... SimRomes stick around for a reason. As much as I loved the alien nature of the Egypt in Tilted Mill's Children of the Nile, Rome remains the most accessible ancient city. A century of movies and books have primed us for gladiators, togas, legions on the march...much moreso than, say, Sophoclean drama, chitons and peltasts.

Oh, sure, they're generally wildly historically inaccurate (what else is new?), but panem et circenses, people - who needs realistic class conflict, slavery, and rioting when you've got red-caped legions and chariot racing? The wisdom of Roman satirists still holds true today. Anyways, it's a fun look back at one popular theme if you're a closet (or not) classics geek, or just a fan of some of the titles.

A History of the Ancients Game [Flash of Steel via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

TenTonHammer broke, and Shack News dug deeper into, recent news that public relations firm Kohnke Communications is suing Star Trek Online developer Perpetual Entertainment over a falling out two had over now moth-balled MMO Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising.

The seven count suit alleges breach of contract and fraud, among other things, and seeks up to $290,675 stemming from Perpetual's recent shift in ownership and decision to redirect their efforts from Gods to Star Trek.

More importantly, though, the suit offers a disturbing look at both the world of game development and the relationship between PR firms and game reviewers, or at least the relationship that Kohnke thinks exists.

The suit lays out the fact that $70,000 of Kohnke's compensation was held back with the understanding they would receive that money, and as much as $280,000, based on the number of active subscribers to the game 90 days after shipment.

The incentive came to the PR firm if they were successful in creating pre-release "buzz" and in "convincing reviewers to write positive reviews about the game."

Funny, and I always thought it was the game that was supposed to do that.

I'm not naive enough to think that the success of a video game has nothing to do with the PR push, but it's disheartening to see that in this industry, reviews are see as something bought, not earned.

Star Trek Online Dev. Perpetual Sued by PR Firm, Charged with Breach of Contract, Fraud (Updated) [Shack News]

Little has actually been shown of Star Trek Online, but development resources were shifted from Gods & Heroes to the game and the developer's MMO platform according to Executive Producer Chris McKibbin. Further details on the dev's financial situation at the link.

Star Trek Online to Become "More Casual," Developer Perpetual Acquired by New Ownership [Shacknews]

Perpetual Reassumes Publishing Duties From SOE [Warcry Network]

Like a little tea pot, short and stout...here is the soldier:

Perpetual President Chris McKibbin tells us why closed beta testing is important.

"By identifying what works and what does not, our closed beta testers will help shape the final version of the game," said Chris McKibbin, Co-Chairman and President of Perpetual Entertainment. "It's an exclusive opportunity to help us polish the final version of Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, thus making it a truly legendary experience."

Gods & Heroes Beta Signup Page [Official Site]

PERPETUAL ENTERTAINMENT AND PLATFORM PUBLISHING NOW RECRUITING ASPIRING HEROES FOR GODS & HEROES: ROME RISING(TM) CLOSED BETA

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 31, 2007 - Perpetual Entertainment announced today that aspiring heroes can now sign up for an exclusive opportunity — the chance to enter the closed beta playtest of the upcoming Roman mythology-based online game, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising. With co-publishing partner, Platform Publishing, the San Francisco-based game developer recently launched a signup page where visitors can register for the chance to get access, play and provide feedback on the game during its final testing phase.

"By identifying what works and what does not, our closed beta testers will help shape the final version of the game," said Chris McKibbin, Co-Chairman and President of Perpetual Entertainment. "It's an exclusive opportunity to help us polish the final version of Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, thus making it a truly legendary experience."

Those eager to test their might against the forces of Roman mythology can sign up at: http://community.godsandheroes.com/betasignup

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, the upcoming massively multiplayer online game from Perpetual Entertainment, lets you take on the role of a son or daughter of an Olympian god. Featuring an innovative squad combat system and attack animations that give you control of every move, Gods & Heroes challenges players to overcome and conquer the enemies of Rome. Along the way, players will battle iconic enemies including the Gauls, Greeks, and Samnites, as well as the Cyclops, Minotaur, Hydra, Medusa, and other creatures from Roman mythology. Each player will command the powers of the gods and their own custom squad as they fight to save Rome.

Perpetual Entertainment invited me over to their downtown San Francisco studios yesterday for a little hands-on time with their upcoming massively multiplayer online game God and Heroes Rome Rising.

Chris McKibbin, Perpetual's Co-Chairman & President, said the game is set to hit by the end of this summer and went to great pains to explain how it would be more of an action adventure game than your typical massively multiplayer online game. Some of the other things he highlighted, which he believes sets his game apart from the rash of other MMOs, were the game's classic, mythologicially-influenced theme, a strategic squad-based combat system and collectible minions that level up with you. Think of them as a sorta Pokemon, it sounds like you will be spending a lot of time in the game running around trying to find and collect these guys and then trading them with other real-world players.

Kinda a neat concept.

The game also has this robust god system which seemed a little too familiar to me. It's not much different than the overarching thing in other games that make your particular character special, be in that you're a rookie who shows much potential, a hero or happen to be the son or daughter of a god.

I had a chance to play around with the most recent version of the game for about 20 minutes before I had to run to another appointment.

The character creation was fairly basic, though there were enough sliders in the appearance field to allow you to somewhat tweak the look of your particular son or daughter of a god. You also have to select your class and your god.

I started out in the game with a level two character and ran through a quick mission that seemed to exist in a smallish incident in the game. The other press testing out the game were also here, but my feeling was that it was a small space that could only handle a dozen or so players at a time.

The look of the game, while a bit generic, did have quite a bit of polished ambience, from the classic look of the structures, to far off fights with large creatures.

I particularly liked the character animation for fights. Instead of your typical sword swing, my character seemed to really get into the fight. The two special attacks I had were also quite original looking. One had my character leap up in the air, spin and deliver a downward blow with his sword as he landed. The other involved both sword stabs and punches and actually knocked the enemy to the ground temporarily.

While the animation had a nice flare, it was still the same point and click MMO fighting wrapped up in a nice package.

After taking out a few bad guys, delivering some goods, destroying some statutes, killing more stuff, I found my way back to my original quest giver and was told to make my way down into a pit to kill some guards in hopes of finding a key to escape my location.

The fights with the squat guards showed off some of the nice non-player character animations, including one attack in which the thing knocked me to the ground and jumped up and down on my fallen character for a few seconds: A nice touch.

After killing off a few guards I found the key, made my way through a gate and into another instance, one that the developers said would eventually support perhaps a few hundred real players at a time.

In this instance, a small village on the shore of a lake, I received my first minion, a choice between a fighter, essentially, and a healer.

Once you receive a minion you're given the ability to assign them to squads and a separate interface pops up which allows you to control their actions or put them in particular modes, like support.

This is where, I think, the game has the most potential. The idea of controlling a small army of your own minions in real time, setting them out across a field to attack another player's army of minions, could really change the way you play an MMO.

And it doesn't hurt that one of the guys behind the whole minion system is Stieg Hedlund, the lead designer of Diablo II.

Hedlund said that the idea behind minions is that they are suppose to maximize your character class, not the other way around. They want to make sure that you don't try to create characters that are essential minion masters, he said.

There are 132 minions in the world and their abilities and uniqueness are directly connected to how hard they are to find and get under contact.

Another thing that I think could really give this game legs are some of the expansions that they're already talking about doing. They include introducing new cultures and mythologies to the game, which would add to the number of gods and of course inherent conflict.

Also, they plan to add nation versus nation battles to the game down the line and player versus player is where MMOs can really shine, I think. Brian Crecente

This week's titles definitely fall under the shadow of Capcom's bug infested Lost Planet. I'm looking forward to next week's lineup which features some nice titles, especially Wario Ware: Smooth Moves and a little something called World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade.

• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (X360) Put on a your parka and kill some giant bugs in sub freezing temperatures.
• Heart of Empire: Rome (PC)
  Be the ruthless ruler of your own ancient empire.
• Arthur and the Invisibles (PC, PS2, DS, GBA)
  Another game based on a movie no one cares about.
• Bliss Island (PSP)
  Based on the free web game of the same name.
• Backyard Basketball 2007 (PC)
  More Big headed backyard basketball action.
• Puzzle Scape (PSP)
  Bust blocks in this puzzler.
• Lucinda Green's Equestrian Challenge (PC)
  Ride horses and stuff.

Can you tell I lost interest somewhere around Arthur and the Invisibles? Flynn De Marco

Europe's Justice Commissioner, Franco Frattini, was so disturbed by Rule of Rose that he's contacted all of the European government leaders to put a stop to games that he feels "display and even glorify violence, sometimes extreme violence."

"Games where you are supposed to shoot down ordinary people walking on the streets or where you have to bully children at schools are other examples of obscene and perverse games.

I've played Rule of Rose and there is no doubt that it is both obscene and perverse (In the best possible way, in my opinion). Live rats being shoved in the faces of young girls, children tied up in sacks while insects, spiders and snakes are dropped in with them, it was truly disturbing. But, the game also carries an "M" rating in the United States and an 16+ rating in parts of Europe, making it impossible for minors to purchase it in the first place. Nevertheless, Mr Frattini has called for a closer look at how games are rated and distributed to minors at the upcoming Home Affairs ministers meeting on Dec. 5.

I was surprised that Jack Thompson didn't latch on to this one when it came out, but he was obviously so entrenched in unsuccessfully trying to ban Bully that it slipped under his radar. It will be interesting to see if he tries to pick this one up and run with it as well. Flynn De Marco

Torturing this child is a game too far, says appalled EU boss [The Times]
[Thanks to Lesley for The Times cover pic]

The 2K Games folk shot over three new screenshots for CivCity Rome, the city builder inspired by Civilization and created by FIrefly Studios and Firaxis Games.

Looks sorta interesting.