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.

The game's free account mode limits players in classes, races and quests, which can be bought via microtransaction or though a full-boat $15 monthly subscription.

"We have a good chunk of the population that is spending more than $15 a month," said the Turbine executive producer Fernando Paiz. "The traditional subscription model can only make X dollars off a player. This kind of removes that cap.

"[Free players] get to try the game, not be constrained by a one-week trial, and then decide when they've made the commitment that they're engaged enough that they're ready to spend money," he added.

Dungeons and Dragons Online: Behold the Power of Free [Ars Technica via Evil Avatar]

Turbine takes players from the Mines of Moria to the Siege of Mirkwood on December 1st, when the digital expansion pack goes on sale for $19.99. As a special incentive to return to the game, lapsed players who reactivate their accounts using a multi-month plan between now and October 31st will get the expansion free of charge, which is perhaps Turbine's way of making loyal customers extremely angry.

Today Turbine also announces the LOTRO Adventurer's Pack, which adds two character slots to players' accounts, as well as two shared bank slots to facilitate item transfer between characters. The pack is now available for preorder, with those who do receiving an 8% increase to their run speed thanks to the Harbinger's Cloak and the Dusky Nimblefoot Goat mount to boot.

For more information, head over to the expansion website. Note that the special offers are only available for a limited time, after which you'll just have to suffer, and no one enjoys suffering.

Specifically, in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, "We really finally have the hardware and the storage capacity to develop what we consider more traditional MMOs with lots of content," said Craig Alexander of Turbine.

In addition to theorizing that, because MMOs took a decade to mature on PCs, they're poised to grow the consoles in a similar way, Alexander held forth on development differences between the PS3 and 360.

• Different memory. He described PS3 memory as "256ish MB" and 360 memory as "512ish."

• Different tools needed for developing on both platforms.

• Migration from 360 to PS3 (Hello, Bayonetta?) is harder than going from PS3 to 360.

In case you were wondering about Nintendo, Alexander said, "The hardware in the Wii more closely resembles the previous generation than the current one. It's just not there yet."

Turbine: Easier to Develop MMOs on the Xbox 360 Than the PS3 [Joystiq via VG247]

The company, Paltalk Holdings Inc., has successfully settled claims against Microsoft, alleging it infringed the same patents in Halo. The technology in question concerns how multiple players in different locations still see the same events - explosions, monsters, etc. - in real time.

Paltalk bought the patents in 2002, and allege that Turbine and other companies are infringing them. The suit's been filed in federal court for the Eastern District of Texas, which is known as a plaintiff-friendly venue for such litigation. Microsoft's settlement, back in March, certainly makes it harder to deny the validity of Paltalk's claim.

In addition to Turbine, Sony (Everquest) and Blizzard (World of Warcraft), NCSoft (Guild Wars) and Jagex (Runescape) are also named as defendants.

Westwood-Based Video Game Maker Named in Patent Infringement Suit [The Boston Globe]

Following a preview week for VIP subscribers that indicated huge success for Turbine's new free-to-play, microtransaction-based structure, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited is now live for anyone who wishes to partake.

"Today Turbine changes the way gamers experience their online entertainment by providing them with a choice in how they pay and play for a premium MMO," said Jim Crowley, CEO of Turbine, Inc. "The DDO Unlimited Beta program has been a huge success and the initial response to the game from both press and players has been nothing short of phenomenal. In response, we have already more than doubled our capacity to handle the increased demand."

To play, simply head on over to www.ddo.com and download the game.

Announced earlier this summer and opening to the public on September 9th, the new Dungeons and Dragons Online relegates subscription fees to VIP members, allowing anyone to play for free, relying on a cash store that sells extra dungeons, quests, classes, and items for revenue. According to Turbine director of communications Adam Mersky, the early access program is already indicating tremendous success for the new business model.

"They all got a ton of points for being loyal subscribers, for being in the beta. We weren't really expecting a ton of sales...they had no incentive to. They already had access to all of the content as VIP subscribers, and we just gave them a buttload of points."

With a buttload of points and access to all of the premium content through in-game quests, one wouldn't expect the early access folks would need more points. One would also be mistaken, apparently.

"They've gone through their points, and we've already sold millions more Turbine points, and we've not even opened up the world to the public yet."

And what is selling? What would subscribers rather pay for than unlock through in-game means?

"The hottest selling items are the new Favored Soul class, which is unlockable in game, but all of our subs just went ahead and spent points on it, unlocked it, and they're playing it right now. We're real excited for September 9th when we open the world up to everyone else."

It sounds as if DDO, a game that had all but dropped off of our radar, could be coming back in a big way. We'll check back with Turbine once things go live to see if the buying trend continues.

Update: Turbine has clarified the pricing of the upcoming LOTRO expansion, writing: "Siege of Mirkwood will have a base price of $19.99. As with Moria last year, we're going to have a set of early upgrade offers that are very compelling. We're not quite ready to unveil those details yet, but we'll keep you posted."

The Siege of Mirkwood finishes what the Mines of Moria expansion for Lord of the Rings Online started, bringing an end to Volume II of the MMO's tale and opening up the lands East of the Misty Mountains. The free expansion pack ups the level cap for the game to 65, adds several new dungeons and raids, and introduces Skirmishes - randomized repeatable instances in which players train up their own armies to battle the forces of not-so-nice.

"2009 has been a year of unprecedented growth for The Lord of the Rings Online and the launch of Siege of Mirkwood will end the year with a bang," said Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. "As the game expands east of the Misty Mountains, players will face the raging war and shadow that has spread across Middle-earth and the new Skirmish system will thrust players and their soldiers into the War of the Ring."

Check out the full list of announced features for the expansion below, and keep your eye out for screens and artwork from Siege of Mirkwood in the near future.

Siege of Mirkwood Features:

Ø The Epic Conclusion to Volume II: Mines of Moria™ – Under the command of Celeborn and Galadriel, players will fight through vast armies of Orcs alongside the Elves of Lórien in a battle that will take them to Dol Guldur, the fortress of the Ringwraiths. This update includes Book 9 and the Epilogue to the sweeping epic tale begun with the award-winning Mines of Moria expansion.

Ø Increased Level Cap - Players will be able advance their characters up to level 65, gaining access to new traits, virtues, skills and class quests.

Ø Answer the Call of War! – Jump into the heat of battle with the new Skirmishes feature. Skirmishes offer endless action in repeatable, randomized instances where players can create and lead customizable soldiers into battle, training them to greater skill as they earn victories against the forces of shadow. Answer the call of war wherever violence erupts with the new "World Join" function that lets players and their fellowships band together to fight in various locations throughout Middle-earth.

Ø Take up Arms! – Infiltrate the dark jails, deadly arenas and savage stables of Dol Guldur, the fortress of the Ringwraiths, and strike a blow against Sauron's forces in new 3 and 6-player instances. Call upon your fellows to adventure into the most deadly 12-player raid yet and face the ultimate challenge – the Nazgûl Lord!

Ø Major Gameplay Enhancements – Turbine continues to improve the award-winning experience of LOTRO with major improvements to the combat and Legendary Items systems. Players will experience improved responsiveness when in the heat of battle. Players will also be able to create and craft their own customized Second and Third Age Legendary Items from raw materials and grow their weapons' power to level 60. Achieve new Legacies, new titles, and a fourth Runic slot that will make Legendary Items even more unique and powerful.

Turbine sued Atari in New York state court on Aug. 24, more or less alleging the Atari invented a ruse to terminate Turbine's sublicense contract to develop a Dungeons & Dragons MMO. The suit implies Atari did this to make way for an upcoming D&D project being developed by Cryptic Studios - which Atari bought in December.

Here's Atari's response, emailed today to Kotaku. One highlight - in addition to filing a motion to dismiss, Atari's also countersuing Turbine for some money "resulting from an independent third party audit of Turbine." Sounds like this is gonna be nasty.

Last week, with no warning, Turbine filed what can only be viewed as a frivolous lawsuit against Atari. This action can ultimately do a great disservice to D&D fans and to the MMO community at large. Turbine's actions also appear intended to divert attention from the contractual obligations that Turbine owes to Atari. In response, today Atari served a motion to dismiss the entirety of Turbine's lawsuit. Atari also filed a separate complaint to recover monies owed to Atari resulting from an independent third party audit of Turbine. While Atari hopes for a quick and fair resolution, it remains fully committed to the D&D communities worldwide and will vigorously protect the franchise and its own integrity in this matter.

The suit, filed August 24 in the state of New York's Supreme Court, alleges among other things that that Atari breached its contract with the developer to sublicense D&D and Advanced D&D to the developer to sustain their first MMO, Dungeons & Dragons: Stormreach.

It also says that Atari deliberately didn't support the product (even as it took "hundreds of thousands of dollars in advance royalties" from Turbine) and that back in November of 2008, Atari created "a trumped up and false basis to threaten to terminate the contractual relationship between Atari and Turbine in an effort to extort more money from Turbine or, alternately, to free itself from its obligations under the contracts in order to clear the way for the launch of its own competing MMO service based on the D&D and Advanced D&D intellectual properties."

In other words, Turbine thinks Atari is trying to pull on their D&D game to make way for Cryptic Studios' upcoming D&D-based project. The timing syncs up right: in December 2008, Atari bought Cryptic and we heard a report in June 2009 from The Cut Scene that they was working on an MMO of Neverwinter Nights.

A message left with Turbine attorney Jeffrey Simes was not immediately returned. An representative for Atari said they'd get back to us with a statement, but at time of press no statement had materialized. If you really want to know more, though, you can check out the complaint document here.

Atari Accused of Playing a Rough Game [Courthouse News via GameSpot]

Dungeons & Dragons Online was set to become DDO Unlimited next week in North America, morphing from subscription-based game to a new free-to-play model, but it seems that Turbine isn't quite ready to make that leap. The transition is now scheduled for September 9th, 2009.

"We've had a tremendous response to DDO Unlimited from the players and press who are participating in our beta program," said Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer of DDO Unlimited. "We've been holding a series of live events as part of the beta program and have seen an unprecedented level of participation from players. While we are very pleased with the performance of the game and are excited about the response from the players, we are committed to delivering a high-quality experience. We feel that more time is needed to deliver on this commitment. As a result, we are delaying our launch to ensure that we can support the massive increase in players that we are expecting and deliver them a free to play experience like none other."

As an aside, 9/9/09 is also the date that will see many hopelessly devoted Sega fans praying for a new Dreamcast console. It is a day for fantasy roleplay!

At a development conference their answers might have been different, but this is Comic-Con, and this distinguished panel of guests from BioWare, Gazillion, Sony Online Entertainment, Turbine, and Nexon America know full well that the majority of the audience are simply folks who showed to save seats for the Star Wars panel coming up afterwards. The key here, in most cases, seemed to be mentioning their games as often as possible in the hopes that the folks in the audience who weren't members of the press would remember them.

Let's start with Gazillion's Dave Brevik, who is currently working on the Marvel Comic MMO he cannot really talk about. Dave could only speak in generalities throughout most of the panel, and he seemed to struggle with the question of change in the MMO industry more than most, as he isn't allowed to tell us what he's changing. Only that "something different" is coming, and that something different will reflect a positive change in the industry.

Next up was BioWare's Leo Olebe. As BioWare is working on Star Wars: The Old Republic, his example of positive genre change is, of course, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Specifically the fully-voiced NPCs and player characters in the game, which he claimed would spoil players for all other massively-multiplayer titles. I'm not sure that actually counts as a positive change though. Look guys, now you're going to have to spend several million dollars on voice work every time you create a new online game!

The saddest thing? He's probably right about that. It'll be the same feeling you get when starting a console RPG and realizing that all the dialog is simply text-based.

SOE head honcho John Smedley took the opportunity to answer the question by hyping up the upcoming DC Universe Online, stating that delivering action-packed combat "We want you to be able to throw a bus on your PC and have your friend catch it on his PS3. That's the level of gameplay and interactivity we're looking at."

Cross-platform bus throwing is the way of the future.

Nexon's Min Kim gave what was perhaps the most genuine answer to the question, though he had already mentioned Combat Arms five or six times during the panel and was probably feeling a little spent.

"Access is gonna change...the price point is going to drop to free for a lot of these games...but access is going to change. Traditionally when you get a new PC game you have to worry about whether your hardware can run it. Developers are going to realize that it isn't about building the flashiest experience, but making sure the game is accessible to the widest audience."

And then he mentioned Combat Arms again.

That covers four of the five panelists, with Turbine's Henrik Strandberg speaking far too quietly for anyone to really hear him, which is problem Turbine's been dealing with for quite some time.

Early August brings massive changes to Dungeons & Dragons Online, with a new class, new dungeons, and a new free-to-play, micro-transaction-based financial model that should bring curious new players to the game in droves. But when exactly in early August? Let's ask DDO Unlimited executive producer Fernando Paiz.

"The DDO Unlimited Beta has been a huge success and we want to thank all of our players who have participated to help us make this the best free-to-play game on the market. On August 6th we are going to change what it means to be free-to-play with the most immersive, action-packed and full-featured MMO that provides players with a choice in how they play and pay for the game."

Paiz is referring to the VIP subscription, which allows those used to paying for the game a way to continue to do so without experiencing harsh subscription withdraw.

So who is planning on giving the game a go once it costs nothing more than hard disk space to play?

While raising the level cap to 20 and adding in The Plane of Battle and Crime Syndicate Adventure Packs to Dungeons and Dragons online are nice features, players will probably find the most interesting update to be the new player class, Favored Soul. Despite the incredibly stupid name, the Favored Soul class seems like it'd be interesting to play. They are basically warrior priests who share the Warlock class' large number of spell points, as well as their inability to freely swap out spells. Nifty.

Along with those changes come changes to the game's combat system, updated visuals, and the return of the Stormreach Marketplace, which was destroyed during an in-game event last year. For those of you looking for a bit more detail, here's the list directly from the media alert:

The new upgrades to DDO Unlimited include:

Ø New Player Class: Players can now create characters using DDO Unlimited's newest class, Favored Soul. Favored souls draw on divine magic to both heal and destroy. Like clerics, favored souls have access to powerful healing spells, but they are also more skilled with weapons than any other spell caster. Like sorcerers, they get a larger number of spell points than other spell casters and cannot freely switch spells at taverns or rest shrines.

Ø Raised Level Cap: Players can now advance to 20th-level under the D&D® rules. This includes access to new arcane and divine spells, new character abilities, feats, and skills.

Ø New Adventure Packs:

o The Plane of Battle — Players can now travel to the Plane of Shavarath and explore a large wilderness area as they try to infiltrate several fortresses and upset the carefully laid plans of the Devils.

o The Crime Syndicate — Coin Lord Yorrick Amanatu, who controls the Stormreach Guard, wants players to help him eliminate the growing Sharn Syndicate presence in Stormreach.

Ø The Fiercest Combat – This update introduces some exciting enhancements to DDO's extraordinary combat experience including a new combat feedback and smart targeting system that gives players even more information and control that lets them fully engage in the battle by relying on their wits and reflexes in real time.

Ø Mind-blowing Visuals – Explore DDO's vivid and dangerous online world featuring some of the most advanced graphics in the industry with the fully deployed DX10 technology that brings the world to life.

Ø The Return of the Marketplace! – Last year, Turbine held a spectacular live in-game event that resulted in the complete destruction of the Stormreach Marketplace. The Coin Lords have completed their beautification project and the once desolated Market has been restored to its days as a center for trade, entertainment, and welcome to all who come to Stormreach!

Maybe because it's based on Lord of the Rings, maybe because it's actually good, we don't know, but we do know that, according to developers Turbine, the game's user base is on the up and up.

Good for you them! The more viable games (and thus alternatives for players) in this genre the better.

LotRO growing, no plans for server-merge, says Turbine [VG247]

There's certainly an interesting mix of items to purchase in the new DDO store. You've got your basic essentials, like potions and hair dye, but then you've got races and one class you can pay to unlock, along with whole quest lines you can just drop right into your shopping cart. Depending on how much you play, it might just be more economical to stick with the subscription plan and bypass the store entirely.

Following Turbine's announcement that the game would soon be going free-to-play in North America, European operator Codemasters posted a message on the European site for the game, informing players that, for the time being things would not be changing across the pond.

To clarify, for the time being, DDO Europe will not be assuming this new business model and the European DDO game service will remain a monthly subscription-based game with all new content created available to all subscribers, as has been the model up until now. As the Beta progresses we will release more information regarding the future plans for EU players.

To clarify, North Americans can continue to be excited, while Europeans should proceed with worrying about what's going on in their continent. It could still happen!

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: EBERRON UNLIMITED [Dungeons And Dragons Online Europe]

The gates to Eberron will swing wide this summer, as the Eberron Unlimited upgrade transforms Turbine's DDO from a subscription-based massively multiplayer online game to a free-to-play one, relying on VIP subscriptions and the new DDO store as dual sources of income. Free players will be able to join the game, create characters, and level all the way up to 20, the new, logical class limit for a Dungeons and Dragons game. Limitations included having to pay for specific races and classes, limited chat, auction, and mail capabilities, and access restricted to the city of Stormreach and its immediate vicinity.

Paying a monthly fee for VIP status grants you unlimited access to all of these features, as well as full customer support, with free players limited to automated support only.

Free players will still be able to use the new DDO store, however, accumulating points equal to their levels to spend on special items, which the official website likens to being paid to play. Players can also spend their cash money on upgrades, which is a feature that I feel kills the Dungeons and Dragons experience completely.

Being able to pay for new equipment using funds from outside of the game is the same thing as getting free items and experience for being the girlfriend of the Dungeon Master. I suppose technically that's in keeping with the grand tradition of the tabletop game after all. This DM just happens to have a lot of girlfriends.

Check out the offical website for more information on the new free-to-play Dungeons and Dragons Online.

DDO Goes Free To Play [Official Site - Thanks Matt!]

The survey, centring around a 360 version of the game, seems to take the tone that the game's already been announced, going into such detail as monthly subscription rates (hinted at being $12.99), press release-ish marketing boasts and the possible cost of downloadable content for the title.

All of which strongly suggest that the game - which would be only the second MMO on the console, after Final Fantasy XI - is all but a done deal. Turbine, however, declined to comment, leaving us wondering whether E3 might be the time/place for such business.

Lord of the Rings MMO for 360 to Potentially Debut at $12.99/month [GameDaily]

These new screens are the first peek at the expanded forest of Lothlórien coming in Lord of the Rings Online Volume II: Book 7: Leaves of Lόrien, where players will be able to slowly but surely continue the epic storyline from the book series.

It never ceases to amaze me how well the lands envisioned by the Turbine artist match my own mental pictures of the lands Tolkien created in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Forget the movies, as entertaining as they might have been at times; this is what Middle-Earth was supposed to look like.