MMO News Wrap Up Page 2

So what would my Wrap Up be without mention of the game that put the 'Massively' into 'MMO'; World of Warcraft. Blizzard released a tonne of new information on the upcoming Patch 3.3 this week. For those of you who don't know the significance of 3.3, it's the one where players finally get to fight the Lich King, you know, the scary dude on the box. Yes, after almost a year since the expansion was released, we'll get to go up against the guy. The info we got to see this week included details of the five-man instances located inside Icecrown Citadel. There will be three wings, each separate instances, that must be completed in order. The last boss on the final instance is the Lich King himself.

Bearing in mind that there's still the end-game raid to learn about, which will also certainly end in a confrontation with the Lich King, this last five-man encounter will likely leave the Lich King unharmed.

The patch is still some way off yet though, or so we thought until yesterday. The official Public Test Realm forum was cleared and the first patch notes were released, meaning we're likely to see 3.3 on the PTR soon. Because this is a major content patch (not half!), it will probably be in testing for at least a month or two, which is just as well, considering the expansion, Cataclysm, is still several months away. Blizzard has confirmed that 3.3 will be the last content patch of WotLK, so we'll have to make it last.

Bioware thrilled fans this week by opening up closed beta applications to its highly anticipated MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic. The announcement was only slightly marred by the fact that someone on the web team accidentally posted the announcement early. Before it was hastily removed, several readers saw it and duly posted about it on the official forums. The general consensus was that the announcement was due today, but only hours after the slip-up, Bioware made the news official.

It's likely to be weeks yet until the closed beta gets under way and, when it does, only a handful of players will get to sample its goodness at first. The beta will take place in phases though, allowing more players on as time passes.Taking all this into account, I think this means we'll probably see SW:TOR released sometime in the middle or towards the end of next year.

I'll close with one of the more controversial MMO stories of the week. You may have heard about Mortal Online, it's an upcoming MMO that does things a bit differently. Firstly, you can only view the game in first person perspective. Then there's no targetting system, you simply have to get close to your target and swing your weapon, trying to hit one of the vital areas such as the head, or maybe the arm if you want your opponent to drop their weapon. Careful where you aim though, you can hit friendly targets and party members in the same way, as there are no factions to speak of. There's also full-body looting, so if you do manage to overcome someone you can pick up all their gear. And when I say ALL their gear, I mean every item including their clothing, leaving them totally naked.

That's right, don't expect to see any generic underwear to cover your character's modesty. And it's not just a bit of boob I'm talking about either, full male and female nudity is in the game. In fact, you might as well get used to seeing nude characters running around if you play Mortal Online, knowing gamers, it'll be a frequent sight. 

Of course, it goes without saying in advance that Mortal Online is an M-rated game. Check out our feature to read more about it.

That's it for this week folks, don't forget to listen to our podcast which I'm just about to go and record, where I'll be talking about some of the issues mentioned above and more MMO news that didn't make the wrap-up - hey, I have to make time for all these MMOs somehow ;)