The original Killzone was release on the PlayStation 2 on November 26th, 2004. It wasn't all that great, but it did lay the foundation for Killzone 2 on the PlayStation 3, which was pretty great, so we'll let Guerrilla have its little celebration. It works out well for us anyway, what with a double XP weekend in Killzone 2 running the 27th through the 30th, and reduced prices on Killzone 2 DLC until December 10th. There's even a Killzone 2 retro tournament this weekend, using only the Beach Head and Southern Hills map from the second map pack.

Those of you who earnestly want to celebrate the original game can head over to Killzone.com, where this week there'll be a complete play through of the original game later this week, followed by a detailed comparison of the two titles next week.

Happy birthday, Killzone! We will celebrate this Thursday by eating until we pass out.

Killzone is (almost) Five! – Celebrate with a Double XP Weekend and More [PlayStation Blog]

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since the world of Dereth first opened up to the masses, unless you look at screenshots, in which case it's extremely believable. When launched it completely failed to steal away huge numbers of players from Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest, which released earlier that year. I played a little bit of AC when the game first launched, though real life saved me from getting too hooked, and I soon moved on to other things. The game is still soldiering on, with the most recent live event introducing a new crafting profession to the game in Gearcraft, which is a fancy way of saying engineering.

In celebration of today's anniversary, Turbine will be holding live events in the game all day long, which I would imagine should draw in record numbers of new and returning players. Granted record numbers isn't that much for AC at this point, but hell, the game outlasted its own sequel by four years, so you have to give respect where it's due.

In order for the Dreamcast to have been successful, many of the decisions Sega made leading up to the console would have to have been different. We're not going to go back that far. Instead, let's imagine what could have happened following the Dreamcast's U.S. launch on September 9th, 1999, to keep the noisy white console on top of its game.

September 9th, 1999: Sega launches the Dreamcast in North America, selling a record number of units thanks to the low-entry price and hot launch titles like Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, Power Stone, and Hydro Thunder. This actually happened, but we'll get to daydreaming soon enough.

Early 2000: Sega rolls out a massive update to its SegaNet online gaming service, integrating matchmaking, friends lists, and instant messaging, along with a framework that makes it easy for 3rd party companies to get their titles up and running online. EA changes its plans to support the console, delivering a wide variety of action and sports titles, at least until 2K signs an exclusive license with the NFL. Yes, now we are dreaming.

October 26th, 2000: Sony introduces the PlayStation 2 to North America. The ridiculously low number of units available at launch encounter a problem with the North American firmware, causing them to explode when placed in close proximity to cute kittens and adorable babies. Sony still sells huge numbers, but third parties slowly begin to abandon the console, not wanting to be associated with exploding infants.

Yes, this step is completely necessary. The key to this little fantasy is more third-party support, along with an event so catastrophic that it could shake the strong foundation of fans that Sony had built up with the original PlayStation. I don't like to imagine cute things exploding any more than you people do, but it would have to be something pretty extreme.

January 31st, 2001: Sega announces they'll be ramping up Dreamcast production in order to meet the rising demand, thanks in part to the last minute, baby fire-inspired move from one Japanese company...

July 19th, 2001: Squaresoft releases Final Fantasy X exclusively on the Dreamcast in Japan. Fans are grateful that the console's loud fan drowns out Tidus' dialog. A huge spike in Dreamcast sales ensues.

November 15th, 2001: Microsoft releases the Xbox. Aside from Halo, the most popular games on the system are ports of Dreamcast titles.

November 18th, 2001: Nintendo releases the Gamecube in North America. Dreamcast fans laugh at its tiny proprietary discs, preferring their larger proprietary discs. Lack of third-party support eventually leads to Nintendo leaving the console business, concentrating on making Mario and Zelda games for the Dreamcast, Xbox, and PlayStation 2.5 (now with less baby 'sploding).

From there, things could pretty much move in the expected direction. Fans would eventually get Panzer Dragoon Saga 2, perhaps with the release of the Dreamcast 2 sometime in the middle of 2005 or 2006. Of course they wouldn't call it the Dreamcast 2, as Sega was never big on adding numbers to their consoles. Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast....hell, we'll call it the Sega Revolution. Why not?

Whatever you call it, we'd still have a sleek new Sega system in our entertainment centers today, and Nintendo fans would be desperately wishing for the Gamecube 2.

Oh, and 3D Sonic the Hedgehog games would still suck. There's only so many problems you can solve by tearing a gaping hole in reality.

While other massively multiplayer online games have drawn huge numbers and then struggled to retain them, CCP's EVE Online has spent the past six years growing. So far 2009 has been very good to the game, with the concurrent user record being broken three separate times so far, with a standing record of 53,850 online at one time in one universe. The launch of the latest expansion, Apocrypha, has drawn even more players to the game, with active subscribers passing the 300K mark in the past week. Having started off the year with approximately 244,000, that's a 22% growth - for a six year-old game.

Along with the announcement, CCP sent along this picture of the celebration cake they enjoyed at their North American headquarters in Atlanta. I'd congratulate them, but they know I live in Atlanta and neglected to invite me over for gamecake, a transgression I'm afraid I can never forgive. Check out their full announcement below, while I curl up on the couch with a Little Debbie Swiss cake roll and cry.

Happy Birthday EVE Online!

EVE Online celebrates its 6th year of existence today—May 6th. That's six strong years of continuous growth thanks to tireless integration of user feedback into game design and pushing to release around two major free expansions per year. Our single-shard world, where everyone plays on the same shared server, has seen tremendous benefit from having each player able to interact and affect each other player in a persistent manner. From massive fleet battles to individual bonds of trust, every pilot in EVE has the potential to rock the ship of hundreds of thousands of others by their actions.

At one population milestone we saw agreements form between alliances. At another we were able to fully turn over the economy to the players. As the population of New Eden has grown, so have the instances of emergent behaviors of its pilots. A 6 year persistant history. A living history where truly brilliant strategies have unfolded. Truly terrible betrayals unveiled. We are excited to see what will happen next.

This year has been very successful for EVE Online, thanks in large part to our latest free expansion EVE Online: Apocrypha and a return to retail. We started out the year with around 244,000 subscribers and in five short months we've had a 22% growth in subscribers. In the past couple days we surpassed the impressive milestone of 300,000 active subscribers. That doesn't include trial accounts. We've broken our peak concurrent user record 3 times this year alone, standing now at an impressive 53,850 in the same universe. That is exponential growth. We couldn't think of a better birthday present than having more people playing EVE Online than ever before. It is another sweet reminder of EVE's boundless potential.

As always, we encourage you to bring your friends, family and even enemies to New Eden by visiting www.eveonline.com and downloading a free trial or by heading to your local retailer and purchasing a copy of EVE Online, which includes 60 days of game time.

For those of you online right now, you actually have to log off, then login again to receive the award. Consult your instruction manual for directions on how to actually log off.

The celebration continues into the week, with a contest to see which guild can build New York City landmarks the fastest and a charity event called "Food for Friends", in which guilds will produce food items in-game, with the total amount created translated into cash donations made by Sanrio Digital to UNICEF and the Asian Youth Orchestra.

Man, I didn't realize she was 34. I feel much better about sleeping with my Hello Kitty pillow now that I know she's completely legal.

Hello Kitty’s birthday to be held in MMORPG Celebrations, events, charity in Hello Kitty Online begin November 1st, 2008

Hong Kong – October 31, 2008: Hello Kitty turns 34 on November 1, 2008. To celebrate the occasion, Sanrio Digital (www.sanriodigital.com) today announced a birthday party for Hello Kitty that will be held inside Hello Kitty Online (www.hellokittyonline.com), the eagerly anticipated MMORPG. The celebration begins on Saturday November 1st, and will include a birthday party lasting through the week-end, a week-long series of in-game quests and events, and a charity event that lets players convert effort they spend inside the game into real cash donations to charity.

Hello Kitty Online is a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game) based on the popular Sanrio characters. The game transports players into the cute and cuddly world of Sanrio Land and is fully integrated with official Sanrio portal SanrioTown.com, which utilizes blogs, email, video sharing, games and more to create a digital and social experience accessible at any time, even in-game. The game is currently in Founders’ Beta phase. The present version of Hello Kitty Online will shut down on November 8, 2008, to allow the development team to continue work on the game and prepare for Open Beta. Current players, however, will retain their characters and certain benefits in future versions of the game.

There are a range of exciting events and activities planned for Hello Kitty’s birthday and the final week of the Founders’ Beta.

1) Hello Kitty’s Birthday Party - November 1-2 Hello Kitty, real name Kitty White, was introduced to the world on November 1, 1974, and was the creation of a young artist named Yuko Shimizu. Today Hello Kitty is one of the most-loved and recognized images in the world, and was awarded the exclusive title of Special Friend of Children by UNICEF. To celebrate her birthday, Hello Kitty will make special appearances in Hello Kitty Online on November 1st and 2nd. In addition, players can expect special mini-events and even gifts to celebrate this special day.

2) Guild Competition: Build New York - November 1-6 It's time to build New York! The guilds of Hello Kitty Online will be competing in a race to build two of New York City's most famous landmarks: The Statue of Liberty and The Empire State Building. Representatives of the participating guilds will be called to trade in their Empire Keys and Liberty Keys for special Empire State and Liberty land certificates. The first guilds to complete building these landmarks will receive formal recognition in the new zone and will be awarded special items in the next version of the game.

3) “Food for Friends” Charity Event – November 1-6 Remembering children who are less fortunate, Hello Kitty Online will host an in-game guild contest called “Food for Friends”, in which the efforts of guilds will be translated into donations to charity. Guilds interested in participating will produce raw materials on their farms and craft them into specific food items. Guilds will submit prepared food items to a Game Master. The guilds with the highest contributions will be declared winners. The winning guilds will receive a permanent page on www.hellokittyonline.com, special guild privileges for open beta, and a small feature on their guild including an interview with the guild representative(s) to be posted on official blog and press releases. Based on the total prepared food donated by all guilds, Sanrio Digital will then make cash donations to UNICEF (www.unicef.org) and the Asian Youth Orchestra (www.asianyouthorchestra.com).

Please refer to http://www.hellokittyonline.com/us/index.php?c=misc&s=foodForFriends for information on the “Food For Friends” event.

I didn't get my Sega Genesis until 1994, picking it up at a MediaPlay in Roswell, Georgia, mainly because it was bundled with the excellent game based on Disney's The Lion King. That system is still very much alive to this day, holding a special place in my heart as the first game console I purchased for myself as an "adult", sparking the realization that I could spend a massive percentage of my income on video games and still afford cheap frozen food, a practice I continue to this very day. Thanks a lot, Sega Genesis, and happy birthday!

Things kick off June 23rd with a keynote speech from Linden Founder and Chairman Philip Rosedale and newly appointed CEO Mark Kingdon, both of whom better have some pretty kick-ass avatars. If they don't have at least jet packs and glowing eyes I'm laughing them off the stage. Cue my character's temporary ban in 3...2...1.

Hit the jump for details on some of the milestones that SL will be celebrating, or visit the official site for a schedule of events.

Linden Lab Celebrates Second Life’s 5th Birthday With a Virtual World Fair

Keynote Addresses by New CEO Mark Kingdon, Founder Philip Rosedale and Board Member Mitch Kapor Highlight Two-Week Long Celebration

SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Linden Lab®, creator of 3D virtual world Second Life® (www.secondlife.com), has announced that it will hold a two-week long Virtual World Fair to celebrate the 5th birthday of the Second Life community. The virtual fairgrounds, created in tandem by Linden Lab and Second Life Residents, will host a series of roundtable discussions, parties and exhibits that showcase the vast creativity of Residents as well as groundbreaking organizational uses of the Second Life platform. The event will be held in various regions in Second Life and will take place from June 23 – July 7, 2008.

Open to Second Life Residents, Linden Lab employees and industry thought leaders, the event will explore such topics as the evolution of Second Life’s culture, the role of virtual worlds in business and the opportunities the platform offers for education, art, philanthropy and health care, among others. Founder and former Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale and newly appointed CEO Mark Kingdon will each give an opening address and Linden Lab board member Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corporation, will offer closing remarks.

Some highlights of the first five years that will be discussed and celebrated include:

2003

June 23, 2003 – The highly anticipated Second Life virtual world comes out of beta and launches to the public

November 14, 2003 – At the State of Play Conference, Founder Philip Rosedale announces that Linden Lab will allow Residents to retain all IP rights to the content they create in-world, a groundbreaking move that while initially questioned by industry leaders, epitomizes Linden Lab’s approach and philosophy and has greatly helped establish its leadership position

2004

June 15, 2004 – Linden adds a Custom Animation scripting engine to Second Life, enabling Residents to more fully develop and personalize their avatars by adding distinctive moods and movements

August 15, 2004 – Second Life surpasses 10,000 Residents – to celebrate the milestone Philip takes the entire office to a Giants game; by the time the game ended, residency had jumped to 13,000

2005

April 25, 2005 – Having outgrown its office, Linden Lab moves to a much larger office on Sansome Street in San Francisco. A short time later, Linden would move again to its current location at 945 Battery Street

October 3, 2005 – Linden launches the “LindeX” – its own hosted currency exchange - L$400,000 is traded on the first day of business

2006

January 5, 2006 - Second Life surpasses 100,000 registered Residents

May 1, 2006 – BusinessWeek cover story “Virtual Life, Real Money” further validates Second Life as a revenue-generating vehicle for individual entrepreneurs and businesses

September 15, 2006 – Second Life surpasses 1,000,000 registered Residents

2007

January 8, 2007 - Linden Lab announces that it will release the code to its viewer software – further opening the world and enabling Residents to have more control over their experiences. An audacious and unusual move for a company in a leadership position but indicative of the company’s approach and ethos and a key step towards Linden’s vision of a pervasive 3D online environment

March 26, 2007 – Second Life surpasses 5,000,000 registered Residents

September, 2007 – In the month of September, Second Life surpasses: a) 10,000,000 registered Residents b) 25,000,000 total monthly usage hours and c) 50,000 concurrent users logged in at one time

2008

April 3, 2008 – Linden Lab announces that IBM will host regions of the Second Life Grid behind IBM’s firewall, combining the operational scale and security of IBM’s BladeCenter with Second Life’s dynamic content creation tools and vibrant user community. Combing these solutions together has the potential to make custom-created, security rich virtual environments a viable option for enterprises

April 22, 2008 – Philip steps down as CEO of Linden Lab, assumes the position of Chairman of the Board and names Organic’s Mark Kingdon as his successor; Mark officially began his tenure on May 15, 2008

“It’s amazing to look back and reflect on everything that we’ve accomplished in such a short time. From our initial launch, to the decision to allow Residents to retain their IP, to opening up the Platform to third parties, most of the decisions we’ve made have gone against the grain of conventional wisdom and that’s made all the difference,” said Philip Rosedale, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Linden Lab. “While we’ve come a long way in our first five years and have surmounted significant challenges, there’s still plenty of work left as we continue to advance the medium. With Mark’s leadership and the passion and creativity of our Residents we are extremely excited about what the future holds and the evolving role that Second Life will play in business, arts, education and communication in general.”

If you squint and suddenly gain the ability to read Japanese you'll notice the in the bottom right hand of the image they list the Clock Tower movie for a 2009 release and the Onimusha movie for 2011, joining Street Fighter: the Legend of Chun-Li as part of some freaky Capcom movie triple-play.

Either way, Happy Birthday, Capcom! Meet you back here in another 25 for the release of Street Fighter VI!

Happy Birthday to Us! [Capcom Community Blog]

EA Celebrates 10 Years Of Ultima Online

A Decade of Groundbreaking MMO Gaming Celebrated with In-Game Activities, Special Items and "Return to Britannia" Campaign for Past Players

Redwood City, CA, September 25, 2007 - Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), the world's leading interactive entertainment company, today celebrated the 10th anniversary of the classic massively-multiplayer online game (MMO), Ultima OnlineTM. Launched on September 25, 1997, Ultima Online broke new ground in the multiplayer game space and ushered in the modern MMO era. Anniversary celebrations include special in-game activities and rewards, plus a new amnesty program that invites former players back to experience the major game update, Ultima Online Kingdom Reborn, for free.

"Ultima Online has thrived for 10 years and achieved the status of an MMO classic, thanks in large part to the devoted player community," said Mark Jacobs, VP and general manager, EA Mythic. "We are very excited to celebrate this special anniversary with players."

In celebration of the 10th anniversary, EA is kicking off the "Return to Brittania" campaign, an amnesty program that welcomes former players to discover the gameplay and graphics upgrades implemented in Kingdom Reborn. Past subscribers in good standing will be able to play for free through October 9, 2007 by visiting www.uo.com/kingdomreborn/gamefiles, downloading Ultima Online Kingdom Reborn and logging in using their former account name and password.

During the in-game 10th anniversary celebration, players will be able to take part in a monster hunt with special prizes including an ankh pendant necklace, map of Brittania, Ultima Online commemorative sculpture and virtue armor set. Additionally, all players will receive 10 décor tokens and a wand of fireworks in their characters' inventory.

This weekend, City of Heroes, the comic book super hero based MMO celebrated three years of saving the earth from certain destruction. The thriving community boasts over twenty four million user created characters with more than half of those reaching the game's top tier of Level 50.

Sure, the numbers aren't as impressive as something like World of Warcraft, but you have to give them credit for being around so long and creating a fun user experience even if it does get a bit repetitive. At least they don't have to resort to giving points for demolishing abandoned buildings like some MMO's we know of.

Yes, Star Wars Galaxies, we're looking at you. Flynn De Marco

Wow, I can't believe it's only been a year (or so) since I first stumbled upon Destructoid and wrote a brief love note to their big, boxy mascot.

Oh Destructoid, you're so funny you make our sides hurt. What with your big metal grin, recently upgraded Lampoon 5000 chip and twin death rays, you're destined to spend a robotic lifetime cracking us up.

It was March 30, a mere two weeks after the site had gone live and my attentions were much appreciated.

In the twelve months since then we've asked Niero to justify his robot head, been briefly assimilated by the Destructoid collective, had some of my anatomy appear in their masthead and, by far the best bit, watch a new site blossom into a powerhouse of gaming news and opinion under the guiding hands of Niero and Robert Summa.

Congratulations guys and have fun at your party tonight. Sorry I can't make it, but hopefully some of our readers will show up to see if projectile vomit can clear the mouth grid. Enjoy the stretch hummer, you earned it. Brian Crecente

Destructoid Turns One [Destructoid]