With the current flurry of activity coming out of every major development studio this week, Bioware could not be left behind. Thusly, in light of this, they have decided to release a good chunk of media from Star Wars: The Old Republic  to the public.

Unlike Star Wars Galaxies, which is set in a more “modern” era in the Star Wars Universe, The Old Republic takes place roughly four-thousand years prior to the events of Star Wars: Episode One. This gives players the opportunity to enjoy a plethora of Jedi to slaughter, no matter what side of the Force they choose. With new screenshots and wallpaper coming out, we can do nothing but wait and anticipate. This game has the potential to either bring more people into the foray of the massively multiplayer genre, or just maybe rock the world of those already in it. We shall see.

Source: Star Wars: The Old Republic Official Website

It's official: Pirates of the Burning Sea, released on January 22nd, 2008 is now a year old. Celebrations are occurring not only in the offices of game developer Flying Lab Software, but server-side as well.

"To celebrate our anniversary, we will be giving all of our players access to a new Anniversary Coat, which will be available in the tailor shop. Each nation’s coat is different!"

Additionally, tomorrow marks the occasion where the Dread Saints fill the Caribbean with their woe and despair. All of this gets topped-off with a promise of new content and features. A chest-full of features is coming out of Flying Lab, so let it be known that it is time to set sail and maybe even enjoy another year of excitement and piracy.

Source: Pirates of the Burning Sea Online

Being the unstoppable powerhouse it has become, Cryptic has updated their questions regarding Champions Online. Users are submitting some pretty tough questions, regarding subjects such as weapon-wielding to PvP. With every passing day, they seem to pick up more steam for this massively multiplayer extravaganza. For instance, when asked about Nemesis' for any hero, Cryptic shot back with this.

"We're planning to do that. If you’re on a team together, eventually you’ll have the option to all battle one Nemesis, or you can have all of your Nemeses team up and battle against your super group."

Intriguing, interesting and, most of all, intense. Those three things are what we all look for in our games, and Champions Online looks like it will deliver, no-questions-asked.

Source: Champions Online: Ask Cryptic

Despite the delay for one of this year's most anticipated massively multiplayer games, they are still moving forward: Darkfall Online has just sent out the first wave of invitations to users, today. In no time, people will be flooding the internet with information and crazy problems associated with the game, and we shall all finally get our fill when it comes to knowing what we need-to-know about this game. Shrouded in secrecy, it seems, the developers have managed to make their game into something everyone just must play. Check your email if you signed up for a beta-test, as you might soon be invited to play what may-soon be one of the biggest releases of 2009.

Source: Darkfall Online Official Website

Valentine’s Day is coming, in case you forgot, and most of us men always forget or ruin it somehow. Well, Runes of Magic might have just the thing for you and your Significant Other. They have started the festivities early, and are now offering all sorts of goodies to those who are romantic! Grow some roses, eat some chocolate and enjoy the season of love.

"- You can make chocolate that will give you 35% health back when eaten.
- When you have collected 5 chocolate sweets you can use the world broadcast once.
- A good gardener can grow roses from seeds - and get a buff when the flower finally blooms.
- Exchanging 10 roses can be exchanged for certain gifts - like temporary mounts. - 30 roses will grant you a title"

Sounds like an excellent way to share time with the one you love, while possibly changing his or her mind about massively mutiplayer gaming. Not to mention an early Valentine's Day, lest you forget.

Source: Runes of Magic Official Website

Everyone needs some form of back-scratching and validation. Champions Online has provided both of these to their users by giving them a rating system. One star is terrible, or “pretty neat” whereas five stars is “SUPER COOL.” We're glad they are thinking outside the box when they create their masterpiece. We hope to continue to see this sort of development as we get closer to the release of this title.

Source: Champions Online Official Website

Everyone's favorite News Anchor from Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Fallon, interviews World of Warcraft fanatic, Felicia Day. She gives some serious pointers to all of us. Every person who thinks that Warcraft would be a fun game to play, take some notes! Also, it is always wonderful news to know that girls play the games that drive boys wild.

Felicia Day, for those of you unaware, is from "The Guild," the Yahoo! Video Award-winning online sitcom about the daily lives of the members of a standard gaming guild. Also, she loves to mull about bad fantasy art in her blog. She's quite the hoot. We are happy Jimmy managed to snag her for a stellar interview.

Souce: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

After a tumultuous day of fixing Wintergrasp, Blizzard has decided to disable it again due to a new issue conceived in the womb of fast-development. This is not a repeat from earlier, this is a newly-made, fresh off the compiler error. Not only that, but all arenas will be disabled until they can get the points to count correctly.

"With the release of patch 3.0.8 we have implemented a new matchmaking system for arenas that will improve the overall system and help ensure that players will be matched against others of equal skill. The new matchmaking system uses a rating that you cannot see, and is separate for each of the arena brackets. The rating changes at the end of each match are affected by this new system, and as it just came out, there may initially be some odd behavior in rating changes, but these will straighten out fairly quickly. "

And if that doesn't tickle your fancy, then try not to forget the rolling restarts beginning at 5 AM Pacific Time. With all the back-and-forths, hopefully this issue will be resolved with haste.

Source: World of Warcraft Forums

Patch day for World of Warcraft has been hectic, to say the least. Given the amount of content modified and created for this patch, a few issues were to be expected. The turn-around time is great, and all of us players appreciate the concern and amount of work put into this. There are still some issues remaining, but the major unforeseen ones are handled.

Source: MMO-Champion Blue Tracker

This weekend, City of Heroes is making things interesting, and doubling your rewards earned. Much like a credit card, this is a great promotion to bring the game into the mainstream. The current advertisements coming on for it have been terribly successful, and if nothing else, extremely funny.

"During this time players will get double rewards in the following categories:
  * Experience
  * Prestige
  * Influence
  * Infamy"

The best part is, anyone and everyone who plays can get this! There’s no special-terms of service loop like a credit card, but just a totally perfect reason to dedicate your weekend to being a hero or a villain.

Source: City of Heroes