The woman, Cat, is the 25-year-old girlfriend of Mythic's Mike "Daarken" Lim, who has along with Dreamworks' Leif Jeffers organized an art auction supported by contributed works. Cat, who also works for Mythic, has already undergone a bilateral mastectomy and 16 weeks of chemotherapy, which are difficult treatments, to say nothing of their expense.

Lim and Jeffers recruited submissions from folks at Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Rockstar, ArenaNet, Big Fish Games, Red 5 Studios, Offset, Zynga, Massive Black, Disney Interactive and BioWare (and, of course, Lim's own Mythic.) Contributors also come from Hollywood's Pixar, Disney, Blur, Blue Sky Studios and, of course, Jeffers' own Dreamworks Animation. With a roster of more than 200 contributors finalized yesterday, they've already received 14 works (one, by Jeff Miracola, a freelance artist who has worked for EA, is above.)

Lim and Jeffers are looking to host the auction in February, either in San Francisco or New York depending on the availability of a good space. Meantime, they're considering releasing an art book, plus other smaller items that people may have for contributions smaller than buying original artwork. There are plans to coordinate live bidding with online bidding, Lim said.

The theme of the submissions is called "Beautiful Grim," a concept they've left up to the artists' interpretation. "So far, people have been sticking to their own industry," Lim told me when I asked if any works so far have been video game-inspired, or themed. "There should be a wide variety of entries, it will be interesting seeing all the different styles and genres of art."

For a full list of participating artists and much more information, see the link below.

Beautiful Grim [site]

In a soothing letter to the community, Jeff Hickman, executive producer at Mythic, says that despite the turmoil at EA, Mythic will "remain committed to providing you with the best possible gaming experiences and customer support both now and in the future."

"At Mythic, we remain committed to our games and the passionate people who play them – we're going to continue to deliver the content and service that keeps you playing," Hickman writes. "We want to assure our community that we will maintain the same high level of customer support you've come to expect and continue to improve our games with an exciting schedule of patches, live events and new content."

With cuts at Mythic rumored to be deep, we genuinely hope that the developer is supported by its publisher to remain committed to the fanbase of all three titles. And that the bleeding stops soon, lest everyone be forced to play Pet Society.

Jeff Hickman - Executive Producer's Letter [Warhammer Herald via Joystiq]

Interestingly enough, this announcement comes on the same day as a Rueters article reporting a new crackdown on "undesirable" online games in mainland China. According to that article, the number of MMO players in the country jumped to 40.17 million last year — a 23 percent increase.

Warhammer Online launched last September to pretty favorable reception and currently has something like 300,000 subscribers according to an EA Q4 earnings conference call. The CIA World Factbook tells me that Taiwan alone has 22.9 million people... let's see if there's an inverse relationship between the number of Taiwanese Age of Reckoning subscribers and the number of Internet Cafes in mainland China that the state shuts down.

China crackdowns on 'undesirable' games [Rueters via GamePolitics]

As expected from our tiny, bearded friends, Keg End is all about beer, beer, and more beer. Players can hunt for the legendary Golden Stein to receive it's blessing, defeat special snotlings and ogres to gain explosive brews, or fluster their enemies with the new /boast emote, with rewards to be gained for doing it just right. There are special items to be won as well, such as a new title (The Drunkard), a special stein trophy, or an Elite reward called The Last Keg, which returns the owner to the city pub - Dwarven ingenuity at its finest. Players should also keep an eye out for The Battlebrew Backpack, a rare world drop (pictured) that makes for a very convenient way to completely destroy your liver.

Festivities run from December 17th to January 5th. Try not to get to drunk to remember.

WAR Live Event: Keg End [Warhammer Herald]

I hate gold sellers/spammers. No, that’s not strong enough, let me try again. I HATE GOLD SELLERS WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING. Ah, that’s better. Now, why do I hate them you may ask? I hate them for a number of reasons, most of which have been detailed in various interviews I’ve done over the years. And now that they have taken their obnoxiousness to new levels with gold service spamming, I HATE GOLD SPAMMERS EVEN MORE NOW THAN EVER BEFORE.

Remember: Mark Jacobs does not like gold farmers. So what are he and his crew doing about them?

Since WAR launched we have been banning these jerks like crazy. As of Saturday Night, we had banned about 400 of them. My CSRs have a zero tolerance policy. We don’t wait and let them stay in the game and ban them en-masse, my guys ban their useless, time-consuming butts right away. We have a strike team whose sole job it is to get these guys off our servers as quickly as possible.

Zero tolerance, strike teams...these guys aren't banning because it's their job, they're banning because they love it.

A banning we will go, a banning we will go. Heave ho off the servers yo, a banning we will go! [OGAANM, via Gamasutra]

Some of you might say this is paying extra for an advantage over other players, which is not true. This is paying extra for a box of cool stuff *and* an advantage over other players. Silly.

Mythic Entertainment Announces Head Start Program Dates for Warhammer Online

Get ready for the worldwide WAAAGH! Mythic Entertainment announced today that North American players who have pre-ordered Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) will be able to get the jump on creating their characters and exploring the world when the game’s “Head Start” program begins on September 14th.

The “Head Start” program offers players early access to the game and a chance to join the Realm War before the servers officially go live on September 18th. Players that have pre-ordered the standard edition of the game will be granted “Head Start” access on Tuesday, September 16th at 7am EDT. The lucky fans who pre-ordered the Collector’s Edition will be able to log in even earlier and begin play on Sunday, September 14th at 7am EDT.

Whether players choose to join the fight as an incendiary Bright Wizard or a shadowy Witch Elf, the characters they create during the “Head Start” program will carry over their skills, abilities, weapons and career rank into the game when the servers officially open to the general public on the Day of Reckoning – September 18th.

Based on Games Workshop's epic tabletop fantasy war game, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning features revolutionary Realm vs. Realm game play that will immerse players in a world of perpetual conflict for years to come. Available for PC, WAR is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB.

So how exactly does a gold seller wind up with 50 beta keys for an MMO from Mythic Entertainment, a company that has gone after such enterprises legally in the past and won? I'm going to go ahead an assume they used bots.

EA and Mythic Entertainment Announce That Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Has Gone Gold
Award-Winning Fantasy MMORPG Marches Toward Sept. 18th Launch

FAIRFAX, Va.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—GET READY FOR THE WORLDWIDE WAAAGH! Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) and Mythic Entertainment today announced that the highly-anticipated MMORPG, Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ (WAR), has gone gold and will open its servers on September 18, 2008 at an MSRP of $49.99 in North America.

“We’ve done our best to create the next great MMORPG experience, but it’s the fans that will bring our world to life,” said Mark Jacobs, vice president at EA and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. “The Day of Reckoning approaches and it’s going to be glorious! It’s time to go to WAR.”

Based on the popular tabletop game from Games Workshop, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is an epic fantasy MMORPG featuring innovative Realm vs. Realm™ game play that pits the forces of Order and Destruction against one another on the battlefield to determine the fate of nations.

Awarded “Best Online Game” at the recent Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, “Best PC Game” of E3 by G4’s X-Play and “Best MMO” of E3 by IGN, WAR has been well-received by critics and by the gaming community as an accessible and engaging MMO title. Tens of thousands of players have already joined the battle in the closed beta, and soon the time will be at hand for players the world over to pledge their allegiance to the armies of WAR.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is scheduled to launch simultaneously in North America, Europe, and Oceania on September 18, 2008. Available for PC, WAR is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. For more information, visit http://www.warhammeronline.com/.

Swagvault Warhammer Online Beta Access Key Give-Away Event

Great news for fans of Warhammer Online: SwagVault.com is giving away Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning Beta Access Keys. The event will be held from now till September 5, 2008

It’s very easy to join! Players only need to send an E-mail to Guildsales[at]swagvault.com, and 50 winners by randomly draw amongst all applications.

In addition, during this event, customers whose Order ID contains the number sequences 8907 (Electronic Arts has announced that the open beta date is September 7, 2008), SwagVault will E-mail one Age of Reckoning Beta Access key code to him/her upon receiving his/her application. Therefore, please provide the Order ID in your E-mail.
Winners will be announced on Sep. 5, and Age of Reckoning Beta Access Key Codes will be sent via E-mail instantly.

Please visit http://www.swagvault.com/news.php?news_id=352 for more details.

Grasp the great opportunity to experience the venturesome and exciting journey in Warhammer game now!

“Of all of the news in this interview, this is the worst. Having to cut these guys out, even though it’s the right decision, I am really sorry that we have to do it. I truly am. I don’t like going to the guys and telling them ‘hey sorry, we’ve got to cut these guys out. They’re just not good enough but that was what we had to do.”

Yikes. Racial cities at launch will now be Altdorf (Empire) and Inevitable City (Chaos), with the Greenskins, Dwarves, and Elves homeless until later on down the line. Note that these are not starting areas, but bases that figure into RVR combat later in the game.

It really is shocking to see such large chunks of content cut out so close to the game's release, but I suppose it's better than just including a bunch of crap you weren't satisfied with and hoping to polish it off after the game went live. At least Jacobs didn't beat around the bush or try to sugarcoat things.

“We’ve always believed that it is important to go to the community with both good news and bad,” he said. “Whether it’s the state of the games, or just talking in the forums, we’re professional enough to confront bad news head on and not try to hide it and not try to play games and wait until the last minute when people have already bought the game to tell them. We will not play those kinds of games.”

Ever since that one summer where I did nothing but play Dark Age of Camelot all day long (Go Avalon!), Mythic Entertainment has struck me as one of the most community-centric MMO companies in the industry. Sure, this is a heaping helping of bad news, but all is not lost, right?

Jacobs Interview Part Two - Punkbuster, Capitol Cities and Careers, Page Two [MMORPG.com - Thanks Helen!]

Gaming giant Electronic Arts has gobbled up Mythic Entertainment in one bite, acquiring the Virginia-based developer. EA Prez. Paul Lee said:

The addition of Mythic to the EA family reflects our deep commitment to the online gaming market worldwide. Mythic will bring one of the industry's most talented MMORPG teams to EA. Together, we will create games that will introduce MMO players to a whole new level of game play and excitement.

Mythic is currently hard at work on Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. The PC game is scheduled to drop in 2007. What effect, if any, will this EA buy-out have? Brian Ashcraft

More Here [1Up]