync.com.

NCsoft, the interlocking NC logo, PlayNC, Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall, Nightfall, ArenaNet, Lineage, Auto Assault, and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCsoft Corporation. City of Heroes, City of Villains, and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cryptic Studios, Inc. and NCsoft Corporation. Cryptic Studios is a trademark of Cryptic Studios, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

—-—--

Beautiful Guild Wars: Factions Concept Art

kotaku.com — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 08:40:34 MDT

Over at ConceptArt.org, one of their posters has published a huge amount of really amazing Guild Wars: Factions concept art. Some of it is really just Cthulhu cool. Of course, the actual game looks nothing like this, but there's scarce a picture in the bunch that wouldn't make a great wallpaper. Florian Eckhardt

Guild Wars Factions - Concept Art [Conceptart.org]

Guild Wars: Nightfall Trailer

brownlee — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:40:47 MDT

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this cinematic trailer for the upcoming Guild Wars expansion pack, Nightfall is the windmill at the end, which looks the milliner architecture that might well have been forged in an alternate universe where Egypt conquered Holland. But some of Nightfall's new monsters, settings and classes are well on display here, if you're not as interested in Egypto-Dutch architecture. Florian Eckhardt

Guild Wars, IDDQD and a BFG

brownlee — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 10:40:48 MDT

A surprisingly well done mash-up of Doom and Guild Wars shows how the God features for the Dervish class will work. Needs more gibs and no two minutes video should ever require half its length to accommodate the end credits. Florian Eckhardt

Guild Wars Love

brownlee — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 07:40:40 MDT

Aw. This really does squeeze a single drop of the ichor of love out of my cold, black, dead heart. Okay, Zack's a dork, but his Guild Wars Valentine's Day message at least takes dork love to an unmatched extreme. Florian Eckhardt

Guild Wars vs WoW vs MC Hammer

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 29 May 2006 03:18:58 MDT

A fan-made music video sets out to settle if Guild Wars or World of Warcraft is better by editing in-game footage of characters in both games dancing. While the video doesn't really answer that debate, it raises a new question: Why isn't there more Hammertime in RPGs? Brian Ashcraft

Thanks, Evin

2 Legit 2 Quit [Wiki]

Latest Guild Wars Expansion Called Nightfall

brownlee — Tue, 23 May 2006 11:40:12 MDT

Hot newsflash only in today's Slow News Day Herald! The next Guild Wars expansion has a name and it is Nightfall. With a name like that, you'd think it'd be about vampires, but apparently it's about Tunisian habibs or something. As we explained before, 'the two new classes will be 'white robed woman wielding a wicked looking double bladed staff, and an unarmed bald monk-like man, possibly a bare-knuckle combat class.'"

There's still no release date, but you can probably extrapolate an end-of-year release from NCSoft's "an expansion every six months!" promise. - Florian Eckhardt

Next Guild Wars Titled 'Nightfall' [1UP]

Moroccan Peasants in Guild Wars Expansion!

brownlee — Mon, 15 May 2006 07:40:08 MDT

1UP managed to lube enough palm with greasy benjamins at E3 to get a sneak peek at the new, still-untitled Guild Wars expansion.

As opposed to the original game's Charlemagnesque setting and Factions' Asian motif, the new game is supposedly reminiscent of Morocco and Tunisia. Having been to both of those countries, we assume this means there will be a lot of NPCs hiking up their habibs to defecate in the gutter, only to come sprinting at your character to hit them up for spare change every time you zone.

In addition, the two new classes will apparently be "white robed woman wielding a wicked looking double bladed staff, and an unarmed bald monk-like man, possibly a bare-knuckle combat class." Like a monk, right?

No release date, no announcement, no title. Simply effluvium. However, the NCSoft guys claimed that they were going to try to release an expansion every six months or so, so maybe you can expect this as early as late this year.

Guild Wars Keeps Expanding [1UP]

E306: Next Guild Wars Expansion Coming

Jason Chen — Fri, 12 May 2006 17:15:43 MDT

Now that Guild Wars Factions has been out for a few weeks, NCSoft spills the beans to us about the next Guild Wars expansion. Apparently, they've just enacted a plan to pump out two expansions a year, with the next one coming around the Holiday Season.

The new game will be set in a North African environment, with appropriate new costume options and mobs to match. New classes should also be expected.

Instead of a single team working on a 6 month product cycle, which is ball-crunchingly difficult, they have two teams working on a 12 month product cycle. This means the Guild Wars: Factions team will be making the the next, next expansion.

Guild Wars to Charge for Alts

brownlee — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 08:40:42 MDT

It's interesting to see the Guild Wars business model start shaking out. As you know, NCSoft are planning to release about two Guild Wars expansions a year for the next year. But the latest word is that NCSoft is also going to start giving hardcore players the option of paying for more character slots.

Players who have used up all four character slots from the original and the two additional slots for the upcoming Factions will be able to purchase additional slots for alts at the price of of GBP 5.99, EUR 8.99 or USD 9.99, depending on which Mickey Mouse currency you use to stuff into belly dancer's g-strings.

We suspect that this will only really appeal to the hardcore, but we've begun to wonder if Guild Wars will start heading more and more in the direction of Korean MMOs as time goes on, where additional content like areas to explore or items to wear can all be purchased.

NCsoft to charge for extra Guild Wars character slots [Gamesindustry.biz]

Guild Wars to Get Two Expansion Packs a Year

Brian Crecente — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 13:00:50 MDT

Guild Wars, the subscription-free instance-based MMO, will be getting two expansions a year from now on, according to Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet. Each pack will be in development for a year and, I'm betting, will cost as much as a full game.
VGM Daily talked with Strain in their latest podcast. The cast also includes an interview with Eric Flannum, one of the designers of the next GW pack, Factions.

VGM Daily Podcast [VGM Fusion]

Guild Wars Hates "Sega"

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 11:22:54 MDT

The chat filter for NCsoft's hugely popular MMORPG Guild Wars does just that. It filters. Bad words are stricken from the record, giving gamers a clean environment to shoot the breeze. However, Kotaku reader Antipode points out obvious hypocrisies like the word "damn" is negged, even though one of the monsters is called "Damned Cleric." Other unfairness includes the censoring of "Sega." However, "Nintendo" makes it through as does "Sony" and "Microsoft." That's some funny filtering over there at Guild Wars.

Guild Wars [Official Site]

NCSoft's E3 Line-Up

Brian Crecente — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 06:00:34 MDT

The E3 06 details are rolling in, the latest comes from NCSoft. The MMO company will be showing off Tabula Rasa, Dungeon Runners, Aion and some Guild Wars stuff.

I'll be interested to see if Dungeon Runners feels as much as it looks like World of Warcraft. I'm hoping more for a Diablo take-off than a single player WoW.

Monday Morning MMORPG Contests!

brownlee — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:40:00 MDT

A couple of MMORPG contests doing the round today. Too cheap to buy a copy of Guild Wars or World of Warcraft? Why not put your trust in random chance in a godless universe instead?

First off, our lovely girlfriend Alice over in Wonderland is giving away four free copies of Guild Wars: Factions, which she calls "boxen." Like the boxen of Alice herself, the contest is only open to Europeans. All you have to do is go over and send her an email. The winner will be drawn randomly

Not one of Europe's god-like gaming Adonises? Still want a free MMORPG? Well, you're in luck: MMO Portals is giving away a year's subscription to World of Warcraft. Simply follow the link and join their forums.

Best of luck!

Guild Wars: Factions Weekend Preview Event

brownlee — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 09:40:30 MST

We hope you guys are ready for a weekend playing Guild Wars: Factions, because in about four hours anyone who has either played it in the past or can manage to beg an invite off of a buddy is going to be able to get a sneak peak of the expansion during this weekend's Factions event. Better yet, they're not sticking you with some weakling toon this time... you'll be able to jump right into the meat of the higher level content!

From the announcement:

For the Factions Preview Event, your newly-created characters will begin at Level 20.

You will start out with 20 skills and will then speak to an NPC to select a secondary profession.

Selecting a secondary profession will gain you an additional 20 skills.

Your guild must choose a faction Luxon or Kurzick.

You can play four higher-level missions two story missions and two competitive missions appropriate for your Level-20 characters.

You will be able to experience 15 quest areas.

If you already have a retail copy of Guild Wars, simply download the client. Cheap? Impoverished? Miserable torrent monkey? Well, we'd like to take this opportunity to extend this post's comment section for any simpering invite pleading that might need to be done. We're sure some Guild War aficionados can help you out.

Factions Preview Event [GuildWars.com]

Mesmerizing Elementalists Dance

Brian Crecente — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 09:00:59 MST

MMO Dancing has invaded Guild Wars. Someone put together a video of 16 female Elementalists dancing in sync in The Guild Hall of The Crusaders. Check out their Collector's Edition sparkle.

One Crazy Event—The Video

Yet Another Guild Wars in the Works

lsmith — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 10:40:31 MST

Eurogamer reports that a third campaign is in development for Guild Wars and will likely see release sometime in 2006. Guild Wars Factions isn't due to ship until the end of April, but ArenaNet's Jeff Strain told Eurogamer that the third campaign had been in development since last November. Pre-summer release for Factions and a pre-holiday release for the third campaign? Sounds good.

Guild Wars 3 Already in Dev [Eurogamer]

Guild Wars: Factions Announced

lsmith — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 14:40:35 MST

Over at the official site, NCSoft and ArenaNet slung some PR on the upcoming Guild Wars: Factions setting. The heavily PvP MMO will receive a new continent to quest and PvP on, in addition to two new professions (Assassin and Ritualist) as well as a new observer mode so that the carebears can watch the PvP as it happens.

The most innovative part of all of this, however, isn't the changes NCSoft is making to the game, but instead that they are giving existing players and anyone who wants to try it out a chance to demo the Factions gameplay during the Jan. 20-22 weekend.

NCsoft, ArenaNet Announce Guild Wars: Factions [Guild Wars]

Design A Weapon For Guild Wars

ataylor — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 08:59:25 MST

How's about this for a shiny contest: NCSoft is offering the chance for your weapon design to be immortalized in the coming-soon second chapter of Guild Wars.

Fear not, they're not asking for 3D models — just sketches, drawings, pen-and-ink, hell, back of an envelope if you like.

The next release of Guild Wars will feature new weapon types, but for now you should design around the traditional Guild Wars items:
* Axe
* Bow
* Focus Item
* Hammer
* One-handed Sword
* Shield
* Staff
* Wand

Guild Wars Design-a-Weapon Contest [NCSoft]

Halloween Guild Wars Style

Brian Crecente — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 08:00:04 MST

It looks like Halloween was a blast on Guild Wars. The pumpkin-headed Mad King made an appearance giving random people pumpkins for heads and killing those that refused to dance at his big party.

Mad King [Cathode Tan]

Haunted Guild Wars

Brian Crecente — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 00:38:44 MST

Halloween has hit Guild Wars. Cathode Tan reports that merchants in the massively multiplayer RPG have been transformed, ghastly things are sprouting from the ground and heralds for someone called the Mad King are roaming the land. You can also now buy witches brew and absinthe. Nothing like a little Wormwood to lighten the day, just ask Ashcraft.

A Guild Wars Halloween [Cathode Tan]

Win an X-Arcade Joystick and Guild Wars Collector's Edition

Brian Crecente — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:00:00 MDT

Wow, the costume contest is really heating up. I was happy to see that we're getting a ton of costume entries from both men and women. It's nice to know that we have such a mixed readership.

After much head-scratching and schwag-digging, I've landed on what I want to give away for first place.

The person with the top costume is going to land themselves an X-Arcade joystick complete with hook-ups for use on the Xbox, Gamecube, PC and Playstation 2. So if you game at all, you're going to be able to use this super sweet stick. (Check out my review here.) But then I started thinking how I've been going on and on about the first-place prize and making you guys wait. As nice as the X-Arcade is, it's not really the super sweet prize I think some of you have been expecting, so to bump things up a notch I'm also going to throw in a copy of NCSoft's Guild Wars for first place. And this isn't a normal copy, no this will be the Collector's Edition with that sweet ass art book, a soundtrack and your very own divine aura(for your character that is.)

So hop to it and start sending in those pictures. I want to see some staggering entries. Check out the link below for the official rules and prize break down.

Show Us Your Best Costume [Kotaku]

Guild Wars Gets Major Changes

Brian Crecente — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 05:36:57 MDT

The popularity of the recent Guild Wars player versus player Extreme Weekend spurred ArenaNet to make some major changes to the massively multiplayer online role playing game. Some of the changes include a boosted Faction rewards system and an increase in the number of rare and uncommon loot drops. Here's the full release:

After the tremendous success of the Guild Wars PvP Extreme Weekend (PvPX), ArenaNet is making some significant changes to the game. Foremost among them the boosted Faction rewards system will become a permanent part of the game! This decision was made easy by the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received in response to PvPX. During this three-day event, players earned extra Faction points-5 times the Faction awards for wins in high-level arenas and tournament play, and 2.5 times the Faction awards for wins in guild-versus-guild play. Those who enjoy cooperative play will find a number of exciting updates and changes as well, including, an increase in rare and uncommon loot drops, the ability to gain more skill points at a faster rate, and new items that increase XP accumulation.

Wait, if you make it easier to get rare and uncommon items, does that mean they aren't rare and uncommon anymore?

Buy Game Swag While Donating to Katrina's Victims

Brian Crecente — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 05:25:02 MDT

OK, this is it, we re down to the last few hours of the Kotaku GameSwag fundraiser for victims of Katrina. If nothing else, you should go check out the list of unbuyables that I ve put together for the auction. There s some pretty interesting bits of gameswag in the collection. Last I checked, the bid was up to $333. You have until about 11 a.m. Eastern Time to bit in a final bid. I m leaving the country on Thursday, so I ll make sure to ship it out to you ASAP.
Good lucks and thanks to everyone who has spread the word or bid.

Kotaku s GameSwag Katrina Fundraiser [Kotaku]