MMO News Wrap Up

Another busy week for MMOs means lots more news, and no one would blame you if you hadn't managed to keep up to date on all of it, so I've rounded up the biggest stories from the week and put them all in one place, just for your convenience. Yeah, I'm good like that. So if you're a fan of any of the following games, you might want to check out this week's MMO News Wrap Up; I'll be talking about WoW, Runes of Magic, Star Wars Galaxies, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Champions Online and Aion.

I'll kick off with the news that may impact all MMOs; word that Paltalk Holdings says several big players in the MMO development field, such as Turbine (LOTRO), SOE (FFXI), Activision Blizzard (WoW) and NCSoft (Aion), are to be sued over patent infringement in their games. The company says it is trying to protect two patents that cover interactive applications. The claim shouldn't be taken lightly; back in 2006, Microsoft settled out of court with Paltalk over the same patents in relation to Halo 2 and 3, which doesn't bode well for the developers being sued this time.

A similar case arose back in March when Worlds.com also claimed that NCsoft was using ideas set out in a patent owned by them, one that deals with the architecture of online worlds. A Worlds.com representative stated that, should it be successful in its claim, the company would be pursuing other MMO developers, such as Linden Labs (Second Life) and Activision Blizzard.

The effect all this will have on the MMO industry is yet to be seen, but both cases are likely to go on for months.

On a lighter note, this week's MMO Weekly takes a look at the cost of gaming, in particular, the cost of being an avid fan of WoW. If you were to sit down and work out how much cash you'd handed over to the company that makes your long-time favourite MMO, how much do you think it would come to? When you consider WoW's been out for almost five years now, if you'd been playing from the start, bought all the expansion packs, maybe some merchandise, and even been lucky enough to get a ticket to a BlizzCon event or two, you'd be right in thinking that it's probably built up to quite an impressive sum by now, especially if you're a couple. Read Jeff's amusing summary, as he recalls and tots up all the money he's put into his gaming habit.

While we're still on the subject of WoW and money, you'll recall that last week I mentioned EU WoW players and their displeasure over being denied the faction change service that NA players have had access to for over a week. Thankfully, the paid service went live for EU players last night too, much to the delight of fans. Blizzard also stated that the the Race Change Service is on its way too; hopefully they'll manage to push that one live globally!

In contrast, an MMO that doesn't require subscriptions or fees of any sort, Runes of Magic, launched its first expansion this week. Chapter II – The Elven Prophecy gives players Elves as a playable race and opens up two new classes, Druids and Wardens. As with most free to play games, if players want to spend cash to improve or aid their characters, they can. The first boxed version of the game also went on sale this week, containing an in-game item, a poster map and other goodies.